Learning and knowledge recommended to the scholars of Brentwood School in Essex in a sermon preached at their first feast, June 29, 1682 / by William Payne ...

PROV. 1.7. latter part Fools despise Wisdom and Instruction.

THose who have best consider'd and un∣derstood the World, the Ancient as well as the New Philosophers, have always made one system of it, and represented it not only as an aggregate and heap of Beings, but as one Compacted and Beautiful, and well composed Body, of which we were all the lesser Parts and Members: And tho they seem to have too strait and narrow thoughts of God and his Creation, who think he made the whole Universe, the Sun and Moon and whole host of Heaven only for the benefit of this lower Earth, this little point in respect of the vast expansum that is above, yet its more than probable they were all designed, and all the numerous creatures in them to be

subservient and useful to the whole and to one another, in due proportion and fitness they are mutually to correspond and serve each other, and keep such exact harmony as the great 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 has tuned and ordered them for. Mankind 'tis certain were made for mutual help, advantage, and assistance to each other, & do therefore naturally fall into Societies and combinations that may better promote their own private and the public good; they find it necessary to enter into several Companies and Corporations, that they may carry on all good offices, and beneficiall commerce with one another, & thereby increase the common Stock of happiness in which their own is in∣cluded. However the Hobbists have slandered humane nature, and drawn a false picture of it from themselves, and their own ill tempers, and made it a timorous and yet a ravenous Monster with long fangs and talons, sharp teeth and claws ready to devour and prey upon its own kind, yet that in it self is very tame and gentle and good natured, in∣clined to love and sociableness, and there is nothing more agreable to it, nor more delight∣full

than mutual friendship and kindness; to this Nature has tied us by the first and the fastest ligaments even those in our Mothers Womb, those vasa umbilicalia, by which we are united to our Parents as well as nourish'd by them; and as we cannot be born out of society, and in such a wild state of nature as they would suppose us, so these ties of Birth and Bloud do most strongly bind and fasten us together as far as they reach: And the next cement of friendship to this of nature, if not a stronger, is that of an acquaintance, and society in our first tender years, the having our first sprightly Spirits mixt as it were and fermented together. The kind impressions that were then made upon us when we were soft and fluid, harden afterwards and become firm as in Adamant; like characters cut upon the young and tender bark, they continue and grow greater as the tree increases: Friend∣ship which is thus early planted in the same mold, rootes the deeper, and grows the stronger, and is ready ever after to clasp and embrace its old associates with the greatest confidence and satisfaction. 'Tis this Gentle∣men

and School-fellows, has brought us here together, and first to the Temple and the House of God, the School of all Vertue and Religion; that as the Ancients used to confirm friendship with Sacrifices, and owed Learning and Letters to be the gift and invention of their Gods, and therefore their Priests even from the Egyptians, were the great preservers of them, so for both those accounts we should begin with Religion: And as that is the best guaranty of all friendship and society, without which they are all but so many Treacherous Associations against Heaven, so we cannot surely but have a just sence of it when we consider how Providence in a few years has brought us at least some of us, through unseen ways to our present circumstances and condition; when we see the great advantages we have had by the Blessing of God, from our first early and happy Education, and the great reason we have to give Heaven our most hearty Thanks, that we were not of the number of Solomons Fools, who despise Wisdom and In∣struction.

None of those are here, they are without ploding to get mony, they are minding things as they think, of more necessary importance, and lading themselves with thick clay, they are for no wisdom but with an inheritance, nor for any instruction but how to Thrive or grow Rich, they care for nothing further in Grammar than that of meum and tuum, nor are for any Latin but a noverint Ʋniversi, and above all Printing they admire King Pergamus his way, the writing upon Parch∣ment, and they keep no other Books but such by them, with all the various titles and editi∣ons of Leases, Morgages, and Purchases; and those they are well read in, and understand without a Dictionary. And thus with full Pock∣ets and empty Heads, with Gold in their Bags, perhaps about their Necks, and Lead in their Skulls, these laden Asses despise and spurn at Learning, because it has not always such Rich trappings as themselves.

But the best sort of Tools, they say, to get Mony are made of Lead, or at least a great mixture of that Mettal; and the finer Ores are nothing so serviceable to that purpose.

And there are a sort of the dullest and most scraping Animals who live always in earth, and have but very little or no eves.

