I.] ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. 125 



mnnu cjus eductus est Coluber tortuoeus.&quot; And in another place ; 

 NiT.quid conjungere valebis micantea Stellas Pleiadas, aut gyrum 

 Arcturi poteris dissipate ?&quot; Where the fixing of the stars, ever stand 

 ing at equal distance, is with great elegancy noted. And in another 

 place ;&quot; Qui facit Arcturum, et Oriona, ct Hyadas, et interiora Aus- 

 tri ;&quot; where again he takes knowledge of the depression of the south 

 ern po l c, calling it the secrets of the south, because the southern stars 

 were in that climate unseen. Matter of generation, &quot; Annon sicut lac 

 mulsisti me, ct sicut caseum coagulasti me,&quot; etc. Matter of minerals, 

 &quot; Habct argentum venarum suarum principia : et auro locus est in quo 

 conthture, fcrrum de terra tollitur, et lapis solutus calore in tes verti- 

 tur : &quot; and so forwards in that chapter. 



So likewise in the person of Solomon the king, we see the gift or 

 endowment of wisdom and learning, both in Solomon s petition, and in 

 God s assent thereunto, preferred before all other terrene and temporal 

 felicity. By virtue of which grant or donative of God, Solomon be 

 came enabled, not only to write those excellent parables, or aphorisms, 

 concerning divine and moral philosophy ; but also to compile a natural 

 history of all verdure, from the cedar upon the mountain to the moss 

 upon the wall, which is but a rudiment between putrefaction and an 

 heib, and also of all things that breathe or move. Nay, the same 

 Solomon the king, although he excelled in the glory of treasure and 

 magnificent buildings, of shipping and navigation, of service and 

 attendance, of fame and renown, and the like, yet he maketh no claim 

 lo any of those glories, but only to the glory of inquisition of truth ; for 

 so he saith expressly, 4&amp;lt; The glory of God is to conceal a thing, but the 

 glory of the king is to find it out ; &quot; as if, according to the innocent 

 play of children, the Divine Majesty took delight to hide his works, to 

 the end to have them found out; and as if kings could not obtain a 

 greater honour than to be God s playfellows in that game, considering 

 the great commandment of wits and means, whereby nothing nccdeth 

 to be hidden from them. 



Neither did the dispensation of God vary in the times after our 

 Saviour came into the world ; for our Saviour himself did first show 

 his power to subdue ignorance, by his conference with the priests and 

 doctors of the law, before he showed his power to subdue nature by his 

 miracles. And the coming of the Holy Spirit was chiefly figured and 

 expressed in the similitude and gift of tongues, which arc but vchi- 

 citla s den I ice. 



So in the election of those instruments, which it pleased God to use 

 for the plantation of the faith, notwithstanding that at the first he did 

 employ persons altogether unlearned, otherwise than by inspiration, 

 more evidently to declare his immediate working, and to abase all hu 

 man wisdom or knowledge ; yet, nevertheless, that counsel of his was no 

 sooner performed, but in the next vicissitude and succession, he did 

 send his divine truth into the world, waited on with other learnings, as 

 with servants or handmaids : for so we see St. Paul, who was only 

 learned among the apostles, had his pen most used in the Scriptures 

 of the New Testament. 



