:<^«r^ ^LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. ^^^r^^^ C7 *UM'JtU BTATliS Uf -AMERICA. ^^4^^g W^HX^"! rtf^ '''mm ^fe^«^ is^^y^s^: SAYINGS OF SAGES: @r, Selections from bistinguisl^eb PREACHERS, POETS, PHILOSOPHERS, AND OTHER AUTHOES, ANCIENT AND MODEEN. A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.— Pbov. xxv, 11. COMPILED BY E. C. R E Y O N S. WITH AN mTEODUCTION, By EDWARD THOMSON, D. D. PUBLISHED BY CAKLTOIS}- & ^OETER, 200 MULBEEEY-STEEET. 1863. v^' fe-^^' 01 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1863, by CARLTON $t PORTER, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. \ (^^i6 w^mie^ 0^ Golden Thoughts u mo^^ ia/iecmim/Q tm^cU^ecl^ la REV. JAMES PORTER, D. D., 06 a 6uad^ ^Ae7t/ oJ^ e^leem/ AW cne^ cema mi6 iena6i€<^ mi6 ^W'm{A.c/i'^ ^olw w-iln/ /u6 i^aice'^ mid^ Ae?i4 ^^^^^^ cmlmammecl^ ^eWcce/ tn/ t/ie. woid^ c^O Maclocmtu'^n^^ mtd^ clm€^?imat(m^ de^ aiea/^ lucm4 ^^ ^hialt'aniYn^ BY THE COMPILER. naA'l^ /o^ &e/v-eiav 'ue^cU Aa^t^ io (X^M/q ^^^ iaiey idauaAld opo Me/ a(imoi6 ti^e/ ieaa^ and^ i?!/ cu^?^ 10^06 6'C'?miai^i2) (^i^^cmtcmiecl, ^a Tnade^ mede/ &e/ec- lcon6 m&^ Au'ncfAa/'^ to^'a c4^ con^eUalcan : ma/^ occr^ joc'n'l^ aameimai num.^erec/'^ 6'e'v-6iav nunaleoi^ 6-caice'^ moim^ m/ OAic^uc^ a/?icl^ Oiwwale^ uMc&u'e6^ a/-^ noTne/ anc/^ avloac/^ ana^ Aotti/ ome'r^ 6aMce6 iemaidecl^ idal '''' a'^ mau^ w-mcn"^ &nomc/^ con- TO THE KEADER. 'O '??ian^ 16 ojiucu^ neec/ea ; and mage^ied ina'/'^ me"^ tn^ io/ucai-^ /(/l'}7i/ /o'r^ com'-enien^'^ ieJeience and^ O^tiJmnedj ma/'^ omeii mm/^-^ male/ me/ Giiioft^ a?td'^ O^ueaiuie/ cjP ine^n^. ^le^ Miaae^tiow ica6 acled^ uA(y?i ; tn& delcdci ine^ aiianae^nenp^ ^ecna^^ ca7Ji77iilt6d^ la Me/ ie/ cf^ d natcnd Atend, w/ia auo cantUMcted'^ '■ma/te^ aem6 la me^ ccuectt'a^^ and"^ Ine^ iedui/'^ 6 Ushecf/m/ii2i ^t^^'^uUed' la me/ Oiiu^u'c^ nald?ia/ ma/^ me/ l^ene7}ozen/'^ end^ OViia/iaied^ Tuay^ id ieau/zed'l THE COMPILER. CONTENTS. PAGE Ability 11 Abuse 11 AccoiiiioDATioN (See also Kind- ness) 11 Action (See also Industry) 12 Adoption, Justification 12 Advantage 13 Adversity (See also Aifiiction) . . 13 Advice (See also Counsel) 15 Affectation 16 Afflictions (See also Advers- ity) 17 Affluence (See also Wealth) ... 20 Age 20 Ambition 21 Ancestry 22 Angels 22 Anger 24 Anticipation 25 Antiquity 26 Appearance 26 Applause 26 Arrogance 27 Atheism (See also Unbelief) 27 Atonement 28 Avarice (See also Covetousness) . 29 Beauty 29 Behavior 30 Belief 30 Beneficence (See also Charity) . . 31 Bible 32 Bigotry 35 Blasphemy 36 Blessings 36 PAGE Body 36 Books 37 Calumny 39 Candor 39 Censoriousness 40 Censure 41 Character (See also Eeputation). 42 Charity 42 Cheerfulness 44 Children 45 Christ 46 Christian, becoming one 48 Christianity 49 Christians 52 Church 54 Civility 55 Comforts 55 Commandments ' 55 Complaints 56 Complaisance 56 Conceit (See also Vanity) 56 Confidence 57 Conscience 57 Consolation 60 Contentment 60 Controversies 63 Conversation 64 Conversion 66 Counsel 66 Courage 67 Covetousness (See also Avarice). 67 Creation 69 Credulity 71 Cross, the 71 viii COXTENTS. CtjimixG — Frankness Friends, Friendship (See also 106 CtlEIOSITY .... 73 Custom .... 73 Love) 106 Frugality 111 Death .... 73 Future 112 Deceit .... 78 Deception .... 79 Genius 113 Decision .... 79 Gentleman 114 Deeds .... 79 Glory 114 Dependence .... 79 God 115 Desire .... 79 Gold 120 Despair Devotion (See also Prayer) . . .... 80 .... 80 121 122 Goodness Discontent .... 81 Gospel 123 Dissimulation .... 81 Grace Gratitude Grave (See also Death) 125 127 128 Divinity 81 Doing Good .... 82 Drunkenness . . . . 83 Greatness 129 Duty .... 83 Grief 129 Earnestness ... 84 Habit 130 Economy ... 85 Happiness . 131 Education ... 85 Hatred (See also Eevenge) 136 Egotism ... 87 Health 136 Eloquence 87 Heart Heaven 138 138 140 140 140 142 Eminence Employment ... 88 88 Hell Holiness Holy Spirit Home EAfTTT, A TTmvr ...... ... , 89 Enemies 89 Envy ... 90 Eternity ... 92 Honesty 142 Evil ... 93 Honor 143 Example ... 94 Hope 144 Expectation ... 95 Humanity 146 Experience ... 95 Humility 146 Eye ... 95 Hypocrisy 148 Hypocrite 150 Faith ... 96 Fame ... 99 Idleness (See also Industry)... 151 Fashion .. 100 Idolatry Ignorance 151 152 Faults ... 100 Fear . . . 100 Imagination 152 Feelings Felicity . . . 101 , . . 101 Immorality 152 152 153 154 Immortality Improvement Flattery . . . 102 Folly ... 102 Independence Forgiveness ... 102 Indolence 154 Fortitude . . . 104 Industry 155 156 Fortune . . . 105 CONTENTS. ix PAGE PiGK . . . 157 Misery Misfortune 195 196 Ingratitude . . . 158 T . . . 160 Modesty Money Morality Motives Music Mystery 196 197 198 198 198 199 ... 160 . . . 161 ... 161 ... 161 Intemperance ... 162 Intention . . . 162 Natuee 199 Jealousy . . . 162 Neglect 201 ... 162 201 202 Joy (See also Happiness). . . . ... 163 Nobility Judgment . . . 163 Novels 202 Justice . . . 164 Justification . . . 164 Obedience 203 Obligation 203 Kindness ... 165 Obstinacy Occupation 203 203 Knowledge . .. 165 , Imperfect ... 166 Old Age (See Age) 204 Omnipresence 204 Labor ... 168 Opinion 205 Laws Learjhng Leisure ... 168 ... 168 ... 169 205 205 Liberality ... 169 Pardon 206 Liberty ... 169 Passion 206 Lies ... 170 Past, the 207 Life ... 170 Patience (See also Eesignation) . 207 Love (See also Affection) ... 175 Peace (See also War) 208 Lying ... 177 Perfection 208 209 Persecution Madness ... 177 Perseverance 210 Magnanimity ... 177 Piety 210 Malice ... 177 Pity 211 Man ... 179 Pleasure 211 Mankind (See Man) ... 187 Poetry 213 :&L4.RRIAGE ... 187 Politeness 213 MjUITYRDOM ... 189 Poor (See also Poverty) Poverty (See also Adversity) . . . 214 Matrimony (See Marriage). ... 189 214 ... 189 Power Praise 215 215 Meekness ... 190 Memory ... 190 Prayer 216 Mercy Merit ... 191 ... 192 Preaching 219 220 221 Present, the Pride Messiah (See also Olirist). . . ... 192 Mind, the ... 193 Procrastination 223 Ministers ... 193 Profession 223 Ministry (See Ministers). . . ... 195 Progress 224 X CONTENTS. PEOillSES Peospeeity Peovidence Peudenoe 224 224 226 227 227 228 228 228 229 229 230 230 231 238 238 238 242 243 243 244 245 245 246 247 248 248 249 251 251 253 253 254 254 255 255 255 256 256 260 260 260 261 262 262 263 263 Spieit Success SUFFEEING Sympathy (See also Pity) Talent Teaes Tempee . 264 . 265 . 266 . 266 . 266 . 266 . 266 . 267 . 267 . 267 . 268 . 268 . 270 . 271 . 271 . 272 . 273 . 274 . 276 . 276 . 276 . 277 . 277 . 277 . 277 . 278 . 278 . 278 . 279 . 280 . 280 . 283 . 284 . 284 . 286 . 286 . 286 . 288 . 289 . 290 . 290 . 292 . 293 Quaeeels Eeading Temperance Thankfulness Eeason Eeconciliation Eedemption Eefinement Eegeneeation Eeligion (See also Christianity) . Opposition to it Theatee Thoughts Time Titles Tongue Teifles Teinity, the Trouble , Danger of Delay Eepentance Eeputation Truth Eesignation Unanimity Unbelief (See also Atheism) . . Uncertainty Unfairness Universe Eesolution Eest Eesueeection Eevenge (See also Hatred) ElCHES ElDICULE Unworthiness Usefulness Vainglory Valor Vanity Sabbath, the Satan . : Savioue, the (See also Christ).. SCEIPTUEE Self-Examination Selfishness Self-Knowledge Vice Vietue War (See also Peace) Weakness Wealth (See also xiffluence) . . . Wickedness Sh\me Sickness Silence Simplicity Sin Wife Wisdom Wit Woman Words World Youth Sins, Little Sincerity Slandee Sleep Solitude SoEEOW Soul Zeal INTBODUOTION. Here is a book of the best thoughts of some of the wisest men : truths which lie at the foundations of reasoning ; principles of great moral importance and practical usefulness ; just sentiments in excel- lent forms of speech, "like apples of gold in pictures of silver ;" views of human nature and human life, which for their correctness and com- prehensiveness have obtained currency among all classes, and embodj the opinions of all ; and views of God and his relations and claims, which commend themselves at once to the reason and conscience of mankind. In addition there will be found sayings or apothegms which possess value and force from the character of their authors, those little and short utterances which, as TiUottson says, are like sparks of diamonds. Such a book presents doctrines in essence, science in abstract, ethics in maxims, vrisdom in proverbs, observation and experience in the ripe fruit. It is like those gravelly beds into which the mountain torrents have washed nuggets of gold. It would require much and various reading to obtain such an amount of valuable thought. If a patient and judicious student, with access to an ample library, should enter in a common-place book all the choice thoughts of his reading, he would require many years to obtain a book containing as mucli of wisdom in beautiful forms as this one contains. It is multum in pa/rvo. It embraces a vast range of subjects: education, marriage, government, wisdom, wealth. Scripture. It gives encouragement to virtue, and warning against crime ; it exposes errors of the thoughtless, guards against mistakes of the careless and blunders of the ignorant. To the learned it will be a remembrancer, to the simple an instructor, to all a pleasant vade-mecum and a useful book of reference. In order INTRODUCTIOK to facilitate the last purpose its utterances have been alphabetically arranged. He who wishes to compose on almost any theme will here find something which will serve him for illustration, or may be, for foundation, or which may put him upon the right track, or which may give new impetus to his thoughts. Such a work as this does not invite to plagiarism^ but to reflection; it will often be found to give the mind a good tone, to lift it up to a more elevated plane. We are more imitative than we are willing to allow, more so than we sup- pose, and mentally as well as physically. Hence the value of famil- iarity with strong thought and charming style. If we supposed the book would be used merely to ornament dis- course, or store the memory with usefal knowledge, we should set but little value upon it. Malebranche said if all truth were in my possession, I would let some of it go for the pleasure of pursuing it ; and another philosopher said, "If the Almighty were to hold out all truth in one hand, and the search after truth in the other, I would choose the latter." It is chiefly because of its suggestive character that a book like this is serviceable. "While it puts us in possession of precious moral gems, it prompts to the search after more, and assists and guides us in the pursuit. We have not been able to read all the proof of this work which has been submitted to us, but from what we have examined we have no doubt that the compilation is judi- cious. That it is free from error we can hardly presume, for what human work is ; but that it will be found a valuable companion to any man we have no doubt. SAYINGS OF SAGES. Although a want of abilities renders a man less likely to be useful in society, yet accomplish- ments too frequently are made the occasion of doing much mischief, Not that they are so in themselves; but by filling the mind with pride, and above all, by drawing into too much, or improper company, many are spoiled for the business they are brought up to. But this is not all: we too often see that great abilities are sometimes attended with great vices, and however some may perfectly understand their duty, yet they do not prac- tice it. Let the consideration of this make men of such accomplish- ments carefully avoid the snares they are exposed to, and use their abilities only in the cause of relig- ion, virtue, or learning. — Seed. canst bear ill language with ease, and return it with pleasure ; and to me it is unusual to hear^ and disagreeable to speak it." The man who labors to please his neighbor for his good to edifi- cation has the mind that was in Christ. It is a sinner trying to help a sinner, A hard man may be reverenced, but men will like him best at a distance; he is an iron man. Christ might have driven Thomas from his presence for his unreasonable incredulity — but not so! It is as though he had said, "I will come down to thy weakness; if thou canst not believe without thrusting thy hand into my side, then thrust in thy hand," Even a feeble but kind and tender man will effect more than a genius who is rough or artificial. There is danger, doubt- less, of humoring others; and against this we must be on our guard. It is a kind and accom- modating spirit at which we must aim. When the two goats met on Cato, being scurrilously treated by a low and vicious fellow, quiet- ly said to him: "A contest be- tween us is very unequal, for thou 12 ACTION — ADOPTION AND JUSTIFICATIO^v the bridge, which was too narrow to allow either to pass the other or to return, the goat which lay down, that the other might walk over him, was a finer gentleman than Lord Chesterfield. — Cecil. (See also Kixdistess.) %timx. If a man has a right to be proud of anything, it is of a good action done as it ought to be, without any base interest lurking at the bottom of it — Steexe. Fools measure actions after they are done, by the event : wise men beforehand, by the rules of reason and right. The former look to the end, to judge of the act Let me look to the act, and leave the end to God, — Bishop Hale. The way to be nothing is to do nothing. — N, Howe. Do not mind much what a man does, but what view he has in the action.— St. Austin. However brilliant an action may be, it ought not to pass for great when it is not the result of a great design. — La Eochefou- CAULD. No action will be considered as blameless unless the will was so, for by the will the act was dic- tated. — Sexeca. Things may be seen differ- ently, and differently shown ; but actions are visible, though motives are secret. "WouLDST thou know the law- fulness of the action which thou desirest to undertake, let thy devotion recommend it to divine blessing. If it be lawful, thou shalt perceive thy heart encour- aged by thy prayer ; if unlawful, thou shalt find thy prayer dis- couraged by thy heart. That action is not warrantable which either blushes to beg a blessing, or, having succeeded, dares not present a thanksgiving. — Quaeles. Men's actions discover their inclinations, and often reveal what they would fain conceal. The actions of men ai'e like the index of a book ; they point out what is most remarkable in them. (See also Industet.) As all the human race by the fall and actual sin are by nature the children of wrath, none can become God's children but in the way of adoption, through faith in Christ, by the work of the Spirit upon the soul, whereby they are justified, renewed, and sanctified. As adoption is a rel- ative blessing, perhaps it may not be improper to say that it is AD YAXTAGE — ADVERSITY. included in justification; how- ever, there is some difference in the precise notions that we have of these two. Justification is the act of God as a Judge ; adoption, as a Father : by the former we are discharged from condemna- tion, and accepted as righteous; by the latter we are made the children of God and joint-heirs with Christ : by the one we are taken into God's favor, but by the other into his family. Adop- tion may be looked upon as an appendage of justification, for it is by our being justified that we come into a right to all the honors and privileges of adoption. — De. Gutse. "Whatetee advantage we snatch beyond a certain portion allotted us by nature, is like money spent before it is due, which, at the time of regular payment, will be missed and regretted. — Johnson. No man is more miserable than hie that hath, no adversity; that man is not tried whether he be good or bad. And God never crowns those virtues which are only faculties and dispositions ; but every act of virtue is an in- gredient in reward; God so dresses us for heaven. — Tatloe. Adyeesitt, sage, useful guest. Severe instructor, but the best ; It is from thee alone we know Justly to value things below. SOMEEYILLE. As full ears load and lay com, so does too much fortune bend and break the mind. It deserves to be considered, too, as another ad- vantage, that aflfliction moves pity, and reconciles our very enemies ; but prosperity provokes envy, and loses us our very friends. Again, adversity is a desolate and aban- doned state; the generality of people are like those infamous ani- mals that live only upon plenty and rapine ; and as rats and mice for- sake a tottering house, so do these the falling man.^CnAEEOx. He that has never known ad- versity is but half acquainted with others or with himself. Constant success shows us but one side of the world ; for as it surrounds us with friends who tell us only of our merits, so it silences those enemies from whom only we can learn our defects. — Colton. Adveesitt has ever been con- sidered as the state in which a man most easily becomes acquainted with himself; and this effect it must produce by withdrawing flat- terers, whose business it is to hide our weaknesses from us; or by giving loose to malice, and license to reproach; or, at least, by cut- ting off those jjleasures which called us away from meditation on 14 ADVEESITY. our own conduct, and repressing that pride which too easily per- suades us that we merit whatever we enjoy. — Johnson. Ask the man of adversity how other men act toward him; ask those others how he acts toward them. Adversity is the true touch- stone of merit in both, happy if it does not produce the dishonesty of meanness in one, and that of insolence and pride in the other. — Geeyille. Adversity is the only furnace of friendship. — Hall. Evert man is rich or poor ac- cording to the proportion between his desires and enjoyments. Of riches as of everything else, the hope is more than the enjoyment. While we consider them as the means to be used at some future time for the attainment of felicity, ardor after them secures us from weariness of ourselves; but no sooner do we sit down to enjoy our acquisitions than we find them insufficient to fill up the vacuities of life. ligature makes us poor only when we want necessaries, but custom gives the name of pov- erty to the want of superfluities. It is the great privilege of poverty to be happy unenvied, to be healthy without physic, secure without a guard, and to obtain from the bounty of nature what the great and wealthy are com- pelled to procure by the help of art. Adversity has ever been con- sidered as the state in which a man most easily becomes acquaint- ed with himself, particularly being free from flatterers. Prosperity is too apt to prevent us from ex- amining our conduct ; V)ut as ad- versity leads us to think properly of our state, it is most beneficial to us. — Johnson. A SMOOTH sea never made a skillful mariner, neither do unin- terrupted prosperity and success qualify men for usefulness and hap- piness. The storms of adversity, like those of the ocean, rouse the faculties, and excite the invention, prudence, skill, and fortitude of the voyager. The martyrs of ancient times in bracing their minds to outward calamities, ac- quired a loftiness of purpose and a moral heroism worth a lifetime of softness and security. Adversity is the trial of princi- ple. Without it a man hardly knows whether he is honest or not. — Fielding. Adversity is the true scale to weigh friends in.— Shakspeare. Adversity exasperates fools, de- jects cowards, draws out the facul- ties of the wise and industrious, puts the modest to the necessity of trying their skill, awes the opulent, and makes the idle indus- trious. ^ (See also Affliction.) ADVICE. He that gives good advice builds with one hand ; he that gives good counsel and example builds with both ; but he that gives good admonition and bad example builds with one hand and pulls down with the other. — Bacox. Be well advised, and much good counsel take, Before you any business under- take ; When undertaken, your endeavors bend To bring your actions to a perfect end. J Eaxdolph. Theee is nothing more difficult than the art of making advice agreeable. We give away nothing so lib- erally as advice. — La Eociiefou- CAULD. We ask advice, but we mean approbation.— CoLTOx. Advice is like snow, the softer 'it falls the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into the mind. — Coleeidge. Advice and reprehension re- quire the utmost delicacy; and painful truths should be delivered in the softest terms, and expressed no further than is necessary to produce their due effect. A court- eous man will mix what is concil- iating with what is offensive; praise with censure ; deference and respect with the authority of admonition, so far as can be done in consistence with probity and honor. For the mind revolts against all censorian power which displays pride or pleasure in find- ing fault, and is wounded by tlie bare suspicion of such disgraceful tyranny. But advice, divested of the harshness, and yet retaining the honest warmth of truth, " is like honey put round the brim of a vessel full of wormwood." Even this vehicle, however, is sometimes insufficient to conceal the draught of bitterness. — Percival. Take sound advice, proceeding from a heart Sincerely yours, and free from fraudful art. Detdex. He who can take advice is sometimes superior to him who can give it. — Vox Ktjeble. Advise not what is most pleas- ant, but what is best. — Solox. The chief rule to be observed in the exercise of this dangerous office of giving advice is, to pre- serve it pure from all mixture of interest or vanity ; to forbear ad- monition or reproof when our consciences tell us that they are in- cited, not by the hopes of reform- ing faults, bnt the desire of showing our discernment, or gratifying our own pride by the mortification of 16 AFFECTATION. another. It is not indeed certain tliat the most refined caution will find a proper time for bringing a man to the knowledge of his own failings, or the most zealous be- nevolence reconcile him to that judgment by which they are de- tected. But he who endeavors only the happiness of him whom he reproves will always have either tlie satisfaction of obtaining or deserving kindness: if he suc- ceeds, he benefits his friend ; if he fails, he has at least the conscious- ness that he suffers for only doing well. — Eamblee. (See also Counsel.) Affectation in any part of our carriage is lighting up a candle to our defects, and never fails to make us taken notice of, either as wanting sense or sincerity. — Blaie. Affectation is the greatest en- emy both of doing well and good acceptance of what is done. I hold it the part of a wise man to endeavor rather that fame may follow him than go before him. — Hall. Do not affect to appear so de- vout, nor more humble tlian you ought, for fear that in flying glory you seem to seek after it: for many persons who hide their charity and their fasts from the eyes of the world, desire to please even because they are not solicit- ous to please. And it happens, I do not know how, that we desire praise when we shun it. An af- fected negligence or an affected nicety do not become a Christian. — St. Austin. Affectation naturally counter- feits those excellences Avhich are placed at the greatest distance from possibility of attainment, because, knowing our own defects, w^e eagerly endeavor to supply them with artificial excellence. — Johnson. Some professors pass for very meek good-natured people till you displease them. They resem- ble a pool or a pond: while you let it alone, it looks clear and lim- pid; but if you stir toward the bottom, the rising sediments soon discover the impurities that lurk beneath. — Toplady. Affectation is to be always distinguished from hypocrisy as being the art of counterfeiting those qualities which we might with innocence and safety be known to want. Hypocrisy is the necessary burden of villainy ; affectation part of the chosen trap- pings of folly. — Johnson. Those who quit their proper character to assume what does not belong to them, are, for the greater part, ignorant both of the character they leave and of the character they assume. — Burke. AFFLICTIONS. IT AFFECTATioisr discovei's sooner what one is, than it makes known what one would fain appear to be. — Stanislaus. If affectation is so unbecoming in common life, it is much more so in religion ; if it is so disgustful in the parlor, it is much more so in the pulpit. — Scott. Affectation is certain deform- ity. By forming themselves in fantastic models, the young begin ■with being ridiculous and often end in being vicious. — Blaie. All affectation is the vain and ridiculous attempt of poverty to be rich. — Lavatee. Many pains are incident to a man of delicacy, wbich the unfeel- ing world cannot be persuaded to pity; and which, when they are separated from their peculiar and })ersonal circumstances, will never be considered as important enough to claim attention or deserve re- dress. — Johnson. OuE afflictions are the files and whetstones that set on edge our devotions, without which they grow dull and ineffectual. — Hall. If you would not have affliction visit you twice, listen at once to what it teaches. — Buegh. TiiEEE is nothing in the world so i)lainly proves a man to be in a bad state as when he is hardened under affliction, and feels no yield- ing under the stroke that bids him yield himself to the Lord. — R. Hill. Whatevee pretext we may as- sign for our afflictions, it is often only interest or vanity which causes them.-^LARocHEFOucAULD, God's corrections should be our instructions, his lashes our lessons, and his scourges our schoolmasters, whence,botli in Hebrew and Greek, chastening and teaching are ex- pressed by one word. "When the grace of an afflicted saint is in ex- ercise, his heart is like a garden of roses, or a well of rose-water, which the more they are moved and agitated, the sweeter is the fragrance they exhale. — Ceipple- GATE LeCTUEES. Not being untutored in suffer- ing, I learn to pity those in afflic- tion. YlEGIL. Sanctified afflictions are spirit- ual promotions : what a mercy to be better for the rod ! — R. Hill. The good are better made by ill, As odors crushed are sweeter still. Rogees. He loses the good of his afflic- tions who is not the better for them. — Spanish Peoveeb. 18 AFFLICTIONS. Eyeiiy main affliction is ourKed Sea, which, while it threatens to swallow, preserves us. — Bishop Hall. Affliction is the wholesome soil of virtue ; Where patience, honor, sweet hu- manity, Calm fortitude, take root and strongly flourish. Mallet. Many a man never sees into heaven till he sees there through the grave of his little child, or till he loses his wife, not only the bet- ter half, but often the whole bet- ter part of himself: that unuttera- ble loss which darkens the house, which darkens life itself, which takes the breath out of the years, and leaves a man to go staggering through the world, like one smit- ten at noonday with blindness. — Hexey Waed Beechee. When sickness has drawn a vail over the gayety of our hearts, or adversity eclipsed the splendor of our outward circumstances; when some intervening cloud has dark- ened the pleasing scenes of life, or disappointments opened our eyes ; then vice loses her fallacious al- lurements, and the world appears as an empty, delusive cheat ; then Jesus and the Gospel beam forth with inimitable luster, and Chris- tian virtue gains loveliness from such lowering providences, and treads the shades with more than mortal charms. May this recon- cile me, and all the sons of sorrow, to our appointed share of suffer- ings. If tribulations tend to refine the soul, and prepare it for glory, welcome distress, or whatever our peevish passions may miscall ca- lamities. These are not judgments or marks of displeasure to God's children, but necessary and salu- tary chastisements, as well as to- kens of his parental concern for our spiritual and eternal welfare. Afflictions should therefore sit easy upon us, since they increase our knowledge and humility, pro- mote our faith and love, and work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. — Heevey. Affliction scours us of our rust ; and however the wicked, like trees in the wilderness, grow without culture, yet the saints, like trees in the garden, must be pruned to be made fruitful, and affliction does this. God will prune his people, but not hew them down ; the right hand of his mercy knows what the left hand of his severity is doing. There is as much difference be- tween the sufferings of the saints and those of the ungodly, as be- tween the cords with which an executioner pinions a condemned malefactor, and the bandages wherewith a tender surgeon binds his patient. — De. Aeeowsmith. When you see the refiner cast his gold into the furnace, do you AFFLICTIOXS. 10 think that he is angry with it, and means to cast it away? No, he only watches that none of it shall be lost, and when the dross is properly severed he takes the gold out. So the Lord acts toward his people, according to the promises in his Word, We may make use of another simile respecting the troubles of saints : the world is a sea of glass ; affliction, scatters our path with sand, ashes, and gravel, which keep our feet from sliding. The earth must be plowed, har- rowed, and weeded, as well as sown, to produce anything ; it must also endure many heavy rains, frosty nights, and scorching suns before it becomes fruitful; and while it continues, so in like manner a real Christian must ex- pect, all through his life upon earth, troubles, sorrows, and temptations. — Topladt. SixcE afflictions are absolutely necessary for every believer, it is a most pernicious practice to sit ruminating on the aggravation of them, and reckoning up and dwell- ing on the dark side, for this act- ually doubles and trebles them ; so it is also in frequently speaking of them to others. It is true, in- deed, that it relieves and comforts a troubled saint to tell his sorrows to a pious and sincere friend ; but to relate our trials to almost every one, and in almost every company, is imprudent and unbecoming a true Christian ; the best way is to be much in prayer, and in the con- stant use of all the means to trust God through the merits of Christ, either to deliver us out of our af- flictions, or to support us under them. It is also proper to make it a matter of repeated prayer, to be enabled to meet difficulties with a smiling countenance, and to speak of them as if they were small. If, then, we had faith in exercise un- der hardships, if we compared our sorrows with many that we must know have suffered much more, if we could cast aU our care upon God, and think and speak very little of them, our afflictions would almost vanish away. — Peesidext Edwards. NoxE but mean spirits dread the face of care. And none but cowards life's af- flictions fear ; All dastard spirits sink at distant war, And tremble as it threatens from afar; But rich or poor, true minds pre- serve their weight, And if exalted or debased, are great. Crudex. OxE of the greatest evidences of God's love to those that love him is, to send them afflictions, with grace to bear them. If we suffer persecution and af- fliction in a right manner, we at- tain a higher measure of conformity to Christ, by a due improvement of one of these occasions, than we 20 AFFLUEXCE — AGE. could have done merely b}' imitat- ing Lis mercy in abundance of good works. Coral, agates, and crystals are found on many a stormy shore ; so the Christian finds God's most precious gift in the rugged path of affliction. Ix affliction the purest ore comes from the hottest furnace, and the brightest flashes from the darkest cloud. Affliction is a school of virtue: it corrects levity, and interrupts the confidence of sinning. — Attee- BUPvT. (See also Adyeesitt.) ijge. Examples need not be sought at any great distance to prove that superiority of fortune has a natural tendency to kindle pride, and that pride seldom fails to exert itself in contempt and in- sult. This is often the efi'ect of hereditary wealth, and of honors only enjoyed by the merit of others, — Johnson. The most affluent may be stripped of all, and find his woi'ldly comforts, like so many witliei'cd leaves, droi)i)ing from him, — Steune. (See also Wealth.) Age seldom fails to change the conduct of youth. We grow neg- ligent of time in proportion as we have less remaining, and suffer the last part of life to steal from us in languid preparations for future undertakings, or slow approaches to remote advantages, in weak hopes of some fortuitous occur- rence, or drowsy equilibrations of undetermined counsel: whether it be that the aged, having tasted the pleasures of man's condition, and found them delusive, become less anxious for their attainment ; or that frequent miscarriages have depressed them to despair, and frozen them to inactivity ; or that death shocks them more as it advances upon them, and they are afraid to remind themselves of their decay, or discover to their own hearts that the time of trifling is past. — Johnson. Cautious age suspects the flatter- ing form, And only credits what experience tells. Johnson. In an active life is sown the seed of wisdom ; but he who re- flects not ne^'er reaps, has no harvest 'irom it, but carries the burden of iige without the wages of experience ; nor knows him- self old but from his infirmities, tlie parish register, and the con- tempt of mankind. And what has age if it has not esteem ? It has nothing. — Young. AGE — AMBITION. 21 Age should fly concourse, cover in retreat Defects of judgment, and the will subdue ; Walk thoughtful on the silent, sol- emn shore Of that vast ocean it must sail so soon. YorxG. We hope to grow old, and yet we fear old age ; that is, we are willing to live, and afraid to die. — Beuteee. 'Tis greatly wise to know before Ave're told The melancholy news that we grow old. YouxG. The truth of many maxims of age gives too little pleasure to be allowed till it is felt; and the mis- eries of life would be increased beyond all human power of endur- ance, if we were to enter the world with the same opinions we carry from it. — Johnsox. %mhximx. Every man ought to endeavor at eminence, Ji6t by pulling others down, but by raising himself, and enjoy the pleasure of his own su- periority, whether imaginary or real, without interrupting others in the same felicity. The philos- opher may very justly be delighted with the extent of his views, and the artificer with the readiness of his hands ; but let the one remem- ! her that, without mechanical per- formances, refined speculation is an empty dream; and the other that, without theoretical reason- ing, dexterity is little more than a brute instinct. — Jonxsox. Ambitiox is the mother of hy- pocrisy ; it loves darkness, and cannot bear the light ; indeed, it carries its views to the most ex- alted things, but fears to be seen ; and we ought not to wonder at that, for it compasses its ends only by hiding itself, and flying from the eyes of men. In effect, the more we seek after glory the less we come to it, when we are seen to seek it. In fine, what is less glorious than to appear covetous of glory, especially among the min- isters of Christ ? — St. Beexaed. It is the over-curious ambition of many to be best or to be none : if they may not do so well as they would, they will not do so well as they may. Pride is the greatest enemy to reason, and discretion the greatest opposite to pride. I see great reason to be ashamed of my pride, but no reason to be proud of my shame. — Aethur Waewick. WoELDLY ambition is founded on pride or envy, but emulation (or laudable ambition) is actually founded in humility, for it evi- dently imi)Hes that we have a low opinion of our present attain- ments, and think it necessary to be advanced ; and especially in relig- AM BITIOX — ANCESTRY— AXGELS. ious concerns it is so far from being pride for a man to wish himself spiritually better, that it is highly commendable, and what we are strongly exhorted to in many parts of the Bible. — Bishop IIall. Amlitiox, thou punishment and rack of the ambitious ! How dost thou by torturing all men please all, even please them at the same time that thou tormentest them. — St. Berxaed. ISTews-huntees have great leisure with little thought; much petty ambition to be thought intelligent, without any other pretension than being able to communicate vrhat they have just learned. — Zimmee- MAXX. TcEEE are few men who are not ambitious of distinguishing them- selves in the nation or country where they live, and of growing considerable among those with whom they converse. There is a kind of grandeur and respect w^iich the meanest and most insig- nificant part of mankind endeavor to procure in the little circle of their friends and acquaintance. The yjoorest mechanic, nay, the man who lives upon common alms, gets him his set of admirers, and delights in that superiority which he enjoys over those who are in some respects beneath him. This ambition, which is natural to the soul of man, might, mcthinks, receive a very happy turn; and, if it were rightly directed, contribute much to a person's advantage, as it generally does to his uneasiness and disquiet. — Addisox. They who on glorious ancestors enlarge, Produce their debt instead of their discharge. Youxg. Theee may be, and there often is indeed, a regard for ancestry, which nourishes only a weak pride ; as there is also a care for posterity, which only disguises an habitual avarice, or hides the workings of a low and groveling vanity. But there is also a moral and philosophical respect for our ancestors which elevates the char- acter and improves the heart. — Daxiel Wecstee. i^ng^fe. The starry heaven is but, as it were, the floor or pavement of a heaven above it, the supreme or highest heaven, which is by con- sent of nations the place of the Almighty's most especial presence ; all men by a kind of natural in- stinct, Avith minds, eyes, and hands lifted up, directing thither their prayers to God ; and can we fancy that the universal King hath no servants to wait on him in his presence-chamber, when we see so many paying their devotion to him at so great a distance here AXGELS. 23 below ? Xatural reason, therefore, directs and leads us to an acknowl- edgment that there are certain intelligent creatures in the upper world who, as they are more re- mote from the dregs of matter wherein we are immersed, so they are of a more pure, refined, and excellent substance, and as far exceeding us in their way of un- derstanding and glorifying the su- preme God as they are of nearer admission to the place where his glory is m the most especial man- ner manifested ; and these are they who in our sacred writings are known by the name of angels. — Bull. AxGELS are God^s host ; they are enlisted, armed, and disciplined by him; they fight his battles, keep their ranks, know their place, and obey his commands. — Heney. TnorGH the doctrine of the min- istry of angels is evidently clear in the Bible, yet till our souls mingle with the world of spirits, our best ideas on the subject must be con- fused, and our utmost stretch of thought fall short of knowing much of their nature and the mode of their ministration. The good angels are called, in Rev. iii, 11, elect, in distinction from those who fell; they owe their appointment and preservation to sovereign grace; they are established in Christ, the head of God's tamily in heaven and on earth ; they are unable either to secure or hinder the salvation of any being; they never shared in redeeming love, yet, as members of the Lord's household, they are the believers' brethren, and are described as joining in the song of the re- deemed, and as rejoicing in the con- version of a sinner. All through- out life the good angels are invisi- bly near believers, and perhaps frequently convey comfort and direction, though it is difficult to distinguish between those assist- ances and what we receive from the Holy Spirit ; above all, these friendly spirits are nigh the saints at death, and convey their souls to. eternal felicity. — Cheistian's Magazine. The learned Mr. Mede argues from Zech. iv, 10, etc., that there are seven archangels ; but this is quite conjectural. We have only three mentioned in Scripture, namely, Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel, and perhaps not all these three are created angels, for many think Michael signifies Christ. Angels are endued with great knowledge, and it is likely that they are continually growing in wisdom. They are also endued with very great power: thus we read that one angel in one night destroyed all the first-born in Egypt ; an angel slew seventy thousand for David's sin in num- bering the people, and one angel destroyed one hundred and eighty- five thousand of the Assyrians in one night. They are also 24: AXGER. endued witli great love to the saints; thus they sawr at the creation, but more so at the com- ing of Christ ; and as they are the saints' ministering spirits, and de- sire to look into the glorious niys- teries of redemption, as well as rejoice in the conversion of sin- ners, they certainly must have great love to believers. — Dn. "Watts. linger. Sinful anger when it becomes sti-ong is called wrath, when it makes outrages it is fury, when it becomes fixed it is termed ha- tred, and when it intends to injure any one it is called malice. All these wicked passions spring from anger. — Beowx. Hnr that is angry we must not oppose with anger, for a madman is not cured by another growing mad also. — Axtisthexes. He that would be angry and sin not must not be angry with any- thing but sin. — Secker. Be angry and sin not. He that is always angry with his sins will seldom sin in his anger. — Mason. "When" God is angry with us 'tis not through a principle of hatred that he shows his anger; 'tis to draw us to him even in the time of his anger. — St. Ciikysostom. Seneca saith well, that anger is like rain, which breaks itself upon that it falls. — Bacon. The discretion of a man defer- reth his anger, and it is his glory to pass over a transgression. — Bible. Do NOTHING in anger, for that is like putting to sea in a storm.— j Mason. To eepeoye in anger is like giving a sick person a medicine scalding hot. — Mason. To BE angry is to revenge the fault of others upon ourselves. — Pope. The continuance and frequent fits of anger produce an evil habit in the soul called wrathfulness, or a propensity to be angry, which oftentimes ends in choler, bitter- ness, and morosity; when the mind becomes ulcerated, peevish, and querulous, and like a thin, weak plate of iron, receives im- pressions, and is wounded by the least occurrence. —Plutarch. He is a f<;)ol who cannot be angry ; he is a wise man who will not. — Peoverb. There is an inconsistency in anger very common in life, which is, that those who are vexed to impatience are angry to see others less disturbed than themselves; ANGER — ANTICIPATION". 