Inclineth he to liberal excess ? prove to him how hard it is to earn. Gather to thy hearth such friends as are worthy of honour and attention, For the company a man chooseth is a visible index of his heart: But let not the pastor whom thou hearest be too much a familiar in thy house, For thy children may see his infirmities, and learn to cavil at his teaching. Consider the station of thy son, and breed him to his fortune with judg ment: The rich may profit in much which would bring small advantage to the poor. But with all thy care for thy son, with all thy strivings for his welfare, Expect disappointment, and look for pain: for he is of an evil stock, and will grieve thee. OF TOLERANCE. A WISE man in a crowded street winneth his way with gentleness, He knoweth that blind hurry will but hinder, stirring up contention against him, Yet holdeth he steadily right on, with his face to the scope of his pursuit: Have stirred up many zealous souls to fight against imaginary giants: So he leaveth unto prejudice or taste the garb and the manner of her presence, Content to see so nigh the mistress of his love. There is no similitude in nature that owneth not also to a difference, Yea, no two berries are alike, though twins upon one stem ; No drop in the ocean, no pebble on the beach, no leaf in the forest, hath its counterpart, No mind in its dwelling of mortality, no spirit in the world unseen: And therefore, since capacity and essence differ alike with accident, Wilt thou ensue peace, nor buffet with the waters of contention, I say not, compromise the right, I would not have thee countenance the wrong, But hear with charitable heart the reasons of an honest judgment; Whiles a man liveth he may mend: count not thy brother reprobate; Neither shalt thou easily unlearn it, though charity ply thee with her preaching; Yet look thou well for reasons, or ever mistrust hath marred thee, Or fear curdled thy blood, or jealousy goaded thee to madness: For a look, or a word, or an act, may be taken well or ill, As construed by the latitude of love, or the closeness of cold suspicion. Better is the wrong with sincerity, rather than the right with falsehood: And a prudent man will not lay siege to the stronghold of ignorant bigotry. To unsettle a weak mind were an easy inglorious triumph, And a strong cause taketh little count of the worthless suffrage of a fool: Lightly he held to the wrong, loosely will he cling to the right; Weakness is the essence of his mind, and the reed cannot yield an acorn. Dogged obstinacy is oftentimes the buttress that proppeth an unstable spirit, But a candid man blusheth not to own he is wiser to-day than yesterday. A man of little wisdom is a sage among fools; But himself is chief among the fools, if he look for admiration from them. Its necessary difference of error is the character it most esteemeth : And little wilt thou speed with thine opponent, by proving points he will concede. The tost sand darkeneth the waves; and clear had been the pages of truth, Had not the glosses of men obscured the simplicity of faith. In all things consider thine own ignorance, and gladly take occasion to be taught; But suffer not excess of liberality to neutralize thy mental independence. The faults and follies of most men make their deaths a gain ;. But thou also art a man, full of faults and follies; Therefore sorrow for the dead, or none shall weep for thee, For the measure of charity thou dealest, shall be poured into thine own bosom. That which vexeth thee now, provoking thee to hate thy brother, Thou canst not shape another's mind to suit thine own body, OF SORROW. I SAID, I will seek out sorrow, and minister the balm of pity: So I sought her in the house of mourning : but peace followed in her train. So I turned to the cabin of the poor, where famine dwelt with disease; But the bed of the sick was smoothed, and the ploughman whistled at his labour. So I stopped, and mused within myself, to remember where sorrow dwelt, I went to the prison, but penitence was there, and promise of better times; His infancy wanted not guilt; his life was continued evil : He drew in pride with his mother's milk, and a father's lips taught him cursing. I marked him as the wayward boy; I traced the dissolute youth : I saw him betray the innocent, and sarifice affection to his lust. I saw him the companion of knaves, and a squanderer of ill-got gain; 1 heard him curse his own misery, while he hugged the chains that galled him: For well had experience declared the bitterness of guilty pleasure, But habit, with its iron net, involved him in its folds. Behind him lowered the thunder-storm, which the caldron of his wickedness had brewed; Before him was the smooth steep cliff whose base is ruin and despair. The noisy revel and the low debauch, and fierce excitement of play, istence : Memory was to him as a foe, so he flew for false solace to the wine-cup, And stunned his enemy at even, but she rent him as a giant in the morn ing. I turned aside to weep; I lost him a little while: I looked, and years had past: he was hoar with the winter of his age. So, the youth spent in profligacy ended in the gripings of want: The miser grudged himself husks, to take deeper vengeance of the prodigal. And I said, this is sorrow; but pity cannot reach it. This is to be wretched indeed, to be guilty without repentance. OF JOY. My soul was sickened within me, so I sought the dwelling-place of Joy: And I met it not in laughter; I found it not in wealth or power; But I saw it in the pleasant home, where religion smiled upon content, His thoughts are of calm delight, and none can know his blessedness; Wisdom took him for her scholar, guiding his steps in purity: He lived unpolluted by the world; and his young heart hated sin. But he owned not the spurious religion engendered of faction and mo roseness, Neither were the sproutings of his soul seared by the brand of super stition. His love is pure and single, sincere, and knoweth not change: For his manhood hath been blest with the pleasant choice of his youth: Behold his one beloved, she leaneth on his arm, |