But there are more Mercuinal Fools, who are abroad Travelling to learn French before they can well read or spell English, their carefull Mothers thought Latin not so good a Language to make a leg with, and that Greek might be apt to make the Child stam∣mer, so she sends them early abroad to learn the more important arts of dressing and wear∣ing Feathers, of making Court and Address; and so their Learning ever after lyes in comb∣ing their Wiggs, and putting on their Cra∣vats, and they prove eternall Students upon their own Looking-glasses; they shrug and throw their Heads modishly, and tread much more exactly than they think; but all Learn∣ing they contemn, because 'tis bald and weares ruff, and cannot fancy the Muses because they are ill drest; with great judgment they prefer a French face before Virgil and Homer, and see more wit in Scaramouchies face than in all the Antients put together, and despise all the Greek and the Roman Histories in respect of

the amours of the French Court. One of these men would fain be an Atheist but he has not skill to read Lucretius, and so is fain to be a small retailer at Atheism and Prophaneness, as he picks it up in little parcells from a Play or a Lampoon; and that we may be well assured that he despises nothing like Learn∣ing unless it be Religion, he thinks nothing in the World so contemptible as a Parson and a School-master, and next to himself he thinks nothing so accomplish'd as a Dancing-master or a Player, and who of all these is the worthier man we must leave it as a dispute among them∣selves. But lest showing you the Picture of these Fooles should make us too merry, let us seriously consider the reall good and excel∣lency that accrues from that Wisdom and In∣struction that they despise, and I shall endae∣vour to represent that to you upon these four accounts.

• 1. As it improves a mans own mind.
• 2. As it fits him to do good in the World.
• 3. As it entertains a mans Time and his Life with the greatest pleasure.
• 4. As it is usefull to the concerns of Religion.

1. As it improves a mans own mind. It is a very probable opinion of the Wisest men and Philosophers, that humane Souls are all equal, that Nature like a just and impartial Mother, as she has made us all out of the same clay, the same Flesh and Bloud, so she has equally divided Reason and Understanding amongst us as a common Portion, and given us intellectuall powers and faculties of the same size and bigness, and that which makes them so much differ at so great a rate, that the souls of some men seem to be at as high a pitch above the lowest of others, as they do above the best sort of Brutes, is besides the various temperament of the Body and contex∣ture of the Brain from their Education. 'Tis this which cultivates and improves the Soil into Riches and Fruitfulness, that would all without it be barren and wilderness; and carves & works the same wood into a piece fit to adorn the Temple of God, or the Palaces of Princes, that would else have bin but an heavy block, and useless log: As Naturalists tell us those active and spirituous parts that are in most Bodies are lock'd up and imprison'd un∣til

they are freed and unloosed by heat and such like exaltations; so that reason which is in human minds sunk and opprest with heavy matter is to be excited & sublimed by a course of study and learned preparations; and this it is sometimes in so high a degree, that the strong∣est Spirits of wit and reason have bin drawn off from the lees as it were of mankind and the lowest parts; and some who gave no man∣ner of promises at first, yet by means of a kindly Education have blown and ripen'd tho perhaps more slowly, yet to considerable improvements; so that one would think that these after they became Proselytes to Learning had as the Jews imagin'd of the Profelytes to their Religion, a New soul put into them.

Reason is the greatest perfection of humane Nature, but like a Diamond it is naturally rough until Education polish and well set it, and without that we see how it sinks into brutish sottishness in the untaught and uncivi∣lized part of mankind.

There can be nothing so perfective of our be∣ings, so much worth our utmost care and desires as a wise and well improved mind, a

defect of reason and understanding is the greatest blemish of humane nature beyond that of the worst deformity; and their is no∣thing so low and contemptible in the opinion of every one as to be a Fool and a Block-head; he that can endure if not boast himself to be Vitious and Debaucht cannot bear that, and tho our age has endeavored as much as it can to make vice creditable, and lessen the vertuous and morall improvements of the mind, yet it has kept so much of humanity as to give the greatest Honour, even above every thing else, to wit and good understanding.

And what is that, but a filling the mind with true conceptions and lively idaeas, the storing and enriching it with the best knowledg of things, and the most curious Images and Pictures of them, the enlarging and open∣ing it to the Noblest truths, and letting it see and behold all things that God and Nature has set round about it.

