like occasion, they stand at a stay, like a stale at chess, where it is no mate, but yet the game can not stir. But this last were fitter for a satire than for a serious observation. This is well to be weighed, that boldness is ever blind; for it seeth not dangers and inconveniences: therefore it is ill in counsel, good in execution. So that the right use of bold persons is, that they never command in chief, but be seconds, and under the direction of others; for in counsel it is good to see dangers, and in execution not to see them except they be very great. OF GOODNESS, AND GOODNESS OF NATURE. I TAKE goodness in this sense, -the affecting of the weal of men, which is that the Grecians call philanthropia; and the word "humanity," as it is used, is a little too light to express it. Goodness I call the habit; and goodness of nature, the inclination. This, of all virtues and dignities of the mind, is the greatest, being the character of the Deity; and without it man is a busy, mischievous, wretched thing, no better than a kind of vermin. Goodness answers to the theological virtue charity, and admits no excess but error. The desire of power in excess caused the angels to fall; the desire of knowledge in excess caused man to fall: but in charity there is no excess; neither can angel or man come in danger by it. The inclination to goodness is imprinted deeply in the nature of man, insomuch that, if it issue not towards men, it will take unto other living creatures; as it is seen in the Turks, a cruel people, who nevertheless are kind to beasts, and give alms to dogs and birds; insomuch as, Busbechius reporteth, a Christian boy in Constantinople had liked to have been stoned for gagging, in a waggishness, a long-billed fowl. Errors, indeed, in this virtue of goodness or charity, may be committed. The Italians have an ungracious proverb, Tanto buon, che val niente, "So good, that he is good for nothing." And one of the doctors of Italy, Nicholas Machiavel, had the confidence to put in writing, almost in plain terms, "That the Christian faith had given up good men in prey to those that are tyrannical and unjust;" which he spake because, indeed, there was never law or sect or opinion did so much magnify goodness as the Christian religion doth: it is good to take knowledge of the errors of a habit so excellent. Seek the good of other men, but be not in bondage to their faces or fancies; for that is but facility or softness which taketh an honest mind prisoner. Neither give thou Esop's cock a gem, who would be better pleased and happier if he had a barleycorn. The example of God teacheth the lesson truly: "He sendeth his rain, and maketh his sun to shine, upon the just and unjust;" but he doth not rain wealth, nor shine honor and virtues, upon men equally. Common benefits are to be communicated with all, but peculiar benefits with choice. And beware how, in making the portraiture, thou breakest the pattern; for divinity maketh the love of ourselves the pattern, the love of our neighbors but the portraiture. "Sell all thou hast, and give it to the poor, and follow me:" but sell not all thou hast, except thou come and follow me, that is, except thou have a vocation wherein thou mayest do as much good with little means as with great; for otherwise, in feeding the streams, thou driest the fountain. Neither is there only a habit of goodness directed by right reason but there is in some men, even in nature, a disposition toward it; as, on the other side, there is a natural malignity; for there be that in their nature do not affect the good of others. The lighter sort of malignity turneth but to a crossness or frowardness, or aptness to oppose, or difficileness, or the like; but the deeper sort to envy and mere mischief. Such men, in other men's calamities, are, as it were, in season, and are ever on the loading part; not so good as the dogs that licked Lazarus' sores, but like flies that are still buzzing upon any thing that is raw; misanthropi, that make it their practice to bring men to the bough, and yet have never a tree for the purpose in their gardens, as Timon had. Such dispositions are the very errors of human nature and yet they are the fittest timber to make great politics of; like to knee-timber, that is good for ships that are ordained to be tossed, but not for building houses that shall stand firm. The parts and signs of goodness are many. If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shows he is a citizen of the world, and that his heart is no island cut off from other lands, but a continent that joins to them. If he be compassionate towards the afflictions of others, it shows that his heart is like the noble tree that is wounded itself when it gives the balm. If he easily pardons and remits offenses, it shows that his mind is planted above injuries, so that he can not be shot. If he be thankful for small benefits, it shows that he weighs men's minds, and not their trash. But, above all, if he have St. Paul's perfection, that he would wish to be anathema from Christ for the salvation of his brethren, it shows much of a divine nature, and a kind of conformity with Christ himself. THE BIBLE. The pure and powerful English of the translations of the Old and New Testament, setting aside the sacred character even of the volume as the word of God, is sufficient of itself to induce the faithful study of it by every pupil. The most important of the earlier versions are, Coverdale's, 1535. Mathewe's, 1537. Taverner's, 1539. The Geneva Bible, 1560. The Bishops', 1568. King James's version is the work of forty-seven bishops, out of fifty-four appointed to the task by the king. DAVID. PSALM XXIV. - A PSALM OF DAVID. 1. THE earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. 2. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods. 3. Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? 4. He that hath clean hands and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. 5. He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. 6. This is the generation of them that seek him; that seek thy face, O Jacob! 7. Lift up your heads O ye gates! and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in, 8. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. 9. Lift up your heads, O ye gates! even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. 10. Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. ISAIAH, CHAPTER LY. 1. Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money: come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 2. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. 3. Incline your ear, and come unto me; hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. 4. Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people. 5. Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee, because of the LORD thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee. 6. Seek ye the LORD while he may be found; while he is near. call ye upon him 7. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 8. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: 11. So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void; but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. 12. For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 13. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle-tree; and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. ST. PAUL. I CORINTHIANS, CHAP. XIII. 1. THOUGH I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal, 2. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 3. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. 4. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5. Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; h; 6. Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth 7. Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 8. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. 9. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 10. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 11. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but, when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. 13. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 66 99 66 1561-1616. His best Author of thirty-seven plays, several minor poems, and many sonnets. known plays are Hamlet, Macbeth," "King Lear," "Romeo and Juliet," and "Othello," tragedies; The Merry Wives of Windsor," Midsummer Night's Dream," "As You Like It," and "Merchant of Venice," comedies; "Richard III.,” Coriolanus," ," "Julius Cæsar," "Henry IV.," and "Henry VIII.," historical plays. А сору of his works, with biographical sketch, can be bought for a very small sum, and should be in the hands of every student of English literature. We select "Julius Cæsar" to represent this greatest of English poets; for, as Dr. Johnson says, "He that tries to recommend him by select quotations will succeed like the pedant in Hierocles, who, when he offered his house to sale, carried a brick in his pocket as a specimen." If properly studied, with the help of " Webster's Unabridged," no notes are necessary. A copy of Craik's "Julius Cæsar" with notes, or the American edition of it by Rolfe, might be of service to teacher and class. |
