weary as to stop there, to fit down contented with their prefent Attainments, and proceed no further. Numbers of thefe are to be found in the learned World, who confider themselves and each other as Prodigies of Learning, Men of profound Erudition, only for being able to express their Ignorance in Variety of Languages. Their Converfation and Writings are embellished with Scraps of Foreign Languages,' which they think much more valuable and instructive than plain good Sense and found Reason, expressed in their own native Language. I had once the Honour of being acquainted with one of those learned Gentlemen, who directly answered the Character that Boileau gives of a Pedant, Tout heriffe de Grec & bouffi d' Ignorance. Who could never be perfuaded that Norris and Locke were Men of Learning, because there was hardly a Quotation of Greek or Latin to be found in their Writings.

Our Knowledge of Things is at best short and imperfect, full of Obscurity and Uncertainty; the little the wifeft of us knows extends no further than our own Syftem of the Parts, of which we have only a general and fuperficial Knowledge; we fee no further than the Surface and Outfide of Things, as directed by the general Law of Motion; all beyond this is mere Guefs-work, Conjecture, and Uncertainty. And the Vanity of our fuperior Knowledge can only proceed from fuperior Ignorance, the Ignorance of ourselves, our Souls, our Bodies, their Union, their mutual Affections, their feveral Relations to the reft of the System, and the Impreffions they receive from them. Let the wifeft Man but go out of himself, and furvey the immenfe Extent of Nature, the Va

riety of its Works, the Regularity of its Motions, and the Harmony of Providence; and let him seriously pronounce how little is his real Knowledge, how great his Ignorance. Let him take a Profpect of the vast Dimensions of those astonishing Heaps of Matter that lie within the Reach of his Senfes; let him confider the stupendous Motions that agitate the vast Mass of Matter, and whirl about the numberlefs immense Bodies that take their Courses through the unmeasurable Space; and carry his Thoughts into that Immenfity, where Imagination itself can find no Limits: Let him confider that infinite Duration which is before and after him, and, finding his own Life included in it, let him obferve the little Scantling of it that falls to his Share. Let him thence carry his Thoughts into the intellectual World, that infinite Number of good and evil Spirits, with all their feveral Orders, Ranks, and Claffes, who have their distinct Offices and Habitations in the feveral Centers of Light and Darkness; let him confider the vaft Multitude of the Dead in their feveral Receptacles and Manfions, who, though dead to us, are now more alive and active than when they were united to these mortal Bodies: Let him add to these all the living Inhabitants of this earthly Globe, how few there be that know him, that think of him, or have any thing to do with him, and then return to himself, and confider what Rank he holds in the univerfal System, what is his Strength, his Power, his Knowledge; above all, let him contemplate the incomprehenfible Attributes of him who made all thofe Creatures; who is always prefent to every one of them, fupports and governs them; fees at once into the Minds of fuch an infinite Variety I 4

of

of free Agents, and directs their Thoughts and Paffions to carry on his Designs in the Management of the Whole, yet without offering any Violence to their free Agency; inftead of dwelling upon his own scanty Portion of Knowledge, Wisdom, and Power, and comparing it with fome of his inferior Fellow Creatures, let him draw the Comparison between himfelf and his Creator; and if, after this Survey, he can find any Occafion for Vanity, Boafting, or Self-conceit, he must be either an obftinately blind, or a contemptibly filly, Creature.

But fuppofing the moft that can be fuppofed, that our Knowledge were as perfect as our Rank and Nature can require, there would ftill be as little Room for Vanity and Boafting. The Perfection of our Nature confifts not in the Soundnefs or Extent of our Understanding; all the Knowledge and Learning in the World, if it tends not to humble the natural Pride of our Hearts, to teach us the Knowledge of ourfelves, to purify our Affections, to mend the Heart, and make us better Men, if it does not tend to promote in us, Humility, Devotion, and Charity, though we could talk with the Tongues of Men and of Angels, we should be but as founding Brafs and tinkling Cymbals. The Devil, doubtlefs, knows more than the most learned, or perhaps, than all the learned Men in the World, and yet is the most miferable of all Beings. The immenfe Capacity, the mighty Powers, the extenfive Views, and fiery Perceptions of his angelic Nature, whilst separate from the meek Light and Love of God, are to him an infinite Fund of Anguish, an Abyss of Misery and Despair. No; the Perfection of our Nature is a pure Heart en

lightened

lightened by Faith, and animated by Charity; and it is really a mortifying Thought, to confider, how feldom a clear rational Head, and an honest upright Heart meet together. I have often reflected, with Grief and Pity, upon feveral eminent Characters, both among the Living and the Dead; Perfons bleffed with fuperior Talents, great intellectual Abilities, Men that could reafon, compute, and infer, and draw rational Conclufions, who yet employed them to no better Purpose than to contrive and execute the bafe ungenerous Defigns of a covetous, proud, ambitious Heart; who, whilft they were capable of advifing and affifting the Helpless, the Ignorant, and Unknowing, in the fraudulent Ways of this crooked World, yet have not Honesty enough to advise you for your Intereft, if they could miflead you, in order to improve their own, and make your Ignorance and Credulity a Step to their own Promotion, and the Advancement of their Fortunes. Hence you too often fee, in almost all Societies, even of learned Men (I wifh I could except the moft facred!) from the Conclave, down to the Governors of a petty GrammarSchool, as much Artifice, Intrigue, Chicane, and

as in a poor little Country Corporation. In fhort, we may pronounce, as the Apostle did upon another Occafion, All Men feek their Own. All that Sincerity, Generofity, Charity, and public Spirit, which are infeparable from great and noble Minds, are buried under the low Views, the fordid Designs, the felfifh ambitious Schemes, of corrupt ungenerous Hearts. There is nothing more frequent, nor more to be lamented, than to fee the greatest Patrons, Ecclefiaftical as well as Civil, betrayed by their too great Confidence in the treacherous Profeffions and

Pretences

Pretences of selfish and designing Favourites, into fuch unworthy Promotions, as their own generous Hearts, if not deceived, would abhor; whilft Men of equal or fuperior Merit, are neglected or discouraged, for fear they fhould ftand in the way, and obftruct the Covetous or ambitious Views of the reigning Favourite.

I am led into this Way of Thinking, by the Remembrance of my own particular Sufferings, which, though I have long ago forgiven, I shall never forget. Give me leave to tell you my own Story, which I fhall make as short as I can. At my first setting out from the University to try my Fortune among other Adventurers in the great Lottery of the World, I had the good Fortune to be well recommended to three eminent Persons in Town. They quickly agreed to present me to a certain great Minister and Patron, who received me in a Manner, as much exceeding my Expectations as my Defert, and difmiffed me with ftrong Affurances of his Favour. A favourite Domeftic, who was a kind of Premier in the Family, who really wanted nothing but an honest Heart to make him truly a Great Man, congratulated me upon the kind Reception I had met with, and promised to improve every Opportunity of promoting my Interest. I departed, well fatisfied that my Fortune was made, that I had nothing more to do but to qualify myself for future Favours, by endeavouring to deferve them. Accordingly, I retired to my Studies, and was, in my own Imagination, poffeffed of every thing that could make my future Life happy: It was not long before a Vacancy happened, which my Friends immediately concluded would just answer my reasonable Expectations, and determined to wait upon his Lordship,

and