gers, nor for the gypsy priests of Isis, nor for the interpreters of dreams; for these possess neither science nor art, but are superstitious priests and impudent impostors. They are either lazy or mad, or act to gain a livelihood; knowing not the right path themselves, they pretend to show it to others, promising riches to gain a penny.

TEACHERS.

What nobler employment, or more advantageous to the state, than that of the man who instructs the rising generation!

A WISE PROPHET.

The best guesser I shall always call the most sagacious prophet.

Euripides (Fr. Incert. 85) says:

"He is the best prophet who is the best guesser."

And Theocritus (Idyl. xxi. 32) says:

"He is the best diviner of dreams who is taught by his understanding."

KNOWLEDGE OF FUTURITY.

For my own part, I can never believe that a knowledge of future events would be of advantage to us; for what a miserable life Priam would have led, had he known the occurrences that were to befall him in his old age!

STAR-GAZING.

Nobody looks at what is immediately before them; we are all employed in gazing at the stars.

IT IS WELL TO OBSERVE THE FACTS OF NATURE.

Though it be impossible to discover the occult causes of natural phenomena, still it is well to observe and animadvert upon the facts themselves.

EXTRAORDINARY EVENTS.

In extraordinary events ignorance of their causes produces astonishment.

ONE IS NOT SURPRISED AT WHAT HAPPENS OFTEN.

A man is not surprised at what he sees frequently, even though he be ignorant of the reason; whereas if that which he never beheld before happens, then he calls it a prodigy.

CHANGEABLENESS OF FORTUNE.

No one will separate fortune from inconstancy and rashness.

HOW SUPERSTITIOUS FEAR IS TO BE DRIVEN AWAY.

Drive away by the principles of nature that ter.ror which may have been caused by the strangeness of the event.

THERE ARE NO PRODIGIES.

Nothing can be done without a cause, nor has anything been done which cannot again be done. Nor, if that has been done which could be done, ought it to be regarded as a prodigy. There are, therefore, no prodigies.

GOD IS OMNIPOTENT.

There is nothing which God cannot accomplish.

GOD KNOWS THE CHARACTER OF MAN.

God cannot be ignorant of the character of man.

So Psalm xciv. 11: -

"The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity."

GOD KNOWN BY HIS WORKS.

The beauty of the world and the orderly ar

rangement of everything celestial makes us confess that there is an excellent and eternal nature, which ought to be worshipped and admired by all mankind.

So Psalm cii. 25-27:

"Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end."

RELIGION AND SUPERSTITION.

Religion is not removed by removing superstition.

MAN PRESCIENT AND SAGACIOUS.

This provident, sagacious, versatile, subtile, thoughtful, rational, wise animal, which we call man, has been created by the supreme God with a certain noble privilege; for he alone of so many different kinds and sorts of animals is partaker of reason and reflection, when all others are destitute of them. But what is there, I will not say in man, but in all heaven and earth, more divine than reason? which, when it has arrived at maturity, is properly termed wisdom.

So John i. 13:

"Which were born of God."

NO NATION SO SAVAGE THAT DOES NOT ACKNOWLEDGE GOD.

Therefore, of all kinds of animals there is none except man that has knowledge of a God; among men there is not a nation so savage and brutish which, though it may not know what kind of a being God ought to be, does not know that there must be one. From this we may infer that, who

ever, as it were, recollects and knows whence he is sprung, acknowledges the existence of a God.

NATURE TEACHES MAN TO LOOK UPWARD.

Nature has bestowed on man alone an erect stature and raised his thoughts to the contemplation of heaven, as if it were connected with him by relationship and his ancient home.

EVIL HABITS.

There is in fact such corruption engendered in man by bad habits, that the sparks, as it were, of virtue, furnished by nature, are extinguished, and vices of an opposite kind arise around and become strengthened.

So Romans xvi. 18:

"They by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple."

THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOR.

Let man love himself not more than his neighbor.

So Matthew v. 43:

"Thou shalt love thy neighbor."

And John xiii. 34:-

"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another."

REMORSE OF CONSCIENCE.

The furies pursue men, not with burning torches, as the poets feign, but with remorse of conscience and the tortures arising from guilt.

So Job xv. 24, 25:

"Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid, stretcheth out his hand against God."

JUSTICE.

Justice is obedience to the written laws.

for he

INSPIRATION OF MAN.

For whoever is acquainted with his own mind, will, in the first place, feel that he has a divine principle within him, and will regard his rational faculties as something sacred and holy; he will always both think and act in a way worthy of so great a gift of the gods; and when he shall have proved and thoroughly examined himself, he will perceive how well furnished by nature he has come into life, and what noble instruments he possesses to obtain and secure wisdom.

THE SPOTS WHERE OUR FRIENDS HAVE BEEN.

We are moved, I know not how, by the spots in which we find traces of those who possess our esteem and admiration.

BEGIN WITH A PRAYER TO GOD.

We must begin our acts with a prayer to the immortal gods.

LAW,

I see, therefore, that this has been the idea of the wisest, that law has not been devised by the ingenuity of man, nor yet is it a mere decree of the people, but an eternal principle which must direct the whole universe, ordering and forbidding everything with entire wisdom. Thus they used to say that the mind of the divinity was the real and ultimate law which orders or forbids everything justly; hence that law which the gods have assigned to mankind is justly deserving praise, for it is the reason and mind of a wise being well fitted to order or forbid.

This idea is beautifully expressed by Hooker ("Ecclesiastical Polity," book i.):

"Of law there can be no less acknowledged, than that her