Chapter I
The nature of practical knowledge explained. The different judgments which men unregenerate and regenerate have of spiritual things.
I HAVE proved that the mind and understanding is corrupt ; that it is dark
as to any apprehensions of the things of God ; I have explained wherein
this blindness consists, and what are the causes of it ; I have described the
difference there is between the speculative knowledge of a godly man and
of one unregenerate; it now remains that I should plainly draw the lines
of difference that is between the practical judgments, or working knowledge of one and the other concerning spiritual things. This is necessary to be
done, because men whose minds are not renewed by the Spirit of God have some kind of judgment or practical knowledge about divine truths, which yet doth not arise to that knowledge which the regenerate have, and also because
that the chief end of these truths, if known aright, is to operate on our hearts and to set them a-work.
Now herein, that I may carry things clearly before me, it is necessary that
I lay open to you,
First, In general the nature of that kind of knowledge which we call prac
tical, that is, which works in and upon a man s will and affections by what we know ; and then,
Secondly, Come particularly to shew the difference which is between this kind of knowledge in one who is savingly enlightened, and another who is
not.
First, In the general, to explain what practical knowledge is. It is said
to be so in two respects.
1. Then knowledge is practical, when it affects, moves, and stirs the will and affections to the thing which it knows. I put in this, to the thing which
it knows, to set one difference between it and barely knowing knowledge. For
in speculative knowledge ourminds are wholly taken up and delighted with the bare knowledge and speculation of the thing ; and though the knowledge may and doth affect us, for it produceth such a pleasure, yet not tho things which we know. But when Ve know things in that manner as that our wills and affections are moved and stirred to the things themselves, as well as to the desire of or delight in the knowledge of them, it is called practical know
ledge. Or, 2. It is called practical when it is such a knowledge as is able to guide, manage, and direct our wills and affections, and other faculties in us, in the
practice and exercise of such actions, whereby we may come to enjoy the
thing which we desire. To give an instance by which this may the more
fully be cleared to you ;
180 AN UNREGENERA.TE MAN S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK IV.
A man may have learned the art of music, and know how songs are made, and all the rules of harmony by which they are composed, and he may be much delighted with this knowledge, and yet not have a mind to have a
lesson played, nor be much affected if he hear one, but he rests satisfied
barely in the knowledge of the art itself. This now is a bare knowing knowledge.
Another man, who knows not so well the art of music, yet when he hears
a lesson he understands the harmony, and is pleased and much affected with
it. This now is a practical knowledge, an affecting knowledge, because by
it his affections are carried to the thing itself perceived.
But yet, thirdly, it is a new business to teach this man, thus affected to
music, the art of playing upon an instrument, and to instil into him such a
knowledge and fancy as may guide his fingers aright to play a lesson which he understands, tbe art of which consists more in knowledge than in nimble-
ness of fingers. This also is a farther degree of practical knowledge. Now, to apply this to things spiritual, A man may have the whole frame of divinity and of spiritual truths in his
head, and yet they.may have no influence on his heart. He may have a form of knowledge and yet feel no power of it; Rom. ii. 20, An instructor
of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge, and of
the tr.uth in the law. He may have a pattern of wholesome words, 2 Tim.
i. 13, and yet have no experience of the things signified by them. Nay, he may be much delighted with such knowledge, and not have his heart affected with the things themselves which he knows in divinity. Though he knows what the true nature of love to God is, and of hatred of sin, yet his heart is
not excited to love God or to hate sin. Though he knows Christ and grace,
yet he doth not love, nor desire them, nor delight in them. Now this is a mere knowing knowledge.
But when he hath such a knowledge, as both works upon his mind and
will, arid stirs them and inflames them to those things which he knows, and makes him earnestly desirous of the attainment of God s favour and love, and of Christ s righteousness, &c. ; and also sets him awork, and guides him
in those practices, ways, and means which God hath appointed for the
attaining of them, such as faith and repentance, so as he knows how to do them, and how to frame himself and all in him as instruments in the
practice of them ; both these kinds of knowledge are called practical knowledge, and the one of them you may call affecting knowledge, and the
other guiding knowledge. And you shall find in Scripture such a knowledge spoken of as causeth you to love the things you know according to the worth
of them. Thus, there is a knowledge to love the things which are excellent :
* And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge, and .in all judgment ; that ye may approve things that
Phil. i. 9, 10,
are excellent ; that ye may be sincere, and without offence till the day of
Christ.. And there is a knowledge, too, which guides you in doing such
duties, whereby you may attain those things which are excellent, as is plainly supposed in Jer. iv. 22, For my people is foolish ; they have not known
me, they are sottish children, and they have none understanding
: they are
wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. There is a know
ledge implied in this text to do good.
