to trust to them or to try ourselves by them, leads to fatal felf-deception. Again,

(6.) In the business of felf-examination you must not only take care you do not judge by wrong rules, but that you do not judge wrong by right rules. You must endeavour then to be well acquainted with them. The office of a judge is not only to collect the evidence and the circumftances of facts, but to be well skilled in the laws by which those facts are to be examined.

Now the only right rules by which we are to examine, in order to know ourfelves, are reafon and fcripture. Some are for fetting afide these rules, as too fevere for them; too stiff to bend to their perverfenefs; too ftraight to measure their crooked ways! are against reafon when reafon is against them; decrying it as carnal reafon and against fcripture, when fcripture is against them, defpifing it as a dead letter. And thus, rather than be convinced they are wrong, they reject the only means that can fet them right.

And as fome are for setting afide thefe rules, fo others are for fetting them one against the other ;— reafon againft fcripture, and fcripture against reafon: when they are both given us by the God of our natures, not only as perfectly confitent, but as proper to explain and illuftrate each other, and prevent our mistaking either; and to be, when taken together (as they always fhould) the moft complete and only rule by which to judge both of ourselves, and every thing belonging to our falvation, as reafonable and fallen creatures.

(1.) Then one part of that rule which God hath given us to judge of ourselves by, is right reason: by which I do not mean the reafoning of any parN

ticular man, which may be very different from the reafoning of another particular man; and both, it may be, very different from right reafon; because both may be influenced not fo much by the reafon and nature of things, as by partial prepoffeffions and the power of paffions. But by right reafon, I mean thofe common principles, which are readily allowed by all who are capable of understanding them, and not notoriously perverted by the force of prejudice; and which are confirmed by the common confent of all the fober and thinking part of mankind; and may be easily learned by the light of nature. Therefore, if any doctrine or practice, tho' fuppofed to be founded in or countenanced by revelation, be nevertheless apparently repugnant to thefe dictates of right reafon, or evidently contradict our natural notions of the divine attributes, or weaken our obligations to univerfal virtue, that we may be fure is no part of revelation; because then one part of our rule would clash with and be oppofite to the other. And thus reafon was defigned to be our 'guard againit a wild and extravagant construction of fcripture.

(2.) The other part of our rule is the facred fcriptures, which we are to ufe as our guard against the licentious excurfions of fancy, which is often impofing itself upon us for right reason. Let any religious fcheme or notion then appear ever fo pleafing or plaufible, if it be not eftablished on the plain principles of icripture, it is forthwith to be difcarded: and that fenfe of fcripture that is violently forced to bend towards it, is very much to be fufpected.

It must be very furprifing to one who reads and ftudies the facred fcriptures with a free, unbiaffed mind, to fee what elaborate, fine-fpun flimfy gloffes men will invent and put upon fome texts as the true

and genuine sense of them; for no other reason, but because it is most agreeable to the opinion of their party, from which, as the ftandard of their orthodoxy, they durft never depart; who, if they were to write a critique in the fame manner on any Greek or Latin author, would makes themfelves extremely ridiculous in the eyes of the learned world. But, if we would not pervert our rule, we muft learn to think as fcripture fpeaks, and not compel that to fpeak as we think.

Would we know ourfelves then, we must often view ourselves in the glafs of God's word. And when we have taken a full furvey of ourfelves froni thence, let us not foon forget abet manner of persons we are*. If our own image do not pleate us, let us not quarrel with our mirror, but fet about mending ourselves.

The eye of the mind, indeed, is not like that of the body, which can fee every thing else but itself; for the eye of the mind can turn itself inward, and furvey itself. However, it must be owned, it can fee itself much better when its own image is reflected upon it from this mirror: and it is by this only that we can come at the bottom of our hearts, and difcover thofe fecret prejudices and carnal prepoffeffions, which felf-love would hide from us.

This then is the first thing we must do, in order to felf-knowledge. We muit examine, fcrutinize, and judge ourselves, diligently, leifurely, frequently, and impartially; and that not by the falfe maxims of the world, but by the rules which God hath given us,-reafon and fcripture; and take care to understand those rules, and not fet them at variance.,

II.

WOULD we know ourselves, we must be

very watchful over out hearts and lives." (1.) We must keep a vigilant eye upon our hearts; i. e. our tempers, inclinations, and paffions. A more neceffary piece of advice, in order to feltacquaintance, there cannot be, than that which Solomon gives us*, Keep your beart with all diligence, or (as it is in the original) above all keeping. q. d. Whatever you neglect or overlook, be fure you mind your heart (d). Narrowly obferve all its inclinations and averfions, all its motions and affections, together with the feveral objects and occafions which excite them. And this precept we find in fcripture inforced with two very urgent reafons. The first is, because out of it are the iffues of life; i. e. As our heart is, fo will the tenor of our life and conduct be. As is the fountain, fo are the ftreams; as is the root, fo is the fruitt. And the other is, because it is deceitful above all things. And therefore, with a conftant guard upon it, we fhall infenfibly run into many hurtful felf-deceptions. To which I may add, that without this careful keeping of the heart, we fhall never be able to ac. quire any confiderable degree of self-acquaintance or felf-government.

(2.). To know ourselves, we must watch our life and conduct as well as our hearts; and by this the

*Prov. iv, 23.

(d) Parallel to this advice of the Royal Preacher, is that of the imperial philofopher. Look within; for within is the fountain of good. M. Aurel. lib. 7. $ 59.

+ Mat. vii. 18.

+ Jer. xvii. 9.

heart will be better known; as the root is best known by the fruit. We must attend to the nature and confequences of every action we are difpofed or folicited to, before we comply; and confider how it will appear in a furture review. We are apt enough to obferve and watch the conduct of others: a wife man will be as critical and as fevere upon his own; for indeed we have a great deal more to do with our own conduct than that of other men; as we are to anfwer for our own, but not for theirs. By obferving the conduct of other men we know them; by carefully obferving our own, we must know our-felves..

CHA P. III..

We bould bave fome Regard to the Opinions of Others · concerning us, particularly of our Enemies.

WOULD

III. TOULD we know ourselves, we fhould not altogether neglect the opinion which others may entertain concerning us.

Not that we need be very folicitous about the cenfure or applaufe of the world, which are generally very rafh and wrong, and proceed from the particular humours and prepoffeflions of men: and he that knows himself, will foon know how to defpife them both. "The judgment which the world makes "of us, is generally of no manner of ufe to us; "it adds nothing to our fouls or bodies, nor leffens of our miferies. Let us conftantly follow reafon (fays Montaigne) and let the public approba-tion follow us the fame way, if it pleafes." But ftill, I fay, a total indifference in this matter

66 any

N. 2.