Ignorantia scientifica. A brief essay on mans not knowing his time: the just inferences…

Secondly, LITTLE do we Foreknow the Quality of our Time; or what we are to Encounter in it. Shall we have a Good Time, or a Bad Time of it? Man knoweth not! In our Time shall we see Days of Pleasure, or Days of Sorrow? Man knoweth not! Shall we have our Time sweetened with much Prosperity, or embittered with much Adversity? Man knoweth not! The World may not prove either so Good as we hope, or so Bad as we fear? 'Tis most commonly so. Some look for a sadder Time than ever does arrive unto them. So did the Israelitish Hero, when he said, I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul. But much oftener do Men look for a better Time, than what anon comes unto them. They say, I shall never be moved; But, GOD hides His Face, and they are Troubled. When Joseph was a Prisoner and his Foot they did humble with the affliction of a chain; The Iron, that did penetrate into his very Soul: Did he know what was to be done for him, when the King constituted him to be the Ruler of his House; yea, and the Governor of all that was possessed by him. When Haman was in all the Grandeur of the Persian Court, and the chief Minister of State there; Did he know how near he and his Family were, to a matchless confusion? What Accidents we are to meet withal, whether Joyful Accidents, or Woeful Accidents, we must not know, indeed so much as one day before hand. ⟨p. 7⟩So we are admonished; Prov. XXVII. 1. Thou knowest not what a Day may bring forth. O Man, Thou knowest not, what may This Day befall thee in thy Person, in thy Family, in thy Interest. Thou knowest not what may be the Tidings that will This Day be brought unto thee. Thou knowest not in the Evening what may befall thee before the Morning, or in the Morning what shall befall thee before the Evening; Any more than the Men upon whom the Tower of Siloam fell, that the Tower was to fall, while they were under it.

Secondly, LITTLE do we Foreknow the Quality of our Time; or what we are to Encounter in it. Shall we have a Good Time, or a Bad Time of it? Man knoweth not! In our Time shall we see Days of Pleasure, or Days of Sorrow? Man knoweth not! Shall we have our Time sweetned with much Prosperity, or embittered with much Adversity? Man knoweth not! The World may not prove either so Good as we hope, or so Bad as we fear? 'Tis most commonly so. Some look for a sadder Time than ever does arrive unto them. So did the Israelitish Hero, when he said, I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul. But much oftner do Men look for a better Time, than what anon comes unto them. They say, I shall never be moved; But, GOD hides His Face, and they are Troubled. When Joseph was a Prisoner and his Foot they did humble with the affliction of a chain; The Iron, that did penetrate into his very Soul: Did he know what was to be done for him, when the King constituted him to be the Ruler of his House; yea, and the Governour of all that was possess'd by him. When Haman was in all the Grandeur of the Persion Court, and the chief Minister of State there; Did he know how near he and his Family were, to a matchless confusion? What Accidents we are to meet withal, whether Joyful Accidents, or Woful Accidents, we must not know, indeed so much as one day before hand.