These are some crawling Souls that look only downward, and mind nothing but what is just under their feet, Creatures that are con∣cern'd no further than their own stye and

troughr, and have no larger compass for their thoughts than the kennell they sleep in; and how shrunk and little do their minds grow, how do they shrivel and dry up to nothing; I will not say how ill was reason bestow'd upon them, but how ill do they use that greatest gift of God to men, and hide that noble Talent in a Dunghill. How is their soul only like Salt to keep their Body sweet, and preserve the hog from stinking; how would it tempt one to think that was even ma∣terial, and like the anima brutorum.

It has been the conceit of many that the soul is but a rasa tabula, a kind of fair unwrit∣ten Paper till it has received impressions from without, and in these men it continues a per∣fect blank, or at least 'tis onely a little seroled with some odd marks, and here and there blot∣ted and blur'd over; 'Tis onely Wisdom and Instruction that fill it with fair and excellent Characters, that writ things upon it in their natural shape and order, that draw them to the Life, and in their true colours and postures, and describe upon it the greatest remarques and concerns that are or have been in the

World: And by these means make it instead of a dark and hollow Cave, fill'd only with damps & ugly spectres, a pleasant and delight∣full Store-house of the richest truth and the choicest knowledg.

2. As it fits a man to do good i'the World, and I think it deserves not the name of Wise∣dom that does not some way or other do that; if a mans Learning be only about toyes and trifles, however odd and pretty he may con∣trive them, and be not an instrument that will serve to any usefull purposes for man∣kind; if instead of making a little City great with Themistocles, it teach him only to play on the fiddle; if it be only a critical knowing words without things, a making Elymologies and Cognations with those that are no way related, a contriving nice terms and distincti∣ons to loose plain sence, a studying Judiciary Schemes, and fancifull Cabalas, and myste∣rious Zoars, 'tis then onely a more Learned sort of folly and ignorance; he that Studies hard only for those things, is much like him that should Travel over a great part of the World to make a collection of the tayls of Monkeys, or the fins of flying Fishes. Man∣kind

is like to be more benefited by the labors of a Porter, or a Ploughman, than by such tri∣fling and useless pedantry: But those things which are most beneficial to the World, which really conduce to the comfort, and welfare, and happiness of Mankind, are best carried on by the help of the truest Learning, and best Knowlege; Physick that preserves our health, and restores it, is founded in natural Know∣lege and Phylosophy; Navigation that brings us all the Conveniences and Riches of the World in Astronomy and Geometry, the knowlege of Law and Government upon that of Ancient Codes and Histories, as well as modern; and Divinity it self upon almost all others, and especially the knowlege of true Moralls, of Tongues, and Ecclesiastical Anti∣quity; without which, instead of Physicians and Merchants, we should have only Mounte∣banks and Pedlars; and instead of Lawyers and Divines, only Pettifoggers and Divinity Quacks.

And in all things whatsoever the more dex∣trous and ready and nimble any part is, the more subservient will it be to the uses of the

whole Body; and Knowlege in general is the same thing to Practice that Sight is to Walking, it shews us the realities of things, and dispells the shadows and false conceptions of them, and lets us see how to handle and take right hold of them, and manage them by the truest measures of Prudence; it sets us in the right and nearest way to such an end, and lets us see the difficulties before us, and the best means to escape them; it regulates us in our practice by right rules and methods, and manages and orders all circumstances to sute best with the design it proposes; & tho some men who are carried into the shady and solitary parts of Knowlege and Speculation, are by disuse rendred unfit for an active Life, yet where Learning and Knowlege, and an active Mind happen to meet, 'tis they that do the great things, and much greater in such a conjun∣ction than they could do asunder; and tho without that we have some instances of use∣full men, and great exploits, yet 'tis but as we have of great Cures done by Empirics, 'tis good Skill joyn'd with Experience that is much more valuable.

