No. 108.] ENGLISH PROVERBS. [WEDNESDAY. "PENNY wise and pound foolish." This proverb severely reflects on such persons who are thrifty to an error in small but necessary expences, yet profusely extravagant in unnecessary This pro ones. "Little pitchers have great ears. verb is a good caution to parents and others, not to use too much freedom in discourse before children, because their simplicity often divulges what their elders would have kept secret. The greatest reverence is due to a child. No. 109.] ADVERSITY. [THURSDAY, He that never was acquainted with adver sity has seen the world but on one side, and is ignorant of half the scenes of nature. As no man can enjoy happiness without thinking that he enjoys it, the experience of calamity is necessary to a just sense of better fortune, for the good of our present state is merely comparative; and the evil which every man feels will be sufficient to disturb and harass him, if he does not know how much he escaped. The lustre of diamonds is invigorated by the interposition of darker bodies; the lights of a picture are created by the shades. No. 110.] [FRIDAY. RESIGNATION UNDER AFFLICTION. AFFLICTION is common to everyage, state, and degree of mankind. When under any affliction we ought to consider the many advantages we yet enjoy, and to reflect how much more miserable we might be. The chief source of our consolation ought to be, that all our afflictions are known and appointed by God. Afflictions are either punishments or trials. If the first, we ought to repent; if the last, to bear them with resignation. When our conscience does not accuse us, we may be assured affliction is sent to us as a blessing, if we do but make a right use of it. "Sweet are the uses of adversity; Which, like a toad ugly and venomous, No. 111.] FOLLY AND INNOCENCE. [SATURDAY. The difference, though essential, fails to strike A simpering countenance, and a trifling air; No.112.] REFLECTIONS ON PROVIDENCE. [SUNDAY. We know not what temporal advantages are most conducive to our interest, and frequently, G with equal eagerness and ignorance, solicit those things which would be pernicious to us. God alone knows what will help us, and what will hurt us; and all our prayers should be offered as with dependence on his goodness, so with entire submission to his wisdom. "Give us, O Lord, the things which are most convenient for us, whether we desire them or not; and keep from us, we beseech thee, all evil things, even though we should wish and earnestly pray for them." No. 113.] EARLY RISING. [MONDAY. EARLY rising is conducive both to health of the body and the improvement of the mind. Some of the most exalted characters which ever existed accustomed themselves to early rising. Though it is the well spending of the day, which should be our primary regard, yet we should ever bear in the mind the almost universal maxim, that "no man has ever come to greatness and eminence who lay in bed of a morning." The difference between the rising at six o'clock in the morning, and the rising at eight, amounts in forty years, to twenty-nine thousand two hundred and twenty hours, which is the same as having eight hours a day for 10 years, in which to cultivate our minds, or discharge the duties belonging to our situations. No. 114.] TIME. [TUESDAY. It is of the utmost importance that we improve our time. God who is liberal and generous in all other gifts, teaches us by the wise economy of his providence, how circumspect we ought to be in the right management of our time; for he never gives us two moments together; he gives us only the second as he takes away the first, and keeps the third in his hands, leaving us in absolute uncertainty whether he will give it us or not. Take care of minutes, for hours will take care of themselves. Be doing some thing or other all day long, and not neglect half hours and quarters of hours, which, at the year's end, amount to a great sum. No. 115.] ENGLISH PROVERBS. [WEDNESDAY. "PROFFERED service offends." This proverb shews the perversity of those who contemn all civilities that are offered to them voluntarily, and set a value upon none but what are obtained with difficulty. "He that reckons without his host must reckon again." This proverb is usually applied to such persons, who are apt to be partial in their own favour, flattering themselves with the advantages they fancy to be on their side in any affair, and making no allowance for the disadvantages that will or may attend them. No. 116.] ADMONITIONS. [THURSDAY. If there be any first principle of wisdom, it is undoubtedly this: the distresses that are removable, endeavour to remove; those which cannot be removed, bear with as little disquiet as you can; in every situation of life, there are comforts; find them out, and enjoy them. Nothing can be great which is not right; nothing which reason condemns can be suitable to the human mind. Favours of every kind are doubled when they are speedily conferred. No. 117.] BENEVOLENCE. [FRIDAY. God loves from whole to parts: but human soul Friend, parent, neighbours, first it will embrace, Earth smiles around, with boundless bounty blest, And heav'n beholds its image in his breast. No. 118.] CHARITY. [SATURDAY. CHARITY to the poor is a duty binding on all who have it in their power. "It is more blessed |