Now, unregenerate men may and do come to have such a knowledge of
spiritual things as affects them with the things which they know, as those
hearers which are represented by the stony ground in the parable, received
: Mat. xiii. 4, 5, 20, 21, And when he sowed, some seeds
the word with joy
: some fell
fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up
CHAP. I.] IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 181
upon stony places, where they had not much earth ; and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth. But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it : yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while ; for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. And they have also such a knowledge which directs and acts them in many holy practices, as Herod, enlightened by the preach ing of John the Baptist, did many things
: Mark vi. 20, For Herod feared
John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him ; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly. It is then needful to inquire into the difference of this knowledge, as it is in a person regenerate and one who is not so.
1. I will begin to examine the difference in that knowledge which affects them with the things that they know. And,
First, In general, I will assign the reasons and causes how and why we come to be affected with the things which we know, by our knowledge of them. There are two things concur to this.
1. We are then effected with the things which we know, when we look
upon them and consider them not only as good, but as things of which we are persuaded that they are good for us, and that they concern ourselves, and make for our own ends, purposes, and desires. Observe it in your own hearts when you will, and you shall find that you pass by many things, which, though you know to be good, yet you regard them not ; but when your mind
lights on anything which it apprehends suitable to your present purposes and desires, then you are affected with it, and presently seize on it. As
it is not every stone, though a good one, that will move, and draw the iron
after it, but the loadstone only, because it hath a particular affinity, likeness, and sympathy unto iron in nature, and that stirs the iron presently ; so is it as to the objects of the mind. It is not what is good, but what hath a suit ableness to our thoughts and desires, and what we apprehend to be best for
us, which stirs us. The devils know the blood and death of Christ to be the
only remedy against sin and its guilt, and the only means to purchase the
greatest good ; but because this is represented to them no way in relation
to them, nor as concerning them at all, therefore they are not moved at the news of it ; so that practical knowledge is such as convinceth and persuadeth the mind that a thing is good and best for us. But, 2. If besides this conviction by reason, there accompany this persuasion a real taste, relish, and sense of the sweetness, goodness, and worth of the
thing which we apprehend good for us, let in at our understandings, so as we
really find, taste, and perceive it to be so, then we are stirred and affected indeed with it. And where this is wanting, though there be a large convic tion that the things are good for us, yet since this is but from bare and naked
apprehensions taken up from others, without our own tasting them to be so, this conviction, though it may breed some lazy desires and faint wishes in
us, yet none of them so strong as to be lasting. And therefore we shall find by experience that if two things, whereof one hath less goodness, be presented to us, yet if we have a real taste and sense of the goodness of it let into the
soul, it moves us more than the naked relation or consideration of that thing which is of greater worth, whereof we have not a taste; as the sight or taste of a piece of the meanest bread stirs an hungry man s appetite more than the empty narrations of the greatest feast. And therefore still you will find that all the reasons and motives which sway with you, and effectually move
you, may be resolved into some principle or conclusion whereof you have had a real sense and taste, and all the reasonings built thereon move in the force
182 AN UNREGENERATE MAN S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK IV.
and power of it. And the reason of this is, because indeed nothing moves us but realities, for our wills and affections are real things, and full of weight ; and therefore it must be a real taste of the goodness of things which moves
them, and not mere notions, and pictures, and empty descriptions of things by words. Such as is the cause, such will be the effect ; and therefore a mere notional knowledge will not work really upon us, but notionally only.
