Self - government e/fential to Wifdom: 217 pofes ? In like manner, every kind of know- S E R ivr ledge may be reckoned unprofitable while IX. the knowledge of ourfelves is negleaed, and `*---v--"j we do not make it our bufinefs to under - ftand the maxims and rules by which we íhould govern our fpirits. For a man to take a great deal of pains abroad, to fpend his time and labour in acquiring the art of working in metal, in wood and ftone, a dexterity in cultivating the ground, to be fkilful in commerce, to underftand the hif- tory of nature in as great an extent as Solo- mon did, who had underftanding exceeding much, and largenefs of heart even as the fand which is on the feafhore ; fo as not only to treat judicioufly of moral fubjeas, but to fpeak with knowledge of trees, from the cedar which is in Lebanon, to the hyfjöp which f ringeth out of the wall ; of beafts a f, and fowls, and creeping things, and f/hes, i Kings iv. 29. To know the diftances and mag- nitude of the heavenly bodies, and the laws according to which they are moved in their feveral orbs, to be an able politician, well acquainted with the interefts of Rates and kingdoms, and the rules by which they ought to be governed ; for a man, I fay, to arrive at a great meafure of 1-e'rfeftion in tilde kinds of knowledge, however ufeful 3 and
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