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Part II: a man be but well acquainted with his own, this, together with a very little obfervation on the ways of men, will foon discover to him thofe of others, and fhow him very impartially the particular failings and excellencies of men, and help him to form a much truer fentiment of them, than if he were to judge only by their exterior, the appearance they make in the eye of the world, (than which fometimesnothing shows them in a falfer light), or by popular opinions and prejudices.

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(2.) Self-knowledge will teach us to judge rightly of facts as well as men. will exhibit things to the mind in their proper light and true colours, without thole falfe gloffes and appearances which fancy throws upon them, or in which the imagination often paints them. It will teach us to judge not with the imagination, but with the understanding; and will fet a guard upon the former, which fo often represents things in wrong views, and gives the mind false impressions of them. See Part I. Chap. IV.

(3.) It helps us to estimate the true value of all worldly good things. It rectifies our notions of them, and leffens that enor mous esteem we are apt to have for them. For when a man knows himself, and his

true

true interests, he will fee how far, and in what degree, these things are fuitable to him, and fubfervient to his good; and how far they are unfuitable, enfnaring, and pernicious. This, and not the common opinion of the world, will be his rule of judging concerning them. By this he will fee quite through them; fee what they really are at bottom, and how far a wife man ought to defire them. The reafon why men value them fo extravagantly is, because they take but a fuperficial view of them, and only look upon their outfide, where they are most fhow and inviting. Were they to look within them, confider their intrinfic worth, their ordinary effects, their tendency and their end, they would not be fo apt to overvalue them. And a man that has learned to fee through himself, can easily fee through these *. СНАР.

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* Abftrahunt a recto divitiæ, honores, potentia, et cætera quæ opinione nostra chara funt, precio fuo vi lia. Nefcimus æftimare res: de quibus, non cum fama fed cum rerum natura, deliberandum eft. Nihil habent ifta magnificum, quo mentes in fe noftras trahant, præter hoc quod mirari illa confuevimus. Non enim, quia concupifcenda funt, laudantur, fed concupifcuntur quia laudata funt. Sen. Epift. 82.-" Riches, honours, power, and the like, which owe all their "worth to our falfe opinion of them, are too apt to draw the heart from virtue. We know not how "' to

CHAP. VII.

Self-Knowledge directs to the proper Exercife of Self-Denial.

VII. "

AMAN that knows himself, best

"knows how, and wherein,

" he ought to deny himself."

The great duty of felf-denial, which our Saviour fo exprefsly requires of all his followers, (plain and neceffary as it is), has been much mistaken and abused, and that not only by the church of Rome in their doctrines of penance, fafts, and pilgrimages, but by fome Proteftant Chriftians in the inftances of voluntary abftinence, and unneceffary aufterities; whence they are fometimes apt to be too cenforious against those who indulge themselves in the use of those indifferent things, which they make it a point of confcience to abstain from. Whereas, would they confine their exercife of felf-denial to the plain and im

portant

"to prize them; they are not to be judged of by the common vogue, but by their own nature; they "have nothing to attract our esteem, but that we "are ufed to admire them; they are not cried up because they are things that ought to be defired, but they are defired becaufe they are generally cried up."

portantoints of Chriftian practice, devoutly performing the neceffary duties they are most averfe to, and refolutely avoiding the known fins they are moft inclined to, under the direction of scripture, they would foon become more folid, judicious, and exemplary Chriftians: And did they know themselves, they would easily fee that herein there is occafion and scope enough for felf-denial, and that to a degree of greater feverity and difficulty than there is in those little corporal abftinences and mortifications they enjoin themselves. (1.) Self-knowledge will direct us to the neceffary exercifes of felf-denial, with regard to the duties our tempers are most averse to.

There is no one, but, at some times, finds a great backwardnefs and indifpofition to fome duties which he knows to be seasonable and neceffary. This then is a proper occafion for felf-difcipline. For to indulge this indifpofition is very dangerous, and leads to an habitual neglect of known duty; and to refift and oppose it, and prepare for a diligent and faithful difcharge of the duty, notwithstanding the many pleas and excufes that carnal difpcfition may urge for the neglect of it, this requires no fmall pains and felf-denial,

and yet is very neceffary to the peace of confcience.

And for our encouragement to this piece of self-denial, we need only remember, that the difficulty of the duty, or our unfitness for it, will, upon the trial, be found to be much lefs than we apprehended; and the pleasure of reflecting that we have discharged our confciences, and given a fresh testimony of our uprightness, will more than compenfate the pains and difficulty we found therein. And the oftener these criminal propenfions to the wilful neglect of duty are opposed and overcome, the feldomer will they return, or the weaker will they grow, till at last, by divine grace, they will be wholly vanquished, and in the room of them will fucceed an habitual readiness to every good work, Tit. iii. 1. and a very fenfible delight therein; a much happier effect than can be expected from the feverest exercifes of felf-denial in the inftances before mentioned.

(2) A man that knows himself will fee an equal neceffity for felf-denial, in order to check and controul his inclinations to linful actions; to fubdue the rebel within; to refift the folicitations of fenfe and appetite; to fummon all his wisdom to a

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