תמונות בעמוד
PDF
ePub

our hearts better than we can in the more even and cuftomary fcenes of life, when the paffions are all calm and ftill; and therefore, would we know ourselves, we fhould be very attentive to our frame, temper, difpofition, and conduct, upon fuch occafions.

CHAP. VIII,

To know ourselves, we must wholly abstract from external Appearances.

VIII. "

66

WOULD you know yourself, you muit, as far as pof"fible, get above the influence of exter"nal appearances and circumftances."

A man is what his heart is. The knowledge of himself is the knowledge of his heart, which is entirely an inward thing; to the knowledge of which then, outward things (fuch as a man's condition and circumitances in the world) can contribute nothing; but, on the other hand, if taken into any confideration, will be a great bar and hinderance to him in his pursuit of felf-knowledge.

(1.) Are your circumstances in the world eafy and profperous, take care you do not judge

T3

judge of yourself too favourably on that

account.

These things are without you, and therefore can never be the measure of what is within you; and however the world may refpect you for them, they do not in the leaft make you either a wiser or more va

luable man.

In forming a true judgment of yourself then, you must entirely fet afide the confideration of your eftate and family, your wit, beauty, genius, health, &c. which are all but the appendages or trappings of a man, or a smooth and fhining varnish, which may lacquer over the basest metal *.

A man may be a good and happy man without these things, and a bad and wretched one with them. Nay, he may have all thefe, and be the worfe for them. They are so far from being good and excellent in themselves, that we often fee Providence beftows them upon the vileft of men, and in kindness denies them to fome of the best. They often are the greateft temptations that can put a man's faith and firmness to the proof. Or,

(2.) Is

* Si perpendere te voles, fepone pecuniam, do

mum, dignitatem; intus te ipfe confule. Sen.

(2.) Is your condition in life mean and afflicted? Do not judge the worfe of yourfelf for not having thofe external advantages which others have.

None will think the worfe of you for not having them, but those who think the better of themselves for having them: in both which they fhow a very depraved and perverted judgment. These are (ra x ip') things entirely without us, and out of our power; for which a man is neither the better nor the worse, but according as he uses them: and therefore you ought to be as indifferent to them as they are to you. A good man fhines amiably through all the obfcurity of his low fortune, and a wicked man is a poor little wretch in the midft of all his grandeur *.

Were we to follow the judgment of the world, we fhould think otherwise of these things, and by that mistake be led into a mistaken notion of ourselves. But we have a better rule to follow, to which if we ad

here,

* Parvus pumilio, licet in monte conftiterit; coloffus magnitudinem fuam fervabit, etiam fi fteterit in puteo. Sen. Epift. 77.

"Pygmies are pygmies ftill, though plac'd in Alps; "And pyramids are pyramids in vales."

Night Thoughts.

here, the confideration of our external condition in life, be it what it will, will have no undue influence on the mind in its fearch after felf-knowledge,

CHAP. IX.

The Practice of Self-Knowledge, a great Means to promote it.

IX. "ET all your felf-knowledge be "reduced into practice."

The right improvement of that knowledge we have is the best way to attain

more.

The great end of felf-knowledge is felfgovernment, without which it is but a uselefs fpeculation. And as all knowledge is valuable in proportion to its end, fo this is the most excellent kind of knowledge, only because the practice of it is of such extenfive ufe, as hath been already fhown.

"Above all other fubjects (fays an an"cient pious writer) study thine own self. "For no knowledge that terminates in "curiofity or fpeculation is comparable (6 to that which is of use; and of all use"ful knowledge, that is moft fo which "confifts in the due care and juft notions of ourselves. This study is a debt which

every

86 every one owes himfelf. Let us not "then be fo lavish, so unjust, as not to Co pay this debt, by spending fome part, 66 at least, if we cannot all or most of our "time and care upon that which has the "moft indefeasible claim to it.

[ocr errors]

Govern

your paffions; manage your actions "with prudence; and, where falfe fteps "have been made, correct them for the ❝ future. Let nothing be allowed to

grow headftrong and diforderly; but "bring all under difcipline.. Set all your "faults before your eyes; and pass fen"tence upon yourself with the fame fe"verity as you would do upon another, "for whom no partiality hath biaffed "your judgment."

What will our moft exact and diligent felf-refearches avail us, if after all we fink into indolence and floth? Or what will it fignify to be convinced that there is a great deal amifs in our deportments and difpofitions, if we fit ftill contentedly under that conviction, without taking one ftep towards a reformation? It will indeed render us but the more guilty in the fight of God. And how sad a thing will it be to have

St. Bernard's Medit. chap. 5.

« הקודםהמשך »