Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

No man expresses such a respect and devotion to virtue as he does, who forfeits the repute of being a good man, that he may not lose the consciousness of being such.

RETIREMENT.

[blocks in formation]

THE EFFECTS OF PROSPERITY.
We become wiser by adversity, prosperity de-

Retirement without study is death, and the grave stroys the idea of what is right. of a living man.

GOD IS EVERYWHERE PRESENT.

Of what consequence is it that anything should be concealed from man? nothing is hidden from God: He is present in our minds and comes into the midst of our thoughts. Comes, do I say?—as if He were ever absent!

So Deuteronomy xxxi. 21:"I know their imagination."

DRUNKENNESS.

Drunkenness is nothing else than voluntary madness.

HIGH HONORS.

The path to the honors of life is rough and stormy.

NATURE.

Nature does not bestow virtue; to become good is an art.

NOBODY ERRS FOR HIMSELF.

Nobody errs for himself alone, but scatters his folly among his neighbors and receives theirs in return.

[blocks in formation]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

This day, which thou fearest as thy last, is the SOME PASSIONS ARE MORE EASILY CUT OFF THAN birthday of eternity.

[blocks in formation]

RECONCILIATION.

REGULATED.

[blocks in formation]

So Ephesians v. 29:

"For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth

Let thy reconciliation be both easy and un- and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church." doubted.

[blocks in formation]

YOUNG MEN OUT OF A BAND-BOX.

You know some young men, with beard and hair so trimmed, as if they had stepped out of a bandbox, but you could expect nothing great from such parties. The conversation is the index of the mind.

MONEY FROM ANY SOURCE.

They do not inquire why and whence, but only how much thou possessest.

THE BEING OF GOD PROVED. We are wont to attribute much to what all men presume; with us it is an argument of truth that anything seems true to all, as that there are gods, we hence collect, for that all men have engrafted in them an opinion concerning gods, neither is there any nation so void of laws or good manners, that it does not believe that there are some gods.

THE BODY.

the universe, a spirit and a mind, the Lord and This body is not a home, but a place of enter- Maker of this lower world, to whom all names are tainment, and that for a short period.

So Psalm cxix. 19:

"I am a stranger in the earth."

NATURE.

suitable.

Wilt thou call him Destiny? Thou wilt not err. On him depend all things, and all the causes of causes are from him. Wilt thou cali him Providence? Thou wilt say well. For it is his wisdom that provides for this world that it be

Nature has given to us the seeds of knowledge, without confusion and proceed on its course withnot knowledge itself.

[blocks in formation]

out change. Wilt thou call him Nature? Thou wilt not commit a mistake. For all things have had their beginning from him, in whom we live and move and have our being. Wilt thou call him the World? Thou wilt not be deceived. For he is all that thou seest, wholly infused into his parts and sustaining himself by his own power.

The following is the scholium annexed to the principia of Newton (Cambridge, 1713), which may be considered as the germ of the celebrated argument a priori for the existence of God:

"God is eternal and infinite, omnipotent and omniscient; that is, He endures from everlasting to everlasting, and is present from infinity to infinity. He is not eternity nor infinity, but eternal and infinite. He is not duration or space, but he endures and is present. He endures always and is present everywhere, and by existing always and everywhere, constitutes duration and space.'

ALL MUST DIE.

We are all reserved for death. All this people, whom thou seest, whom thou thinkest to be anywhere, nature will speedily recall and bury; nor is there any question about the thing, but about the day.

FATE.

Fate goes its round, and if it has missed one thing for a long time, it at last finds it out. It afflicts some more rarely, others more often, but leaves nothing exempt and free from evil.

FEAR.

If you wish to fear nothing, think that everything is to be feared.

NO TEMPEST OF LONG DURATION.

No tempest continues for a long time: the more strength storms have, the less time they last.

THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD.

It was the act of a lofty spirit to examine the hidden places of the nature of things, and not content with their exterior to look into, and descend into, the deep things of God.

So 1 Corinthians ii. 10:

"The Spirit searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God."

SILIUS ITALICUS.

BORN A.D. 25-DIED A.D. 100.

C. SILIUS ITALICUS, born about A.D. 25, became famed at an early age as a pleader at the bar. He was raised to the consulship A.D. 65, the year in

Euripides (Aiol. Fr. 20) says:

"Distresses must be endured; whoever bears with patience the inflictions of the gods, that man is wise.”

which Nero perished. He passed through a pros- | our vigilance as to overcome them by noble paperous life amidst very exciting scenes, and at last tience. determined to retire from the busy world that he might enjoy the tranquillity of a literary life. He passed his time chiefly near Puteoli, at the favor ite villa of Cicero, called Academia. Here he lived happily for many years, till falling into an incurable disease he determined to leave life, which he did by starving himself A.D. 100. He wrote an heroic poem in seventeen books, entitled "Punica," which has reached us entire.

DILIGENCE IN WAR.

In time of war we must be speedy in execution, and advance to honor through the path of danger.

SENATE OF ROME.

The consul summons a solemn council; men distinguished by unstained poverty, whose names are known for triumphs in war, a senate that equals the gods in virtue. Valiant deeds and a sacred regard of right raise them aloft; unshorn hair, a simple diet, hands familiar with the crooked plough; content with little, hearts whom no desire of wealth torments, who often retired to their small cottage in triumphal cars.

FAITH.

MISERY REMINDS MAN of god.

When we are in misery then springs up a reverence of the gods: the prosperous seldom approach the sacred altar.

TO INJURE OUR COUNTRY.

Hear and keep this fixed forever in thy breast; to be incensed against thy country is impious, nor is there any sin more heinous that conducts man to the grave.

THE GAULS.

Besides the Gauls began to look toward home, a people fierce at the first onset, but unsteady; a race boastful in words, and of a light, inconstant mind; they grieved to see a war carried on without slaughter (a thing to them unknown), and that their right hands, while they stood in arms, should grow stiff and dry from blood.

ADVERSITY GROWS GREATER THROUGH FEAR.

The frowns of fortune are deepened to the timid

Nowhere does faith remain long to mortals when when there is no resistance, and adverse circumfortunes fails them. stances go on increasing by yielding to fear.

[blocks in formation]
« AnteriorContinuar »