25 but when others begin to rave, they immediately see in them what they could not find in them- selves, the deformity and folly of useless rage. There is nothing said or done in wrath but might be better said or done in meekness, and therefore some have advised when we are angry we should stop and repeat the Lord's prayer, and perhaps by that time we have passed these words, " forgive us as we forgive them that trespass against us;" our anger may cease. — Heney. Angee is such a headstrong and impetuous passion, that the ancients call it a short madness; and indeed there is no diiference between an angry man and a mad- man while the fit continues, be- cause both are void of reason and blind for that season. It is a dis- ease that, where it prevails, is no less dangerous than deforming to us; it swells the face, it agitates the body, and inflames the blood ; and as the evil spirit mentioned in the Gospel threw the possessed into the fire or the water, so it casts us into all kind of dangers. It too often ruins or subverts whole families, towns, cities, and king- doms. It is a vice that very few can conceal ;, and if it does not be- tray itself by sucli external signs as paleness of the countenance and trembling of the Ihnbs, it is more impetuous within, and by gnawing in the heart injures the body and the mind very much. — Wanley. Angry and choleric men are as ungrateful and unsociable as thun- der and lightning, being in them- selves all storm and tempests; but quiet and easy natures are like fair weather, welcome to all, and acceptable to all men: they gather together what the other disperses, and reconcile all whom the other incenses. As they have the good-will and the good wishes of all other men, so they have the full possession of themselves, have all their own thoughts at peace, and enjoy quiet and ease in their own fortunes, how strait soever it may be. — Claeendon. %niuxi(^zixaxx. In our pursuit of the things of this world we usually prevent enjoyment by expectations ; we anticipate our own happiness, and eat out the heart and sweetness of worldly pleasures by delightful forethoughts of them; so that when we come to possess them they do not answer the expecta- tion nor satisfy the desires v/hich were raised about them, and they vanish into nothing. — Tillotson. Things temporal are sweeter in the expectation, things eternal are sweeter in the fruition ; the first shames thy hope, the second crowns it. It is a vain journey AXTIQUITY— xVPPEAR AXCE — AITLAU.SE. whose end affords less pleasure than the -way.— Exciiieidion. §.nitqurtg. Antiquity, like every other quality that attracts the notice of mankind, has votaries that rever- ence it, not from reason, but from prejudice. Some seem to admire indiscriminately whatever has been long preserved, without con- sidering that time has sometimes co-operated with chance. All, perhaps, are more willing to honor past than present excellence ; and the mind contemplates genius through the shades of age, as the eye surveys the sun through arti- ficial opacity. — Johxsox. It has been observed, that a dwarf standing on the shoulders of a giant will see further than the giant himself; and the mod- erns, standing as they do on the vantage-ground of former discov- eries, and uniting all the fruits of the experience of their fore- fathers with their own actual observation, may be admitted to enjoy a more enlarged and com- prehensive view of things than the ancients themselves; for that alone is true antiquity which embraces the antiquity of the world, and not that which would refer us back to a period when the world was young. But by whom is this true antiquity enjoyed? Not bv the ancients who did live in the infancy, but by the moderns who do live in the maturity of things. — BoLTOx. Sanchoxiathon is the oldest his- torian among profane authors, and only a few fragments of his writ- ings are extant. But he wrote since Moses ; so that the Old Test- ament is the oldest book in the world. Do xoT trust appearances, do not imagine ever to be in safety. Though this sea be sometimes as calm and even as the water of a pond, though the zephyr that blows upon it scarcely ruflBes the waves, this surface, so smiling and even, hides horrid mountains ; this great calm is a tempest. — St. Jeeome. The desire of doing well is de- based by the desire of appearing to have done well. — Stanislaus. Popular applause and vulgar opinion may blow up and mount upward the bubble of a vain and glorious mind, till it burst in the air and vanish ; but a wise man builds his glory on the strong foundation of virtue, without ex- pecting or respecting the vulgar props of vulgar opinion. I will APPLAUSE — APvROGAXCE — ATHEISM. 27 not neglect what every one thinks of me, for that were impudent dissoluteness. I will not make it my common care to hearken how I am cared for of the common sort, and be over solicitous what every one speaks of me, for that M^ere a toilsome vanity. I may do well and hear ill, and that's a kingly happiness. — TVaewick. It frequently happens that ap- plause abates diligence. Whoever finds himself to have performed more than was demanded, will be contented to spare the labor of unnecessary performances, and sit down to enjoy at ease his super- fluities of honor. But long inter- vals of pleasure dissipate attention and weaken constancy; nor is it easy for him that has sunk from diligence into sloth, to rouse out of his lethargy, to recollect his notions, rekindle his curiosity, and engage with his former ardor in the toils of study. — Johxsox. Applause "Waits on success; the fickle mul- titude, Like the light straw that floats along the stream. Glide with the current still, and follow fortune. Feaxklix. It has always appeared to me that human arrogance and inso- lence have reached their furthest limit when a clergyman, in his pulpit, in the house of his God, in the actual exercise of his ministry, where an overwhelming sense of his own littleness, in respect to the sacred service about which he is occupied, ought, methinks, to bow down his heart of flesh to the dust, and prostrate every selflsh thought within him, looks only to his pres- ent elevation above his audience, and discovers plainly, by his ges- tures and grimaces, that he is solely faken up with a pragmatical conceit of his own consequence, and forgets his Maker's glory in the mistaken pursuit of his own. EOBEETS. It has long been observed that an atheist has no just reason for endeavoring conversions ; and yet none harass those minds which they can influence with more im- portunity of solicitation to adopt their opinions. In proportion as they doubt the truth of their own doctrines, they are desirous to gain the attestation of another under- standing, and industriously labor to win a proselyte ; and eagerly catch at the slightest pretense to dignify their sect with a celebrated name. — Johxsox. Atheists put on a false courage and alacrity in the midst of their darkness and apprehensions, like 28 ATHEISM — ATONEMEXT. children, who, when they fear to go in the dark, will sing fur fear. — Pope. Theee never was a miracle wrought to convince an atheist; the works of God being fullj suf- ficient to prove his being. What can be more foolish than to think that all this rare fabric of heaven and earth could come by chance, when all the skill of art is not able to make an oyster? To see rare effects, and no. cause ; a motion without a mover; a cir- cle without a center ; a time with- out an eternity; a second without a first; these are things so against philosophy and natural reason, that he must be a beast in his under- standing who can believe in them. The thing formed says that noth- ing formed it; and that which is made is, while that which made it is not ! This folly is infinite. — Jeeemy Tayloe. (See also Unbelief.) %iommtxd. I appeeiiend this ordinance of the eucharist to have so plain a reference to the atonement or sat- isfaction of Christ, and to do so solemn an honor to that funda- mental doctrine of the Gospel, that I cannot but believe that as this sacred institution will be contin- ued to the end of the world, it will be impossible to root that doctrine out of the minds of plain, humble Christians : they must see the anal- ogy this ordinance has to eating the flesh of the Son of God, and drinking his blood, and will be taught by it, through faith, to feed on him spiritually. The en- emies of this heart-revi^-ing truth might as well hope to pierce through a coat of mail with a straw as to reach such a truth, defended by such an ordinance, by their trifling sophistries. — De. Doddeidge. The apostolical and scriptural doctrine of the vicarious sacrifice of Christ, called the atonement, may be proved not only from the typical sacrifices of the Old Testa- ment, but, first, from the solemn prophecies of tWfe sufierings of Christ, which fully demonstrate them by no means to have been the common sufierings of a mar- tyr, but those awful propitiatory sufferings which were to atone for sin; second, from the sufierings themselves, and the circumstances attending them, plainly showing them to be the penal piacular suf- ferings of the Son of God, who put away sin by his own sacrifice; third, from the dignity of Christ's person, which could not be fairly accounted for upon any other sup- position than of his thereby giving efficacy to his sacrifice, when he became incarnate for the import- ant purpose of purchasing the Church of God with his own blood; fourth, from the express AVARICE — BEAUTY. 29 declaration of the Saviour, that he laid his life down for the sheep, and that except we eat his flesh and drink his blood we can have no life in us ; lastly, it is proved as an indisputable fact from the express testimony of the apostles, who speak of this as the first leading doctrine that they had preached, and what they and all others alone could be saved by. — De. Eyaxs. %bwcut ''Be thou ashamed, O Sidon!" This is the language and complaint of an element tired out by avai'ice; as if it had said, " merchants, greedy of gain, yon lay the fault upon my waves when your voy- ages are not successful ! You that are more restless and more dis- turbed than the waves themselves, be ashamed that dangers and ship- wrecks do not discourage you. The winds are more modest and less stormy than you are, they have intervals of repose ; but the desire of heaping up and enrich- ing yom-selves more .and more gives you no relaxation. There are calms when the air is still, when the waves are smooth and united, but your vessels are always in motion; when the wind doth not serve, you take up your oars. — St. Ambeose. AvAEiCE is a uniform and tract- able vice; other intellectual dis- tempers are different in different constitutions of mind. That which soothes the pride of one will of- fend the pride of another; but to the favor of the covetous bring money, and nothing is denied. — JOHNSO]^-. Diseases of the mind, such as avarice, spring from too high a value set upon the things by which the mind becomes corr^ipted. — CiCEEO. Ayaeice begets more vices than Priam did children ; and like Pri- am, survives them all. It s-tarves its keeper to surfeit those who wish him dead; and makes Mm submit to more mortifications to lose heaven, than the mai'tyr un- dergoes to gain it, — Coltox. Some men are called sagacious merely on account of their ava- rice; whereas a child can clench its fist the moment it is born. — Shexstoxe. The avarice of the miser may be temied the grand sepulcher of aU his other passions, as they suc- cessively decay. But^ unlike other tombs, it is enlarged by repletion, and strengthened by age, — Col- TOX. (See also CoYETorsxEss.) ^mni^. If thou beest not so handsome as thou wouldest have been, thank God thou art not more unhand- 30 BEAUTY— DEIIAA'IOIl — BELIEF. some than tlion art. 'Tis his mercy thou art not the mark for passen- gers' fingers to point at, an Ilete- roclite in nature, with some member defective or redundant. Be glad that thv clay cottage hath all the necessary forms thereto belonging, though the outside be not so fairly plastered as some others. — Fullee. TnEEE are no better cosmetics than a severe temperance and puri- ty, modesty and humility, a gra- cious temper and calmness of spirit ; and there is no true beauty without the signatures of these graces in the very countenance, — Rat ox THE Ceeatiox, Oheist personifies the most exquisite created and uncreated beauty, and is the only personage who has received the appellation "altogether lovely," He will be the admiration of heaven for ever and ever. So behave thyself among thy children that they may love and honor thy presence. Be not too fond, lest they fear thee not; be not too bitter, lest they fear thee too much. Too much familiarity will embolden them; too little countenance will discourage them. So carry thyself, that they may rather fear thy disjJeasure than thy correction. When thou re- provest them, do it in season ; when thou correctest them, do it not in passion. '' As a wise child makes a happy father, so a wise father makes a happy child. — Ex- CHIEIDION. A CLOSE behavior is the fittest to receive virtue for its constant guest, because there, and there only, it can be secure. Proper reserves are the outworks, and must never be deserted by those who intend to keep the place; they keep oif the possibilities not only of being takcyi, but of being attempted ; and if a woman seeth danger, though at never so remote a distance, she is for that time to shorten her line of liberty. She who will allow herself to go to the utmost extent of everything that is lawful is so very near go- ing further, that those who lie at watch will begin to count upon her. — Savillk. ielief. The believer has matter enough for converse with God to wear out time and to fill up eternity. — Watts. now unlike the complex works of man, Heaven's easy, artless, unencum- bered plan! ISTo meretricious graces to beguile. No clustering ornaments to clog the pile. From ostentation as from weak- ness free, BELIEF— BENEFICEXCE. 31 It stands like the cerulean arch we see, Majestic in its own simplicity. Inscribed above the jDortals from afar, Conspicuous as the brightness of a star, — Legible onlj by the light they give. Stand the soul- quickening words, Believe and live ! COWPEE. If I could choose what of aU things would be at the same time the most delightful and useful to me, I should jjrefer a firm religious belief to every other blessing : for this makes life a discipline of good- ness ; creates new hopes when all earthly ones vanish ; throws over the decay of existence the most gorgeous of all lights ; awakens life even in death; makes even torture and shame the ladder of ascent to paradise ; and far above all combinations of earthly hopes, cahs up the most delightful visions of the future, the security of ever- lasting joys, where the sensualist and the skeptic view only gloom, decay, annihilation, and despair. — ISiE H. Davy. Habits of active benevolence, when formed with simplicity and singleness of heart, may yield ftir more advantage to ourselves than the limited nature of our exertions can allow us to confer on others. "It is more blessed to give than to receive." He is beneficent who acts kind- ly, not for his own sake, but to serve another. — Ciceeo. Theee is no use of money equal to that of beneficence: here the enjoyment grows on reflection. — Mackexzie. AccoEDixG- to TertuUian, the first development of the economy of God toward man is benevolence, and the reason is sufficiently clear ; for in order to trace the original inclination w6 must seek for that which is the most natural, as nature is the root from which all other tendencies and sensations spring. Having the power to bless, it is nature in God to diftlise the blessing. As the fountain sends forth its waters, as the sun expands its beams, therefore it is that the Son of God is assimilated to the Father in the characteristic feature of benevolence. This amiable disposition is strongly marked in these words of St. Peter to Cornelius: "Jesus of JSTazareth, who went about doing good." — BOSSUET. As benevolence is the most sociable of all virtues, so it is of the largest extent; for there is not any man either so great or so little but he is yet capable of giv- ing and of receiving benefits. — - Sexeca. 32 BENEFICE^XE — BIBLE. What a pleasure it is to give! There would be 11,0 rich people if they were capable of feeling this. — Chinese Provekb. The benevolent have the advant- age of the envious, even in this present life; for the envious is tormented not only by all the ill that befalls himself, but by all the good that happens to another; whereas the benevolent man is the better prepared to bear his own calamities unruffled, from the com- placency and serenity he has secured from contemplating the prosperity of all around him. Do good. Do good with what thou hast, or it will do thee no good. — Steetch. • (See also CnARiTT.) iiHc. If we love the Bible as we ought it is dearer to us than life, nearer to us than any of our rela- tions, sweeter to us than our lib- erty, and more pleasant than all curtlily comforts. All arguments against the Word of God are fal- lacies, all conceits against it de- lusions, all derisions against it blas- phemy, and all oi)positions against it madness. We speak to God in prayer; he speaks to us in his Word. We should take the can- dle of God's AVord and search the corner of our hearts. — J. Mason. When I find myself assailed by temptation I forthwith lay hold of some text of the Bible which Jesus extends to me, as this : that he died for me, whence I derive infinite hope. — LrxHER. The Bible, while it has so many wise things in it, could not have been the composition of fools ; nor yet of bad men, as the design of it is entirely to counteract the cor- rupt maxims and bad principles of the w^orld, and to inculcate that which is excellent and good; nor yet of designing men, as it was composed by so many diflerent penmen, and at such different ages of the world. — Rowland Hill. A fiery shield is God's Word, of more substance and purer thnn gold, which tried in the fire loses nauglit of its substance, but resists and overcomes all the fury of the fiery : even so he that believes God's Word overcomes all, and remains securer everlastingly against all misfortunes; for this shield fears nothing, neither hell nor the devil. — Luther. The richness and glory which rest upon the language of inspira- tion are peculiar to itself. We are never so assured that we make people wise unto salvation as when wo lead them to be ac- quainted with the pure Word of God itself.— Rowland Hill. BIBLE. 33 AViiEX the devil knew how to quote Scripture falsely, Christ knew how to quote it truly ; and it is for us, whenever Ave are tempted, to go to the Bible and see whether we cannot find something suitable for our souls in that hour of temptation. — Rowland Hill. The Bible is a map of heaven, a true history of the primitive Church, an infallible rule of life, an immovable ground of hope, and an everlasting spring of con- solation. Theee is such a fullness in the Bible that oftentimes it says much by saying nothing ; and not only its expressions but its silences are teaching, like the dial, in which the shadow as well as the light informs us. — Botle. Of most things it may be said, vanity of vanities, all is vanity; but of the Bible it may be truly said, verity of verities, all is verity. — De. Aeeowsmith. Maxy are very careful to have a fair and well-printed Bible; but the fairest and finest impression is to have it well printed in the heart by the Spirit. — Du. Aeeow- SMixn. God, in tender indulgence to our difi;erent dispositions, has strewed the Bible with flowers, dignified it with wonders, and enriched it with delight. — IIeevey. The oracles of God contain an immense variety of the most beautiful flowers and sublimities of rhetoric. — De. Gibboxs. The Bible is useful to all sorts of persons. A worldling should often read Ecclesiastes ; a devout per- son, the Psalms ; an afflicted per- son. Job ; a preacher, Timothy and Titus ; a backslider, the Hebrews ; a libertine, Peter, James, and Jude; a man that would study providence, Esther; and those who are engaged in great undertakings, ^STehemiah. — Robixsox. Thou to whom belongs All sacrifice — thy first volume this For man's perusal — who runs may read. Who reads can understand — 'tis unconfined, A language lofty to the learned, yet j)lain To those who feed the flock or guide the plovr. Youxg-. Spieitual truths can only be spiritually discerned. The Bible is a most delightful and surprising book to those who are under the illuminating grace of the Gospel. — Rowlaxd Hill. IxFiDELS make it an objection against the purity demanded by the Bible, that human nature can- not come up to it. So they settle the matter, not by force of argu- ment, but from what they feel in themselves; the Bible must be wrong because they feel wrong. 34 BIBLE. The fact is tliat tliey love sin too well to believe the Bible. — How- land IllLL. TnE snin and substance of the preparation needed for a coining eternity is, that you believe what the Bible tells yon, and do what the Bible bids yon. — Chalmers. Still be the sacred pages yonr de- light. Read them by day and meditate by night ; Let sacred subjects in yonr bosom roll, Claim every thought, and draw in all your soul. Pitt. The Bible is a window in this prison of hope, through w^hich we look into eternity. — Dwight. TnE Bible don't pretend to teach fully of anything save man's lost condition, and of his way of re- turning to God. The truth of it is not a subject for logic; it can only be tested by consciousness and experience. To test the truth of a Christian's experience try the life of a Christian. Go on your knees before God. Bring all your idols; bring self-will, and pride, a!id every evil lust before him and give them up. Devote yourself, heart and soul, to his will, and see if you do not " know of the doc- trine." This is the only w^ay to examine and study into Bible truths, and none that ever tried this way till their hearts grew warm with love to Ciirist ever had much trouble about doubting the truths of revelation. — IIeney Ward BEEcnEn. Bad men or devils would not have written the Bible, for it con- demns them and their works; good men or angels could not have writ- ten it, for in saying it was from God wdien it was but their own invention, they would have been guilty of falsehood, and thus could not have been good. The only remaining being who could have written it is God, its real author, "We read the TTord of God, we study it, we hear it, we know more of it perhaps than our neigh- bors do ; but to accept it, to be- lieve it, to yield ourselves up to it, to live according to it, to feed upon it, to know, and act as knowing, that "man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God;" this, and only this, will make all that nearness, and all that knowledge, the blessing that it should be, that it may be, that it must be, unless it is to be turned into a curse instead of a blessing, and bring us into a miserable likeness with the lost apostle. — Dk. Mobeely. If, as some tell us, Ave are only to believe the Bible so far as it is consonant with reason, we are likely to be terribly misguided : because reason, among our dark EIBLE — BIGOTRY. and ignorant race, is so much under the influence of prejudice and passion. If twenty men of different persuasions be called together, however flatly they may contradict each other, they would all tell you they are guided by reason. — Rowla:n"d Hill. The Bible, like the world, has its paradoxes and contradictions, which, after all, are but parts of the same truth; just such contra- dictions as centrifugal and centrip- etal forces in philosophy; both needful to the completeness of truth, and to roll the planets in their orbits ; or like midnight and noonday, each the opposite of the other, and yet each in its place a reality and a blessing, and essen- tial to the continuance and prog- ress of summer and winter, seed- time and harvest. — ^T. Edwaeds. The precious Word of God is adapted to do good to the sinner because it Is a sharp two-edged sword, that can give a killing blow to the love of sin, or like a hammer, break the stony heart in pieces. It is also peculiarly suited to the different degrees of saints and their respective wants. If Aveak, it will nourish infant piety ; if more strong, it will settle and establish ; and if well established, it will inspire with joy and tri- umph. In short, in this store- liouse there is a medicine for every malady, a balm for every wound, and a supply for every want. The ])ages of Scripture also, like the best productions of natm-e, will not only endure the test, but improve upon the trial; the application of the microscope to the one, and meditation, faith, and prayer to the other, are sure (by the power of the Holy Spirit) to display new beauties, and pre- sent us with higher attractives. — Heevey. The way to have miracles wrought in us is to yield obedi- ence to the divine Word. — Hall. Let us not lose the Bible, but with diligence, in fear and invo- cation of God, read and preach it. While that remains and flourishes all prospers with the state; 'tis head and empress of all arts and faculties. Let but divinity fall and I would not give a strav*^ for the rest. — Luthee. PEETEiTACiTT of Opinion more fre- quently arises from a partial view of a subject than from a full com- prehension of it, and certainly is not of itself any proof of rectitude of judgment. — Bishop of Llan- DAEF. The principles of bigotry and intolerance are as destructive to morality as they are contrary to common sense. Is it possible to suppose that by blinding the un- 30 BICiOTIiY— BLASPHEMY- BLESSINGS — BODY. derstanding, and by forcing the judgment, Ave can mend tlic lieart? — R. Hill. BiGOTEY murders religion to frigliten fools with her ghost. — COLTOX. inmm Blasphemy is speaking evil of God ; that is, 1. Either attribut- ing God's perfections to ourselves or others; or, 2. Ascribing any of our imperfections to God. — Baekee. ^§hmixt^^. If all the blessings of our condi- tion are enjoyed with a constant sense of the uncertainty of life, if we remember that whatever we possess is to be in our hands but a very little time, and that the little which our most lively hopes can promise ns may be made less by ten thousand accidents, we shall not much repine at a loss of which we cannot estimate the value, but of which, though we are not able to tell the least amount, we know, with sufficient certainty, the great- est, and are convinced that the greatest is not much to be regret- ted. — JOHNSOX. Nothing raises the price of a blessing like its removal ; whereas it Avas its continuance that should have taudit us its value. OuE real blessings often appeal to us in the shape of pains, losses, and disappointments; but let us have patience and we soon shall see them in their proper figures. — Addison. It often seems more difficult to preserve a blessing than to obtain it. — Demosthenes. ?0irg. Some members of the body are radical, as the heart, liver, and brain ; these we cannot live with- out : and others are official, as tlie hands, feet, etc. The superior members rule the inferior, the inferior support the superior. — Flayel. The body is the soul's house, its beloved habitation; where it was born and hath lived ever since it had a being, and in Avhich it enjoyed all its comforts. Upon this account the apostle calls it the soul's home. (We are at home in the body. 2 Cor. v.) We may say of many gracious souls, they pay a dear rent for the house they dwell in. — Flayel. Theee is a vileness in the bodies even of the saints which Avill never be removed till it be melted doAvn in the grave, and cast into a new mould at the resurrection, to come forth a spiritual body. — Baetox. BODY— BOOKS. It is related that Galen was converted from xVtlieism by seeing a human skeleton ; and afterward he said he would give any one a hundred years' time to see if he could find out a more commodious situation for any one member of the body. It is shameful for man to rest in ignorance of the structure of his own body, especially when the knowledge of it mainly conduces to his welfare, and directs his applica- tion of his own powers. — Melanc- THOX. §00ks» Always have a book at hand, in the parlor, on the table, for the family; a book of condensed thought and striking anecdote, of sound maxims and truthful apo- thegms. It will impress on your own mind a thousand valuable suggestions, and teach your chil- dren a thousand lessons of truth and duty. Such a book is a casket of jewels for your house- hold. — T. Edwaeds. Thou mayest as well expect to grow stronger by always eating, as wiser by always reading. For much overcharges nature, and turns more into disease than nour- isliment. 'Tis thought and di- gestion which makes books serv- iceable, and gives health and vigor to the mincL — Fuller. No man should think so highly of himself as to imagine he could receive no light from books, nor so meanly as to beheve he can discover nothing but what is to be learned from them. — Johxsox. A WICKED book is the worse that it cannot repent. At the head of all pleasures which offer themselves to the man of education may confidently be placed that derived from books, which perhaps no other can stand in competition with. Imagine that we had it in our power to call up the shades of the greatest and wisest men that ever existed, to converse with us on the most interesting topics, what a privilege should we think it, how superior to all common enjoyments! but in a well-chosen library we in fact possess this. We can question Xenophon and Cesar on their campaigns, make Demosthenes and Cicero plead before us, join in the audiences of Socrates and Plato, and receive demonstrations from Euclid and Newton. In books we have the choicest thoughts of the ablest men in their best dress ; we can at pleasure exclude dullness, and open our doors to good sense alone. "Without books a sensible person can scarcely pass one day to his satisfaction, but with them no day has been so dark as not to have some pleasures. Even pain and sickness have been rendered bearable by the pleasures of read- liOOKS. ing, and long and solitary travel- ing in some degree comfortable by the pleasing company of a favorite antlior. — Aikex. The composition of a book has been compared to the furnishing of a feast, in which, whatever art may have been exerted, and vari- ety produced, it seldom happens that every person is pleased. Sometimes it is said that some of the provisions are not good, and others will say that the dishes are not dressed and seasoned as they ought to be ; but sometimes it may happen that the stomach or appe- tite of the guests are out of order. No work ever yet appeared which was not blamed as well as praised by many ; but we hesitate not to pronounce that work good which maintains for a considerable time a majority of suffrages in its favor. Longinus very properly makes the favorable opinion of various na- tions for many ages an infallible criterion of an author's singular excellence ; and it is certain that to call in question the merits of those books which have long survived their authors, contributes more to disgrace the critic than to dimin- ish the reputation of the author. — Dii. Knox. Many books. require no thought from those who read them, and for a very simple reason ; they made no such demand upon those who wrote them. Those works, therefore, are the most valuable that set our thinking faculties in the fullest operation. For as the solar light calls forth all the latent powers and dormant principles of vegetation contained in the kernel, but which, Avithout such, a stimu- lus, would neither have struck root downward, nor borne fruit upward, so it is with the light tliat is intellectual, it calls forth and awakens into energy those latent principles of thought in the minds of others, which without this stim- ulus reflection would not have matured, nor examination im- proved, nor. action embodied. — COLTON. I DENT not but that it is of greatest concernment in the Church and commonwealth to have a vig- ilant eye how books demean them- selves as well as men, and there- after to confine, imprison, and do sharpest justice on them as male- factors; for books are not abso- lutely dead things, but do contain a progeny of life in them to be as active as that soul was w-hose progeny they are ; nay, they do preserve as in a vial the i)urest efficacy and extraction of that liv- ing intellect that bred them. I know they are as lively, and as vigorously productive, as those fabulous dragons' teeth ; and being sown up and down, may chance to spring up armed men. And yet, on the other hand, unless wariness be used, as good almost kill a man as kill a good book. Who kills a man kills a reasonable creature. C ALUMX Y — C AXDOE. God's image; but he who destroys a good book kills reason itself, kills the image of God, as it were, in the eye. Many a man lives a burden to the earth ; but a good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit, embalmed and treas- ured np on purpose to a life be- yond life. — ^MiLTOx. A CALUMXious mouth is a iire in the wood. — Asiatic Peoveeb. Base calumny, by working nnder ground, Can secretly the greatest merit wound. Swift. As THEEE are to be found in the service of envy men of every di- versity of temper and degree of understanding, calumny is diifused by all arts and methods of propa- gation. Nothing is too gross or too refined, too cruel or too tri- fling, to be practiced. Yery little regard is had to the rules of hon- orable hostility, but every weapon is accounted lawful; and those who cannot make a thrust at life are content to keep themselves in play with petty malevolence, to tease with feeble blows and impo- tent disturbance. — Johxsox. A BLACKSMITH, having bccu asked why he did not sue his grievous calumniator for damages, perti- nently replied, "I can hammer out a better character than the lawyers would give me." Theee is a proper mean between nndistinguishing crednlity and uni- versal jealousy which a sound nn- derstanding discerns, and which the man of candor studies to pre- serve. One onnce -of true candor is worth a hundred pounds of sense without it. — Fostek, He who freely praises what he means to purchase, and he who enumerates the faults of what he means to sell, may set np a part- nership with honesty. — Lavatee. A man who is tiTily candid may not be very learned; but either he must have seen much of the world, or else be blessed with a benevolent temper. Sucli a man makes all proper allowances for the mixture of evil with good, which mnst be found in all hn- man characters. He does not lend an open ear to defamatory reports, but he is slow to judge, and re- quires the clearest evidence before he will condemn. Where there is just ground for doubt, he keeps his judgment undecided ; and dur- ing the time of suspense, he leans to the most charitable constrac- ; tion which actions can bear ; and ■iO CEXSOlilUUSXE^: when he must condemn, he does it with real regret, and never with haughtiness. How much soever lie may dislike the sentiments of any person or party, he allows for the effects of different education and connections, and never confounds under one general censure all who belong to that family or sect. From a few wrong opinions he does not infer the subversion of all sound principles, nor from some bad ac- tions does he conclude that any person is become wicked and abandoned. He commiserates hu- man frailty, and judges of oth- ers according to the principle by which he thinks it reasonable that they should judge of him. In short, knowing his own infirmi- ties, and having a compassionate and tender disposition, he views men and their actions in the clear sunshine of charity and benevo- lence, and not in the dark shade which party spirit or jealousy throws over all characters. — Dr. Blair. CirAPJTY, like the sun, brightens every object on which it shines.j A censorious disposition casts ev- ery character into the darkest shade it will bear. Let us be greatly upon our guard, that we do not condemn our brethren because their creed or confessions of faith do not come up to our own. Yea, if we sus- pect that their sentiments may prove fatal to them, even that consideration should engage us to gentleness rather than severity, as that is the most likely method to bring them to the knowledge of the truth. In a particular man- ner, parents, and those who have the care of youth, should encour- age them in a candid and benevo- lent temper. Too many have from their tenderest years been taught to place a part of their religion in the severity with which they cen- sure their brethren who differ from them, and a peccant humor so early wrought in their consti- tution will not easily be subdued. That very consideration, however, should induce us to educate youth in open and generous sentiments, that so they may be taught to rev- erence true Christianity whereso- ever they see it, and to judge of it by essentials rather than circum- stantials. Let this be our care, and it is more than probable that our children, or those under our tuition, may imbibe such a candid disposition as will be much to their honor and comfort. — J)&. Dodd- EIDGE, Censorious persons take magni- fying glasses to look at others' imperfections, and diminishing glasses to look at their own. — Seckek. CEXSURE — CII AR ACTER. 41 Cexsuee is willingly indulged, because it always implies some superiority. Men please them- selves with imagining that they have made a deeper search or wider survey than others, and de- tected faults and follies which es- cape vulgar observation. — Johx- sox. The best way to stop censure is to correct self. — Demosthenes. Do xoT that yourself which you are wont to censure in others. It is bad when the censure of the teacher recoils upon himself. — Cato. He descants most on the failings of others who is least sensible of his own. The readiest and surest way to get rid of censure is to correct ourselves. — Demosthenes. Oensuee no man, detract from no man : praise no man before his face, traduce no man behind his back. Boast not thyself abroad, n or flatter thyself at home. If any- thing cross thee, accuse thyself; if any one extol thee, humble thy- self. Honor those that instruct thee, and be thankful to those that reprehend thee. Let all thy de- sires be subjected to reason, and let thy reason be corrected by re- ligion. Weigh thyself by thy own balances, and trust not the voice of wild opinion : observe thyself as thy greatest enemy, so shalt thou become thy greatest friend. — En- CHIEIDIOX. A GOOD character is, in all cases, the fruit of personal exertion. It is not inherited from parents; it is not created by external advant- ages ; it is no necessary appendage of birth, wealth, talents, or station ; but it is the result of one's own en- deavors, the fruit and revfard of good principles, manifested in a course of virtuous and honorable action. — Hawes. Chaeacter is a perfectly edu- cated will. — ISTOVALIS. Chaeactee is like stock in trade ; the more of it a man possesses, the greater his facilities for adding to it. Character is power, is influ- ence: it makes friends, creates funds, draws patronage and sup- port, and opens a sure and easy way to wealth, honor, and happi- ness. — Hawes, Mex are to be estimated, as Johnson says, by the mass of char- acter. A block of tin may have a grain of silver, but still it is tin ; and a block of silver may have an alloy of tin, but still it is silver. The mass of Elijah's chai-acter was excellence; yet he was not Avithout the alloy. The mass of Jehu's character was base ; yet he had a portion of zeal which was directed by God to great ends. CHARACTER — CKAiaTV. IJad men tire made the same use of as scaffolds ; they are employed as means to erect a building, and then are taken down and destroyed. We must make great allowance for constitution. I could name a man who, though a good man, is more unguarded in his tongue than many immoral persons. Shall I condemn him? he breaks down here, and alfliost here only. On the other hand, many are so mild and gentle as to make one won- der how such a character could be formed without true grace en- tering mto its composition. — Cecil. The character is like white pa- per ; if once blotted, it can hardly ever be made to appear as white as before. One wrong step often stains the character for life. It is much easier to form a good char- acter at first than it is to do it after we have acquired a bad one ; to preserve the character pure, than to purify it after it has be- come defiled. CnARACTER is wliat a man truly is, and what his reputation soon will be. Mex who concentrate themselves all upon one point may be sharp, acute, pungent; they may have spear-like force of character; but they are never broad and round, never of full-proportioned man- hood ; which can only be obtained by tho carrying forward of the whole of a man in an even-breast- ed marcli. — H. W. Beecheh. (See also Eeputation.) Chapjtt would have you sensi- ble of your affliction, that you may have nothing more to afflict you. She would have you know your misery, that you may begin to be happy. When she reproves you she is good-natured, when she would please you she is sincere. She has a certain tenderness and mercy, even amid the severities that she sometimes uses. Her caresses are without artifice and deceit, her anger is always accom- panied with patience, her indigna- tion with humility. — St. Beexakd. It is not good to speak evil of all whom we know bad; it is worse to judge evil of any who may prove good. To speak iU upon knowl- edge shows a want of charity ; to speak iU upon suspicion shows a want of honesty. I will not speak so bad as I know of many: I will not speak worse than I know of any. To know evil by others, and not speak it, is sometimes discre- tion : to speak evil by others, and not know it, is always dishonesty. — AVAEWicii:. It is heaven upon earth to have a man's mind move in charity, rest in Providence, and turn upon the poles of truth. — Bacon. CIIAEITY. 