man will trouble himself about "such an infinite deal of nothing?"

"You may as well go stand upon the beach,
And bid the main flood 'bate his usual height;
You may as well use question with the wolf,
Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb;
You may as well forbid the mountain pines
To wag their high tops, and to make a noise,

When they are fretted with the gusts of heaven," as "seek to soften that (than which what's harder)," a foolish heart.

HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS.

QUOTATIONS. Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: They have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return. Jer. v. 3.

If a wise man contendeth with a foolish man, whether he rage or laugh, there is no rest.—Prov. xxix. 9.

Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.-Prov. xxvi. 4.

Ecclesiastes, x. 12-15.

Talk not much with a fool, and go not to him that hath no understanding: beware of him, lest thou have trouble, and thou shalt never be defiled with his fooleries: depart from him, and thou shalt find rest, and never be disquieted with his madness.-Eccles. xxii. 13.

If we strive with the worthless, what course soever we take we are losers, and can never come handsomely off.-Lord Bacon.

Quid enim contendat hirundo cycnis.-Lucretius.
Impar congressus Achilli.- Virgil.

Prudens in flammam ne manum injicito.

CONCLUSION.

THEME LXXIII. To praise one's Friend aloud, rising early, has the same effect as cursing him.

INTRODUCTION. To be always harping on the praise of a friend from morning till night, will be of more injury

than benefit to him.

1ST REASON.-Immoderate praise savours of unreasonable partiality; and is regarded by those who hear it as the hyperbole of blind adoration.

2ND REASON. Men are apt to think that the fulsome flatterer has some direct or indirect interest in puffing; like the rhymers hired by some tradesmen to attract notoriety.

3RD REASON-Modest praise arrests the attention of those who hear it, and predisposes them to think favourably of the party recommended: But gross flattery offends their judgment, and poisons their mind against the object of such injudicious praise.

4TH REASON.-Fulsome flattery provokes envy and detraction.

5TH REASON.It is an indirect insult to the public generally, and must be injurious both to the flatterer and to the object of his encomium.

6TH REASON."To be over thankful for one favour is, in fact, to ask for another;" and, on the same principle, extravagant praise looks like design upon the pocket.

7TH REASON.-Every modest man will feel wretched to hear his merits grossly exaggerated to others. Conscious that he cannot realise the description given, he will feel perplexed, disappointed, and humbled.

8TH REASON. To the vain man immoderate praise will be equally injurious. It will fan his conceit into a flame, and bury in arrogance and pride the merit he may really possess.

SIMILES. When all men praised the peacock for his

beautiful tail, the birds cried out with one consent, "Look at his legs! and what a voice !"

It is prejudicial to fertility to manure a field too highly. A light too intense is as bad as darkness.

A little medicine may benefit health, but immoderate doses act like poison.

When the fox lauded with fulsome flattery the black crow, praising the glossy brilliancy of her feathers, the exquisite proportions of her form, the beauty of her eye, and even the music of her voice, he only wanted to get possession of a piece of cheese, which the crow let fall immediately she opened her beak.—Æsop's fable.

Flattery, says Lord Bacon, is fowling with a bird-call. When tributary rivers supply the main trunk with a moderate stream, it flows within its channel, "blessing and blessed;" but when the mountain torrents roll thither their immoderate floods, the river overflows its banks, carrying desolation wherever it goes.

HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS.-2 Sam. xv. 2-7. 2 Sam. xvi. 16-19, with xvii. 7-13. 1 Kings, xxii. 6. 13. Acts, xii. 22, 23. Luke, xx. 20, 21.

QUOTATIONS. A man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his feet.-Prov. xxix. 5.

Meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips.Prov. xx. 19.

A flattering mouth worketh ruin.—Prov. xxvi. 28. Such as do wickedly against the covenant (God) shall corrupt by flatterers.-Dan. xi. 32.

Immoderate praises procure envy to the person praised, as all extravagant commendations seem to reproach others that may be less deserving.-Lord Bacon.

Flattery is the varnish of vice.-Lord Bacon.
Let the candied lick ab'surd pomp,

And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee,
Where thrift may follow fawning.-Shakspeare.

Some men are praised maliciously to their hurt, thereby to stir up envy and jealousy towards them: "pessimum genus inimicorum laudantium."-Lord Bacon.

Too much magnifying of man or matters doth irritate contradiction and procure scorn.-Lord Bacon.

An injudicious friend is worse than a foe.

A flattering friend is your worst enemy.-Maunder's proverbs.

Moderate praise is wont to augment, but immoderate praise to diminish, honour.-Theopompus.

Men had need beware how they be too perfect in compliments; for that enviers will give them that attribute to the disadvantage of their virtues.-Lord Bacon.

Beaucoup de bruit,

Peu de fruit.

Si fastiditus non ero, laudatus, abunde.- Ovid. Nolo esse laudator, ne videar adulator.-Herennius. Habendum est nullam in amicitiis pestem esse majorem, quam adulationem, blanditias, assentationem.-Cicero. Viscus merus est blanditia.-Plautus.

CONCLUSION.

THEME LXXIV. Suspect not without good Cause. INTRODUCTION. . . . .

1ST REASON.-Suspicion is always indicative of a weak mind.

2ND REASON.-It breaks the bonds of trust, whereby friends are lost and business paralysed.

3RD REASON.-It often suggests evil to designing men, and lays the unwary open to their attacks.

4TH REASON.-It sours the temper and fills the heart with all bitterness: Disposes kings to tyranny, husbands to jealousy, wise men to irresolution, and weak ones to melancholy.

5TH REASON.-It greatly embitters life. A man had far better be deceived, than suspect without cause.

6TH REASON.-It betrays a very evil heart. Men judge of others by themselves, and those who are most prone to plot mischief are always most ripe to suspect it in others. Thus Cain thought every one he met would prove a murderer (Gen. iv. 14.); and Saul, who wished to encompass the life of David, suspected David of like perfidy (1 Sam. xxiv. 9, &c.).

7TH REASON-Suspicion is totally inconsistent with Christian charity, which "thinketh no evil," but "hopeth all things."--1 Cor. xiii. 5. 7.

8TH REASON. It is a positive wrong and positive injury to those who are the objects of suspicion.

9TH REASON.-It leads to many sins: For he who suspects evil, hurries to avoid it; and, as his mind is blinded by prejudice, he is reckless who suffers, if he can himself escape. Several illustrations of this are recorded in Holy Scripture for our warning: For example, Abraham, through a false suspicion, twice brought vengeance on all the Egyptians (Gen. xii. 10-20. and Gen. xx.); Isaac was guilty of similar injustice, while he dwelt in Gerar (Gen. xxvi. 6-9.); &c.

SIMILES. Suspicion is like the jaundice, which tinges everything with a yellow hue.

A suspicious man looks through a "horn darkly." Suspicions amongst thoughts (says Lord Bacon) are like bats among birds.

Suspicion, like a cat, "is a green-eyed monster, that doth mock the meat it feeds on."

It may be likened to "an evil eye ;" and, "if thine eye be evil, thy whole body is full of darkness."-Matt. vi. 23. Suspicion beholds everything good in a convex mirror,