24 HUMILITY REPRESEvTED. here to distinguish and determine exactly what sort of opinion and esteem we ought to-Lave of ourselves. Surely a man of letters and educatiòn is not bound to think himself as illiterate as apeasant, nor a youth of ingenuity to fancy himself a fool : A person of figure and quality must not suppose himself in all re- soects upon a level with the lower ranks of mankind, nor can it be but that a man of sense and virtue, of religion and goodness must know himself to be of superior worth and merit to the rude and the wicked multitude. Do not nature and reason direct us to judge of persons as well as things according to truth? Nor does the best of religions forbid us to pass a true and right judg- ment concerning ourselves or concerning our fellow- creatures. Besides, it is proper and necessary that a man should have in some measure a just ideaof himself, that he may every where in his conduct and behaviour maintain his owncharacter, and answer the demands of his own station with justice and honour both in the world and in the church. What is it then we are to under- stand by this diminishing idea of self, which was so honourable in the great apostle, andwhich is so worthyof our imitation. To this enquiry I shall give but a short answer, for I allow all that is here proposed by way of query or objection to be just and true. I grant it is our duty to know ourselves for many va- luable purposes both in life and religion, and to form a just senti- ment, as near as we can, of our own qualifications, and our place and rank amongst Our fellow-creatures. But as the honourable example of St. Paul directs us, sothe design of my present ad- vice lies here, viz. that in passing a judgment concerning our- selves, we should always set a strong guard on the side of self- love and flattery : We should watch against the pride of our hearts, which is every moment ready to over-rate all appearances of what is valuable in us, and forgets to bring our defects into the balance of the account; pride spies out those excellenciesin us whichnone else can see, while it conceals and lessens our evil qualities so as to reduce them almost to nothing. By this means the judgment that we form concerning, ourselves, is for the most part mistaken and criminal: We hearken to the prejudices of our self-love ; we view our virtues through a magnifyingglass in the sunshine, andcast our vices into shade andconcealment. We carry always about us these false representations of ourselves, this vain picturewhich is so veryunlike the original: We speak, and act, and live, according to this bright and great and mistaken idea of self, and thereby we plunge ourselves into 'many errors, iniquities andmischiefs. And especially when we happen to compare ourselves with ethers, our envy arises to assist the work, and offers its wretched and dangerous aid to help on the comparison. We soon spy out a their blemishes and i n erfections, and lessen their character
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