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An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty-fifth, thirty-sixth, and thirty-seventh chapters of…
An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty-fifth, thirty-sixth, and thirty-seventh chapters of the book of Job being the substance of thirty-five lectures / by Joseph Caryl ...
London: printed by M. Simmons, 1664
AN EXPOSITION WITH Practical Observations UPON The Thirty-fifth, Th… › Chapter 35 › Verses 9-13
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
But what? Are the fowls of the air endued with wisdom? I answer, First, wisdom is put sometime for that inbred subtlety, which is no more than an inclination to avoid that which is hurtful to nature, and to follow that which is suitable to it. That which is wisdom indeed is the proper and peculiar gift of God to men and Angels only. God hath given somewhat like wisdom to the ⟨p. 77⟩fowls of heaven, they have a natural forecast; But what is the wisdom, with which the fowls of heaven are endued, to that wisdom with which man is endued, those men especially, who (through grace) are heirs of heaven? What is the wisdom which beasts have by a common instinct, to the wisdom which man hath by divine instruction, yea sometimes by divine inspiration. Beasts and birds are wise, they are taught by God what is convenient for their state, yet the best of their knowledge is ignorance, and the top of their understanding folly, compared with man. And hence it is that when men act foolishly or uncomely, they are said in Scripture to be like beasts, to corrupt themselves like brute beasts, to be brutish in their knowledge.1 We may easily conclude the wisdom of birds and beasts extremely below mans, seeing whensoever man acts below himself, or doth any thing unwisely, he is said to be and do like a beast. The Hebrew word which we translate wiser, being applied in Scripture to Emmets or Ants, to Conies, to Locusts, to Spiders, (Pro. 30.24.) doth not imply, that they truly know either what or why they do such or such a work, it only showeth that the work which they do, hath an order, usefulness, and reason in it, according to knowledge. Solomon saith indeed, those four little creatures are exceeding wise, not that they exceed the wisdom of man, but among brutes they exceed, or are among them of the first form for wisdom. He maketh us wiser than the fowls of the air.
But what? Are the fowls of the air indued with wisdome? I answer, First, wisdome is put sometime for that inbred subtlety, which is no more than an inclination to avoyd that which is hurtful to nature, and to follow that which is suitable to it. That which is wisdome indeed is the proper and peculiar gift of God to men and Angels only. God hath given somewhat like wisdome to the ⟨p. 77⟩