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this felf-knowledge, and poffeffed with a due esteem for it; did they but know the true way to attain it; and, under a proper sense of its excellence, and the fatal effects of felf-ignorance, did they but make it their business and ftudy every day to cultivate it; how foon fhould we find a happy alteration in the manners and fpirits of men!-But the mifery of it is, men will not think; they will not employ their thoughts, in good earnest, about the things which most of all deserve and demand them. By which unaccountable indolence and averfion to felf-reflection, they are led infenfibly blindfold and into the moft dangerous paths of infidelity and wickedness, as the Jews were heretofore; of whofe amazing ingratitude and apoftacy GOD himself affigns this fingle caufe; My people do not confider (i).

Self-knowledge is that acquaintance with ourselves, which fhews us what we are, what we do, and what we ought to be, in

* Ifai. i. 3.

(i) 'There is nothing men are more deficient in, than knowing their own characters. I know "not how this fcience comes to be fo much neglected. We fpend a great deal of time in learning ufelefs things, but take no pains in the ftudy ' of ourselves; and in opening the folds and doubles of the heart.' Reflections on Ridicule, pag. 61.

in order to our living comfortably and usefully here, and happily hereafter. The means of it is felf-examination; the end of it felf-government, and felf-fruition.-It principally confifts in the knowledge of our fouls; which is attained by a particular attention to their various powers, capacities, paffions, inclinations, operations, ftate, happinefs, and temper. For a man's foul is properly himself. [Mat. xvi. 26. compared with Luke ix. 25. (k).] The body is but the house, the foul is the tenant that inhabits it; the body is the inftrument, the foul the artist that directs it (7).

This

(k) Præceptum Apollinis quo monet, ut fe quifque nofcat, non enim, credo, id præcipit; ut membra nostra aut ftaturam figuramque nofcamus: neque nos corpora fumus; neque ego, tibi dicens hoc, corpori tuo dico: cum igitur NOSCE TE dicit, hoc dicit, nofce animum tuum. Nam corpus quidem quafi vas eft, aut aliquod animi receptaculum; ab animo tuo quicquid agitur id agitur a te. Cic. Tufcul. Quæft. lib. 1.

(1) 2 Cor. v. 1. Rom. vi. 13.—n durauis Luxus, δύναμις ψυχής, To de ozgavov owualos. Nemef. de Nat. Hom. cap. 6.`

Μηδεποτε συμπεριφανταζε το περικείμενον αγ γειωδές και τα οργανα ταύτα τα περιπεπλασμένα, ομοία γαρ εςι σκεπαρνώ, μονον δε διαφερονα, καθότι προσφυή εςιν. Mar. Anton. lib. x. § 37. -When you talk of a man, you tack flesh and blood thofe limbs neither which are

to

I would not have

the notion, nor made out of it; thefe

This science, which is to be the subject of the enfuing treatife, hath these three peculiar properties in it, which diftinguish it from, and render it preferable to, all others-(1.) It is equally attainable by all. It requires no ftrength of memory, no force of genius, no depth of penetration, as many other fciences do, to come at a tolerable degree of acquaintance with them; which therefore renders them inacceffible by the greatest part of mankind. Nor is it

placed out of their reach through a want of opportunity and proper affistance and direction how to acquire it; as many other parts of learning are. Every one of a common capacity hath the opportunity and ability to attain it, if he will but recollect his rambling thoughts, turn them in upon. himself, watch the motions of his heart, and compare them with this rule-(2.) It is of equal importance to all; and of the highest importance to every one (m). Other fciences are fuited to the various conditions

:

of

these are but tools for the foul to work with and no more a part of a man, than an axe or a plane is a piece of a carpenter. It is true, nature hath glewed them together, and they grow as it were to the foul, and there is all the difference. Collier. (m) 'Tis virtue only makes our blifs below, And all our knowledge is OURSELVES TO KNOW. Pope's Effay on Man,

of life: fome, more neceffary to fome; others, to others: but this equally concerns every one that hath an immortal foul, whose final happiness he defires and feeks. -(3.) Other Knowledge is very apt to make a man vain ; this always keeps him humble. Nay, it is for want of this knowledge that men are vain of that they have. Knowledge puffeth up-a fmall degree of knowledge often hath this effect on weak minds: and the reason why greater attainments in it have not fo generally the fame effect, is, because they open and enlarge the views of the mind fo far, as to let into it at the fame time a confiderable degree of felfknowledge.

For the more true knowledge a man hath, the more fenfible he is of the want of it; which keeps him humble.

And now, reader, whoever thou art, whatever be thy character, ftation or diftinction in life, if thou art afraid to look into thine heart, and haft no inclination to felf-acquaintance, read no farther; lay afide this book, for thou wilt find nothing here that will flatter thy felf-esteem; but perhaps fomething that may abate it. However, if thou art defirous to cultivate this important kind of knowledge, and to live

+ 1 Cor. viii. 1.

no

no longer a ftranger to thyfelf, proceed; and keep thine eye open to thine own, image, with whatever unexpected deformity that may prefent itself; and patiently attend, whilft, by divine affiftance, I en-. deavour to lay open thine own heart, and lead thee to the true knowledge of thyfelf in the following chapters.

CHA P. II.

The feveral Branches of Self-Knowledge. We muft know what Sort of Creatures we are, and what we fhall be.

:

HAT we may have a more diftinct

Tand orderly view of this fubject, I

fhall here confider the feveral branches of felf-knowledge; or fome of the chief particulars wherein it confists: Whereby, perhaps, it will appear to be a more copious and comprehensive science than we imagine. And,

(1.) To know ourselves, is to know and feriously confider what fort of creatures we are, and what we fhall be.

(1.) What we are.

Man is a complex being, τριμερης υποφασις, a tripartite perfon; or a compound creature, made up of three diftinct parts, viz. the body, which is the earthly or mortal part of him; the foul, which is the animal or fenfitive part;

C

and

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