NOT to trouble you with any tedious Preface : The Romanes here in this Chapter may seeme vpon their new enlightning by the Gospell , not rightly to haue vsed those spirituall endowments which they did therewith receiue . For otherwise not long since they were a people of all most reprobate ; so farre from the light of Grace , that they became even void of common sense : What the Satyrist speaketh concerning Eunuchs in that they are dismembred , Quarit se natura , nec invenit — Petronius . might be affirmed of them in a more proper phrase ; they had by custome of sinne lost the very principles of reason : doing those things ( saith the Apostle ) which are against nature . Rom. 1. 26. But now at length through an especiall calling by God's grace , they were well rid of that wretched estate in which they lay ; being insteed thereof indued with many rare gifts both of the will & vnderstanding ; like men therefore newly recouered from out the dungeon into a comfortable sunshine , they doe not moderately enioy this so vnwonted a light , but with too much exultancie : they wax proud and high minded : Before they sinned in not knowing God or what was right , & now they take an occasion of transgressing from the abundance of their knowledge ; As the Apostle speakes of leaven 1. Cor . 5. that a little of it leaueneth the whole lumpe : so here chiefly by a little selfe-conceipt of knowledge , all their other graces are in danger to be corrupted .

Saint Paul therefore to coole and allay this heat of ambition is very diligent : first he adviseth them in the 6. v. aboue to measure themselues by their proper endowments : whither ( saith he ) you haue receaued the gift of Prophecie , vse prophecie , or of ministring , waite vpon your ministery : In the beginning of this 16th v. he biddeth them not to minde high things : not things which might serue rather to increase their tumour , then build them vp in the spirit . And lastly he presseth them with the words of my Text . Be not wise , &c.

Where may you be pleased to obserue two maine Division . parts : first a wisdome forbidden : and then what wisdome it is : The wisdome here inhibited may bee vnderstood , either in regard of the obiect , as Be not wise , that is , be not overcurious to prye into secrets vnrevealed : Iustin . in Comment . In which sense I will handle ; first , the profoundnesse of Divine Mysteries : 2ly , the danger if any shall presse too farre into them ; or you may vnderstand it in respect of the subiect , as Be not wise , that is be not conceiptedly lift vp in minde . Wherevpon I shall consider the weaknesse of humane knowledge ; & how at leastwise it is not our owne , but from God : Out of the second generall , whereas it is denied that we should bee wise in our owne conceipts , a rule or square may be thence supposed , according to which we may be wise , and that I define to bee either Scripture or Revelation . Of these in their order , and first of the profoundnesse of Divine Mysteries .

So deepe are most points of this art , that in truth P. 1. they are aboue the lawfulnesse of mans search . The Apostle in the precedent Chap : at the 33 v. tearmes them not incomprehensible , but rather {αβγδ} , things not to be inquired into : such as must bee reverenced and admired in silence ; Quod non potest comprehendi ( saith Lactantius ) nec quari debet : if mysteries cannot be sounded by vs , neither ought they at all to be discussed ; It is true that whatsoeuer may conduce to our happinesse , the Lord hath revealed most gratiously ; he hath giuen vs his word to bee our guid and comfort ; For as the Israelites were in the vast Wildernesse , so are we beset with sinnes and errours in this world : as they then iournied towards the earthly Canaan through conduct of those two pillars Exod : 13. v. 21. so may we walke safely on towards the heauenly by the guidance of his double Testament ; Nothing there is that may help to further vs , but it is either in both , or in one of them imparted : But as for high and sublime mysteries the Lord hath greatly concealed them ; hee hath as it were close lockt them vp : For suppose he did communicate and lay them open , they would not so much instruct our saithes , as amaze our iudgements . Flashes and strictures of lightning doe indeed enlighten the eye , but by reason of too subtile a nature they doe also hurt it : euen so mysteries too abstract are apt to dazle the weaknesse of reason , if they were presented vnto vs.

There are I confesse degrees of knowledge : the spirituall man vnderstands a great deale more then the carnall : his eyes be newly vnscaled by grace , as once S. Pauls were : but it is touching matters of saluation or faith : as for these hidden and abstruse points he is still dim-sighted . In the 5th of the Apoc . v. 2. tis said , who is able to open the bookes who but the Lyon of the tribe of Iuda ? It is meant of the booke in which such secrets lie coucht , and infolded ; where you may note , that wee , nay the best of God's Saints , are so vnfit to expound the contents , that wee may not so much as vntie the claspes .

