Mason, John (1706-1763)

Self-Knowledge. A Treatise.

London

Printed by J. Waugh

1745

"As in the humours of the body, so in the vices of the mind, there is one predominant which has an ascendant over us, and leads and governs us."

'As in the humours of the body, so in the vices of the mind, there is one predominant which has an ascendant over us, and leads and governs us. It is in the body of sin, what the heart is in the body of our nature; it begins to live first and dies last: and whilst it lives, it communicates life and spirit to the whole body of sin; and when it dies, the body of sin expires with it. It is the sin to which our constitution leads, our circumstances betray, and custom enslaves us; the sin to which not our virtues only, but vices too, lower their topsails and submit; the sin which, when we would impose upon God and our consciences, we excuse and disguise with all imaginable artifice and sophistry; but, when we are sincere with both, we oppose first and conquer last. It is, in a word, the sin which reigns and rules in the unregenerate, and too often alarms and disturbs (ah! that I could say no more) the regenerate.'
(Part I, Chapter VII)

Government::Rule and Subjection::Rule of Vice Body::Humours

Reading; Mason cites Dr. Lucas's Sermons, vol. i, p. 151.

20 entries in ESTC (1745, 1746, 1748, 1753, 1754, 1755, 1758, 1760, 1764, 1767, 1769, 1774, 1778, 1784, 1788, 1791, 1792, 1794, 1797).

Self-Knowledge. A Treatise, Shewing the Nature and Benefit of that Important Science, and The Way to attain it. Intermixed with various Reflections and Observations on Human Nature. By John Mason, A.M. (London: J. Waugh, 1745). <Link to Google>

06/11/2013