THE BEAUTIFUL IN THE MIND ONLY. I am of opinion that there is nothing of any kind so beautiful, but there is something still more beautiful, of which this is the mere image and expression-as a portrait is from a person's face-a something which can neither be perceived by the eyes, the ears, nor any of the senses; we comprehend it merely in the thoughts of our minds. GRANDILOQUENT ORATORS. For there have been grandiloquent orators, so to speak, impressive and sonorous in their language, vehement, versatile, and copious; well trained and prepared to excite and turn the minds of their audience. While the same effect has been produced by others, by a rude, rough, unpolished mode of address, without finish or delicacy; others, again, have effected the same by smooth, well-turned periods. NEAT ORATORS. WISDOM IN NOT THINKING THAT ONE KNOWS THAT For this cause he imagined that Socrates was called the wisest of men by Apollo, because all wisdom consists in this, not to think that we know what we do not know. Voltaire in the "Histoire d'un bon Bramin " says:"The Brahmin said to me one day: I should wish never to have been born. I asked him why. He answered: I have been studying for forty years: they are forty years lost. I am teaching others, and I am ignorant of everything." The Earl of Sterline (Lond. fol. 1637, p. 7) says in his "Recreations with the Muses: " "Yet all that I have learned (beinge toyles now past), Who think themselves most wise are greatest fooles." TRUTH AT THE BOTTOM OF A WELL. Accuse nature, who has completely hid, as De On the other hand, there are orators of subtle and acute minds, well educated, making every subject which they treat clear, but adding little in reality to our knowledge, refined and correct in their language. Among these some are crafty, but unpolished, and on purpose rude and apparently un-mocritus says, truth in the bottom of a well. skilful; while others exhibit more elegance in their barrenness and want of spirit-that is to say, they are facetious, flowery in their language, and admit of a few ornaments. Shakespeare ("Hamlet," act ii. sc. 2) says something to the same effect: "If circumstances lead me, I will find Where truth is hid, though it were hid indeed This is not unlike what Eschylus (Supp. 1044) says:- "Truth may be stretched out thinly, but there can be no rent, and it always gets above falsehood as oil does above water." PAINTERS. Painters see many things in the shade and the height which we do not see. THE SENSES. In my opinion there is the greatest truth in the senses, if they are sound and strong, and if all things are removed which oppose and impede them. PAINTING. The eyes are charmed by paintings, the ears by music. REASON A LIGHT TO LIGHTEN OUR STEPS. Reason is as it were a light to lighten our steps and guide us through the journey of life. TRUTH. Nothing is more delightful than the light of truth. LIKE AS TWO EGGS. Like as two eggs, according to the proverb. "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. " HOW WE ARE RELIEVED FROM SUPERSTITION. LITERATURE NECESSARY TO THE MIND. TERSE SENTENCES. Terse sentences briefly expressed, have great weight in leading to a happy life. MAN BORN FOR TWO THINGS. Man has been born for two things-thinking and acting. THE TRUTH. Nature has inspired man with the desire of seeing the truth. HOW BEAUTIFUL VIRTUE IF SHE COULD BE What fervent love of herself would Virtue excite if she could be seen! THE BEGINNINGS OF THINGS. The beginnings of all things are small. JUSTICE. Justice is seen in giving every one his own. HABIT. Habit is as it were a second nature. ARTS CHERISHED BY RESPECT SHOWN TO THEM. "Where none admire, 'tis useless to excel; CORRECT THOUGHT. Plato speaks ("Phædrus," c. 31 or 250 D.) in the same noble PROPER EXPRESSION DOES NOT ALWAYS FOLLOW language:-For sight is the sharpest of our bodily senses, though wisdom cannot be seen by it. How vehement would be the love she would inspire, if she came before our sight, and showed us any such clear image of herself, and so would all other lovable things. It may happen that a man may think rightly, yet cannot express elegantly what he thinks. But that any one should commit his thoughts to writ Nobody could ever meet death in defence of his in the legal rights of mankind, which arise out of country without the hope of immortality. THE POET. I fly from mouth to mouth, ever living. ANTICIPATION OF FUTURE AGES. There resides in the human breast, I know not how, a certain anticipation of future ages; this exists and appears chiefly in the noblest spirits; if it were taken from us, who is there so mad as to lead a life of danger and anxiety? THE SOUL EXISTS BY CONSENT OF ALL NATIONS. As nature tells us, there are gods, and we know, by the understanding, what like they must be, so, by the consent of all nations, we believe that the soul exists for eternity; but where it is to exist, and of what nature it is, we must learn from the understanding. the social union of the human race, then has shown us the moderation and greatness of the mind; and she too has dispelled darkness from the mind as from the eyes. So Ecclesiastes ii. 26: "For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy." THE