rofitable and lasting. 4. And the
right uptaking of these truths will discover the vanity of other
sciences, falsely so called, and the folly of spending our time about
other things. 5. The right understanding of this fundamental will help
us to understand other truths the better. 6. A mistake in this, and such
like fundamentals, or the ignorance of them, is more dangerous than the
ignorance of or mistake in other things.

Oh! if this were teaching us all, in humility, to be much in the study
of such fundamental necessary truths as this is; and to guard against a
piece of vanity in affecting knowledge, the effect of which is nothing
but a puffing of us up with pride and conceit!

VI. We may here take notice of what may serve to discover Thomas his
mistake, and what is the ground of Christ's assertion, verse 4, which
Thomas doth little less than contradict, verse 5, viz. that such as had
any acquaintance with Christ did, according to the measure of their
knowledge of him, both know heaven and the way to it; whence we see
these truths,

1. Persons may have some real acquaintance with Christ, and yet be, for
a time, very indistinct in their notions about him, and apprehensions of
him. They may know Christ in some measure, and yet look upon themselves
as great strangers to the knowledge of heaven, and be oft complaining of
their ignorance of the right way to heaven.

2. Where there is the least measure of true acquaintance with Christ,
with love to him, and a desire to know more of him, Christ will take
notice thereof, though it be covered over with a heap of mistakes, and
accompanied with much ignorance, weakness, and indistinctness. He seeth
not as man seeth, which is good news to some that are weak in knowledge,
and unable to give any good account of any knowledge they have; yet one
thing they can say, that he who knoweth all things, knoweth that they
love him.

3. Various are the dispensations of God's grace unto his own. To some he
giveth a greater, to others a lesser measure of knowledge of the
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven; and to one and the same person, more
at one time than at another. Various are his manifestations and
out-lettings of grace and love. Small beginnings may come to much at
length. Thomas, and the rest of the disciples, had but little clear and
distinct apprehensions of the way of salvation through Jesus Christ; and
yet, ere all was done, they attained to such a measure of understanding
in