271 SERMON XXX. ECCLESIASTES I. 18. In much wifdom is much grief, and he that increaseth knowledge increafeth forrow. SOLOMON, the the supposed author of the book of Ecclefiaftes, one of the greatest, and doubtlefs one of the wifeft of the fons of men, describes himself, in the verses preceding my text, as fetting out in the pursuit of happiness, that great and ultimate end of all our wishes and defires and if real, folid, and permanent happiness were a treasure ever to be acquired by man, Solomon would most probably have attained unto it, as. he omitted no method which reason could SERM. XXX. XXX. SERM. could fuggeft, or which understanding and experience could point out to him; being, as we learn from his whole hiftory; as recorded in holy writ, endowed with more than common penetration and fagacity, with knowledge not lefs extenfive than his power, and as fuperior to the rest of mankind in parts and capacity, as in wealth and dominion. We are not therefore furprifed to find him, in his fearch after this great object, applying himself feduloufly to the cultivation of his mind, paying the tribute due to wifs dom, and giving the deferved preference to learning and knowledge. I communed fays he, with mine own heart, faying, Lo! I am come to great eftate, and have gotten more wijdom than all they that have been before me in Jerufalem; yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge. And yet, after all his toil and labour, we behold him returning from his journey fatigued XXX. fatigued and disappointed, making at last SERM. this fad and folemn reflection, I have feen, fays he, all the things that are under the fun and behold! all is vanity and vexation of Spirit : for in much wisdom is much grief, and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth forrow. The preacher could not perhaps have uttered a sentence more mortifying to human pride, or more grating to human ambition; and yet, as he could have no intention to deceive, no intereft that could induce him to mislead us, we, on our parts, should seriously confider what those very cogent and powerful reasons were, which urged him to publish a truth fo disagreeable, and obliged him to draw fo melancholy a conclufion. And First, then, The most natural reflection that occurred to the royal mo VOL. II. T nitor XXX. SERM. nitor on this fubject, and which we may suppose contributed in a great measure to establish this opinion, was probably the weakness and infufficiency of all human knowledge. Those who have been at the pains to think at all (which is not indeed the talent of every man) agree in acknowledging that there is no labour so intense, or fo fatiguing, as the labour of the mind; and that the acquifition of knowledge is a work of greater toil and trouble than the acquifition of any thing else: few things, notwithstanding, will be found on examination, fo ill to repay our cares, or fo poorly to recompenfe our folicitude: one would moreover be inclined to think that the difficulty of the conqueft would enhance both the glory and the pleasure of the triumph; but the truth is, that this victory, like many others, may be bought bought too dear; it may be bought, we SERM. fhall find, at the expence of our peace and tranquility, at the expence of our honour and virtue, at the expence in fhort of all our pleasure, and all our happiness and who, in either of these circumstances, will compliment us on our choice, or who will envy us the purchafe? Ask the man who travels through the paths of science, if they are not obstructed with thorns and briars on every fide? if he doth not meet with repeated obftacles, and is not ftopped on his journey by a thousand disappointments? he will tell you, that the hopes of men deceive, that their faculties defert, and their pow ers betray them: that where they expected to have conquered every difficulty, and met with thorough conviction, doubts have arifen on a fudden to obfcure, |