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THEMES.

PART I.

THEME I. Patience and Perseverance will overcome Mountains.

INTRODUCTION. As mountains may be traversed over or levelled in the course of time by patient and continued labour, so every difficulty may be surmounted by the

same means.

1ST REASON. An impatient man views the obstacle before him only in the mass, and wants to remove it at once Whereas, a patient man views it in detail, and deliberately destroys it piecemeal.

2ND REASON. An impatient man, who sees "the mountain" only in its full bulk, is frightened at the formidable task of moving it, and his powers are impaired by his hopelessness: Whereas the patient man looks at it only as an aggregated pile of minute parts; and by attempting to remove it piece by piece, sees his work prosper, and has good hope of ultimate success.*

3RD REASON.-An impatient man struggles with difficulties beyond his strength, which only serves to irritate his temper, exhaust his powers, and waste his time in vain endeavours: But a patient man has no need to fret and struggle, as he attempts no more than he can accomplish, and is willing to wait for the gradual progress of his work.

* Thus, when Archimedes was asked, In what a constant mind differed from an inconstant? he replied, “Chiefly in good hope."

4TH REASON.-An impatient man, who views the task before him in a wrong light, employs also the wrong means to accomplish his desire: Whereas, a patient man, who fixes his attention on that part of his task alone which he intends to take in hand, avails himself of all the appliances which reflection and skill can suggest. The former would attempt to push "his mountains" into the sea by his hands and shoulders; the latter would remove them gradually by his spade and barrow.

5TH REASON.-An impatient man is perpetually changing his plan of operation, and therefore never acquires that skill which repetition can impart: But a patient man, who perseveres in his original plan, soon becomes familiar with his task; and practice makes him perfect in the use of his instruments.

5TH, or NEGATIVE REASON.-How well soever any undertaking may have been commenced, yet if it be spoiled through impatience, or discontinued through inconstancy, it can never be completed.

SIMILES. The bee collects but a very little honey from a single flower.

The fable of" The Hare and the Tortoise."-Gay.
The ant and the beaver.

The birds build their nests straw by straw.

The coral insects, to whose labours almost all the islands in the South Seas are due.

HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS.-Hannibal, who led his army over the Alps into Italy, amidst the harassing attacks of the Gaulish mercenaries, and the inclemency of an October sky, B.C. 218.

Napoleon, who did the same in the month of May, A.D.

1800.

Titus, at the siege of Jerusalem, a.d. 70.

Alexander the Great, at the siege of Tyre.

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