The mischiefs of self-ignorance and the benefits of self-acquaintance opened in divers sermons at…

2. And as the sinful Inclinations are har• ly discerned, and long lie hid till so•• Temptation draw them out; so the Act i• self is hardly discerned in any of its mali• nity, till it be done and past, and the so•• is brought to a deliberate review. Fo• while a man is in the act of sin, either hi• understanding is so far deluded, as to think it no sin in its kind, or none to him that then committeth it, or that its better venture on it then not, for the attaining of some seeming good, or the avoiding of some evil: or else the restraining act of the understanding is suspended, and withdrawn; and it discerneth not practically the pernicious evil of the sin, and forbiddeth not the committing of it, or forbids it so remissly and with so low a voice, as is drowned by the clamour of contradicting passion: so that the prohibition is not heard. And how can it be then expected, that when a man hath not wit enough in use, to see his sin so far as to forbear it, he should even then see it so far as rightly to judge of himself and it? and that when Reason is low, and sensuality prevaileth, we should ⟨p. 289⟩then have the right use of Reason for self-discerning? When a storm of passion hath blown out the Light, and error hath extinguished it, we are unlikely then to know our selves. When the sensual part is pleasing it self with its forbidden objects, that pleasure so corrupts the judgement, that men will easily believe that it is lawful, or that it is not very bad: So that sin is usually least known and felt, when it is greatest and in exercise, and one would think should then be most perceptible. Like a frenzy or madness, or other deliration, that is least known when it is greatest and most in act, because its nature is destructive to the Reason that should know it: Like a spot in the eye, that is it self unseen, and hindereth the sight of all things else. Or as the deeper a mans sleep is, the less he knoweth that he is a sleep. Somnium narrare vigilantis est, saith Seneca. Its men awake that tell their dreams.

2. And as the sinful Inclinations are har ly discerned, and long lie hid till so Temptation draw them out; so the Act i self is hardly discerned in any of its mali nity, till it be done and past, and the so is brought to a deliberate review. Fo while a man is in the act of sin, either hi understanding is so far deluded, as to think it no sin in its kind, or none to him that then committeth it, or that its better venture on it then not, for the attaining of some seeming good, or the avoiding of some evil: or else the restraining act of the understanding is suspended, and withdrawn; and it descerneth not practically the pernicious evil of the sin, and forbiddeth not the committing of it, or forbids it so remisly and with so low a voice, as is drowned by the clamour of contradicting passion: so that the prohibition is not heard. And how can it be then expected, that when a man hath not wit enough in use, to see his sin so far as to forbear it, he should even then see it so far as rightly to judge of himself and it? and that when Reason is low, and sensuality prevaileth, we should