43 Ix giving- thy alms, inquire not so much iuto the person as his ne- cessity. God looks not so much upon the merits of him that re- quires, as into the manner of him that relieves : if the man deserves not, thou hast given it in human- ity. — QUAELES. He that defers his charity till he is dead, is (if a man weighs it rightly) rather liberal of another man's than his own. — Bacox. " Chaeitt is gentle, friendly, and loving ; she envieth not." They that envy their neighbor's protit when it goeth well with liim, such fellows are out of their liveries, and so out of the service of God ; for to be envious is to be the servant of the devil. — Latimee. He hath riches sufficient who hath enough to be charitable. — SiE T. Beowne. The less indulgence one has for one's self, the more one may have for others. — Chixese Peoveeb. Foe modes of faith let graceless zealots fight ; His can't be wrong whose life is in the right. In faith and hope the world will disagree, But all mankind's concern is char- ity. Pope. Chaeitt is the sum and the end of the law, — Hull. Chaeity cannot be practiced right unless, first, we exercise it the moment God gives the occa- sion ; and, secondly, retire the in- stant after to ofi;er it to God by humble thanksgiving. And this for three reasons: first, to render him what we have received from him the second, to avoid the dan- gerous temptation which springs from the very goodness of these works; and the third, to unite ourselves to God, in whom the soul expands itself in prayer, with all the graces we have received and the good works we have done, to draw from him new strength against the bad effects which these very works may produce in us if we do not make use of the anti- dotes which God has ordained against these poisons. The true means to be filled anew with the riches of grace is thus to strip our- selves of it ; and without this it is extremely difficult not to grow faint in the practice of good works. — John Wesley. Is AXY man fallen into disgrace? Charity doth hold down its head, is abashed and out of countenance, partaking of his shame. Is any man disappointed of his hopes or endeavors? Charity crieth out, alas ! as if it were itself defeated. Is any man afflicted with pain or sickness? Charity looketh sadly, it sigheth and groaneth, it fainteth and languisheth with him. Is any man pinched with hard want? Charity, if it cannot succor, will •i-i ClIAIllTY — CIIEERFULXESS. condole. Doth ill news arrive? Charity doth hear it with an un- willing ear and a sad lieart, al- though not particularly concerned in it. The sight of a wreck at sea, of a field spread with carcasses, of a country desolated, of houses burned and cities ruined, and of the like calamities incident to man- kind, would touch the bowels of any man ; but the very report of them would affect the heart of charity. — Fuller. EvEET thing hath two handles : the one soft and manageable, the other such as will not endure to be touched. If, then, your broth- er do you an injury, do not take it by the hot and hard handle, by representing to yourself all the aggravating circumstances of the fact; but look rather on the soft side, and extenuate it as much as is possible, by considering the nearness of the relation, and the long friendship and familiarity be- tween you — obligatians to kind- ness which a single provocation ought not to dissolve. And thus you will take the accident by its manageable handle. — Epictetus. If thou givest to receive the like, it is exchange ; if to receive more, it is covetousness; if to re- ceive thanks, it is vanity ; if to be seen, it is vainglory; if to cor- rupt, it is bribery ; if for example, it is formality; if for compassion, it is charity ; if because thou art commanded, 'tis obedience. The affection, in doing the work, gives a name to the work done. — En- chiridion. He that gives all, though but little, gives much; because God looks not to the quantity of the gift, but to the quality of the giv- ers. He that desires to give more than he can hath equaled his gift to his desire, and hath given more than he hath. — Quarles. It is an old saying "that char- ity begins at home;" but this is no reason it should not go abroad. A man should live with the world as a citizen of the world. He may have a preference for the i)articu- lar quarter, or square, or even al- ley in which he lives, but he should have a generous feeling for the welfare of the whole. — Cumbee- LAXD. Give work rather tlian alms to the poor. The former drives out indolence, the latter industry. CiiEEEFULXESS ought to be the tiaticum 'citce of their lil\> to the old. Age without cheerfulness is a Lapland winter without a sun ; and this spirit of cheerfulness should be encouraged in our youth, if we would wish to liave the ben- efit of it in our old age. Time will make a generous wine more mellow, but it will turn that whicli CHEERFULNESS — CIIILDEEy. 45 is early on the fret to vinegar. — COLTOX. CiiEERFCTXESs is a medium be- tween levity and gloominess. It is compatible with seriousness; and its purest and most permanent source is a humble consideration of the many favors and blessings which we enjoy from the divine hand. A TEULT cheerful man may be called an enlivejier^ for he carries sunshine and smiles wherever he goes, to cheer and encourage his virtuous companions. — Fitzos- BORXE. Cheerful looks make every dish a feast, And 'tis that crowns a welcome. Massixger. Cheerfulxess in old age is very pleasing, but it is widely different from the levity of youth. For the aged to mingle in the vanities of youth would be ridiculous, and they would thereby sink their dig- nity, and forfeit the respect due to them. Some amusement the aged require, but they should consider well by every intemperate indul- gence they accelerate decay ; and instead of enlivening, they oppress nature, and precipitate their declin- ing state. — Dr. Blair. A cnEERFiJL temper, joined with innocence, w^ill make beauty at- tractive, knowledge delightful, and wit good-natured. It will ligliteu sickness, poverty, and affliction; convert ignorance into an amiable simplicity, and render deformity itself agreeable. — Addisox. Cheerfulxess is the best pro- moter of health. Repinings and murmurings of the heart give im- perceptible strokes to those deli- cate libers of which the vital parts are composed, and wear out the machine. Cheerfulness is as friend- ly to the mind as to the body. It banishes all anxious care and dis- content, soothes and composes the passions, and keeps the soul in a perpetual calm. — Addisox. Cheerfulxess is the offspring of piety, the handmaid of health, and the companion of usefulness and accomplishment. Cheerfulxess and good-nature are the ornaments of virtue. (J Childrex are very early capa- ble of impression. I imprinted on my daughter the idea of faith at a very early age. She was playing one day with a few beads, which seemed to delight her wonderfully. Her whole soul was absorbed in her beads. I said, " My dear, you have some pretty beads there." "Yes, papa." "And you seem to be vastly pleased with them." " Yes, papa." " Well, now, throw 46 CHILDREN'— CIIPJST. them heliiiid the fire." The tears started into her eyes. She looked earnestly at me, as though she ougljt to have a reason for such a cruel sacrifice. "Well, my dear, do as you please ; but you know I never told you to do anything which I did not think would be good for you." She looked at me a few moments longer, and then, summoning up all her fortitude, her breast heaving with the effort, she dashed them into the fire. "Well," said I, "there let them lie; you shall hear more about them another time; but say no more about them now." Some days after I bought her a box full of larger beads, and toys of the same kind. When I returned honie I opened the treasure and set it before her; she burst into tears with ecstacy. "Those, my child," said I, "are yours, because you believed me when I told you it would be better for you to throw those two or three paltry beads behind the fire. Now that has brought you this treasure. But now, my dear, remember, as long as you live, what faith is. I did all this to teach you the. meaning of faith. Put the same confidence in God. Believe everything that he says in his Word, whether you understand it or not." — Cecil. Let all children remember, if ever they are weary of laboring for their parents, that Christ la- bored for his ; if impatient of their commands, that Christ cheerfully obeyed; if reluctant to i)rovide for their parents, that Christ for- got himself and provided for his mother amid the agonies of the crucifixion. The affectionate lan- guage of this divine example to every child is, " Go thou and do likewise." — De. D wight. I TiiixK it better to restrain children through a sense of shame and by liberal treatment than through fear. — Teeexce. Childhood is like a mirror, catching and reflecting images from all around it. CniLDEEX make a world of care and trouble, and pay for it all as they pass along. — Thompsox. Through Christ believers arc to expect everytliing, from the least drop of water to the immense riches of glory. — IIaltbueton. ITeee is encouragement to per- severance, that Jesus Christ, our head, is already in heaven. If the head be above water the body cannot drown. — Flavel. We read of Jacob's ladder. Christ is Jacob's ladder that reach- cth np to heaven, and he that refuseth to go by this ladder thither will never by any other means get up so high. There is none CHRIST. 47 other name given wherebj we must be saved. All the rounds of this ladder are sound, and fitl}' placed; not one of them is set further than that by faith thou mayest ascend step by step unto, even until thou shalt come to the highest step thereof, from -whence thou mayest step in at the celestial gate, where thy soul desireth to dwell. — Bi::s'YAX. Let the orators adorn them- selves with their eloquence, the philosophers with their wisdom, the rich with their treasures, kings with their power and grand- eur. Christ is to us a rich posses- sion and a glorious kingdom. 'We find wisdom in the folly of the Gospel, strength in the weakness of the flesh, glory in the shame of the cross. — St. PArLix. As Cheist suffered for all men in general, he suffered for every man in particular; he gave him- self wholly to all, and wholly to every one; and by that, as we owe to our Saviour all that he did in his passion, every one owes the same to him ; unless, perhaps, every one owes more to him than all together do, because that every man in particular has received as much as all men together have. — Salviax. Jesus Cheist is the chief good, the knowledge of him the chief wisdom, and the enjoyment of him the chief happiness. — De Couect. Christ is so great that no worth can recommend any creature to him, if they have any ; but as they have not, he magnities his grace by exalting his enemies. — De. GOODWIX. "What wings are to a bird, oil to wheels, or a loadstone to the needle, such is Christ to the soul of a believer. He gives speed to his devotion, activity to his obedience, and draws him nearer and nearer to God. If I win Christ I am rich ; if I am found in Christ I am safe ; if I know Christ I am wise to salva- tion. — Teail. Cheist made himself like to us, that he might make us like him- self. — Masox. They that deny themselves for Christ shall enjoy themselves in Christ. — ]\Iasox. Cheist is not truly prized at all unless he is prized above all. Too MAXT see Christ in a book as we see places in a map ; but to conie nigh, to enjoy him, this is delightful and saving. — Ruthee- FOED. We may know what Christ has done for us by what he has done in us. — Masox. 48 ClIIilSTIAX, BECOMING OXE. Cljristiitn, |OccammQ[ ont TiiEKE are seasons peculiarly fitted for becoming a Christian. There are no feelings or senthnents of which the soul is capable but what have their tides. They ebb and flow like the sea. This seems to be one of the laws of our nature. There are times when the popular tide sets toward relig- ion; when all outward circum- stances, as well as all inward yearn- ings, conspire to invite and even press the sinner toward God. — II. "W. Beechee. The Christian is compared to a tree; and we know that those trees flourish most and bear the sweetest fruit which stand most in the sun. The lively Christian, who prays very much, stands nigh unto God, and hath God nigh unto him ; you may therefore expect his fruit to be sweet and ripe; while others that stand as it were in the shade, at a distance from God, by neglecting prayer, will have little fruit found on their branches, and that but green and sour. Who can express the powerful oratory of a believer's prayer ? This little word, Father, lisped by faith in prayer, by a real Christian, ex- ceeds the eloquence of Demosthe- nes, Cicero, and all the famous speakers in the world. Prayer, like Jonathan's bow, returns not empty ; never was faithful prayer lost. No merchant trades with such certainty as the praying saint. Some prayers, indeed, have a longer voyage than others, but tlien they return with the richer lading at last, so that the praying soul is the gainer by waiting for an answer. — Guenall. I HAVE known what the enjoy- ments and advantages of this life are, and what the more refined pleasures which learning and in- tellectual power can bestow ; and with all the experience that more than threescore years can give, I, now on the eve of my departure, declare to you (and earnestly pray that you may hereafter live and act in the conviction) that health is a great blessing ; competence, obtained by honorable industry, a great blessing ; and a great bless- ing it is to have kind, faithful, and loving friends and relatives; but that the greatest of aU blessings, as it is the most ennobling of all privileges, is to be indeed a Chris- tian. COLEEIDGE. A EEAL Christian is a grand character, and may unite in him- self whatever is great in the mind of a philosopher or in the heart of a hero. Tlie philosopher sup- poses that he has arrived at true greatness, but the Christian alone possesses it. Perhaps the Chris- tian may not be profound in human wisdom, but he is in di- vine knowledge, which is far supe- rior. Perhaps he has never gained a victory by slaughtering a great number of his fellow-creatures ; CIIPJSTIAX, BECOMING OXE— CIIRISTIAXITY. but grace has enabled liim to do what is far more glorious, to con- quer his own sins.^^-SATJEiN. A Cheistiax is God Almighty's gentleman: a gentleman in the vulgar, superficial way of under- standing the word, is the devil's Christian. But to throAV aside these polished and too current counterfeits for something valu- able and sterling, the real gentle- man should be gentle in every- thing, at least, in everything that depends on himself: in carriage, temper, constructions, aims, de- sires. He ought therefore to be mild, calm, quiet, even, temperate ; not hasty in judgment, not exor- bitant in ambition, not overbear- ing, not proud, not rapacious, not oppressive; for these things are contrary to gentleness. Many such gentlemen are to be found, I trust ; and many more would be were the true meaning of the name borne in mind and duly inculcated. — Haee. Above all persons, real Chris- tians should be most diligent ; for not only do they know their duty better than others, and therefore more will be required of them, but from gratitude to God, and in order to do good to others, they should be more active than the people of the world. If they prop- erly consider the value of time, the worth of souls, the necessity of the spread of the Gospel, and above all, the glory of God, they cannot be idle or indilierent, but use their graces, their talents, and their property to promote such important ends. — Scott. Theee are men who will not seek for religion when no one else is seeking because they don't want to be thought singular — shame working through the organ of approbativeness; and then, Avhen a revival comes, they wont seek it because they don't want to get excited, and go with a crowd — shame working through self-es- teem; and thus, between those two guards, Vv'ardiug them off from the door of salvation, the poor fools perish. — Hexey Waed Beechee. Becoming- a Christian is not becoming better than one's neigh- bor; it is becoming better than one's self. It has no reference whatever to other people. No one need to feel, when his neigh- bor becomes a Christian, "That man has set up to be better than we are now; we will therefore watch him, and see how his saint- ship gets along." — H. W. Beechee. €^xmimmim Cheistianitt is hard, but grate- ful and happy. I contemn the diffi- culty when I respect the advant- age. The greatest labors that have answerable requitals are less than the least that have no regard. CnRISTIAXITy. Believe me, when I look to the reward I would not have the Avork easier. It is a good Master whom we serve, who not only pays but gives ; not after the pro- portion of our earnings, but of his own mercy. — Bisnop Hall. What is clear in Christianity we shall find to be sufficient, and to be infinitely valuable ; what is dubious^ unnecessary to be decided, or of very subordinate importance, and what is most odscure, should teach us to bear with the difterent opinions which others may have formed upon the same subject. — Palet. The general notion appears to be, that if born in a country of whicli Christianity is the estab- lished religion, we are born Chris- tians. But this is a great mistake. To be a real Christian denotes a spiritual condition, the possession of a peculiar nature with the qual- ities and properties that belong to it. It is a state into whicli we are not dorn, but into which we must be translated ; a nature which we do not inherit, but into which we are to be created anew by the Holy Spirit, through the undeserved grace of God, by the use of the appointed means. It is the comprehensive compendium of the character of true Cliristians, that they are walking by faith and not by sight; that is to say, not merely that they so firmly believe in ftitui-o rewards and punislimontsns to be influenced to adhere in the main to the path of duty, though tempted to forsake it by interest and present gratification; but further, that the great truths revealed in the Scripture, concerning the unseen world, are for the most part the ideas uppermost in their thoughts, and about which their hearts are habitually interested. As to the temper of a real Christian, it is compounded of firmness, compla- cency, peace, and love ; it manifests itself by acts of kindness and courtesy ; in the time of prosperity it is not insolent, in adversity it is not depending; it is slow in revenging an injury, and ever ready to forgive enemies. Ee- specting the state and condition of Christians in this world, as they have many enemies, and their way beset with many snares, it must be various. Sometimes they seem to have made consid- erable progress in the divine life, sometimes to advance but slowly, if not to go backward. At one time they enjoy the love of God, and are cheered with hope; at another they have very little sens- ible comfort, and are full of doubts and fears. Thus they go on till, by the work of the Holy Spirit and the trials of life, they are pre- pared for heaven, and then they arc taken to God and enjoy eternal glory. WlLBEKFOliCE. CnKiSTiANiTY commands us to pass by injuries; policy, to lot them pass by us. — Fk'anki.ix. CIIPJSTIAXITY. 51 Other religions, as those of the pagans, are more popnhir, for they are external ; but they are not for people of capacity. A religion purely intellectual would be better adapted to the capable, but it would be of no use to the people. The Christian religion is adapted to all, being a mixture of the external and the internal. It elevates the people internally, and abases the proud externally ; and is not perfect without both, for it is necessary that the people should understand the spirit of the letter, and that the learned should sub- mit their spirit to the letter. — Pascal. The world teacheth me that it is madness to leave behind me those goods that I may carry with me; Christianity teacheth me that what I charitably give alive I carry with me dead ; and expe- rience teacheth me that what I leave behind I lose. I will carry that treasure with me by giving it, which the worldling loseth by keeping it. So, while his corpse shall carry nothing but a winding cloth to his grave, I shall be richer under the earth than I was above it. — Hall. The religion of the Gospel has power, immense power, over man- kind ; direct and indirect, positive and negative, restraining and ag- gressive. Civilization, law, order, morality, the family ; all that ele- vates woman, or blesses society, or gives peace to the nations, all these are the fruits of Christianity, the full power of which, even for this world, could never be appre- ciated till it should be taken away. — T. Edwaeds. ."What the grace of God can do when it rules in the heart is un- speakably glorious. What a differ- ence there is between the mock Christianity of the world and the real Christianity of the "Word of God :— R. Hill. Mex may differ from each other in many religious opinions, yet all may retain the essentials of Chris- tianity. Men may sometimes eagerly dispute, and yet not differ much from one another. The rig- orous persecutors of error should therefore enlighten their zeal with knowledge, and temper their or- thodoxy with charity ; that char- ity without which orthodoxy is vain; that charity "that thinketh no evil," but "hopeth all things, and endureth all things." — Johx- sox. If ever Christianity appears in its power, it is when it erects its trophies upon the tomb, when it takes up its votaries where the world leaves them, and fills the breast with immortal hope in dying moments. — E. Hall. There is nothing in deism but what is in Christianity, but there is much in Christianity which is not in deism. The Christian has no doubt concerning a future state ; CIIPJSTIANS. every (k'ist is on tliis suLject over- whelmed with doubts insuperable by human reason. The Christian has no misgivings as to the par- don of penitent sinners, through the intercession of a mediator ; the deist is harassed with apprehen- sion lest the moral justice of God should demand, with inexorable rigor, punishment for transgres- sion. The Christian has no doubt concerning the lawfulness and effi- cacy of prayer; the deist is dis- turbed on this point by abstract consideration concerning the good- ness of God, which wants not to be entreated ; concerning his fore- sight, which has no need of our information; concerning his im- mutability, which cannot be changed through our supplication. The Christian admits the provi- dence of God, and the liberty of human actions; tlie deist is in- volved in great difficulties when he undertakes the proof of either. The Christian has assurance that the Spirit of God will help his infirmities ; tlie deist does not deny the possibility that God may have access to the human mind, but he has no ground to believe the facts of his either enlightening the understanding, influencing the will, or purifying the heart. — liisiiop Watsox. Each true Christian is a right traveler; his life his walk, Christ his way, and heaven his home. Ilis walk painful, his way perfect, his home pleasing. I will not loiter, lest I come short of home ; I will not wander, lest I come wide of home; but be content to travel hard, and be sure I walk right, so shall my safe way find its end at home, and my painful walk make my home welcome. — Ar- thur Warwick. Christians are like the several flowers in a garden that have each of them the dew of heaven, which, being shaken with the wind, they let fall at each other's roots, whereby they are jointly nourished, and become nourishers of each other. — B untax. A Christian is the highest style of man. — Young. Christians are in the world only to triumph over things pres- ent, to hope for things to come. — St. Austin. Perhars it is a greater energy of the divine Power which keej)s the Christian from day to day, from year to year, praying, hop- ing, running, believing, against all hindei-ances, which maintains liim as a living martyr, than that which bears him up for an hour in sacrificing himself at the stake. — Cecil. Christian society is like a bun- dle of sticks laid togetlier, where- of one kindles another. Si)litarv CnRISTIAXS. men have fewest provocations to evil, bnt again fewest incitations to good. So much as doing good is better than not doing evil, will I account Christian good-fellow- ship better than melancholic soli- tariness. — Hall. Xevee let it be supposed that Christians can serve God without his grace. The life of devotion is still the gift of God, and it must be insisted upon that there is not in man one good thought, one holy desire, but from the contin- ual inspiration of the divine Spirit in all things directing and rulmg our hearts. Without this doctrine we may be scholars, and critics, and men of taste, and likewise moralists of civil society; but we are no longer to be considered as Christian divines, neither will our labors be attended with any sav- ing effect. — Bishop Hoene. LTpEiGHT Christians pray with- out ceasing. Though they pray not always with their mouths, yet their hearts pray continually, sleeping or waking; for the sigh of a true Christian is a prayer. As the Psalmist saith: "Because of the deep sighing of the poor I will up, saith the Lord," etc. In like manner a true Christian al- ways carries the cross, though he feel it not always. — Luthee. How soo]sr Christians get ac- quainted with each other ! How sweet those silken cords of love which the dear Eedeemer twines round the hearts of his children, constraining them, by being one in him, to be one in each other ! O when shall this love more and more abound, that we may exem- plify a stronger argument in de- fense of Christianity than a thou- sand volumes from the pen of infi- delity shall be able to confute ! Well, blessed be God, we can pro- duce a degree of proof that Chris- tians love. — E. Hill. He is a good man who grieves rather for him that injures him than for his own suffering; who sooner shows mercy than anger ; who offers violence to his appe- tite, in all things endeavoring to subdue the flesh to the Spirit. This is an excellent abbreviative of the whole duty of a Christian. — Tatloe. As THE Christians were cited before tribunals, and treated as criminals, Tertullian marks the difference that was seen between them and other criminals. After having said that nature hath fixed either fear or shame to all evil ; that the wicked love to hide them- selves, and tremble when they are surprised; that they deny all when they are accused, that they are unwilling to confess anything, even amid tortures, and that at last, when they are condemned, they deplore their unhappy fate, he thus expresses himself : " Do the Christians behave themselves thus? CIirJSTIAXS— CIIIT.CIL Not one is ashamed to be discov- ered what he is ; not one repents, unless for not being more a Chris- tian. If they are brought to trial they greatly glory in it ; if they are accused they make no defense. They freely confess the truth when they are examined: when they are condemned they thank their judges. AYhat sort of crime is this? Those that are guilty of it rejoice even in torments; they wish to be accused, and their con- sequent punishment is real happi- ness." Othees take the name of phi- losophers, but Christians take the life and manners.^Sx. Euchee. TiiEiiE are seasons Avhen a Christian's distinguishing charac- ter is hidden from man. A Christian merchant on 'change is not called to show any diiference in his mere exterior carriage from another merchant. He gives a reasonable answer if he is asked a question. He does not fanat- ically intrude religion into every sentence he utters. He does not suppose his religion to be incon- sistent with the common inter- change of civilities. He is affiible and courteous. He can ask the news of the day, and take up any l)ublic topic of conversation. But is he, therefore, not different from other men? He is like another merchant in the mere exterior cir- cumstance, which is least in God's regard ; but in his taste, his views, his science, his hopes, his happi- ness, he is as different from those around him as light is from dark- ness. He waits for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who never passes perhaps througli the minds of those lie talks with but to be neglected and despised. — Cecil. A CnuEcn is a company of per- sons professedly separating them- selves from the sinful ways of the world, in obedience to the call of the Gospel, believing in Christ as their Saviour, subjecting them- selves to him as their spiritual Lord and ruler, voluntarily agree- ing together to partake of the privileges, discharge the duties, and support the means of Chris- tian faith, worship, and holiness; making the holy Scriptures the sovereign and infallible rule of their religious opinions and prac- tice; uniting in the same general forms of government, and usually meeting together at one and tlie same time and place for public religious exercises. This may be called a particular visible Christian Church, of which there is frequent mention in the New Testament. — TUENEK. TVe sec in a jeweler's shop that, as there arc pearls and diamonds and other precious stones, there are files, cutting in- CIVILITY — COMFORTS — CO:^IAXDMEXTS. struments, and many sharp tools for their polishing; and -while they are in the work-house they are continual neighbors to them, and come often under them. The Church is God's jewel, his work- house, -where his jewels are pol- ishing for his palace and house; and those he especially esteems and means to make most resplend- ent he hath oftenest his tools upon. — Leightox. Cxbilitg If a civil word or two will render a man happy, said a French king, he must be a wretch indeed who wiU not give them to him. Such a disposition is like lighting another man's candle by one's own, w^hich loses none of its brilliancy by what the other CiYiLiTT, or good manners, though one of the minor duties, is of no small importance in our passage through life. When we are in the company of virtuous persons, it is peculiarly proper to treat them with respect; and this duty on such occasions is admitted to be of indispensable obligation. But even when our necessary con- cerns lead us among persons whose characters are exception- able, they are entitled to civil be- havior, and our influence with them is promoted by showing it. If we should think it necessary to manifest our disapprobation of their principles of conduct, it should be done consistently with good manners, as weU as in a Christian spirit. Indeed, if our minds were imbued with meek- ness and humility, we should rarely, if ever, violate the rules of civility. All earthly comforts thus ; So little hold of them have we. That we from them, or they from us, May in a moment ravished be. Yet we are neither just nor wise If present mercies we despise ; Or mind not how there may be made A thankful use of what v/e had. Geoege Withee. God's comforts are no dreams, lie has given a great number of precious promises to comfort his people by his Holy Spirit, and he would not put his seal to blank paper, nor deceive his afflicted people that trust in him. Of all created comforts God is the lend- er; we are the borrowers, and not the owners.— EuTiiEEFOED. I HAVE many times essayed thoroughly to investigate the ten commandments, but at the very outset, "I am the Lord thy God," I stuck fast; that very one word, I, put me to a nonjyJus. Tie tliat COMPLAIXTS — COMPLAISAXCE — COXCEIT. has but one word of God before him, and out of that word cannot make a sermon, can never be a preacher. I am well content that I know, however little, of what God's M-ord is, and take good heed not to miirnmr at my small knowledge. — LrxnEU. God has his measuring lines and his canons, called the ten commandments. They are written in our flesh and blood. The sum of them is, "- What thou wouldest have done to thyself, the same do thou to another." God presses upon this point, saying, "Such measure as thou metest, the same shall be measured to thee again." With this measuring line has God marked the whole world. They that live and do thereafter, well is it with them, for God richly rewards them in this life. — LUTHEE. To HEAR complaints wdtli pa- tience, even when complaints are vain, is one of the duties of friend- ship: and though it must be allowed that he suffers most like a hero who hides his grief in silence, yet it cannot be denied that he who complains acts like a man, like a social being, who looks for help from his fellow- creatures. — Jonxsox. The time spent in com])laining would often suffice to remedy tlie evils complained of. ) Complaisance. Complaisance jjleases all, prej- udices none ; adorns wit ; ren- ders humor agreeable; augments friendship; redoubles love; and united with justice and gener- osity, becomes the secret chain of the society of mankind. — M. de Scudeey. Complaisance, though in itself it be scarce reckoned in the num- ber of moral virtues, is that which gives a luster to every talent a man can be possessed of. It was Plato's advice to an unpolished writer that he should sacrifice to the Graces. In the same manner I w^ould advise every man of learning who would not appear in the w^orld a mere scholar or phi- losopher, to make himself master of the social virtue which I have here mentioned. Complaisance renders a superior amiable, an equal agreeable, and an inferior acceptable. It smooths distinction, sweetens conversation, and makes every one in the company pleased with himself. It produces good- nature and mutual benevolence, encourages the timorous, soothes the turbulent, humanizes the fierce, and distinguishes a society of civilized persons from a con- fusion of savages. — Addison. Conceit. There is no real use of riches execjjt in the distribution; the rest is all conceit. COXCETT — COXFIDEN'OE — COXSCIEXCE. CoxcEiT and confidence are both of them cheats. The first always imposes on itself, the second frequently deceives others too. ZlilMEKMAXX. Conceit not so high a notion of any as to be bashful and impo- tent in their presence. — Fuller. iSTATTTEE loves tmtli so Trell that it hardly ever admits of flourish- ing. Conceit is to nature what paint is to beauty ; it is not only needless, but impairs what it would improve. — Pope. ., €QvMmtL Judge before friendship, then con- fide till death. Youxg. We never do evil so thoroughly and heartily as when led to it by an honest but perverted, because mistaken conscience. — T. Ed- wards. A GOOD conscience is not only the testimony of a good life, but the reward of it. ■ Although the hope of His mer- cy is ray sheet-anchor of eternal salvation, yet am I persuaded that wliosoever wittingly neglecteth and regardeth not to clear his conscience, he cannot have peace with God, nor a lively faith in his mercy. — Eidley. A GUILTY conscience is like a whirlpool, drawing in all to itself which would otherwise pass by. — Fuller. A tender conscience is an ines- timable blessing; that is, a con- science not only quick to discern what is evil, but instantly to shun it, as the eyelid closes itself against a mote. — T. Adams. A GOOD conscience within will be always better to a Christian than health to his navel, and mar- row to his bones; it will be an everlasting cordial to his heart; it will be softer to him than a bed of down. A good conscience is the best looking-glass of heaven. — Cudworth. 'No MAN ever offended his own conscience but first or last it was revenged upon him for it. — South. Conscience admonishes as a friend before punishing as a judge. — Stanislaus. There is no coming to Christ but with a wounded conscience. — E. IIlLL. Conscience is a great ledger- book, in which all our offenses are written and registered, and which time reveals to the sense and feel- ing of the offenders. — Durton. ;jS CoXSClKXrE. LABOii to keep nlivo in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience. — Wasiiing- TOX. The power of conscience is great in both ways. Those have nothing to fear who have committed no ci'ime, and those who have sinned always have punishment before their eyes. — Ciceeo. TnEEE is nothing more wretched than the mind of a man with a guilty conscience. — Plaxt. Tktjst him in nothing that makes not a conscience of everything. — Hall. How DAXGEEOUS to defer those momentous reformations which the conscience is solemnly preach- ing to the heart. If they are neg- lected, the difficulty and indispo- sition are increasing every month. The mind is receding, degree after degree, from the warm and hope- ful zone, till at last it will enter the arctic circle, and become fixed in relentless and eternal ice. — J. FOSTEE. A PALSY may as well shake an oak, or a fever dry up a fountain, as either of them shake, dry up, or impair the delight of conscience. For it lies within ; it centers in tlie heart; it grows into the very sub- stance of the soul, so that it ac- companies a man to his grave. He never outlives it, and that for this cause only, because he cannot outlive himself. — South. Peeseeve your conscience al- ways soft and sensitive. If but one sin force its way into that tender part of the soul and dwell easy there, the road is paved for a thousand iniquities. — Watts. "Whatever is done without os- tentation, and without the people being witnesses of it, is, in my opinion, most praiseworthy. Not that the public eye should be en- tirely avoided, for good actions desire to be placed in the light. But notwithstanding this, the greatest theater for virtue is con- science. — Ciceeo. Coxscience implies goodness and piety, as much as if yon call it good and pious. The luxuriant wit of the schoolmen, and the confident fancy of ignorant preachers, has so disguised it, that all the extrava- gancies of a light or a sick brain, and the results of a most corrupt heart, are called the eftects of con- science ; and to make it the better understood, the conscience shall be called erroneous, or corrupt, or tender, as they have a mind to support or condemn these eftects. So that, in truth, they have made conscience a disease fit to be in- trusted to tlie care of the physician every spring and fiill, and he is most like to reform and regulate the operation of it. And if the madness and folly of men be not COXSCIEXCE. 59 in a sliort time reformed, it will be fitter to be confined as a term in physic and in law tlian to be nsed or applied to religion or sal- vation. Let apothecaries be guided by it in their bills, and merchants in their bargains, and lawyers in managing their causes ; in all which cases it may be waited upon by the epithets they think fit to annex to it. It is in great danger to be robbed of the integ- rity in which it was created, and will not have purity enough to carry men to heaven, or choose the way thither. — Claeendon. It is possible (and it sometimes happens) that some have gone out of the world as they lived in it, defying conscience and deriding the flames of hell till they were in the midst of them ; but these are monsters, and rare instances of deep depravity, owing either to great infidelity, an obstinate or a very stupid disposition. In gen- eral we find that conscience influ- ences almost all the human race. It is true, indeed, that in public many wicked persons, by study- ing appearances, are so much upon their guard, and put on the mask so artificially, that they seem inno- cent, cheerful, and happy ; but in private they must be haunted with their own guilt, and more miserable than others can conceive. "What perhaps hardens or encourages some sinners is, that the tortures of conscience are not a continual, but an intermitting disease, or, like the eruptions of burning mount- ains, are not always breaking out. But they should remember, that as the seeds of fire are lodged in the caverns of those mountains, so guilt being on their consciences, every fit of sickness, dejection of spirits, or any calamity, or even the disappointments of life, may make it to break out with more distress and anguish; but, above all, a death-bed will fill them with horror, and conscience will perpet- ually torment them in the next world. All should listen to the admonitions of conscience, but es- pecially those who by a superior- ity of parts, rank, power, or riches are placed in a great measure above reproof. The marks of distinction they bear, though they may ena- ble them to sin with impunity as to men, yet will not secure them against the lashes of an avenging conscience, as well as the just judgments of God. — Bishop At- TEEBUEY. DuEiXG the young, the gay, or active periods of life, sinners in some measure elude the force of conscience. Intent on contriv- ances, eager in pursuits, amused by hopes, or elated by enjoyments, they are sheltered by that crowd of trifles that surround them from serious thoughts; but conscience is too great a power to remain al- ways suppressed. Poverty, soli- tude, or disease will awake this faithful monitor, and then the vi- cious will feel its torments ; but a GO COXSCIEXCE — COXSOLATIOX— CONTENTMENT. clear conscieuce enjoys, in the worst times, a peace, a dignity, and an elevation of mind peculiar to innocence. Conscience cheers the lonely house of virtuous pov- erty, and attends the innocent suf- ferer into prison, exile, and even to death itself. — Dii. Blaie. The jewel of a good man is a good conscience. Take care to keep a good con- science, and leave to others the care of keeping your good name. He that loses his conscience has nothing that is left worth keeping. He does nothing who consoles a desponding man with words. Pie is a true friend who, under doubtful circumstances, aids in deed when deeds are necessary. —Plant. €onimimmt It is one property which, they say, is required of those that seek the philosopher's stone, that they must not do it with any covetous desire to be ricli, for otherwise they shall never lind it. But most true it is, that whosoever would have this jewel of contentment, (which turns all into gold, yea, want into wealth,) must come with minds divested of all ambitious and covetous thoughts, else are they never likely to obtain it. — Fuller. When winds the mountain oak assail, And lay its glories waste. Content may slumber in the vale, Unconscious of the blast. The foundation of content must spring up in a man's own mind ; and he who has so little knowl- edge of human natm-e as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition, will waste his life in fruitless efforts, and mul- tiply the griefs which he purposes to remove. — Jonxsox. Coxtextmext abides with truth. And yon will generally suffer for wishing to appear other than you are, whether it be richer, or great- er, or more learned. The mask soon becomes an instrument of torture. — Feiexds in Couxcil. Coxtextmext is a pearl of great price ; and whoever procures it at the expense of ten thousand de- sires makes a wise and a happy purchase. — Balguy. CoxTEXT is the mark wc all aim at, the chief good and top of felicity, to which all men's actions strive to ascend ; but it is solely proper to God's wisdom to engross all true content into his own hand, that he may sell it to saints by retail, and enforce all men to COXTENTMEXT. 