ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 4l 



and alterations. And if such be the extent of the mind, 

 there is no danger of filling it with any quantity of knowl 

 edge. But it is merely from its quality when taken without 

 the true corrective that knowledge has somewhat of venom 

 or malignity. The corrective which renders it sovereign is 

 charity, for according to St. Paul, &quot;Knowledge puffeth 

 up, but charity buildeth.&quot; 10 3. For the excess of writing 

 and reading books, the anxiety of spirit proceeding from 

 knowledge, and the admonition that we be not seduced by 

 vain philosophy; when these passages are rightly under 

 stood, they mark out the boundaries of human knowledge, 

 so as to comprehend the universal nature of things. These 

 limitations are three: the first, that we should not place our 

 felicity in knowledge, so as to forget mortality; the second, 

 that we use knowledge so as to give ourselves ease and 

 content, not distaste and repining; and the third, that we 

 presume not by the contemplation of nature, to attain to the 

 mysteries of God. As to the first, Solomon excellently. 

 says, &quot;I saw that wisdom excelleth folly as far as light 

 excelleth darkness. The wise man s eyes are in his head 

 but the fool walketh in darkness; and 1 myself perceived 

 also that one event happeneth to them all.&quot; &quot; And for the 

 second, it is certain that no vexation or anxiety of mind 

 results from knowledge, but merely by accident; all knowl 

 edge, and admiration, which is the seed of knowledge, being 

 pleasant in itself; but when we frame conclusions from our 

 knowledge, apply them to our own particular, and thence 

 minister to ourselves weak fears or vast desires; then comes 

 on that anxiety and trouble of mind which is here meant 

 when knowledge is no longer the dry light of Heraclitus, 

 but the drenched one, steeped in the humors of the affec 

 tions. 1 * 4. The third point deserves to be more dwelt upon; 

 for if any man shall think, by his inquiries after material 

 things, to discover the nature or will of God, he is indeed 

 spoiled by vain philosophy; for the contemplation of God s 



10 I. Cor. viii. 1. Eccles. ii. 13, 14. 



M Ap. Stab. Serm. v. 120, in Bitter s Hist. Phil. 47. 



