upon this Question, What it is to be Wife ?

To extricate our Thoughts in fome measure out of this Confufion, we may diftinguish Wisdom into Three Kinds, viz.

The Wisdom of Grace,

The Wisdom of Nature, and
The Wisdom of Imagination.

I. The Wisdom of Grace is called in Scripture, the Wisdom from above; becaufe thence it cometh, and we cannot attain it without the Influence of God. Now the Power and Use of this Wisdom is to secure our Eternal Intereft, by the Means of Holy Living and Conformity to the Divine Will: And because this is our main Concern, and all the rest is but Lofs and Shame and Misery without it, the Style of the Holy Spirit allows nothing to be Wisdom but purely This, The Fear of God, that is Wisdom; And our Apoftle, who had large Ta

lents

lents of other Knowledge, which he might have boasted of, if they could juftifie the boafting; ftyles all Foolish. nefs, none worth the owning, but to know Chrift Jefus, and the power of his Refurrection. He that has this Wisdom has fufficient; and without it, the greater our pretences are to Wisdom, the more confpicuous is our Folly.

1

II. The fecond Kind of Wisdom is that of Nature, i. e. fuch as Men may have of themselves, thro' the Power of their native Faculties, and the Improvements of Industry and Obfervation. And from this Fountain has flow'd many commendable Fruits in all Ages; All Rules and Arts for the Conduct, Employment, and Accommodation of Life. But forafmuch as this Wisdom is often feparate from that of Grace, fo it as of ten turns to Subtilty and Artifice, to Doubling and Infincerity, to Deceiving and being deceived. This is that Wil B 2 dom

dom whereby our Saviour fays, The Children of the World are wifer in their Generation than the Children of Light: Wifer in their Generation, i. e. Wifer to ferve themselves in reference to prefent Ad vantages. Not that Worldly Men are therefore esteemable to have the better Understandings: It were in a manner Blafphemous to think, That Godliness did ever occafion Stupidity; or that it ever was occafion'd by it. The Good Man knows as many Methods of Management; but the Worldly Man is bolder to make ufe of all he knows: The Good Man walks on fimply in the Road of Providence, believing God's Bleffing to be his beft Portion; But the Worldly Man turns into every crooked Way, as if it were to make himself amends for the want of that Providence and Bleffing he has no mind to truft up. on: The Good Man looks upon the World as his Inn; and therefore is not fo follicitous for his Accommodations

here,

here, as he is for his Arrival at his Jour ney's End: But the Worldly Man looks upon it as his Home; and therefore imploys all his Care and Intention to make it as cafie and entertaining to him as he can. For Example;

In the firft Age of the World, Cain is faid to have gone forth from the prefence of God, i. e. To have caft off all Care of Religion; And this Personal Inclination of His form'd all his Pofterity to be Profane: On the other fide, Seth walked with God, and inftituted his Pofterity to the fame pious Care of being Religious. In the mean time we may obferve, That the Chief Inventions, which ferve both to the Use and Divertisement of the present Life, as the Form ing of Societies, Building of Cities, and finding out curious Arts and Manufactures are all attributed to the Profane Line: But it would be very Rafh for all this to conclude, That these were Men of better Parts and Capacities B }

than

than the other. The Children of Seth accounted it fufficient for their Happiness to be contented with what was needful, and to pursue the favour of God as the Confummation of their Enjoyments, which is undoubtedly the Supreme Wif dom. Whereas the other being deftitute of hopes from God, made it all their ftudy to procure such Enjoyments to themselves as might be had without Him. But let us obferve a little further, and fee what the World it felf was the bet ter for all these iffues of it's Wisdom: In the power of it Men brought in many agreeable Advantages; but thro' the Corruption of it they likewise brought in the Flood; wherein all were deftroyed but those few that had escaped the common Depravation. And what then is the Wisdom of the World but, (as our Apoftle calls it) Foolishness with God?

III. The Third kind is what I call the Wisdom of Imagination, that is, a Wif

dom