The beatitudes

1. Knowledge alone doth not make a man better,§1 therefore it cannot make him happy: bare knowledge hath no influence, it doth not leave a spiritual tincture of holiness behind; it doth inform, not transform: knowledge of it self hath no power upon the heart to make it more divine: it is like weak physic that doth not work; it doth not warm the affections, or purge the conscience: it doth not fetch virtue from Christ to dry up the bloody issue of sin: a man may receive the truth in the light of it, not in the love of it, 2 Thes. 2.10. the Apostle calls it [Greek or Hebrew] a form of knowledge. Rom. 2.20. Knowledge alone is but a dead form, having nothing to animate it: he that hath knowledge only, is a spiritual stillborn: he looks like a Christian, but hath neither appetite nor motion. Knowledge alone makes men monsters in religion; they are all head, but no feet, they do not walk in Christ, Col. 2.6. A man may have knowledge and be neglective of his duty, as Plutarch said of the Grecians, they knew what was just, but did it not: A man may have knowledge, and be profane; he may have a clear head, and a foul heart. The sun may shine when the way is dirty: the understanding may be irradiated, when the foot of a sinner treads in unholy paths; now then if knowledge abstracted from practice doth not make a man better, then it cannot make him happy.

1. Knowledg alone doth not make a man better,§1 therefore it cannot make him happy: bare knowledg hath no influence, it doth not leave a spiritual tincture of holiness behind; it doth inform, not transform: knowledg of it self hath no power upon the heart to make it more divine: it is like weak physick that doth not work; it doth not warm the affections, or purge the conscience: it doth not fetch vertue from Christ to dry up the bloody issue of sin: a man may receive the truth in the light of it, not in the love of it, 2 Thes. 2.10. the Apostle calls it 〈non-Latin alphabet〉 a form of knowledg.