of the day for that very purpose; yet he is still disabled from paffing a fair and impartial judgment upon himfelf, by feveral difficulties, arifing partly from prejudice and prepoffeffion, partly from the lower appetites and inclinations. And,

1, THAT the bufinefs of prepoffeffion may lead and betray a man into a falfe judgment of his own heart. For we may observe, that the first opinion we take up of any thing, or of any perfon, doth generally stick clofe to us: the nature of the mind being fuch, that it cannot but defire, and confequently endeavour, to have fome certain principles to go upon, fomething fixed and immoveable, whereon it may reft and fupport itself. And hence it cometh to pass, that fome perfons are with fo much difficulty brought to think well of a man they have once entertained an ill opinion of; and, perhaps, that too for a very abfurd and unwarrantable reafon. But how much more difficult then must it be, for a man who taketh up a fond opinion of his own heart, long before he hath either years or sense enough to underftand it, either to be perfuaded out of it by himself, whom he loveth fo well, or by another, whose interest or diverfion it may be to make him ashamed of himself? Then,

2dly, As to the difficulties arifing from the inferior appetites and inclinations, let any man look into his own heart, and observe, in how different a light, and under what different complexions, any two fins, of equal turpitude and malignity, do appear to him, if he hath but a ftrong inclination to the one, and none at all to the other. That which he hath an inclination to is always dreffed up in all the false beauty that a fond and bufy imagination can give it; the other appeareth naked and deformed, and in all the true circumftances of folly and dishonour Thus, stealing is a vice that few gentlemen are inclined to; and they juftly think it below the dignity of a man, to stoop to fo bafe and low a fin: but no principle of honour. no workings of the mind and confcience, not the ftill voice of mercy, not the dreadful call of judgment, nor any confiderations whatever, can put a stop to that violence and oppreffion, that pride and ambition, that revelling and wantonnefs,

which we every day meet with in the world. Nay, it is eafy to obferve very different thoughts in a man, of the fin that he is most fond of, according to the different ebbs and flows of his inclination to it. For as foon as the appetite is alarmed, and feizeth upon the heart, a little cloud gathereth about the head, and fpreadeth a kind of darkness over the face of the foul, whereby it is hindered from taking a clear and diftinct view of things but no fooner is the appetite tired and fatiated, but the fame cloud paffeth away like a fhadow, and a new light fpringing up in the mind of a fudden, the man feeth much more, both of the folly and of the danger of the fin, than he did before.

AND thus having done with the feveral reafons, why man, the only creature in the world that can reflect and look into himself, is fo very ignorant of what paffe th within him, and fo much unacquainted with the ftanding difpofitions and complexions of his own heart; I pro ceednow, in the

III. THIRD and last place, to lay down several advan tages, that do moft affuredly attend a due improvement in the knowledge of ourselves. And,

1. ONE great advantage is, that it tendeth very much to mortify and humble a man into a modeft and low opinion of himself. For let a man take a nice and curious infpection into all the feveral regions of the heart, and obferve every thing irregular and amifs within him ; for inftance, how narrow and fhort-fighted a thing is the understanding! upon how little reafon do we take up an opinion, and upon how much lefs fometimes do we lay it down again! how weak and falfe ground do we often walk upon, with the biggest confidence and affurance; and how tremulous and doubtful we are very often, where no doubt is to be made! again, how wild and impertinent, how bufy and incoherent a thing is the imagination, even in the best and wifeft men; infomuch that every man may be faid to be mad, but every man doth not fhew it. Then, as to the paffions, how noisy, how turbulent, and how tumultuous are they! how eafily are they stirred and fet a-going; how eager and hot in the purfuit, and what strange diforder and confufion. VOL. I. E e

do they throw a man into, fo that he can neither think, nor speak, nor act, as he fhould do, while he is under the dominion of any one of them.

THUS, let every man look with a fevere and impartial eye into all the diftinct regions of the heart; and, no doubt, feveral deformities and irregularities that he never thought of, will open and disclose themselves upon fo near a view; and rather make the man ashamed of himself, than proud.

2. A due improvement in the knowledge of our felves, doth certainly fecure us from the fly and infinuating affaults of flattery. There is not in the world a bafer, and more hateful thing, than flattery. It pro, ceedeth from fo much falfenefs and infincerity in the man that giveth it, and often difcovereth so much weaknefs and folly in the man that taketh it, that it is hard to tell which of the two is moft to be blamed. Every man of common fenfe can demonftrate in fpeculation, and may be fully convinced, that all the praises and commendations of the whole world can add no more to the real and intrinfic value of a man, than they can add to his ftature. And yet, for all this, men of the best fenfe and piety, when they come down to the practice, cannot forbear thinking much better of themfelves, when they have the good fortune to be spoken well of by other perfons.

