But then, the degrading influences of labour, of slavery, and low, contemptible, torturing cares; the want of intellectual cultivation,— ay, even of mere animal enjoyments; the selfcontempt which is but the echo of the world's verdict, all these, perpetuated from generation to generation, are able at last to vulgarize and deteriorate the type of the species; and the worst of it is, that the soul is vulgarized in the long run as well as the body. On the other hand, the habit of ascendancy and freedom, the consciousness of a recognized elevation, the comparative exemption from suffering and pain and sorrow, eventually produce a superior animal. The analogy holds good through all creation. But again, after the acme comes the decline. The inevitable and uniform cycle of growth, maturity, and decay, is one through which all things-individuals, families, and nations-are ever passing; and and when the descendants of the master mind and the conquering arm become drones or dunces or idiots, then, why then let them sink to their level-down to the clay from which all originally rose. POWER-Attributes of. Owgan. POWER-Provoking those in. Let him that would be at quiet, take heed not to provoke men in power. Seneca. POWER-Views of. I doubt she is so flush'd with the vast views Of power, and the exalted heights she has gain'd, That, like the falcon tow'ring in her pride, Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth: a stranger, and not thine own lips. Solomon. PRAISE-Breath of. Sweet is the breath of praise when given by those PRAISE. PRAISE-from a Friend. Praise from thy lips. What is it worth to me? star Plucked from high heaven, to set upon the brow. Derozier. PRAISE-from the Praiseworthy. PRAYER-Benefits of. More things are wrought by prayer Than this world dreams of. Wherefore let thy voice It is a great happiness to be praised by Rise like a fountain for me night and day: them that are most praiseworthy. Sir Philip Sidney. There is no greater argument in the world of our spiritual weakness, and the falseness of our hearts in matters of religion, than the backwardness most men have always, and all men sometimes, to say their prayers; so weary of their length, so glad when they are done, so ready to find an excuse, so apt to lose an opportunity. Yet it is no labour, no trouble, they are thus anxious to avoid, but the begging a blessing and receiving it: honouring our God, and by so doing, honouring ourselves too. Jeremy Taylor. For what are men better than sheep or goats, For so the whole round world is every way Our prayers should be for blessings in general, for God knows best what is good for Socrates. us. Mental prayer, when our spirits wander, is like a watch standing still, because the spring is down; wind it up again, and it goes on regularly. But in vocal prayer, if the words run on and the spirit wanders, the clock strikes false, the hand points not to the right hour, because something is in disorder, and the striking is nothing but noise. In mental prayer we confess God's omniscience, in vocal prayer we call angels to witness. In the first our spirits rejoice in God, in the second the angels rejoice in us. Mental prayer is the best remedy against lightness and indifferency of affections, but vocal prayer is the aptest instrument of communion. That is more an- | gelical, but yet is fittest for the state of separation and glory; this is but human, but it is apter for our present constitution. They have their distinct proprieties, and may be powers Shakspeare. Deny us for our good; so find we profit, The other morning I happened to rise earlier than ordinary, and thought I could not pass my time better than to go upon the admonition of the morning bells to the church prayers at six of the clock. I was there the first of any in the congregation, and had the opportunity, however I made use of it, to look back on all my life, and contemplate the blessing and advantage of such stated early bours for offering ourselves to our Creator, and prepossess ourselves with the love of Him, and the hopes we have from him against the snares of business and pleasure in the ensuing day. Were this morning solemnity as much in vogue, even as it is now, at more advanced hours of the day, it would necessarily have so good effect upon us, as to make us more disengaged and cheerful in conversation, and less artful and insincere in business. The world would be quite another place than it is now the rest of the day, and every face would have an alacrity in it which can be borrowed from no other reflections but those which give us the assured protection of Omnipotence. Addison. PRAYER-Purifying Influence of. Prayer purifies: it is a self-preached sermon. Richter. PRAYER-The