346 The proper Improvement S E R M. favour of God, enter deeper into the foul, X1I. and by its elTential frame, are a never failing y- .v--' fpring of joy and confolation to it in every Rate of exiftence. It is very furprizing that a man, who fo much loveth and is devoted to himfelf, be- ing naturally and neceffarily fo determined, thould be fo ignorant, as many are, what that felf really is, and thereby be milled to place his affections on fomething elfe inftead of it. By the leaft attention every man will fee, that what is meant by himfelf is the fame perfon or intelligent agent, the think- ing confcious I, which remaineth unaltered in all changes of condition, from the remem- brance of his earlieft thoughts and actions to the prefent moment. How remote from this are riches, power, honour, health, ftrength, the matter ingredient in the compofition of the body, and even its limbs, which may be all loft, and felf Rill the fame ? Thefe things, therefore, are not our own, meaning by that, what molt properly and unalienahly belong - eth to ourfelves; we hold them by a uncer- tain, precarious tenure, they come and go, while the fame confcious thinking being, which is aridly the man himfelf, continueth unchanged, in honour and difhonour, in riches and poverty, in ficknefs and health, and all
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