Now the reason of this may be , both mans dulnes , and the abstractnesse of these points ; as for man , he is of an vnderstanding much darkned : what it was before the fall , whither as of a Viator , or a Comprehensor , or mixt as Aquinas Sum : P. 1a , Q. 104. resolueth , it matters not : but certainely he did not then apprehend supernaturall things more fully , then since hee doth scarcely and with dimnesse ; As the earth is , so are the earthly , of a dull and heauy capacitie , reason here hardly raising it selfe aboue the sense ; David acknowledgeth in this regard that he was ignorant , nay foolish , and as a beast , Psal . 73. Now on the otherside divine mysteries , whither they concerne God in his nature , or in his attributes , they are very sublime .

First God in his essence he is so pure , that he is purity and abstractnesse it selfe : as the eie be it neuer so cleere cannot see the thinnesse of the ayre : so neither can the eie of the minde truely imbrace the purenesse of the Dictie , because wanting as 't were a solid substance wherevpon to fix ; And therefore you may obserue how alwaies it falls downe streight vpon conceipts Anon : E●de Cardinal : Christ . operib . more grosse and earthly ; Cum accesser●● ( saith one ) longius abit , God the neerer wee labour to approach him , the farther wee shall finde him remoued beyond our search ; The Poet some where brings in Aeneas catching earnestly at Cre●sa's ghost , but that flying and escaping betweene his embraces : wee may puzle much about the diuine essence ; but euen then when wee thinke to haue laid hold on it , it proues incomprehensible ; say I am that I am is my name , was once the instruction of God vnto Moses , Exod . 3. v. 14. and let him be still what he is ? it is impossible that hee should be measured by mans weake braine .

Much lesse may that sacred diuision of the Trinity be perceiued ; how three persons are as it were grafted vpon one and the same essence : what the Schoolmen vrge by way of similitude from the vnderstanding , memory , and will , doth but badly illustrate the cause ; for if the Father begot the Sonne as the power of the vnderstanding produceth its act , then must the Sonne beget another Sonne as being with the same power indued : likewise as the Spirit is produced by loue , so shall it produce againe a Spirit by loue ; wherefore this instance fals short of a due resemblance : Yet is it I confesse the best helpe and shadowe for expression that either here wee haue or may expect : Whilst Moses kept vnvailed , the Israelites could Exod . 34. not indure to look vpon his face it was so bright ; neither may wee behold this mystery vnlesse it bee through such shadowes and that but weakly ; So then that which Tertullian hath here defined , is most remarkably Apolog . true : Deum astimari facit dum aestimari non capit : wee doe best apprehend God either in his essence , or in the Trinity , if we confesse that we cannot .

Come now to those attributes of his power , his will , and such like ; what man is able possibly to reach them ? Who doth not streight acknowledge his dulnesse ? So long as the vnderstanding meets with obiects equall and befitting it 's strength , it doth well enough ; but the hand you knowe cannot graspe a thing bigger then it selfe : neither can a finite apprehension throughly conceaue those properties , as being infinite : it doth well conceaue that they are infinite but not the infinitenesse ; hee is as high as heauen what can'st thou doe ? deeper then hell what canst thou knowe ? Iob . 11. v. 8. By the power indeed of the Almighty was this round world framed ; his arme and strength laid the foundation of it , no man doubts : but cleerely to apprehend the manner of its production , requires more then a finite capacity ; our vnderstanding is not able to passe ouer so vast a distance , as lyeth betweene an vtter nothing , and the newnesse of a being . Saint Paul makes it an act of faith to perceiue this , Through faith wee vnderstand that the worlds were framed , Heb . 11. 3.

Yet especially are those mysteries of his will and decree most abstruse ; for they be not only abstract in their owne nature , but also concealed by God of purpose , No man knoweth the things of a man saue the spirit of man which is in him , 1. Cor . 2. And a prudent man ( saith Solomon ) concealeth his knowledge , Prov. 12. v. 23. Now God is all wisdome , and for this must be as secret in his determinations , as he is iust and vpright ; whither he reprobates men absolutely , or vpon a presupposed fall , seemes a question of a perplext difficulty : Againe , whither he allowes sufficiency of grace to all or not , 't is easier to argue , then finde out wherevpon to pitch a setled assent . The Aegyptians to declare the abstrusenesse of their rites did place vpon the forefront of their Temples the picture of a Sphynx : how much more iustly may wee doe so ? So many scruples doe occurre in the bulke of diuinity , which if they be searched vnto the bottome , they far surmount humane reach .

