The preacher could not perhaps have uttered a fentence more mortifying to human pride, or more grating to human ambition; and yet, as he could have no intention to deceive, no intereft that could induce him to mislead us, we, on our parts, fhould ferioufly confider what thofe very cogent and powerful reafons were, which urged him to publish a truth fo difagreeable, and obliged him to draw fo melancholy a conclufion.

And firft, then, The moft natural reflection that occurred to the royal monitor on this fubject, and which we may fuppofe contributed in a great measure to establish this opinion, was probably the weakness and infufficiency of all human knowledge.

Those who have been at the pains to think at all (which is not indeed the talent of every man) agree in acknowledging that there is no labour fo intenfe, or fo fatiguing, as the labour of the mind; and that the acquifition of knowledge is a work of greater toil and trouble than the acquifition of any thing else: few things, notwithflanding, will be found on examination, fo ill to repay our cares, or fo poorly to recompenfe our folicitude: one would moreover be inclined to think that the difficulty of the conqueft would enhance both the glory and the pleafure of the triumph; but the truth is, that this victory, like many others, may be bought too dear; it may be bought, we fhall find, at the expence of our peace and tranquillity, at the expence of our honour and virtue, at the expence in fhort of all our pleasure, and all

our

our happiness: and who, in either of these circumftances, will compliment us on our choice, or who will envy us the purchase?

Afk the man who travels through the paths of fcience, if they are not obftructed with thorns and briars on every fide? if he doth not meet with repeated obftacles, and is not stopped on his journey by a thousand disappointments? he will tell you, that the hopes of men deceive, that their faculties defert, and their powers betray them: that where they expected to have conquered every difficulty, and met with thorough conviction, doubts have arifen on a fudden to obfcure, and mazes to perplex the understanding; the eye, as Solomon fays, is not fatisfied with feeing, nor the ear with hearing: the minuteft parts of the creation feem frequently, as it were, to mock our search, and purpofely to expofe the pride and infolence of thofe, who would reveal its fecrets; and the ways of nature, like thofe of her divine Parent, are past finding out.

We boaft, indeed, the wide and extensive field of human knowledge, and yet are perpetually ignorant even of the things which lie before us; the modeft and diffident alone, will condefcend to acknowledge their incapacity; they who have amaffed the greatest treasures of wisdom, are always the most ready to own their poverty; and thofe who have toiled through the whole round of science, are best acquainted with the narrowness of the circle. Socrates, the wifest of the heathen philofophers,

is reported to have faid, "that all he knew was, that he knew nothing;" and our royal monitor hath, in the words of my text, made an acknowledgment very fimilar unto it. No man therefore hath a right to boast of wifdom unlefs he hath more than fell to the fhare of Socrates or Solomon; and the proudeft may doubtlefs be taught humility, by reflecting, that he who amongst men had moft knowledge, confeffed that he "knew nothing," and he who had moft wifdom, pronounced it to be vanity and vexation of Spirit.

But if the weaknefs and infufficiency of all human knowledge, will not convince us of that truth which Solomon here declared; let us candidly examine whether it hath always the power, as fome imagine, to make us either happier or better. And to this end let us turn our eyes towards thofe who are called the wife and learned of this world, to the proud poffeffors of human wisdom and knowledge.

The palate, we may obferve, which is too nice and delicate, which naufeates common food, and must be fed with dainties, is feldom pleafed or fatisfied; and in the fame manner, he whofe notions of things are too nice, whofe tafte is too delicate and refined, deprives himfelf of half the joys of life, and cuts himself off. from half the pleafures of fociety.

Mark the ignorant and illiterate part of mankind. Do they not tafte the benefits of nature and enjoy the common bleffings of life with more fpirit and chearfulnefs, than the grave and learned, whofe brows perhaps are

knit with care, and whofe avenues to joy, are fhut up by thoughtfulness and folicitude?

There is, befides, a pride and fupercilioufnefs fometimes attendant on the votaries of wisdom and admirers of human learning, which renders them very uneafy to themselves, and very difagreeable to all about them.

The wife man is exalted to fuch an eminence, that he cannot ftoop to converse or af fociate with his fellow-creatures; he is above the follies and weakneffes, but at the fame time above the comforts and conveniencies of life; removed from the vices and dangers, but removed alfo from all the mutual gratifications, and all the sweet endearments of fociety; infomuch, that in his gloomy hours of retirement, he often laments that knowledge which makes him grave, and that wisdom which renders him unhappy; he finds, after all his labours, that he has only been indefatigable in the pursuit of mifery, and been extremely induftrious to procure anxiety; and even fome. times obliged, in fpite of his pride and fuperiority, to wifh for that ignorance which he despises, and to envy that very folly which he

condemns.

Surely in fuch wisdom there must be grief, and he that increaseth such knowledge increafeth forrow.

What then are the great and boasted pleafures which flow from the admired fountains of wisdom and knowledge? Our wifdom only enables us to difcover our folly, and prefent knowledge but ferves to betray past ignorance;

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the

the pride which arifes from being what we are, is checked and chaftifed by the remembrance of what we have been; and the pleafure of poffeffion is more than compenfated by the pain of reproach.

But laftly, It is but too evident, that wisdom and knowledge do not make us happier.

Let us examine, which is of ftill greater importance, whether they make us better.

But farther, If as fcience and literature extended themselves, true wifdom and virtue had extended alfo, we muft doubtlefs have been much wifer, and much better than our ancestors; but, to multiply books is not always to multiply knowledge, and the improvement in arts is not certain to be accompanied with an improvement in goodnefs; fo far from it, that with all the advantages we poffefs over former times, we abound as much in vain wifdom and falfe philofophy, in folly, vice and irreligion, as perhaps any of our Pagan. predeceffors.

We are too apt indeed to fpeak with contempt of the heathen world, to deride their tenets, and to abhor their immoralitics; but let us imagine one of them revifiting the earth, and placed among us in thefe our days; let him be an eye-witnefs of our corruption, let him hear our profanenefs, caths, and licentioufiefs; would he think we had any reafon to condemn the times that were paft? that we had any pretenfions to magnify our fuperior wifdom, or to boat of our fuperior virtue?