O my Soul, abhor and mortify thy selfish Trust, and unbelieving thirst to have that knowledge of Good and Evil thy self, which is the Prerogative of thy Lord and Saviour. This was the sin that first defiled humane Nature, and brought calamity on the World. God hath set thee enough to learn: know that and thou knowest enough. If more were possible, it would be a perplexity and a snare, and he that increaseth such knowledge, would increase sorrow: But when it is both unprofitable and impossible, what a sin and folly is it, to wast our time, and tire and deceive our Minds, in long and troublesome searches after it; and then disquietly to murmur at God, and the Holy Scripture, and die with sad distrustful fears, because we attain it not: When all this while we should have understood, that this part of knowledge belongs to Christ and the heavenly Society, and not to sinful Mortals here; and that we have without it as much as may cause us to live and die in Holiness, Safety, Peace and Joy, if we can but Trust him who knoweth for us. Christ perfectly knoweth what Spirits are, and how they act, and whether they have any corporeal Organ, or Vehicle, or none: and what's the difference between Enoch and Elijah, and those that left their Bodies here; and what a Resurrection will add to Souls, and how it will be wrought, and when; and what is meant by the Thousand year previous Reign; and who they be that shall dwell in the New ⟨p. 356⟩Earth, and how it will be renewed! All the dark passages of Scripture and Providence he can perfectly resolve: He knoweth why God leaveth the far greatest part of the World in Satan's slavery, darkness and wickedness, and chooseth so few to real Holiness: And why he maketh not men such as he commandeth them to be; and why he leaveth serious Christians to so much weakness, error, scandal and division. These and all other difficulties are fully known to Christ. And it is not the Child, but the Father, that must know what food and clothing he should have, and the Physician that must know what are the ingredients of his Medicines, and why.
O my Soul, abhor and mortifie thy selfish Trust, and unbelieving thirst to have that knowledge of Good and Evil thy self, which is the Prerogative of thy Lord and Saviour. This was the sin that first defiled humane Nature, and brought calamity on the World. God hath set thee enough to learn: know that and thou knowest enough. If more were possible, it would be a perplexity and a snare, and he that encreaseth such knowledge, would encrease sorrow: But when it is both unprofitable and impossible, what a sin and folly is it, to wast our time, and tire and deceive our Minds, in long and troublesom searches after it; and then disquietly to murmur at God, and the Holy Scripture, and die with sad distrustful fears, because we attain it not: When all this while we should have understood, that this part of knowledg belongs to Christ and the heavenly Society, and not to sinful Mortals here; and that we have without it as much as may cause us to live and die in Holiness, Safety, Peace and Joy, if we can but Trust him who knoweth for us. Christ perfectly knoweth what Spirits are, and how they act, and whether they have any corporeal Organ, or Vehicle, or none: and what's the difference between Henoch and Elias, and those that left their Bodies here; and what a Resurrection will add to Souls, and how it will be wrought, and when; and what is meant by the Thousand year previous Reign; and who they be that shall dwell in the New ⟨p. 356⟩Earth, and how it will be renewed! All the dark passages of Scripture and Providence he can perfectly resolve: He knoweth why God leaveth the far greatest part of the World in Satan's slavery, darkness and wickedness, and chooseth so few to real Holiness: And why he maketh not men such as he commandeth them to be; and why he leaveth serious Christians to so much weakness, error, scandal and division. These and all other difficulties are fully known to Christ. And it is not the Child, but the Father, that must know what food and cloathing he should have, and the Physician that must know what are the ingredients of his Medicines, and why.
