unequal diftribution of other things, as of health and ftrength, of power and riches: but, if we will trust the judgment of moft men concerning themselves, nothing is more equally shared among mankind than a good degree of wisdom and understanding. Many will grant others to be fuperior to them in other gifts of nature, as in bodily ftrength and ftature, and in the gifts of fortune, as in riches and honour; because the difference between one man and another in these qualities, is many times fo grofs and palpable, that no body hath the face to deny it: but very few, in comparison, unless it be in mere compliment and civility, will yield others to be wifer than themselves; and yet the difference in this alfo is for the most part very visible to every body but themfelves.

So that true wisdom is a thing very extraordinary. Happy are they that have it: and next to them, not thofe many that think they have it, but thofe few that are fenfible of their own defects and imperfections, and know that they have it not.

And, among all the kinds of wisdom, none is more nice and difficult, and meets with more frequent difappointments, than that which men are most apt to pride themselves in, I mean political wisdom and prudence; because it depends upon fo many contingent caufes, any one of which failing, the best laid defign breaks and falls in pieces. It depends upon the uncertain wills and fickle humours, the mistaken and mutable interefts of men, which are perpetually shifting from one point to another, fo that no body knows where to find them. Befides an unaccountable mixture of that which the Heathen called fortune, but we Christians by its true name, the providence of God; which does frequently interpofe in human affairs, and loves to confound the wisdom of the wife, and to turn their counfels into foolishness.

Of this we have a most remarkable example in Ahithophel, of whose wisdom the fcripture gives this extraordinary teftimony, that the counsel which he counfelled in thofe days, was as if one had inquired at the oracle of God: fuch was all the counfel of Ahithophel, both with David and with Abfalom. It feems he gave very good counsel alfo to Abfalom; and because he would not follow it, was difcontented

Ser.41. difcontented to that degree, as to lay violent hands upon himself. And now who would pride himself in being fo very wife, as to be able to give the best counsel in the world; and yet so very weak, as to make away himself, because he to whom it was given was not wife enough to take it?

The like mifcarriages often happen in point of military skill and prudence. A great prince or general is fometimes fo very cautious and wary, that nothing can provoke him to a battle; and then at another time, and perhaps in another element, fo rash and wilful, that nothing can hinder him from fighting, and being beaten : as if the two elements made the difference, and caution were great wisdom at land, and confidence and prefumption great prudence at fea. But the true reafon of these things lies much deeper, in the fecret providence of almighty God, who when he pleafes can fo govern and over-rule both the understandings and the wills of men, as fhall best serve his own wife purpose and defign.

And as the highest pitch of human wisdom is very imperfect in itself, fo is it much more fo in comparison with the divine knowledge and wisdom. Compared with this, it is mere folly, and lefs than the understanding and wisdom of a child to that of the wifeft man. The foolishness of God (fays St. Paul, 1 Cor. i. 25.) is wifer than men; that is, the leaft grain of divine wisdom is infinitely beyond 11 the wisdom of men: but in oppofition to the wifdom of God, the wifdom of men is less than nothing and vanity. Let men defign things never fo prudently, and make them never fo fure, even to the Popish and French degree of infallibility; let them reckon upon it as a blow that cannot fail: yet, after all, the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand; and he will do all his pleafure: for there is no wifdom, nor underStanding, nor counfel, against the Lord.

And now we may ask the question which Job does, chap. xxviii. 12. Where Jhall wifdom be found? and where is the place f understanding? And we must anfwer it as he does, y 13. It is not to be found in the land of the living; unless it be that one infallible point of wifdom to which God directs every man, and of which every man is capable, viz. religion,

and

and the fear of God: Job xxviii. 28. Unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil, is understanding.

2dly, When knowledge and wisdom are with great difficulty in any competent measure attained, how eafily are they loft? By a disease, by a blow upon the head, by a fudden and violent paffion, which may disorder the ftrongest brain, and confound the clearest understanding in a moment: nay, even the excefs of knowledge and wifdom, efpecially if attended with pride, as too often it is, is very dangerous, and does many times border upon distraction, and run into madness; like an athletick conftitution and perfect state of health, which is obferved by phyficians to verge upon fome dangerous difeafe, and to be a forerunner of it.

And when a man's understanding is once crazed and fhattered, how are the finest notions and thoughts of the wifest man blundered and broken, perplexed and intangled, like a puzzled lump of filk, fo that the man cannot draw out a thought to any length, but is forced to break it off, and to begin at another end? Upon all which, and many more accounts, let not the wife man glory in his wifdom, which is fo very imperfect; fo hard to be attained, and yet so easy to be loft.