61 buy it of him or want it. Hence is it that a godly man in his mean estate enjoys more content in God than a king or emperor in his earthly glory and magnificence. I will then strive to pm'chase me a patent of content from him that hath a monopoly thereof, and then if I have little in estate I shall have much in content. — Waewick. Theee is no estate of life so happy in this world as to yield a Christian the perfection of con- tent, and yet there is no state of life so wretched in this world but a Christian must be content with it. Though I can have nothing here that may give me true con- tent, yet I will learn to be truly contented here with what I have. — Waewick. Feom labor health, from health contentment springs ; Contentment opes the source of every joy. Beattie. The noblest mind the best con- tentment has. ^ Spexser. When we cannot find content- ment in ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere. — La Koche- EODOAULD. It is in the power of every man to be rich, provided he will be content. SixcE the stars of heaven do diifer in glory; smce it hath pleased the Almighty hand to honor the north pole with lights above the south ; since there are some stars so bright that they can hardly be looked on, some so dim that they can scarce be seen, and vast numbers not to be seen at all, even by artificial eyes; read thou the earth in heaven, and things below from above. Look contentedly upon the scattered difference of things, and expect not equality in luster, dignity, or perfection, in regions or persons below, where numer- ous members must be content to stand like lacteous or nebulous stars, little taken notice of or dim in their generations. All which may be contentedly allowable in the affairs and ends of this world, and in suspension unto what will be in the order of things here- after, and the new system of man- kind which will be in the world to come, when the last may be first, and the first the last; when Lazarus may sit above Cesar, and the just, obscure on earth, shall shine like the sun in heaven ; when personations shall cease and histrionism of happiness be over; when reality shall rule, and all shall be as they shall be forever. — SiE T. Beowne. He that suffers a transporting passion concerning things within the power of others is free from sorrow and amazement no longer than his enemy shall give him leave, and it is ten to one but he 62 COXTEXTMEXT. shall be smitten tlien and there where it shall most trouble him ; for so the adder teaches us where to strike, by her curious and fear- ful defending of her head. The old Stoics when you told them of a sad story would still answer, " What is that to me?" Yes; for the tyrant hath sentenced you also to prison, "Well, what is that? He will put a chain upon my leg, but he cannot bind my soul." Xo; but he will kill you. " Then I will die. If presently, let me go that I may presently be freer than himself; but if not till to-morrow I will dine first." This in Gentile philosophy is the same with the discourse of St. Paul : " I have learned m whatso- ever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound." — Jeeemy Tayloe. He of ail mortals is the least in want who desires the least. — Sye. My crown is in my heart, not on my head ; Xot deck'd with diamonds and In- dian stones, Xor to bo seen: my crown is called content; A crown it is that seldom kings enjoy. Siiakspeaee. To EEJoicE in another's pros- perity, is to give content to your own lot; to mitigate another's grief, is to alleviate or dispel your (nvn. — Edwards. XoxniNG Avill content him Avho is not content with a little. — Epicueus. I EAEN that I eat, get that I wear ; owe no man hate, envy no man's happiness; glad of other men's good, content with my harm. — Shakspeaee. CoxTEXTMEXT gives a crown Where fortune hath denied it. FOED. HappdvEss and misery are the names of two extremes, the ut- most bounds whereof we know not, but of some degrees of both we have many lively impressions by delight on the one side, and sorrow on the other, and, there- fore, WQ may distinguish them by the names of pleasure and pain. Happiness in its full extent is the utmost pleasure we are capable of, and the lowest degree of it is so much ease from all pain and so much pleasure as without which one cannot be content ; we, there- fore, j^dge that whoever is con- tented is happy. — Locke. As IT frequently happens that many persons in easy circum- stances, or who liave many com- fortable things, are notwithstand- ing very discontented, it would be well for some friend thus to reason with them : "Have you ever compared your situation with those who labor in the gold mines of Peru, or with those in COXTEXTMEXT — COXTRO YERSIES. your own country who have hardly ever seen the sun, hut live confined in tin-mines, lead-mines, stone-quarries, and coal-pits? Be- fore you think yourself miserable, take a sm-vey of the jails in which unfortunate debtors are confined, and some even for life; walk through the wards of a hospital ; think of the hardships of a com- mon soldier or sailor ; think of the galley slave and the day la- borer; reflect upon the condition of many large poor families, who have continual distress or sick- ness. Physicians and ministers are often witnesses to scenes even more wretched than these, where to poverty, cold, and nakedness are added the languors of linger- ing and loathsome diseases, and the torments of excruciating pain." Xow let those who are miserable among many mercies, return as it were from these sad scenes to their closets, and gratefully ac- knowledge the goodness of God in exempting them from so many real ills, which so many labor under, and instead of spending their hours in brooding over their own imaginary evils, let them be continually cheerful, happy, and thankful. — De. Kxox. That lovely bird of paradise, " Christian contentment," can sit and sing in a cage of affliction and confinement, or fly at liberty through the vast expanse with almost equal satisfaction, while ''Even so. Father, for so it seem- eth good in thy sight," is the chief note in its celestial song. — Swaix. PooK and content is rich, and rich enough ; But riches endless is as poor as winter To him that always fears he shall be poor. Shakspeaee. He who is contented and mas- ter of himself, in a homely retreat, with a little, enjoys the wealth and curiosities of the world better than the rich and powerful who possess them. A coxTEXTED mind is the great- est blessing a man can enjoy in this world ; and if in the present life his happiness arises from the subduing of his desires, it will arise in the next from the gratifi- cation of them. — Addisox. Wesley very near the close of his life made this public declara- tion : " In the younger part of my life I was fond of controversies, but I have now lived long enough in the world to know better." Theee is no learned man but will confess he hath much profit- ed by reading controversies ; his senses awakened, his judgment sharpened, and the truth which he holds more firmly established. If then it be profitable for him to Gi COXTROVERSIES— CONVERSATION. read, why slionld it not at least be tolerable and free for his ad- versary to Tvrite? In logic they teach, that contraries laid together more evidently appear ; it follows, then, that all controversy being permitted, falsehood will appear more false, and truth the more true; which must needs conduce much to the general confirmation of unimplicit truth. — ITiltox. Most controversies would soon be ended if those engaged in them would first accurately define their terms and then rigidly adhere to them. — T. Edwaeds. That part of life which we ordinarily understand by the word conversation is an indulgence to the sociable part of our make, and should incline us to bring our pro- portion of good-will or good- liumor among the friends we meet wdth, and not to trouble them with relations which must of necessity oblige them to a real or feigned affliction. Cares, dis- tresses, diseases, uneasinesses, and dislikes of our own are by no means to be obtruded upon our friends. If we would consider how little of this vicissitude of motion and rest, which we call life, is spent with satisfaction, we should be more tender of our friends than to bring them little sorrows which do not belong to them. Tliere is no real life but cheerful life; therefore valetudina- rians should be sworn, before they enter into company, not to say a word of themselves until the meet- ing breaks up. — Addisox. Notwithstanding the means of grace, and likewise of mental im- provement, are now so plentiful, yet it is to be lamented that the state of spiritual conversation is very low, even among real Chris- tians; therefore perhaps the fol- lowing plain directions for the improvement of it may be made useful. Now, to render it more profitable and pleasing, four things should be united, piety, knowl- edge, prudence, and affability. 1. Piety. — Hypocrites or mere professors may indeed learn to converse very well, but there is a certain simplicity and savor in the conversation of truly pious persons which will ever distin- guish them. But some very gra- cious persons not being sufiSciently informed as to learning, we nmst add, 2. Knowledge. — In order to shine in polite company, a pretty large acquaintance with the best evangelical authors is requisite ; however, as most Christians have not the means for this, an extens- ive knowledge of the Bible, and some acquaintance with a few of the best authors, will make them pretty well furnished for religious conversation. But a mere reading will not be sufficient ; it requires COXYERSATION. Go also a considerable knowledge of human nature, and especially our own hearts, to be able to speak experimentallj and judiciously. 3. PpwUdexce. — Nothing is more necessary than this in religious conversation, and for want of it even piety and learning will be deficient. I do not mean that we should be artful in conversation, but, consistently with conscience, we should certainly avoid giving offense, and be as agreeable as we can. For this end we should en- deavor to know our company, not to speak too much, and to avoid passion, slander, and affectation; and in conversation w^e should ever remember that it is not so much that which is finely said as that which is fitly spoken that edifies and pleases. Lastly, Affability is another excellent qualification in religious conversation; for as knowledge teaches us w^hat to say, and pru- dence when to say it, so affability teaches how to speak in an agree- able maimer. It is true indeed that every Christian has not a good temper, or a natural, pleas- ing way of speaking; but yet as an affectionate and engaging way in conversation may make us so use- ful to those -we converse with, every gracious person should strive more and more to attain to it. If we would maintain this pleasant and courteous way of speaking in. conversation, we must not only be determined to take no offense at trifles in what may be spoken, but also carefully guard against the risings of envy, preju- dice, etc., and indulge a liberal and candid disposition toward all that we associate with, so fiir as we possibly can, consistently with the Gospel, truth, and propriety. — Peotestax't Dissextees' ATaga- ZIXE. The first ingredient in conversa- tion is truth ; the next, good sense ; the third, good-humor; and the fourth, wit. — Temple. OxE tiling which makes ns find so few people who appear reason- able and agreeable in conversation is, that there is scarcely any one who does not think more of what he is about to say than of answer- ing precisely what is said to him. The cleverest and most complai- sant people content themselves with merely showing an attentive countenance, while we can see in their eyes and minds a Avandering from what is said to them, and an impatience to return to what they wish to say ; instead of reflecting that it is a bad method of pleasing or persuading others, to be so studious of pleasing one's self, and that listening w^eU and answering weU is one of the greatest perfec- tions that can be attained in con- versation. — La Eochefoucauld. 0]snE of the best rules in conver- sation is, never to say a thing which any of the company can reasonably wish we had rather left unsaid. Nor can there any- 66 COX VERSIOX — COUNSEL. thing be more contrary to the I Giving the Ijcart and life to ends for which people meet to- God is the hardest, easiest thing gether, than to part unsatisfied in the world. It is like a secret with each other or themselves.- SWIFT. €oxtbtx%xon. The religious world is divided into many sects ; but perhaps the most numerous party consists of nominal Christians, who indeed do not deny any of tlie doctrines of the Gospel, but make only a form of attending the means. With respect to their spiritual state, they may be said to have fallen into a deep sleep, and in the midst of their bodily activity their souls are sunk in slumber. Is it possible, it might be asked, that any can sleep so soundly in an uncertain state, while the house they inhabit may be said to be in flames, or while they be on the very brink of a precipice, from which if they fall they rise no more? Tliis is not only possible but quite common. But perliaps it may be said that they are very moral persons, and attend the Gos- pel, and therefore we should let them alone. By no means. As life is so uncertain, the soul is so precious, and they, being unregen- erated, are in a dangerous state, ministers should, as they are com- manded, cry aloud in hopes of awakening such unthinking mor- tals. — i>l!. Kxox", in arithmetic, exceedingly hard till discovered, and then so easy that we are amazed that we did not understand it before. It is a greater favor to be con- verted than to be created ; yea, it were better for us to have no being than not to have a new being. — Seckee, €omxuL He deserves small trust who is not privy counselor to himself. — FOED. TnEEE is as much difference between the counsel that a friend giveth and that a man giveth himself, as there is between the counsel of a friend and a flatterer. — LoED Bacox. Inext a good life, to beget love in the persons we counsel by dis- sembling our knowledge of ability in others, and, avoiding all suspi- cion of arrogance, ascribing all to their instruction, as an embassa- dor to his master, or a subject to his sovereign; seasoning all with humanity and sweetness, only expressing care and solicitude. And not to counsel rashly, or on the sudden, but with advice and meditation. For many foolish things fall from wise men if they COUXSEL — COURAGE — COVETOUSNESS. speak in. haste, or be extemporal, It therefore behooves the giver of counsel to be circumspect, espe- cially to beware of those with whom he is not thoroughly ac- quainted, lest any spice of rash- ness, folly, or self-love appear, which will be marked by new persons, and men of experience in affairs. — Johnson. Xext to the immediate guid- ance of God by his Spirit, the coun- sel and encouragement of virtuous and enlightened friends aiford the most pow^erful aid in the en- counter of temptation, and in the career of dutv. — Hall. True courage is the result of reasoning. A brave mind is al- ways impregnable. Eesolution lies more in the head than in the veins; and a just sense of honor and of infamy, of duty and of religion, wall carry us further than all the force of meclianism. — Collier. Courage, by keeping the senses quiet and the understanding clear, puts us in a condition to receive true intelligence, to make just computations upon danger, and pronounce rightly upon that which threatens us. Innocence of life, consciousness of worth, and great expectations are the best foundations of courage. These ingredients make a richer cordial tlian youth can prepare. They warm the heart at eighty, and seldom fail in operation. courage is to madness ne'er allied ; A brutal rage where prudence does not guide. Blackmore. Courage is nothing more than a power of opposing danger with serenity and perseverance. An intrepid courage is at best but a holiday kind of virtue, to be seldom exercised, and never but in cases of necessity. Affability, mildness, tenderness, and a word w^hich I would fain bring back to its original signification of virtue, I mean good-nature, are of daily use; they are the bread of man- kind, and staff of life. — Drtden. It requires great courage and self-denial to stand up for God, and speak on his behalf in main- taining the great and precious truths which he has revealed in his Word, and which are every day and everywhere spoken against. — Dr. Emmoxs. I SHOULD marvel that the covet- ous man can still be poor, when the rich man is stiU covetous, but that I see a poor man can be content when the contented man is only , G8 CO\-ETOUSNESS. rich; the one Vv'antiiif,^ in his store, while the other is stored in his wants. I see, then, we are not rich or poor by what we possess, but by what we desire.-r— Aethue Warwick. The covetous man is a down- right servant, a draught-liorse without bells or feathers ; a man condemned to work in mines, which is the lowest and hardest condition of servitude ; and, to in- crease his misery, a worker there for he knows not whom. "He heapeth up riches, and knows not who shall enjoy them." It is only sure that he himself neither shall nor can enjoy them. He is an in- digent, needy slave ; he will hardly allow himself clothes and board- wages. He defrauds not only other men, but his own genius; he cheats himself for money. But the serv- ile and miserable condition of this wretch is so apparent, that I leave it as evident to every man's sight as well as judgment. — Cowley. The covetous person lives as if the world were made altogether for him, and not he for the world ; to take in everything, and to ])art with nothing. Charity is account- ed no grace with liim, nor grati- tude any virtue. The cries of the poor never enter into his ears; or if tliey do, he has always one ear readier to let them out than the other to take them in. In a word, by his rapines and extortions he is always for making as many poor as he can, but for relieving none whom he either finds or makes so. So that it is a question whether his heart be harder or his fist closer. In a word, he is a pest and a monster : greedier than the sea, and barrener than the shore. — South. The best covetousness a minis- ter can possess is to be covetous after the souls of men. "We should judge our work is never done while one single unconverted soul is Avith- in our reach. Alas, then, how lit- tle have we done in comparison of what we have to do! O for more of that holy zeal which makes us travail in birth again, till Christ shall be formed within the souls of thousands that are dead in trespasses and sins I — R. Hill. Covetous men are fools, miser- able wretches, buzzards, madmen, who live by themselves, in perpet- ual slavery, fear, suspicion, sorrow, discontent, with more of gall than honey in their enjoyments, who are rather possessed by their mon- ey than possessors of it; mancijmti pectin lis, bound 'prentices to their property; and, so'vi dimtiarum, mean slaves and drudges to their substance. — Buetox. How GEEEDY is covctousncss. The savage beasts keej) themselves in the bounds that nature pre- scribes; they do not do violence, they do not devour but only when CO YETOUS^^ESS — CRE ATIOK 69 they are pressed -witli hunger; thej leave their prev when they are satisfied. The avarice of the rich is only unsatiable ; this rakes, this always devours, and nothing can satisfy it. — St. Austix. Some men are as covetous as if they were to live forever; and others as profuse as if they were to die the next moment. — Aeis- TOTLE. As EASHXESS is the vice of youth, so immoderate care and covetous- ness are the vices of old age. This we can account for, because as the vigor of body and mind decline, timidity may be expected to in- crease. With anxious and fearfal eye the aged look forward on the evils which threaten them; hence they are apt to overvalue riches, as the best means to secure them against dangers and disrespect. But though it is proper and pru- dent to make some provision for declining years, yet the aged should remember that money .only pro- cures a pretended regard. But above all they should recollect that avarice is a sin against God, as it argues a distrust of his prov- idence and a sin against man, as it hardens the heart and shuts the hands when any case of distress presents itself, or we have an opportunity to do good, — De. Blaie. Rich people who are covetous are like the cypress-tree ; they may appear well, but are fruitless. So rich persons have the means to be generous, yet some are not so ; but they should consider they are only trustees for what they pos- sess, and should show their wealth to be more in doing good than merely in having it. They should not reserve their benevolence for purposes after they are dead, for those who give not till they die, show that they would not then if they could keep it any longer. — Bishop Hall. €xmixan. The works of creation are ad- mirable. Providence is beyond our comprehension; but redemp- tion is what the angels desired to look into. — St. Austix. "What a magnificent spectacle is presented in the works of crea- tion ! What a profasion of beauty is poured forth in the face of na- ture ! AVhat a rich supply for the wants of man ! And what a vast variety of objects to employ his understanding and devotion, to please his senses, and cheer and gladden his heart ! All things in the creation God has designed for the profit, the convenience, or the pleasure of all the animal creation, and especially of man. What is more necessary for the support of life than food? Behold, the earth is full of it all 70 CKEATIOX. around. Grass, herbs, and fruits for beasts and men, so that an an- imal can scarce wander anywhere but liis food is near him. Amaz- ing provision for sucli an immense tamily. What is more useful and joyful than tlie light ? See the whole of the heavens is replenished with sunbeams; so that while the day lasts, wheresoever the eye is placed it is surrounded with this enjoy- ment. Without light nature would be a large and eternal blank, and her innumerable beauties forever unknown ; but by light we are en- tertained with all the particular varieties of the creation. Again, what are the sweetest colors in nature, and the most de- lightful and refreshing to the eye? Surely the green and the blue claim this pre-eminence ; the red and the yellow, or orange, give greater pain and confusion to the eye, and dazzle it sooner; there- fore the divine goodness has dressed the heavens in blue, and the earth in green. Her habitation is ever hung w^ith a canopy of the most beautiful azure, and a rich verdant carpet is spread under, our feet, that the eye may be pleased and easy wheresoever it turns itself, and that the most universal objects it has to convei-se with might not impair the spirits, nor make the senses weary. — Dk. Watts. The earth is assigned us for a dwelling. The skies urc stretched over us like a magnilieent canojjy. dyed in the purest azure, and beau- tified sometimes with pictures of floating silver, and at other times with coverings of refiected crim- son ; the grass is spread under us as a spacious carpet, woven with silken threads of green, and dam- asked with flowers of every hue ; the sun, like a golden lamp, is hung out in the ethereal vault, and pours his eff'ulgence all the day to en- hghten our paths. When night approaches, the moon takes up the friendly office, and the stars are kindled into twinkling myriads, to cheer the darkness with their mild- er luster, nor distui'b our repose by too intense a glare ; the clouds act the part of a shifting screen, and defend us, by their seasonable interposition, from the scorching beams of summer. May we not also regard them as the great wa- tering-pots of the globe, which, wafted on the wings of the wind, disperse their moisture evenly through the universal garden, and fructify by their showers what- ever our hand plants. The fields are our exhaustless granary, and the ocean is our vast reservoir; tlie animals open their strength to dispatch our business, resign their clothing to replenish our wardrobe, and surrender their very lives to provide for our tables; in short, every element is a storehouse of conveniences, every season brings us the choicest productions, and all nature is our caterer; and what is a most endearing recommenda- tion of these favors, they are all as CREDULITY — CROSS, THE. lovelj as they are useful; all is clad in beauty's fairest robe, and regulated by proportion's nicest rule. The whole scene exhibits a fund of pleasure to the imagina- tion, at the same time that it more than supplies om* wants. The beauties of creation are far beyond the refinements of art, the pageantry of theaters, the glitter- ings of assemblies, or the orna- ments of palaces. If we properly inspect the stately volume of the creation, every leaf is a wide plain, every Hue a flowing brook, and every period is a lofty mountain. In the works of creation we scarce- ly know which to admire most, their endless variety or their beau- tiful simplicity, and above all their perfect execution. All human performances, the more they are scanned, the more imperfect they appear; but the works of nature have stood the test of the most minute investigation for near six thousand years, and appear more and more beautiful. There is not a more powerful incentive to devout gratitude, than to consider the magnificent and delicate scene of the universe with reference to Christ, for we are ex- pressly told all things were created by him and for him. Every ob- ject, viewed in this light by a be- liever, increases divine love in the heart, every production of nature strikes a spark into the soul, and tlie whole creation raises the smoking flax into a flame. — Hervet. €xt^xxlxim Of all kinds of credulity the most obstinate and wonderful is that of political zealots; of men who, being numbered they know not how or why, in any of the parties that divide a state, resign the use of their own eyes and ears, and resolve to believe nothing that does not favor those whom they profess to follow.— Jonxsox. The most positive men are the most credulous, since they most beheve themselves, and advise most with their fellow -flatterer and worst enemy, their own false love. — Pope. CREDULorsNESS is the concomi- tant of the first stages of life, and is indeed the principle on which all instruction must be founded ; but it lays the mind open to impres- sions of error as well as of truth, and when suffered to combine it- self with that passion for the mar- velous which all children discover it fosters the rankest weeds of chimera and superstition. Hence the awful solemnity of " darkness visible," and of what the poet has denominated "a dim religious light," together with the terrors of evil omens or haunted places, and of ghastly specters. — Peecival. There is no man that goeth to heaven but he must go by the CROSS, THE — CUXXIXG cross. The cross is the standing way-mark by which all they that go to glory must pass by. — BUNYAX. See in the cross, my brethren, a very wonderful spectacle. If im- piety sees it, 'tis a subject of ridi- cule ; if piety views it, 'tis a great mystery, — St. Austin. TnE cross is the concord of the Scriptures, and, as it were, the boundary and border-land of old and new things. The cross con- federates heaven and earth; the cross rejoins men and angels in the unanimity of their ancient concord. The cross is the death of vice, and the fountain and life of all virtue. The cross is the courage of those that are fighting bravely ; the recovery of those that are fallen; the crown of those that are victorious. The cross subjects us to a moment- ary death, and recompenses us with eternal life. — Petee Da- MIAXI. Some when they come at the cross will either make a stop and go no further, or else, if they can, step over it; if not, they will go round about, turn aside to the left hand or to the right hand, and so think to get to heaven another way ; but they will be deceived. Do not thou this; but take up the cross and kiss it, and bear it after Jesus. — IklNYAX. Cunning. CuxxixG differs from wisdom as twilight from open day. He that walks in the sunshine goes boldly forward by the nearest way ; he sees that, when the path is straight and even, he may proceed in se- curity, and when it is rough and crooked he easily complies with the turns and avoids the obstruc- tions. IJut the traveler in the dusk fears more as lie sees less ; he knows there may be danger, and therefore suspects that he is never safe, tries ever}' step before he fixes his foot, and shrinks at every noise, lest violence should approach him. Cunning discov- ers little at a time, and has no other means of certainty than mul- tiplication of stratagems and su- perfluity of suspicion. Yet men, thus narrow by nature and mean by art, are sometimes able to rise by the miscarriages of bravery and the openness of integrity ; and by watching failures and snatching opportunities obtain ad- vantages which belong properly to higher characters.— -Jonxsox. CuxxiXG has only private, self- ish aims, and sticks at nothing which may make them succeed. Discretion has large and extended views, and, like a well-formed eye, commands a whole horizon. Cun- ning is a kind of short-sightedness that discovers the minutest objects which are near at hand, but is not able to discern things at a dis- CURIOSITY — CUSTOM — DEATH. tance. Discretion, the more it is .discovered, gives a greater author- ity to the person who possesses it. Discretion is the perfection of reason, and a guide to us in all the duties of life. Cunning is a kind of instinct, that only looks out after our immediate interest and welfare. Discretion is only found in men of strong sense and good understandings. Cunning is often to be met with in brutes them- selves, and in persons who are but the fewest removes from them. In short, cunning is only the mimic of discretion, and may pass upon weak men in the same man- ner as vivacity is often mistaken for wit, and gravity for wisdom. — Addisox. Custom in sin is one reason why I spiritual and moral means against it are so frequently ineffectual. The depravity of the human mind being so great, evil customs are so strong, that this is the principal reason why we seldom see an old unmoral person, or one that has been long accustomed to self- righteousness, either converted, or even convinced that he is wrong. — Yexx. Mankind in herds through force of custom stray, Mislead each other into error's way. Thus some go on in sin at the ex- pense Of reason, truth, and common sense. CuKiosiTY concerning another's private affairs is called "idle," be- cause it hath a satanic original. CuEiosiTT is a kernel of the for- bidden fruit, which still sticketh in the throat of a natural man, sometimes to the danger of his choking. — Fuller. Custom is frequently too hard to be conquered: hence it was that tlie Cretans, when they cursed tlieir enemies, wished that they might be subject to evil customs. geilj* For aught we know of om*- selves, of our present life and of death, death may immediately, in the natural course of things, put us into a higher and more enlarged state of life, as our birth does; a state in which our capacities and sphere of perception and of action may be much greater than at present. For as our relation to our external organs of sense ren- ders us capable of existing in our present state of sensation, so it may be the only natural hinder- ance to our existing immediately, and of course in a higher state of reflection. Tlie truth is, reason DEATH. does not at all show us in what state death naturally leaves us. The suspension of a power and the destruction of it are eifects so totally different in kind, as we experience in sleep and a swoon, that we cannot in any wise argue from one to the other, or conclude that the force which is sufficient to suspend our faculties will be sufficient to destroy them, — BCTLER. The death of saints was for- merly honored with groans and tears. Joseph wept bitterly for the death of Jacob ; the Jews as much for that of Moses. "We re- joice now when saints die. The saddest things have changed their nature as it were since the Son of God was crucified. Tears no more are shed, for the death of the just; instead of groaning over tlieir tombs, we sing and leap for joy there. — St. Basilius. The philosophers set a great value upon that thought of Plato, that all the life of wise men is a meditation of death. But St. Paul's saying is much stronger, " I die daily." For to act is a different thing from endeavoring to act, and there is a great differ- ence between living to die and (lying to live. — St. Jekome. There is nothing more certain than death, nothing more uncer- tain than the time of dying. I will, therefore, be i)rcpared for that at all times, whicli may come at any time, must come at one time or another. I shall not hast- en my death by being still ready, but sweeten it. It makes me not die the sooner, but the better. — Waewick. Death to a good man is but passing through a dark entry, out of one little dusky room of his father's house into another that is fair and large, lightsome and glori- ous, and divinely entertaining. — Claeke. As DEATH is the total change of life, every change is the death of some part. Sickness is the death of health ; sleeping, of waking : sorrow, of joy; impatience, of quiet; youth, of infancy; age, of youth. All things which fol- low time, and even time itself, at last must die. — Taylor. If thou expect death as a friend, prepare to entertain it ; if thou ex- pect death as an enemy, prepare to overcome it. Death has no ad- vantage but when it comes as a stranger. — Quaeles. Be still prepared for death, and death or life shall thereby be the sweeter. — Shakspeark. It is time we were done talking of death as "The great tyrant," "The enoiny," etc. Death, it is only God's call, "Come home." It is but the messenger to bring DEATH. them home sent to homesick chil- dren at a boarding-school, or the permission to return to his native land sent to an. exile. — H. W. Beechee. Those born once only die twice ; thej die a temporal and an eternal death. But those who are born twice die only once, for over them the second death hath no power. — Jay. Maxy of the truly pious have been called to finish their course without those vivid and trans- porting joys which others have experienced. It frequently and perhaps generally happens that the diseases which terminate in dissolution so aifect the frame, as by a certain law of nature to dis- turb or impede the regular move- ments of the mind. "We have no right in such cases to expect mira- cles. When the Christian whose strength is exhausted, whose nerves are shattered, and whose w^hole frame is worn down with sharp pain or long protracted sickness, finds himself unable to meditate or pray with that fixed- ness and fervor of soul which he has often experienced in these ex- ercises, his hope may still be firm and steadfast, while with broken, faltering accents he repeats and appropriates the language of the Psalmist : " My heart and my flesh faileth ; but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for- ever." " Let us eat and drink, for to- morrow we die." What do you say? repeat what you just said. "Let us eat and drink," say you; but what did you say after, "For to-morrow we die?" You have frightened me, you have not re- duced me. Yea, by these last words you are so far from making me be of your opinion that you make me against you; you only terrify me. You said, "For to- morrow we die," and you said be- fore, "Let us eat and drink." This is not just reasoning; but I will tell you what you ought to say, according to the rules of good sense. Let us fast and pray for to-morrow we die. — St. Austin". Whex I look upon the tombs of the great, every emotion of envy dies in me; when I read the epi- taphs of the beautiful, every inor- dinate desire goes out; when I meet with the grief of parents upon a tombstone, my heart melts with compassion; when I see the tombs of the parents themselves, I consider the vanity of grieving for those whom we must quickly follow ; when I see kings lying by those who deposed them, when I consider rival wits placed side by side, or the holy men that divided the world with their contests and disputes, I reflect with sorrow and astonishment on the little competi- tions, factions, and debates of man- kind. When I read the several dates of the tombs, of some that 76 DEATH. died yesterday, and some six hund- red yeai-s ago, I consider that great day Avhen we shall all of us be cotemporaries, and make our ap- pearance together. — Spectatoe. He that lives well cannot choose but die well. For if he die sud- denly, yet he dies not unprepared- ly; if by leisure, the conscience of his well-led life makes his death more comfortable. But it is sel- dom seen that he which liveth ill dieth well. For the conscience of his former evils, his present pain, and the expectation and fear of greater, so take up his heart that he cannot seek God. And now it is just with God not to be sought or not to be found, because he sought to find him in his lifetime and was repulsed. Whereas therefore there are usually two main cares of good men, to live well and die well, I will have but this one, to live well. — Hall. Death did not first strike Adam, the first sinful man ; nor Cain, the first hypocrite ; but Abel, the in- nocent and righteous. The first soul that met with death over- came death; the first soul that parted from earth went to heaven. Death argues not displeasure, be- cause he whom God loved best dies first, and the murderer is punished with living. — Hall. Death is not, to the Christian, what it has often _ been called, " Paying the debt of nature." No, it is not paying a debt ; it is rather like bringing a note to a bank, to obtain solid gold in exchange for it. In this case you bring a cum- brous body which is nothing worth, and which you could not wish to retain long ; you lay it down, and receive for it from the eternal treas- ures liberty, victory, knoAvledge, and rapture. — Johx Foster. OxE may live as a conqueror, a king, or a magistrate ; but he must die as a man. The bed of death brings every human being to his pure individuality; to the intense contemplation of that deepest and most solemn of all relations, the relation between the creature and his Creator. Here it is that fame and renown cannot assist us ; that all external things must fail to aid us; that even friends, afiection, and human love and devotedness cannot succor us. — TTebstePw. We scarce conceive how easy it is to rob God of his due, in our friendship with the most virtuous persons, until they are torn from us by death. But if this loss pro- duce lasting sorrow, that is a clear proof that we had before two treas- ures, between which we divided our heart. — Johx Wesley. A WISE and due consideration of our latter end is neither to render us sad, melancholy, disconsolate, or unfit for the business and oflices of life ; but to make us more watch- ful, vigilant, industrious, sober. DEATH. 77 cheerful, and thankful to that God who hath been pleased thus to make us serviceable to him, com- fortable to ourselves, and profita- ble to others ; and after all this, to take away the bitterness and sting of death, through Jesus Christ our Lord. — Sir M. Hale. How SHOCKING must thy summons be, O Death ! To him that is at ease in his pos- sessions ; Who, counting on long years of pleasure here, Is quite unfurnished for that world to come I In that dread moment, how the frantic soul Raves round the walls of Iier clay tenement, Runs to each avenue, and shrieks for help, But shrieks in vain I Blaie. Death to a Christian is putting off rags for robes. Some die by degrees ; that is, first infancy dies, then childhood, then youth, then manhood, then old age, and then we make an end of dying. There is nothing terrible in death but what our lives have made so. It is almost death to many to think of death ; they are as unwilling to be led into a discourse concerning it as children into the dark; the thoughts of it are no more w^el- come to them than Moses was to Pharaoh, who said to him, "Get tliee from me, and let me see thy face no more." In one point of view this life is a middle state, be- cause we must soon go higher or lower forever. We should think of death, not as though we were thinking, but as though we Avere dying. It is the greatest business of life to think of the end of life, and to lay hold of eternal life. Let us make a friend of death and our judge by saving faith, and then we shall die out of choice as well as necessity. — J, Mason. A GOOD man, when dyings once said: '''Formerly death appeared to me like a wide river, but now it has dwindled to a little rill ; and my comforts, which were as tlie rill, have become the broad and deep river." The more we mnk into the in- firmities of age, the nearer we are to immortal youth. All people are young in the other world. That state is an eternal spring, ever fresh and flourishing. Kow, to pass from midnight into noon on the sndden, to' be decrepit one minute, and all spirit and activity the next, must be an entertaining change. To call this dying is an abuse of language. — Coixiee, The fear of death often proves mortal, and sets people on meth- ods to save their lives which in- fallibly destroy them. This is a reflection made by some histori- ans upon observing that there are many more thousands killed in a flight than in a battle, and may be 78 DEATH — DECEIT. applied to those multitudes of im- aginary sick persons that break their constitutions by physic, and throw themselves into the arms of death by endeavoring to escape it. — Addison". A DYING but immortal being on the verge of eternity is as solemn a spectacle as the world can fur- nish. A hundred tender ties are then about to be severed. The delusions of the world are over; it can promise nothing more. It has done its utmost, and the total sum is vanity of vanities. Its shadowy joys and sorrows, hopes and fears, cares and possessions, are now light as a feather weighed against the universe; and however once esteemed, can no longer pain or please, agitate or engage the immortal, who is bidding them an eternal farewell. The past is noth- ing; but the future opens a tre- mendous and, if true support be wanting, a heart-appalling pros- pects JTew scenes, a new and untried world; an eternity vast, boundless, and endless; joy with- out mixture, or pain without relief; the mansions of light aiid glory, or the dark dungeons of despair; the welcome of angels, or the yell of demons, and the smile or the frown of the infinite Judge. — Pike. Fear death, but be not afraid of death. To fear it whets thy expectation ; to be afraid of it dulls thy preparation. If thou canst endure it, it is but a slight pain; if not, it is but a sliort pain. To fear death is the way to live long; to be afraid of death is to be long a dying. — Quaei.es. Death is a most important event. It stamps the characters and condi- tions of mankind for eternity. As death finds them, so they will be found to all eternity. — De. Em- MOXS. Deceit and falsehood, whatever conveniences they may for a time promise or produce, are, in the sum of life, obstacles to happiness. Those who profit by the cheat distrust the deceiver, and the act by which kindness was sought puts an end to confidence. — Johx- SON. Deceit discovers a little as well as a wicked mind. It is the re- source of one who wants courage to avow his designs, or to rest upon himself; it therefore betrays a dastardly spirit, and one time or other will certainly be discovered. The path of falsehood is a perplex- ing maze ; after the first departure from sincerity it is scarcely in our power to stop ; one artifice leads to another, till, as the intricacy of the labyrinth increases, we are left entangled in our own snares, which is the fatal omen of growing de- pravity and future shame. — Dr. Blauj. DECEPTIOX— DECISION — DEEDS — DEPENDEITCE. It is as easy to deceive one's self without perceiving it, as it is dif- ficult to deceive others without their perceiving it. — La Eoche- FOUCAULD. "\Ye are inconsolable at being deceived bj our enemies and be- trayed by our friends ; and yet we are often content to be so by our- selves, — La Eochefoucaijld. Oftentimes even one word be- wrayeth a whole pack of false- hoods ; and though superstition be a cleanly counterfeit, yet some slip of the tongue discovers it: as we say of devils, which, though they put on fair forms, yet are known bv a cloven foot. — Hall. §ecbbiT. Deliberate with caution, but act with decision ; and yield with graciousness, or oppose with firm- ness. — OOLTOX. See first that the design is wise and just: That ascertained, pursue it reso- lutely. Do not for one repulse forego the purpose That you resolved to efifect. SnAKSrEAEE. A GEXEEOus, a brave, a noble deed, performed by an adversary, commands our approbation, while in its consequences it may be acknowledged prejudicial to our particular interest. — Hume. That expression, "He wishes well," is worthless unless a person does well besides. — Plautus. He who thinks he can find in himself the means of doing with- out others is much mistaken, but he who thinks that others cannot do without him is still more mis- taken. — La Eochefoucauld. There is none made so great but he may both need the help and service, and stand in fear of the power and unkindness even of the meanest of mortals. — Sexeca. S^ The desires of man increase witli his acquisitions; every step which he advances brings something with- in his view wliich he did not see before, and whicli, as soon as he sees it, he begins to want. ^Vhere necessity ends curiosity begins ; and no sooner are we supplied witli evervthing that nature can de- 80 DESIRE — DESPAIR — DEVOTIOX. mand tlmn we sit down to con- trive artiticial appetites. — Joux- SON. It is a miserable state of mind to have few things to desire and many things to fear. — Bacox. Desires are the language of the soul: they are heard by Him who is the God of spirits. — Hall. Much will always be wanting To him who much desires. Cowley. TThex a man's desires are boundless his labor is endless; they will set him a task he can never go through, and cut him out work he can never finish. The satisfaction which he seeks is always absent, and the happiness which he aims at ever at a dis- tance^ He has perpetually many things to do, and many things to provide, and that which is want- ing cannot be numbered. — Bal- GUT. Some desire is necessary to keep life in motion, and he whose real wants are supplied must admit those of fancy. — Joiixsox. Despaiu is like froward chil- dren, who when you take awuy one of their playthings throw the rest into the fire for madness. It grows angry with itself, turns its own executioner, and revenges its misfortunes on its own head. It refuses to live under disappoint- ments and crosses, and chooses rather not to be at all than to be without the thing which it hatli once imagined necessary to its happiness. — Chareox. Despair makes a despicable fig- ure and descends from a mean original. 