^ Whoso goeth to his bed as to his grave, may go to his grave as to his bed,^
3. The familiar maxim, " Know thyself," shows that self- knowledge has for ages been considered desirable. In the ethical codes of the wiser moralists of the ancient world, the duty of self-analysis was prominent. As it was recommended and practised by them, however, it was quite different from the duty
1 "William Hall, "Via Crucis." " Calvin, Psalms, i. 44. ^ Bishop Home,
PSALM IV. 4, 5 195
which is enforced here. Goethe, again, was an eager student of his own nature, and he was incessant and triumphant in his devotion to that study ; but his one aim was to know his art, by knowing that on which it was to tell ; and, to reach it, he was ready to sacrifice himself. Or, a man may seek acquaintance with his own nature for the worst as well as for the best of purposes. With a view to ends altogether unworthy of him, he may study the habits of his soul with the utmost care.
It is with the heart in its relation to things unseen and eternal that we are to commune. This is a duty which is strictly specific in its relation to certain objects. These are the habits of a man's nature in reference to God's truth, and immortality, and to whatever else constitutes us moral and responsible beings. What are our relations to God ? What are our feelings towards Him? In what spirit and manner do we fulfil the obligations which He has laid on us ? These are the questions which it is our highest interest to ask, and which we can answer only when we know our hearts and know them well. While this is our object, it often happens that by observing our dispositions towards what is external we are able to see most clearly into the inner man. We cannot take a purely abstract view of our own character. We must test ourselves by what tests us. We have to look out at times that we may look in. When we comprehend the influence which business and pleasure, our companions and our pursuits, exert on our moral nature, we see also how it stands affected towards what is higher and better. Our purpose, however, in all this must be to judge ourselves spiritually. Our aim is not simply to become masters of our own thoughts and feelings. Neither is it a desire to control the minds of others. We commune with our hearts that we may know what we are morally, and how we stand related to things that are unseen and eternal.
I had a treasure in my house.
And woke one day to find it gone; I mourned for it from dawn till night, From night till dawn.
I said, " Behold, I will arise
And sweep my house," and so I found What I had lost, and told my joy To all around.
196 THE FOUR ACTS OF RELIGION
I had a treasure in my heart,
And scarcely knew that it had fled, Until communion with my Lord Grew cold and dead.
"Behold," I said, "I will arise
And sweep my heart of self and sin; And so the peace that I have lost May enter in."
0 friends, rejoice with me ! Each day
Helps my lost treasure to restore ; And sweet communion with my Lord Is mine once more.^
(1) This communing must be marked by uncompromising fidelity. It were better not to take this trust in hand than to be faithless to it. Honesty and impartiality should characterize our inquiries. We must not desist from them when they become painful, because they awaken a slumbering conscience, or are at war with some dearly loved indulgence.
(2) In our self-communings Scripture should be our guide. Ibe aim is to lead the man who communes with himself to seek communion with Him by whom he can be transformed into the image of God. The Spirit of holiness, which alone can purify man's nature, is made known in the Word of truth. As a mere duty, the habit to which the text exhorts us would fail to do us good; but when we engage in it aright, it gives us trust and desire, bringing us into the presence of our best Friend. It first casts us down, and then raises us up. It declares to us the plague of our own hearts, that we may repair to Him who is the great and good Physician of souls.
^ Never yet did there exist a full faith in the Divine Word which did not expand the intellect, while it purified the heart ; which did not multiply and exalt the aims and objects of the understanding, while it fixed and simpKfied those of the desires and feelings.2
4. We should distinguish heart-communion from some things from which it differs. Thus we are not to identify the exercise with religious contemplation, that higher form of intellectual 1 Caroline A. Jilason. * S. T. Colerickre.
PSALM IV. 4, 5 197
homage wliicli the mind, when elevated above the level of earthly things, pays to the wisdom of God. Neither is meditation to be confounded with the exercise of reading, even though it be thoughtful, prayerful, scriptural reading. This may be helpful to heart-communion, but it is not the same, and is not a substitute for it. In all reading we have a view to the acquirement of some new truth, or at all events, to more deepened impressions of truths already known, in the hope that these truths, apprehended by the understanding more perfectly, may appeal with more power to the conscience and the heart. But in meditation we are not learning truths, but applying them. We are reducing what we have acquired to practice; our business lies directly with the affections and the will, which on the admitted sufficiency of present light, and under the felt force of present convictions are urged forward to greater attainments in practical holiness, to resolutions of higher aim, and victories more prominent, sanctified, and complete over all the desires of the flesh and of the mind.