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S on natural obe glaffes, and the e more wonders we

e furprifing difco-
certain properties,
longing to them,
re thought of. For
knowledge, the hu-
rious powers and o-
owly inspected, all
doublings difplay
-acquaintance will
defective, and the
ceive us. So that
there is no small
g injury to it, by
nqueft on the one
nto a research too
cal for common ufe
two extremes I fhall

endeavour to steer
1 them.

is one of the moít
Aive precepts in the
And it is well know I
tion this maxim was
; and in how hig
Self-examination, a

1 is faid to be the

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that of the world; but a wife and pious man, before all other kinds of knowledge, prefers that of God and his own foul.

But fome kind of knowledge or other the mind is continually craving after, and after a further proficiency in. And by confidering what kind of knowledge it moft of all defires, its prevailing turn and temper may eafily be known.

This defire of knowledge, like other affections planted in our natures, will be very apt to lead us wrong, if it be not well regulated. When it is directed to improper objects, or purfued in an improper manner, it degenerates into a vain and criminal curiofity. A fatal instance of this in our first parents we have upon facred record, the unhappy effects of which are but too vifible in all.

Self-knowledge is the fubject of the enfuing treatise;-a fubject which, the more I think of, the more important and extenfive it appears;. fo important, that every branch of it feems abfolutely neceffary to the right government of the life and temper; and fo extenfive, that the nearer view we take of the several branches of it, the more are still opening to the view, as neceffarily connected with it as the other, like what we find in microscopical

croscopical obfervations on natural objects. The better the glaffes, and the nearer the scrutiny, the more wonders we explore; and the more furprifing difcoveries we make of certain properties, parts, or affections belonging to them, which were never before thought of. For in order to à true felf-knowledge, the human mind, with its various powers and operations, must be narrowly inspected, all its fecret bendings and doublings displayed; otherwise our felf-acquaintance will be but very partial and defective, and the heart after all will deceive us. So that, in treating this fubject, there is no fmall danger, either of doing injury to it, by a flight and fuperficial inqueft on the one hand, or of running into a research too minute and philofophical for common use on the other. These two extremes I fhall keep in my eye, and endeavour to steer a middle course between them.

"Know thyfelf," is one of the moft useful and comprehenfive precepts in the whole moral system. And it is well known in how great a veneration this maxim was held by the ancients; and in how high. esteem the duty of felf-examination, as neceffary to it.

Thales the Milefian is faid to be the

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firft author of it * ; who used to fay, "That for a man to know himself is the "hardest thing in the world f." It was afterwards adopted by Chylon the Lacedemonian; and is one of those three precepts which Pliny affirms to have been confecrated at Delphos in golden letters. It was afterwards greatly admired, and frequently used by others ‡, till at length it acquired the authority of a divine oracle, and was supposed to have been given originally by Apollo himfelf. Of which general

He was the prince of the philofophers, and flourifhed about A. M. 3330, and was contemporary with Jofiah, king of Judah.

+ See Stanley's Life of Thales.

Refpue quod non es: tollat fua munera cerdo. Tecum habita: et poris quam fit tibi curta fupel

lex.

Perf. Sat. 4. nec te quæfiveris extra. ld. Sat. X. te confule, dic tibi quis fis. Juv. Sat. II. Teipfum concute. Hor. Lib. 1. Sat. 3. Bellum eft enim fua vitia noffe. Cic. Epift. ad Atticum. Lib. 2. Illud (vabı σravov), noli putare ad arrogan tiam minuendam folum effe dictum, verum etiam ut bona noftra norimus. Id. Epift. ad Mar. 2. Fratrem, Lib. 3. Epift. 6.

Id enim maxime quemque decet quod est cujufque fuum maxime. Quifque igitur nofcat ingenium, acremque fe et bonorum et vitiorum fuorum judicem præbeat. Id. de Offic. Lib. 1.

Intrandum eft igitur in rerum naturam, et peni. tus; quid ea poftulat pervidendum; aliter enim nofmet ipfos noffe non poffumus. Id. de Finibus, Lib. 5.

general opinion Cicero gives us this reafon, "Because it hath fuch a weight of "fenfe and wifdom in it as appears too

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great to be attributed to any man And this opinion, of its coming originally from Apollo himself, perhaps was the reafon that it was written in golden capitals over the door of his temple at Delphos.

And why this excellent precept fhould not be held in as high esteem in the Chriftian world as it was in the heathen, is hard to conceive. Human nature is the fame now as it was then. The heart as deceitful; and the neceffity of watching, knowing, and keeping it the fame. Nor are we lefs affured that this precept is divine: nay, we have a much greater affurance of this than they had. They fuppof ed it came down from heaven; we know it did. What they conjectured, we are fure of. For this facred oracle is dictat

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* Hæc enim (i. e. Philofophia) nos, cum cæteras res omnes, tum quod eft difficillimum, docuit; ut [NOSMET IPSOS] nofceremus. Cujus præcepti tanta vis, tanta fententia eft, ut ea non homini cuipiam, fed Delphico Deo tribueretur. Cicero de Legib.

Lib. I.

Quod præceptum quia majus erat quam ut ab homine videretur, idcirco affignatum eft Deo: Jubet igitur nos Pythius Apollo, nofcere [NOSMET IP. SOS]. Idem de Finibus, Lib. 5. cap, 16.

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