That knowledge, then, which works upon us, hath a taste and real sense of
the things known joined with it. And indeed God hath placed wisdom and
understanding in men to supply that office to the will and affections which
the tongue doth to the appetite and stomach, to take a taste of things, and
to relish their sweetness, and to discern what goodness is in them, and so
to admit and receive them. To be wise, therefore, and to taste, are signified by the same word in the Latin tongue, viz. sapere, and so in the Greek too some have translated pgovsTv, to savour or taste; in Rom. viii. 5, For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh ; but they that are
after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. Some interpret the word pgovoDo/, do taste, savour, or relish the things of the flesh. And Elihu, speaking of
knowing things, says that the ear tries words as the mouth tastes meats : Job xxxiv. 34, Hear my words, ye wise men ; and give ear unto me, ye that have knowledge
: for the ear trieth words, as the mouth tasteth meat. Let us choose to us judgment ; let us know among ourselves what is good. And so taste and knowledge are joined together in Psalni xxxiv. 8,
* taste and see that the Lord is good
: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. And tasting, and being enlightened, are also put together: Heb. vi. 4, 5, For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted
of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have
tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come ; that is, who are so enlightened as also to take in a relish of the goodness and sweet ness of the things. This only is to be added, that there are some things whose goodness our understandings taste immediately, as the pleasures of
the body, which yet, because the soul (where judgment hath its seat) receiveth them in, therefore the soul by the understanding judgeth them good, and so may be said to taste them, and this is scientia gustus, a knowledge of taste. There are other things which the judgment itself immediately tasteth, as
honour, credit, revenge, &c., and finds a sweetness in these, as our senses do in other objects. And the reason why God hath given the mind this
power of tasting things is, because otherwise it could not come to know the sweetness of things as they are in themselves ; as a man cannot be said to know truly the sweetness of meat unless he hath tasted it, because till then he knows it not with that sense which is made to receive the sweetness of
it, and discern it, and make report of it to the rest. So a blind man is not
said to know colours, unless he apprehend them as they are to be apprehend* d by their proper sense, which is sight ; and so the understanding tastes its
objects as well as the senses do.
Now, then, to apply all this unto spiritual knowledge, as there is a good ness and sweetness in spiritual things, even the greatest, so this is no way to be tasted but by means of the understanding, neither is the soul ever to
purpose effected with them till it tastes their goodness and sweetness :
1 Peter ii. 2, 3, As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. We are there said to desire, if so be that we have tasted how good the Lord
is, or otherwise our desires are not stirred. And so the apostle Paul prays for the Philippians, that love may abound in them, so as to approve the
things which are excellent, and with affectation to discern things that differ ;
CHAP. II.] IN EESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 183
and how was this to be ? In spiritual knowledge and sense, for the word is
* And this I pray, that your love may abound
: Philip, i. 9, 10,
doxtftdfyiv
yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment ; that ye may approve
things that are excellent ; that ye may be sincere, and without offence, till
the day of Christ. In all judgment, i.e. in all sense ; that is, as truly and
really to perceive the goodness of things spiritual by a true and proper sense and taste, as senses have perception of their objects. And therefore also
that knowledge which a regenerate man hath of good and evil is called exer
cising of this senses : Heb. v. 14, But strong meat belongeth to them that
are of full age, even to those who by reason of use have their senses exercised
to discern both good and evil. The word is didK^iffig ; and so the sight of God is joined with a taste of his goodness in Psalm xxxiv. 8, taste and
: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. It is
see that the Lord is good
of this kind of knowledge too that Christ speaks to the woman of Samaria : John iv. 10,
* Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of
God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
* If thou knew
est, saith he, the gift of God, i.e. the water of life, which is known as water useth to be by the taste and sweetness of it, thou wouldst have asked it. To this purpose also Solomon speaks in Prov. xxiv. 13, 14, My son, eat thou honey, because it is good ; and the honey-comb, which
is sweet to thy taste. So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul : when thou hast found it, then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off. The knowledge of wisdom is both a sweetness at the
present, which rewards it, and hath an expectation of a future good, of which
it shall not be disappointed. Thus likewise in Isaiah the prophet, speaking of that excellent spirit of wisdom which is in Christ, expresseth of him that he shall be of a quick scent or smell in the fear of the Lord : Isa. xi. 3, And
shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord : and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his
ears, as it is in the Hebrew. And the apostle, speaking of spiritual things,
expresseth that they have a savour which goes along with them : 2 Cor. ii. 14,
* Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.