- of principle, that can stand the test of near approach and strict examination.

The value of any possession is to be chiefly estimated, by the relief which it can bring us in the time of our greatest need. No person who has once yielded up the government of his mind, and given loose rein to his desires and passions, can tell how far they may carry him.

Tranquillity of mind is always most likely to be attained, when the business of the world is tempered with thoughtful and serious retreat.

He who would act like a wise man, and build his house on the rock, and not on the sand, should contemplate human life, not only in the sunshine, but in the shade.

Let usefulness and beneficence, not ostentation and vanity, direct the train of your pursuits,

To maintain a steady and unbroken mind, amidst all the shocks of the world, marks a great and noble spirit.

Patience, by preserving composure within, resists the impression which trouble makes from without.

Compassionate affections, even when they draw tears from our eyes for human misery, convey satisfaction to the heart. They who have nothing to give, can often afford relief to others, by imparting what they feel.

Our ignorance of what is to come, and of what is really good or evil, should correct anxiety about worldly success. The veil which covers from our sight the events of suc ceeding years, is a veil woven by the hand of mercy.

The best preparation for all the uncertainties of futarity, consists in a well ordered mind, a good conscience, and a cheerful submission to the will of Heaven.

SECTION II,

THE chief misfortunes that befall us in life can be traced to some vices or follies which we have committed.

Were we to survey the chambers of sickness and distress, we shouid often find them peopled with the victims of intemperance and sensuality, and with the children of vicious indolence and sloth.

To be wise in our own eyes, to be wise in the opinion of the world, and to be wise in the sight of our Creator,are three things so very different, as rarely to coincide.

Man, in his highest earthly glory, is but a reed floating on the stream of time, and forced to follow every new direction of the current.

The corrupted temper, and the guilty passions of the bad, ustrate the effect of every advantage which the world conrs on them.

The external misfortunes of life, disappointments, poverty, nd sickness, are light in comparison of those inward disresses of mind, occasioned by folly, by passion, and by guilt. No station is so high, no power so great, no character so mblemished, as to exempt men from the attacks of rashness, nalice or envy.

Moral and religious instruction derives its efficacy, not so much from what men are taught to know, as from what they are brought to feel.

He who pretends to great sensibility towards men, and yet has no feeling for the high objects of religion, no heart 1 admire and adore the great Father of the universe, has reason to distrust the truth and delicacy of his sensibility.

When, upon rational and sober inquiry, we have established our principles, let us not suffer them to be shaken by the scoffs of the licentious, or the cavils of the skeptical.

When we observe any tendency to treat religion or morals with disrespect and levity, let us hold it to be a sure indication of a perverted understanding, or a depraved heart.

Every degree of guilt incurred by yielding to temptation, tends to debase the mind, and to weaken the generous and benevolent principles of human nature.

Luxury, pride, and vanity, have frequently as much fluence in corrupting the sentiments of the great, as ig rance, bigotry, and prejudice have in misleading the op ions of the multitude.

Mixed as the present state is, reason and religion pronounce, that generally, if not always, there is more happiness than misery, more pleasure than pain, in the condition of man.

Society, when formed, requires distinctions of property; diversity of conditions, subordination of ranks, and a multiplicity of occupations, in order to advance the general good. by all. In every region, every clime, the homage paid to dingantge which is dity and in it is the same. In no one sentiment were ever mankind more generally agreed.

understood

The appearances of our security are frequently deceitful. When our sky seems most settled and serane, in some unobserved quarter gathers the little black cloud in which the tempest ferments, and prepares to discharge itself on our hepat.

b

moe man of true fortitude may be compared to the castle on a rock, which defies the attacks of surrounding s: the man of a feeble and timorous spirit, to a hut

Innocence confers ease and freedom on the mind; leaves it open to every pleasing sensation.

Moderate and simple pleasures relish high with the te perate: in the midst of his studied refinements, the vol tuary languishes.

Gentleness corrects whatever is offensive in our manner and, by a constant train of humane attentions, studies alleviate the burden of common misery.

That gentleness which is the characteristic of a good ma has, like every other virtue, its seat in the heart: and, me add, nothing except what flows from the heart, can re der even external manners truly pleasing.

Virtue, to become either vigorous or useful, must be ha itually active: not breaking forth occasionally with a tran sient lustre, like the blaze of the comet; but regular in d returns, like the light of day: not like the aromatic gale which sometimes feasts the sense; but like the ordinar breeze, which purifies the air, and renders it healthful.

The happiness of every man depends more upon the state of his own mind, than upon any one external circumstance nay, more than upon all external things put together.

