-- CHAPTER IV: That wicked men, wanting this true wisdom, are fools.
with reverence and godly fear.' The word acceptably still is used, and this acceptable service chiefly lies in a holy skill to manage the mind and heart of a man in the performance of every duty; and this skill is a peculiar light which unregenerate men have not, and therefore know not how to produce the spiritual secret motions of good; duties, or the carriages of a man's spirit in them.
It is not enough neither to play the holy lesson, and to strike all the strokes with all the graces nimbly and quickly; but it is requisite to have skill to choose out good and true strings, suitable holy affections, and to have an ear to discern when they jar or are flat, being not wound up high enough (which God's ear regards and takes notice of), and accordingly to tune the heart aright. This art is proper only to a holy soul, and one unregenerate is entirely defective in it.
CHAPTER IV:
That wicked men, wanting this true wisdom, are fools.
This demonstrated by considering the nature of wisdom, of all the parts of which ungodly, men are proved to be destitute
Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man. ye simple, understand wisdom; and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart. Hear, for I will speak of excellent things, and the opening of my lips shall be right things.—PROV. 8:4–6
Here are some called fools, and a proclamation is made to them, and it is a word so disgraceful as I make no question, that there are many here, who, thinking as they in Jer. 8:9, 'Are not we wise?' will be desirous to know who are meant. Unto all of us in our state of nature, wisdom proclaims this, for hex voice is to the sons of men, ver. 4.
Because men regard and matter it not to be called fool by one who is
not wise himself, therefore, that they may be obliged to regard what is declared of them, wisdom itself is brought in as making this declaration: ver. 1, 'Doth not wisdom cry, and understanding put forth her voice?' Wisdom, with her own voice, proclaims us all to be fools.
Obs. The words, then, of the text afford us this observation, both of ourselves and other men, that all by nature, or in the state of nature, are fools. This is the next thing of which I am to discourse, in discovering how depraved men's judgments are by sin, that their minds are emptied of all true, solid wisdom, and are filled with nothing but folly. This is here asserted of all men in general; and it is easy to prove, by induction of particulars, that those, who, of all others, think they have reason to be excepted out of this catalogue, are yet included in it.
1. Learned men, and those who are the most skilled in human knowledge, and so are accounted the wisest, as they make wisdom their profession, yet they are termed fools; and it is asserted of them also, that in the end they prove themselves no otherwise: Rom. 1:21–
23, 'Because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.'
2. If we consider the most politic and wisest statesmen, who can rule and overturn kingdoms by their wits, yet all their deep wisdom is but folly, and comes to nothing: 1 Cor. 2:6, 'Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect; yet not the wisdom of this world, or of the princes of this world, that come to nought.'
3. If we look on the most civil sober-carriaged men, who live free from the grossest sins, and profess religion, and who are virgins, free
from common pollutions, and can pray and preach, yet these wanting grace are termed foolish virgins, Mat. 25:3.
But again you will ask, What wisdom doth he speak of, and mean, and imply that we want, when he thus calls us all fools, for there is much wisdom acknowledged in many other places of Scripture to be in unregenerate men?
1. They are wise enough in their generation: Luke 16:8, 'And the Lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light;' that is, they are wiser in their kind of wisdom, but it is not the best wisdom. As the crocodile is quick-sighted on the land, but dim-sighted in the water, so they in earthly things are wise enough, but this their worldly wisdom is foolishness in God's account: 1 Cor.
3:19, 'For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God: for it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.' God speaks this upon his own knowledge, for he knows their thoughts are vain; they think godly men to be fools: 1 Cor. 2:14, 'But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.' But God and his saints know them to be so. Now, all wisdom is to be measured by God's wisdom, for primum in quolibet genere est mensura reliquorum, the first in every kind is the measure of all the rest, and God is primarily and originally wise: 1 Tim. 1:17,
'Now, unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.' Therefore what he esteems foolishness is certainly so.
