man concerning any noble actions. II. They do certainly augment a man's charge, they do enlarge his account; for he is in refpect of God, but a fteward. 12. They are matter of temptation, danger and difficulty. For wift you not what our Saviour hath faid? It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven, Mat. xix. 24. 13. Where a vast estate is gotten, there is fome fear left fome have been illgotten; and if fo, there is matter for repentance, not matter for triumph. Jer. xvii. 11. He that geteth riches, and not by right, fhall leave them in the midft of his days, and at his end fhall be a fool. And know you not what the apoftle admonifheth? 1 Tim. vi. 9. 10. They that will be rich, fall into temptation and a fnare, and into many foolish and hurtful lufts, which drown men in deftruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil; which while fome have coveted after, they have erred from the truth, and pierced themfelves through with many forrows. And twice Solomon hath obferved, Pro. xxviii. 20, 22. He that hafteth to be rich, shall not be innocent. Now this is a great point. To what purpofe is it for a man to accumulate, to get that by cunning, and fraud, and power, which he cannot enjoy, which he cannot call his own when he hath it? The fin is not forgiven to any man till he hath made recompence and compenfation. Yea our cafuifts go fo far as to require of an heir to whom an estate descends, that if it be made apparent to him that he that was before him, did retain in his hands that which was not his own, contrary to right, though the heir be not under

the guilt, yet they with him to look to himfelf that he be not under obligation to make reftitution. We are wont to fay, happy is the son whofe father gave away his foul; the fenfe is, it is better for him in a worldly respect; but it is better, if acquired by fraud or cunning, that he make restitution. This is a fad confideration, I leave it to your meditation. 14. They do not lengthen any man's life. For the rich hath neither longer life than the poor, nor more health. 15. They do not cure any difeafe, neither do they cafe a man under any pain. 16. Again: what they do procure us, is rather fear than love, envy than pity. 17. Once more; they do not fatisfy nature's defires; for Seneca hath well obferved, that in cafe of appetite we must not add fin to fin to fatisfy defire, but you must abate of the luft or the inordinate affection. For, as the poet faith, "the conqueror "of the world was pent up in the world, and want❝ed room to breath in." So that luft is unfatisfied with things. Therefore you must reduce it to moderate defires. 18. Once more; these things do not make any man happy; for a man may be as unfatisfied, as unquiet, as thoughtful, as much in fear, as much in danger, if he be surrounded with wealth, as if he were poor. 19. Laftly; they do not so much as improve our natural faculties. We have not our faculties enlarged by them; but wealth doth rather narrow and contract our spirits than amplify and enlarge our powers. Do but weigh these things, and I believe you will conclude, that there is no folid foundation of glorying in might or wealth.

DISCOURSE LXXXVI.

Men have nothing to glory of, but religion.

JER. ix. 23, 24.

Let not the wife man glory in his wisdom.

Now

OW I come in the next place to confider the o ther. And this hath a far greater pretence than either of the other two, as being nearer to us. The wife man to glory in his wisdom. I can alledge many things, as I have faid, why a man should applaud himself in wisdom; for 1ft. Wisdom is the excellency of a fpirit, which is the choice part of man, every man's foul is himself. 2dly. It is in itself a real truth, for wisdom is a reality, as much as folly is a privation and madness. 3dly. It is a thing that is permanent, and will be carried on to perfection; for nothing of this nature begun here will be loft: it may be swallowed up as a candle by the light of the fun, but it will not be extinct, it will not be vanquifh'd, but will be carried on to perfection. 4thly. It doth certainly recommend a man; for without any terms of diminution, a wife man is commended for his wif dom. 5thly and laftly. It is the proper improvement of our natural faculties. But yet we must not glory in our wisdom, for so faith the wife man, Pro. xxiii. 4. Labour not to be rich, ceafe from thine own

wifdom,

wifdom. For two reafons we cannot glory in our wisdom; 1. Because a man must not center in himfelf. 2. Man is to be fenfible, that as his being is precarious and dependent, fo alfo his whole furniture, all his endowments, all his acquifitions and superftructure. Here I fay three things. (1.) It is not competible to a creature to terminate himself in himfelf; for if fo, God is excluded, and there will be no place left for God in the world. (2.) There can be no pretence for it, as our cafe is, because we are fallen, we are in an apoftate ftate, we are degenerate, we have marred our spirits, we have spoiled our principles, by unnatural use; so that it is worse with us than it was, or than it should be. We are only valuable as we are recovered, and thanks to the grace of God for that capacity. (3.) And then there is the reason in the thing itself, why it should not be : for we are but in measure and degree, we have but in part, we understand but in part, we were never better than finite and fallible, therefore there is no felf-fufficiency, no foundation to glory.

Now to speak diftinctly to this head we must diftinguish wisdom. ft. Under this name and notion we understand worldly skill, dexterity, fagacity, the knowledge of arts and fciences; of tongues and languages. 2dly. We understand by this, carnal policy, that is a principle that rules much in this monftrous degenerate world; and this doth abfolve itself from the bounds of reafon and religion, and confiders only particular intereft. I will fhew you there is no reafon to glory in this, because it is our shame, as being a deviation from that which is good. 3dly.

There

There is divine knowledge, and this is true wisdom, and this the prophet doth reserve that we may glory in it; because this leads us to a conjunction with the ultimate end; this brings us to God who is the center of our fouls, and is to be final to us as much as he is original..

I. Worldly skill, dexterity and fagacity in the affairs of this life, is a thing good in its kind; for the third, the knowledge of God and of things celeftial, that is throughout good: and for the second, carnal policy, it is totally naught, it is the counterfeit of a thing; it is a thing degenerate, adulterate, and nothing is more branded in holy fcripture than that which we call carnal policy: it is the wisdom St. James speaks of, James iii. 15. that doth not defcend from above, but is earthly, fenfual and devilish. It is the wisdom St. Paul fpeaks of, 1 Cor. i. 21. The world by wisdom knew not God. For thus; it doth either fubordinate all to worldly ends, gain and profit, and favours not the things that are of God, gives God no real confideration nor place; either there goes along with it ftupid fenflefsnefs of the honour of God, of the difference of good and evil, of the rule and law of confcience; or grofs neglect of thefe; or elfe hypocritical diffimulation, pretence to honefty and confcience, but not out of any regard or refpect to God, or love to righteousness and truth, but the more effectually to deceive and to promote arbitrary felfifh-ends, fuch as are wholly excentrical and unnatural to religion; and this is profaneness and irreligion in the height. Yea it is the groffeft profanenefs, because it doth unduly practise upon and serve itself of religion and

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