In no station, in no period, let us think ourselves secure from the dangers which spring from our passions. Every age, and every station they beset; from youth to gray hairs, and from the peasant to the prince.

Riches and pleasures are the chief temptations to criminal deeds. Yet those riches, when obtained, may very possibly overwhelm us with unforseen miseries. Those pleasures tay cut short our health and life.

He who is accustomed to turn aside from the world, and commune with himself in retirement, will, sometimes at least, hear the truths which the multitude do not tell him. A more sound instructor will lift his voice, and awaken within the heart those latent suggestions, which the world had over

powered and suppressed.

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the

VICTIDIS OF

find peopted wou we should temperance and sensuality, and with the children of vicious indolence and sloth.

To be wise in our own eyes, to be wise in the opinion of the world, and to be wise in the sight of our Creator,are three things so very different, as rarely to coincide.

Man, in his highest earthly glory, is but a reed floating on the stream of time, and forced to follow every new direction of the current.

CHAP. I..

Select Sentences, &c.

selves for another world, by neglecting the concerns of this. Reveal none of the secrets of thy friend. Be faithful to his interests. Forsake him not in danger. Abhor the thought of acquiring any advantage by his prejudice.

Man, always prosperous, would be giddy and insolent; always afflicted, would be sullen or despondent. Hopes and fears, joy and sorrow, are, therefore, so blended in his life, as both to give room for worldly pursuits, and to recall, from time to time, the admonitions of conscience.

SECTION IV.

TIME once past never returus: the moment which is lost, is lost forever.

There is nothing on earth so stable, as to assure us of undisturbed rest; nor so powerful, as to afford us constant protection.

The house of feasting too often becomes an avenue to the house of mourning. Short, to the licentious, is the interval between them.

It is of great importance to us, to form a proper esitmate of human life; without efther loading it with imaginary evils, or expecting from it greater advantages than it is able to yield.

Among all our corrupt passions, there is a strong and intimate connexion. When any one of them is adopted into our family, it seldom quits us until it has fathered upon us all its kindred.

Charity, like the sun, brightens every object on which it shines; a censorious diposition casts every character into the darkest shade it will bear.

Many men mistake the love, for the practice of virtue; and are not so much good men, as the friends of goodness. Genuine virtue has a language that speaks to every heart throughout the world. It is a language which is understood by all. In every region, every clime, the homage paid to it is the same. In no one sentiment were ever mankind more generally agreed.

The appearances of our security are frequently deceitful. When our sky seems most settled and serane, in some unobserved quarter gathers the little black cloud in which the tembest ferments, and prepares to discharge itself on our hepay.

mae man of true fortitude may be compared to the castle ba on a rock, which defies the attacks of surrounding the man of a feeble and timorous spirit, to a

28

The English Reader.

- PART 1.

placed on the shore, which every wind shakes, and every wave overflows.

Nothing is so inconsistent with self-possession as violent Manger. It overpowers reason; confounds our ideas; distorts/the appearance, and blackens the colour of every object. By the storms which it raises within, and by the mischiefs which it occasions without, it generally brings on the passionate and revengeful man, greater misery than he can bring on the object of his resentment.

The palace of virtue has, in all ages, been represented as placed on the summit of a hill; in the ascent of which, labour is requisite, and difficulties are to be surmounted; and where a conductor is needed, to direct our way, and to aid our steps.

In judging of others, let us always think the best, and employ the spirit of charity and candour. But in judging of ourselves, we ought to be exact and severe.

Let him, that desires to see others happy, make haste to give while his gift can be enjoyed; and remember, that every moment of delay takes away something from the value of his benefaction. And let him who proposes his own Donniness reflect, that while he forms his purpose, the day rolls on, and "the night cometh, when no man can work."

To sensual persons, hardly any thing is what it appears to be: and what flatters most, is always farthest from reality. There are voices which sing around them; but whose strains allure to ruin. There is a banquet spread, where poison is in every dish. There is a couch which invites them to repose; but to slumber upon it, is death.

If we would judge whether a man is really happy, it is not solely to his houses and lands, to his equipage and his retinue we are to look. Unless we could see farther, and discern what joy, or what bitterness, his heart feels, we can pronounce little concerning him.

The book is well written; and I have perused it with pleasure and profit. It shows, first, that true devotion is rational and well founded; next, that it is of the highest importance to every other part of religion and virtue; and, fastly, that it is most conducive to our happiness.

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There is certainly no greater felicity, than to be able to look back on a life usefully and virtuously employe grace our own progress in existence, by such tokens a neither shame nor sorrow. It ought therefore to be te of those who wish to pass the last hours with corte ure of pleasing ideas, as shall sun