men troublers of the church, and the knowledge of themselves would much remedy it.

14. And it is ignorance of themselves also, that makes men troublers of the state. A man that doth not know himself, is unfit for all society: if he be a ruler, he will forget the common good, and instead of clemency and justice, will violently exercise an imperious will. If he be a subject, he will be censuring the actions of his rulers, when distance and unacquaintance makes him an incompetent judge. He will think himself fitter to rule than they, and whatever they do, he imagineth that he could do it better. And hence comes suspicions and murmurings against them, and Corah's censures, "Ye take too much upon you: are not all the people holy?" Were men acquainted with themselves, their weaknesses, and their duties, they would rather inquire whether they obey well, than whether their superiors rule well; and would think the lowest place to be most suitable to them; and would quiet themselves in the discharge of their own duty, "making supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, in all godliness and honesty; for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour." It would quiet all the seditions and tumults of the world, if men were well acquainted with themselves.

15. Self-acquaintance would end abundance of controversies, and very much help much help men to discern the truth. In the controversy of free-will, or human power; to know ourselves as we are men, would be to know that we have the natural power and freedom

consisting in the self-determining faculty and principle. To know ourselves as sinful, would inform us how much we want of the moral power which consisteth in right inclinations, and the moral liberty, from vicious dispositions and habits. Would time permit, I might show it in the instances of original corruption, of the nature of grace, of merit, the cause of sin, and many other controversies, how much error is promoted by the ignorance of ourselves.

and "

16. Self-acquaintance maketh men both just and merciful. One cannot be so much as a good neighbour without it, nor yet a faithful friend. It will teach you to put up with injuries, and to forgive; as remembering that you are likely to be injurious to others, and certainly are daily so to God. It is such only that" with all lowliness, and meekness, and long-suffering, forbear one another in love," recompense to no man evil for evil," and "be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." He that is drawn to passion and revenge, is overcome when he seems to overcome by that revenge. It teacheth us to forgive, to know that much is forgiven us by Christ, or at least, what need we have of such forgiveness. "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice; and be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." O that this lesson were well learned!

17. Self-acquaintance will teach us the right. estimate of all our mercies: when we know how unworthy we are of the least, and what it is we prin

cipally need; it will teach us thankfulness for all, and teach us which of our mercies to prefer. Men know not themselves and their own necessities, and therefore they slight their chief mercies, accounting them burdens, and are unthankful for the rest.

18. Self-acquaintance is necessary to the solid peace and comfort of the soul. Security and stupidity may quiet the ungodly for a while, and selfflattery may deceive the hypocrite into a dream of heaven; but he that will have a durable joy, must find some matter of joy within him, as the effects and evidence of the love of God, and the prognostics of his endless love. To know what Christ hath suffered, and done, and merited, and promised, is to know the general and principal ground of our rejoicing; but something is wanting to make it peace and joy to us, till we find the fruits of his Spirit within us, without which no man can be his. "If a man think himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another." The seal, and witness, and beginnings of life, must be within you, if you will know that you are the heirs

of life.

19. Self-ignorance causeth men to misinterpret and repine at the providence of God, and to be froward under his most righteous judgments. Because men know not what they have deserved, and what is good for them, they know not the reason and intent of Providence; and therefore they quarrel with their Maker, and murmur as if he did them wrong: when self-acquaintance would teach them to

justify God in all his dealings, and resolve the blame of all into themselves. The nature of man doth teach all the world, when any hurt is done to societies or persons, to inquire by whose will, as well as by whose hands, it was perpetrated; and to resolve all the crimes that are committed in the world into the will of man, and there to leave the guilt and blame, and not excuse the malefactors upon any pretence of the concourse or predetermination of the first or any superior cause: and to justify the judge and executioner that takes away men's lives, or estates, as long as themselves are proved to deserve it. And surely the knowledge of the nature and depravity of man should teach us to deal as equally with God, and finally resolve all guilt and blame into the free and vitiated will of man. Humbling self-knowledge maketh us say, with Job, "Behold, I am vile, what shall I answer thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth :" and when God is glorifying himself on our relations, or ourselves, by his judgments, it teacheth us, with Aaron, to hold our peace, and to say, with Eli, "It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good." And with David, “If I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord he will bring me again, and show me it, and his habitation: But if he thus say, I have no delight in thee; behold here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good to him." And as the afflicted church, "I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him." Even a Pharaoh, when affliction hath taught him a little to know himself, will say, "The Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked." When Rehoboam and his princes are humbled, they say, "The Lord is righteous."

20. Lastly, it is for want of the knowledge of ourselves, that precious time is so much lost, and coming death no more prepared for. Did we carry still about us the sensible knowledge of our mortality, and the inconceivable change that is made by death, we should then live as men that are continually waiting for the coming of their Lord; and as if we still beheld our graves. For we carry about us that sin and frailty, such corruptible flesh, as may tell us of death as plainly as a grave or a skeleton. So great, so unspeakably necessary a work, as the serious, diligent preparation for our end, could not be so sottishly neglected by the ungodly, did they thoroughly and feelingly know what it is to be a mortal man; what it is to have an immortal soul; what it is to be a sinner; and what it is to pass into an endless life cf joy or misery.

CHAPTER III.

Self-Ignorance detected and reproved.

AND now I may suppose, that the best of you all, the most honourable, the most learned, the most religious, (of them I dare affirm it,) will acknowledge, that I want not sufficient reason to urge you, with the question in my text, "Know ye not your own selves?" Judge by the forementioned effects, whether self-acquaintance, even in the most weighty and necessary respects, be common among professed Christians. Doth he duly know himself as a man,