2. Neither let the mighty man glory in his might. Which, whether it be meant of natural strength of body, or of military force and power, how weak and imperfect is it, and how frequently foiled by an unequal trength?

If we understand it of the natural ftrength of mens bodies, how little reafon is there to glory in that, in which so many of the creatures below us do by fo many degrees excel us? in that, which may fo many ways be loft; by fickness, by a maim, and by many other external accidents; and which however will decay of itself, and by age fink into infirmity and weakness?

And how little reafon is there to glory in that, which is fo frequently foiled by an unequal ftrength? Of which Goliath is a famous inftance. When he defied the hoft of Ifrael, and would needs have the matter decided by a fingle combat, God infpired David to accept the challenge; who, though he was no ways compara

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ble to him in ftrength, and would have been nothing in his hands in clofe fight; yet God directed him to affail him at a distance, by a weapon that was too hard for him, a ftone out of a fling, which ftruck the giant in the forehead, and brought his unwieldy bulk down to the earth.

Or if by might we understand military force and power, how little likewife is that to be gloried in ; confidering the uncertain events of war, and how very often and remarkably the providence of God doth interpofe to caft the victory on the unlikely fide? It is Solomon's obfervation, that fuch are the interpofitions of divine providence in human affairs, that the event of things is many times not at all anfwerable to the power and probability of fecond caufes, Ecclef. ix. 11. I returned, (fays he), and faw under the fun, that the race is not to the fwift, nor the battle to the strong.

And one way, among many others, whereby the providence of God doth often interpofe to decide the events of war, is by a remarkable change of the feafons and weather in favour of one fide; as by fending great fnows, or violent rains, to hinder the early motion and march of a powerful army, to the disappointment or prejudice of fome great defign; by remarkable winds. and ftorms at fea, to prevent the conjunction of a powerful fleet; and by governing all thefe for a long time together, fo vifibly to the advantage of one fide, as utterly to defeat the well-laid defign of the other. of all which, by the great mercy and goodnefs of God to us, we have had the happy experience in all our late signal deliverances and victories.

And here I cannot but take notice of a paffage to this purpose in the book of Job: which may deferve our more attentive regard and confideration, because I take this book to be incomparably the most ancient of all other, and much elder than Mofes; and yet it is written with as lively a sense of the providence of God, and as noble figures and flights of eloquence, as perhaps any book extant in the world. The paffage I mean is, where God, to convince Job of his ignorance in the fecrets of nature and providence, pofeth him with many hard questions, and with this amongst the rest,

Job

395 Job xxxviii. 22. 23. Haft thou entered into the treasures of the fnow? or haft thou feen the treafures of the hail, which I have referved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war? The meaning of which is, that the providence of God doth sometimes interpose to determine the events of war, by governing the feafons and the weather, and by making the fnows and rains, the winds and forms, to fulfil his word, and to execute his pleasure.

Of this we have a remarkable inftance in the defeat of Sifera's mighty army; against whom, in the fong of Deborah, the stars are faid to have fought in their courfes. The expreffion is poetical; but the plain meaning of it is, that by mighty and sudden rains, which the common opinion did ascribe to a special influence of the planets, the river of Kishon, near which Sifera's army lay, was fo raised and fwoln, as to drown the greatest part of that huge hoft. For fo Deborah explains the fighting of the ftars in their courfes against Sifera: They fought (fays the) from heaven, the ftars in their courfes fought against Sifera; the river of Kibon fwept them away: as if the stars, which were fuppofed by their influence to have caufed those fudden and extraordinary rains, had set themselves in battle-array against Sifera and his ar

my.

Therefore let not the mighty man glory in his might, which is fo fmall in itself; but in oppofition to God, is weakness and nothing. The weakness of God (fays St. Paul) is ftronger than men. All power to do mischief is but impotence, and therefore no matter of boasting: Pfal. lii. 1. Why boafteth thou thyself, thou tyrant, that thou art able to do mifchief? the goodness of God endureth continually. The goodness of God is too hard for the pride and malice of man, and will last and hold out when that hath tired and spent itself.

3. Let not the rich man glory in his riches. In thefe men are apt to pride themselves: even the meanest and poorest spirits, who have nothing to be proud of but their money, when they have got good store of that together, how will they fwell and ftrut? as if, becaufe they are rich, and increafed in goods, they wanted nothing.

But we may do well to confider, that riches are things without