The most useful persons to Mankind have bin the men of Wisdom and Learning, wit∣ness not only the Inventers of Arts & Letters, the Egyptian Thoth or Hermes, the Grecian Orpheus and Palamedes, and other celebrated names, but the best Law-givers that have made whole Kingdoms happy by their Wise instru∣ons, Licurgus, and Solon, and Numa; and a∣bove all Moses, brought up in all the Learning of the Egyptians; and to the honour of Learn∣ing, and those who have been the Teachers of it, it is observ'd that where Princes have had the fortune of good Tutors and Instructors, they have made themselves and their King∣domes both great; Such as Charles the Great who had Alcuinus for his Master, a Disciple of Bede; Honorius and Arcadius who had Ar∣senius, Otho the Emperor who had Gilbertus Floriacensis, and Charles the Fifth who had A∣drian the Sixth; and so sensible were those great men of the benefits they had by their Education, that in gratitude to their Ma∣sters, some procured Statues for them; as Mark Antony did for Junius Rusticus, and Gra∣tian the Emperor made his Tutor Ausonius

Consul, and Alexander own'd himself as much obliged to Aristotle as to Philip his Father.

The happiness of Rome under Nero's mi∣nority is justly ascribed to Seneca, and that of Gordianus to his Tutor Misitheus; and this observation is true, both nearer us at home, and as far back as Joseph and Pharaoh, and the foundation of the Italian Common-wealths by Zaleucus and Charondas, who were the Dis∣ciples of Pythagoras, justifying that saying of Plato, that those Common-wealth's were hap∣py where either Philosophers govern'd, or their Governors Philosophized: And 'tis cer∣tain those Kingdoms have been always the most famous even for Arms too, who have been so for Learning and Sciences, and when Rome decayed in the latter of these, it did in the former; and was over-run by the bar∣barous and Northern Nations, when it was it self growing barbarous.

3. I shall consider the excellency of Learn∣ing and Knowlege, as it entertains a mans life, and his time with the greatest pleasure: Thus Knowlege like Light is not only useful and necessary to the doing business, and

transacting our affairs, but 'tis infinitely plea∣sant and delightful in it self, and were it on∣ly so, it were no way to be despised; as no man would be willing to be blind, tho he had not much to do.

Our minds are busy and active things, apt to be wearied and tired with the same objects, and can quickly exhaust all the sweetness and vertue out of them, and must be still in quest of fresh entertainment for themselves; or else like cloy'd and surfeited Stomachs they will turn all they have into nausea and loath∣ing; and 'tis Knowlege alone that can feed them with new dainties & repasts, and furnish them with infinite variety of sound & manly pleasures, that shall never grow flat and lan∣guid, nor satiate and overcome us.

'Tis certain there is no appetite more strong, nor the fatisfaction of it more pleasant than that of Knowlege, the thirst of it increases with drinking, and yet every sip and taste is extreme∣ly delicious, and has transported even Wise men beyond Wine, or Raptures; with great ardor and impetus does our minds court and embrace it, and find infinite pleasure in every

enjoyment of it, and all its conceptions are brought forth, if not with ease, yet with joy and ecstasie; so that whole hecatombs have been offered at the birth of a new notion, or piece of knowledge; more was Archimedes transported with his Problem, and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, than the Priests, or others, at their most jovial Bacchanals: And not only in some sudden rapturous effects does it outdoe all the lower pleasures of Sensuality, but it entertains the mind with a calm and even, a lasting and abi∣ding pleasure, or rather a constant variety of pleasures. What can more divert and please our thoughts than to look back sometimes upon the Ages that are past, to acquaint one∣self with the transactions and affairs that have busied the world, to view the distant Scenes, and the thronged Theater of Ancient times, and consider all the Parts of the great Fable and Drama that Mankind has been ever act∣ing; and not to be always Children, as Tully calls it, and know only what is present and in their days; or at furthest, have no other History than at the beginning of an Alma∣nack: I will not mention the pleasure of

looking forwards to Ages to come, tho the im∣moderate desire of that shows how pleasant even the forbidden Fruits of the Tree of Knowlege are, but without the help either of Stars or Familiars, a Wise man may make such conjectures of Futurity as are useful to him, and the wise observing what is past, is the best Scheme can be erected to know what is to come.

