golden capitals over the door of his temple at Delphos.

And why this excellent precept should not be held in as high efteem in the christian 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 the heathens had; they fuppofed it came down from heaven, we know it did; what they conjectured, we are fure of. For this facred oracle is dictated to us in a manifold fight, and explained to us in various views by the holy fpirit, in that revelation which God hath been pleafed to give us as our guide to duty and happiness; by which, as in glafs, we may furvey ourfelves, and know what manner of perfons we are*.

a

This difcovers ourfelves to us; pierces into the inmoft receffes of the mind, ftrips off every difguife; lays open the inward part; makes a strict fcrutiny into the very foul and fpirit; and critically judges of the thoughts and intents of the

Et nimirum hanc habet vim præceptum Apollinis, quo monet ut fe quifque nofcat-Hunc igitur noffe (i. e. animum) nifi divinum effet, non effet hoc acrioris cujufdam animi præceptum, fic, ut tributum Deo fit: hoc eft feipfum poffe cognofcere. Idem. Tufcul. Quæft. lib. 5.

* James i. 23.

heart (e). It fhows us with what exactness and care we are to search and try our spirits, examine ourselves, and watch our ways, and keep our hearts, in order to acquire this important felffcience; which it often calls us to do;-Examine your felves,-prove your ownfelves; know you not yourfelves (f)? Let a man examine himself*. Our Saviour upbraids his difciples with their felf-ignorance, in not knowing what manner of Spirit they were oft. And, faith the Apostle, If a man (through felf-ignorance) thinketh himself to be fomething, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his work, and then fhall he have rejoicing in him felf, and noi in another ‡. Here we are commanded, instead of judging others, to judge ourfelves; and to avoid the inexcufable rafhnefs of condemning others for the very crimes

(ε) Και κριλικος ενθυμήσεων και εννοιών καρδίας. Heb. iv. 12. (*) Εαυλός δοκιμαζετε. 2 Cor. xiii. 5. Tho' δοκιμάζει fignifies to approve as well as to prove; yet that our tranflators have hit upon the true fenfe of the word here, in rendering it prove your felves, is apparent, not only from the word immediately preceding (saules Teipale) which is of the fame import, but because self-probation is always necessary to a right felf-approbation.

"Every chriftian ought to try himself, and may know him"felf, if he be faithful in examining. The frequent exhor

tations of fcripture hereunto imply both thefe, viz, that the "knowledge of ourselves is attainable, and that we should en"deavour after it. Why fhould the apoftle put them upon examining and proving themselves, unless it was poffible "to know themselves upon fuch trying and proving?"Bennet's Chrift. Oratory, p. 568.

* 1 Cor. xi. 28. † Luke ix. 55. ‡ Gal, vi. 3, 4,

we ourselves are guilty of, Rom. ii. 1, 21, 22.; which a felf-ignorant man is very apt to do; nay, to be more offended at a fmall blemish in another's character, than at a greater in his own; which folly, felf-ignorance, and hypocrify, our Saviour, with just severity, animadverts upon, Matt. vii. 3

And what ftrefs was laid upon this, under the Old Teftament difpenfation, appears fufficiently from thofe expreflions: Keep thy heart with all diligence. Commune with your own heartt. Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts. Examine me, O Lord, and prøve me; try my reins and my heart || Let us fearch and try our ways Recollect, recollect your felves, O nation not desired** (g).—And all this as necessary to that felf-acquaintance which is the only proper basis of folid peace (b).

↑ Pfal. cxxxix. 23. ** Zeph. ii. 1.

Prov. iv. 23. + Pfal. iv. 4. || Pfal. xxvi. 2. § Lam iii. 4. (g) The verb properly fignifies to clean or gather together fcatter'd sticks or ftraws; as appears from all the places where the word is used in the Old Testament (Exod. v. 7, 12. Num. xv. 32. 1 Kings xvii. 13.) Hence, by an eafy metaphor, it fignifies to recollect, or gather the scattered thoughts together; and ought to be fo rendered, when used in the reflective form, as here it is. So faith R. Kimchi, est propriè ftipulas colligere. Id fit accuratâ fcrutatione hanc dicitur de qualibet Inquifitione. Whence I think it is evident that the word fhould be rendered as above.

(b) Clement Alexandrinus faith, that Mofes, by that phrase fo common in his writing Take heed to thyself (Exod. x. 28. xxiv. 12. Deut. iv. 9. (means the fame thing as the ancients did their yw explor. Strom. lib. 2. cap. 5.

BA

Were

But the

Were mankind but more generally convinced of the importance and neceffity of this felf-knowledge, and poffeffed with a due esteem for it; did they but know the true way to attain it; and under a proper fenfe of its excellence, and the fatal effects of felf-ignorance, did they but make it their business and ftudy every day to cultivate it; how foon fhould we find a happy alteration in the manners and fpirits of men ! misery of it is, men will not think; will not employ their thoughts, in good earnest, about the things which most of all deserve and demand them. By which unaccountable indolence, and aver fion to felf-reflection, they are led blindfold and infenfibly into the most dangerous" paths of infidelity and wickedness, as the Jews were hereto fore; of whofe amazing ingratitude and apoftacy God himself affigns this fignal caufe:* My people do not confider (1)

Self-knowledge is that acquaintance with ourfelves, which fhews us what we are, and do, and ought to be, in order to our living comfortably and ufefully here and happily hereafter. The means of it is felf-examination; the end of it * Ifai. i. 3.

(i)" There is nothing men are more deficient in than "knowing their own characters. I know not how this fci"ence comes to be fo much neglected. We spend a great "deal of time in learning ufeful things, but take no pain's in the study of our elves, and in opening the folds and “doubles of the heart." Reflections on Ridicule, page 61.

T

is felf government and felf-fruition.-It principally confifts in the knowledge of our fouls; which is attained by a particular attention to their various powers, capacities, paffions, inclinations, operations, ftate, happinefs, and temper. For a man's foul is properly himself, Mat. xvi. 26. compared with Luke ix. 25 (k). The body · is but the houfe; the foul is the tenant that inhabits it; the body is the inftrument; the foul the artist that directs it (/).

This fcience, which is to be the subject of the enfuing Treatife, hath these three peculiar proper» ties in it, which diftinguish it from, and render · it preferable to all other —(1.) It is equally attainable by all. It requires no ftrength of nie

(k) Præceptum Apollinis quo monet, ut fe quifque nofcat,, non enim, credo, id præcipit; ut membra noftra aut ftaturam figuramque nofcamus: neque nos corpora fumus: neque ego, tibi dicens hoc, corpori tuo dico: cum igitu NOSCE TE dicit, hoc dicit, Nofce aniinum tuum. Nam corpus quidem quafi vas eft, aut aliquod animi receptaculum; ab animo tuo quicquid agitur id agitur a te. Cic. Tufcul. Quæft. · lib. 1.

(1) 2 Cor. v. 1. Rom. vi. 13. duvajais Juxns, TO Sa ograron owupalos. Nemef. de Nat. Hom. cap. 6.

Μηδεποτε εμπεριφανίαζε το περικειμενον αγγειώδες και τα οργανια ταυία τα περιπεπλασμένα, ομοια γάς εςι σκεπαίνω, μόνον de diapepovla, nabili @pooqua esiv. Mar. Anton. lib. x. § 37. -When you talk of a man, I would not have you tack flesh and blood to the notion, nor thofe limbs neither which are made out of it; there are but tools for the foul to work with: and no more part of a man, than an axe or a plane is a piece of a carpenter. It is true, nature hath glewed them together, and they grow as it were to the foul; and there is all the difference. Collier.