Self- government effential to Wifdon. 23g the fovereignty of reafon, and recover the S E x rvr: rule over our own fpirits. IX. And, now, is it not apparent that this is the moll important concern of ours ? That this liberty, confifting in the freedom of the mind from the power of its own infirmities, and efpecially corrupt appetites and paffions, is worth the contending for with the warmeft zeal, feeing it is fo neceffary to all the great purpofes of reafonable natures, all that ought to be dear and valuable to us ,as men, or which belongeth to the dignity of our be- ing, and the place we hold in the univerfal fyflem ? What man is there whofe indig- nation would not rife againft the thought of degrading himfelf into the condition of inanimate things, or of brutes ? Doth it not appear, even to our firft thoughts, much more worthy, that confcious of the excel- lence of our nature we Mould afpire to its true perfection, and maintain its dignity, which is then only done when we are go- verned by underflanding and confcience. The text reprefenteth the condition of the man who hath no rule over his own fpirit, as very deplorable ; he is like a city that is broken down, and without walls ; the image of a weak and a defpicable Rate. Such a city is expofed to the affaults of its enemies, without
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