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"off from any profitable recollection. "Nay, we ourselves fly out, and are glad "to be diverted from a fevere examina

tion into our own ftate; which is sure, "if diligently pursued, to prefent us with "objects of fhame and forrow, which

will wound our fight, and foon make "us weary of this neceffary work *."

Do not let us flatter ourfelves, then, that this is a mighty eafy bufinefs; much pains and care are neceffary fometimes to keep the mind intent, and more to keep it impartial; and the difficulty of it is the reason that fo many are averfe to it, and care not to defcend into themselves †.

Reader, try the experiment; retire now into thyfelf, and fee if thou canst not trike out fome light within, by clofely urging fuch questions as thefe. "What tam I? for what was I made? and to

what ends have I been preserved fo long "by the favour of my Maker? do I re"member, or forget thofe ends? have I

anfwered, or perverted them? What "have I been doing fince I came into "the world? what is the world or my felf the better for my living so many

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Stanhope's Tho. à Kempis, pag. 166.

" years

Ut nemto in fefe tentat defcendere! Perf. Sat, 4%

"years in it? what is my allowed courfe "of actions? am I fure it will bear the "future test? Am I now in that state "I fhall wish to die in? and, O my foul, "think and think again what it is to die? "Do not put that moft awful event far "from thee; nor pass it by with a fuper"ficial thought. Canft thou be too well "fortified against the terrors of that day? "and art thou fure that the props which "fupport thee now will not fail thee "then? What hopes haft thou for eter"nity? haft thou, indeed, that holy, god"like temper, which alone can fit thee "for the enjoyment of God? Which "world art thou most concerned for? "what things do moft deeply affect thee? "O my foul, remember thy dignity; "think how foon the fcene will fhift. "Why shouldst thou forget thou art im"mortal?"

(2.) This felf-excitation and fcrutiny must be very frequently made.-They who have a great deal of important business on their hands fhould be often looking over their accounts, and frequently adjust them, left they fhould be going backwards, and not know it; and cuftom will foon take off the difficulty of this duty, and turn it into delight.

In

In our morning retreat, it will be proper to remember that we cannot preferve throughout the day that calm and even temper we may then be in; that we shall very probably meet with fome things to ruffle us, fome attack on our weak fide. Place a guard there now. Or however, if no incidents happen to difcompofe us, our tempers will vary; our thoughts will flow pretty much with our blood; and the difpofitions of the mind be a good deal governed by the motions of the animal fpirits; our fouls will be ferene or cloudy, our tempers volatile or phlegmatic, and our inclinations fober or irregular, according to the brifkness or fluggishness of the circulation of the animal fluids, whatever may be the cause or immediate occafion of that; and therefore we must refolve to avoid all occafions that may raise any dangerous ferments there, which, when once raised, will excite in us very different thoughts and difpofitions from those we now have; which, together with the force of a fair opportunity and ur gent temptation, may overfet our reafon and refolution, and betray us into those finful indulgences which will wound the confcience, ftain the foul, and create bit

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ter remorse in our cooler reflections. ous thoughts and purposes in the morning will fet a guard upon the foul, and fortify it under all the temptations of the day.

But fuch felf-infpection, however, fhould never fail to make part of our evening devotions, when we fhould review and examine the feveral actions of the day, the various tempers and difpofitions we have been in, and the occafions that excited them. It is an advice worthy of a Chriftian, though it firft dropped from a heathen pen; that before we betake ourselves to reft, we re view and examine all the paffages of the day, that we may have the comfort of what we have done aright, and may redress what we find to have been amifs; and make the fhipwrecks of one day be as marks to direct our courfe on another. A practice that hath been recommended by many of the heathen moralifts of the greatest name, as Plutarch, Epictetus, Marcus Antoninus; and particularly Pythagoras, in the verfes that go under his name, and are called his golden verfes. Wherein he advises his fcholars every night to recollect the paffages of the day, and afk themfelves thefe questions; "Wherein have I tranfgreffed this day? "what have I done? what duty have I

"omit

" omitted?". Seneca recommends the fame practice. "Sectius (faith he) "did this: At the clofe of the day, be"fore he betook himself to reft, he ad"dreffed his foul in the following man66 ner. What evil of thine haft thou "cured this day? what vice withstood? in "what respect art thou better?-Paffion "will cease, or become more cool, when it "knows it is every day to be thus called What can be more advan

"to account.

"tageous than this conftant custom of "fearching through the day?-And the "fame courfe (faith Seneca) I take my"felf; and every day fit in judgment on Q 3 (6 my

* Μηδυπνον μαλακοισιν επ ομμασι προσδεξασθαι,
Πριν των ημερινων έργων τρις εκασον επελθειν
Πη παρέβην, τι δ έρεξα ; τι μοι δέον εκ εξελεσθη :
Αρξάμενος δ απο πρώτο, επεξιθι και με απει]α,
Δειλα μεν εκπρηξας, επιπλήσει χρησα δε TIOTY.
Ταύλα πονει, ταυτ εκμελεία· τετων χρη εραν σε
Ταύζα σε της θέσης αρετης εις ιχνέα θησει.

Vid. Pythag. Aur. Garm, apud Poet. Minor.
Let not your eyes the fweets of flumber tafte,
Till you have thrice fevere reflections paft
On th' actions of the day, from first to last.
Wherein bave I tranfgrefs'd? What done bave I?
What action unperform'd have I paft by?
And if your actions ill, on fearch, you find,
Let grief; if good, let joy poffefs your mind.
This do, this think, to this your heart incline,
This way will lead you to the life divine.

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