'Tis the offspring of fear, of laziness and impatience ; it argues a defect of spirit and res- olution, and oftentimes of honesty too. Despair antedates a misfortune, and tt)rments a man before his time. It preys upon the vitals, like Prometheus's vulture, and eats out the heart of all other satisfac- tions. It cramps the powers of nature, and cuts the sinews of enterprise. I would not despair unless I knew the irrevocable decree was past, unless I saw my misfortunes recorded in the book of fate, and signed and sealed .by necessity. To believe a business impossible is the way to make it so. How many feasible projects have miscarried through despond- ency, and been strangled in the birth by a cowardly imagination. — Collier. gcbotioii. The most illiterate man v.'ho is touched with devotion, and uses frequent exercises of it, contracts DISCOXTEXT-DISSIMULATIOX— DIYIXITY. a certain greatness of mind, min- gled with a noble simplicity, that raises him above those of the same condition. It is hardly pos- sible it should be otherwise, for the fervors of a pious mind will naturally contract such an earnest- ness and attention toward a better being as will make the ordinary passages of life go off with a becoming indifference. By this a man in the lowest condition will not appear mean, or in the most splendid fortune insolent. — Johx- sox. All the duties of religion are eminently solemn and venerable in the eyes of children. But none will so strongly prove the sincerity of the parent, none so powerfully awaken the reverence of the child, none so happily recommend the instruction he receives, as family devotions, particularly those in which petitions for the children occupy a distinguished place. — D WIGHT. SouE discontent that quarrels with our fate, May give fresh smart, but not the old abate ; The uneasy passions' disingenuous wit The ill reveals, but hides the ben- efit. Sir E. Blackmoee. It is no small fault to be bad, and seem so ; it is a greater fault to seem good and not be so. The cloak of dissimulation is a main part of the garment spotted with the flesh ; a vice thus covered is worse than a naked offense. There is no devil to the hypocrite. — Waewick. Dissimulation is but a faint kind of policy or wisdom, for it asketh a strong wit and a strong heart to know when to tell the truth and to do it : therefore it is the weaker sort of politicians that are the greatest dissemblers. — LoED Bacox. Theee is nothing more easy than to say divinity by rote, and to discourse of spiritual matters from the tongue or pen of others ; but to hear God speak it to the soul, and to feel the power of religion in ourselves, and to ex- press it out of the truth of experi- ence within, is both rare and hard. All that we feel not in the matters of God is but hypocrisy, and therefore the more we profess the more we sin. It will never be well with me till in these greatest things I be careless of others' cen- sures, fearful only of God's and my own, till sound experience have really catechised my heart, and 82 DIVIXITY — DOIXG GOOD. made me know God and my Saviour otherwise than by words. I will never be quiet till I can see and feel and taste God. My hearing I will account as only serving to eifect tliis, and my speech only to express it. — Hall. One of the disorders that I have lately had has proved the health of my soul, and I can truly say that I have learned more of true divinity during this confinement than I have during the whole course of my life before. — Beza. Of all sciences, that of divin- ity is the most sublime, the most profound, and the most compre- hensive. The study of divinity demands the brightest parts, the strongest powers, and the most capacious mind. The angels de- sire to look into these things ; and here they may look, and study, and pry forever, and still see more and more to admire, and love, and praise. — 0. Thompson. The divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ is the most important article of Christianity. It is, if I may so speak, the staple truth of our Bible, and the great founda- tion which supports the whole structure of our holy religion ; it is the root which nourishes all the doctrines of Scripture, and all the hopes of a Christian. Take this away and the whole institution of Christianity falls at once. When Samson tore away the supporting pillars the whole roof fell in, and the whole house became a ruinous heap. Just so will it fare with the Christian religion if this grand- main article be struck away ; but when his supreme divinity is believed, then it stamps a grand- eur upon his person and example, it puts an infinite value upon his atonement and righteousness, and a glorious perfection upon all that he did and said. — Heevey. The idea of right living seems to be, with some men, not do- ing anything wrong, as if righte- ousness consisted in negatives. "Why," says the man charged with being a sinner worthy of death, "why, I never hurt any- body in my life ; I never commit- ted a sin in my life, that is, you know, a real sin. You don't mean that I should be shut out of heaven were I now to die." — H. W. Beeoher. Live not for selfish aims. Live to shed joy on others. Thus best shall your own happiness be secured ; for no joy is ever given freely forth that does not have quick echo in the giver's own heart. — H. W. Beeoher. TnosE persons who do most good are least conscious of it. The man who has but a single virtue or charity is very much DRUIs^KEXNESS — DUT Y. 83 like the lien tliat has hut one chicken. That solitary chicken calls forth an amount of clucking and scratching that a whole brood seldom causes. — H. W. Beechee. "Whex a man drinks hard the blood boils over and the pas- sions sin and grow mutinous. In such a dangerous juncture the guards should be doubled, and twice as much sense summoned in as would serve for an ordinary occasion. Now, to part with one's reason when we have need of as much more, if we could get it, is like breaking the compass and throwing the pilot overboard in a storm. — Collier. Deunxekn'ess is a flattering devil, a sweet poison, a pleasant sin, which, whosoever hath, hath not himself; which, whosoever doth commit, doth not commit sin, but he himself is wholly sin. — St. Augustine. He that gives himself to wine is not his own. What shall we think of this vice, which robs a man of himself and lays a beast in his room ? — Bishop Hall. Beware of drunkenness, lest all good men beware of thee. Where drunkenness reigns there reason is an exile, virtue a stranger, God an enemy, blasphemy is wit, oaths are rhetoric, and secrets are proc- lamations. — QUARLES. Of all vices take heed of drunk- enness. Other vices are but fruits of disordered affections ; this dis- orders, nay, banishes reason. Other vices but impair the soul ; this de- molishes her two chief faculties, the understanding and the will. Other vices make their own way, this makes way for all vices. He that is a drunkard is qualified for all vice. QuARLES. All excess is ill, but drunkenness is of the worst sort. It spoils health, dismounts the mind, and unmans men. It reveals secrets, is quarrelsome, lascivious, impu- dent, dangerous, and mad. He that is drunk is not a man, because he is for so long void of reason that distinguishes a man from a beast. — William Penx. Some of the domestic evils of drunkenness are houses without windows, gardens without fences, fields without tillage, barns with- out roofs, children without cloth- ing, principles, morals, or manners. — ^Franklin. gutff. My morning haunts are where they should be, at home ; not sleeping, or concocting the surfeits of an irregular feast, but up and stirring: in winter, often ere the 84 DUTY — EARNESTNESS. sound of any bell awakes men to labor or to devotion ; in summer, as oft with the bird that first rises, or not much tardier, to read good authors, or cause them to be read, till the attention be weary or memory have its full freight ; then with useful and generous labors preserving the body's health and hardiness, to render lightsome, clear, and not dumpish obedience to the mind, to the cause of relig- ion and our country's liberty. — MiLTOX. Take up all duties in point of performance, but lay them down in point of dependence. Duty can never have too much of our dili- gence nor too little of our confi- dence. — Dtee. Ix the modesty of fearful duty, I read as much as from the rat- tling tongue Of saucy and audacious eloquence. Shakspeaee. It is a matter of course that he who would sin must first fail in his duty. — Ciceeo. Duties are ours, events are the Lord's. When we go to meddle with events, and to hold a court, as it were, upon God's providence, and to ask him, " Why hast thou done this? and how wilt thou do that?" faith then begins to lose ground; we have nothing to do there. It is our part to follow prov- idence closely, never to go before it, and not to stay lung after it; and if what we thus pursue should miscarry, it will neither be our sin nor our cross. — Kutheefoed. WnATEVEE our place, allotted to us by Providence, that for us is the post of honor and duty. God estimates us not by the posi- tion we are in, but by the way in which we fill it. — Edwaeds. The dutiful always have a good conscience and a smiling God to comfort them in tribulation. Because I am in earnest men call me an enthusiast, but I am not ; mine are the words of truth and soberness. When I first went into Gloucestershire, and was walking on a hill, I saw a gravel- pit fall in and bury three human beings alive. I lifted up my voice for help so loud that I was heard in the town below, at a distance of a mile. Help came, and rescued two of the poor sufferers. No one called me an enthusiast then; and when I see eternal destruction ready to fall npon poor sinners, and about to entomb them irre- coverably in an eternal mass of woe, and call aloud on them to escape, shall I be called an enthusiast now? No, sinner, I am not an enthusiast in so doing; I call on thee aloud to flee for refuge to the EAPvXESTXESS — ECONOMY — EDUCATION 85 hope set before thee in the Gospel of Christ Jesus, — R. Hill. We should always be in earnest because our work is great, and life short and decisive. Therefore, " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." ^tonoran. EcoxoMT is the parent of integ- rity, of hberty, and of ease; and the beauteous sister of temperance, of cheerfulness, and health. And profaseness is a cruel and crafty demon, that gradually involves her followers in dependence and debts ; that is, fetters them with "irons that enter into their souls." — Ad- VEXTUEEE. Take care to be an economist in prosperity ; there is no fear of your not being one in adversity. ZliOIEEMAXX. If you would have a faithful servant, and one that you like, serve yourself. — Feaxklix. A souxD economy is a sound understanding brought into ac- tion. It is calculation realized; it is the doctrine of proportion reduced to practice ; it is foresee- ing contingencies, and providing against them ; it is expecting con- tingencies, and being prepared for them. Educatiox begins the gentle- man, but reading, good company, and reflection must finish him. — Locke. The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think than what to think ; rather to im- prove our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load our memory with the thoughts of other men. — Beattie. Educatiox of youth is not a bow for every man to shoot in that counts himself a teacher, but wiU require sinews almost equal to those which Homer gave to Ulysses. — Miltox. The education of children should not be forced, like the growth of plants in the hot-house. The more haste in this matter, the less speed in the end. It is from too early forcing the intellect, from premature, precocious, mental growth, that we see in modern times so many cases of wilted, and feeble, and sickly children; or of remarkable, wonderful children, who grow up to be prodigies by their second or third year, and die by the next. — Edwaeds. Costly apparatus and splendid cabinets have no magical power to make scholars. In all circum- stances, as a man is, under God, the master of his own fortune, so 86 KOrCATIOX. is he tlie maker of his own mind. The Creator has so constituted the human intellect that it can only grow by its own action; and by its own action and free will it will certainly and necessarily grow. Every man must therefore edu- cate himself. His book and teach- er are but helps ; the work is his, xV man is not educated until he has the ability to summon, in an emergency, all his mental powers in vigorous exercise to effect its proposed object. It is not the man who has seen most or read most who can do this ; such a one is in danger of being borne down, like a beast of burden, by an overloaded mass of other men's thoughts. Nor is it the man who can boast of native vigor and ca- pacity. The greatest of all war- riors in the siege of Troy had not the pre-eminence because nature had given strength and he carried the largest bow, but because self- discipline had taught him hovr to bend it. — Daxiel Webster. "We all have two educations, one of which we receive from others, and another, and the most valuable, which we give our- selves. It is this last which fixes our grade in society, and eventu- ally our actual condition in this life, and the color of our fate hereafter. All the professors and teachers in the world would not make you a wise or good man without your own co-operation ; and if such you are determined to be, the want of them will not prevail. — Jonx Randolph to nis Nephew. Under whose care soever a child is put to be taught during the ten- der and flexible years of his life, this is certain, it should be one who thinks Latin and languages the least part of education; one who, knowing how much virtue and a weU-tempered soul is to be preferred to any sort of learning or language, makes it his chief business to form the mind of his scholars, and give that a right disposition; which, if once got, though all the rest should be neg- lected, would in due time produce all the rest ; and which, if it be not got, and settled so as to keep out ill and vicious habits, lan- guages and sciences, and all the other accomplishments of educa- tion will be to no purpose, but to make the worse or more dangerous man. — Locee. The education of our children is never out of my mind. Train them to virtue, habituate them to industry, activity, and spirit. Make them consider every vice as shameful and unmanly. Fire them with ambition to be useful. Make them disdain to be destitute of any useful knowledge. — John Adams TO HIS Wife. Mr. Locke, in his celebrated treatise on education, confesses that there are inconveniences to EDUCATION— EGOTISM— ELOQUEXCE. 87 be feared on both sides. "If," says he, " I keep my son at home, he is m danger of becoming my young master ; if I send him abroad, it is scarcely possible to keep him from rudeness and vice. He will perhaps be more innocent at home, but more ignorant of the -world, and more sheepish when he comes abroad 1" Knowledge alone is not suflB- cient. It is, indeed, power; but if undirected by virtue, knowledge is but the servant of vice, and tends only to evil, ^HAT sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the human soul. The philosopher^ the splint, the hero, the -wise and the good, or the great, very often lie hid and concealed in a plebeian, which a proper education might have dis- interred and brought to light. — Addison. Educate men without religion, and you make them but clever devils. — Puke of "Wellington. If a man empties his pm^se into his head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest. — Feanklin. ^ptii Many esteem nothing right but what pleases themselves. — Hoe- ace. Egotism is more like an offense than a crime, though 'tis allowa- ble to speak of yourself, provided nothing is advanced in favor ; but I cannot help suspecting that those who abuse themselves are, in real- ity, angling for approbation. — Zm- MEEMANN. Theee is not one wise man among twenty that will praise himself. — Shakspeaee. TsjTE eloquence I find to be none but the serious and hearty love of truth, with a fervent desire to know good things, and with the dearest charity to infuse the knowledge of them into others. When such a man would speak, his words^ lik© so many nimble and airy servitoi*s, trip about him at command, and in well-ordered files, as he would wish, fall aptly into their own places. — Milton. Tetie eloquence consists in say- ing all that is necessary, and nothing but what is necessary. — La KoCHEFOrCAULD. Teue eloquence, indeed, does not consist in speech. It cannot be brought from far. Labor and learning may toil for it, but they will toil in vain. Words and phrases may be mai-shaled in ELOQUENCE — EMIXEXCE — EMPLOYMENT. eveiy way, but tliev cannot com- pass it. It must exist in the man, in the subject, and in the occasion. Affected passion, intense expres- sion, the pomp of declamation, all maj aspire after it — thev cannot reach it. It comes, if it come at all, like the outbreaking of a fount- ain from the earth, or the bursting forth of volcanic fires with spon- taneous, original, native force. The graces taught in the schools, the costly ornaments and the studied contrivances of speech shock and disgust men when their own lives, and the fate of their wives, their children, and their country hang on the decision of the hour. Then words have lost their power, rhetoric is vain, and all elaborate oratory contemptible. Even genius itself then feels rebuked and subdued, as in the presence of higher qualities. Then patriotism is eloquent, then self- devotion is eloquent. The clear conception outrunning the deduc- tion of logic, the high purpose, the firm resolve, the dauntless spirit speaking on the tongue, beaming from the eye, informing every feature, and urging the whole man onward, right onward to his ob- ject; this, this is eloquence, or rather it is something greater and higlier than all eloquence, it is action; noble, sublime, godlike action. — Daniel Webster. Maxy are ambitious of say- ing grand things, that is, of be- ing grandiloquent. Eloquence is speaking out — a quality few esteem and fewer aim at. — Haee. Let your eloquence flow from your heart to your hands, and not force it the other way. — De. Emmons. He has oratory who ravishes his hearers while he forgets him- self. — Lavatee. Geeat is the power of elo- quence ; but never is it so great as when it pleads along with na- ture, and the culprit is a child strayed from his duty, and re- turned to it again with tears. — Steene. €mmnxtL The road to eminence and power from obscure condition ought not to be made too easy, nor a thing too much of course. If rare merit be the rarest of all rare things, it ought to pass through some sort of probation. The temple of honor ought to be seated on an eminence. If it be open through virtue, let it be remembered too that virtue is never tried but by some difficulty and some struggle. — Bueke. Be busy about something, so that the devil may always find you occupied. — St. Jeeome. EAIPLO YMEXT — EMUL ATIOX — EXEMIES. 89 Employment is the great instru- ment of intellectual dominion. The mind cannot retire from its enemj into total vacancy, or turn aside from one object but by passing to another. The gloomy and the resentful are always found among those who have nothing to do, or who do nothing. We must be busy about good or evil, and he to whom the present offers nothing will often be looking backward on the past. Employment, which Galen calls "Nature's physician," is so essen- tial to human happiness, that indo- lence is justly considered as the mother of misery. — Bueton. Give your children useful em- ployment if you wish them to have character, respectability, or fortune. €mnMxan. Emulation is a handsome pas- sion; it is enterprising, but just withal ; it keeps a man within the terms of honor, and makes the contest for glory fair and gener- ous. He strives to excel, but it is by raising himself, not by depress- ing others. — Colliee. Emulation, encouraged and cherished on benevolent princi- ples, is most effectual without being prejudicial to virtue. Nothing will more try a man's grace than questions of emulation. — Hall. Emmies, TVe should never make enemies, if for no other reason, because it is so hard to behave toward them as we ought. — ^Palmee. Five great enemies to peace inhabit us, namely, avarice, ambi- tion, envy, anger, and pride ; and if those enemies were to be ban- ished, we should infallibly enjoy perpetual peace. — Peteaech. When an enemy reproaches us let us look on him as an impartial re- later of our faults, for he wiU tell thee truer than thy fondest friend will; and thou may est call them precious balms, though they break thy head, and forgive his anger while thou makest use of the plainness of his declamation. " The ox when he is weai-y treads surest," and if there be nothing else in the disgrace but that it makes us to walk warily and tread sure for fear of our enemies, that is better than to be flattered into pride and carelessness, — Jee- emy Tayloe. The best way to outwit an enemy is to return plain dealing for deceitful unrighteousness, and acts of kindness for injustice and cruelty. 90 ENEMIES — ENVY. He ^vlio iu every man wislies to meet a brother will very rarely eucounter an enemy. "When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him." Entt, like a cold poison, be- numbs and stupefies, and thus, as if conscious of its own impotence, it folds its arms in despair and sits cursing in a corner. When it conquers it is commonly in the dark, by treachery and undermin- ing, by calumny and detraction. Envy is no less foolish than de- testable ; it is a vice which they say keeps no holiday, but is al- ways in the wheel, and working upon its own disquiet. — Jeremy Collier. That envy is most malignant which is most like Cain's, who en\'ied his brother because his sacrifice was better accepted, when there was nobody but God to look on. — Bacon. The truest mark of being born with great qualities is being born without envy. — La Rochefou- cauld. We often make a parade of pas- sions, even of the most criminal; but envy is a timid and shame- ful passion which we never dare avow. — La Rochefoucauld. ExvY, if surrounded on all sides by the brightness of another's prosperity, like the scorpion con- fined within a circle of fire, will sting itself to death. — Coltox. Take heed thou harbor not that vice called envy, lest another's happiness be thy torment, and G-od's blessing become thy curse. Virtue corrupted with vain glory turns pride; pride poisoned with mMice becomes envy. Join there- fore humility with thy virtue, and pride shall have no footing, and envy shall find no entrance. — Quarles. ExvY is more irreconcilable than hatred. — La Rochefou- cauld. Base envy withers at another's joy, And hates the excellence it cannot reach. Thomson. Envy is usually more quick- sighted than love. — Hall. Envy is the saw of the soul. — Socrates. Envy's memory is nothing but a row of hooks to hang up grudges on. Some people's sensibility is a mere bundle of aversions, and you hear them display and parade it, not in recounting the things they are attached to, but in telling you how many things and persons "they cannot bear." — John Fos- ter. ./ EXYY. 91 Exty's a vice that ne'er on high does bound, But. like a lurking viper, creeps on lowest ground. Oyid. ExvT is not merely a perverse- ness of temper, but it is such a distemper of the mind as disorders aU the faculties of it. It began with Satan, for when he fell he could see nothing to please him in Paradise, and envied our first parents when in innocence, and therefore tempted them to sin, which ruined them, and all the human race. Mr. Locke tells us that upon asking a blind man what he thought scarlet was, he an- swered he believed it was like the sound of a trumpet. He was forced to form his conceptions of ideas which he had not, bj those which he had. In the same man- ner, though an envious man can- not but see perfections, jet having contracted the distemper of acquired blindness, he will not own them, but is always degrading or misrepresenting things which are excellent. Thus, point out a pious person, and ask the envious man what he thinks of him, he will say he is a hypo- crite, or deceitful; praise a man of learning or of great abilities, and he will say he is a pedant, or proud of his attainments ; mention a beautiful woman, and he will either slander her chastity or charge her with affectation ; show liiin a fine poem or painting, and he will call the one " stifi-V' and the other a " daubing :" in this way he depreciates or deforms every pleasing object. "With re- spect to other vices, it is frequently seen that many confess and for- sake them; but this is not often the case with respect to this vice, for as the person afQicted with this evil know^s very weU to own that we envy a man is to allow him to be a superior, his pride win not therefore pennit him to make any concession, if accused of indulging this base principle, but he becomes more violent against the person envied, and generally remains incurable. — Tatlee. ExvY is a weed that grows in all soils and climates, and is no less luxuriant in the country than in the court, is not confined to any rank of men or extent of for- tune, but rages in the breasts of all degrees. Alexander was not prouder than Diogenes; and it may be if we would endeavor to surprise it in its most gaudy dress and attire, and in the exercise of its full empire and tyranny, we should find it in schoolmasters and scholars, or in some country lady, or the knight, her husband; all which ranks of people more de- spise their neighbors than all the degrees of honor in which courts abound; and it rages as much in a sordid, affected dress as in all the silks and embroideries which the excess of the age and the folly of vouth delight to be adorned with. EXVY — ETERXITY. Since, then, it keeps all sorts of company, an(J wriggles itself into the liking of the most contrary natures and dispositions, and yet carries so much poison and venom with it that it alienates the affec- tions from heaven, and raises rebellion against God himself, it is worth our utmost care to watch it in all its disguises and ap- proaches, that we may discover it in its first entrance, and dislodge it before it procures a shelter or retiring place to Iodide and conceal itself. — Clae- ExvT is termed in Latin livor, or paleness. This odious sensation is known to produce very often a livid and pale complexion in the person affected with it. Though the yellow and black bile may arise in the veins from other causes, yet when this detested passion is of sufficient force and duration to affect the current of the blood, the envious man's com- plexion will assume a livid hue. — CilEVEEAU. The praise of the envious is far less creditable than their censure : they praise tliat only which they can surpass, but that which surpasses them they cen- sure. Envy torments others, and robs one's self of the ha[)i)iness that lies in seeking and enjoying the good of our neighbor. ) How WILL all the present scenes change in another world! The epicure will pass from a bed of roses to a bed of flames; but the poor distressed and tried saint shall be translated from his prison and troubles into joys which are unspeakable, and glories which cannot be described. Be not dis- couraged, poor wearied pilgrim; hold on thy way; there awaits thee a crown of righteousness, and, what thou must be immortalized to bear, "an eternal weight of glory." — South. It is said of Virgil, when he was asked why he studied so much accuracy in the plan of his poem, the propriety of his characters, and the purity of his diction, he replied, " I am writing for eter- nity." What more weighty consid- eration to justify and enforce the utmost vigilance and circumspec- tion of life than this : " I am living for eternity." — Geeexe. Wren- I endeavor to represent eternity to myself, I avail myself of whatever I can conceive most long and durable. I heap imngin- ation on imagination, conjecture on conjecture. First, I consider those long lives which most wish^ and some attain ; I observe those old men who have lived four or live generations ; I do more, I turn to ancient chronicles; 1 go back to the patriai-chal age, and consider ETERXITY — EVIL. 93 life near a thousand years, and I say to myself, all this is not eter- nity. Having represented to my- self real objects, I form ideas of imaginary ones ; I go from our age to the time of publishing the Gos- pel, from thence to the publication of the law, and from thence to the creation; I join this epoch to the present time, and I imagine Adam yet living. All this is nothing in comparison of eternity ! I go further still: I take the greatest number of years that can be im- agined ; I add ages to ages, millions of ages to millions of ages ; I form of all these one fixed number, and I stay my imagination. After this I suppose God to create a world like this which we inhabit ; I sup- pose him creating it by forming one atom after another, and em- ploying in the production of each atom the time fixed in my calcu- lation. "What numberless ages would the creation of such a world in such a manner require! Then I suppose the Creator to arrange these atoms, and to pursue the same plan of arranging them as of creating them. What numberless ages Avould such an arrangement require! Finally, I suppose him to dissolve and annihilate the whole, and observe the same method in this dissolution as he did in the creation and disposition of the whole. "What an immense duration would be consumed ! Yet this is not eternity ; all this is only a point in comparison of eternity. — Saueix. Eterxity! thou pleasing, dread- ful thought! Through what variety of untried being, Through what new scenes and changes must we pass ? The wide, the unbounded prospect lies before me ; But shadows, clouds, and darkness rest upon it. Addison. He that will often put eternity and the world before him, and who will dare to look steadfastly at both of them, will find that the more often he contemplates them, the former will grow greater and the latter less. — Colton. The most momentous concern of man is the state he shall enter upon after this short and transi- tory life is ended ; and in propor- tion as eternity is of greater importance than time, so ought men to be solicitous upon what grounds their expectations with regard to that durable state are built, and on what assurances their hopes or their fears stand. — S. Claeke. €bxl Eeadixess to believe evil Avith- out suflicient examination is the result of pride and indolence. "We wish to find people guilty, and we do not wish to give ourselves the trouble of examining into their crimes. — La Eochefotjcauld. 94 EVIL — EXAMPLE. By tlie very constitution of our nature, moral evil is its own curse. — Chalmers. To THOSE persons wlio have vomited out of their souls all rem- nants of goodness, there rests a certain pride in evil; and having else no shadow of glory left them, they glory to be constant in in- iquity, — Sir p. Sids'ey. Maxy have puzzled themselves about the origin of evil. I am content to observe that there is evil, and that there is a way to escape from it; and with this I begin and end. — Newton. The well-directed efforts of a good man, even in the private walks of life, may produce results hardly to be calculated. His con- duct throughout the successive en- gagements of the day may operate powerfully on the different mem- bers of his family, and even upon his friends who frequent the house. Whatever parent gives his chil- dren good instruction, and sets them at the same time a bad example, may be considered as bringing them food in one hand and poison in tlie other. — Balguy. Every man, in whatever sta- tion, has, or endeavors to liave, his followers, admirers, and imita- tors, and has therefore the influ- ence of his example to watch with care. He ought to avoid not only crimes, but the appearance of crimes; and not only to practice virtue, but to applaud, counte- nance, and support it; for it is possible, for want of attention, we may teach others faults from vrhich ourselves are free; or by a cow- ardly desertion of a cause, which we ourselves approve, may per- vert those w^io fix their eyes upon us, and having no rule of their own to guide their course, are easily misled by the aberrations of that example which they choose for their directions. — Johxsox. OxE w^atch, set right, will do to try many by; but, on the other hand, one that goes wrong may be the means of misleading a whole neighborhood. And the same may be said of the example we individ- ually set to those around us. We laugh heartily to see a whole flock of sheep jump because one did so. Might not one imagine that sup6rior beings do the same by us, and for exactly the same reason ? — Greville, Be a pattern to others, and then all will go well; for as a whole city is infected by the licentious passions and vices of great men, so it is likewise reformed by their moderation. — Cicero. EXPECTATION — EXPErJEXCE —EYE. 95 Expectation, when once lier wings are expanded, easily reaches heights which performance never will attain ; and when she has mounted the summit of perfection , derides her follower, who dies in the pursuit. — Johxsox. j It should be an indispensable rule in life to contract our desires to our present condition, and what- ever may be our expectations, to live within the compass of what we actually possess. It will be time enough to enjoy an estate when it comes into our hands; but if we anticipate our good for- tune we shall lose the pleasure of it when it arrives, and may possi- bly never possess what we have so foolishly counted on. — Addisox. "^E part more easily with what we possess than with the expecta- tion of what we wish for; and the reason of it is, that what we ex- pect is always greater than what we enjoy. — The TToeld. may give advice, but we cannot give conduct. However, they that will not be counseled cannot be helped ; and if you will not hear reason, she will surely rap your knuckles. — Feaxklix. !N"o MAX was ever so completely skilled in the conduct of life as not to receive new information from age and experience. — Tekexce. ExPEEiEXCE often charges high for her lessons, but they are inval- uable. — O. TnoMPSox'. To most men experience is like the stern-lights of a ship, which illumine only the track it has passed. — Coleeidge. ExPEEiEX^CE keeps a dear school ; but fools will learn in no other, and scarce in that ; for it is true we It was an old saying, "The soul dwells in the eyes;" because all the passions, as anger, love, envy, etc., are much seen there. The eye is the mirror of the heart. That fine part of our constitu- tion, the eye, seems as much the receptacle and seat of our passions, appetites, and inclinations as the mind itself; and at least it is the outward portal to introduce them to the house within, or rather the common thoroughfare to let our affections pass in and out. Love, anger, pride, and avarice, all visi- bly move in those little orbs.— Spectatoe. The human eye has five tunics to guard it against danger: the first is like a spider's web, the 96 EYE — FAITH. second like a net, tlie third like a berry, the fourth like a horn, and the fifth is the cover or lid of the eye. These resemble the various ways which Providence takes to preserve our souls and bodies. — Flavel. The natural eye is a most delicate organ. Overworked, it avenges itself by pains and penal- ties. Prize and protect your eyes alway. Eead no trash. Execrate fine print. Trespass not upon the hours of repose in working the eye, for its loss is irreparable. Let youth take advice from age, and so use their organs as not to abuse them. Believest thou? then thou wilt speak boldly. Speakest thou boldly? then thou must suffer. Sufierest thou ? then thou shalt be comforted. For faith, the confes- sion thereof, and the cross, follow one upon another. — Ltjthee. Heavex shall want power, and earth means, before any of the household of faith shall want maintenance. — Hall. Faith is an undaunted grace; it hath a strong heart and a bold forehead : even denials cannot dis- may it, much less delays. — Hall. As FAITH is the evidence of things not seen, so thiugs that are seen are the perfecting of faith. I believe a tree will be green when I see it leafless in winter; I know it is green when I see it flourishing in summer. It was a fault in Thomas not to believe till he did see : it were a madness in him not to believe when he did see. Belief may sometimes exceed reason, not oppose it ; and faith be often above sense, not against it. Thus while faith doth assure me that I eat Christ eff"ectually, sense must assure me that I taste bread really. For though I often- times see not those things that I believe, yet I must still believe those things that I see. — Wae- Flattee not thyself in thy faith to God, if thou wantest charity for thy neighbor ; and think not thou hast charity for thy neighbor if thou wantest faith to God. When they are not both together they are both wanting; they are both dead if once divided. — Quaeles. Faith lights us through the dark to Deity ; Faith builds a bridge across the gulf of death To break the shock that nature cannot shun, And lands thought smoothly on the further shore. Yoxn^G. The Church of Christ is founded in faith, raised by hope, and fin- ished by love. — St. Austin. FAITH. 