PART II.

Shewing the great excellency and advantage of this kind of science.

HAVING in the former part of the subject laid open some of the main branches of self knowledge, or pointed out the principal things which a man ought to be acquainted with, relating to himself; I am now, reader, to lay before you the excellency and usefulness of this kind of knowledge, as an inducement to labour after it, by a detail of the several great advantages attending it, which shall be recounted in the following chapters.

CHAPTER I.

Self knowledge the spring of self possession.

I. ONE great advantage of self knowledge is, that it gives a man the truest and most constant self possession.

A man that is endowed with this excellent. knowledge is calm and easy.

1. Under affronts and defamation. For he thinks thus: 66 I am sure I know myself better than any man can pretend to know me. calumniator hath, indeed, at this time missed his

This

mark, and shot his arrows at random; and it is my comfort, that my conscience acquits me of his angry imputation. However, there are worse crimes which he might more justly accuse me of; which though hid from him, are known to my. self. Let me set about reforming them ; lest, if they come to his notice, he should attack me in a more defenceless part, find something to fasten his obloquy, and fix a lasting reproach upon my character."*

There is a great deal of truth and good sense in that common saying and doctrine of the stoics, though they might carry it too far, that it is not things but thoughts that disturb and hurt us. + Now, as self acquaintance teaches a man the right government of the thoughts, (as is shewn above, Part I. Chapter XIV.) it will help him to expel all anxious, tormenting, and fruitless thoughts, and retain the most quieting and useful ones; and so keep all easy within. Let a man but try the experiment, and he will

*

If you are told that another reviles you, do not go about to vindicate yourself, but reply thus: My other faults, I find, are hid from him, else I should have heard of them oo. Epict. Ench. cap. 48. It is not things, but men's opinions of things that disturb them. Id. cap. 10. Remember, it is not he that reviles or assaults you, that injure you, but your thinking that they have injured you. No man can hurt you, unless you plea e to let him; then only are you hurt when you think yourself so. Id. p. 37. Thins do not touch the mind, but stand quie ly without; the vexation comes from within, from our suspicions only. A ain, Things themselves cannot affect the mind; for they have no entrance into it, to turn and move it. It is he mind alone that turns and moves itself. Marc. Anton. Med.

find, that a little resolution will make the greatest part of the difficulty vanish.

2. Self knowledge will be a good ballast to the mind under any accidental hurry or disorder of the passions. It curbs their impetuosity; puts the reins into the hands of reason; quells the rising storm, ere it makes shipwreck of the conscience; and teaches a man to leave off contention before it be meddled with.* It being much safer to keep the lion chained, than to encounter it in its full strength and fury. And thus will a wise man, for his own peace, deal with the passions of others, as well as his own.

Self knowledge, as it acquaints a man with his weaknesses and worst qualities, will be his guard against them; and a happy counterbalance to the faults and excesses of his natural temper.

3. It will keep the mind sedate and calm under the surprise of bad news, or afflicting providences.

"For am I not a creature of GOD? And my life and comforts, are they not wholly at his disposal, from whom I have received them; and by. whose favour I have so long enjoyed them; and by whose mercy and goodness I have still so many left ?

"A heathen can teach me, under such losses of friends, or estate, or any comfort, to direct my eyes to the hand of God, by whom it was lent me, and is now recalled; that I ought not to say it is lost, but restored. And though I be inju

*Prov. xvii. 14.

riously deprived of it, still the hand of God is to be acknowledged; for what is it to me, by what means, he that gave me that blessing, takes it from me again ?”*

He that rightly knows himself, will live every day dependent on the divine Author of his mer. cies, for the continuance and enjoyment of them. And will learn from a higher authority than that of a heathen moralist, that he hath nothing he can properly call his own, or ought to depend upon as such. That he is but a steward employed to dispense the good things he possesses, according to the direction of his Lord, at whose pleasure he holds them; and to whom he should be ready at any time cheerfully to resign them. Luke xvi. 1.

4. Self knowledge will help a man to preserve an equanimity and self possession under all the various scenes of adversity and prosperity.

Both have their temptations: to some the temptations of prosperity are the greatest; to others, those of adversity. Self knowledge shews a man which of these are the greatest to him : and, at the apprehension of them, teaches him to arm himself accordingly, that nothing may deprive him of his constancy and self possession, or lead him to act unbecoming the man or the christian.

We commonly say, no one knows what he can bear, till he is tried, And many persons verify the observation, by bearing evils much better

* Epictet. Enchirid. cap. 15.

than they feared. Nay, the apprehension of an approaching evil often gives a man a greater pain than the evil itself. This is owing to inexperience and self ignorance.

A man that knows himself, his own strength and weakness, is not so subject as others to the melancholy presages of the imagination; and whenever they intrude, he makes no other use of them than to take the warning, collect himself, and prepare for the coming evil; leaving the degree, duration, and the issue of it with him, who is the sovereign Disposer of all events, in a quiet dependence on his power, wisdom, and goodness.

Such self possession is one great effect and advantage of self knowledge.

CHAPTER II.

Self knowledge leads to a wise and steady conduct.

II. AS self knowledge will keep a man calm and cqual in his temper, so it will make him wise and cautious in his conduct.

A precipitant and rash conduct is ever the effect of a confused and irregular hurry of thought. So that when by the influence of self knowledge, the thoughts become cool, sedate, and rational, the conduct will be so too. It will give a man that even, steady, and uniform behaviour in the