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Do not therefore fhut your eyes against your darling fin, or be averfe to find it out, Why fhould you ftudy to conceal or excuse it; and fondly cherish that viper in your bofom ? Some men deal by their fins, as fome ladies do by their perfons. When their beauty is decayed, they feek to hide it from themfelves by falfe glaffes, and ⚫ from others by paint. So, many feek to hide their fins from themselves by false gloffes, and from others by excuses, or falfe colours (z)' but the greatest cheat they put upon themselves: * They that cover their fins fhall not profper. It is dangerous felf-flattery to give foft and finoothing names to fins, in order to difguife their nature. Rather lay your hand upon your heart, and thruft it into your bofom, though it come out (as Mofes's did) leprous as fnow (a).

And

into myfelf, I cannot endure myfelf if I look not into myfelf, I cannot know myfelf. If I confider myfelf, my own face affrights me : if I confider not myself, my damnation deceives me. If I fee myself, my horror is intolerable: if I fee not myself, death is unavoidable. Anfelme.

(z) Baxter.

+ Exod. iv. 6.

*Prou. xxviii, 23. (a) Initium eft falutis, notitia peccati: nam qui peccare fe nefcit, corrigi non vult. Deprehendas te oportet, antequam emendes. Quidam vitiis gloriantur. Tu exiftimas aliquid de remedio cogitare, qui mala fua virtutum loco numerant? Ideo quan

tum

1

And to find out our most beloved fin, let us confider what are those worldly objects or amusements which give us the highest delight; this, it is probable, will lead us directly to fome one of our darling iniquities, if it be a fin of commiffion: and what are thofe duties which we read or hear of from the word of GOD, to which we find ourfelves most difinclined? And this, in all likelihood, will help us to detect fome of our peculiar fins of omiffion; which, without fuch previous examination, we may not be fenfible of. And thus we may make a proficiency in one confiderable branch of felfknowledge (b).

CHAP.

tum potes teipfum coargue: inquire in te; accufatoris primum partibus fungere, deinde judicis, noviffimè deprecatoris. Aliquando te offende. Sen. Epift. 28.-The knowledge of fin is the first step towards amendment: for he that does not know he hath offended, is not willing to be reproved. You must therefore find out yourself, before you can amend yourself. Some glory in their vices. And do you imagine they have any thought about reforming, who place their very vices in the room of virtues? therefore reprove thyfelf: fearch thyfelf very narrowly. First turn accufer to thyfelf, then a judge, and then a fuppliant: and dare for once to difpleafe thyfelf.

(b) Et hoc ipfum argumentum eft in melius tranflati animi, quod vitia fua, quæ adhuc ignorabat, videt. Sen. Epift. 6. It is a good argument, of a reformed mind, that it fees thofe vices in itfelf which it was before ignorant of.

A man's

CHA P. VIII.

The Knowledge of our most dangerous Temptations, neceffary to Self-Knowledge,

A

VII. MAN that rightly knows himself, is acquainted with his peculiar temptations; and knows when, and in what circumftances, he is in the greatest danger of tranfgreffing.

Reader, if ever you would know yourfelf, you must examine this point thoroughly: and if you have never yet done it, make a pause when you have read this chapter, and

do

A man's predominant fin usually arifes out of his predominant paffion; which therefore he fhould diligently obferve. The nature and force of which is beautifully described by a late great mafter of English verse.

On different fenfes different objects ftrike, Hence different paffions more or less inflame, As ftrong or weak, the organs of the frame; And hence one mafter-paffion in the breast, Like Aaron's ferpent, fwallows up the reft. Nature its mother, Habit is its nurse; Wit, Spirit, Faculties, but make it worse; Reafon itself but gives it edge and power, As Heaven's bleft beam turns vinegar more four. Ah! if fhe lend not arms as well as rules, What can fhe more than tell us we are fools? Teach us to mourn our Nature, not to mend, A sharp accuser, but a helpless friend! Pope's Effay on Man.

do it now. Confider in what company you are moft apt to lose the poffeffion and government of yourself; on what occafions you are apt to be most vain and unguarded, most warm and precipitant: flee that company, avoid those occafions, if you would keep your conscience clear. What is it that robs you most of your time and your temper? If you have a due regard to the improvement of the one, and the preservation of the other, you will regret fuch a lofs; and fhun the occafions of it, as carefully as you would a road befet with robbers.

But, especially, muft you attend to the occafions which most usually betray you into your favourite vices; and confider the fpring from whence they arife, and the circumftances which moft favour them. They arife, doubtless, from your natural temper, which ftrongly disposes and inclines you to them: that temper, then, or particular turn of defire, must be carefully watched over as a moft dangerous quarter; and the opportunities and circumstances which favour those inclinations must be refolutely avoided, as the ftrongest temptations. The way to fubdue a criminal inclination is, firft, to avoid the known occafions that excite it; and then, to

curb

curb the first motions of it (c). And thus, having no opportunity of being indulged, it will, of itself, in time lose its force, and fail of its wonted victory.

The fureft way to conquer, is fometimes to decline a battle; to weary out the enemy, by keeping him at bay: Fabius Maximus did not use this stratagem more fuccessfully against Hannibal than a Chriftian may against his peculiar vice, if he be but watchful of his advantages. It is dangerous to provoke an unequal enemy to the fight, or to run into fuch a fituation, where we cannot expect to escape without a disadvantageous en

counter.

It is of unspeakable importance, in order to jelf-knowledge and felf-government, to be acquainted with all the acceffes and avenues to fin, and to observe which way it is that we ourselves too often approach it; and to fet reafon and confcience to guard thofe paffes, those usual inlets to vice, from which, if a man once enters, he will find a retreat extremely difficult (d).

Watchfulness,

(c) Principiis obfta: ferò medicina paratur Cum mala per longas invaluere moras.

(d)

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me veftigia terrent

Ovid.

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