sist upon your right to examine, they retreat, either in confusion or equivocation; and, like the scuttlefish, throw a large quantity of ink behind them, that you may not see where to pursue. Whence this foible flows is obvious enough. Self-knowledge would soon correct it.

But, as some ignorantly affect to be more knowing than they are, so, others vainly affect to be more ignorant than they are; who, to show they have greater insight and penetration than other men, insist upon the absolute uncertainty of science; will dispute even first principles; grant nothing as certain, and so run into downright Pyrrhonism; the too common effect of abstracted debates excessively refined.

Every one is apt to set the greatest value upon that kind of knowledge in which he imagines he himself most excels, and to undervalue all other kinds of knowledge in comparison of it. There wants some certain rule, then, by which every man's knowledge is to be tried, and the value of it estimated. And let it be this: That is the best and most valuable kind of knowledge, that is most subservient to the best ends, i. e. which tends to make a man wiser and better, or more agreeable and useful, both to himself and others.' For know. ledge is but a means that relates to some end. And as all means are to be judged of by the excellency of their ends, and their expediency to produce them; so, that must be the best knowledge that hath the directest tendency to promote the best ends, viz. a man's own true happiness, and that of others; in which the glory of God, the ultimate end, is ever necessarily comprised.

Now, if we were to judge of the several kinds of science by this rule, we should find,-1. Some of them to be very hurtful and pernicious, as tending to per vert the true end of knowledge; to ruin a man's own happiness, and make him more injurious to society. Such is the knowledge of vice, the various tempta

tions to it, and the secret ways of practising it; especially the arts of dissimulation, fraud, and dishonesty. 2. Others will be found unprofitable and useless; as those parts of knowledge, which, though they may take up much time and pains to acquire, yet answer no valuable purpose; and serve only for amusement, and the entertainment of the ima gination: for instance, an acquaintance with plays, novels, games, and modes, in which a man may be very critical and expert, and yet not a whit the wiser or more useful man. 3. Other kinds of knowledge are good only relatively, or conditionally, and may be more useful to one than another; viz. a skill in a man's particular occupation or calling, on which his credit, livelihood, or usefulness in the world depends. And, as this kind of knowledge is valuable in proportion to its end, so it ought to be cultivated with a diligence and esteem answerable to that. Lastly, Other kinds of knowledge are good, absolutely and universally; viz. the knowledge of God and ourselves, the nature of our final happiness, and the way to it. This is equally necessary to all. And how thankful should we be, that we, who live under the light of the Gospel, and enjoy that light in its perfection and purity, have so many happy means and opportunities of attaining this most useful and necessary kind of knowledge.

A man can never understand himself, then, till he makes a right estimate of his knowledge; till he examines what kind of knowledge he values himself most upon, and most diligently cultivates ; how high a value he sets upon it; what good it does him; what effect it hath upon him; what he is the better for it; what end it answers now; or what it is like to answer hereafter.

There is nothing in which a man's self-ignorance discovers itself more, than in the esteem he hath for his understanding, or for himself on account of it. It is a trite and true observation, That

empty things make the most sound.' Men of the least knowledge are most apt to make a show of it, and to value themselves upon it; which is very visible in forward confident youth, raw conceited academics, and those who, uneducated in youth, betake themselves in later life to reading, without taste or judgment, only as an accomplishment, and to make a show of scholarship; who have just learning enough to spoil company, and render themselves ridiculous, but not enough to make either themselves or others at all the wiser.

But, beside the forementioned kinds of knowledge, there is another, which is commonly called false knowledge; which, though it often imposes upon men under the show and semblance of true knowledge, is really worse than ignorance. Some men have learned a great many things, and have taken a great deal of pains to learn them, and stand very high in their own opinion on account of them, which yet they must unlearn before they are truly wise. They have been at a vast expence of time, and pains, and patience, to heap together, and to confirm themselves in a set of wrong notions, which they lay up in their minds as a fund of valuable knowledge; which, if they try by the forementioned rules, viz. The tendency they have to make them. wiser and better, or more useful and beneficial to others,' will be found to be worth just nothing at all.

Beware of this false knowledge; for, as there is nothing of which men are more obstinately tena. cious, so, there is nothing that renders them more vain or more averse to self-knowledge. Of all things, men are most fond of their wrong notions.

The apostle Paul often speaks of these men and their self-sufficiency, in very poignant terms; who, though they seem wise, yet,' says he, must become fools before they are wise." 1 Cor. iii. 18. Though they think they know a great deal, ' know nothing yet as they ought to know.' 1 Cor. viii. 2.

But deceive themselves, by thinking themselves something, when they are nothing.' Gal. vi. 3. And, whilst they desire to be teachers of others, understand not what they say, nor whereof they affirm.' 1 Tim. i. 7. And want themselves to be taught what are the first rudimeuts and prin ciples of wisdom.' Heb. v. 12.

CHAPTER XIV.

Concerning the knowledge, guard, and govern. ment of our thoughts.

XIII. 6

ANOTHER part of self-knowledge con

sists in a due acquaintance with our own thoughts, and the workings of the imagination.'

The right government of the thoughts requires no small art, vigilance, and resolution; but it is a matter of such vast importance to the peace and improvement of the mind, that it is worth while to be at some pains about it. A man that hath so numerous and turbulent a family to govern as his own thoughts, which are so apt to be under the influence and command of his passions and appetites, ought not to be long from home; if he is, they will soon grow mutinous and disorderly under the conduct of those two headstrong guides, and raise great clamours and disturbances, and some. times on the slightest occasions; and a more dreadful scene of misery can hardly be imagined, than that which is occasioned by such a tumult and uproar within, when a raging conscience, or inflamed passions, are let loose without check or control. A city in flames, or the mutiny of a drunken crew

aboard, who have murdered the captain, and are butchering one another, are but faint emblems of it. The torment of the mind, under such an insurrection and merciless ravage of the passions, is not easy to be conceived. The most revengeful man cannot wish his enemy a greater.

Of what vast importance, then, is it for a man to watch over his thoughts, in order to a right government of them? to consider what kind of thoughts find the easiest admission; in what manner they insinuate themselves, and upon what occasions?

It was an excellent rule which a wise heathen prescribed to himself in his private meditations: Manage,' saith he, all your actions and thoughts in such a manner, as if you were just going out of the world.' Marc. Anton. Med. lib. ii. §11.-Again, saith he, A man is seldom, if ever, unhappy for not knowing the thoughts of others; but he that does not attend to the motions of his own, is certainly miserable.' Marc. Anton. lib. ii. § 8.

It may be worth our while, then, here to discuss this matter a little more particularly; and consider, I. What kind of thoughts are to be excluded or re jected. And, II. What ought to be indulged and entertained in the heart.

I. Some thoughts ought to be immediately ba nished as soon as they have found entrance. And, if we are often troubled with them, the safest way will be to keep a good guard on the avenues of the mind, by which they enter, and avoid those occasions which commonly excite them. For, sometimes, it is much easier to prevent a bad thought entering the mind, than to get rid of it when it is entered. More particularly,

(1.) Watch against all fretful and discontented thoughts, which do but chafe and wound the mind. to no purpose. To harbour these, is to do yourself more injury than it is in the power of your greatest enemy to do you. It is equally a Christian's inter