180 CAUSES, WAYS, AND MEANS, ETC. [BOOK VI., PART II.
proud man is the throne of Satan in his mind. To suppose that per- sons under the predominancy of pride, self-conceit, and self-confidence, can understand the mind of God as revealed in a due manner, is to renounce the Scriptures, or innumerable positive testimonies given in them unto the contrary. Such persons cannot make use of any one means of spiritual knowledge that God requires of them in a way of duty, nor improve any one truth which they may know unto their good. Therefore our Saviour tells the proud Pharisees, notwith- standing all their skill in the letter and tittles of the Scripture, that " they had not heard the voice of God at any time, nor seen his shape, neither had they his word abiding in them," John v. 37, 38. They had no right knowledge of him, as he had revealed and de- clared himself.
Men infected with this leaven, having their minds tainted with it, have been the great corrupters of divine truth in all ages. Such have been the ringleaders of all heresies; and such were they who have turned the knowledge of the will of God proposed in the Scrip- ture into a wrangling science, filled with niceties, subtilties, curiosi- ties, futilous \yain~\ terms of art, and other fuel for the minds of fiery contenders in wrangling disputations.
And this kind of self-confidence is apt to befall all sorts of men. Those of the meanest capacity may be infected with it no less than the wisest or most learned; and we frequently see persons whose weakness in all sound knowledge, and insufficiency for the use of proper means unto the attaining of it, might seem to call them unto humility and lowliness of mind in an eminent manner, yet lifted up unto such a degree of spiritual pride and conceit of their own under- standings as to render them useless, troublesome, and offensive unto men of sober minds. But principally are they exposed hereunto who either really or in their own apprehensions are exalted above others in secular learning, and natural or acquired abilities; for such men are apt to think that they must needs know the meaning of the Holy Ghost in the Scriptures better than others, or, at least, that they can do so, if they will but set themselves about it. But that which principally hinders them from so doing is their conceit that so they do. They mistake that for divine knowledge which is in them the great obstruction of it.
(2.) The love of honour and praise among men is another corrupt affection of mind, of the same nature and efficacy with that before named. This is so branded by our Saviour as an insuperable obstacle against the admission of sacred light and truth that no more need be added thereunto. See John v. 44, xii. 43.
(3.) A pertinacious adherence unto corrupt traditions and inve- terate errors quite shuts up the way unto all wisdom and spiritual
CHAP. V.] CAUSES OF SPIRITUAL IGNOEANCE. 181
understanding. This ruined the church of the Jews of old, and makes at present that of the Romanists incurable. What their fore- fathers have professed, what themselves have imbibed from their in- fancy, what all their outward circumstances are involved in, what they have advantage by, what is in reputation with those in whom they are principally concerned, — that shall be the truth with them, and nothing else. Unto persons whose minds are wholly vitiated with the leaven of this corrupt affection, there is not a line in the Scrip- ture whose sense can be truly and clearly represented ; all appears in the colour and figure that their prejudices frame in their minds. When the Lord Christ came forth first unto the preaching of the gospel, there came a voice from heaven, saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased ; hear ye him/' Matt. iii. 1 7, xvii. 5. Neither was this command given unto them alone who heard it im- mediately from the "excellent glory/' as Peter speaks, 2 Pet. i. 1 7, but, as recorded in the word, is given equally unto every one that would learn any thing of the mind and will of God in a due manner. No man can learn but by the '"'hearing of him ; " unto him are we sent for the learning of our spiritual knowledge. And no other way doth he speak unto us but by his word and Spirit. But where the minds of men are prepossessed with apprehensions of what they have received from the authority of other teachers, they have neither desire, design, readiness, nor willingness to bear him. But if men will not forego all pre-imbibed opinions, prejudices, and conceptions of mind, how- ever rivetted into them by traditions, custom, veneration of elders, and secular advantages, to hearken unto and receive whatever he shall speak unto them, and that with a humble, lowly frame of heart, they will never learn the truth, nor attain a "full assurance of under- standing" in the mysteries of God. These inveterate prejudices are at this day those which principally shut out the truth, and set men together by the ears all the world over about religion and the con- cerns thereof. Hence is all the strife, rage, tumult, and persecution that the world is filled withal. Could men but once agree to lay down all those presumptions which either wit, or learning, or custom, or interest and advantage, have influenced them withal, at the feet of Jesus Christ, and resolve in sincerity to comply with that alone which he doth teach them, and to forego whatever is inconsistent therewith, the ways unto truth and peace would be more laid open than otherwise they are like to be.