Lord's. The Lord's Prayer, for a succession of solemn thoughts, for fixing the attention upon a few great points, for suitableness to every condition, for sufficiency, for conciseness without obscurity, for the weight and real importance of its petition, is without an equal Paley. or a rival. PRAYER. PRAYER-Sanctity of. Prayer ardent opens heaven, lets down a stream PRAYER-Sincerity in. Young. In prayer it is better to have a heart without words, than words without a heart. PRAYER-Study of. Bunyan. Let every man study his prayers, and read his duty in his petitions. For the body of our prayer is the sum of our duty; and as we must ask of God whatsoever we need, so we must labour for all that we ask. PREACHING. PRAYER-a Virtue. Prayer is a virtue that prevaileth against all temptations. Bernard. PRAYER-without Watching. Prayer without watching is hypocrisy; and watching without prayer is presumption. Jay. PRAYER AND BUSINESS. The greater thy business is, by so much the more thou hast need to pray for God's goodspeed and blessing upon it, seeing it is certain nothing can prosper without his blessing. The time spent in prayer never hinders, but furthers and prospers, a man's journey and business: therefore, though thy haste be never so much, or thy business never so great, yet go not Jeremy Taylor. about it, nor out of thy doors, till thou hast prayed. Bishop Bayley, 1620. PREACHING-Opinions about. PRAYER-the Chief Thing. PRAYER-Uses of. Is not prayer a study of truth,-a sally of the soul into the unfound infinite? No man ever prayed heartily without learning something; but when a faithful thinker, resolute to detach every object from personal relations, and see it in the light of thought, shall, at the same time, kindle science with the fire of the holiest affections, then will God go forth anew into the creation. Emerson. Let prayer be the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening. What is preaching? is a question to which there would probably be as many replies as to what is truth? Almost every minister, and almost every man, has his own taste, and his own standard, and his own weight, and his own measure on this subject. One man thinks that to preach, means accurately to divide a given topic, logically to illustrate it, and to observe a perfect but cold propriety through the various steps and stages of the discourse. This is the mechanical plan of preaching. Another imagines preaching to be the exposition of a particular passage of scripture, bringing out from it all that is in it, and nothing more. Matthew Henry. This is the textual idea of preaching. Another cares not a straw for a sermon if it do not contain a train of rigid argumentation, diversified by occasional bursts of party rage, and strong squirts of the odium theologicum. This is the polemical idea of preaching. Another likes no preaching but what contains a string of appeals, and queries, and adjurations, unconnected with principles, unsupported by reasonings, and loose as a rope of sand. This is called, though falsely, practical preaching. Another wants a sermon to be a series of electrical shocks-one burst from beginning to end; the clouds returning after the rain, and no cotton so thick, and no conscience so hard as to exclude or resist the perpetual tumult. This is the clap-trap idea of preaching. Anothers wants flowers; whether natural or fresh from the soil, or artificial and faded, it does not matter; if he do but get flowers, and hear them rustling above his ears, in the breeze of brilliant declamation, he is quite satisfied, whether they keep him languishingly awake, or lull him into dreamy repose. This is the florid and Corinthian idea of preaching. Not many of us pray more than a few times in our lives! Do not start and frown, strict formulists, who, at the appointed season, never fail to go through your form of prayer. How often do you do any of us-lift our thoughts so high that we consciously feel them in God's presence? How often are our thoughts pure enough to wing their way so far above sin and sense? We trust God hears us, as we think devout thoughts on our knees; or, at night, laying our heads down wearily, send up an aspiration to One in whom is no darkness at all; but we do not feel our spirits in contact with His glory. Yet this we may do; we may rise from our prayers, feeling that for awhile we have been out of the flesh; have sent, not our thoughts only, "winged messengers," to the Lord's throne, but our very selves have lain at our Father's feet; have wrung hands without feeling them of flesh; have shed tears without feeling them hot on our cheeks. Arle. Another is content with exclamations: he is not pleased unless every other sentence