2. They are wise enough to do evil, Jer. 4:22, but 'to do good they have no understanding.' A man who can speak well to men, or hath a notable cunning head to contrive and bring about any villany, because his wit lies that way, is yet very dull in any matter of religion, and is utterly ignorant how to pray, or to do God any service which is required of him: Rom. 6:19, 'I speak after the manner of men, because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your
members servants to uncleanness, and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.'
3. They may be so wise as to know much in matters of salvation, when yet they are not wise to salvation, which is the true wisdom recommended to us by one who very well knew what it was: 2 Tim.
3:15, 'And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus.'
And now, again, you will ask, How came we thus to be all fools? The answer is easy and ready, we were all born so: Job 11:12, 'For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass's colt;' which of all creatures is the most dull and stupid. But, what! were we all made thus? No, certainly. We are not fools of God's making, for he created us in his image, which especially consists in knowledge and true wisdom: Col. 3:10, 'And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.' How, then, hath man, who at first was wise, become a fool? Why, truly,
Adam, our great-grandfather, played the fool by sinning, which is the greatest folly in the world: Prov. 5:22, 23, 'His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.' And so Adam befooled himself and all his posterity. Ay, but you will say, many, though they play the fool once, yet they become wiser by it. It is true they do so, if they have any wit left; but Adam by sinning quite lost all that he had, and that justly, for his sin was in coveting to get more knowledge than was meet for him. He would have been as a God, and so he was justly punished with the loss of what he had, and aiming at the shadow he lost the substance. But you will say, Foolish fathers beget wise children, and therefore, though he was a fool, it will not follow of course that we should be so. I answer, yes, it will, because that wisdom was given him as a stock and treasure, to be kept for us all, and so losing it we of consequence lost it also.
But that we may farther and more particularly demonstrate unto you the folly which is in wicked men, let us consider what true wisdom is.
1. Wisdom is more than knowledge, and then folly is more than ignorance, and many are witty who yet are not wise. The apostle makes this distinction between wisdom and knowledge: 1 Cor. 12:8,
'For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;' where by word is meant utterance, and by knowledge a man's being conversant about the truths, or falseness of things, but wisdom is concerned about their goodness or profitableness. That is wisdom's property to inquire into, and discern what is best and most advantageous; and that not in the general, but what is so to a man's self. It is the part of a prudent man (saith Aristotle) rightly to consult about those things which are good and profitable to himself. So that as knowledge enlargeth itself to all truths, and to whatever may be known to be good in the general, wisdom contents itself with those things which are profitable and useful; so Job speaks of wisdom as that which will make a man profitable to himself: Job 20:2, 'Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable to himself?' As also
Solomon advises a man to be wise for himself: Prov. 9:12, 'If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.' That is, if thou have grace and true wisdom, it will guide thee, as all true wisdom doth, to such things only as tend to thine own good and benefit, and thou wilt be wise to thyself. Now, though unregenerate men have never so much knowledge, yet because it enlightens not to discern what is good and profitable for them, but their lusts carry them to what is hurtful and pernicious, or which profits not in the latter end, therefore they are called fools: 1
Tim. 6:9, 'But they that will be rich fall into temptation, and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.' There we see foolish and hurtful lusts are joined together, as being one and the same.
