only fuch as fancy and inclination fuggeft. He will be as much concerned to act with reason as to talk with reafon; as much afhamed of a folecifm and contradiction in his character as in his converfation.

Where do our views centre? in this world we are in; or that we are going to? If our hopes and joys centre here, it is a mortifying thought, that we are every day departing from our happiness; but if they are fixed above, it is a joy to think that we are every day drawing nearer to the object of our highest wishes.

Is our main care to appear great in the eye of man, or good in the eye of God? If the former, we expose ourselves to the pain of a perpetual difappointment. For it is much if the envy of men do not rob us of a good deal of our juft praife, or if our vanity will be content with that portion of it they allow us. But if the latter be our main care, if our chief view is to be approved of God, we are laying up a fund of the most lafting and folid fatiffactions. Not to fay that this is the trueft way to appear great in the eye of men, and to concilitate the esteem of all thofe whofe praife is worth our with.

"Be this then, O my foul, thy wife and steady "pursuit; let this circumfcribe and direct thy "views; be this a law to thee, from which, ac

"count

"count it a fin to depart, whatever difrefpect or

contempt it may expose thee to from others(d); "be this the character thou refolveft to live up to, "and at all times to maintain both in public and private (c), viz. a friend and lover of God; in

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whose favour thou centreft all thy present and "future hopes. Carry this view with thee through: “life, and dare not in any inftance to act inconfiftently with it."

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CHAP. XVIII.

How to know the true State of our Souls; and whether we are fit to die.

L

ASTLY, the most important point of selfknowledge, after all, is to know the true ftate of our fouls towards God; and in what con-dition we are to die.

:

These two things are infeparably connected in their nature, and therefore I put them together. The knowledge of the former will determine the latter, and is the only thing that can determine it; for no man can tell whether he is fit for death,

(α) Όσα προτίθεται, τέλοις ως νόμοις, και ως ασέβησαν αν πα Pens: Ti Telev εμμενε. Οι δ' αν έφη τις περί σε μη επιτρέψει Epict. Ench. cap. 74-What you have once wifely propofed, ftick to, as a law not to be violated without guilt; and mind not what others fay of you..

(2) Ταξον τινα ηδη χαρακτηρα σεαύίω, και τύπον, ον φύλαξης ετι τε σεαύλε, και ανθρωποις ελυχανων. Idem. cap. 40. Fix your character, and keep to it, whether alone or in company.

till he is acquainted with the true ftate of his own foul.

This now is a matter of fuch vast moment, that it is amazing any confiderate man, or any one who thinks what it is to die, can be fatisfied, fo long as it remains an uncertainty.-Let us trace out this important point then with all possible plainness; and fee if we can come to fome fatisfaction in it upon the most folid principles.

In order to know then whether we are fit to die,' we muft firft know what it is that fits us for death. And the answer to this is very natural and eafy; viz. that only fits us for death which fits us for happiness after death.

This is certain. But the question returns.' What is it that fits us for happiness after death?

Now, in anfwer to this, there is a previous queftion neceffary to be determined; viz. what that happiness is?

It is not a fool's paradife, or a Turkish dream of fenfitive gratifications. It must be a happiness fuited to the nature of the foul, and what it is capable of enjoying in a state of separation from the body. And what can that be, but the enjoyment of God, the best of beings, and the Author of ours?

The question then comes to this, What is that which fits us for the enjoyment of God, in the future ftate of separate spirits ?

And

And methinks we may bring this matter to a very fure and fhort iffue; by faying, it is that which makes us like to him now.-This only is our proper qualification for the enjoyment of him after death, and therefore our only proper preparation for death. For how can they, who are unlike to God here, expect to enjoy him hereafter? and if they have no just ground to hope that they shall enjoy God in the other world, how are they fit to dje?

So that the great queftion, Am I fit to die? refolves itself into this, Am I like to God? for it is this only that fits me for heaven; and that which fits me for heaven is the only thing that fits me for death.

Let this point then be well searched into, and examined very deliberately and impartially.

Moft certain it is, that God can take no real complacency in any but thofe that are like him; and it is as certain, that none but thofe that are like him can take pleasure in him.-But God is a moft pure and holy being; a being of infinite love, mercy, and patience; whose righteousness is invariable, whose veracity is inviolable, and whose wifdom, unerring. Thefe are the moral attributes of the divine being, in which he requires us to imitate him; the express lineaments of the divine nature, in which all good men bear a resemblance

to

to him; and for the fake of which only they are the objects of his delight: for God can love none but thofe that bear this imprefs of his own image on their fouls.- Do we find then thefe vifible traces of the divine image there? Can we make out our likeness to him in his holiness, goodness, mercy, righteousness, truth, and wisdom? If so, it is certain we are capable of enjoying him, and are the proper objects of his love. By this we know we are fit to die; because by this we know we are fit for happiness after death.

Thus then, if we are faithful to our confciences, and impartial in the examination of our lives and tempers, we may foon come to a right determination of this important queftion, What is the ue ftate of our fouis towards God? and in what condition we are to die? which, as it is the most important, fo it is the laft inftance of felf-knowledge I fhall mention: and with it close the first part of this fubject.

"Nor do I apprehend the knowledge of our ftate (call "it affurance if you pleafe) fo uncommon and extraordinary a thing as fome are apt to imagine. Understand by affur"rance a fatisfactory evidence of the thing, fuch as excludes "all reasonable doubts and disquieting fears of the contrary, "though, it may be, not all tranfient fufpicions and jealou"fies. And fuch an affurance and certainty multitudes have "attained, and enjoy the comfort of, and indeed it is of fo "high importance, that it is a wonder any thoughtful chrif"tian that believes an eternity, can be eafy one week or day without it." Bennet's Chrift. Orat. pag. 569.

A TREATISE