company the primitive piety in her flight from the earth, and then interest will succeed conscience in the regulation of human conduct, till one man cannot trust another further than he holds him by that tie: hence, by the way it is, that although many are infidels themselves, yet few choose to have their families and dependents such; as judging—and rightly judging—that true Christians are the only persons to be depended on for the exact discharge of their social duties. Bishop Horne. SAID TO HAVE BEEN FOUND ON A BLANK LEAF OF LORD BYRON'S BIBLE. WITHIN this awful volume lies, The mystery of mysteries; Thrice happy he of human race, To whom our God has given the grace To read, to mark, to learn, to pray, To lift the latch, to force the way; But better had he ne'er been born, Who reads to doubt, or reads to scorn. OUR religion and our manners I fear, my good madam, are in this respect much alike, and as we are too apt to compliment our brethren, with the forms of kindness, so we are too apt to compliment our God with the forms of piety. Such a religion, and such morals, will never bear to be scrutinized by the pure and penetrating eye of heaven; our kindness, as well as our piety, must originate in our hearts, and can only be obtained by a constant resistance of our selfish desires, and a perpetual hungering after, seek, ing and praying for, such as are heavenly and divine. Caspipini's Letters... ON LOWLINESS. THE rose was pouting her ruby lip, The summer sun smiled on the rose so fair, The storm wind came from the northern hill, Oh lowliness! lowliness! dearest lot, Thee pride never dazzles, nor care deforms, HUMILITY DESCRIBED. "TIs a fair and fragrant flower, in its appearance, modest; in its situation, low and hidden; it does not flaunt its beauties to every vulgar eye, or throw its odours upon every passing gale; 'tis unknown to the earthly botanist, it discovers itself only to the spiritual searcher; neither does he find it among those gay and gaudy tribes of flowers, with which the generality are so easily captivated, but in some obscure and unfrequented spot, where the prints of human feet are rarely seen. But whenever he finds it, he is sure to behold its bosom opened to the Son of Righteousness, receiving new sweets in perpetual succession from his exhaustless source. Caspipini. INDIAN ELOQUENCE. THE following is extracted from a late speech before the governor of the assembly of Pennsylvania, by the chief of the Menomonis. It has all the figurative energy of Indian eloquence:--" Brother, we see your council-house, it is large and beautiful, but the councilhouse of the red man is much larger, the earth is the floor, the clear sky is the roof, a blazing fire is the chair of the chief orator, and the green grass the seats of our chiefs; you speak by papers, and record your words in books, but we speak from our hearts, and memory records our words in the hearts of our people." A LITTLE With the blessing of God upon it, is better than a great deal, with the incumbrance of his curse; His blessing can multiply a mite into a talent, but His curse will shrink a talent into a mite; by Him the arms of the wicked are broken, and by Him the righ teous are upholden; so that the great question is, whether he be with or against us, and the great misfortune is, that this question is seldom asked. The favour of God is to them that obtain it, a better and enduring substance, which like the widow's barrel of oil, wasted not in the evil days of famine, nor will fail. Bishop Horne. A great man is affable in his converse, generous in his temper, and immoveable in what he has maturely resolved upon; and as prosperity does not make him haughty and imperious, so neither does adversity sink him into meanness and dejection, for if ever he shows more spirit than ordinary, it is when he is ill used, and the world frowns upon him; in short, he is equally removed from the extremes of servility and pride, and scorns either to trample upon a worm, or sneak to an emperor. Collier. WITH A PRESENT OF FLOWERS. GREAT God I rejoice in thy beautiful earth, Yea, the lovely soul of each infant flower, O Lord, if this earth be so lovely to see, How transportingly bright, must thy paradise be, To Him who hath saved us, and made our abode, 'Midst the undying flowers of a visible God. TACT AND TALENT. TALENT is something, but tact is every thing; talent is serious, sober, grave, and respectable; tact is all that, and more too; it is not a sixth sense, but it is the life of all the five: it is the open eye, the quick ear, the judging taste, the keen smell, the lively touch; it is the interpreter of all riddles, the surmounter of all difficulties, the remover of all obstacles; it is useful in solitude, for it shows a man his way into the world; it is useful in society, for it shows him his way through the world. Talent is power-tact is skill; talent is weight-tact is momentum; talent knows what to do-tact knows how to do it; talent makes a man respectable--tact makes him respected; talent is wealth— tact is ready money. For all the practical purposes of life, tact carries it against talent ten to one. |