LIV.

whereof a scholar may conveniently or handsomely SERM. be ignorant; seeing there is such a connection of things, and dependence of notions, that one part of learning doth confer light to another, that a man can hardly well understand any thing without knowing divers other things; that he will be a lame scholar, who hath not an insight into many kinds of knowledge; that he can hardly be a good scholar, who is not a general one.

To understand so many languages, which are the shells of knowledge; to comprehend so many sciences, full of various theorems and problems; to peruse so many histories of ancient and modern times; to know the world, both natural and human; to be acquainted with the various inventions, inquiries, opinions, and controversies of learned men; to skill the arts of expressing our mind, and imparting our conceptions with advantage, so as to instruct or persuade others; these are works indeed, which will exercise and strain all our faculties (our reason, our fancy, our memory) in painful study.

The knowledge of such things is not innate to us; it doth not of itself spring up in our minds; it is not any ways incident by chance, or infused by grace, (except rarely by miracle;) common observation doth not produce it; it cannot be purchased at any rate, except by that, for which it was said of old, the gods sell all things, that is for pains; with- Dii laboriout which, the best wit and greatest capacity may vendunt. not render a man learned, as the best soil will not yield good fruit or grain, if they be not planted or sown therein.

Consider, if you please, what a scholar Solomon was beside his skill in politics, which was his prin

bus omnia

9.

LIV.

SERM. cipal faculty and profession, whereby he did with admirable dexterity and prudence manage the affairs 1 Kings iii. of that great kingdom, judging his people, and discerning what was good and bad; accurately dispensing justice; settling his country in a most flourishing state of peace, order, plenty, and wealth; 1 Kings iv. largely extending his territory; so that his wisdom of this kind was famous over the earth: beside, I say, this civil wisdom, he had an exquisite skill in natural philosophy and medicine; for he spake of trees, or plants, from the cedar that is in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes.

20, 25.

x. 27.

iv. 21, &c. x. 6, 24.

iv. 33.

30.

He was well versed in mathematics; for it is said, I Kings iv. Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east-country, and all the wisdom of Egypt; the wisdom of which nations did consist in those sciences. And of his mechanic skill he left for a monument the most glorious structure that ever stood on earth.

32.

He was very skilful in poetry and music; for 1 Kings iv. he did himself compose above a thousand songs; whereof one yet extant declareth the loftiness of his fancy, the richness of his vein, and the elegancy of his style.

He had great ability in rhetoric; according to Wisd. vii. that in Wisdom, God granted me to speak as I Eccles. xii, would; and that in Ecclesiastes, The preacher Kings viii, sought to find out acceptable words; a great in

15.

stance of which faculty we have in that admirable prayer of his composure at the dedication of the temple.

He did wonderfully excel in ethics; concerning

I

32.

which he spake three thousand proverbs, or moral SERM. aphorisms; and moreover, saith Ecclesiastes, because LIV. the preacher was wise, he still taught the people 1 Kings iv. knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, Eccles. xii. and set in order many proverbs; the which did 9 contain a great variety of notable observations, and useful directions for common life, couched in pithy expressions.

&c.

As for theology, as the study of that was the chief Prov. ii. 5, study to which he exhorteth others, (as to the head, or principal part, of wisdom,) so questionless he was himself most conversant therein; for proof whereof he did leave so many excellent theorems and precepts of divinity to us.

In fine, there is no sort of knowledge, to which he did not apply his study; witness himself in those words, I gave my heart to seek and search out by Eccles. i. wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven.

13.

Such a scholar was he; and such if we have a noble ambition to be, we must use the course he did; which was first in his heart to prefer wisdom before all worldly things; then to pray to God for it, or for his blessing in our quest of it; then to use the means of attaining it, diligent searching and hard study; for that this was his method he telleth us; I, saith Eccles. vii. he, applied my heart to know, and to search, and 25. to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things.

Such considerations shew the necessity of industry for a scholar.

But,

3. The worth, and excellency, and great utility, together with the pleasantness of his vocation, deserving the highest industry, do superadd much obligation thereto.

SERM. We are much bound to be diligent out of inLIV. genuity, and in gratitude to God, who by his gracious providence hath assigned to us a calling so worthy, an employment so comfortable, a way of life no less commodious, beneficial, and delightful to ourselves, than serviceable to God, and useful for the world.

If we had our option and choice, what calling could we desire before this of any whereto men are affixed? How could we better employ our mind, or place our labour, or spend our time, or pass our pilgrimage in this world, than in scholastical occupations?

It were hard to reckon up, or to express, the numberless great advantages of this calling: I shall therefore only touch some, which readily fall under my thought, recommending its value to us.

It is a calling, the design whereof conspireth with the general end of our being; the perfection of our nature in its endowments, and the fruition of it in its best operations.

It is a calling, which doth not employ us in bodily toil, in worldly care, in pursuit of trivial affairs, in sordid drudgeries; but in those angelical operations of soul, the contemplation of truth, and attainment of wisdom; which are the worthiest exercises of our reason, and sweetest entertainments of our mind; the most precious wealth, and most beautiful ornaments of our soul; whereby our faculties are improved, are polished and refined, are enlarged in their power and use by habitual accessions: the which are conducible to our own greatest profit and benefit, as serving to rectify our wills, to compose our affections, Prov.ii. 4, to guide our lives in the ways of virtue, to bring us unto felicity.

10, II.

It is a calling, which, being duly followed, will SERM. most sever us from the vulgar sort of men, and ad- LIV. vance us above the common pitch; enduing us with light to see further than other men, disposing us to affect better things, and to slight those meaner objects of human desire, on which men commonly dote; freeing us from the erroneous conceits and from the perverse affections of common people. It is said, διπλοῦν ὁρῶσιν οἱ μαθόντες γράμματα, men of learning are double-sighted: but it is true, that in many cases they see infinitely further than a vulgar sight doth reach. And if a man by serious study doth acquire a clear and solid judgment of things, so as to assign to each its due weight and price; if he accordingly be inclined in his heart to affect and pursue them; if from clear and right notions of things, a meek and ingenuous temper of mind, a command and moderation of passions, a firm integrity, and a cordial love of goodness do spring, he thereby becometh another kind of thing, much different from those brutish men (beasts of the people) who blindly follow the motions of their sensual appetite, or the suggestions of their fancy, or their mistaken prejudices.

It is a calling which hath these considerable advantages, that, by virtue of improvement therein, we can see with our own eyes, and guide ourselves by our own reasons, not being led blindfold about, or depending precariously on the conduct of others, in matters of highest concern to us; that we are exempted from giddy credulity, from wavering levity, from fond admiration of persons and things, being able to distinguish of things, and to settle our judgments about them, and to get an intimate acquaintance with them, assuring to us their true nature and