There are two things that speak as with a voice from heaven, that He who fills the eternal throne, must be on the side of virtue, and what He befriends must finally prosper and prevail. The first is, that the bad are never completely happy and at ease, although possessed of every thing that this world can bestow; and that the good are never completely miserable, although deprived of every thing that this world can take away. For there is one reflection which will obtrude itself, which the best would not, and which the worst cannot dismiss; that the time is fast approaching to both of them, when, if they have gained the favour of God, it matters little what else they have lost, but if they have lost his favour, it matters little what else they have gained. The second argument in support of the ultimate superiority of virtue is this: We are so framed and constituted, that the most vicious cannot but pay a secret, though unwilling homage to virtue, inasmuch, as the worst men cannot bring themselves thoroughly to esteem a bad man, although he may be their dearest friend, nor can they thoroughly despise a good man, although he may be their bitterest enemy. From this inward esteem for virtue, which the noblest cherish, and which the basest cannot expel, it follows that virtue is the only bond of union, on which we can thoroughly depend.-Even differences of opinion on minor points, cannot shake those combinations which have virtue for their foundation, and truth for their end. Such friendships, like those of Luther and Melancthon, should they cease to be friendships of agreement, will continue to be friendships of alliance; approaching each other by angular lines, when they no longer proceed to

gether by parallel, and meeting at last in one common centre, the good of the cause in which they are embarked.

Murmur at nothing; if our ills are reparable, it is ungrateful; if remediless it is vain. A Christian builds his fortitude on a better foundation than Stoicism; he is pleased with every thing that happens, because he knows it could not happen unless it had fit pleased God, and that which pleases him must be the best. He is assured that no new thing can befall him, and that he is in the hands of a father who will prove him with no affliction that resignation cannot conquer, or that death cannot cure.

It is a mistake, that a lust for power is the mark of a great mind; for even the weakest have been captivated by it; and for ninds of the highest order, it has no charms. They seek a nobler empire within their own breast; and He that best knew what was in man, would have no earthly crown, but one that was platted with thorns! Cincinnatus and Washington were greater in their retirement, than Cesar and Napoleon at the summit of their ambition; since it requires less magnanimity to win the conquest, than to refuse the spoil. Lord Bacon has compared those who move in the higher spheres to those heavenly bodies in the firmament, which have much admiration, but little rest. And it is not necessary to invest a wise man with power, to convince him that it is a garment bedizened with gold, which dazzles the beholder by its splendour, but oppresses the wearer by its weight. Besides, those who aspire to govern

others, rather than themselves, must descend to meanness which the truly noble cannot brook, nor will such stoop to kiss the earth, although it were like Brutus, for dominion !*

6

Erasmus candidly informs us, that he had not courage enough for a martyr; and expresses his fears, that he should imitate Peter in case of persecution: Non erat animus ob veritatem, capite, periclitari; non omnes ad martyrium satis habent roboris; vereor autem si quis inciderit tumultus, Petrum sim imitaturus.'† ̄`But if Erasmus had not the courage to face danger, he had the firmness to renounce honours and emoluments. He offered up a daily sacrifice, denial, rather than a single sacrifice, death. He was a powerful agent in the cause of truth, for his writings acted upon the public

*

Quo minus gloriam petebat, eo magis adsequebatur.* When they invited Numa, (says Dion,) to the sovereignty, he for some time refused it, and persisted long in his resolution not to accept the invitation. But, at the pressing instance of his brothers, and at last of his father, who would not suffer him to reject the offer of so great an honour, he consented to be a king. As soon as the Romans were informed of all this by the ambassadors, they conceived a great affection for him, before they saw him, esteeming it as a sufficient argument of his wisdom, that while others valued royalty beyond measure, looking upon it as the source of happiness, he alone despised it as a thing of small value, and unworthy his attention, and when he approached the city, met him upon the road, and with great applause, salutations, and other honours, conducted him into Rome.-Dio. II., B. II.

+ I had not courage to hazard my life for the truth; all have not strength enough for martyrdom; I fear if any tumult had arisen, I should have imitated Peter.-PUB.

The less he sought for glory, the more surely he obtained it.-PUB

mind as alteratives upon the body, and gradually prepared men to undergo the effects of the more violent cathartics of Luther; hence it was not uncommon to say, that Luther hatched the egg, but that Erasmus had laid it. Had Erasmus been brought to the stake, and recanted in that situation, I question whether he would have found a better salvo for his conscience, than that of Mustapha, a Greek Christian of Constantinople. This man was much respected by the Turks; but a curiosity he could not resist, induced him to run the hazard of being present at some of the esoteric ceremonies of the Moslem faith, to see which, is to incur the penalty of death, unless the infidel should atone for the offence by embracing the faith of Mahomet. Mustapha chose the latter alternative, and thus saved his life. As he was known to be a man of strict integrity, he did not escape the remonstrances of some of his former friends, to whom he made this excuse for his apostacy: I thought it better to trust a merciful God with my soul, than those wretches with my body.'

He that openly tells his friends, all that he thinks of them, must expect that they will secretly tell his enemies, much that they do not think of him.

The greatest friend of Truth is Time, her greatest enemy is Prejudice, and her constant compan ion is Humility.

Did universal charity prevail. earth would be a heaven, and hell a fable.

How small a portion of our life it is, that we really enjoy. In youth, we are looking forward to things that are to come; in old age, we are looking backwards to things that are gone past; in manhood, although we appear indeed to be more occupied in things that are present, yet even that is too often absorbed in vague determinations to be vastly happy on some future day, when we have time.

In all governments, there must of necessity be both the law and the sword; laws without arms would give us not liberty, but licentiousness; and arms without laws, would produce not subjection but slavery. The law, therefore, should be unto the sword, what the handle is to the hatchet; it should direct the stroke, and temper the force.

"And pride, vouchsafed to all, a common friend."

The poet who wrote this line, evinced a profound knowledge of human nature. It has been well remarked, that it is on this principle that the pangs felt by the jealous are the most intolerable, because they are wounds inflicted on them through their very shield, through that pride which is our most common support even in our bitterest misfor

tunes.

This pride, which is as necessary an evil in morals, as friction in mechanics, induces men to reiterate their complaints of their own deficiencies, in every conceivable gift, except in that article alone where such complaints would neither be irrational nor groundless, namely, a deficiency in understanding. Here it is, that self-conceit would