of men and their proficiencie to improv and dilate knowledg upon the
grounds which hee might have suggested unto others of parts, and so the
Librarie-rarities would not onely have been preserved in the spirits of
men, but have fructified abundantly therein unto this daie, whereas they
are now lost, becaus they were but a Talent digged in the ground; And
as they that had the keeping of that Librarie made it an Idol, to bee
respected and worshipped for a raritie by an implicite faith, without
anie benefit to those who did esteem of it a far off: so it was just
with God that it should fall into the hands of those that in all things
follow an Idolatrous waie, to blinde men with shewes without all
realitie of substantial virtue, which is onely eminent in this, that it
becometh profitable unto all, by dilating the light of knowledg, and the
love of grace and goodness in the hearts of all men, that are fit to
receiv the one and the other; And where this Aim is not in those that
are intrusted with publick places; there they in the end will bee found
unprofitable servants; for the trust which God hath put into their hands
to profit withal, they discharge not for the account which everie one is
to give unto him of his Stewardship, is not how careful hee hath kept
things of use unto himself, to pride himself in the possession of that
which others have not, (as the custom of men is, that know not what true
glorie is) but how faithfully and diligently hee hath distributed the
same to such as were worthie thereof for their good, that they might bee
stirred up both to glorifie God for his goodness; and to imitate him in
the Communication of all good things unto others for his sake freely.
This was Christ's Work on Earth to receiv us, unto the Glorie of God;
this was that which hee taught by this practice, that it is _more
blessed to give, then to receiv_. This is that which this envious World
cannot rellish, and what stop's the current of true love in the hearts
of men? Nothing so much as the self-seeking of men in the waies of
Learning, by which they covetously obstruct the fountains of life and