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SERM. put on Incorruption, and this Mortal hath Put on Immortality, we may all meet to. gether in Heaven, and enjoy the unspeakable Pleasures of that celeftial Paradife?

XIV.

Till which happy Time, adieu thou good and pious Man! adieu thou lovely Dispenfer of God's Word ! adieu thou faithful Friend! the Delight of Men, and the highly favour'd of God! Thou art gone to happier Climes, to tafte of the delightful Rivers. of Pleasure, while we are left behind to lament thy Abfence from us. We have thy Memory, and we give thee back our Tears, Thy Example fhall always keep thee alive in our Hearts, and nothing fhall blot out thy delightful Image there; but, in spite of Death, thou shalt ftill live in our Affections, till by walking in the pleasant Path which thou haft marked out to us, we come at last to behold the Face of thee and thy God in the Kingdom of Heaven, and join with thee in finging Hallelujahs to him that fitteth upon the Throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever. Amen.

SER.

SERMON XV.

ACTS viii. part of the 31ft Verfe.:

And he faid, How can I, except fome Man
Should guide me?

T

HESE are the Words of a Man SERM. of great Authority, under Can- XV. dace Queen of the Ethiopians, who had the Charge of all her Treafure, and had come to Jerufalem to worship; and the Occafion of them was this: As he was returning and fitting in his Chariot, he read Ifaias the Prophet. Then Philip, who had been directed by the Angel of the Lord to go towards the South, unto the Way that goeth down from Jerufalem unto Gaza, was order'd by the Spirit to go near and join himself to the Chariot: Accordingly he ran thither to him, and heard him read the Prophet Ifaias, and faid, Understandeft thou what thou readeft? And he faid, How can I exQ1 2 cept

SER M. cept fome Man fhould guide me? A modest XV. Anfwer, and very becoming an honeft Mind

difpos'd to find out the Truth, however unlike the Behaviour of our modern Infidels, who think themselves above Inftruction, as being, in their own Opinion at least, wifer than their Teachers.

In

my following Difcourfe, I propofe to fhew, 1. The Infufficiency of private Judgment in Matters of Religion. 2. The Neceffity of a teachable Difpofition, from the Example of the Perfon concern'd in the Text, and a proper Submiffion to the Judgment of others.

1. By private Judgment, I mean the Right which fome claim of judging for themselves, exclufive of all foreign Aid and Affiftance whatfoever. But this, if taken in a ftrict Senfe, is not only infufficient, but alfo impoffible; for no Being, but fuch as wants no Affiftance of any kind, i. e. a Being infinitely perfect, is capable of doing this, becaufe fo much Perfection as any Being wants, fo much Supply it must of courfe ftand in need of to make up that Deficiency. God alone is then able to judge abfolutely for himself, because he alone enjoys abfolute Perfection, and nothing can poffibly be fuppos'd wanting to hinder him

from

from doing it; fo that Man, whatever Claim SERM, he may make to this Privilege, has no man- XV. ner of Pretenfion to it; he may with equal Modefty and Juftice lay Claim to infinite Perfection. But fince there are fome who have exalted Man to this high Station, let us fee how they fupport him in it. Let us view this imperfect Creature, thus adorn'd with the Ornaments of the Deity, a filly Mortal cloath'd with Omnipotence, a Worm feated in the Throne of God. Well then, now he is invefted with thefe abfolute Perfections, is he become all-fufficient? Is he in the Poffeffion of all Knowledge and Truth? No, his Knowledge is very small, confin'd within a narrow Circle, and, even when it is at the highest Pitch, serves only to make him the more fenfible of his Ignorance. He is not thoroughly acquainted with the Nature of any one Thing in the Universe; he knows little of himself, and lefs of the Being above him; and even as to that fmall Matter he does know, he is indebted to a Multitude of People for it, fmall as it is, who are contributing to the little Stock. Of one he gets the Knowledge of one Thing, of another another, by which means there is fomething ftill contributing to make an Addition to his own Difcove

XV.

SERM. Difcoveries. From the Phyfician, the Lawyer, the Artist, the Husbandman, he is furnifh'd with feveral good Rules and Obfervations concerning the Management of his Health, the Security of his Eftate, and many other Neceffaries and Conveniencies of Life, which have been handed down from one to another, with perhaps fome fmall Improvements, and they again from others before them, and fo on: For the first Beginnings of Knowledge are but fmall; by Degrees, as they have the Advantage of a Multitude of other Understandings from Time to Time, they grow larger, till at laft they rife into Arts and Sciences.

This is the Way that Syftems of Knowledge of any kind whatsoever are form'd, not by the Labour or Ingenuity of one Man, but by the Study of Thousands, and the Industry of Ages; for no Man can any more ascribe this Knowledge to himself, than a Part can call itself the Whole. The Cafe is this; Things are infinite, and are to be seen in infinite Views, and Men by the different Pofitions of their Understandings are differently fituated towards them, by which means, tho' they fee Things alike in general, yet, with respect to Particulars, they fee them with fome Difference, the Union

of

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