CHAPTER t. 11 time, should never pretend to devote himself entirely 'to the sci- ences, unless his soul be so reformed and refined that he can taste all these entertainments eminently in his closet, among his books and papers. Sobrino is a temperate man and a philoso- pher, and he feeds upon partridge and pheasant, venison and ragouts, and every delicacy in a growing understanding, and a serene and healthy soul, though he dines on a dish of sprouts or turnips. Langninos loved his case, and therefore chose to be brought up a scholar ; he had much indolence in his temper, and as he never cared for study, he falls under universal contempt in his profession, because he has nothing but the gotta and the name. VII. Let the hope of new discoveries, as well as the satis- factionandpleasureof knoten truths, animate your daily industry. Do not think learning in general is arrived at its perfection, or that the knowledge or any particular subject in any science can- pot be improved, merely because it has lain five hundred or a thousand years without improvement, The present age, by the blessing of God on. the ingenuity and diligence of men, has brought to light such truths in natural philosophy, and such dis- coveries in the heavens and the earth, as seemed to be beyond the reach of man. But may not there be Sir Isaac Newtons in every science ? You should never-despair therefore of finding out that which has never yet been found, unless you see something in the nature pf ït which renders it unseereltable, and above the reach pf our fapulties, Nor should a student in divinity imagine that our age is ar- rived at a full understanding of every thing which can be known by the scriptures. Every age since the reformationhath thrown some further light on difficult texts and paragraphs of the bible, which have been long obscured by the early rise of antichrist; and since there are at present many difficulties, and darknesses hanging about certain truths of the Christian Religion, and since several of these relate to important doctrines, such as the Origin of Sin, the Fall of Adam, the Person of Christ, the blessed Trinity, and the Decrees of God, &c. which do still embarrass the minds of honest and enquiring readers, and which make work for noisy controversy; it is certain there are several things in the bible yet unknown and not sufficiently explained, and it is certain that there is some way to solve these difficulties, and to reconcile these seeming contradictions And why may not a sin-, cere searcher of truth in the present age, by labour, diligence, study, and prayer, with the best use of his reasoning powers, find out the proper solution of those knots andperplexities which have hitherto been unsolved, and which have afforded matter fir angry quarrelling ? happy is every man who shall be favoured of heaven to 'give a helping hand towards that introduction of the blessed age of light and loge.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=