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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 happiness 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, lastly, that it is most conducive to our happiness.

There is certainly no greater felicity, than to be able to look back on a life usefully and virtuously employed; to trace our own progress in existence, by such tokens as excite neither shame nor sorrow. It ought therefore to be the care of those who wish to pass the last hours with comfort, to lay up such a treasure of pleasing ideas, as shall support the expenses of that time, which is to de pend wholly upon the fund already acquired.

SECTION V.

A-vail, 4-våle', benefit, to profit

content

Qual-i-fy, kwol-le-fi, to fit for anyh Un-war-ran-ta-ble, un-war-rán-tå-b], purpose, to abate, to soften indefensible, not to be justified

E-steem, è-stèèm', to set a value uponi Ir-re-cov-er-a-ble, tr-rè-kåv ́-år-á-bl,

d Jol-li-ty, jól'-le-te, gaiety

Dis-play, dis-plà', to exhibit, pomp

not to be regained

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f Ap-peal, áp-pèle, to refer, a tefer

Squan-der, skwon-důr, to lavish, dissipate

ence

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Ef-fem-i-nate, ef-fêm'-è-nåte, wo

manish, voluptuous, tender

Dis-con-tent, dis-kon-tênt', want of

WHAT avails the show of external liberty, to one who

has lost the government of himself?

He that cannot live well to-day, (says Martial, (will be less qualified to live well to-morrow.

Can we esteem that man prosperous, who is raised to a situation which flatters his passions, but which corrupts his principles, disorders his temper, and finally oversets his virtue?

What misery does the vicious man secretly endure !Adversity! how blunt are all the arrows of thy quiver, in comparison with those of guilt!

When we have no pleasure in goodness, we may with certainty conclude the reason to be, that our pleasure is all derived from an opposite quarter.

How strangely are the opinions of men altered by a change in their condition!

How many have had reason to be thankful, for being disappointed in designs which they earnestly pursued, but which, if successfully accomplished, they have afterwards seen would have occasioned their ruin!

What are the actions which afford in the remembrance a rational satisfaction? Are they the pursuits of sensual pleasure, the riots of jollity, or the displays of show and vanity? No: I appeal to your hearts, my friends, if what you recollect with most pleasure, are not the innocent, the virtuous, the honourable parts of your past life.

The present employment of time should frequently be an object of thought. About what are we now busied ? What is the ultimate scope of our present pursuits and cares? Can we justify them to ourselves? Are they likely to produce any thing that will survive the moment, and bring forth some fruit for futurity?

Is it not strange (says an ingenious writer,) that some persons should be so delicate as not to bear a disagreeable picture in the house, and yet, by their behaviour, force every face they see about them, to wear the gloom of uneasiness and discontent?

If we are now in health, peace and safety; without any particular or uncommon evils to afflict our condition; what more can we reasonably look for in this vain and uncertain world? How little can the greatest prosperity add to such a state? Will any future situation ever make us happy, if now, with so few causes of grief, we imagine ourselves miserable? The evil lies in the state of our mind, not in our condition of fortune; and by no alteration of circumstances is likely to be remedied.

When the love of unwarrantable pleasures.and of vicious

companions, is allowed to amuse young persons, to engross their time, and to stir up their passions; the day of ruin,-let them take heed, and beware! the day of irrecoverable ruin begins to draw nigh. Fortune is squandered; health is broken; friends are offended, affronted, estranged; aged parents, perhaps, sent afflicted and mourning to the dust.

On whom does time hang so heavily, as on the slothful and lazy? To whom are the hours so lingering? Who are so often devoured with spleen, and obliged to fly to every expedient, which can help them to get rid of themselves? Instead of producing tranquillity, indolence produces a fretful restlessness of mind; gives rise to cravings which are never satisfied; nourishes a sickly, effeminate delicacy, which sours and corrupts every pleasure

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o Placid, plás'-sid, gentle, mild

f Lon-gi-nus, lon-ji'-nús, a Greek philo-p Be-nev-o-lent, bé-nev'-d-lent, kind,

sopher and critick of Athens

charitable

g En-vi-ous, en'-vè-ds, infected with q Pro-fu-gion, envy or ill will

gance

prỏ-fü^-zhůn, extrava

& Dig-ni-ty, dig'-nè-tè, rank, grandeur, Mag-nif-i-cent, måg-nif'-è-sånt,grand preferment

pompous

i Sen-st-tive, sên'-sè-tiv, endowed with's Per-pet-u-al, pêr-pêt-tshù-ál; never feeling

j Im-mor-tal, fm-mor^-tål, exempt from

ceasing, continual

We have seen the husbandman scattering his seed upon the furrowed ground! It springs up, is gathered in to his barns, and erowns his labours with joy and plenty.Thus the man who distributes his fortune with generosity and prudence, is amply repaid by the gratitude of those whom he obliges, by the approbation of his own mind, and by the favour of Heaven.

