MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS. 377 on the follies of our acquaintance, perhaps approve the very same things in ourselves, by the influence of the same native principle of flattery and self-fondness. So different is our judgment of the same weaknesses when we find them in ourselves, from the sentence we pronounce upon them if we see them in our neigh- bour. Thus we begin to learn and practise early this art of self - deceiving ; we grow up in disguise and self - flattery, and we live unknown to ourselves. Happy for us, if our eyes are opened to behold the imposture before we go off the stage ; for such gross mistakes will then, be fatal, or at least extremely dangerous, when it is too late to correct them. Teach me, O my Maker, the knowledge of myself; this moral or divine knowledge, which is necessary to correct my errors, and to reduce my feet to the sacred paths of virtue. Let me see so much of my folly, vice and vanity, as to be fond of this wretched self no longer. Let me grow so far out of love - with myself, as to fly from myself to the arms and mercy of my God. There mould and fashion me after thine image in all the moral qualities of my soul, and let me find in myself those divine features which will be ever beautiful in thy eyes ! Grant me this blessing, O Father of spirits ; for I cannot rest till I see and know myself made like thee. When this is done, I can bear the rest of my ignorance with humble patience, till fruit off this veil and disguise of flesh : I can wait to learn what sort of being my soul is, till I arrive at the world of souls. XLIV. Absence from God who is our All. My God, my Maker, I have called thee my all- satisfying portion, and my eternal good. When I contemplate thee, I stand amazed at thy grandeur ; thy wisdom, thy power, thy ful- ness of blessing, wrap my soul up in astonishment and devout silence. In that happy moment my soul cries out, What are creatures when compared with thee, but mere shadows of being, and faint reflections of thy light and beauty ! And yet, stupid as I am, I soon lose my sight of God, and stand gazing upon thy creatures all the day, as if beauty and light were theirs in the original. What are they all, 'O my God, but empty cisterns that can give no relief to a thirsty soul, unless thou supply them with rivulets from on high ? And yet we croud about these cisterns and are attached to them, as though they were the unfailing springs and fountains of our blessedness. Every breath we draw is a new and unmerited gift from heaven ; God our life, and the length of our days ; and yet we are contented to spend that life far from heaven and from God, and to dwell afar off from him, amidst the regions of mortality and death: We are ever grovel - VoL. ix. B B
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