I let passe here that great mystery ( as Saint Paule calls it ) of Christ's being incatnate ; that of the last restoring of our bodies , both which for their seeming impossibility , were points in times past which ancienter professors of the Christian faith did most hardly digest ; humane reason proued so incapable to entertaine them , that they became vnto it a rock of offence : Neither stand I to inlarge those disputes of the worlds consummation , of Antichrist , with others , not so rightly to bee tearm'd doubts as riddles ; Not the Angels themselues perchance do comprehend them , as being of that rancke into which they doe but peepe as before they did into that of the redemption of mankinde . Mirandula in his Apologie much extolleth certaine Cabalisticall volumes which he had , as if in them all such mysterious doctrines had beene darkly comprized ; for ( saith he ) besides the holy writ , God did so provide that whatsoeuer is to be known , might out of these be collected by the more wise and painefull Iewes : which his opinion he groundeth vpon Esdras . Esdr , 2. 14. This is but a meere fancy , yet so farre it agreeth to right , that by it is intimated the abstrusenesse of diuine truthes ; Out of whose womb commeth the yee ( saith the Lord ) Iob . 38. or , hast thou entred into the treasures of snowe ? If not into those naturall storehouses of yce & hayle , much lesse can we ascend into those spirituall ones of which I speak : Doubtlesse they are more remoued , and being heauenly they as farre exceed the compasse of mans wit , as the heauen is diuided from the earth .

Neither bee these alone of chiefest moment so involued , but lesser also and those which we perhaps do iudge our selues to vnderstand compleatly ; But that of Gods prouidence & the administration of the world , may seeme to haue stagger'd the kingly Prophet : how the wicked should still flourish , and the righteous bee Psal . 23. daily afflicted : the manner of the soules beginning , whither propagated or infused , did much trouble Austin and Hierom ; Caliginosissima quaestio ( saith Austin . one of them ) it is a question too intricate ; not to heape vp many : Lib . 2. Arnobius in the controuersie , why God permits sinne , sith he hates it , yeeldeth himselfe in a manner blanckt .

If any shall aske why divine truthes are so obscur'd , it may bee they are reserued to augment our future blisse , which shall consist as well in the enlargement of our knowledge , as the refining of our wills : when the vaile of ignorance is to be taken away , and wee shall knowe even as we are knowne , 1. Cor . 13. or perhaps it is to encrease the state and respect of them ; for men doe vsually esteeme that with greater reverence , with which they bee not so throughly acquainted . Vpon this ground the heathen also did , ( as Macrobius obserues ) In so●n . Scip L. 1. couch their religion vnder darke types ; thence so many fables and seeming toyes : with reverence to this policy , some heretiques likewise had their {αβγδ} , according to that of the Apocal . 2. 24

Howsoever , as long as wee remaine clothed with Durand● . this corruptible flesh , we be in such mysterious points but weakly grounded ; we haue onely assensum fidei an easie beleife , not assensum scientia , a peircing knowledge ; Religion is not as other sciences , it supposeth and takes vpon trust very much : which gaue occasion long since to the blasphemous Pagans to deride it as a groundlesse fabricke of the braine : it beleeues much and knoweth little , yea knowledge it selfe here is but a kinde of practicke beleife : If any man will doe ( Gods ) will , hee shall knowe of his doctrine , Iohn 17. v. 17. Take but Saint Paul for an instance , a man of rare excellency ; one who had beene wrapt vp aboue the heauens and himselfe : yet ( as himselfe doth imply ) he heard those things in his rapture , which afterwards he did not well conceaue ; nay in the argument of the Iewes reiection , and calling of the Gentiles , when he hath driuen it to a head as neere as hee can , he meets with a sea vnfordable ; hee is faine to sit downe as it were vpon the banke , and cry out , O the depth of the wisdome and knowledge of God .

I will conclude this point with the words of the historian ; Tacitus . that which he speaks of state misteries , may of these be more fitly pronounced , Non aliter ratio constat , quàm si vai redd●tur : it is the priuiledge of divine mysteries , that they be vnderstood of God alone . As for others , a bold enquiry here , is not more in everent , then full of danger and hazard , Which is my second point .

When men walke vpon prerupt and steepe places , they are subiect to full ; and so here by medling with these high points , an errour or heresie is quickly incurred ; yet such is the intemperate desire of knowledge , that men cannot bee bounded in the search thereof , Even our first parents in Paradise were not free from this itch ; where when all the trees besides De orthodox . religionc . L 4. were granted them for vse , they must needs tast the excepted fruit , which ( as Nicetas Chomates imagineth ) was nothing but an allegory or figure of knowledge . Hence in their posterity such lusting after nouelties : such an vnsatiate curiosity . In truth to asswage this humour in part , the Lord hath wholly exposed all the creatures to mans disquiry ; as it is said of the Leviathan , Psalm . 104. that God hath made the wide Sea for him to play in , that is to expatiate and take his swinge ; so hath he as it were made this lower world for mans delight and contemplation ; he may roue as , he list , and not only rest in the outside of things , but also lawfully diue into thee in most essence .

