46 BACKBITERS BARKING. fect security but freedom; freedom, none but virtue; virtue, none but knowledge; and neither freedom nor virtue has any vigor or immortal hope, except in the principles of the Christian faith, and in the sanctions of the Christian religion. Chevalier Ramsay. Never reason from what you do not know. Wit is folly, unless a wise man has the keeping of it. How, (Rev. N.) The first law of nature is to give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name. Em. God is a moral agent. Ib. God governs every particle of matter, every motion of every living creature, and every action of every moral agent, in subserviency to one supreme and ultimate object, which is his own glory. Ed. We obtain our knowledge of the First Cause by intuition, by reason, and by revelation. [See 350, 953.] 61. BACKBITERS. Turn a deaf ear to backbiters. A backbiter carries sunshine in his face, and tempest in his heart. Ed. Backbiters are commonly great cowards, and sneak when faced. 62. BARGAINS. Make the best of a bad bargain. Ed. Especially if a matrimonial one. Ed. The following rank among good bargains: 1. Parting with error and delusions for truth and light. 2. Exchanging bullion for Charity's bank-notes. 3. Bartering indolence for industry. 4. Parting with coin for literature and science. 5. Exchanging present popular favor for future reputation. 6. Selling over-doing for moderation. 7. Bartering personal property, for valuable public interests. 3. And engaging our remaining time and energies to the service of God, without condition. [See 166.] 63. BARKING. Great barkers are no biters. BASHFULNESS BEGGING. 47 Barking dogs seldom bite. Ed. When warriors of the army bark, expect a retreat. Ib. When warriors, controversial, bark, it's the echo of defeat. 64. BASHFULNESS. He who knows the world will not be too bashful; he who knows himself will not be impudent. Ed. The bashfulness of timidity is constitutional; the bashfulness of credulity is pitiable; the bashfulness of ignorance is disreputable; but the bashfulness of modesty is a charm. 65. BEAUTY. Sh. Beauty is but a vain and doubtful good, A flower that dies when first it 'gins to bud; Outward beauty fades; internal beauty endureth forever. Ed. All the beauty of the created universe is deformity, and dross, and vanity of vanities, when compared with "the beauty of the Lord." Ib. Christ personifies the most exquisite created and uncreated beauty, and is the only personage who has received the appellation "altogether lovely." He will be the admiration of heaven forever and ever. Beauty, when unadorned, is adorned the most. An enemy to beauty is a foe to nature. Lamartine. To be beautiful is to be powerful. E. g. Absalom. 66. BEGGING. They who receive, best know how the thing should be given. Beggars should not be choosers. Ed. Those who are too proud to beg for mercies, and to receive absolute favors, are too self-righteous to be vessels of mercy and heirs of grace. Ib. The most profitable and acceptable begging is to beg at the Fountain of good. Here, all should beg habitually, and must beg or perish. "Ask, and ye shall receive." 48 BELIEVERS, BENEFICENCE DIVINE. Ed. A peculiar faculty and disposition to beg favors and gifts of others, especially when associated with a sacred calling, or important profession, has often been perverted to purposes of extensive oppression, and unrighteousness. 67. BELIEVERS, CHRISTIANS. Erskine, R. My life's a pleasure and a pain, I daily joy, and daily mourn, And happy in my miseries. Christ cuts me down to make me up, And empties me to fill me up. Burder. In religion, the Atheist acts the part of the madman; the merely nominal Christian that of the fool; while the real Christian, though often called both fool and madman, is the only character on earth to whom neither of these names will apply. [See 837.] 68. BENEFICENCE, DIVINE. How many expressions of Divine beneficence appear around us! What a profusion of beauty and ornament is poured forth on the face of nature! What a magnificent spectacle presented to the view of man! What supply contrived for his wants! What a variety of objects set before him, to gratify his senses, to employ his understanding, to entertain his imagination, to cheer and gladden his heart! Cowper. But O thou bounteous giver of all good, Thou art, of all thy gifts, thyself the crown: BENEVOLENCE. Give what thou wilt, without thee we are poor, And with thee rich, take what thou wilt away. 49 Ed. A rational, progressive, and immortal existence, will be more and more valuable and valued, by those who prize and enjoy universal good for its own sake. Hence, Divine beneficence will magnify, as progression advances. [See 395, 763.] 69. BENEVOLENCE, DISINTERESTED. Live, and let live. Wms., T. Disinterested benevolence, the alpha and omega of virtue and religion. Payson. "Not for ourselves, but for others," is the grand law inscribed on every part of creation. Em. The most ingenious advocates of selfishness have never been able to show that benevolence is wrong. This, however, must be true, if selfishness be right. And this would be to their purpose, and put the question concerning the nature of virtue to perpetual rest. In order to behave well, we must remember we are not born to please ourselves. Thacher. Our Saviour's golden rule furnishes the strongest curb for the passions, and the best bridle for the tongue. Ed. A capacity for universal benevolence and enjoyment is the noblest feature of rationality, but the least appreciated, enjoyed, and acknowledged. The eye, that sees all things, sees not itself. Ed. In this it resembles disinterested virtue, that loses sight of itself, in beholding the infinite. The fear of hell, or aiming to be blessed, Savors too much of private interest : This moved not Moses, nor the zealous Paul, Who for their friends abandoned soul and all. Channing. The system of Dr. Hopkins, however fearful, was yet built on a generous foundation. Other Calvinists were willing that their neighbors should be predestinated to eternal misery for the glory of God. This noble minded man demanded a more generous and impartial virtue; and maintained that we should consent to our own perdition, should be willing ourselves to be condemned, if the greatest good of the universe, and the manifestation of the Divine perfections, should so require. True virtue, as he taught, was an entire surrender of personal interest to the benevolent purposes of God. Self-love he spared in none of its movements. He called us to seek our own happiness, as well as that of others, in a spirit of impartial benevolence; to do good to ourselves, not from self-preference, not from the impulse of personal desires, but in obedience to that sublime law which requires us to promote the welfare of each and all within our influence. I need not be ashamed to confess the deep impression which this system made on my youthful mind. I am grateful to this stern teacher for turning my thoughts and heart to the claims and majesty of impartial, universal benevolence. Alas! how few there are among men who forget themselves for others. Nevins. Genuine benevolence is not stationary, but peripatetic. It goeth about doing good. 70. BIBLE. Dwight. The Bible is a window in this prison-world, through which we may look into eternity. Park. Nothing can satisfy a true divine but the Word of God. Henry. The Bible. A mind rightly disposed will easily discover the image of God's wisdom in the depths of its mysteries; the image of his sovereignty in the commanding majesty of its style; the image of his unity in the wonderful harmony and symmetry of all its parts; the image of his holiness in the unspotted purity of its precepts; and the image of his goodness in the wonderful tendency of the whole to the welfare of mankind in both worlds. Spring. The cheerless gloom which broods over the understandings of men had never been chased away, but for the beams of a supernatural revelation. Men may look with an unfriendly eye on that system of truth which reproves and condemns them; while they little know the loss the world would sustain by subverting its foundation. We have tried paganism; we have tried |