354 OF THE NATURE 



defirous of knowing ourfelves, we muft cultivate: 

 this fenf'e, by which alone we are enabled to 

 form a difpaflionate judgment concerning our 

 nature and condition. But how fhall we give 

 to this fenfe its full extent and activity ? How 

 ihall wx emancipate the foul, in which it refides, 

 from all the ilhifions of fancy! We have loft 

 the habit of employing this fenfe ; its adlvity 

 is repreffed by the tumult of corporeal fenfa- 

 tions, and parched with the heat of our palTions ; 

 the heart, the imagination, the fenfes, all con- 

 fpire to annihilate its exertions. Unchangeable, 

 however, in its naiure, and invulnerable by its 

 eflence, it continues always the fame. lis fplen- 

 dour may be obfcured, without loiing its force ; 

 it may enlighten us lefs, but it guides us with 

 certainty. Eet us colled thofe rays which it 

 ftill emits, and the darknefs which furrounds us 

 will diminifh ; and, though the path (liould ,j 

 ^ not be equally illuminated from one end to the 

 other, we fhall at leaft have a torch to prevent 

 us from wandering. 



The firif and moft difficult ftep, in arriving ^t 

 a proper know^ledge of ourlelves, is to acquire 

 diftind ideas of the two fubftances of which we 

 are compofed. Simply to affirm^ that the one 

 is immaterial, unextended, and immortal, and 

 that the other is material, extended, and mor- 

 tal, is only denying thofe qualities to the one, 

 which w^e.know the other pofTeffes. What real 

 knowledge can be acquired from this mode of 



negation f 