How delightful is it safely to travel over all the Earth, the great Cities and the vast Mountains, the mighty Deep and the plea∣sant Plains and Rivers, and take a prospect of the whole and large Field of Nature, and all the variety upon it; to converse now and then with the wisest Nations, and with the barbarous, and see their Customs and Man∣ners, and whatever is worthy a curious en∣quiry. How pleasant is it to Survey the whole beautiful and regular frame of the U∣niverse, to look into the secret treasuries of the Earth, to see its fruitfull Bowels dissected and laid open before us, all the riches of Na∣ture ransack'd in its Mines and Minerals, and to have a view of all its choice Pieces and ex∣cellent Draughts, and understand the fine and

curious way by which it works them; to en∣ter into its Laboratory, and see the course of Chymistry it goes through in every Animals body, and the wonderful Mechanism of every Part and Member; to look into our selves, and see the delicate Clock-work that moves our Hands and our Feet, and the fine lay'd Pipes and Water-works that convey the Se∣rum, and the Blood and Spirits from their proper Conduits: Nay to ascend into the ve∣ry Heavens, and with a quick and nimble thought pass through all the Spheres and Vor∣tices, and see how they are made, and in what Lines they move; what Order and Har∣mony they keep, and how the great Geome∣ter has made all things in Weight and Mea∣sure, with the best counsel and contrivance: What can be equal to all these pleasures of Wonder and Admiration, Learning and Knowledge? This is one of the noblest Enter∣tainments that God designed man to enjoy in this World, to contemplate the Works of the Creation, and 'tis one of those Pleasures which God himself enjoy'd, when he survey d his own Creation, and saw that it was Good; and agreable to the idaeas of his own wise

mind; there are none but must be sensible of this, unless a gross Ignorance spoil their Palate, and like the Chaonian Clown, they care for no other Meat or Entertainment but Acorns, and what they have been used to in there own Cottage, and think nothing relishes with any true gusto, but rank Garlick and Onions.

4. I shall consider the Good and Execllency of Learning as it is useful to the concerns of Religion, and then it becomes the truest Wisdom, when it has any tendency, any way to serve Religion, without which we are Fools in the main, and shall be found so at last, and at the foot of the account.

There are some indeed, that think Learning an Enemy to Religion, and that 'tis better bred up under a devout Ignorance, And then Heathe∣nism, would have been a better Mother of Devotion then Christianity; but whatever thoughts these Men have of Learning which we shall see anon, I am afraid they have no great kindness for Religion, 'tis to be feared they have no good designs upon it who thus keep it in the dark, 'tis there they Prostitute

and corrupt it, and make it yield to their base, lewd, and villanous designs, and indeed such a thing as they have made of it, the only way to make men devoutly adore it, is not to un∣derstand it; the Light would betray their false wares, and discover the base Coyn they would put off, however Infallibility have stampt and counterfeited it: but these men and their friends are often crying out against too many Schools, and too much Learning, as the means to make men pert and conceited, eternal dispu∣ters in Religion, setters up of sects and parties, and so think themselves wiser than their Teachers, or their Governours; If they do so, I am sure 'tis the fault of their Ignorance, and not of their Learning; all those mischiefs proceed not from having, but wanting a good understanding; and I am afraid the lessening Schools, and suppres∣sing Learning, is not the best way to remedy that; but as one of the wisest Enemies to Christianity, Julian, thought this the most likely way utterly to destroy it. And if Princes must use this way to keep their People quiet and orderly, then to pre∣vent mutinies and quarelling, and seditious break∣ing the Peace; they may as well blindfold them

or put out their eyes, by which they would be forced to live quietly, but things are come to a very hard pass if men must become a sort of stupid brutes, that they may be the better manag'd, and in order to bear the bit and bridle, must not exercise and improve their Reason: 'Tis certain if they had not Eyes, nor Hands, nor Legs, they would not be so well fitted to do mischief, but no more would they likewise to do good, and therefore 'tis not advisable to destroy a manifest good thing, for an accidental inconvenience that may sometimes happen from it, not with the Thracians to cut down all the Vines in their Countrey to avoid Drunkenness, nor with the Turkish and the Popish Policy, to destroy Learn∣ing and Knowledge, to make men more Gover∣nable and Religious. But because if Learning were any way prejudicial to Religion, all its other uses and excellencies, would signifie very little, and it would be improper for me to re∣commend it to you in this place, I shall par∣ticularly shew its manifest usefulness to that, as it destroys the greatest Enemies to it, which are these: Atheism, Prophaness, Popery and Fanati∣cism.

