An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty-fifth, thirty-sixth, and thirty-seventh chapters of…

They have somewhat which is Analogous to or like knowledge and wisdom, yet neither knowledge nor wisdom strictly taken. Some of the Ancients have reported to us,¹ the opinion of the Manichees, and Marcionites, who maintained, that the beasts of the earth, and fowls of the air, were endued with reason, properly so called; which opinion was by them justly numbered among heresies, and indeed a little reason may serve for the refutation of that opinion, which asserts beasts and fowls endued with reason; Though some other learned men in their time, and Great Philosophers have asserted as much as the Manichees or Marcionites in this point. Quintilian said, that beasts did rather want an ability ⟨p. 78⟩of speaking, than of understanding: And Plutarch endeavoureth to prove the same in his Dialogue about that Question, Whether brute Beasts have or are endued with Reason? But we affirm the wisdom of Brutes is only brutish, and at most, but similitudinary to the rational actings of man & a similitude of, or somewhat like wisdom and reason cannot with reason be denied them. It's said of the Serpent (Gen. 3.1.) that he was more subtle than any Beast of the field, which the Lord God had made. And when Christ saith, (Math. 10.16.) Be ye as wise as Serpents, he implieth, according to that in Genesis, that Serpents have some shadow of wisdom, somewhat like wisdom. And when the Prophet Jeremiah (Chap. 8.7.) saith, The Stork, the Turtle, the Crane, and the Swallow, know the time of their coming, he affirms that those Fowls have a kind of knowledge. Another Prophet upbraids men with the Knowledge of Beasts, (Isa. 1.3.) The Ox knoweth his Owner, and the Ass his Masters Crib, but, &c. Here in the Text, to learn or be taught is ascribed to Beasts, because they are tamed, broken, brought to hand, and made useful for the service of man. And wisdom is ascribed to the Fowls of the Air, because they keep their seasons duly, make their Nests safely and fitly, and bring up their young ones tenderly, with pains and diligence. There are very strange instances, scarce credible, given by Pliny and others, concerning the sagacity and docibility of some Beasts of the earth, and Fowls of the Air; we are told how they have acted more like rational creatures, than brutes: