A treatise on self-knowledge

Preface

We consider Mason on Self-Knowledge one of the best books which we have ever read. It was our good fortune to fall in with an old copy of this work early in our ministerial course, and the impressions which its perusal left upon the tablet of our heart are not yet erased. We have uniformly recommended it, especially to the young, as eminently adapted to prepare the mind for efforts in the pursuit of various knowledge. If we are ignorant of ourselves, what else can we know to any good purpose ? And in our efforts to acquire this knowledge, I am persuaded, no book, except the Bible, will render us more effective aid. Its great practical principles should be deeply impressed upon the mind of the Christian, the scholar, and the man of business. The teacher of religion especially should become perfectly familiar with them.

In preparing the present edition, it has been our object to give it to the reader in as perfect a form as possible. We have consequently used two different editions, and have availed ourselves of the excellences of both, We have retained the notes in their appropriate places as inserted by the author, which, by some editors, have been thrown into an appendix, and by others omitted altogether. We have also left the text perfect, which in some editions is mutilated : thus giving to the public an edition of the work more complete than any which has been issued, either in Europe or in this country? in modern times

The author, in a few instances, proceeds upon philosophical principles which are now exploded. Such passages we have not scrupled to retain, presuming that the intelligent reader will recollect the period in which he lived, and, moreover, that these principles are not at all essential to the general scope of his argument. We preferred this course to printing the work in a state of mutilation, which would make it appear like a work of more recent date than the times of the author. If the writers of the last century are defective in some branches of learning, they are not barren of thought, a commodity not always so abundant in the authors of our own time as to surfeit their readers. We would by no means undervalue the improvements of the present age in physical and mental philosophy ; but we are free to confess, that we would, in some instances, readily exchange a considerable portion of these for a tithe of the intellectual and moral power wielded by the giants of the preceding century. We love the old English authors, and w r e would not lay hands upon the venerable monuments of their piety and learning without the utmost necessity. With these explanations, we now put this invaluable treasure into the hands of the reader, most devoutly praying that it may be made to him a present and an eternal blessing.

George Peck.

December 11, 1842.

Part I

Chap. Page

I. The nature and importance of the subject . 39 II. The several branches of self-knowledge. We must know what sort of creatures we. are, and what we shall be 49

III. The several relations in which we stand to

God, to Christ, and our fellow-creatures . 56

IV. We must duly consider the rank and sta-

tion of life in which Providence hath placed us, and what it is that becomes

and adorns it 72

V. Every man should be well acquainted with his own talents and capacities ; and in what manner they are to be exercised and

improved to the greatest advantage 76

VI. We must be well acquainted with our inabilities, and those things in which we are naturally deficient, as well as those in

which we excel 79

VII. Concerning the knowledge of our constitutional sins ,, 82

VIII. The knowledge of our most dangerous

temptations necessary to self-knowledge 88

8 CONTENTS.

Chap. Page IX. Self-knowledge discovers the secret prejudices of the heart 92

X. The necessity and means of knowing our

natural tempers 108

XI. Concerning the secret springs of our actions 114

XII. Every one that knows himself, is in a particular manner sensible how far he is governed by a thirst of applause 117

XIII. What kind of knowledge we are already

furnished with, and what degree of esteem we set upon it 122

XIV. Concerning the knowledge, guard, and go-

vernment of our thoughts 128

XV. Concerning the memory 144

XVI. Concerning the mental taste 148

XVII. Of our great and governing views in life . 154 XVIII. How to know the true state of our souls,

and whether we are fit to die 156

PART II. Showing the great excellence and advantage of this kind of science 161

1. Self-knowledge the spring of self-possession 162

II. Self-knowledge leads to a wise and steady

conduct 166

III. Humility the effect of self-knowledge 168

IV. Charity another effect of self-knowledge . 171 V. Moderation the effect of self-knowledge ... 173

VI. Self-knowledge improves the judgment ... 176

CONTENTS. 9

Chap. Page

VII. Self-knowledge directs the proper exercises

of self-denial 179

VIII. Self-knowledge promotes our usefulness in

the world 183

IX. Self-knowledge leads to a decorum and

consistency of character 185

X. Piety the effect of self-knowledge 188

XI. Self-knowledge teaches us rightly to perform the duties of religion 189

XII. Self-lino wledge the best preparation for

death 193

PART III. Showing how self-knowledge is to be' attained 195

I. Self-examination necessary to self-knowledge 198

II. Constant watchfulness necessary to self-knowledge 216

III. We should have some regard to the opin-

ions of others concerning us, especially

of our enemies 218

IV. Frequent converse with superiors a help

to self-knowledge 223

V. Of cultivating such a temper as will be the best disposition to self-knowledge 225

VI. To be sensible of our false knowledge, a

good step to self-knowledge 228

VET. Self-inspection peculiarly necessary upon

some particular occasions 230

10 CONTENTS.

Chap. Page VIII. To know ourselves, we must wholly abstract from external appearances 237

IX. The practice of self-knowledge a great

means to promote it 239

X. Fervent and frequent prayer the most effectual means for attaining true self-knowledge 248

ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE

REV. JOHN MASON, A. M.

The Rev. John Mason, author of the ensuing Treatise on Self-Knowledge, was born at Dunmow, in Essex, in the year 1705-6. His father was a dissenting minister, and was, we apprehend, successively pastor to congregations at Daventry in Northamptonshire ; Dunmow in Essex ; and at Spaldwick in Lincolnshire, at which last place he died, and was buried in the year 1722-3. This gentleman had a brother, the Rev. William Mason, a clergyman in the established Church, who, in the latter part of his life, held two livings, of which one was in Buckinghamshire, and the other in Derbyshire.* They were the children

* From this circumstance a gentleman, who about five years ago had thoughts of presenting to the public an account of his relation, the author of Self-Knowledge, suspected that he was

I of the Rev. John Mason, A. M., who held the rectory of Water- Stratford, in the county of Bucks, and well known as author of a little posthumous work, published by his grand-son,

a branch of the same family from which the Rev. William Mason, a well-known and excellent poet, was descended. He made, the inquiry, and received, in reply, the following letter : —

" Aston, April 3, 1797.

" Sir, — I am sorry that I can trace in the simple annals of my ancestry nothing which can afford me any ground for claiming either a direct or collateral relationship with Mr. John Mason of Cheshunt, who I believe to have been an excellent Christian moralist, and whom, therefore, I should have been more proud of owning for one of my family, than if he had had part of the blood of all the Howards. My table of genealogy goes no higher than to Valentine Mason, clerk, who was born, as I suppose, in the latter part of the reign of Elizabeth, as I find from Torre's MSS. in the cathedral at York, which are held authentic documents ; that he resigned the vicarage of Driffield, a very small living, (of which, as precentor of York, I am now patron,) in 1623, for that of Elloughton in the same east riding of Yorkshire, (one I believe, at that time, little more valuable,) where he died in 1639. He had three sons and three daughters ; two of the sons, I believe, succeeded in trade at Kingston-upon-Hull, and the third, William, was brought up to the Church, and had the living of Wensley, near Richmond, in the north riding, who left a landed estate in various parishes in the east riding, of which, as the last male heir, I am now possessed, and with me the family name will be extinct. I have a paper of my grandfather's, Hugh Mason, who was collector of the customs at the port of Hull, which informs me that Valentine Mason descended, as a younger brother, from a Mason of Cheriton, alias Cherington, in Oxfordshire. But the truth of this (though

LIFE OF REV. JOHN MASOX. 13

and recommended by Dr. Watts, entitled, " Select Remains," &c, &c. In the preface to this work, the author is represented as a person of as eminent a character in the religious world as most ages have produced, and though by principle a conformist to the established Church of England, yet he was very far from cherishing a bitter spirit againt dissenters, or such as

I tried by a friend in that county) I could not ascertain, and I believe it was merely founded on the same arms which all the Masons, as well as the Masons in France, bear, viz., a lion bifronted azure on a shield Or. You will, I hope, pardon me for giving you all these genealogical notices, as it is merely to show you that all I know of my family is bounded within the precincts of Yorkshire, and therefore I can claim no alliance with one seated in Essex or Buckinghamshire.

" Though you speak much too highly of my poetical productions, your panegyric claims my thanks, which I herewith give you, and subscribe myself, with due regard, sir, " Your very much obliged and obedient servant,

" W. Ma sox.

" John Mason Good., Esq., Guilford-street."

It has been thought proper to preserve the whole letter, as it is highly probable that it was the last Mr. Mason ever wrote. It is dated April the 3d, 1797 : on that very day, in consequence of a slight contusion which had previously happened as he was getting into his carriage, a mortification ensued, which in forty-eight hours put a period to his life. "The character," says his biographer, " with which he ought to be handed down to posterity, is that of a man virtuous in his morals, amiable in his manners, and ornamental in the republic of letters." See the Annual Necrology for 1797-8.

differed from him in opinion. He died at Water-Stratford in the county of Bucks, A. D. 1694, having been rector of that place twenty years. His fervour of spirit in the cause of God and religion was uncommon. His learning was considerable, his capacity above the common level, and his application extraordinary.

We have not been able to ascertain to whom the subject of this memoir was indebted for the earlier part of his education ; but he pursued his academical studies as a candidate for the ministry under the Rev. and learned John Jennings, who presided at a very respectable seminary at Kibworth in Leicestershire about the year 1719, and afterward removed to Hinckley in the same county. When he had finished his studies, he became chaplain and private tutor in the family of Governor Feaks, at his seat near Hatfield. He could not have remained very long in this situation, as, in the year 1729-30, he accepted an invitation to the pastoral charge of a congregation at Dorking in Surry. It was not till after Mr. Mason had resided ten years at Dorking that he became known to the public as an author. His first piece was a sermon, published at the desire of those who heard it, entitled, " Subjection to the Higher Powers," preached November 5,

1740. In the year 1743 he published, without his name, a tract, entitled, " A Plain and Modest Plea for Christianity, or a Sober and Rational Appeal to Infidels," &c., which was well received and much read, and through the medium of Dr. Walker, formerly tutor to an academy at Mile End, it procured for the author, unsought for, the degree of A. M. from Edinburgh. His " Treatise on Self-Knowledge" was published in the year 1745, a work which has already passed through many editions, and which has been esteemed by able and impartial judges as one of the most useful treatises on practical piety that ever was written in the English, or perhaps in any language. It has been taken up as a book fit and proper to be distributed among the poor, who are unable to procure books at their own expense, by several societies, both among dissenters and persons adhering to the established Church. It has not been confined to the language in which it was written, but has been translated and circulated in several countries on the continent.

At Dorking Mr. Mason continued till July the 6th, 1746, where he was held in high estimation both as a preacher and a friend. To his hearers, he was able, at the close of seventeen years' ministry, to appeal for their testimony to the sincerity and earnestness of his labours in the cause in which he appears to have engaged from his heart. " During the whole course of my preaching among you," says he in his farewell discourse, " I have avoided controversial subjects as much as possible ; that is, as far as is consistent with ministerial fidelity. And those that I have handled were mostly such as were of the greatest importance to common Christianity ; which I have always endeavoured to treat in the plainest manner I could. But my chief aim hath been to affect your minds and my own with a deeper sense of those great, uncontroverted principles of Christianity which enter into the very essence of religion, and without an habitual regard to which, our profession of it, and that of every party, is vain. For I have often thought, it is much more necessary to endeavour to mend the heart than stuff the head. And that Christians in general have more need to have their spirits improved, than their understandings informed ; and want more zeal rather than more light ; better tempers rather than better notions : and that a bad heart with right notions is much worse than a good heart with wrong notions ; for if the heart be wrong, it matters little that the head is right."

Then, after recapitulating the principal duties incumbent upon them as Christians, and which at all times he had sedulously recommended as of prime importance, he concludes in the following words : —

" God is my witness, and so are you, that I never affected to warp your minds to party notions, to amuse you with empty speculations, to move you with vehement address, to please you with the jingling ornaments of style, or win you with the studied arts of speech ; my aim hath been to make my way to your hearts, by opening and inculcating to you, in the plainest and most unartful manner, those great and important truths which have first affected my own. What hath been my success, God knows : and what my fidelity. May he graciously forgive the defects both of preacher and hearers ! before whom we must both another day appear to answer for them. And O ! may we all find mercy of him in that day !

" And now, my dear Christian friends and brethren, farewell. I now take my final leave of you for ever as your minister and pastor. For all the instances of your affection and friendship, I heartily thank you. Wherein any of you have been defective in your regard to me as your minister, I heartily forgive you ; 2 wherein I have been defective in my duty to you as my people, I heartily ask forgiveness. And may the God of all mercy forgive, accept, direct, and bless us all ; and preserve us to that happy world, where we shall meet to part no more !"

At this period Mr. Mason, upon the invitation of a large and respectable congregation of dissenters, removed to Cheshunt in Hertfordshire, where he spent the remainder of his days, as a very useful preacher. Nor was he less known as an author. During his residence at Cheshunt his publications were numerous and respectable, of the principal of which we shall here give an account.

His largest work is entitled the " Lord's Day Evening Entertainment," in four volumes, containing fifty-two sermons, which he offered to the public as a " complete set of practical discourses for the use of families, recommending and urging the great and substantial points ot Christianity in a plain and striking manner, and free from all distinguishing peculiarities in style and sentiments." The second edition of this work, which has been popular in families, was published in the year 1754.

In the year 1758 he published, in one volume, fifteen discourses, devotional and practical, together with an historical dissertation on the analogy between the behaviour of God's people toward him. in the several periods of the Jewish and Christian church, and his correspondent dispensations toward them in those respective periods. The design of this dissertation is to show, that however ready we may be to censure and condemn the temper and behaviour of the Jews, yet that the conduct of Christians has been very much the same, in the several periods of the Christian church : and to point out some remarkable instances of analogy between the dealings of Providence toward them, and his dispensations toward us ; in consequence of that similarity between their conduct and ours. Our author has in this essay shown an extensive and accurate knowledge of ancient and modern history, and a considerable degree of critical acumen in pointing out the various analogies which subsist between the different histories ; he has rendered the whole highly interesting by the insertion of a great variety of historical and biographical facts, especially those which relate to the first reformers.

In the year 1761 Mr. Mason published his " Christian Morals," in two volumes. The object of the author in these excellent discourses was, he tells us, to moderate the zeal of Christians for their several party distinctions, and to recall their attention to the acknowledged importance of those indisputed principles, without the practical influence of which no man can be a Christian, and all the good sense, and all the orthodoxy in the world will avail him nothing. " O," says he, " did deep humility, divine love, fervent faith, and heartfelt charity, but once shed their heavenly influence in our souls ; how soon should we learn to despise that light chaff of mystic or minute subtleties in divinity which some are so fond of, and to bend all our cares and efforts, in dependance on divine grace, to cultivate in ourselves those holy dispositions, which constitute all our happiness, both in this world and for ever. " To contribute somewhat to this great end, I have once more cast in my mite, as what I judged to be of the greatest service I am capable of doing the cause and gospel of Christ, while I live."

To the second volume of these discourses is added a sermon on the death of George II.— " A king," says our author, " whose memory will be ever dear to all the friends of truth, moderation, and the Protestant religion." This and some other discourses on political occa-

LIFE OF REV. JOHN MASON. 2i

sions exhibit in the writer a true patriot, and friend to the British constitution as settled at the revolution. Of the tories of that day, and those who would have brought in the detested race of the Stewarts, he says, " They who were most clamorous for non-resistance under the worst government, were always the most forward to oppose the best."

Next to the " Treatise on Self-Knowledge," our author's most popular work is entitled, "The Student and Pastor, or directions Iiqw to attain to eminence and usefulness in those respective characters." These directions contain useful and salutary advice as to the management of time ; the best mode of reading and studying ; of improving by conversation and reflection ; of composing sermons, and of administering in all the public services of religion : the last chapter of the work respects the difficulties which a minister may expect to meet with in the execution of his office, and his proper support and encouragement under them.

About the year 1749, or '50, Mr. Mason published " An Essay on Elocution, intended chiefly for the assistance of those who instruct others in the art of reading, and of those who are called to speak in public," which was received with great approbation, and in the course of a few years went through three impressions, and may be considered as the foundation of many of our public popular essays on the same subject. It was originally published without the name of the author, and met, in that state, with considerable encouragement and patronage at one of our public universities ; but when Mr. Mason claimed it as his own, by prefixing his name to the second edition, that learned body is said to have scouted it from their walls as the work of a dissenter.

On similar subjects we have " Essays on Poetical and Prosaic Numbers and Elocution ;" and " An Essay on the Power and Harmony of Prosaic Numbers." These tracts were well received by the public : of the former the author says, " I am sensible that my attempts to elucidate the power of numbers, both in poetry and prose, are far from going to the bottom of that curious and delightful subject, but if they are not deemed quite superficial, it is enough : they were never designed for profound and elaborate disquisitions. In short, they pretend to no more than what their titles express, essays to illustrate the first principles of that science which greatly engaged the attention of the ancient orators, but which has unaccountably fallen into so much neglect by the moderns."

In the year 1761 Mr. Mason collected these several essays, and published them together in a small octavo volume. This, we apprehend, is the last edition of them ; but they are now, and have been for many years, exceedingly scarce, and rarely to be met with in catalogues.

Notwithstanding the various and important engagements of Mr. Mason as an author and pastor of a large congregation, he found time for the education of several young gentlemen for the ministry; among these were the Rev. Mr. Stanshall, late of Chertsea, to whom, in the year 1753, he addressed "A Letter to a Friend upon his Entrance on the Ministerial Office ;" which contains directions to a minister with regard to his personal conduct, his private studies, and his public ministrations ; and the Rev. John Somersett, who was some years settled as pastor to a congregation at Chipping Ongar, in Essex, and who died in the year 1780. The course of polemical lectures which Mr. Mason read to his pupils were printed in the Protestant Magazine for the years 1794, 1795, and 1796.

