Page:Moral Pieces in Prose and Verse.pdf/89

 it teaches us to extract a pleasure from those very motives, which human applause could never have bestowed.

It is necessary for our acceptance with heaven. It excites humility; and with this we must be clothed, before we can hope for the divine favour. If an high opinion of our own merits makes us so disagreeable and disgusting to our fellow creatures, how sinful must it cause us to appear in the sight of One who sees all our hidden imperfections; whose eye pierces every disguise by which we deceive others, and possibly delude ourselves, and in whose sight our greatest follies and errors are more excusable than our pride! The assurances of his favour are given only to those of an humble and contrite heart; he has promised to bring down the "loftiness of man, to scorn the scorners, but to give grace unto the lowly."

Self knowledge is favourable to the promotion of piety. It has already been said that it is the parent of humility; and without humility there can be no piety, either in the sight of God or man. She, who cultivates an acquaintance with herself, will perceive that the frequency of her errors demands constant watchfulness, and that her strongest resolutions often betray their trust; she will feel the necessity of goodness, and her own