But for Divine mysteries , if we presse too farre , we become obnoxious to errors & slips ; for from whence sprang heresies of old in the Christian world , but from this fountaine ? Whilst men in the search of truth were directed rather by too much ambition , then an aduised modesty ; whilst they would needs be tampering beyond their skill in points of the chiefest moment . Hence is it that wee finde more heresies to haue arisen concerning those two greatest mysteries of the Trinitie and incarnation , then about all the rest : Arians , Nestorians , yea most sects did slumble at these blocks : The stomacke when it meeteth with meats hard and not well to bee digested , it sends vp noxious vapours into the braine : euen so these men lighting vpon points which were too knotty for them , and not being guided by discretion , insteed of doctrines broached their wild conceipts : For this cause wee finde the Fathers euermore cautelous and very retir'd . Read but St Hilary in his 2. l. See before the entrance of his dispute concerning the Trinity , how he puts on , and then falls backe , venters againe and recoyleth as fast : mihi ( saith he ) in sensu labes , in intelligentiâ stupor est : both my sense and reason are astonisht . The good Father may seeme rather to haue feared a surreptitious curiosity , then if he should Gelasius Cucycenus . bluntly haue betrai'd the cause . At the Synod of Nice where the same point was debated , the Bishops there expresly reiected the words , {αβγδ} or {αβγδ} : vndertake they would to proue the mysterie , but for the manner they durst not .

Such was their religious diffidence in these matters : and such others also ; to whom I could wish that the Schoolemen were not vnlike . But contrariwise what arrogancy doth wholy possesse them ? How respectlessely doe they thrust into the most hidden secrets ? It was a time when the Lord gaue command , Exod . 19. v. 12. that none , neither man nor beast should touch the mount where himselfe was . And surely there is great reason why the same edict should bee proclaim'd againe : this boldnes of some wits calling too nicely into dispute , those mysteries , which are more iustly to be adored ; Euer and anon they discusse the absolutenesse of their makers power : what may be effected by it , and what not : sometimes they argue his freedome and will , and happily limit it with some vaine distinction : Nay so audacious are many , that except they sport themselues in these mysteries they be not contented ; witnesse for instance sake those queries , whither God be materia prina , and , whither Christs divinitie might not suppositate a fly : which & such like doe not informe the minde , but truly wrong the maiestie of God : so that here I could almost applaud that sharp censure of iudicious Calvin , though in another case : Scholae in deterius semperaberrant , Instit . l. 3. the Schoolmen do alwaies incline to the worse hand .

Neither in this are the Arminians lesse to bee condemned : Who hath been his counsellour ? saith the Prophet concerning God , Isa . 40. 13. Whom among the sonnes of men did he choose for his assistant ? But they as confidently state those his Acts of election and reprobation , as if they had themselues decreed them : they soare vp on high euen into the bosome of the Almighty : men oftimes of greater reach in controversies , then of wisdome or discreetnesse . Our Saviour once tooke vp Peter , Ioh . 21. 21. but for that frivolous question : What shall this man doe ? Hee is offended with the Disciples for inquiring too narrowly after the restauration of the Iewish estate , Act. 1. 6. how much more is it to be feared that hee will sharply rebuke those forenamed intruders , if they learne not betimes to curb their knowledge ; Austin in one of his Epistles , hath a pretty allusion of a certaine passenger falne perchance into a pit : Obsecro ( saith hee there so falne to one comming to his rescue ) quomodò hinc me liberes , non quomodo huc ceciderim quaeras : stand not to expostulate with me how I slipt in , but rather kindly helpe me out : We are all falne through Adam into a wide gulfe of vnhappinesse ; let vs endeauour to recouer our selues : let vs examine rather by our course of life our hopes of blisse or not , then curiously looke it in the first decree . Our sinnes and miseries require the goodnesse of a mediatour : as for a Sophister to dispute the occasion we need not ; especially since , as Arminius himselfe concludeth , these points be not requisite neither to be knowne or beleeued : it is in his declaratione sententiae , before the States .