begin with Oh the interjection Ah, has to him a peculiarly pathetic sound; it seems to melt into his midriff like snow; and that preacher would be his Magnus Apollo, who would say, "Oh, we remark in the next place." This is the interjectional idea of preaching. Another desiderates chiefly delivery: no minister is a favourite unless his voice be musical, and his attitude smack of the boards; unless he indulge in a profusion of studied declamation, pointing to the four winds when he names them, and laying his hand gently on the heart, when he wishes to indicate that interesting organ. This is the material or Anthropomorphic idea of preaching. Another judges of a sermon by its length, and likes it, either because it is an hour, or because it is only the half of the time. This is the arithmetical idea of preaching. Gilfillan. fectness of learning in the end that quick wits seem in hope, but do not indeed ever attain unto. Also, for manner, and life, hard wits commonly are hardly carried, either to desire every new thing, or to marvel at every strange thing; therefore they be careful and diligent in their own matters, not curious and busy in other men's affairs; and so they become wise themselves, and also are counted honest by others. They be grave, stedfast, silent of tongue, secret of heart; not hasty in making, but constant in keeping any promise: not rash in uttering, but wary in considering, every matter, and thereby not quick in speaking, but deep of judgment, whether they write or give counsel on weighty affairs. And these be men that become in the end, both most happy for themselves, and also most esteemed abroad in the world. Ascham. PREFACE. To please one feeling heart, for one calm, thoughtful hour, Go, little book! content if thine the power. PREFACE-Reasons for Writing a Jesse. What, after all, is the mite of wisdom that I could throw into the mass of knowledge; or how am I sure that my sagest deductions may be safe guides for the opinions of others? But in writing to amuse, if I fail, the only evil is my own disappointment. If, however, I can by any lucky chance, in these days of evil, rub out one wrinkle from the brow of care, or beguile the heavy heart of one moment of sorrow, if I can now and then penetrate through the gathering film of misanthropy, prompt a benevolent view of human nature, and make my reader more in good humour with his fellow-beings and himself, surely, surely, I shall not then have written entirely Washington Irving. PRECOCITY-not to be Desired. This I know, not only by reading books in my study, but also by experience of life abroad in the world, that those which be commonly the wisest, best learned, and best men also, when they were old, were never commonly the quickest of wit when they were young. Quick wits be apt to take, unapt to keep; soon hot and desirous of this and that, as soon cold and weary of the same again; more quick to enter speedily than able to pierce far; even like our sharp tools, whose edges be very soon turned Also for manners and life quick wits commonly be in | desire new-fangled, in purpose inconstant, light to promise anything, ready to forget everything, both benefit and injury, and thereby neither fast to friend nor fearful to foe; inquisitive of every trifle, not secret in the greatest affairs; bold with any person, busy in every manner: soothing such as be present, whipping any that is absent:-of nature, always flattering their betters, envying their equals, despising their inferiors; and by quickness of wit, very quick and ready to like none so well as themselves. Contrariwise, a wit in youth that is not over dull, heavy, knotty and lumpish, but hard, tough, though somewhat staffish,-such a wit, I say, if it be at the first well handled by the mother, and rightly smoothed and wrought by the schoolmaster, both for learning and whole course of living, proveth always the best. Hard wits be hard to receive, but sure to keep; painful without weariness, heedful without wavering, constant without new-fangledness; bearing heavy things, though not lightly, yet willingly; entering hard things, though not easily, yet deeply; and so come to that per- Wise men have said, are wearisome; who reads in vain. PREFACES-Matter for. Why are not more gems from our great authors scattered over the country? Great books are not in every body's reach; and though it is better to know them thoroughly than to know them only here and there, yet it is a good work to give a little to those who have neither time nor means to get more. every book-worm, when in any fragrant scarce old tome he discovers a sentence, a story, an illustration, that does his heart good, hasten to give it. Coleridge. Many books, Let |