ledge of it the pureft delight; feels more fenfibly the vanity and emptiness of all earthly things; feels himself more forcibly attracted towards the things that are invisible, towards fuch as are infinite and eternal, towards God, the original fountain of all light and all truth, and travels on to his superior state with brighter prospects, with greater expectations. And must not this be a very fuitable preparative to it? If fuch be then the cafe, my pious hearers; if learning be an excellent exercitation and perfection of the human mind; if it procure a man real pleasure, and the most refined and purest kinds of pleasure; if it promote in various ways the general welfare of fociety; if it be a powerful preservative from superstition and fanaticism; if it be a support and an auxiliary of true religion; if it have a tendency to fit us, in more than one refpect, for our future fuperior state: then is it inconteftable that it poffeffes a real, a great value, that it may contribute and actually does contribute much to human happiness. And, now, how ought we to behave in regard to it? The learned, as well as the unlearned, have particular duties incumbent on them in this respect. In conclufion, allow me to address a few words to the confideration of both. You therefore, my dear friends, who devote yourselves to learning, or employ yourselves in it, take it for neither more nor less than it really is. Prize and pronounce upon it, in the whole, as in its particular parts, according to their proper worth; ufe it according to its true deftination. Acknowledge that the generality of it, though ferviceable and in many refpects ufeful and neceffary, yet is not near fo important as prepoffeffion and felf-love would probably induce you to believe. Know and feel and confefs the imperfection, the uncertainty of all human knowledge and science. Frequently contraft what you know, against what you do not and cannot know; what you know with affurance, against what is only hypothetical and flightly probable; what you can actually make ufe of, against what is barely inftrumental and matter of exercife, or even deception and error; what you may hope to carry with you into eternity, against what will be buried with you, and be loft in the night of oblivion: and let all this teach you modefty and humility. Let found common sense, the uncorrupted feelings of the heart, the wisdom that is grounded on experience, and fhews itfeif in an active and bufy life, have ample justice. Reverence and pursue learning only fo far as it makes you bet ter, more intelligent, more wife, more ufeful; and prefer the important to the lefs important, the ferviceable to the lefs ferviceable, as often and as much as your circumftances and the duties of your vocation will allow. Be not jealous of your acquirements, nor parfimonious of your information; rather fludy to incorporate all you know that is good eyes good and useful, every truth that is of fervice to mankind, by every method in your power, into the common stock of human knowledge. Let that greater light, which gladdens you, enlighten others alfo; and hide it not from indolence or from timidity, or from mercenary views, from the of the world. Beware however at the fame time of fhaking the foundations of morality, or weakening the bands of religion. This, as the friend of mankind, you would not venture to do, even though you were perfuaded that the former were falfe and the latter chimerical; at least, not till you could furnish your brethren with more stable fupports to their faith and repofe. No, whatever promotes human perfection and happiness fhould be facred to you; and true religion, which certainly promotes it moft, fhould be moft facred. Content not yourself simply with being learned, but endeavour to be fo in a refpectable and amiable manner. Beware of the ordinary failings attendant on learning; of unfociablenefs, of mifanthropy, of defpifing and depreciating whatever lies not within your sphere, or relates not to you pursuits. Be not haughty nor domineering; bear with the weak, the ignorant, the erroneous, in the spirit of love; put them not to fhame, but convey to them inftruction; decide not on all things, and never decide without reafon; condefcend to each man's capa city; hearken to their modeft contradictions with calmness; and learn, even from the unlearned, as readily readily as you teach others. Refpect the perceptions, the excellencies, the useful occupations of other perfons, though they fhould even feem ftrange to you. Do honour in fine, to learning, by the falutary influence you allow it to have on your character and conduct; distinguish yourself even more by generous fentiments and employments of general utility, than by diffufive fcience; and uniformly prefer doing to understanding, that is, virtue to knowledge. And you, my friends, who belong not to the class of the learned, defpife not that with which you are unacquainted, or of which you have only a glimmering and faint conception. Rather esteem and prize that of which you are able to discern a little by a few reflections, fufficient however to fhew you that it is of great and various fervice to you and to the whole community. Contemn not the thing itself, because of its accidental abuses. Attribute not the errors and imperfections of the learned to learning itfelf. Require not of perfons, who in general lead and are forced to lead a retired life, and who feldom have a mind totally difengaged, the vivacity, nor the polished breeding, nor the agreeable manners, nor the intereft in all that paffes, which you may expect from perfons who live in the great world, and are present in all public diverfions and pleasures. Refpect the body of the learned, though perhaps all that belong to it are not refpectable. Countenance and promote learning learning of every kind, by the esteem you fhew to the learned, by the helps you afford them, by the affistance wherewith you facilitate their' frequently expensive undertakings and purfuits, by the honour and rewards you bestow on their industry, and for the service they render the public. But profit likewife by the greater light which learning diffufes around you. Avail yourselves of it for rectifying and extending your knowledge, as far as is confiftent with your calling and your other obligations. But strive not for fuch learning, as in your station cannot be acquired without neglecting your moft important occupations and affairs, and which, in the degree you would probably wish to poffefs it, would more confufe than fettle you, would be of more prejudice than benefit to you. Neither pretend to an acquaintance with fuch kinds of knowledge and science as are either totally unknown to you, or of which you fcarcely know more than the name; at most, have only fome general notions. In many cafes, it is far better to be ignorant, and not to be ashamed of one's ignorance, than to put up with fuperficial knowledge, and then to be as proud of it as if it were real learning. Laftly, let all of us, my pious hearers, both learned and unlearned, fo think and fo live as men fedulous to promote the benefit of one and the fame family; as members of one body, whereof one is the eye, another the ear, a third the hand, a fourth the foot, and who are all equally neceffary |