97 Faith changes the nature of the elements, and forces them to sub- mit to the faithful. Let not there- fore the view of the most cruel punishments terrify us, for Tve need not fear any pain, since martyrs live in flames, and their life seems to insult the fire that was designed to consume them. — St. Zexon of Yeeoxa. Do VIOLENCE to God ; seize the kingdom of heaven. He that for- bids us to touch another's goods rejoices to have his own invaded ; he that condemns the violence of avarice praises that of faith. — St. Pauli:n'. In a perfect faith there is no fear. By how much more Ave fear, by so much less we believe. — Hall. Faith and works are as neces- sary to our spiritual life as Chris- tians, as soul and body are to our life as men ; for faith is the soul of rehgion, and works, the body. — Oolton. A Capuchin says, ""Wear a gray coat and a hood, a rope round thy body, and sandals on thy feet." A cordelier says, "Put on a black hood ;" and an ordinary papist says, "Do this or that work, hear mass, pray, fast, give alms," etc. But a true Christian says, " I am justified and saved only by faith in Christ, without any works or merits of my own. Compare these together, and judge which is the true righteousness. — Luthee. God saith to each of his people, "I am thy salvation;" the soul then saith, " Thou art my God." Faith is, as it were, a spiritual echo returning that voice back again which God first speaks to the soul. — Dk. SiBs. Faith is not subject to error ; it does not know what it is to be deceived. Blind as it is, it per- ceives; it knows what it cannot see; it goes even beyond the bounds of human reason; it goes further than nature and experi- ence, by knowing what the one cannot do, and what the other cannot teach. — St. Beenaed. Faith is the hand wherewith we take everlasting life. — Lati- MEE. If thy faith have no doubts, thon hast just cause to doubt thy faith ; and if thy doubts have no hope, thou hast just reason to fear despair. When, therefore, thy doubts shall exercise thy faith, keep thy hopes firm to qualify thy doubts. So shall thy faith be secured from doubts, so shaU thy doubts be preserved from despair. — QUAELES. They are but infidel-Christians whose faith and works are at war against each other. Faith which is right can no more forbear from 98 FAITH. good works tliaii can tlie sun to shed abroad its glorious beams, or a body of perfumes to dispense a grateful odor. — Feltiiam. St. Maximi's says upon the good thief that faith makes thieves innocent, and infidelity makes apostles criminal. This is a great, a wonderful faith, which believed that Jesus Christ upon the cross was more glorified than punished. It was a brave attempt! advent'- rous he Who in the first ship broke the unknown sea, And leavmg his dear native shores behind, Trusted his life to the licentious wind. I see the surging brine, the tem- pest raves, He on a pine plank rides across the weaves, Exulting on the edge of thousand gaping graves; He steers the winged boat, and shifts the sails. Conquers the flood and manages the gales. Such is the soul that leaves this mortal land. Fearless when the great Master gives command ; Death is the storm, she smiles to hear it roar, And bids the tempest waft her to the shore ; Then with a skillful hand she sweeps the seas, And manages the raging storm with case ; (" Her faith can govern death,") sho spreads her wings Wide to the wind, and as she sails she sings, And loses by degrees the sight of mortal things. As the shores lessen, so her joys arise. The waves roll gentler, and the tempest dies. Now vast eternity fills all her She floats on the broad deep with infinite delight, The seas forever calm, the skies forever bright ! De. "Watts. Faith is not only a means of obeying, but a principal act of obedience. It is not only a need- ful foundation, not only an altar on which to sacrifice, but it is a sacrifice itself, and perhaps of all the greatest. It is a submission of our nnderstandings ; an obla- tion of our idolized reason to God, which he requires so indispensably that our Avhole will and aftections, though seemingly a larger sacri- fice, will not without it be received at his hands. — Yotj]S'g. Faith can discover the sun of righteousness sometimes through the darkest clouds, and when it cannot lay hold on a promise, it may fasten on an attribute of our covenant God. God's promises are the life of faith, and faith gives life to the promises ; and if nothing is too hard for God, nothing (that FAITH— FAME. 99 is promised) is too liigli for faith. — De. Aeeowsmith. Faith is a certain image of eternity. All things are present to it; things past, and things to come. Faith converses with an- gels, and antedates the hymns of glory. Every man that hath this grace is as certain there are glo- ries for him, if he perseveres in duty, as if he had heard and snng the blessed thanksgiving song for the blessed sentence of dooms- day. — Jeeemy Tatloe. ^mat ]^0E is the desire of fame so vain as divers have rigidly imag- ined ; fame being, when belonging to the living, that which is more gravely called a steady and neces- sary reputation; and without it hereditary power or acquired greatness can never quietly gov- ern the world. 'Tis of the dead a musical glory, in which God, the author of excellent goodness, vouchsafes to take a continual share; for the remembered vir- tues of great men are chiefly such of his works (mentioned by King David) as perpetually praise him. And the good fame of the dead prevails by example much more tlian the reputation of the living, because the latter is always sus- pected by our envy, but the other is cheerfully allowed and religious- ly admired : for admiration, whose eyes are ever weak, stands still, and fixes its gaze upon great things acted far off; but, when they are near, walks slightly away as from familiar objects. Fame is to our sons a solid inheritance, and not unuseful to remote posterity ; and to our reason 'tis the first, though but a little, taste of eternity. — Datexaxt. What so foolish as the chase of fame ? How vain the prize! how impo- tent our aim ! For what are men who grasp at praise sublime But bubbles on the rapid stream of time ; That rise and fall, that swell and are no more, Born, and forgot, ten thousand in an hour. Youxo. The drying up a single tear has more Of honest fame than shedding seas of gore. Byeox. Or present fame think little, and of future less. The praises that we receive after we are buried, like the posies that are strewed over our grave, may be gratifying to the living, but they are nothing to the dead. The dead are gone either to a place where they hear them not, or where, if they do, they will despise them. — ^Coltox. Theee is not in the world so toilsome a trade as the pursuit of 100 FAME — FASlllOX — FAULTS — FEAR. fame. Life concludes before you have so much as sketched your work, — Beuyeee. The way to fame is like the way to heaven — through much tribulation. — Steene. FAsniox is, for the most part, nothing but the ostentation of riches. — Locke. Il^Ew customs, though they be never so ridiculous, nay, let them be unmanly, yet are followed. — Shakspeaee. Fashion wears out more apparel than the man. — Shakspeaee. Jfaulte. We have few faults which are not more excusable than the means we take to conceal them. — La Rochefoucauld. If we had no faults ourselves, we should not take so much pleas- ure in remarking them in others. — La Rochefoucauld. We easily forget our faults when tliey are only known to ourselves. — La Rochefoucauld. It is not so much the being ex- empt from faults, as the having overcome thum, that is an advant- age to us; it being with the follies of the mind as with the weeds of a field, which, if destroyed and consumed upon the place of their birth, enrich and improve it more than if none had ever sprung there. — Pope. Jfti If thou desire to be truly val- iant, fear to do any injury. He that fears not to do evil is al- ways afraid to suffer evil ; he tliat never fears is desperate; and he that fears always is a coward. He is the true valiant man that dares nothing but what he may, and fears nothing but what he ought. — Quaeles. You should not fear, nor yet should you wish for your last day. — ^Maetial. Feae is implanted in us as a preservative from evil; but its duty, like that of other passions, is not to overbear reason, but to assist it. Nor should it be suffered to tyrannize in the imagination, to raise phantoms of liorror, or beset life with supernumerary distresses. — Jonxsox. If evils come not, then our fears . are vain. And if they do, fear but augments the pain. Sie T. Mooee. Feae has a strong memory. FEAR — FEELIN^GS — FELICITY. 101 We have never so much cause to fear as when we fear nothing. — Hall. Fear on guilt attends, and deeds of darkness ; The virtuous breast ne'er knows it. Hazard. Fear is a slavish passion of the soul, Which like a tyrant would our bliss control ; Invading fears repel our real joys, And ills foreseen the present bliss destroys. Those who fear where no fear is are cowards. But those T^^-ho fear real dangers enough to, avoid and escape them are heroes. A RELIGION without feeling is no religion. How can we have I'epentance without feeling sorrow for sin, and indignation against it ? How can we have faith in the Lord Jesus,, and behold that in- finite fullness of grace treasured up in him for us, without rejoicing in him, while we believe with joy unspeakable and full of glory. — R. Hill. I HAVE heard some people speak against feeling in religion, and when we talk about it they call us enthusiasts ; but I think we may safely call them so. Feel- ings! why, I shall never go from one side of a street to another if I have not feeling. I shall never move my hand or my head if I have not feeling. It is absurd to talk against feelings. Man is not a stock nor a stone ; he must feel. Show me a man without feelings, and I wonder what sort of a crea- ture he will be ! Well, then, what shall I do with my feelings ? Why, have God's law written upon them. I shall then have the wisdom of holiness, the holy love of God, and the influences of his Holy Spirit within me. 'No UA'N has a right to disturb the comfortable feelings, even of a beast, unnecessarily, much less wantonly. If men knew what felicity dwells in t^he cottage of a virtuous man, bow sound he sleeps, how quiet his rest, how composed his mind, how free from care, how easy his position, how moist his mouth, how joyful his heart, they would never admire the noises, the dis- eases, the throngs of passions, and the violence of unnatural appetites that fill the house of the luxurious and the heart of the ambitious. — Bishop Taylor. Felicity, pure and unalloyed felicity, is not a plant of earthly growth; her gardens are the skies» — Burton. 102 FLATTEItY — FOLLY — FORGIVEXESS. If we did not flatter ourselves, the flattery of others would be very harmless. — La Rochefou- cauld. Flattery is a sort of bad money to which our vanity gives curren- cy.— -Locke. Flatteet is often a traffic of mutual meanness, where, although both parties intend deception, nei- ther are deceived. — Colton. It hath been well said that the arch flatterer, with whom aU the petty flatterers have intelligence, is a man's self. — Bagox. As the sunflower is always turning itself according to the course of the sun, but shuts and closes up its leaves as soon as that great luminary has forsaken the horizon, so the flatterer is always fawning upon the prosperous, till their fortune begins to frown upon them, and then, as some £:inds of vermin desert foiling houses, so flatterers then desert them. ^ Waxley. The heai't has no avenue so open as that of flattery, which, like some enchantment, lays all its guards asleep. lie that reviles me may perhaps call me a fool; but he that flatters me, if I take not great heed, will make me one. The only coin tliat is most current among mankind is flattery, the only benefit of which is, tliat by hearing what we are not, we may learn what we ought to be. — Steetch. Fools drink in flatteiy as a thirsty man drinks water, and put it to the credit of the flatterer. Wise men lay it aside, or put it to his account. It is better to fall among crows than among flatterers. Those only devour the dead, these the living. — Axtisthexes. Keep your heart from him who begins his acquaintance with you by indirect flattery of your favor- ite foible. — Lavatee. Flattery is like friendship in show, but not in fruit. — Soceates. Folly and anger are but two names for the same thing. — Spax- i&H Peoveeb. Folly consists in drawing of false conclusions from just princi- ples, by which it is distinguished from madness, which draws just conclusions from false principles. — Locke. CosMUs, Duke of Fk^ronce, had a desperate saying against perfidi- ous or neglecting friends, as if FORGIVEXESS. 103 those wrongs were unpardonable. "You shall read," saith he, "that we are commanded to forgive our enemies, but you never read that we are commanded to forgive our friends." But yet the spirit of Job was in a better tune. " Shall w^e," saith he, "receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" And so of friends in proportion. — Bacox. Hath any wronged thee? Be bravely revenged: slight it, and the work is begun ; forgive it, and it is finished. He is below himself that is not above an injury. — QUAELES. The narrow soul Xnows not the godlike glory of forgiving. Eowe. He who has not forgiven an en- emy has never yet tasted one of the most sublime enjoyments of life. — Lavatee. 'Tis easier for the generous to for- give. Than for offense to ask it. Thomsox. Of him that hopes to be for- given it is indispensably required that he forgive ; it is therefore al- most superfluous to urge any other motive. On this great duty eter- nity is as it were suspended, and to him that refuses to practice it the throne of mercy is inaccessi- ble; and there is reason to fear that the Saviour has been born in vain for him. — Steetch. If thou hast done a wrong or injury to another, rather acknowl- edge and endeavor to repair than to defend it. One Avay thou gain- est forgiveness ; the other thou doublest the wi^ong and the reck- oning. — W. Pexn. Whoeyee considers the weak- ness both of himself and others will not long want persuasives to forgiveness. We know not to what degree of malignity any injury is to be imputed, or how much its guilt, if we were to inspect the mind of him that committed it, would be extenuated by mistake, precipitance, or negligence. We cannot be certain how much more we feel than was intended, or how much we increase the mischief to ourselves by voluntary aggrava- tions. We may charge to design the effects of accident. We may think the blow violent, only be- cause we have made ourselves delicate and tender. We are, on every side, in danger of error and guilt, which we are certain to avoid only by speedy forgiveness. — JOHXSON. XoTHixa annoys an enemy more than kindness. It is an arrow that generally hits the mark. It is better to overlook trivial offenses than to quarrel for them. By the last you are even witli lO-i FOliGIVENESS — FORTITUDE. jour adversary ; by the first above him. A WISE man will make haste to forgive, because he know^s the full value of time, and will not suffer it to pass away in unnecessary pain. — Ramblee. ♦ He that cannot forgive others, breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself; for every man has need to be forgiven. — Loed Heebekt. FoEGivE others every personal injury; forgive yourself nothing. To live only to nurse up decays, to feel pain, and to wait upon dis- eases, is somewhat troublesome; but to bear sickness with decency is a noble instance of fortitude. He that charges an enemy does not show himself more brave than he that grapples handsomely with a disease. To do this without ab- ject complaints, wdthout rage and expostulation, is a glorious com- bat. — Colliee. It is absolutely necessary to a comfortable life to have a consid- erable degree of fortitude in the practice of virtue. Mr. Collier, in his essay on fortitude, saj'^s thus "What can be more honorable than to have courage enough to execute tlie commands of con- science and reason, to maintain our dignity and the station as- signed to us, and to be proof against poverty, pain, and even death itself? I mean so far as not to do anything that is sinful, or any way dishonorable ; to do this is to be above titles and honors, and shows a great mind." The life of a man who acts with a steady integrity, without valuing the interpretation of his actions, has but one uniform path to move in ; for as he acts upon the princi- ple of religion or true virtue, his mind is firm and undaunted in the practice of those things which conscience and propriety point out to him. — Tatlee. Teue fortitude is seen in great ex- ploits That justice warrants, and that wisdom guides ; All else is towering frenzy and distraction. We have all of us suflScient for- titude to bear the misfortunes of others. — La RocnEForcAULD. Religious fortitude is to be ex- ercised in maintaining Christian faith and practice. For this pur- pose we should be well informed on these heads, or our courage will otherwise be a blind princi- ple, and we shall be in danger of maintaining error instead of truth ; or if w^e should be in the right, it will only be by accident, and therefore our courage cannot be FORTUNE. 105 acceptable to God. Ill-instructed Christians are in danger of prov- ing cowards and deserting their profession; but where faith, knowl- edge, and prudence unite, courage and fortitude are to be much com- mended, and may prove highly useful to every believer in partic- ular who possesses and exercises these Christian virtues, and to the cause of true religion at large. — De. John Evaxs. con- The power of fortune is ( fessed only by the miserable ; for the happy impute all their success to prudence and merit. — Swift. I SEE those who are lifted highest on The hill of honor are nearest to the Blasts of envious fortune; while the low And humble valley fortunes are far more secure. IIun:ible valleys thrive with their bosoms full Of flowers, when hills melt with lightning, and The rough anger of the clouds. FOED. Every one is well or ill at ease according as he finds himself. Not he whom the world believes, but he who believes himself to be so is con- tent, and therein alone belief gives itself being and- reality. Fortune does us neither good nor hurt; she only presents us the matter and the seed, which our soul, more powerful than she, turns and ap- plies as she best pleases, being the sole cause and sovereign mistress of her own happy or unhappy condition. All external accessions receive taste and color from the internal constitution, as clothes warm us not with their heat but our own, which they are adapted to cover and keep in. — Montaigne. Let not fortune, which hath no name in Scripture, have any in thy divinity. Let Providence, not chance, have the honor of thy acknowledgments, and be thy (Edipus in contingencies. Mark well the paths and winding ways thereof; but be not too wise in the construction, or sudden in the application. The hand of Provi- dence writes often by abbrevia- tions, hieroglyphics, or short char- acters, which, like the laconism on the wall, are not to be made out but by a hint or key from that Spirit which indited them. Leave future occurrences to their uncer- tainties ; think that which is pres- ent thy own ; and, since 'tis easier to foretell an eclipse than a foul day at a distance, look for little regularity below. Attend with patience the uncertainty of things, and what lieth yet unexerted in the chaos of futurity. The uncer- tainty and ignorance of things to come, make the woi-ld new unto us by unexpected emergencies; lOG FOltirXE— FRANKNESS— FRIENDS, FRIENDSHIP. whereby \ve pass not our days in the trite road of affairs aftbrding no novity, for the novelizing spirit of man lives by variety and the new faces of things.' — Sir T. Bkowne. TTno/^eZs no ills Should therefore /^ar them; and when fortune smiles Be doubly cautious, lest destruc- tion come Remorseless on him, and he fall unpitied. Sophocles. TTiio hath not known ill fortune never knew Himself, or his own virtue. Mallet. It requires greater virtues to support good than bad fortune. — La Rochefoucatjld. FoETUN'E is ever seen accompa- nying industry, and is as often trundling in a wheelbarrow as lolling in a coach and six. — Gold- smith. The men who can be charged with fewest failings, either with respect to abilities or virtue, are generally most ready to allow them. Cesar Avrote an account of the errors committed by him in his wars of Gaul ; and Hippocrates, wliose name is, perhaps, in ra- tional estimation, greater than Cesar's, warned i)0sterity against a mistake into which he had fallen. "So much," says Celsus, "does the open and artless confession of an error become a man con- scious that he has enough remain- ing to support his character." — JOHNSOX. The next best thing to being in the right is frankly and manfully to acknowledge being in the wrong. Jfrinxirs, ^ifrxmirsljip". The Spanish proverb is too true : " Dead men and the absent find no friends." J All mouths are opened with a conceit of impunity. My ear shall be no grave to bury my friend's good name. But as I will be my present friend's self, so will I be my absent friend's deputy, to say for him what he would, and cannot, speak for himself. — Hall. Convey thy love to thy friend, as an arrow to the mark, to stick there, not as a ball against the wall, to rebound back to thee. That friendship will not continue to the end that is begun for an end. — ENonmiDiox. Be not the fourth friend of him who has had three and lost them.— Sir P. Sidney. FPJEXDS, FRIENDSHIP. 107 Delibeeate long before thou consecrate a friend. And when thy impartial judgment concludes him worthy of thy bosom, receive him joyfully, and entertain him wisely; impart thy secrets boldly, and mingle thy thoughts with his. He is thy very self, and use him so. If thou firmly think him faithful, thou makest him so. — EXCHIEIDIOX. A PEixciPAL fruit of friendship is the ease and discharge of the fullness of the heart which passions of all kinds do cause and induce. We know diseases of stoppings and suffocations are the most dan- gerous in the body, and it is not much otherwise in the mind. You may take sarsa to open the liver, steel to open the spleen, flower of sulphur for the lungs, castoreum for the brain ; but no receipt open- eth the heart but a true friend, to whom you may impart griefs, joys, fears, hopes, suspicions, counsels, and whatsoever lietli upon the heart to oppress it, in a kind of civil shrift or confession. How many things are there which a man cannot with any face or comeliness say or do himself. A man can scarce allege his own merits with modesty, much less extol them; a man cannot some- times brook to supplicate or beg, and a number of the like. But all these things are graceful in a friend's mouth which are blushing in a man's own. So again, a man's person hath many proper relations which he cannot put off. A man cannot speak to a son but as a father ; to his wife but as a husband; to his enemy but upon terms: whereas a friend may speak as the case requires, and not as it sorteth with the person. But to enumerate these things were endless. I have given the rule, where a man cannot fitly play his own part ; if he have not a friend, he may quit the stage. — Bacon. ISToxE but those who are mag- nanimous can be true friends in the strictest sense, for a friend may be in such a situation that requires the full exertions of the magnanimity of his friend to help and serve him. Tnou mayest be sure that he that will in private tell thee of thy faults is thy friend, for he ad- ventures thy dislike, and doth hazard thy hatred; for there are few men that can endure it, every man for the most part delighting in self-praise, which is one of the most universal follies that be- witcheth mankind. — Sie W. Ra- leigh. Get not your friends by bare compliments, but by giving them sensible tokens of your love. It is well worth while to learn how to will the heart of a man the right way. Force is of no use to make or preserve a friend, who is 108 rrJEXDS, FPJENDSniP. an animal tliat is never cauglit nor tamed but by kindness and pleas- ure. Excite them by your civil- ities, and show them tliat you desire nothing more than their satisfaction. Oblige with all your soul that friend who has made you a present of his own. — Socrates. The lightsome countenance of a friend giveth such an inward deck- ing to the house where it lodgeth as proudest palaces have cause to envy the gilding. — Sie Philip SiDIfEY. Much beautiful, and excellent, and fair "Was seen beneath the sun, but naught was seen More beautiful or excellent or fair Than face of faithful friend, fairest when seen In darkest day. And many sounds were sweet, Most ravishing and pleasant to the ear. But sweeter none than voice of faithful friend, Sweet always, sweetest heard in loudest storm. POLLOK. Let friendship creep gently to a height: if it rush to it, it may soon run itself out of breath. — Fuller. So MANY qualities are necessary to the possibility of friendship, and so many accidents must occur to its rise and its continuance, that the greatest part of mankind con- tent themselves without it, and supply its place as they can with interest and dependence. — Jonx- SON. As GOLD more splendid from the fire appears. Thus friendship brightens by the length of years. Mex'axdee. If a man does not make new acquaintance as he advances through life he will soon find him- self left alone. A man should keep his friendship in constant re- pair. — Dr. Jonxsox.^ Axtisthexes used to wonder at those who were curious in buy- ing but an earthen dish to see that it had no cracks nor inconven- iences, and yet would be careless in the choice of friends, to take them with the flaws of vice. Surely a man''s companion is a second gen- ius to sway him to the good or bad. — OwEX Feltham. The nature of friendship is to have everything in common, good and ill, joy and grief. — St. Greg- ory OF Nazianzex. The first necessary property in real friendship is that it be entirely disinterested. If any form an in- FRIENDS, FRIENDSHIP. 100 timacy merely for what they can gain by it, this is not true friend- ship in such a person. It must be free from any such selfish view, and only design mutual benefit as each may require. Again, it must be unreserved. It is true indeed that friends are not bound to re- veal to each other all their family concerns, but they should be ever ready to disclose what may in any point of view concern each other. Lastly, it is benevolent. Friends must study to please and oblige each other in the most delicate, kind, and liberal manner ; and that in poverty and trouble, as well as in riches or prosperity. The be- nevolence of friends is also mani- fested in overlooking each other's faults, and, in the most tender man- ner, admonishing each other when they do amiss. Upon the whole, the purse, the heart, and the house ought to be open to a friend, and in no case can we shut out either of them, unless upon clear proofs of treachery, immo- rality, or some other great crime. — Steetch. Feiendship is one mind in two bodies. — Aeistotle. Aeeiend the sorrows of his friend should feel. Relieve by pity, and by counsel heal. SooTT. A feiend is worth all hazards we can run. Poor is the friendless master of a world. A world in purchase for a friend is gain. Young. Theee is no possession more valuable than a good and faithful friend. — Soceates. Heatek gives us friends to "bless the present scene, Resumes them to prepare na for the next. Youkg. PRoeuEE not friends in haste, nor hastily part with them. — Solon. A friend should bear a friend's infirmities, — Shaes.peaee. Feiendships early contracted are generally the mo&t firm and lasting; but in whatever period they are contracted they are un- doubtedly one of the greatest blessings we can enjoy. They often double our pleasure and di- vide our sorrows. They give a brighter sunshine to prosperity, and enlighten the gloom of the darkest hour, and we truly call real friendship the medicine of life. Too many there are whose attachment to those they call their friends is confined to the day of their prosperity. As long as that continues, they are or appear to be afifectionate and cordial ; but as soon as their friend is under a 110 FRIENDS, FRIENDSHIP. cloud they begin to withdraw, and pretend to find some fault in his conduct or behavior to justify a separation. In friendship of this sort tliere can be no sincerity, and the heart has no concern, for the great test of true friendship is con- stancy in the hour of danger or dis- tress. When your friend is calum- niated, then is the time openly and boldly to defend Mm ; when his cir- cumstances are declining, then is the time of relieving him; when sickness or infirmities come on him, then is the time of visiting and comforting him. These are some of the duties, or sacred claims of friendship which virtue, but espe- cially religion, enforces in all who have friends. To act in this man- ner toward our friends commands esteem from all, and we have every reason to hope that if we were in distress Providence would incline our friends thus benevolently to act toward us, — De, Blair. A FAITHFUL and true friend is a living treasure, inestijiiable in pos- session, and deeply to be lamented when gone. Nothing is more com- mon tljan to talk of a friend; noth- ing more difficult than to find one ; nothing more rare than to improve by one as we ought. ; All men have their frailties; and whoever looks for a friend without imperfections will never find M'hat he seeks. '' We love our- selves notwithstanding our ftmlts, and we ought to love our friends in like manner. — Cyeus. " With grief or joy when the full bosom's fraught. How sweet is the communicative thought ; With how much ardor is a friend desired, With keen sensations like our own inspired. Ready to feel with us our joy or woe, While tears. of sorrow or of glad- ness flow ; Wben we impart our pleasures or distress, The first to double, and the last make less. Wheee you are liberal of your loves and counsels, Be sure you be not loose; for those you make friends. And give your hearts to, when they once perceive The least rub in your fortunes, fall away Like water from ye^ never found again. SnAKSPEARE. Be careful to make friendship the child, and not the father of virtue ; for many strongly-knit minds are rather good friends than good men. So, although they do not like tlie evil their friend does, yet tliey like him who does the evil ; and though no counselors of FPJENDS, FRIENDSHIP — rRUGALITY. Ill the offense, they yet protect the offender. — Sie P. Sidney. TnEY are the best friends who support and encourage eacli other most in good designs and deeds; and tliey the worst enemies who support and encourage each other Cax gold gain friendship? Impu- dence of hope! As well mere man an angel might beget. Love, and love only, is the loan for love. All like the purchase; few the price will pay : And this makes friends sucli mir- acles below. YouxG. Feiexdship improves happiness and aljates misery by doubling our joy and dividing our grief. — Ad- DISOX. A FPJEXD that you buy with presents wiU betray you for great- er ones. A MouxTAix is made up of atoms, and friendship of little mat- ters. If the atoms hold not to- gether, the mountain is crumbled into dust. Xo oxE can be happy without a friend ; and no one can know what friends he has till he is unhappy. Frugality may be termed the daughter of prudence, the sister of temperance, and the parent of liberty. He that is extravagant will quickly become poor; and poverty will enforce dependence and invite corruption. It will al- most always produce a passive compliance with the wickedness of others, and there are few who do not learn by degrees to prac- tice those crimes which they cease to censure. — Johxsox. Feugality is founded on the principle that all riches have lim- its. BlTEKE. It appears evident that frugal- ity is necessary even to complete the pleasure of expense ; for it may be generally remarked of those who squander what they know their fortune not sufficient to al- low, that in their most jovial ex- pense there always breaks out some proof of discontent and im- patience : they either scatter with a kind of wild desperation and affected lavishness, as criminals brave the gallows when they can- not escape it, or pay their money with a peevish anxiety, and en- deavor at once to spend idly and to save meanly. Having neither firmness to deny their passions, nor courage to gratify tliem, they 112 FUTURE. murmur at tlieir own enjoyments, and poison the bowl of pleasure by reflections on the cost. Jfuture, To-MOEEOw, and to-morrow, and to-morrow Creeps, in its petty pace, from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time: And all our yesterdays have light- ed fools The way to dusty death. Shakspeaee. "To-MOREOW," didst thou say? Methought I heard Horatio say, " To-morrow ?" Go to ; I will not hear of it. " To- morrow ?" 'Tis a sharper, that stakes his pen- ury Against thy plenty ; who takes thy ready cash And pays thee naught but wishes, hopes, and promises, The currency of idiots; injurious bankrupt. That gulls the easy creditor. " To- morrow?" It is a period nowhere to be found In all the hoary registers of time. Unless perchance in the fool's cal- endar. Wisdom disclaims the word, nor holds society With those who own it. No, my Horatio, 'Tis fancy's child, and folly is its father ; Wrought of such stuff as dreams are, and as baseless As the fantastic visions of the evening. Cottox. The great task of him who con- ducts his life by the precepts of religion, is to make the future pre- dominate over the present ; to im- press upon his mind so strong a sense of the importance of obedi- ence to the divine will, of the value of the reward promised to virtue, and the terrors of the punishment denounced against crimes, as may overbear all the temptations which temporal hope or fear can bring in his way, and enable him to bid equal defiance to joy and sorrow ; to turn away at one time from the allurements of ambition, and push forward at another against the threats of calamity. — Johnsox. Eveeythixct that looks to the future elevates human nature ; for never is life so low or so little as when occupied with the present. — Laxdox. GEXIUS. 113 (§mxm. That is a siiperior genius, and an extraordinary temper, which looks upon the misfortunes and crosses of life as the seed of the most lieroic virtues. This man exults in adversity, he glories in ill-fortune. Torments do not dis- compose the serenity of his face, much less change the steadfast- ness of his heart. Nothing is able to pull him down or weaken him. Everything yields to the magnanimity and wisdom of this philosopher. If he is spoiled of his goods and conven- iences of earth, he hath wings ready to raise him up even to heaven. He flies into the bosom of God, who makes him amends for all, and is instead of all things to him. Though he is composed of matter, he lives as if he were not material. He is in the world witli a body, as if he were a pure spi)"it. In the midst of so many ])assions and sufferings which life is full of, he seems to be impassible. lie lets himself be vanquished in everything except courage, and even where he sub- mits he triumphs over those who seem to be above him. — St. Geeg- OEY Nazianzen. It is often found that a fine genius has but a weak memory, for where the genius is bright and the imagination vivid, the power of memory may be too much neg- lected, and lose its improvement. An active fancy readily wanders over a multitude of objects, and is continually entertaining itself with new flying images; it runs through a number of new scenes, or new pages, but without due attention, and seldom sufi'ers itself to dwell long enough upon any one of them to make a deep impression thereof upon the mind, and com- mit it to lasting remembrance. This is one plain and obvious rea- son why there are some persons of very bright parts and active spirits who have but short and narrow powers of remembrance, for having riches of their own, they are not solicitous to borrow. But notwithstanding men of original genius have not so much need to borrow as others, yet it would be better for them to em- ploy their memories more than they usually do ; for the wise ex- ercise of our own reasoning pow- ers may be called our own proper manufactures, and whatever we borrow from abroad, thesQ may be termed our foreign treasure, both together make a wealthy and happy mind. Some retain a good memory to extreme old age, but in general it is in its greatest per- fection from fifteen to fifty. — De. Watts. GExirs ! thou gift of heaven ! thou light divine ! Amid what dangers art thou doomed to shine! Oft will the body's weakness check thy force, 114 GEXIUS — GEXTLEMAX — GLORY. Oft damp tliy vigor, and impede thy course ; And trembling nerves compel thee to restrain Thy noble eftbrts, to contend with pain ; Or want (sad guest!) will in thy presence come, And breathe around her melan- choly gloom ; To life's low cares will thy proud thought confine, x\nd make her sufferings, her im- patience, thine, Ceabbe. Gexius is used to signify that talent or aptitude which we re- ceive from nature, whereby we excel in any one thing. Thus we speak of a genius for mathematics, as well as a genius for poetry, painting, or any mechanical em- ployment. Genius cannot be ac- quired by art and study, though it may greatly be improved by them. • Genius is a higher faculty than taste, for it is not uncommon to meet with persons who have an excellent taste in music, poetry, painting, or oratoi-y, or all to- gether; but to find one who is an excellent performer in these is rather rare, and shows a genius. A universal genius, or one who excels in all or many arts and sciences, is very uncommon in- deed. Those who attempt to be great in many professions or sciences are not likely to excel in any ; it is therefore best, espe- cially for youth, to find out and pursue what nature points out, and then to bend the mind f»nly to one or two objects; this will have the fairest prospect of success, for the rays must converge to a point in order to glow intensely. — Dr. Blaie. "Whex a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him, — SwiET. Ge^tcts is supposed to be a power of producing excellences which are out of the reach of the rules of art; a power which no precepts can teach, and which no industry can acquire. — Sie Joshua Reynolds. ^noEVEE is open, loyal, true, of humane and affable demeanor, honorable himself, and in his judg- ment of others faithful to his word as to law, and faithful alike to God and man ; such a man is a true gentleman. ©torn. Real glory Springs from the silent conquest of ourselves ; And without that the conqueror is naught But the first slave ! Thomson. GLORY — GOD. 115 ^\E rise in glory as we sink in pride; Where boasting ends, there dig- nity begins. Youxg. All our present glory consists in our preparation for future glory. — Owen-. The most substantial glory of a country is in its virtuous great men : its prosperity will depend on its do- cility to learn from their example. That nation is fated to ignominy and servitude for which such mxCn have lived in vain. Power may be seized by a nation that is yet barbarous, and wealth may be enjoyed by one that it finds or renders sordid: the one is the gift and sport of accident, and the other is the sport of power. Both are mutable, and have passed away without leaving be- hind them any other memorial than ruins that offend taste, and traditions that baffle conjecture. But the glory of Greece is im- perishable, or will last as long as learning itself, which is its monument. It strikes an ever- lasting root, and leaves perennial blossoms on its grave. — ^Fishee Ames. Tette glory consists in doing what deserves to be written, in writing what deserves to be read, and in so living as to make the world happier and better for our living in it. — Pliny. Theee is a beauty in the name appropriated by the Saxon nations to the Deity, unequaled except by his most venerated Hebrew appellation. They call him " God," which is literally, "The good;" the same word thus signifying the Deity and his most endearing quality. — Shaeox Tuenee. Theee is but one word that deserves more thought, or is greater than eternity, and that is God, the Father of eternity. All love the kind providence of God, but only the saints love the God of the kind providence. — Flavel. Theee is an eye that never sleeps Beneath the wing of night ; There is an ear that never shuts "When sink the beams of light ; There is an arm that never tires When human strength gives way; There is a love that never fails When earthly loves decay. Mt gems are falling away, but it is because God is making up his jewels. — Wolfe. We cannot pay homage to God worthy of him, if we believe that God is obliged to our understand- ing for the esteem we have of him. — St. Zenon of Yeeona. IIG (;or). God frequently conceals the part which his cliildren have in the conversion of souls. Yet one may boldly say that person who long groans before him for the con- version of another, whenever that soul is converted to God, is one of the chief causes of it. — John AYesley. A HEATHEN- philosophcr once asked a Christian: "Where is God?" The Christian answered, "Let me first ask you, "Where is he not ?" — De. Aerowsmith. Fear God for his power, trust him for his wisdom, love him for his goodness, praise him for his greatness, believe him for his faithfulness, and adore him for his holiness. — Mason. God has spoken as a God ought to speak, and as the sovereign Judge of all things ought, to whom it belongs not to prove, but to pronounce the truths that he would teach men. — Laotantius. A FOE to God was ne'er true friend to man. Young. God is immutable, that is, al- ways the same in his glory, his happiness, his will, his love, his decrees, his power, his promises, and his faithfulness. The proper consideration of the unchange- ableness of God is a firm founda- tion for the hope of real Chris- tians, and a pei-pctual source of consolation to them. — Dr. Guyse. All are but jiart-s of one stupen- dous whole. Whose body nature is, and God the soul ; He heats the sun, refreshes in the breeze, Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees ; Breathes in our soul, sustains our mortal part As full, as perfect, in a hair, as heart ; Lives through all life, extends through all extent. Spreads undivided, operates un- spent ; To him, no high, no low, no great, no small. He fills, he bounds, connects and measures all. Pope. The ancient hieroglyphic for God was the figure of an eye upon a scepter, to denote that he sees and rules all things. — Barker. God will never acknowledge any convert that stays in a known sin. — Hall. Gqd never wrought miracles to convince atheism, because his ordinary works convince it, — Bacon. God is perfect truth and the fountain of it. His truth and faithfulness consist in the exact agreement of his revealed will to his intentions; his word and works are all consistent. He can GOD. 117 never say or do anything but what is strictly agreeable to truth. His faithfulness consists not only in being unchangeably good to his people, but in completely fultill- iug everything contained in his promises, and punishing impeni- tent sinners according to all that is denounced in his threatenings. — Chaenock. We may truly conceive of God, though we cannot fully conceive of him ; we may have right ap- prehensions of him, though we can never comprehend him. — Masox. Judas, being sensible of the heinousness of his crime, was not contented to lose the price of his sacrilege, but flung away himself. But in revenging God on his own person, he confessed Him w^hom he had denied in betraying him. — St. Maximus. All creatures are as nothing compared with God, and abso- lutely nothing without him. — Mason. God is above all things of the world. Exalt yourself, and you will not come nigh him ; humble yourself, and he himself descends down to you. — St. Austin. God has two thrones, one in the highest heavens, and the other in the lowest hearts. — Weight. The same hand that prepared a lion for Samson, hath proportion- able matches for every Christian. God never gives strength, but he employs it. — Hall. God always acts though always at rest, and is always at rest though continually acting. — Au- GUSTIX. God is never greater than when man thinks him little. — Teetul- LIAX. God only stays the desires of a gracious soul here below, but he will fully satisfy them above. Those proud philosophers that knew God and did not glorify him as God, who received so many good things from him and did not thank him for them; those sages of the world are be- come foolish and senseless, their mind is in error and their heart is full of darkness. Do you think that this error, this blindness, is a small punishment to them? If a man in committing a theft should lose an eye, all the world would say that God has thus severely punished him. A sinner loses the eye of the soul, and yet God is thought to take no notice of him. — St. Austin. If thou w^ouldst be informed what God has written concerning tliee in heaven look into thine lis GOD. own bosom, .'iiid see Avluit gTaces he has wrought in thee. — Fcller. God is perfectly just ; justice is commonly divided into communi- cation and distribution. The for- mer, as it implies an equal exchange of benefits, cannot properly be applied to God ; but the latter, as it signifies an equi- table distribution of rewards and punishments, is strictly applicable to him. He is infinitely wise, therefore he perfectly knows how to administer justice ; he cannot be awed by any power to pervert it ; he has nothing to fear from any of his creatures, and by his inde- pendent and immense riches and happiness he is above every temptation to dispose him to be unjust. This attribute has a dread- ful aspect toward impenitent sin- ners, but a most pleasing and comfortable one to all who trust in the merit of Christ for salva- tion, and by faith lead holy lives. — Beret-steeet Seemoxs. If any could fully describe God they would be equal to him, or he would cease to be what he is. — Epictetus. God is unchangeable in his being and all his perfections, for it would argue either present or future imperfection for him to change for the better or the worse. AVhen we read in the Bible of God's repenting and the like, such expressions are not to be under- stood as if God altered his miud, but only that he alters his dispen- sations ; so likewise when joy, grief, or hatred are ascribed to God, these are not properly affec- tions that take their turns in his mind as they do in ours, but they are expressions of the agreeable- ness or disagreeableness of persons and things to his holy nature and will, and of his acting toward them, answerable to the various changes that are in tliem, as we do on like occasions when such affections are working in us. — De. Guyse. Our highest praises to God cannot in the least benefit him, but his goodness has put a value upon them, and his word com- mands them. Praise is therefore the debt and law of nature, as well as the privilege and pleasure of a Christian ; it is an act in which the two ruling faculties of the mind, the understanding and the will, both concur ; the under- standing owns the propriety of it^ and the will cheerfully pays it. Not only are we bound in grati- tude to magnify the Lord for the continual favors he bestows on us, but such is the loveliness of his nature that it is hardly possible to think of him properly without praising him. It is the most disin- terested as well as the most pleas- ing part of divine worehip, and has this distinguishing excellency, that it unites with all intelligent holy beings, angels as well as men, GOD. 119 and not only is well adapted for the Church militant, hut will continue in the highest perfec- tion in the Church triumphant. BiSnOP AxTEEBrKY. It is a deep and difficult thing to conceive properly of God in our thoughts of him, hut espe- cially in our addresses to him. Thus much we know, that as it is re- vealed he is a spirit, we should banish from our minds every idea of his having any form or shape whatever, and only think of hhn as an infinitely glorious and un- limited being. Our heai't should adore a spiritual majesty which it cannot comprehend, and as it Avere lose itself in his infinitude ; we must believe him great with- out quantity, omnipresent with- out place, everlasting without time, and containing dl things without extent; and when our thoughts are come to the highest let us stop, wonder, and adore. — Bisnop Hall. God is Alpha and Omega in the great world; endeavor to make him so in the little world : make him thy evening epilogue, and thy morning prologue ; practice to make him thy last thought at night when thou sleepest, and thy first in the morning when thou wakest: so shall thy fancy be sanctified in the night, and thy understanding rectified in the day ; so shall thy rest be peaceful, thy labors prosperous, thy life pious, and thy death glorious. — Quakles. God is a declaratory deity. Tlie whole year is to his saints a con- tinual epiphany, one day of man- ifestation. In every minute that strikes upon the bell is a syllable, nay, a syllogism from God. God translates himself in particular works, nationally and personally. If I be covetous, God wiH tell me that heaven is a pearl, a treasure : if cheerful and aftected with mirth, that heaven is all joy: if ambi- tious and hungry of preferment, that heaven is all glory : if soci- able and conversible, that it is a communion of splints. — ^De. DOXXE. God hath so ordered it that honor is naturally consequent on the honoring him. God hath made goodness a noble and stately thing ; hath impressed on it that beauty and majesty which com- mands a universal love and ven- eration, which strikes presently both a kindly and an awful re- spect into the minds of all men. Power may be dreaded, riches may be courted, wit and knowl- edge may be admired ; but only goodness is truly esteemed and honored, — Baekon. 