Temperance, by fortifying the mind and body, leads to ha niness: intemperance, by enervating them, ends generally in misery.

Title and ancestry render a good man ous; but an ill one, more contemptible.

more illustriVice is infa

.

mous, though in a prince; and virtue honourable, though in a pezsant.

An elevated genius, employed in little things, appears to use the simile of Longinus like the sun in his evening declination: he remits his splendour, but retains his magnitude; and pleases more, though he dazzles less.

If enviouss people were to ask themselves, whether they would exchange their entire situations with the persons envied, (I mean their minds, passions, notions, as well as their persons, fortunes, and dignies,)-I presume the self-love, common to human nature, would generally make them prefer their own condition.

We have obliged some persons :-very well!-what would we have more? Isot the consciousness of doing good, a sufficient reward

Do not hurt yourselves or others, by the pursuit of whole nature. Consider yourpleasure. Consult you selves not only as sexitive, but as rational beings; not only as rational, but social; not only as social, but im

mortali

Art thou poor Show thyself active and industrious, Art thou ealthy?-Sho peaceable and contented. thyself benefient and charitable, condescending and hu

mañe.

Though ligion removes not all the evils of life, though it promise no continuance of undisturbed prosperity, (which indeed it were not salutary' for man always to enjoy,) yet, if it mitigates the evils which necessarily belong to our state, it may justly be said to give "rest to them who labour and are heavy laden."

What a smiling aspect" does the love of parents and children, of brothers and sisters, of friends and relations, give to every surrounding object, and every returning day! With what a lustre does it gild even the small habization, where this placido intercourse dwells! where such scenes of heartfelt satisfaction succeed uninterrupted to one another!

How many clear marks of benevolent intention appear every where around us! What a profusion of beauty and ornament is poured forth on the face of nature! What a magnificent spectable presented to the view of man! What supply contrived for his wants! What a variety of objects set before him, to gratify his senses, to, employ his understanding, to entertain his imagination, to cheer and gladden his heart!

The hope of future happiness is a perpetual source of consolation to good men. Under trouble, it sooth their minds; amidst temptaton, it supports their virtue, and in their dying moments, enables them to say, "O death! where is thy sting? O grave! where is thy victory?"

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a

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Soc-ra-tes, sók'-rá-tèz, the most celebrated moral philosopher, a native of Athens

s

Ít

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Cul-ture, kål'-tshire, the act of culti

vation

Em-i-nent-ly, êm'-è-nênt-lè, conspi-
cuously

Phil ip-Sid-ney, fil-p-sid'-nè, a cele-
bated military commander
Zut hen, zat'-fen, the name of a

plac

Al-ex-a-der, al-égz zan'-dår, surnamed he Great, king of Macedo

nia

a celebrated

In-fest, In-fo, to harass, disturb
An-to-ni-us-N ns, an-to'-ne-is-pl'-ůs,
oman Emperor
Pres-er-va-tion, Độz-zèr-và-shần, the
act of preserving
I-mag-ine, è-mad-, to fancy, con-

trive

Im-mod-e-rate-ly, fm-nd'-der-rat-lė, excessively

AGESILAUS, king of Sparta, being asked, "What hings he thought most proper for boys to learn," answered, "Those which they ought to practise when they come to be men." A wiser than Agesilaus has inculcated the same sentiment: "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

An Italian philosopher expressed in his motto, that "time was his estate." An estate indeed which will produce nothing without cultivation; but which will always abundantly repay the labours of industry, and satisfy the most extensive desires, if no part of it be suffered to lie waste by negligence, to be overrun with noxious plants, or laid out for show, rather than use.

When Aristotle was asked, "What a man could gain by telling a falsehood," he replied, "not to be credited when he speaks the truth."

L'Estrange, in his Fables, tells us that a number of frolicsome boys were one day watching frogs, at the side

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