Excerpt from A Sermon, Preached Before the Ancient and Honourable Artillery Company, in Boston, June 6, 1796: Being the Anniversary of Their Election of Officers Cation, this truth of our text is eflablilhed. The whole paragraph contains an appeal* of a man to his neighbours, or an inquiry which may be thus repre fented. Indeed, fhould I have no uncommon natural powers; or {hould I not have cultivated my under fianding; fhould I not have been a man of deep re flection, or ihould I not have the fecrets of infpira tion; tell me, whence could I get wifdom? Ami firlt to comprehend all creation? Who hath done this? Who hath afcended into heaven, or who hath defcended? Who hath gathered the winds in his hand, or confined the waters in his garment Who hath eftablifhed all parts of the earth What is the name of this man, or what is his fon's name? Can any man tell Is not every truth of God approved, when it has been fafe to thofe who trufl in it Add thou not then rafhly to his words afiirm only from experi ence left thy folly be expofed, and thou lead other men into errour. He then proceeds to his conclufion. He had confidered affluence, and poverty, and had devoutly obferved how far they contribute ufually to happinefs, and he tells us, that experience and obfer vation had reconciled his mind to the nature of hu man life, and had taught him to acquiefce in thofe moderate defires, which are much more adapted to health, and contentment, and have their objects com monly within every man's reach. Experience has continued to decide in favour of this choice, and to render it happy. Our text then afi'ures us that the laws of God are known from experience, and from the fafety and happinefs men find in them that every advantage beyond pail experience, fhould be purfued with the greateft caution; that attempts at higher. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.