VII. contained it was broke: I mean, the curious SER M. Net-work of the Brain has been difturbed, and all their Labour loft. I proceed, IIdly, To confider the Goodness of God, in thus bounding our Knowledge, and fhortening our Prospect. For my Part, I think the Divine Goodnefs as much displayed in our Ignorance of many Things, as in our Knowledge of others. I thank the Deity for what He has Concealed from us, as well as what He has Revealed to us. Though we have not Extent of Line enough to found the Depths of Knowledge; yet we have enough to find out Rocks and Shelves, and thereby to avoid them. 'Tis with the Faculties of the Mind as with the Senfes of the Body; they are both exactly fuited to the Exigences of Life, and the Business we have to do here. Were our Senfe of Hearing fome Degrees more acute than it is, we fhould be difturbed by the leaft Noife: We should be no more able to fleep, or meditate in Retirement, than in the midst of a Storm; the leaft Breath of Air, the leaft Whisper, might be incommodious. If our Senfe of Feeling were more delicate, the flighteft Touch would give us exquifite Senfations of Pain; our Torments would increase too in Proportion to our Senfibility. And indeed M 4 VII. SER M. indeed all the Senfes, which are now fo many Inlets of Pleasure, would by being quickened and heightened to any confider able Degree in our prefent Condition, become fo many Avenues of Anguish. Were our Eye-fight greatly fharper, we should be quite in another World; Objects that now seem smooth and beautiful, would appear rugged, uneven and unfightly, as they do through Microscopes. A more improved State of the Faculties of the Mind would be attended with the fame Inconveniences. It is with the Mind as with the Eye; too much Light would be as ufelefs, as too much Darkness. Therefore the Deity has given both of them just such a Portion of Light as is fuited to our present Situation in Life. If we were, for Inftance, able to pry into the Depths of Futurity, and forefee what was to befall us, what would be -the Confequence? That we should be extremely miferable; that we fhould torment ourselves before the Time, by the Dread of future Evils; and leffen every Joy by anticipating it. Heaven therefore has, in Mercy to us, locked up from us the Book of Fate, and only laid open to us that Part which concerns us at prefent. Again, We might think it would be of great Advantage to us to be able to penetrate into the Thoughts, and discover before-hand the Defigns Men are forming against us. But VII. But if each Man could difcern what paffed SER M. within another's Mind, as well as He did what was in his own; were every Thing there laid open as much to one another as it is to Him with whom we have to do; we fhould discover often fuch forbidding Images, fuch unfavourable Sentiments, that we fhould, feveral of us, become infupportable to one another. Farther, We might wish to have the Curtain drawn, and a fuller View of another World prefented to us: But God conceals from the Good a distinct, explicit Account of the Advantages that will accrue to them after Death, that they might ftill endure Life, and all it's Inconveniences. And fo in a thousand other Inftances. There is a Point in Knowledge where Ufe ends, and mere Curiafity begins. As far as any Thing is ufeful and important; fo far all is generally Light and Clearness. Beyond that all is Darkness, or at least oné undiftinguished Blank. The Reafon is, God has drawn a Veil over this Part of Knowledge, left we fhould be diftracted with a Multiplicity of Ideas, and diverted from ufeful and practical Enquiries, by attending to Matters of mere Speculation. To exemplify this in the Point of the Redemption, the grand and fundamental Doctrine of Chritianity; fome People complain of a Darknefs fpread over the Face of this Dif penfation, SER M. penfation. But as far as it is a Doctrine of VII. Ufe and Importance, fo far it is clearly and distinctly revealed. We are expressly told what our Saviour has purchafed for us, and what we have to do for ourselves, to qualify us for thefe Bleffings. It is revealed to us, that God through his Merits will confer that exceeding and eternal Weight of Bliss upon every penitent Sinner, to which even the unoffending, who need no Re-. pentance, could have no Title. So far it is a Doctrine of folid Ufe and Importance. But we want perhaps more fully to know the internal Nature, Manner, and particular Efficacy of his Merits and Interceffion, and the whole Transaction between the Father and the Son in the ftupendous Work of our Salvation: here mere Curiosity commences; and therefore no Wonder our Knowledge should in fome Measure end. These are the Things which Angels defire to look into; and we, till we are Angels, fhould not expect a full and comprehenfive Satisfaction about them. A Man may know a Matter of Fact, that He is ranfomed from Captivity and Slavery by a glorious Sovereign, without knowing particularly, explicitely and fully the Kind, Manner, and Value of the Ransom that was laid down, and the Price with which He was bought. No: let Angels and ArchAngels defire to look into, and contemplate the the Nature of our Redemption: Let Man To conclude; let us all be convinced, SER M. VII. |