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nefs of thy Houfe: and Thou shalt give them Serm. Drink of thy Pleafures, as out of the River. XIV. For with Thee is the Well of Life: And in thy Light shall we fee Light. Blefjed is the Man whom thou chooseft, and receiveft unto Thee: he shall dwell in thy Court, and shall be fatisfied with the Pleasures of thy House, even of thy holy Temple. Bleffed is the People, O Lord, that can rejoice in Thee: they shall walk in the Light of thy Countenance.Their delight fhall be daily in thy Name and in thy Righteousness shall they make their Boaft. For thou art the Glory of their Strength and in thy Loving-kindness They Shall be exalted. As for me, I will behold thy Prefence in Righteousness: and when I awake up after thy Likeness, I shall be fatisfied with it. Thou shalt fhew me the Path of Life; in thy Prefence is the Fullnefs of Joy, and at thy right Hand there is Pleasure for evermore.

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SERMON XV.

Upon the Ignorance of Man.

ECCLES. viii. 16, 17.

When I applied mine Heart to know Wif dom, and to fee the Bufinefs that is done upon the Earth: Then I beheld all the Work of God, that a Man cannot find out the Work that is done under the Sun : Because though a Man labour to feek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea further, though a wife Man think to know it, yet fhall he not be able to find it.

T

HE Writings of Solomon are very Serm.
much taken up with Reflections up- XV.
on Humane Nature, and Humane

Life; to which he hath added in this Book
Reflections upon the Constitution of Things.
And it is not improbable, that the little Sa-
tisfaction, and the great Difficulties he met

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with

Serm. with in his Researches into the general Con-
XV. ftitution of Nature, might be the Occafion

of his confining himself, so much as he hath
done, to Life and Conduct. However, up-
on that joint Review he expreffeth great Ig-
norance of the Works of God, and the Me-
thods of his Providence in the Government
of the World; great Labour and Weariness
in the Search and Obfervation he had em-
ployed himself about; and great Disappoint-
ment, Pain, and even Vexation of Mind,
upon that which he had remarked of the
Appearances of things, and of what was go-
ing forward upon this Earth. This whole
Review and Inspection, and the Result of
it, Sorrow, Perplexity, a Senfe of his ne-
ceffary Ignorance, fuggefts various Reflecti-
ons to his Mind. But notwithstanding all
this Ignorance and Diffatisfaction, there is
fomewhat upon which he affuredly rests and
depends; fomewhat, which is the Conclu-
fion of the whole Matter, and the only Con-
cern of Man.
Following this his Method
and Train of Reflection, let us confider,
I. The Affertion of the Text, the Igno-
rance of Man; that the wifeft and most

knowing cannot comprehend the Ways and
Works of God: And then,

II. What

II. What are the juft Consequences of Serm. this Obfervation and Knowledge of our own XV. Ignorance, and the Reflections which it leads

us to.

1. The wifeft and most knowing cannot comprehend the Works of God, the Methods and Defigns of his Providence in the Creation and Government of the World.

Creation is abfolutely and intirely out of our Depth, and beyond the Extent of our utmost Reach. And yet it is as certain that God made the World, as it is certain that Effects must have a Caufe. It is indeed in general no more than Effects, that the most knowing are acquainted with; for as to Causes, they are as intirely in the Dark as the most Ignorant. What are the Laws by which Matter acts upon Matter, but certain Effects, which fome, having obferved to be frequently repeated, have reduced to general Rules? The real Nature and Effence of Beings likewise is what we are altogether ignorant of. All these things are fo intirely out of our Reach, that we have not the leaft Glimpse of them. And we know little more of ourselves, than we do of the World about us: How we were made, how our Being is continued and preferved, what are the Faculties

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