Six sermons preachedSixe sermons preached

Have an eye to the future tense, that which ¹is not shall be. As for example, Solomon was wise but he is foolish, Sampson was strong, but he is weak, Judas was a preacher but he is a reprobate, Paul was a persecutor, but he is a preacher, Peter was a denier of Christ, but now he is a bold professor of Christ, Moses was learned in the wisdom of the Egyptians, but now he is learned in the wisdom of God, by which the wisdom of the Egyptians is made but mere foolishness in the sight of God. Other wise men, as heathen Philosophers, Plato, Aristotle, Cato, Crates, and such like, these were counted very wise men in the sight of the world, yet these were Gentiles that wrote so many •ookes full of wisdom, and all so adorned with notable sentences & witty sayings, that one would think all wisdom were buried with them, so famous were they, and so full of earthly understanding, teaching manners, counsels and policies: yet for my part I have neither seen nor heard of any such being wise in worldly things and without the wisdom of God, but that they have committed some notorious foolishness in the sight of all men, like Ahithophel, of whom we read ⟨p. 55⟩²that he was so wise a counsellor, and yet see the end of him, he hanged him self, and all for want of the knowledge of God. It were better therefore for him to have had more wisdom and less wit. Crates, Aristotle & Plato & all the rest of the wise Philosophers have either poisoned, burned, or drowned them selves, and so we see that the end of worldly wisdom is mere foolishness, and ³the foolish have more peace then the wise: for their wisdom without the fear of God doth them no more good, then the Ark did to the Philistines, which did nothing but ⁴torment them, because they knew not how to use it, and therefore unreverently abused it. For if your wisdom consist in eloquence of words, in profundity of wit, to gain craftily and spend warily, to invent laws, to expound riddles and interpret dreams, to tell fortunes, and prophesy of matters by learning, all these without the fear of God do us no more good then their wit did these Philosophers, which notwithstanding sate in darkness. And I am afraid though Christ brought light unto the Gentiles, yet it may be said, that the Gentiles sit in darkness still, saving a few Levites scattered upon the mountains, for whose sake Sodom is spared.