INSUFFICIENCY OF WORLDLY SCIENCE.—“It is insufficient to render men either holy or happy. For when the worldly wise have dived into the bottom of nature’s sea, they are able to bring up from thence, instead of these pearls of price, nothing but hands full of shells and gravel. Knowledge, indeed, and good parts managed by grace, are, like the rod in Moses’ hand, wonder workers, but turn to serpents when they are cast upon the ground and employed in promoting earthly designs. Learning in religious hearts—like that gold in the Israelites’ earrings—is a most precious ornament; but if men pervert it to base, wicked ends, or begin to make an idol of it, as they did a golden calf of their earrings, it then becomes an abomination. . . . Wherefore bethink thyself at length, O deluded world, and write over all thy school doors, ‘Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom’; over all thy court gates, ‘Let not the mighty man glory in his might’; over all thy exchanges and banks, ‘Let not the rich man glory in his riches.’ Write upon thy looking-glass, that of Bathsheba, ‘Favour is deceitful and beauty is vain’; upon thy mews and artillery-yards, that of the Psalmist, ‘God delighteth not in the strength of an horse; he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man’; upon thy taverns, inns, and alehouses, that of Solomon, ‘Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise’; upon thy magazines and wardrobes, that of our Saviour, ‘Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal.’ Write upon thy counting-houses, that of Habakkuk, ‘Wo to him that increaseth that which is not his, how long? and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay’; thy play-houses, that of Paul, ‘Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God’; thy banqueting-houses, that of the same holy apostle, ‘Meats for the belly and the belly for meats, but God shall destroy both them and it’; yea, upon all thine accommodations, that of the Preacher, ‘All is vanity and vexation of spirit.’”—Dr. John Arrowsmith.
“KEEP thy peace with God, and when thou awakest in the morning give Him the first thoughts of thy heart, and thou shalt no sooner bow thy knees to God but the Lord shall meet thee with a blessing, and when thou hast bowed thy knees to God thyself alone then go to thy private worship in the family, and when thou hast done this then go to thy calling and be faithful and diligent in the same . . . Ere thou go to thy bed, sit down and count every mercy that thou hast received all the day long, either in the private or public worship of God, in company or alone, and in making up thy accounts take up thy wants; so that was thy heart hardened, that thou could get no feeling of wants, if thou want the presence of God in thy calling then confess this before God, and desire mercy and pardon of all thy sins, either in neglect or in contempt of thy private or public duty, or thy forgetfulness of God’s mercies and blessings, or in hardening thy heart through
security, and this shall confirm thy peace when thou liest down, and the same peace shall stir thee up at midnight and it shall bid thee rise to serve God, for thou wilt think it over-long to lie still till the morning. But ye will think it hard to practice these things every day, yet take the yoke of Jesus Christ upon you and ye shall think it sweet; yea, thou shalt find it to be the sweetest burden that ever thou barest; and see that ye be not as that evil and slothful servant which got but one talent, and because he thought it too little, therefore he would not use it but went and hid it in the earth; so there are many that think these means impossible: no, no, try them, I pray thee, one day, and from one day to another, and from two days to a whole week, and then ye shall find the easiest and sweetest thing in the world is the yoke of Christ our Lord; but if ye will not try it (well) I can say no more, but ‘he that is filthy let him be filthy still,’ for I assure you the Lord is ‘coming with a reward in his hand, and will reward every man according to his works,’ and thou that findest mercy shall wonder that ever the Lord should have looked on such a vile wretch as thou art; yet this is the unspeakable riches of His mercy, that ‘whom he hath called, them also he hath justified’; but here is all the mystery of it, that ‘whom he has justified he has also glorified.’”—John Welch.