BUT the meaning of this abfurd proceeding feemeth to be no other than this: There are few men that have fo intimate an acquaintance with their own hearts, as to know their own real worth and how to set a juft rate upon themselves; and therefore they do not know, but that he who praises them most, may be most in the right of it. For, no doubt, if a man were ignorant of the true value of a thing he loved as well as himself, he would measure the worth of it according to the esteem of him who biddeth most for it, rather than of him that biddeth lefs.

THEREFORE the most infallible way to difentangle a man from the fnares of flattery, is, to confult and study his own heart; for whoever does that well, will hardly be fo abfurd, as to take another man's word, before his own sense and experience.

3. ANOTHER

1

3. ANOTHER advantage from this kind of ftudy, is this, that it teacheth a man how to behave himself patiently, when he has the ill fortune to be cenfured and abused by other people. For a man who is thoroughly acquainted with his own heart, doth already know much more evil of himself than any body elfe can tell him; and when any one speaketh ill of him, he rather thanketh God, that he can fay no worse. For could his enemy but look into the dark and hidden receffes of the heart, he confidereth what a number of impure thoughts he might there fee brooding and hovering like a dark cloud upon the face of the foul; that there he might take a profpect of the fancy, and view it acting over the feveral scenes of pride, of ambition, of envy, of luft, and revenge; that there he might tell how often a vitious inclination hath been restrained, for no other reafon, but just to fave the man's credit or interest in the world; and how many unbecoming ingredients have entered into the compofition of his best actions. And now, what man in the whole world would be able to bear fo fevere a teft, to have every thought and inward motion of the heart laid open and expofed to the view of his enemies? But,

4. AND laftly, Another advantage of this kind is, that it maketh men less severe upon other people's faults, and lefs bufy and induftrious in fpreading them. For a man employed at home, infpecting into his own failings, hath not leifure enough to take notice of every little fpot and blemish that lieth scattered upon others: or, if he cannot escape the fight of them, he always paffes the most easy and favourable construction upon them. Thus, for inftance, does the ill he knoweth of a man proceed from an unhappy temper and conftitution of body he then confidereth with himself, how hard a thing it is, not to be born down with the current of the blood and fpirits; and accordingly layeth fome part of the blame upon the weakness of human nature, for he hath felt the force and rapidity of it within his own breaft, tho' perhaps in another inftance; he remembereth how it rageth and fwelleth by oppofition, and tho' it may be reftrained, or diverted for a while, yet: it can hardly ever be totally fubdued.

OR, hath the man finned out of custom? he then, from

his own experience, traceth a habit into the very first rife and imperfect beginnings of it; and can tell, by how flow and infenfible advances it creepeth upon the heart: how it worketh itself by degrees into the very frame and texture of it, and fo pafleth into a fecond nature; and confequently he hath a juft fenfe of the great difficulty for him to learn to do good, who hath been long accustomed to do evil.

OR, laftly, hath a falfe opinion betrayed him into a fin? he then calleth to mind what wrong apprehenfions he hath had of fome things himself; how many opinions that he once made no doubt of, he hath, upon a ftricter examination, found to be doubtful and uncertain; how many more to be unreasonable and abfurd. He knoweth, further, that there are a great many more opinions that he hath never yet examined into at all, and which, however, he ftill believeth, for no other reason, but because he hath believed them fo long already without a reafon. Thus, upon every occafion, a man intimately acquainted with himself, confulteth his own heart, and maketh every man's cafe to be his own, (and so puts the most favourable interpretation upon it.) Let every man therefore look into his own heart, before he begin neth to abufe the reputation of another, and then he will hardly be fo abfurd, as to throw a dart that will fo certainly rebound, and wound himself. And thus, thro' the whole courfe of his converfation, let him keep an eye upon that one great and comprehenfive rule of Chriftian duty, on which hangeth not only the law and the prophets, but the very life and spirit of the gofpel too; Whatfoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even fo unto them. Which rule that we may all duly observe, by throwing afide all fcandal and detraction, all spite. and rancour, all rudeness and contempt, all rage and violence, and whatever tendeth to make converfation and commerce either uneafy or troublesome, may the God of peace grant, for Jefus Chrift's fake, &c.

CONSIDER what hath been faid, and the Lord give you a right understanding in all things. To whom, with the Son, and the Holy Ghoft, be all honour and glory, now and for ever.

The End of the Firft Volume.