After a life devoted to the attainment and diffusion of useful knowledge, Mr. Mason died

February 10th, 1763, in the fifty-eighth year of his age. As a Christian minister, his time had been very equally divided between the congregations at Dorking and Cheshunt, a circumstance which he particularly noticed to a friend and relation while he was on his dying pillow, and which he seems to have anticipated in the preface to his farewell sermon preached at Dorking. " Great," says he, " is my esteem, and great my affection for you ; and therefore great my concern at leaving you. There is but one scene more moving that I expect to go through, and that is, leaving the world. And then all the varying scenes of providence which are apt to fill our minds with grief and heaviness will be for ever at an end."

His last illness was occasioned by a cold caught in visiting one of his congregation, who lived at the distance of about two miles from Cheshunt. Before he could return to his own house, he, and a friend that accompanied him, were surrounded in a fog and mist. Mr. Mason complained of a general chilliness, and never after that day went out of his house. He left behind him a widow, the daughter of the Rev. James Waters, of Uxbridge, but no child to exhibit a father's virtues, or emulate his example.

He was buried in the church-yard of Cheshunt, where there is the following inscription to his memory : —

Here rests all that was mortal

of the late Rev., learned, and pious

JOHN MASON, A. M.,

who was Minister to the

congregation of

Protestant Dissenters in this parish 17 years.

He ceased from his labours,

and was called to receive his reward,

Feb. 10, 1763, aged 58 years.

"Be followers of them who through faith and

patience inherit the promises."

The character and general habits of Mr. Mason, as given by a surviving friend, together with what is said of him in a sermon preached by the Rev. John Hodge, on occasion of his death, will properly conclude the memoirs of a man respecting whom little is now known to the public.

As to his general habits and mode of life, he was as regular and uniform as any man I ever knew ; he was not an early riser in the morning, being seldom up till about eight o'clock. After prayers, and reading a portion of the Scriptures, he breakfasted, then smoked his pipe, reading at the same time the newspaper, or some modern publication. He then retired to his study, where he spent the whole of the morning, except about an hour before dinner, which he usually devoted to walking or riding. After dinner he enjoyed his pipe and friend in a cheerful and easy manner : and either in his own family, with a select party of friends, or abroad in the society of some of his congregation, with whom he was in high estimation, he spent the remainder of the day. He was free, easy, communicative, and pleasant in conversation, and much of the gentleman appeared in all his behaviour. His acquaintance was much sought after, and he himself took great delight in society. He was one of the association of ministers for Essex and Hertfordshire, and w r as an ornament to it, though, an account of the liberality of his religious sentiments, one or two withdrew. His religious opinions were of the moderate kind, he was an enemy to controversy, and a friend to peace. Though abused by some, for want of knowing him better, and destitute themselves of the Christian temper and charity, he never returned railing, but submitted to the unjust contumely from a consciousness of the integrity of his heart. His sermons were correct, clear, nervous, and always illustrative of the text and doctrine he had chosen to explain ; they were ever adapted to promote the purposes of piety and charity. " His religion," says Mr. Hodge, " appears to me to have been thoroughly catholic, and therein truly Christian. While he himself, from principle, adhered to the cause of Protestant non-conformity, amidst all its present discouragements, as apprehending it to have the nearest connection with the cause of truth, and liberty, and serious godliness, still he kept himself at the greatest distance from every thing of a narrow party spirit, by confining Christianity to his own particular communion ; on the contrary, he was free to converse with others as with Christian brethren, ready to discern and acknowledge real merit, and esteem true learning and piety wherever he met with it.

" His removal from us (so it pleased unerring Wisdom to appoint) was after no long previous confinement, but of few days at most; during which, and under all the pains with which he had then to struggle, his mind appeared remarkably serene and composed : not a single murmuring, hardly a complaining word, was ever heard from him. As, through the goodness of an indulgent Providence, he retained the use of his reasoning powers to the last, so he was found to the last calm and resigned ; his end truly was peace.

" Proyidence hath taken him away in the midst of his days and usefulness ; when, considering only his age and the apparent vigour of his constitution, his continued life, and further usefulness in the church of God, might have been with reason hoped for through many future years. But the supreme Lord of life and death hath done his pleasure ; and it is your duty, Christians, to submit and adore."

In the pulpit he was grave and solemn. His voice was clear, his delivery deliberate, distinct, and void of all affectation. He used little or no action ; but he was esteemed a pleasing preacher, because his manner was easy and natural. His sentences were concise, and he never studied length, or the art of protracting his discourses, so as to tire the people : he had rather, as he was accustomed to say, and according to his directions in the " Student and Pastor," " leave them longing than loathing."