1. Atheism, and yet that has been laid to the Charge of being great Scholars, but very unjustly, tho' we should reckon Epicurus, Vaninus, and Hobbs, among the Atheists, 'tis certain, they were none of the great Clerks of their Age, and 'twas chiefly their singularity and boldness to confront the natural sense, and universal opinion of all wise men, that made them considerable or taken notice of, they might have past else unobserv'd, and unregarded in the common crowd: and we very well know, that most of their Followers in our Age can scarce understand, and often are not able to read them, unless for the common benefit of Atheism, they are translated into their Mothers Tongue; and by those helps he that resolves to be lew'd and debaucht, thinks it best to set up for a wit and an Athiest, and to laugh at the Contradiction of spiritual Substances, and immaterial beings, and he can concieve nothing but matter and motion, and will not let the Priests inpose any thing upon him, that he can't understand; but had this man but a little more Learning and Sense, he would presently find, that 'tis as easie to understand spirit as matter, and that there are nigh as many difficulties in

the most ordinary Phaenomina of Nature, as in the Mysteries of Religion, and that he can as little give a full Account of the most obvious things, the colour of grass, or his own hair, the natural paints of Flowers, the Species and Seeds of Fruits, his own Figure, Shape, and the like; as how Spirits think, and move, and converse without a Body; and that a Man may as much lose himself in those things the further he goes on, and must at last stop at the Will of the First Cause, as in the other; and 'tis as easie to con∣ceive an infinite God, as infinite Matter or Space, and how he is present in all places and yet has no parts, as how Matter is made either of divi∣sibles or indivisibles, how the Center is equal to the Circumference, and how two Lines may ap∣proach nearer one another? and yet never touch, tho' drawn in infinitum: so much Learning as will make a good Philosopher will spoil an Atheist, and the right knowledge of Nature; will bring him to the knowledge of a God, when he sees in every part of it the footsteps not of Chance, but of wise Counfel; and by considering that, he will find the nature of good and evil to be as certain and immutable, as

that of a Circle or triangle: and if he go on to read Books, he will find that all the wise Men that ever were in the world, have been against Atheism, that the belief of a God has been the be∣lief of all ages and nations, of the wisest and the freest thinkers, as well as the unlearned and ig∣norant, and that there have been few such Mon∣sters of Men as have denyed it.

2. Prophaness and debauchery, which you have observ'd I am sure the smallest proficients in Learning, and the most idle truants from their Book, to be most apt to fall into; Alas 'tis much more easy to discourse loosly and idely, then coherently and to the purpose, to be fluent in fa∣shionable oaths then in any true eloquence, to talk Ribauldry and Prophaness, than sence and rea∣son; and therefore you shall often find, that he who could hardly be brought to construe Cato at School, shall afterwards out of spite and revenge, despise and laugh at all Vertue and Morality; and he who could never read the Greek Testa∣ment, shall become a notable Jester up the Bible in English; and the raw and simple Fop, that has not the Learning of the meanest Curate, shall be confidently drolling upon God and Religion, and

exercising his wit and railery, such as it is, upon all the Learned Men in black; Now had this witty dunce ever had the skill or the patience, to Study and know what Learning was, he would have had more esteem for it where e're it is, and have known how to put it to a better use. And tho' I shall not reckon either Greek or Latin, no nor Hebrew, neither Aristotle, or Cartes, or Averroes, among the Instruments of Conversion, or the or∣dinary means of Grace; yet I am confident that the applying a Mans mind to study, and em∣ploying it in the business of Learning and Know∣ledge, will both take him off and divert him from most of that lewdness and debauchery, that idle and unemploy'd and active minds fall into; and will help to fix the quick-silver, and settle the ex∣travegancies they are inclined to; and turn that loose, and wild, and frothy humour, which is the usual vehicle of Prophaneness and effect of Idle∣ness, into solid and consistent Sense and Learning; and that is the best prepared seed-plot and nursery for true Religion.