'We can be in no such unhappy condition where God cannot help us, for the depths of mi&eiy are not beyond the depths of mercy. If comforts be wanting, God can create comforts, not only out of nothing, but out of the greatest sorrows. — De. Sibs. 120 GOD — GOLD. All reli,ii:ion is in the lieart, and God has established various duties, and all outward worship to conduct us to the inward du- ties of love and praise. We are only before God what we are in heart and affection ; he chiefly re- spects our love; he will be the object of all our desires, the end of all our actions, the principle of all our affections, and the govern- ing power of our whole souls. — Massilloist. The seeking of God should be the prologue to all our affairs ; we are enjoined first to pray, and then determine: " Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him: thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be es- tablished unto thee." The inter- esting providence in our concerns is the highway to success. The reason we miscarry is because we consult not God, but determine without him, and then we have no reason to complain of him for not prospering our way when we never commended our affairs to his conduct. — Chaenock. None can make our souls happy but God who made them, nor any give satisfaction to them but he that made satisfaction for them. "We must not expect more from anything than God has put into it. He never uitended to put the virtue of soul-satisfying into any mere creature, but hath reserved for himself, Son, and Spirit the power of making souls happy, as a prin- cipal part of his own divine pre- rogative. To such therefore as ex- pect it elsewhere, that person or thing they rely upon may say to them, as Jacob to Racliel, "Am I in God's stead?" Our souls at first were made in the image of God, and just as when there is a curious impression made in wax nothing can adequately fill the di- mensions and lineament of it but the very seal that stamped it, so nothing can perfectly fill the soul but God. The motion of immor- tal souls is like that of the celes- tial bodies, purely circular; they cannot enjoy proper rest without returning to the same point from whence they issued, which is the bosom of God. Sick persons are often sent by physicians to their native soil ; the spirit of man was first breathed into him by God; nor can sick souls be cured, and happiness enjoyed, till the soul re- turns to God through Jesus Christ. — De. Aeeowsmith. The sun can only be seen by its own light, so God can only be known by his own spirit, word, and works. How vilely has he lost himself who has become a slave to his servant, and exalts him to the dig- nity of his Maker. Gold is the friend, the wife, the god of the GC)LD — GOOD XAME. 121 money-monger of the world. — Pexn. Gold is worse poison to men s ^ouls, Doing more murders in this loath- some world Than any mortal drug. Shakspeaee. The lust of gold, unfeehng and re- morseless, The last corruption of degenerate man. Jonxsox. But, scarce observed, the know- ing and the bold Fall in the general massacre of gold; AYide wasting pest ! that rages un- confined, And crowds with crimes the records of mankind. For gold his sword the hireling ruffian draws, For gold the hireling judge dis- torts the laws ; "Wealth heaped on wealth, nor truth nor safety buys. The dangers gather as the treas- ures rise. — JoHXsox. Good name, in man or woman, Is the immediate jewel of their souls. Shakspeaee. Get and preserve a good name, if it were but for the public serv- ice ; for one of a deserved reputa- tion hath oftentimes an oj)portu- nity to do that good which another cannot that wants it. And he may practice it with more security and success. — Fullee. Theee are a set of mahcious, prating, prudent gossips, both male and female, who murder characters to kill time; and wiU rob a young fellow of his good name before he has years to know the value of it. — Sheeidax. A GOOD name, if any earthly thing, is worth seeking, worth striving for. Yet to affect a bare name, when we deserve either iU or nothing, is but a proud hypoc- risy ; and to be puffed up Avith the wrongful estimation of others mistaking our worth, is an idle and ridiculous pride. Thou art well spoken of upon no desert. \Yhat then ? Thou hast deceived thy neighbors, they one another, and all of them have deceived thee ; for thou madest them think of thee otherwise than thou art ; and they have made thee think of thyself as thou art accounted. The deceit came from thee, the shame will end in thee. I wiU account no wrong greater than for a man to esteem and report me above that I am; not rejoicing in that I am well thought of, but in that I am such as I am esteemed. — Hall. Coxsidee that the invisible thing called a good name is made 122 GOOD XAME — GOODXES,^ lip of the breath of numbers tluit speak well of you ; so that if by a disobliging -word you silence the meanest, the gale will be less strong which is to bear up your esteem. And though nothing is so vain as the eager pursuit of empty applause, yet to be well thought of, and to be kindly used by the world, is like a glory about a woman's head : it is a perfume she carries about her, and leaveth wherever she goeth ; it is a charm against its will. Malice may empty her quiver, but cannot wound ; the dart will not stick, the jests will not take without the consent of the world. A scandal doth not go deep; it is only a slight stroke upon the injured party, and returneth with the greater force upon those that gave it. — Sayille. IsTo MAN deserves to be praised for his goodness unless he has strength of character to be wicked. All other goodness is generally nothing but indolence or impo- tence of will. — La Rochefou- IIe is not great who is not greatly good. Shakspeake. Men often do good in order that they may do evil with impu- nity. — La Rochefoucauld. Goodness hath ever been a stronger guard than valor. — Hall. It is some hope of goodness not to grow worse. It is apart of, bad- ness not to grow better. I will take heed of quenching the spark and strive to kindle a fire. If I have the goodness I should, it is not too much ; why should I make It less? If I keep the goodness I have it is not enough ; why do I not make it more? He never was so good as he should be that doth not strive to be better than he is ; he never will be better than he is tliat dotli not fear to be worse than he was. — Selden. Goodness, like the river N"ile, overflows its banks to enrich the soil, and to throw plenty into the country. Goodness is generous and diffusive; it is largeness of mind and sweetness of temper, balsam in the blood and justice sublimated to a richer spirit. Goodness is justice and somewhat more. Goodness is modest and sincere, inoffensive and obliging; it ruffles and disturbs nobody, nor puts anything to pain without necessity. — Collier. As IT is never too soon to be good, so is it never too late to amend. I will therefore neither neglect the time present, nor de- spair of the time past. If I had been sooner good I might perhaps have been better; if I a longer l)ad I shall, I am sure, be worse. G00DXES3 — GOSPEL. 12G That I have staved a long time idle ill the market-place deserves reprehension, but if I am late sent into the vineyard I have encour- agement to work: "I w^ill give unto this last as imto thee." — Waewick. GooDXEss is the best greatness, and the best riches. It secures what no other wealth or influence can buj. TnE Gospel, like the productions of nature, will imj)rove upon trial. The application of the microscope to nature, and meditation by faith to the Gospel, will always show fresh beauties and attractions. — Shexstone. It is very curious how the leaven in the bread lightens and makes it palatable and good. So when the leaven of the Gospel comes into the heart it affects every faculty of it, and the truth is known by its power as felt on the mind. — R. Hill. To EEJECT the Gospel because bad men pervert it, and weak men deform it and quarrel about it, and bigoted men look sour on others and curse them because they do not agree in every tittle among themselves, displays the same folly as if a person should cut down a tree bearino; abundance of deli- cious fruit and furnishing a re- freshing shade, because caterpil- lars disfigured the leaves, and spiders made their webs among the branches. — Bogue. What a glorious Gospel is that which imprints the very image of God upon the mind! How is it possible for any to live in sin who have felt the Gospel to be the power of God to the salvation of their souls. — R. Hill. Some hear the Gospel as a but- terfly settles upon a flower, but draw no sweetness from it; and others, who come to find fault, hear it as a spider settles upon a, flower: they would, if possible, draw poison from it. Theofghout all ranks the af- flicted form a considerable part of the human race; for even those wlio are called prosperous are sometimes obliged to drink from the cup of bitterness. The Gospel is particularly entitled to our re- gard by accommodating itself with great tenderness to those in tribu- lation. It is not merely a system of doctrines or precepts, but the same voice which enjoins our duty utters the words of consolation. Christ affords rest to the disturbed mind ; let them come to him, and they shall regain peace and quiet- ness. AVhile bad men trace in their calamities the hand of an offend- ed sovereign, real Christians view them as the necessary chastise- 124 GOSPEL. inent of a merciful father, and de- sire to wait ffith patience till the designs of Providence are accom- plislied. In the mean time the Gospel opens to them its blessed and liolj sanctuary. God is with them, Clirist and the Holy Spirit are with them, and though every earthly friend should leave them, they can look up to heaven to one who will never forsake them. To these present consolations the re- ligion of Christ adds the joyful prospects of a future state. This life is only the temporary mansion of painful though necessary disci- pline. "When that discipline is fin- ished, all the saints will he assem- bled in the blissful regions above ; and then all the troubles of this life will only be as an uncomfortable dream, from which one awakes into health, light, and joy. — De. Blaie. The Gospel is salvation from the law ; it brings glad tidings for convinced sinners, and shows how their sins may be pardoned, and they redeemed from the curses of the broken law. It reveals to them what Christ has done and suffered to satisfy the law, and how he endured the pains and penalties of it, dying the death to which the law had sentenced them. And the Gospel shows them how they may freely receive the bene- fits of what Clirist has done and KutTered. Some may think the moral law is totally repealed by the Gospel, but it is not, for it cannot change any more than God can change, but it will stand in full force to the end of the world. It is also very useful to convince of sin, and thereby to put truly awakened sinners upon seeking such a righteousness as the law requires, which is that of Christ. The law and the Gospel may be distinguished in these and other respects. According to the law salvation is of works, but by the Gospel it is of grace. The law says. Do this and live; but the Gospel says. Believe this and thou shalt be saved. The law threat- ens to punish the sinner for the very first ofiense ; but the Gospel gives pardon for innumerable of- fenses. The law leaves the sinner under guilt and condemnation, and sentences him to death; but the Gospel invites him to receive par- don, full justification, and eternal salvation. If we die under the guilt of the law, hell must be our eternal portion ; but if we die par- takers of the grace of the Gospel, heaven will be our everlasting in- heritance. ROMAINE. now lovely is the Gospel to the convinced soul! Sinai's thun- ders are now no more. The angry God and sin-avenging Judge be- comes the sinner's best friend, the reconciled God and Fatlier in Christ Jesus. Such is the mercy, grace, and love that freely fiow in Jesus to the last! The poorest shall find the most hearty Avel- come; for his mercy is free for the vilest of the vile.— II. Hill. GRACE. 125 (bxntt The dispensation of grace to some is little more than a contin- ual combat with corruptions; so that, instead of advancing, a man seems to be but just able to pre- serve himself from sinking. A boat with the tide full against it does well if it can keep from driv- ing back, and must have strong force indeed to get forward. TVe must estimate grace by the opposi- tion which it meets with. — Cecil. It is true tliere is no grace, nor degree of grace, in believers but what is wrought in them by the Spirit ; yet generally and regularly the increase and growth in grace, and their thriving in holiness and righteousness, is by diligent atten- tion to all those duties of obedi- ence which are required of us. Upon the whole, it is the most ignorant and unreasonable thing in the world for any one, under pretense of the efficacious work of the Spirit, to be negligent in duty, since God has inseparably connected the means and the end. — OWEX. If we keep not God's grace that he giveth us, if we do not contin- ually and daily reform ourselves, and with all diligence fashion our lives after his life, it is but right that we lose again that which we have received. But if we abide in him through faith, then hard and unprofitable things are light and possible to us; for in him that strengtheneth us we may do all things. COVEEDALE. It appears to me that the grace of God mends the head while it converts the heart. It brings the mind into such a holy, regular frame, that we can know nothing of the good of our own existence till we exist in God. — R. Hill. To MAKE a man a saint, it must indeed be by grace ; and whoever doubts this does not know what a saint is, or a man. — Pascal. The greater submission the more grace. If there be one hollow in the valley lower than another, thither the waters gather. — Hall. Do ALL you can to stand, and then fear lest you may fall, and by the grace of God you are safe. — ^Edwaeds. The grace of God, which so powerfully saves from sin, is worth a thousand such worlds as this. — R. Hill. TViTHorT the grace of God in your heart you may have the worst e\\l that you can have — the devil himself may inhabit it. — R. Hill. Cheistiax tempers are the best evidences of real grace; love is the fulfilling of the law. It is wonderful how much the Bible 12 G GRACE. insists upon these things as an evidence of the grace of God in the heart. — R. Hill. Gkace in time will be glorj in eternity. God will let ns find that grace is a gift, not by inheritance. — Hall. Theee is a great diiference in those who are made the subjects of grace. Some that are endowed with native excellencies, and moral before conversion, God adorns with heavenly grace, and they shine as jewels set in rings of gold. This was the case with Moses, Isaiah, John, and Paul. Others, who have scarcely anything amia- ble by nature, or were very im- moral before regeneration, are the subjects of his love, as Manasseh, ]Mary ]\ragdalene, and the penitent thief. So also there is a great difference with respect to abilities and circumstances, before some were called by grace. Thus Abra- ham was rich, but Lazarus was poor; Amos, Matthew, and Peter Avere plain writers, but Isaiah and Paul excellent writers. Moses and Paul were bad speakers, but Aaron and Apollos were orators. In all tliese respects God acts ac- cording to his sovereign will, and as there is a great variety in his works of nature and providence, so it seems as if he would have the same variety in grace. — De. Watts. TiiEEE is an essential connec- tion, a mutual relation, and a kind of perfection, in the work of gi-ace. It is a new creation, and like the new-born infant, possesses all its parts at once, though but in min- iature, and time is requisite for their growth before many of the members can be used. Although we come into the world with eyes, hands, and feet, these do not come into use immediately, or at once, but require different de- grees of maturity to enable us to observe, to handle, and to walk. So it is with the new creature ; every grace indeed is formed at once, but cannot be brought into immediate use. It is by a grada- tion of experience, and by re- peated exercise, that our graces are matured. Every converted soul has faith, repentance, and some degree of illumination and sanctification ; but to live in the constant exercise of faith and repentance, to enjoy daily com- fortable communion with God, to attain considerable knowledge in the sublimer mysteries of the Gospel, and to grow more and more into the image of Christ's holiness, are great attainments, and mark the perfection of tlie Christian character. Though the vrork of grace is essentially the same in every subject, and wrought by the same power, yet there is the like variety in this as in all the other works of God. Variety is the glory of the divine architect. Tberc arc not perhaps GRACE — GKATITUDE. 127 in all the earth two animals, two plants, or even two grains of sand perfectly alike; so in the visible heavens there is the like diversity, one star differeth from another in glory. The varieties in a work of grace arise either from a difference of natural disposition, situation, or circumstances, or from the various methods which the Lord the Spirit iiseth in conversion. One thing is particularly observable, that much depends upon the order and degree in which divine illu- mination is communicated to us. To some the Lord gives an earlier and stronger conviction of their sin and danger, while the glory of the Saviour is for wise reasons with- lield from them. To others the Lord makes an immediate and full discovery of the Gospel salva- tion, which prevents their suffer- ing the same degree of distress with the former. Some things are represented as wholly wrought ill us, and some ly us, and yet others in different respects are represented both as God's work and our duty. To instance, in regeneration we are passive, in good works properly active, though faith and repentance are both God's gifts and our duty. The fact is, these capacities are wliolly from God, but we are required to use them. Thus in these and many other examples which might be given respecting grace, there is a mutual connec- tion and a great variety. — T. AYlLLIAMS. Grace is of a stirring nature ; it will show itself in holiness and good works; it will walk with you and talk with you in all places and companies; it will buy with you, and sell with you, and have a hand in all your actions. It is a sad thing when believers are off their guard, when they profess to have been on the mount as Moses really was, and yet like him they no sooner come down than tliey turn and break the command- ments. A Christian should let us see his graces walking abroad in his daily conversation, and if such guests are in the house, they will often look out at the win- dows, and be publicly seen abroad in all duties and holy actions. — GUEXALL. When- we have received any favor from God we ought to retire, if not into our closets, into our hearts, and say, "I come, Lord, to restore to thee what thou hast given; and I freely relinquish it to enter again into my nothing- ness. For what is the most per- fect creature in heaven or earth in thy presence but a void capa- ble of being filled with the light of the sun, who withdraws it every day to restore it the next, there being nothing in the air that either appropriates this light of resists it? O give me the same 128 GRATITUDE -GRAVE, THE. facility of receiving and restoring thy grace and good works! I say thine, for I acknowledge the root from which they spring is in thee, and not in me. — John Wesley. It is not all who fulfill the duties of gratitude who on that account may flatter themselves that they are grateful. — La Rociiefou- CzVULD. Geatitude is justly said to be the mother of most virtues, be- cause that from this one fountain so many rivulets arise ; as that of reverence unto parents and mas- ters, friendship, love to our coun- try, and obedience to God. The ungrateful are everywhere hated, being under a suspicion of every vice ; but, on the contrary, grate- ful persons are in the estimation of all men, having by their grati- tude put in a kind of security that they are not without a meas- ure of every other virtue. — Wax- let. Although the word gratitude, like the word trinity, is not to be found in the Bible, yet as the sacred Scriptures contain many sentiments on each of these sub- jects, and these words are the most comprehensive to convey the ideas, they are well adapted. To deliver my thoughts in few words on gratitude, I apprehend it in- cludes five things : first, a ddep and lively sense of benefits re- ceived ; secondly, an ardent love to and complacency in tlie bene- factor; thirdly, an immediate be- ginning to make all possible re- turns to the donor, either in re- paying or else in expressing our thankfulness ; fourthly, in a fixed purpose of heart to make better returns, if ever in our power ; and fifthly, a determined resolution to retain gratitude for the benefit or favors to the end of life. — Rt- laxd. Who does not enjoy what he has with contentment and devout gratitude, would be equally igno- rant of true happiness had he all he could wish for. Our thanks should be as fervent for mercies received, as our peti- tions for mercies asked. The grave is the common treas- ury to which we must all be taxed. — BuEKE. The first person that went to the grave went to heaven, namely, Abel. Although believers are not delivered from the stroke of death, yet they are from the sting of it. The grave is a sleeping- house, where the busy and the troublesome will shortly be quiet, as well as the weary find rest. Some have wished in their dying hour that they had been lower, GRxiVE, THE — GREATXESS — GRIEF. 129 but no wise man ever wished him- self at the top of earthly honors when on the brink of eternity. It is said of all mariners, that they always sail within four inches of death. Every one lives much nearer to death ; and as six feet of air sustains us while living, so six feet of earth AviU contain us when dead. Death to a good man, with respect to his body, is only put- ting otf his clothes to be mended. The fear of death is quite natural, since no creature dies without a struggle, and this fear does not prove a person is not a child of God. We are not in general fond of handling a serpent or a viper, even though its sting is drawn, and we know it. Never till death can a believer sheath his sword and cry, "Victory ! victory ! I shall never sin again." Young persons are taken away by death, old per- sons go away by it ; death is be- fore the old man's face, but it may be he is behind the young man's back. — IIenky. The grave is a very powerful preacher, but needs the all-power- ful Spirit to make saving impres- sions. ^xmim^^. Geeatness or dignity does not so much consist in possessing hon- ors as in deserving them. — Aeis- TOTLE. Geeat names debase instead of elevating those who cannot sus- tain them. — La Rochefoucauld. A SOLEMN and religious regard to spiritual and eternal things is an indispensable element of all true greatness. — Daxiel Webstee. The greatest man is he who chooses the right with invincible resolution ; who resists the sorest temptations from within and with- out ; who bears the heaviest bur- dens cheerfully ; who is calmest in storms, and most fearless under menace and frowns; and whose reliance on truth, on \irtue, and on God is most unfaltering. — Chaxxixg. Every one can master a grief but he that has it. — Shakspeaee. Yaix is that grief which hath no other end than itself. — Hall. Geief is not always a sign of grace. — Hall. So OFTEX as thou remeraberest thy sins without grief, so often thou repeatest those sins for not grieving. He that will not mourn for the evil which he hath done, gives earnest for the evil he means to do. Nothing can as- suage that fire which sin hath made, but only that water which 130 GPwIEF — HABIT. repentance hath drawn. — Enchi- EIDIOX. Alas! I have not words to tell my grief; To vent my sorrow would be some relief; Light sufferings give us leisure to complain ; We groan, we cannot speak, in greater pain. Detdex. Ix the condition of men it fre- quently happens that grief and anxiety lie hid nnder the golden robes of prosperity, and the gloom of calamity is cheered by secret radiations of hope and comfort ; as in the works of nature the bog is sometimes covered with flow- ers, and the mine concealed in the barren crags. — Johxsox. What an argument in favor of social connections is the observa- tion that by communicating our grief we have less, and by com- municating our pleasure we have more. — Geeville. Cheistiax grief for our deceased friends is not forbidden in Scrip- ture, but we have instances of it. Thus, Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and wej)t for her; Joseph made a mourning for his father seven days; the children of Israel wept for Moses thirty days; David lamented the death of Saul, Jonathan, and Abner; Christ also wept over the grave of Lazarus ; good men, who carried Stephen to his burial, made great lamentation over him; and the apostle Paul grieved for the sickness of Epaph- roditus, who was near unto death ; but immoderate sorrow, and all the extravagant forms of it are forbidden, for we are not to sorrow as those who have no hope. Xay, even Seneca, the heathen, who had some notion of the immortality of the soul and the resurrection, says thus: "The thought of deceased friends is sweet and pleasant to me, for I have enjoyed them as one that was about to lose them, and I have lost them as one that may have them again." — De. Gill. Habit if not resisted soon be- comes necessity. — St. August ixe. I KNOW from experience that habit can, in direct opposition to every conviction of the mind, and but little aided by the elements of temptation, induce a repetition of the most unworthy actions. The mind is weak where it has once given way. It is long before a principle restored can become as firm as one that has never' been moved. It is as in the case of the mound of areservoir : if this mound has in one place been broken, whatever care has been taken to make the repaired part as strong as possible, the probability is that if it give way again it will be in that place. — John Foster. IIAIJIT — IIAPPIXESS. Ix early cliiklliood you may lay the foundation of poverty or rich- es, industry or idleness, good or evil, by the habits to which you train your children. Teach them right habits then and their future life is safe. There are habits, not only of drinking, swearing, and lying, and of some other things which are commonly acknowledged to be habits, but of every modification of action, speech, and thought. Man is a bundle of habits. There are habits of industry, attention, vigilance, advertency ; of a prompt obedience to the judgment occur- ring, or of yielding to the first im- pulses of passion; of extending our views to the future, or of rest- ing upon the present ; of appre- hending, methodizing, reasoning; of indolence, dilatoriness ; of van- ity, self-conceit, melancholy, par- tiality; of fretfulness, suspicion, captiousness, censoriousness ; of pride, ambition, covetousness ; of overreaching, intriguing, project- ing ; in a word, there is not a quality or function, either of body or mind, which does not feel the influence of this great law of ani- mated nature. — Paley. tented mind confers HOEACE. it on all.- "What you demand is here." You traverse the world in search of happiness, which is within the reach of every man; a con- Men of the noblest dispositions think themselves happiest when others share their happiness with them. — Taylor. To BE happy the person must be cheerful and gay, not gloomy and melancholy. A propensity to joy is real riches ; one to fear and sor- row, real poverty. — Hume. To coMMHsncATE happiness is worthy the ambition of beings superior to man, for it is a first principle of action with the author of all existence. It was God that taught it as a virtue, and it is God that gives the ex- ample. — Laxghorxe. He is happy whose circum- stances suit his temper; but he is more excellent who can suit his temper to any circumstances. — Hume. The first happiness of a man is not to sin at all ; the second is to be sensible and sorry for his sin. — St. Chrysostom. Thixk no mortal happy until the end of life shall find him no sufierer. — Sophocles. If happiness has not her seat and center in the breast, "We may be wise, or rich, or great, but never can be blest. ^ BURXS. 133 HAPPINESS. To BE good is to be happy. Angels are happier than men be- cause they are better. RowE. ISTo MAN is happy who does not think himself so ; for what does it signify how exalted your position may be if it appears to you unde- sirable. — Sexec A . Fixed to no spot is happiness sin- cere; 'Tis nowhere to be found or every- where. Pope. St. Chrysostom makes a fine reflection upon the publicans go- ing to find John Baptist in the wilderness, and saying to him, " Master, what shall we do ?'' You have everything in abundance, and you come to the school of a hermit, who has nothing, to learn to be happy ; you are full of rich- es, and yet would learn of a poor man the way to come to true happiness. "Whatever happiness is enjoyed in this world, a man is not al- ways sensible that he is happy. Should a miserable slave on a sudden be set on a throne after he has long groaned in chains, he will indeed taste great pleasure in the beginning of his reign, but his joy will lessen in time; at last he will be used to his fortune, and use by degrees will take away from him the sense of it. The happiness of the holy is difierent; the more that is possessed the more 'tis perceived. We are never used to that, and so far is the joy from diminishing that it always increases. — St. Chrtsostom. Hardly a man, whatever his circumstances and situation, but if you get his confidence will tell you that he is not happy. It is liowever certain all men are not unhappy in the same degree, though by these accounts we might almost be tempted to think so. Is not this to be accounted for by supposing that all men measure the happiness tliey pos- sess by the happiness they desire, or think they deserve ? — Greville. Mex love difierent things ; and when any one enjoys what he loves he is thought happy. But true hap- piness doth not consist in enjoying what is loved, but in loving what ought to be loved. Several are more miserable in possessing the objects of their love than in not possessing them ; they are miser- able through the love of wicked things, and more so by the enjoy- ment of these things themselves. God does us a favor when he re- fuses us what we love against his will ; but he punishes us, he in a terrible manner revenges himself, when he gives us our wicked de- sire. — St. Austin. 'Tis a great happiness not to be able to hurt our neighbor, and not to have wit enough to do mis- chief. The skill of the men of the IIAPPTXESS. 133 world consists in knowing how to do an injury and to revenge one. But not to render evil for evil is the property of Christian modera- tion, and of a child of Christ. — St. Leox. Such is the condition of life that something is always wanting to happiness. In youth we have wavm hopes, which are soon blasted by rashness and negli- gence; and great designs, which are defeated by inexperience. In age we have knowledge and pru- dence, without spirit to exert or motives to prompt them ; we are able to plan schemes and regulate measures, but have not time re- maining to bring them to comple- tion. — JOHXSOX. Beware what earth calls happi- ness ; beware All joys but joys that never can expire ; Who builds on less than an im- mortal base. Fond as he seems, condemns his joys to death. Youxg. HAPPINESS ! our being's end and aim; Good, pleasure, ease, content, — whate'er thy name : That something still which prompts th' eternal sigh, For which we bear to live, or dare to die. Which still so near us, yet beyond us lies. Overlooked, seen double, by the fool and wise : Plant of celestial seed I if dropped below, Say in what mortal soil thou deign'st to grow ! Pope. Happy the people who have God for their Lord and for their portion. All men love happiness ; they are willing to be wicked, but they are not willing to be misera- ble. You ask why this man com- mits a theft. 'Tis to avoid hunger that pinches him ; 'tis to get out of the necessity he is reduced to ; so that he is wicked for fear of being unhappy, without consider- ing that he is yet more unhappy because he is wicked. Yet when you are happy you are doubtless better than when you are misera- ble ; therefore a thing worse than you cannot make you better. You are a man : gold, silver, all those other sensible objects that you so earnestly seek, are less valuable than man. Seek that which is better than you, in order to be- come better than you are. What is this object but your God ? After having given you all created things, he reserves himself for you. Ask something else of him, if you can find anything better. — St. Austin. That wherein God himself is happy, the holy angels are happy, in whose defects the devils are unhappy, that dare I call happi- ness. Whatsoever conduceth unto this may with an easy metaphor deserve that name; whatsoever else the world term happiness, is 13-4 IIAPPIXESS. to me a story out of Pliny ; an ap parition of neat delusion, whereiu there is no more of liappiness than the name. Bless me in this life with but peace of my conscience, command of my affections, the love of thyself and my dearest friends, and I shall be liappy enough to pity Cesar. These are, Lord, the humble desires of my most reasonable ambition, and all 1 dare call happiness on earth wherein I set no rule or limit to thy hand or providence, dispose of me according to the wisdom of thy pleasure. Thy will be done though in my own undoing. There are three principal rea- sons why so many do not enjoy as much happiness as they might: first, because they expect too much here below. Many of the most pious and sensible have been con- tented, but no one ever said he w^as completely happy. If we have religion and wealth, two of the most likely things to make us com- fortable, perhaps we want health of body ; and if we even possess that, some enemies or relations trouble us : all this is designed to teach us that the world is not our home. Another thing that keeps us unhappy is looking up with envy at those above us. Wo fancy others must be more happy be- cause they are more rich, more healthy, or have not so many ene- mies, though perhaps if we knew all things respecting them we would not change with them ; but we should more frequently think of those below us, who are in hospi- tals, in poor-houses, or prisons, that are either in extreme poverty, or blind, lame, dumb, insane, or under public disgrace. Lastly, we are frequently unhappy because we will not be satisfied with sim- plicity. The brute creation seem in general contented and happy; but man is not content with na- ture, but must have recourse to art and luxury to give him satis- faction ; and if he has not as much of these as his neighbors or ac- quaintances, he seems to be determ- ined to be unhappy. But let us consider how few are our real wants. If we have our liberty and any share of health, we have the principal requisites of natural hap- piness; and if, besides this, we have grace and the influence of the Spirit, we may be called happy persons. — De. Knox. True happiness is of a retired nature, and an enemy to pomp and noise. It arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one's self; and in the next, from the friendship and conversation of a few select companions. It loves shade and solitude, and naturally haunts groves and fountains, fields and meadows; in short, it feels everything it wants within itself, and receives no addition from nml- titudes of witnesses and spectators. On the contrary, false liappiness loves to be in a crowd, and to draw the eyes of the world upon IIAPPIXESS. 