2. It is not things less profitable, or good for some particular ends only, that true wisdom seeks out for and inquires after, but that
which is the chiefest good, the general universal good, which contains in it all true happiness, and will stand a man in stead at all times, and upon all occasions. This is true wisdom, to search out and pursue such a good as this. Thus (Aristotle says) he is absolutely a prudent man who reasons and acts about a common or general end or good, but he who only exercises himself about a particular one, is only prudent in some sort or certain kind. A man may be a wise soldier, able to lead an army, but that being but a particular end and good, he may be a fool in other things. A man may be wise to get riches, or to screw himself up into preferments, which are things profitable for a man's self, but yet these serving only for a particular end, and whilst a man is in this world, for they avail not at the day of death, therefore even such a man proves himself a fool in the end, that he made no better nor more lasting provisions for his happiness:
Jer. 17:11, 'As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.' But now grace and godliness are profitable for all things, and that also at all times: 1
Tim. 4:8, 'For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.' Whether we die or live, whatever condition we are or may be in, grace will render us happy. This, therefore, is the true wisdom, to seek grace, and the love and favour of God above all things; this is true wisdom, and therefore called wisdom unto salvation, 2 Tim. 3:15. Take, therefore, the poorest Christian, the most ignorant and simple man, one who is a mere fool in all manner of worldly business, yet if his mind be exercised in seeking after the chiefest good, and busied about that one thing necessary, the saving of his soul (which one necessary thing Christ calls the better part:
Luke 10:42, 'But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.') He is become truly wise, though otherwise a fool. Though he is a fool, he shall not err in respect of holiness, when God teacheth him: Isa. 35:8, 'And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.' Solomon, on
the contrary, was a wise man, and used his wisdom to find out what was that good for the sons of men, and he went over all pleasures here below; but, however, he was befooled in it, and he laid hold on folly in doing so: Eccles. 2:3, 'I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine (yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom), and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life.' The philosophers also spent all their brains in seeking out the chiefest happiness for man, but because they missed it, placing it some in riches, some in pleasures, some in honours, &c., therefore herein they are proclaimed fools: Rom. 1:22, 'Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.'
3. True wisdom, as it finds the true and most general good, so it directs to the best means for the attainment of this end; therefore
Solomom says that wisdom is profitable to direct: Eccles. 10:10, 'If the iron be blunt, and he do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength: but wisdom is profitable to direct.' Now, what are those means? To believe in Christ in the first place, and to love and fear God, and to live in holy obedience, and to serve him sincerely.
And to make use of these means was the conclusion to which Solomon's wisdom in the end came: Eccles. 12:13, 'Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.' And accordingly,
God himself tells us that this is wisdom and understanding, to keep the statutes which he hath given to us: Deut. 4:5, 6, 'Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither you go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.' And so in Eph. 5:17, 'Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.' Prov. 28:7,
'Whoso keepeth the law is a wise son: but he that is a companion of riotous men shameth his father.' He who knows the ways of wisdom, then, is convinced of the necessity of Christ, of regeneration, of faith
in Christ, and to be strictly holy, and such an one is wise. But he who is ignorant of these, and would search out other means of his happiness, is a fool. When Solomon would find out the true causes of folly, and wherein it consists, for that is the matter of his search, in Eccles. 7:25, 'I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness:' when I say he would find out the original and nature of folly, he says, ver. 29, 'Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.' That is to say, Man hath been so foolish as to seek other means to be happy than what are appointed by God, and so are only true, and right, and effectual.
4. That wherein especially wisdom consists, is when a man is enabled to choose that best end and good, and the fittest and most successful means to obtain it. The chiefest part of prudence lies in a due application to work, not only to consult, for this wicked men can do, but to judge what is best to be done, and to set about the doing it in the properest manner. Thus Solomon says, Prov. 13:16, 'Every prudent man dealeth with knowledge: but a fool layeth open his folly.' A wise man worketh or dealeth with knowledge, that is, orders all his actions and works by it, and keeps himself to this as his rule:
Prov. 15:2, 'The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright: but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness.' And so we are commanded to walk exactly according to rule: Eph. 5:15, 'See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise.' The word is ἀκριβῶς, exquisitely, exactly, so as not to swerve a tittle from the rule. A wise man is enabled with skill to walk according to his pattern, but a fool now cannot keep himself to any pattern. Now, then, because all wicked men walk not according to the rule of the word, but reject
God's commandments, therefore they are said to be utterly destitute of all true wisdom: Jer. 8:9, 'The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the Lord; and what wisdom is in them?' And therefore wisdom cries to men as being fools, and reproves them for not choosing the fear of the Lord:
Prov. 1:20, 22, 29, 'Wisdom crieth without, she uttereth her voice in