3. Popery, which sprang up in the darkest, and most barbarous Ages of Christianity; in the Night when men were asleep, the Enemy sow'd

those tares in the Church that have since over∣run the true Corn; when Learning degenerated into fabulous Legends, and Monkish Stories, when it was suspected to be a good Latinist, and almost Heresy to understand Greek; then they foisted in those false and spurious Readings into the An∣tients, and put out feigned Books under false Names, and took the advantage of an ignorant and undiscerning Age, as dishonest persons do of the Night, or the duskish twilight; and when it was become an Heresy to believe the Antipo∣des, it was a good time to make Purgatory, or Transubstantiation, an Article of Faith; and even now in those Countrys which are the truest vas∣sals to the Popedom, the decay of Learning is very manifest, so that there is little of Greek in Italy, and scarce any at all in Spain, the Scool-Men and the Canonists, making up almost all the Learning amongst them, and 'tis not to be dou∣bted that the restoring Learning by Erasmus, and others about his time, made great way for the Reformation, and disposed the world very much to receive it; and that Learning, and free Phylosophy, and exammination of things which has been the temper of the world ever since, has

not a little thratened and affrighted them, and they sufficiently show'd their dislike of it in the usage of Galileo: it being their whole design to keep Mens minds in Ignorance and Captivi∣ty, in Darkness and Slavery, and by no means to allow that liberty of thinking, and reasoning, of enquiring, examining and judging, which the Re∣formation doth.

4. Learning as 'tis an Enemy to Popery so 'tis no friend to Faniticism, every one knows, that grows out of an unskilful Head that has great heat in it but without light; Enthusiasm is a kind of Spiritual Frenzy and Religious madness, that proceeds from a great Zeal that puts the Blood and Spirits into an Extraordinary Ferment and Commotion, and has but very little knowledg to slake and cool, and govern them; and next to the Applications of Physick and letting Blood, there is nothing will so certainly cure it as sober Learn∣ing and Instruction; this clears the mind of all those fumes that disturb it, and dispells those dark Images and Representations of things that are before it, all those Phantasms and Chime∣ras like Sprites and Hobgoblins vanish at the ap∣proach of Light and Day, and hant and disturb

People only in the dark. The Enthusiasts and pre∣tenders to Inspirations, have been always the great decryers of Humane Learning under the name of vain Philosophy, as being sensible that nothing does more tend to abate the excesses and allay the violences of their Enthusiastick Fervors, then this doth, and then I am sure nothing can be more serviceable to Religion than that which pre∣vents one of the worst deseases it is subject to, A Spiritual Hectick and Consumption.

I shall crave leave to add but one thing more to show not only the serviceableness but the absolute necessity of Learning to Religion, and that is this, Re∣ligion that was taught by God, and deliver'd from Heaven is contain'd and transmitted down to us in such Books and Records as do necessarily require Learning to understand them, not only the skill in Languages as a Key to unlock and decypher the meaning of those Holy Books, and the peculiar Idiotisms and Proprieties of those Languages, with∣out which we have only the sound and not the sence of them, but the knowledg of Times and of Places, and the Customs and Manners of those People to whom many things in Holy Scripture do imme∣diately relate, and their true meaning cannot be

understood without them; one of the great Causes of mis-interpreting, and mistaking the sense of Holy Scripture, is the taking it as a Book writ in our Times, and not many Ages ago, and the thinking nothing necessary to un∣derstand and manage the Bible, but a vulgar Translation, and a large Concordance; when some of the most considerable things in it, not only the Prophesies of the Messiah and the time of his coming, but the nature of the two Sacraments nay that of our Saviour's Sacrifice and satisfaction, cannot well be understood without knowing the Jewish and the Heathen Notion about Sacrifices, and yet 'tis that upon which the whole Gospel oeconomy does mightily depend. Indeed the great and necessary lines of Morality are so plain not only there, but even on the hearts of all Men that they need not much Comment; but the un∣derstanding all the parts of those Holy Books, (part of which is the most antient Writing we know of) and all the several Revelations and particular matters contained in them, is a Work of the greatest and the most valuable Learning.

But I shall add no more but my earnest advice and wishes that we who have had the advantage

of Learning and good Education, would take care to employ it some way or other to the pur∣poses of Religion, and bring some honor and advantage to that by it.

And as 'tis the most ill Manners and ill Breed∣ing not to treat Religion, the most sacred thing in the World with decency and respect, so 'tis a sign of little Wit and less Learning not to believe it, and then 'tis the grearest folly i'the World not to practice it, unless it be that of Buffooning and Burlesquing it, and therefore let us take care to leave all those rude and unmannerly, as well as mad and wicked things, to those Atheistical and Prophane, Popish and Fanatical Fools, who are those chiefly who despise Wisdom and In∣struction.

FINIS.