Book I. of J E $ u s C H R r s T. 7

eftablifh his Mind in perfed Peace, and reft himfelf fecurely upon God. O Thou whofe very Eflence is Truth, unite me to thy felf in perfed Love ! Varie- ty of other Subjeds tires and diftrads my Soul ; in Thee alone I find the Sum of all my Wiflies and De- fires. Should all our Teachers be for ever dumb, and this great Volume of the Creatures continue fhut to me, WQ might difpenfe with all the reft ; if thou wouldft vouchfafe thy own Information , and teach us by thy Self.
The better acquainted any Man is with himfelf,the more he converfes with, and retires in his own Breaft, and the lefs he wanders abroad.and dwells upon things without him ; the more extenfive and fublime is his Knowledge ; and the eafier attained. Becaufe this Man receives, and is direded by, a Ray darted from Heaven into his Soul. A Mind fincere, and pure, and firm, is not diverted by Multiplicity of Objeds. For the Honour of God is its conftant Aim ; and, having but one End to purfue, it is in perfed Peace and U- nity with it felf, and does not divide its Thoughts with Vanity and Self-love. For what can be a greater Hindrance than our own ambitious and ungovern'd Paflion ? A truly good and pious Man firft orders and difpofes all his Bufinefs regularly, before he enters upon the Execution of any Deiign : He fufFers no vicious Inclination to divert him, but makes every Undertaking fubmitto theDidatesof Reafon and Re- ligion. The fharpeft as well as nobleft Conflid is that, wherein welabour to gain a Conqueft over our felves^ and this fhould be our principal and conftant Care, to get ground every Day, by bringing our Paffions more and more under, and becoming more mafterly Pro- ficients in Virtue and Goodnefs.
Nor may we fuppofe any fo exalted Degree of Vir- tue, that it fhould ceafe to be a State of Proficiency ; for fwjch is the Condition of Mortals, chat their utmoft
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poflible Perfedion in this Life,is ever embafed with an Allay of Impcrfedion ; and their brightefl: Notions clouded with fome Confufion and Obfcurity. But in the Study of ourfelves we arebeft capable of avoiding Miftakcs , and therefore a true Senfe of what wc are, and that Humility, which cannot but proceeed from fuch a Senfe, is a furer Way of bringing us to God, than the mod laborious and profound Enquiries after Knowledge. Not that Learning is in its own Nature blameable ,• for the Underftanding of any thing what- foever, as confidered fimply, and as it really is, ought to be acknowledged commendable and good ; the Gift and Ordinance of God ; but the Danger is, when we give this the Precedence in our Efteem, before things abundantly better; I mean, a good Confcience^ and a virtuous Converfation. The true Reafon then why, in an Age where Learning is had in univerfal Admiration, fo little Profit is made ; and both Error and Vice do, notwithftanding, fo wretchedly abound, is, in Truth, no other than that Men generally miftake their main Bufinefs and proper Excellence. They had rather cultivate their Parts than their Manners, and account it a greater Accomplifhment, to Know much, than to Live well.
Oh ! Would Men but beftow half the Pains in root- ing out Vice and planting Virtue in its ftead, which they are content to throw away upon captious and unprofitable Queftions, and the Of pofii^ I Titn. W. lo. ^^ ^y Science, faljly fo called ; what a blet fed Reformation fhould we fee ? Then would not the Vulgar, and Meaner Sort, abandon themfelves to fuch (candalous, brutifh, and abominable Wickednefs ; nor would the Men of Senfe, and Learning, and Qua- lity, continue fo profligate and dilTolute in their Man- ners ; and blemifh, as they do, their Honour and At- tainments, with (hamelefs and licentious Impurities. Surely this could not be, did men but conlider at all,
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