Ei^avTaf //.lyaXoio Siou Xoyai c; fa xuXvtth Uccvra ^jsvcf fi^oTirj; »'t^£tto» ■roXviiiia fiZfov. —
dreg. Naz. Car. i. de I?eb. Suis.
OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 115
most profess to avoid, blindness and folly, — to write upon ifc"vanity and vexation of spirit." I hope I shall not need to add any thing to clear myself for not giving a due esteem and respect unto literatiure, my intendment being only to cast it down at the feet of Jesus Christ, and to set the crown upon his head.
2. Neither can the second part of the choicest wisdom out of Christ attain the peculiar end whereunto it is appointed; and that is pru- dence in the ^management of civil affairs, — than which no perishing thing is more glorious, — nothing more useful for the common good of human kind. Now, the immediate end of this prudence is to keep the rational tuorld in bounds and order, to draw circles about the sons of men, and to keep them from passing their allotted bounds and limits, to the mutual disturbance and destruction of each other. All manner of trouble and disturbance ariseth from irregularity : one man l)reaking in upon the rights, usages, interests, relations of another, sets this world at variance. The sum and aim of all wisdom below is, to cause all tilings to move in their proper sphere, whereby it would be impossible there should be any more interfering than is in the celestial orbs, notmthstanding all their divers and various motions: to keep all to their own allotments, within the compass of the lines that are fallen unto them, is the special end of this wisdom.
Now, it will be a very easy task, to demonstrate that all civil pru- dence whatever^ (besides the vexation of its attainment, and loss being attained) is no way able to compass this end. The present condition of affairs throughout the world, as also that of former ages, will abundantly testify it; but I shall farther discover the vanity of it for this end in some few observations. And the
(1.) First is, That, through the righteous judgment of God lopping off the top flowers of the pride of men, it frequently comes to pass that those who are furnished with the greatest abilities of this kind do lay them out to a direct contraiy end unto that which is their natural tendency and aim. From whom, for the most part, are all the commotions in the world, — the breaking up of bounds, setting the whole frame of nature on fire? is it not from such men as these? Were not men so wise, the world, perhaps, would be more quiet, when the end of wisdom is to keep it in quietness. This seems to be a curse that God hath spread upon the wisdom of the world, in the most in whom it is, that it shall be employed in direct opposition to its proper end.
(2.) That God hath made this a constant path towards the ad- vancement of his own glory, even to leaven the wisdom and the counsels of the wisest of the sons of men with folly and madness,
luvafitf oiS itrxyc/^iv, tru Tumxauf tifias liluffxiii iZ <p^6vi7v. — Excerp. ex Nicostrat.
116 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
that they shall, in the depth of their policy, ^ advise things for the compassing of the ends they do propose as unsuitable as any thing that could proceed ovit of the mouth of a child or a fool, and as directly tending to their own disappointment and ruin as any thing that could be invented against them. " He destroys the wisdom of the wise, and brings to nothing the understanding of the prudent," 1 Cor. i. 19. This he largely describes, Isa. xix. 11-14. Drunken- ness and staggering is the issue of all their wisdom ; and that upon this account, — the Lord gives them the spirit of giddiness. So also Job V. 12-14. They meet with darkness in the day-time:^ when all things seem clear about them, and a man would wonder how men should miss their way, then will God make it darkness to such as these. So Ps. xxxiii. 10. Hence God, as it were, sets them at work, and undertakes their disappointment, Isa. viii. 9, 10, "Go about your counsels,"' saith the Lord, " and I will take order that it shall come to nought." And, Ps. ii. 3, 4, when men are deep at their plots and contrivances, God is said to have them in derision, to laugh them to scorn, seeing the poor worms industriously working out their own ruin. Never was this made more clear than in the days wherein we live. Scarcely have any wise men been brought to destruction, but it hath evidently been through their ov,m folly; neither hath the "wisest counsel of most been one jot better than madness.
(3.) That this wisdom, which should tend to universal quietness, hath almost constantly given universal disquietness unto themselves in whom it hath been most eminent. " In much wisdom is much grief," Eccles. i. 18. And in the issue, some of them have made away with themselves, as Ahithophel; and the most of them have been violently despatched by others. There is, indeed, no end of the folly of this wisdom.^ The great men of the world carry away the repu- tation of it ; — really it is found in few of them. They are, for the most part, common events, whereunto they contribute not the least mite, which are ascribed to their care, vigilancy, and foresight. Mean men, that have learned to adore what is above them, reverence the meetings and conferences of those who are in greatness and esteem. Their weakness and folly is little known. Where this wisdom hath been most eminent, it hath dwelt so close upon the borders of atheism, been attended with siich fidseness and injustice, that it hath made its possessors wicked and infamous.