Yet are they still so fraught with subtilties , that the very pervsall may seeme of greater danger , then it can be of profit . How often see wee many here to suffer shipwrack , whilst they couet to goe farther then their ability or strength will permit them ? The Prophet David Psal . 36. compareth the iudgements of God to a depth , or an abysse . Now in a depth as long as we can finde footing , we be well and safe : but if that faile , a feare streight seizeth on vs of being plunged : thus in abstruser mysteries , as long as we can haue the help of reason too , wee may wade the more securely on : Et de Orpheoetiam Hygin Poet . & Astro . nom . L. 2. but when that once is swallowed vp , a mazelesse confusion must needs followe . You knowe what Poets faine of penthem ; he was torne but for viewing too neerely the rites of Bacchus : vpon which one of them

Such wisdome is madnesse outright ; You may remember how the Lord long since gaue vp the ancient Philosophers to vanish in their owne deuises , because they vsed the talent of their wits to idle disquiries , and not to the donours praise ; Let vs take heed least we deserue alike sentence , by trespassing too far vpon Grace , as they did vpon the light of Nature .

Neither doe I by this approue the lazie dulnesse of any : not of such who thinke it acutenesse sufficient to cry downe more acute disputes . Men may deseruingly canvase these points , if they shall in their discourses , be guided by reason , and not by fancy or boldnesse . It is here as it was in Ovid his Medea ; a matchlesse Poem ( saith the Rhetoritian ) si ingonio suo temperare Quintil . maluisset , quàm indulgere , if he had not beene too lauishly witty . We be placed by nature in a mid distance betweene beasts and Angels : thus also ought our knowledge to bee , lesse then that of Angels , as more then what beasts haue : wee must bee content to forgoe many difficulties , of wee can percance vnderstand any . But so it is , that thos● who meddle here , do for the most part exceed their limits ; as it happeneth in ambition of state , they neuer deeme themselues high enough , till they touch vpon danger . God in many places of Scripture is said to be a fire , as Deut . 4. v. 24. Ezek . 8. 2. If to a fire wee approach not too nigh , it comforteth , but otherwise it burnes and scotcheth : so here concerning diuine matters , a temperate knowledge instructeth vs ; but a superfluous or presumptuous search confounds the iudgement .

I will close vp this point with that of Salvian . Genus L. 3. quasi sacrilegae temeritatis est , vt plus seire cupias , quam sinaris : it is not so much curiosity , as a kinde of sacriledge , to prie into the forbidden secrets of Gods owne closet : it argues a soule presumption in vs of our strength , when as ( God knoweth ) our knowledge is but small and weake , which is my third point .

Knowledge indeed is the very light of the soule , a iewell inestimable : yet so apt are men to bee misled by arrogancy , that they inuert that to their harme , which the Lord hath bestowed on them for their greate vse ; I told you before of the danger of an encroaching wisdome : of drawing too nigh vnto the flaming bush , to which notwithstanding Moses might not . Now of this there is no greater an incentiue cause , then this of pride ; when men doe fauour more their own wit , then the iustnesse of the argument they haue in hand ; for this reason you may note how errours in times past brake forth most rife in the Eastern Churches ; there that of the Novatians , Eunomians , first tooke root , and indeed what not ? Whereas these of the West , as being placed vnder a duller clime , so were they for heresies losse disposed . The Valentinians ( saith Iraneus ) were men qui semetitsos perfectos , L. 2. & vniversorum agnitionem habere dicebant : they deem'd themselues as it were composed of wit and knowledge ; neither is it a rare sight to see men now adaies to slip from pride to errour : whilst not being seasoned with charity , they swell with selfe conceipt . Hence the Apostle layeth it for a principall and main ground of perverse doctrines , 1. Tim . 6.

But alas , what is the highest pitch of mans science ? or wherein doth he so excell , but in that he may bee said best to know , if he confesse his ignorance ; Can he sound the true depth of the least point in nature ? is be able to satisfie himselfe in any triuiall obiect ? Looke but vpon the loadstone , and thou shalt find as many amazing wonders , as there be properties . Consider the remora so called : shew mee how so small a creature doth check the tallest ship in its full course : view the curious frame of mans body : ponder the encrease of the buried seed , Vbique ( saith Scaliger ) clamandum Exercit . est nos nihil scire : one neuerthelesse , who did ( I beleeue ) iudge as charitably of himselfe , as another men . Reason and sense be the only or chiefe promoters of our knowledge in this world ; now these for the most part , are as subiect to errour , as weak in their helpes , whereby it hapneth that those things which we doe vnderstand , we know but in the tine & slightly : like Aesop's Fox , who did licke the outside of the glasse , when he could not come at the substance .