13 her. She does not receive any sat- isfaction from the apphmse which she gives herself, but from the ad- miration which she raises in oth- ers. She floiirislies in courts and palaces, theaters and assemblies, and has no existence but when she is looked upon. — Addisox. Happiness and misery are the names of two extremes, the ut- most bounds whereof we know not ; but of some degrees of both we have many lively impressions, by delight on the one side and sor- row on the other, and therefore we may distinguish them by the names of pleasure and pain. Ila])- piness in its full extent is the ut- most pleasure we are capable of, and the lowest degree of it is so much ease from all pain, and so much pleasure, as without which one cannot be content; we there- fore judge that whoever is con- tented is happy. — Locke. I SEE in this world two heaps, one of hajjpiness and the other of misery. Now if I can take but the smallest bit from the second and add it to the first, I carry a point. I should be glad indeed to do great things, but I will not neglect such little ones as this. — John IsTewton. Mex say we must be honest ; it is our duty. But they think there is no duty about being happy any more than about having fine weath- er. The weather is just as it hap- pens, and so they suppose it is about happiness. But I tell you there is no more positive command in the Bible than this reiterated one: '^Eejoice in the Lord always : and again I say, Eejoice." And this rejoicing is not to be in pleasure and profit, in good prospects, or in sunny days, but "in the Lord;'' a joy that shall be independent of circumstances; a joy that men shall be obliged to confess must come of religion. A Christian is indeed allowed to rejoice where other men can; but he is bound to rejoice where other men can- not. — H. W. Beeciier. A ?JAN who finds his happiness in doing good, always has the means of happiness at command. Teue happiness is at our side, and we pass her by; while mis- fortune is far oft", and we rush to meet her. Six things are requisite to create a " happy home." Integrity must be the architect, and tidiness the upholsterer. It must be warmed by afiection, lighted up with cheer- fulness ; and industry must be the ventilator, renewing the atmos- phere and bringing in fresh sa- lubrity day by day; while over all, as a protecting canopy and glory, nothing will suffice except the blessings of God. — Hamilton. If you cannot be happy in one way, be in another ; and this facil- 136 IIAPriXESS — IIATKED — HEALTH. ity of disposition wants but little aid from philosophy, for health and good-humor are almost the Avhole aifair. Many run about after felic- ity, like an absent man hunting for his hat, while it is in his hand or on his head. — Siiaep. Teue happiness is a roadside- flower, growing on the highways of usefulness. iatnir. "Whex our hatred is too keen it places us beneath those we hate. La BoOHEFOrCAULD. We are more inclined to hate one another for points on which we differ than to love one another for points on which we agree. The reason perhaps is this: when we find others that agree with us, we seldom trouble ourselves to confirm that agreement; but when we chance on those that differ with us, we are zealous both to convince and to convert them. Our pride is hurt by the failure, and disappointed pride engenders hatred. — Coltox. It is more delightful and com- panionable to love and be loved, than to be habitually "hateful and hating one another;" and if parents desire to have their chil- dren avoid the latter, they must cultivate cheerfulness, and dis- countenance murmurs and evil speaking during their forming If there is any person you dis- like, that is the person of whom you ought never to speak. — Cecil. Weee one to ask me in which direction I think man strongest, I should say in his capacity to hate. — H. W. Beechee. blessed health! thou art above all gold and treasure, j 'Tis thou who enlargest the soul, and openest all its powers to receive instruction and to relish virtue. He that has thee has little more to wish for; and he that is so wretched as to want tliee, wants everything with thee. — Steexe. What a mercy it is to enjoy health if we are but enabled to enjoy it to the glory of God. — R. Hill. Health is so necessary to all the duties of life, as well as the pleasures of life, that the crime of squandering it is equal to the folly ; and he that for a short gratifica- tion brings weakness and diseases upon himself, and for the pleasure of a few years passed in the tu- mults of diversion and clam- ors of merriment, condemns the maturer and more experienced HEALTH. 137 part of his life to the chamber and the conch, maj be justly re- proached, not only as a spend- > thrift of his own happiness, but as a robber of the public; as a wretch that lias voluntarily dis- qualified himself for the business of his station, and refused that part which Providence assigns hira in the general task of human nature. — Johxsox. Tjieee is no earthly blessing so precious as health of body, without which all other worldly good things are but troublesome. Neither is there anything more difficult than to have a good soul in a strong and vigorous body, for it is commonly seen that the worse part draws away the better. But to have a healthful and sound soul in a weak, sickly body is no novelty, while the weakness of the body is a help to the soul, playing the part of a perpetual monitor to incite it to good and check it for evil. I will not be over-glad of health, nor over-fearful of sickness. I will more fear the spiritual hurt that may follow upon health, than the bodily pain that accompanies sickness. — Hall. LiTEEAEY and sedentary persons should, for the preservation of their health, not only live very temperately and take exercise in the open air, but attend to a proper posture in reading or working. Students should stand or sit upright while studying; and those whose occupations require bending the body should do it as little as possible, and especially guard their breast, that nothing can lean much against it. — Dr. TiSSOT. The prevention of diseases is of greater consequence for the full enjoyment of health than the cur- ing of thera. For this purpose let every one that has any value for his health avoid excess, either in eating or drinking, and also avoid late hours, and let him ac- custom himself to early rising and much exercise, — De. Aebue- Health is the harmony of all the animal powers, and it consists in a right proportion, quality, and temperature of all the fluids, and in the soundness, strength, and elasticity of all the solids to perform their functions; and to render health complete the passions of the mind must be kept in due order, and a cheerful disposition encouraged. — De. Geosvexor. O joyful, pleasant, happy health ; The monarch's bliss, the beggar's wealth ; thou most courted, most de- spised. And but in absence truly prized ; Thou common friend of joy or woe. Thou seasoner of good below. Mallet. IIKART — llEAVEX. f)mt. A HEART in heaven will be a most excellent preservation against sin. It will keep the heart well employed. When we are idle, we tempt the devil to tempt us, as careless persons make thieves. — Baxter. SoMETHESTG- must be left as a test of the loyalty of the heart. In Paradise, the tree ; in Israel, a Canaanite; in us, temptation. — Cecil. The first sure symptoms of a mind in health Is rest of heart, and pleasure felt at home. Young. Every one speaks well of his heart, but no one dares to do so of his head. — La Rochefoucauld. Our heart is a well of bitter and venomous water, our actions are the streams. In vain shall we cleanse our hands while our hearts are evil. — Hall. There is no secret in the heart which our actions do not disclose. The most consummate hypocrite cannot at all times conceal the workings of the mind. A SOFT heart is the best tem- pered for God. — Hall. There is in every human heart Some not completely barren part Where seeds of love and truth might grow, And flowers of generous virtue blow. To plant, to watch, to water there, This be our duty, this our care. As RIVERS cannot rest till they come into the sea, so renewed souls cannot be fully satisfied till they come to heaven. — Flavel. Heaven is worth dying for, the earth is not worth living for. If the way to heaven be narrow, it is not long ; and if the gate be strait, it opens into endless life. — Bishop Beveridge. God has given us two hints what heaven is to be. First, we are to see Christ; and second, we are to be like him. — R. Hill. Heaven is a day without a cloud to darken it, and without a night to end it. In heaven there is the presence of all good, and the absence of all evil. As heaven is kept for the saints by Christ, so they are kept for heaven by the Spirit. If we live with God here below, we shall live with him above ; we must change our place, but not our employment. In heaven, all God's servants will be abundantly satisfied with his deal- IIEAYEX. 139 ings and dispensations, and see Low all conduced, like so many winds, to bring tlieni to their haven, and how even the roughest blast helped to bring them home- ward. In heaven God will never hide his face, and Satan never show his, Grace and glory differ, but as the bud and the blossom ; grace is glory begun, and glory is grace perfected. "VYe may hope for a place in heaven if our hearts are made suitable to the state of heaven. — J. Maso:?^. Ix heaven shall be all the ob- jects that the saints have set their hearts upon, and which, above all things, they loved while in this world : the things which met the approbation of their judgments, and captivated their affections, and drew away their souls from the most pleasant and dear of earthly objects. All the truly great and good, all the pure and holy and excellent from this world, and, it may be, from every part of the universe, are constantly tend- ing toward heaven. As the streams tend to the ocean, so all these are tending to the great ocean of infinite purity and bliss. The progress of time does but bear them on to its blessedness; and us, if we are holy, to be united to them there. Every gem which death rudely tears away from us here is a glorious jewel forever shining there. Every Christian friend that goes before us from this world is a ransomed spirit, waiting to welcome us in heaven, — Pkesidext Edwaeds. Ix heaven there is all life and no dying ; in hell is all death and no life. In earth there is both living and dying; which as it is between both, so it prepares for both. So that he which here be- low dies to sin, doth after live in heaven; and, contrarily, he that lives in sin upon earth, dies in hell afterward. What if I have no part of joy here below, but still succession of afflictions! The wicked have no part in heaven, and yet they enjoy the earth with pleasure. I would not change portions with them. I re- joice that, seeing I cannot have both, yet I have the better. Lord, let me pass both my deaths here upon earth! I care not how I live or die, so I may have nothing but life to look for in another world. — Bishop Hall. EvEET saint in heaven is as a flower in the garden of God, and holy love is the fragrance and sweet odor that they all send forth, and with which they fill the bowers of that paradise above. Every soul there is as a note in some concert of delightful music, that sweetly harmonizes with every other note, and all together blend in the most rapturous strains in praising God and the Lamb fore ver. — Edwaeds. uo HELL — HOUXESS — HOLY SPIEIT. TTnAT fits for hell, in a measure is lielL God suits our punish- ments to our crimes. No people are so tortured as those who pos- sess Satanic minds. — R. Hill. HoLiXESs is the perfection, holi- ness is the very heaven of God; and you and I have heaven restored to us just as far as the image of God is restored to our minds. Believing in him, we are changed into the same image; and, being thus redeemed, we are enabled to rejoice " with joy which is un- speakable and full of glory." It is a grand truth, therefore, that as God is infinitely holy in himself, he must be so also in his own law. — R. Hill. P0I5 Spirit. How DOTH the Holy Spirit re- veal unto us anything spiritual, but especially the truth of the Scriptures? I answer, by remov- ing those, impediments that hin- der, and bestowing those graces that make us capable of tliis knowledge. . . . There is in us a twofold impediment : first, igno- rance, by which our eyes are closed, that we cannot see the light ; secondly, corruption, by whieli, tliough we see the light, yet we cannot but naturally liate it and turn from it. The Holy Si)irit cures both by a double remedy: first, of illumination, re- storing our understanding to some part of its primitive perfection; secondly, of sanctification, infus- ing into our desires and affections some degrees of their primitive holiness and purity. — Pemble. Brx it may be said if all graces in us, in all their degrees and effects, are ascribed to the Holy Spirit, then there is no need to use our endeavors, and to take any pains about the growth of holiness, or the duties of obedi- ence ; but he who can indulge himself in sloth on account of the promised assistance of the Spirit may look upon it as a certain evi- dence that he has ncf interest in it ; for where he opei'ates he stirs \\\) the soul to diligence in duty, and works in and by the faculties of our mind. Thus the Holy Spirit so worketh in us that he worketh by us, and what he does in us is done by us. This, therefoi-e, we ought to know, that what God prescribes we should with all dili- gence and earnestness, as we value our souls and our eternal interest, endeavor to comply with. He is no Christian who does not i)ray that God would work in him what he requires of him, and though it is his work to enable us to per- form what is good, yet it is our duty diligently to use the means. OWEX. HOLY SPIKIT. Ul ScRiPTUKE can only be savingly understood by the ilhiinination of the Holy Sph-it. The Gospel is a picture of God's free grace to sin- ners. Now, were we in a room hung with the finest paintings, and ailorned with the most exquisite statues, we could not see one of them if all light were excluded. The Spirit's light is the same to the mind that outward light is to the bodily eyes. The most correct and lively description of the sun cannot convey either the light, the warmth, the cheerfulness, or the fruitfulness, which the actual shining of that luminary conveys ; neither can the most labored and accurate dissertation on grace and spiritual things impart a true idea of them without an experience of the work of the Spirit upon the heart. The Holy Spirit must shine upon your graces, or you will not be able to see them; and your works must shine upon your faith, or your neighbors will not be able to see it. — Top- lady. 'We can do nothing good with- out the Holy Spirit. The illumin- ation of the Spirit is twofold: first, external, by that revelation which he hath given us of God's will in the Bible, for holy men wrote as they were inspired ; and secondly, internal, which con- sists in impressing what is there written upon our understanding and hearts, whereby we are ena- bled savingly to perceive and be- lieve it. AVe do not suppose that generally the Spirit illuminates the mind with any new truths or new evidences of truth, but only applies those old and precious truths and evidences which he at first revealed ; yet there is no doubt but that he continues to urge and repeat them with more and more eflicac}^ so that we ap- prehend them more distinctly, and receive greater comfort from them as we grow in grace. Our knowl- edge and belief therefore of divine things, so far as they are saving and effectual to our renovation, are the fruits and products of this internal illumination. — De. Scott. The descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles is generally sup- posed to have been about the fifti- eth day from the resurrection of Christ, the latter end of May, and about nine o'clock in the morning. Now, on this day, let us view them all humbly waiting at the foot- stool of God's throne, in obedience to their Master's command, and in full expectation of the fulfillment of his promise, perfectly in the use of their reason, and feeling a sweet unanimity and love among them- selves. And, behold! how sud- denly they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Here were twelve apostles and seventy disciples, with thirty-eight other Chris- tians, which am(^unted to one hundred and twenty of the faith- ful followers of Christ. The apos- Uii HOME — HONESTY. ties and disciples were poor illiter- ate men, who had never been at any college of learning in their lives, and yet in a moment they were enabled to speak with fluency and propriety no less than fifteen languages, and were capable of ad- dressing these different nations in their respective tongues; and in these languages of the East, the West, the North, and tlje South, they proclaim the wonderful Avorks of redemption and salva- tion. Let us contemplate with the utmost veneration this illus- trious day, and glory in such a clear evidence of the truth and ex- cellency of the Christian religion. — Ryland. Home, the spot of earth supremely blest, A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest. Montgomery. ^ViiAT a man is at home, that he is indeed, if not to the world, yet to his own conscience and to God. — Philip. Home can never be transferred, never repeated in the experience of an individual. The place con- secrated by paternal love, by the innocence and sports of childhood, and by the first acquaintance of the heart with nature, is the only true home. Every Egyptian was com- manded by law annually to declare by what means he maintained him- self, and if he omitted to do it, or gave no satisfactory account of his way of living, he was punishable with death. This law Solon brought from Egypt to Athens, where it was inviolably observed as a most equitable regulation. — Herodotus. Let lionesty be as the breath of thy soul, and never forget to have a penny when ail thy expenses are enumerated and paid. Then shalt thou reach the point of happiness, and independence shall be thy shield and buckler, thy helmet and crown ; then shall thy soul walk upright, nor stoop to the silken wretch because he hath riches, nor pocket an abuse because the hand which offers it wears a ring set with diamonds. — Feaxklin. They that cry down moral honesty cry down that which is a great part of my religion, my duty toward God and my duty toward man. TVhat care I to see a man run after a sermon, if he cozens and cheats as soon as he comes home. On the other side, morality must not be without religion, for if so it may change as I see convenience. Religion must govern it. He that has not relig- ion to govern his morality is not a dram better than my mastiff dog. So long as you stroke him, and please him, and do not pinch IIOXESTY — IIOXOR. 143 liim, he ^vill play witli you as finely as may be ; he is a very good moral mastiff. But if you hurt him he will fly in your face, and tear out your throat. — Seldex. He that will give himself to all manner of ways to get money may be rich ; so he that lets fly all he knows or thinks may by chance be satirically witty. Honesty some- times keeps a man from growing rich, and civility from being witty. — Seldex. To be ambitious of true honor, of the true glory and perfection of our natures, is the very princi- ple and incentive of virtue ; but to be ambitious of titles, of place, of ceremonial respects and civil pageantry, is as vain and little as the things we court. — Sir Philip Sidney. A NOBLE proof of honor they afford Who hold their lives less sacred than their word. Kane. Look well before thou leap into the chair of honor. The higher thou climbest, the lower thou fallest. If virtue prefer thee, virtue will preserve thee ; if gold or favor advance thee, thy honor is but pinned upon the wheel of fortune; when the wheel shall 10 turn thy honor falls, and thou re- mainest an everlasting monument of thy own ambitious folly. — QCAELES. Theee is nothing honorable that is not innocent. He that acts in a virtuous and beneficial manner toward society, according to his abilities, circumstances, and station in life, is an honorable person ; but false notions of honor prove the depravity of human nature by calling that honor which is in reality nothing but pride. The sense of honor is of so fine and so delicate a nature that it is only to be met with in noble minds, or in such as have been cultivated by good examples, or a refined education ; but as this excellent principle is much mis- understood and abused, we shall consider it, first, with respect to those who have right notions of it. True honor, though it is not always connected with religion, yet is similar to it, and produces the same effects. Thus the relig- ious man fears to do an ill action, and the man of honor scorns to do it ; the man of religion consid- ers vice as forbidden by God, and the man of honor thinks it un- becoming and beneath him. Sec- ondly, if we consider it with regard to those who have mistaken notions of honor, such persons establish anything to be a point of honor which is contrary to the laws of God and their country. For instance, they are more for revenge than forgiveness ; they 144 HONOR — HOPE. scruple not to tell lies, yet would kill any one in a duel who accuses them of so doing; in short, the man of honor, in the ideas of the fashionable world, is, in the sight of God and virtuous per- sons, a haughty, revengeful char- acter, totally void of real religion. Thirdly, it is greatly to be la- mented that there are some who liave no honor at all. These are rather openly immoral or hypo- critical persons. But whatever wealth and dignities they may ar- rive at, yet they are a disgrace to society, and should be carefully avoided by all serious and virtuous persons. In a very particular manner, all who have the care and education of youth should keep those under their tuition from being corrupted by the company and example of such dangerous persons, who have no regard to their honor. — Gfaedian. HoxoR was made for honesty, integrity, and virtue ; and though deceit, dishonesty, and unright- eousness have stolen and appro- priated it, justice and judgment will, ere long, take it from them and restore it to its proper owners. Wop- Hope and fear, like Hippocrates' twins, should live and die togeth- er. If hope depart from fear, it travels by security and lodges in I)resumption ; if fear depart from I hope, it travels to infidelity and inns in despair. The one shuts up heaven, the otiier opens hell ; the one makes thee insensible of God's frowns, the other incapable of God's favors, and both teach God to be unmerciful, and thee to be miserable. — Quarles. Without hope everything lan- guishes among men. Arts are neglected, no virtues are exer- cised. Take away hope, all per- ishes, all dies. "What does a schohir do with a master that teaches him, if he hopes nothing from his study? Why does the pilot expose his vessel to tempests at sea if he does not expect to arrive at port? Why does the soldier despise not only the rigors of winter and the heat of summer, but his own life also, but because he is animated with the hope of glory? Why does the laborer scatter his grain if he does not hope the recompense of his labor in a plentiful harvest? Why does the Christian believe in Christ if he does not hope one day to pos- sess the eternal happiness that Christ has promised him? — St. Zexox of Verona. Hope rules a land forever green : iVll powers that serve the bright- eyed queen Are confident and gay ; Clouds at her bidding disappear ; Points she to aught? the bliss draws near, And fancy smooths the way. Wordsworth. iiurE. U5 IfEVEE quit jour hopes. Hope is often better than enjoyment. It is certainly a very pleasant and healthy passion. A hopeless per- son is deserted by himself, and he who forsakes himself is soon for- saken by his friends and fortune. — Beekeley. Hope holds up the head of our holy desires, and perseverance crowns them. — Hall. Hope is the last thing that dies in man. — Diogexes. • Mex more easily set bounds to their gratitude than to their hopes or their desires. — La Eochefou- CArLD. Hope humbly then; with trem- bling pinions soar ; "Wait the great teacher, Death, and God adore : "What future bliss he gives not thee to know, But gives that hope to be thy blessing now. Hope springs eternal in the human breast : Man never is, but always to be blest ; The soul, uneasy, and confined from home, Rests and expatiates in a life to come. Pope. Auspicious hope! in thy sweet garden grow Wreaths for each toil, a charm for every woe: Won by their sweets, in Xature's languid hour, The way-worn pilgrim seeks thy summer bower ; There, as the wild bee murmurs on the wing. What peaceful dreams thy hand- maid spirits bring ! What viewless forms th' ^ilolian organ play. And sweep the furrowed lines of anxious thought away ! A LIVING hope, living in death itself. The world dares say no more for its device than clum spiro spero^ while I breathe I hope; but the children of God can add, by virtue of this living hope, dum expiro Bpero^ while I expire I hope. — Leightox. Hope to the soul is as an anch- or to a ship in a dark night on an unknown coast, and amid a boisterous ocean. It is the most eminent of all the advantages which religion now confers, as it is the universal comforter ; and in- deed if it were entertained with that full persuasion which faith demands, it would banish discon- tent, extinguish grief, and render life much more pleasant than it generally is. — De. Blaie. The poet Hesiod tells us that the miseries of all mankind were included in a great box, and that Pandora took oif the hd of it, by which means all of them came abroad, and only Hope remained UCi HOPE — HUMANITY — HUMILITY. at the bottom. Hope tlien is the principal antidote whicli keeps our heart from bursting under the pressure of evils, and is that flat- tering mirror that gives us a pros- pect of some greater good. Some call hope the manna from heaven, that comforts us in all extremi- ties ; others, the pleasant flatterer that caresses the unhappy with expectations of happiness in the bosom of futurity. When all other things fail us, hope stands by us to the last. This, as it were, gives freedom to the cap- tive when chained to the oar, health to the sick, victory to the defeated, and wealth to the beggar. — Waxley. Hope is a flatterer, but the most upright of all parasites, for she frequents the poor man's hut, as well as the palace of his superior. SnENSTOXE. The understanding of a man naturally sanguine may be easily vitiated by the luxurious indul- gence of hope, as some plants are destroyed by too open an exposure to that sun which gives light and beauty to the vegetable world. — Johnson. HuMAisriTT cannot be degraded by humiliation. It is its very character to submit to such things. There is a consanccuinitv between benevolence and humility. They are virtues of the same stock. — BUEKE. Humility alone unites patience with love, without which it is impossible to draw profit from suffering; or, indeed, to avoid complaint, especially when we think we have given no occasion for what men make us suffer. — John Wesley. As LONG as I study and practice humility I know where I am ; but when I hunt after dignities, lux- ury, and pride, I am afraid that I shall lose myself. — Cleobulus. Humility is truth, and Pride a lie: the one glorifies God, the other dishonors him. Humility makes men to be like angels. Pride makes angels to become devils. — Taylor. Humility is the true proof of Christian virtues. Without it we retain all our faults, and they are only hidden by pride, which con- ceals them from others, and often from ourselves. — La Eochefou- Tkue humility consists in being very deserving and hardly esteem- ing ourselves ; and to be properly humble is to have great merit without pride. — St. Ciikysostom. HUMILITY. l-i7 Humility and patience are the surest proofs of the increase of love. — John Wesley. If thou desire the love of God and man be humble, for the proud heart, as it loves none but itself, so it is beloved of none but by it- self. The voice of humility is God's music, and the silence of humility is God's rhetoric. Hu- mility enforces where neither vir- tue nor strength can prevail, nor reason. — Exchieidion. XoTHixG procures love like humility, nothing hate like pride. The proud man walks among daggers pointed against him, whereas the humble and affable have the people for their guard in dangers. To be humble to our su- periors is duty; to our equals, courtesy; to our inferiors, gen- erosity ; and these notwithstand- ing their lowliness, carry such a sway as to command men's hearts. — OwEX Feltham. True humility is a kind of self- annihilation, and this is the center of all virtues. — J. Wesley. Humility must be a glorious thing, since pride itself puts it on not to be despised. Pride must be of itself something deformed and shameful, since it dares not show itself naked, and it is forced to appear in a mask. — St. Ber- nard. The nettle grows rather high, while the violet is low and almost obscured by leaves, but chiefly discovered by its fragrance. The former is emblematical of a proud person, but the latter resembles one that is truly humble. — De. Maxtox. Humility is the vital principle of Christianity, that principle by which from first to last she lives and thrives, and in proportion to the growth or decline of which she must decay or flourish. This disposes the sinner in deep self- abasement to believe in the Saviour; this, during his whole progress, is the very ground and basis of his feelings and conduct both in relation to God, his fellow- creatures, and himself. The prac- tical benefits of this habitual low- liness are too numerous and too obvious to require enumeration ; it will lead you to dread the be- ginnings, and fly from the occa- sions of sin, as that man would shun some infectious distemper who knows that he is predis- posed to take the contagion ; it will prevent many difficulties and troubles, which proud persons are continually involved in, and Avhen at last the Christian shall be trans- lated into the realms of glory, this principle shall still subsist in undiminished force. — Wilbek- foece. Humility opens our eyes. When Paul was a Pharisee, he 148 HUMILITY — nYPOCRISY. tliuuirlit himself blameless ; but when a Christian, he calls him- self " the chief of sinners." Hu- mility is the daughter of faith, and the mother of contentment. Christ was a preacher and a pattern of humility, and he admires it so much that he sets those in the highest form (among his disciples) who have the lowest hearts. The casting down of our spirits in true humility is but like throwing a ball on the ground, which makes it soon rebound the higher ; so the more we are truly humbled for sin, the more we rise by grace. — J. Mason. Sense shines with a double lus- ter when it is set in humility. An able and yet humble man is a jewel worth a kingdom. — Penn. Humility does not consist in a plain and singular dress, nor yet in speaking in mean terms of our- selves, or in being free and friendly vrith poor persons, nor yet in any thing outward. These things are sometimes the effects of true humil- ity, but they may be without it. Real Christian humility is a grace of the spirit, and consequently has its seat in the heart. In Scripture . it is called in- one place humble- ness of mind, in another lowli- ness of heart, and in another poverty of spirit. The original word signifies having a low o})inion or esteem of ourselves in com- parison with others. It will show itself before God by sulf-abase- inent, on account of the deep de- pravity of human nature, by an entire dependence upon the mer- cy of God in Christ Jesus, and a close walk with God in the use of all the appointed means. It will manifest itself among men by respect and submission to our superiors, love and friendship to our equals, and condescension to our inferiors, together with a readiness to forgive injuries, and to be candid and moderate toward all. It wiU appear as it respects ourselves, not only in carefully avoiding everything which has even the appearance of pride and haughtiness, but in a modest and meek behavior, a distrust of our own strength or abilities, patience in suffering, and contentment in our situation of life. — De. David Jennings. is Hypoceisy desires to seem good rather than to be so ; honesty de- sires to be good rather than seem so. The worldlings purchase repu- tation by the sale of desert ; wise men buy desert with the hazard of reputation. I would do much to hear well, more to deserve well, and rather lose opinion than merit. It shall more joy me that I know myself what I am, than it shall grieve me to hear what others re- port me. I had rather deserve well without praise than do HYPOCPJSY. 149 ill with commendati(jn. — AExnuR Waewick. Hypocrisy is the necessary bur- den of villainy, affectation part of the chosen trappings of folly : the one completes a villain, the other only finishes a fop. Contempt is the proper punishment of affecta- tion, and detestation the just con- sequence of hypocrisy.— JoHXSON". Hypoceisy is full of lip-repent- ance after the wicked deed is done and there is no remedy. — Xeder. Hypocrisy is the homage which vice renders to virtue. — La Roche- foucauld. Everything may be mimicked by hypocrisy but humility and love united. The more rare the more radiant when they meet. — Lavater. Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks Invisible, except to God alone, By his permissive will, through heaven and earth. And oft though wisdom wakes, suspicion sleeps At wisdom's gate, and to sim- plicity Resigns her charge, while good- ness thinks no ill Where no ill seems. Aquinas calls hypocrisy "the counterfeiting of virtue," for the hypocrite is like a mountebank or a stage-player. He is not what he appears to be, indeed he is a mere shape or apparition, and hath no spiritual life to act from ; he is a rotten post gilded over, or like the painted grapes that deceived the living birds, or the beautiful apples of Sodom, with this motto, "No further than colors ;" touch them and they moulder into dust. Hypocrites are like turning pic- tures, which have on one side the image of a lamb, and on the other side a wolf ; and they also may be compared to trumpets which make a noise but are hollow within. But to be more particular, a hypocrite is more studious to enter into religion, than that religion should enter into him ; he is zeal- ous in little things, but cold and remiss in the most important; perhaps he will not swear, but will lie, and secretly defame, if not defraud, his neighbor. The hypocrite may, like Herod, pre- tend to worship, but it is only to answer his wicked purposes. Like Jezebel, he may keep a fast, but it is only to dissemble ; or like Absalom, to color his treason, he may pretend to have a religious vow. Many make religion a cloak to cover their pride and ambition ; like Jehu, they say, Come and see my zeal for the Lord, when at the same time it was zeal for the king- dom; he made religion hold the stirrup while he got into the sad- dle and possessed the crown. Jeliu is long since dead, but his spirit is in many who condemn his con- duct. In Matt, xxiii Christ pro- 150 HYPOCRITE. noiince:^ seven Avoes on hypocrites; and when the Holy Spirit would aggravate the place of torment, he calls it the place of hypo- crites, as if hell itself were cre- ated and prepared principally for hypocrites. — Cueistiax's Maga- zine. fgpmte. A scoEPiON thinks when his head lies hid under a leaf that he cannot be seen. Even so the hypo- crites and false'Saints think, when they have hoisted up one or two good works, that all their sins therewith are covered and hid. — Luther. The hypocrite is a Nero within, a Cato without, an equivocal man, a true monster, composed of dif- ferent and contrary natures. — St. Jerome. The hypocrite shows the ex- cellency of virtue by the neces- sity he thinks himself under of seeming to be virtuous. — John- son. A hypocrite neither is Avhat he seems, nor seems what he is. A hypocrite is hated of the world for seeming to be a Christian, and hated of God for not being one. A hypocrite is the picture of a saint, but when his paint is washed otf he will appear in his true col- ors. God is in good earnest with us; we ought to be so with him also. — J. Mason. If Satan ever laughs it must be at hypocrites. They are the great- est dupes he has; they serve him better than any others, but receive no wages ; nay, what is still more extraordinary, they submit to greater mortifications to go to hell than the sincerest Christian to go to heaven. — Colton. There always were hypocrites : Cain in the first age, Canaan in the second, Ishmael in the third, Esau in the fourth, Ham in the fifth, Saul among the prophets, Judas among the apostles, Nicho- las among the deacons, and Ana- nias and Sapphira among the prim- itive Christians. It is the greatest madness in the world to be a hypocrite in relig- ious profession. Men hate thee because thou art a Christian so much as in appearance ; God hates thee double because thou art but in appearance : so, while thou hast the hatred of both, thou hast no comfort in thyself. Yet if thou wilt not be good as thou seemest, I hold it better to seem ill as thou ai't. An open wicked man doth much hurt with notorious sins; but a hypocrite doth, at last, more shame goodness by seeming good. I had rather be an open wicked man than a hypocrite ; but I had rather be no man than either of them. — Hall. IDLENESS — IDOLATRY. 151 Jlrlemss. Some one, in casting up his ac- counts, put down a very large sum per annum for his idleness. . But there is another account more aw- ful than that of our expenses, in which many will find that their idleness has mainly contributed to the balance against them. From its very inaction, idleness ulti- mately becomes the most active cause of evil — as palsy is more to be dreaded than a fever. — FULLEE. Tex thousand harms more than the ills we know Our idleness doth hatch. Shakspeaee. By doing nothing, men learn to do ill. Idleness is the bane of body and mind, the nurse of naughti- ness, the step-mother of discipline, the chief author of all mischief, one of the seven deadly sins, the cushion upon which the devil chiefly reposes, and a great cause not only of melancholy, but of many other diseases ; for tlie mind is naturally active, and if it be not occupied about some honest business, it rushes into mischief or sinks into melancholy. — Bue- TON. A MAN who is able to employ himself innocently is never mis- erable. It is the idle who are wretched. If I wanted to inflict the greatest punishment on a fel- low-creature, I would shut him alone in a dark room without em- ployment. Idleness is the hotbed of tempt- ation, the cradle of disease, the master of time, the canker-worm of felicity. To him that has no employment, life in a little while will have no novelty; and when novelty is laid in the grave, the funeral of comfort will soon fol- low. Teotjbles spriug from idleness, and grievous toils from needless ease. Many without labor Avould live by their own wits only ; but they break for want of stock. — Feanklin. ISTevee be idle. If your nands cannot be usefully employed, at- tend to the cultivation of your mind. Idolatey is the mother of all shows and all plays, to draw the Christians to fall into the net. This flatters them, this seduces them by the pleasures of the eyes and ears; and it is an artifice of the devil, who, knowing that idolatry would strike horror if it appeared all naked, has mixed it with shows and di- versions to make it amiable. — St. Oypeian. 152 IGXOKAXCE — IMAGIXATIOX — IMMOKTALITY. IIe -who make?; an idol of Lis interest makes a martyr of his integrity. Igxoraxce of God in Christ, and of ourselves, is the principal cause of all our disquietments. — OWEX, It is impossible to make people understand their ignorance, for it requires knowledge to perceive it; and therefore he that can perceive it hath it not. — I^snop Taylor. N'oTHixG is wanting to make you wretched but to fancy your- self so. Many have no happier moments than those that they pass in soli- tude, abandoned to their own im- agination, which sometimes puts scepters in their hands or miters on their heads, shifts the scene of pleasure with endless variety, bids all the forms of beauty sparkle be- fore them, and gluts them with every change of visionary luxury, — JOHNSOif. L Immanxliiir. The history of the world tells us that immoral means will ever intercept good ends, — Coleridge. Jmmoritilitij. It must be so. Plato, thou rea- son'st well ! Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire, This longing after immortality ? Or whence this secret dread, and inward horror Of falling into naught? Why shrinks the soul Back on herself, and startles at destruction ? 'Tig the divinity that stirs within us; 'Tis heaven itself that points out an hereafter, And intimates eternity to man. Addison. I FEEL my immortality o'ersweep All pains, all tears, all time, all fears, and peal Into my ears this truth, " Thou liv'st forever!" Byron. There are three principal proofs of the immortality of the soul r the first is, from the nature of the soul itself, and particularly from its immateriality; the second is, from its passions and sentiments, as particularly from its love of ex- istence, its horror of annihilation, and its hopes of immortality, with that secret satisfaction it has in doing right, and its uneasiness in doing wrong; the third is, from the nature of the Supreme Being, whose justice, goodness, wisdom, and veracity are all concerned in mMORT ALIT Y — IMPRO YEMEXT. 153 this point. But there is one more argument of great weight, which is not generally taken much notice of, and that is an argument drawn from the perpetual progress of the soul to its perfection. How can it be supposed that that which is capable of such improvements should fall into nothing almost as soon as it is created ? A brute in a few years arrives at a point that he can never pass, and having re- ceived all the endowments he is capable of, were he to live ten thousand more he would be the same thing that he is at present. If it were so with a human soul, all her faculties full blown and in- capable of further enlargements, it might then drop into a state of an- nihilation. But the soul can never in this world take in its full meas- ure of knowledge and enjoyments; it has capacities which can never be fully gratified, and talents which can never be properly exerted here below. This world is therefore only to the soul a nursery for the next, and afterward it will be transplanted into a more friend- ly climate, where it will be able completely to exert its noble powers, and flourish to all eter- nity. This single consideration of the progress of a finite spirit to perfec- tion should be sufficient to extin- guish all envy in inferior natures, and all contempt in superior. That cherubim, which now appears, as a god to a human soul, knows that the period will come about in eternity when the human soul shall be as perfect as himself now is. With what astonishment and veneration should we look into our souls, which are so capable of improvements, and receiving such increasing spiritual pleasures. The soul, considered in relation to its Creator, is like one of those mathematical lines that may draw nearer to each other for all eter- nity without a possibility of touch- ing it ; and can there he a thought more pleasing than to consider ourselves in the -way of perpetual approaches to Him who is not only the standard of perfection but of happiness. — Spectatoe. The company in which you im- prove most will be the least expensive to you. — Washingtox. All persons are under some obligations to improve their under- standing, otherwise it will be a barren desert, or as a forest over- grown with weeds and braml)les. Universal ignorance or innumer- able errors will overspread the mind which is neglected and lies without cultivation. The com- mon duties and benefits of so- ciety belong to every one living, and as we are social creatures related to a family or neighbor- hood, oblige all persons whatso- lo-t INDEPEXDEXCE — IXDOLEXCE. ever to use their reasoning pow- ers upon a thousand occasions. Every hour of life calls for some regular exercise of our judgment as to time and things, persons and actions, "Without a prudent and discreet determination in matters before us we shall be plunged into perpetual errors in our conduct, Xow that which should always be practiced must at some time be learned. It is in vain for any to say we have no leisure or time fur it. The daily intervals of time and vacations from necessary la- bor, together with one day in seven, allows sufficient time for this if men would but apply them- selves to it with half so much zeal and diligence as they do to the trifles and amusements of this life, an