SOUL. Whatever that principle is which feels, conceives, lives, and exists, it is heavenly and divine, and therefore must be eternal. So Romans v. 5: "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us." THE MIND.. Although thou art not able to see the mind of man, as thou seest not God, yet as thou recognizest God from His works, so thou must acknowledge the divine power of the mind from its recol DIFFICULT TO RELIEVE THE MIND FROM THE lection of past events, its powers of invention, from THRALDOM OF THE SENSES. It requires a powerful intellect to release the mind from the thraldom of the senses, and to wean the thoughts from confirmed habits. its rapidity of movement, and the desire it has for the beautiful. So Romans i, 20: "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and God-head." THE GOOD AND THE BAD. The opinion of Socrates was to the following effect, and thus he spoke: "There are two roads and two directions which souls take on leaving the body. Those who have spent their lives in vicious practices, giving themselves wholly up to the lusts of the body, so as to become blinded to all that is good, or who have sunk into the mire of private filth and wickedness, or who have committed inexpiable crimes against their country, such go to a separate abode, away from the gods. Those, on the other hand, who have kept themselves pure and chaste, little subject to fleshly lusts, but imitating the life of the gods, find no difficulty in returning to those from whom they eame. SUICIDE. That divine principle, that rules within us, forbids us to leave this world without the order of the Divinity. THE LIFE OF PHILOSOPHERS. ALL MEN NOT SUSCEPTIBLE OF IMPROVEMENT. PHILOSOPHY. Philosophy is the cultivation of the mental faculties; it roots out vices and prepares the mind to receive proper seed. DEATH. He who is preparing destruction for another, may be certain that his own life is in danger. НАВІТ. Great is the power of habit. REASON. Reason is the mistress and queen of all things. CONSCIENCE. There is no greater theatre for virtue than couscience. THE WICKEDNESS OF MAN. Now as soon as we have been ushered into the light of day and brought up, at once we are The whole life of philosophers is a commentary engaged in every kind of wicked practice and the on death. LIFE LENT TO US AT INTEREST BY NATURE. Nature has bestowed on us life at interest like money, no day being fixed for its repayment. INNUMERABLE ROADS TO the grave. utmost perversity, so that we seem to have sucked in error almost with our nurse's milk. GLORY. Glory is something that is really and actually existing, and not a mere sketch; it is the united expression of approval by the good, the genuine testimony of men who have the power of forming There are innumerable roads on all sides to the a proper judgment of virtuous conduct; it is the grave. THE ATICIPATION OF EVILS. Epicurus thinks that it is foolish to anticipate future evils, which may never happen: "sufficient That last day brings not to us extinction but unto the day is the evil thereof." merely change of place. FEW ACT ACCORDING TO REASON. "Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?" PAIN AND DISEASE. There is no mortal whom pain and disease do not reach. FOLLY TO TEAR ONE'S HAIR IN SORROW. I could be assuaged by baldness. A LAUGH ADMISSIBLE, BUT NOT A GUffaw. THE MIND OF MAN. The mind of man, a particle plucked from the intellect of the Almighty, can be compared with nothing else, if we may be forgiven for saying so, than with God himself. So Joel ii. 28: "I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh." And Luke iv. 18: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me." THE POET. I have not yet known a poet who did not think himself superexcellent. ONE'S OWN. His own is beautiful to each. STRIVING AFTER DIVINE THINGS. The very meditating on the power and nature of Though a laugh is allowable, a horse-laugh is God excites the desire to imitate that eternal Being. abominable. PHILOSOPHY. Philosophy, thou guide of life! Thou searcher after virtue, and banisher of vice! What would not only we ourselves, but the whole life of men, have been without thy aid? It is thou that foundedst cities, collectedst men in social union; thou that broughtest them together first in dwellings, then in marriage, then in all the delights of literature; thou discoveredst laws, bestowedst on men virtuous habits: to thee we fly for aid. One day spent virtuously, and in obedience to thy precepts, is worth an immortality of sin. Sophocles (Antig. 354) thus speaks of man: "And he hath taught himself language, lofty wisdom, and the customs of civic law." In fact he represents speech and language as the beginning of civilization. So Colossians iii. 2: "Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth." VIRTUE Virtue joins man to God. So 8 John ii: "He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God." BETTER TO RECEIVE THAN DO AN INJURY. It is far better to receive than to do an injury. THE MIND OPPRESSED BY EXCESSIVE EATING. We cannot use the mind aright, when the body is filled with excess of food and drink. FATHERLAND WHEREVER WE ENJOY OURSELVES. Our country is wherever we find ourselves to be happy. |