CHAP. XIV.

Concerning the Knowledge, Guard and Govern ment of our Thoughts.

XIII.

NOTHER Part of Self-Know-ledge confifts in a due Acquaintance with our own Thoughts, and the inward Workings of the Imagination.

The right Government of the Thoughts requires no fmall Art, Vigilance, and Resolution. But it is a Matter of fuch vaft Importance to the Peace and Improvement of the Mind, that it is worth while to be at fome Pains about it. AMan that hath so numerous and turbulent a Family to govern as his own Thoughts, which are too apt to be at the Command of his Paffions and Appe tites, ought not to be long from Home. If he be, they will foon grow mutinous and disorderly un der the Conduct of those two head-ftrong Guides, and raise great Clamours and Disturbances, and sometimes on the slightest Occasions. And a more dreadful Scene of Mifery can hardly be imag'd, than that which is occafioned by fuch a Tumult and Uproar within, when a raging Conscience or inflamed Paffions are let loose without Check or Controul. A City in Flames, or the Mutiny of a drunken Crew aboard, who have murdered the Captain, and are butchering one another, are but faint Emblems of it. The Torment

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ment of the Mind, under fuch an Infurrection and Ravage of the Paffions, is not easy to be conceived. The moft revengeful Man cannot wish his Enemy a greater.

Of what vaft Importance then is it for a Man to watch over his Thoughts, in order to a right Government of them! To confider what Kind of Thoughts find the eafieft Admiffion, in what Manner they infinuate themselves, and upon what Occafions!

It was an excellent Rule which a wife Heathen prescribed to himself, in his private Meditations; Manage (faith he) all your Actions and Thoughts in fuch a Manner, as if you were just going out of the World (†). Again,‹ (saith he) A Man is feldom, if ever, unhappy for not knowing the Thoughts of others; but he that does not attend to the Motions of his own, is certainly miferable (u).

It may be worth our while then to difcufs this Matter a little more precisely; and confider, (1.) What kind of Thoughts are to be excluded or rejected. And (2.) What ought to be indulged and entertained. I. Some

(t) Mare. Anton. Medit. lib. 2. § 11. (u) Marc, Anton. lib. 2. § 8.

"Nothing can be more unhappy than that Man, who ranges "every where, ranfacks every Thing, digs into the Bowels of the "Earth, dives into other Mens Bofoms, but does not confider all "the while that his own Mind will afford him fufficient Scope for "Enquiry and Entertainment, and that the Care and Improvement "of himself will give him Business enough. Id. lib. 2. § 13.1

"Your difpofition will be fuitable to that which you most fre "quently think on; for the Soul is, as it were, tinged with the "Colour and Complexion of its own Thoughts. Id. lib. 5. § 16.

I. Some Thoughts ought to be immediately banished as foon as they have found Entrance. And if we are often troubled with them, the fafeft Way will be to keep a good Guard on the Avenues of the Mind by which they enter, and avoid those Occafions which commonly excite them. For fometimes it is much eafier to prevent a bad Thought entering the Mind, than to get rid of it when it is entered.- -More particularly,

(1.) Watch against all fretful and discontented Thoughts, which do but chafe and corrode the Mind to no Purpose. To harbour these is to do yourself more Injury than it is in the Power of your greatest Enemy to do you. It is equally a Christian's Interest and Duty to learn, in whatever State he is, therewith to be content *

(2.) Harbour not too anxious and apprehensive Thoughts. By giving Way to tormenting Fears, Sufpicions of fome approaching Danger or troublesome Event, we not only anticipate, but double the Evil we fear; and undergo much more from the Apprehenfion of it before it comes, than from the whole Weight of it when present. This is a great, but common Weakness; which a Man fhould endeavour to arm himself against by such `· kind of Reflections as thefe;" Are not all "thefe Events under the certain Direction of a "wife Providence? If they befall me, they are "then that Share of Suffering which GOD hath appointed me; and which he expects I fhould

Phil. iv, II,

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bear

"bear as a Chriftian. How often hath my too "timorous Heart magnified former Trials? which "I found to be lefs in Reality than they appeared "upon their Approach. And perhaps the formi "dable Afpect they put on, is only a Stratagem "of the great Enemy of my best Intereft, design"ed on purpose to divert me from fome Point of Duty, or to draw me into fome Sin, to avoid them. However, why fhould I torment myself to no Purpofe? The Pain and Affliction the "dreaded Evil will give me when it comes, is of "GOD's fending; the Pain I feel in the Ap"prehenfion of it before it comes, is of my own "procuring. Whereby I often make my Suffer

ings more than double; for this Overplus of "them, which I bring upon myself, is often great"er than that Measure of them which the Hand ❝of Providence immediately brings upon me."

(3.) Difmifs, as foon as may be, all angry and wrathful Thoughts. Thefe will but canker and corrode the Mind, and difpofe it to the worst Temper in the World, viz. that of fixed Malice and Revenge. Anger may steal into the Heart of a wife Man, but it refts only in the Bofom of Fools. Make all the most candid Allowances for the Offender. Confider his natural Temper. Turn your Anger into Pity. Repeat 1 Cor. xiii. Think of the Patience and Meekness of Christ, and the Petition in the Lord's-Prayer; and how 'much you stand in need of Forgiveness yourself, both

• Ecclef. vii. 9.

both from GOD and Man; how fruitless, how foolish is indulged Refentment; how tormenting to yourself. You have too much Good-Nature willingly to give others fo much Torment; and why should you give it yourself? You are com manded to love your Neighbour as yourself, but not forbidden to love yourself as much. And why should you do yourself that Injury, which your Enemy would be glad to do you *?

But, above all, be fure to fet a Guard on the Tongue, whilft the fretful Mood is upon you. The leaft Spark may break out into a Conflagration, when cherished by a refentive Heart, and fanned by the Wind of an angry Breath. Aggravating Expreffions at fuch a Time, are like Oil thrown upon Flames, which always make them rage the more (w). Efpecially,

(4.) Banish all malignant and revengeful Thoughts. A Spirit of Revenge is the very Spirit of the Devil; than which nothing makes a Man more like him; and nothing can be more oppofite to the Temper which Christianity was defigned to promote. If your Revenge be not satisfied, it

*The Chriftian Precept in this Cafe is, let not the Sun go down upon your Wrath, Eph. iv. 26. And this Precept Plutarch tells us the Pythagoreans practised in a literal Senfe: " Who, if at any "Time in a Paffion they broke out into opprobious Language, be "fore Sun-fet gave one another their Hands, and with them a "Discharge from all Injuries; and so with a mutual Reconciliation "parted Friends." Plut. Mor. Vol. iii, pag. 89.

(ε) Αγαθον μεν εςι εν πυρείω, δε εν οργή την γλώτταν απαλήν EXEIV Haι Relay. Plutarch. de Irâ Cohiben. It is good in a Fever, much better in Anger, to have the Tongue kept clean and smooth,