monarch whose external grandeur made him an object of envy to the world, was, in reality, more wretched than the meanest of his own slaves." Damocles and Dionysius.-See Classical Dictionary, art. "Damocles." Mucianus pretending reconciliation with Antony, treacherously advanced many of the triumvir's friends to posts of honour; by which device he both threw Antony off his guard, and won the persons thus advanced to his own interest.-Tacitus, Hist. iv. 39. QUOTATIONS.-Trust not to mere appearances. You shall repent before you die. Judge not of a ship as she lies in the docks. All are not hunters that blow the horn. Many a smiling face conceals a broken heart. Decipimur specie recti.-Horace. Nulla fides fronti. Cucullus non facit monachum. Qui facile credit, facile decipitur. Alba ligustra cadunt, vaccinia nigra leguntur.- Virgil. Securitas blanda specie reipsa repudianda.-Cicero. Nimium ne crede colori.- Virgil. Natura veritatem in profundo abstrusit.-Cicero Apparere non facit esse. Non è oro tutto quel che luce. Non giudicar la nave, stando in terra. Tutto cio che riluce non è oro. CONCLUSION.-Let us not be hasty in our judgment of men and things. THEME VII. Lying is a bad trade. INTRODUCTION.Many persons seek to obtain petty advantages by deceit and falsehood; but such practices. are as impolitic as they are sinful. 1ST REASON.-Lying is a bad trade for our Master, who is dishonoured by so gross a misappropriation of the talent of speech committed to us. 2ND REASON. It is bad for our neighbours; not only because they are subject to misrepresentations, but also because it breaks up that mutual confidence without which society cannot subsist. 3RD REASON. It is bad for the liar himself: (1.) Because it is very hard work; inasmuch as it requires constant invention, an unfailing memory, and unremitted caution: (2.) Because it is very unprofitable; inasmuch as he is not believed "even when he speaks the truth:" (3.) Because it has a bad name. Almost all other sins are tolerated by the world, and often even admired; but a liar is always contemptible, and always despised: (4.) Because it carries its own punishment, in the dread of detection, the consciousness of sin, and the conviction of universal obloquy: (5.) Because it will not be better but worse, when he changes his present abode, to dwell in everlasting burnings. Rev. xxi. 8. SIMILE. The Shepherd Boy, who used to cry "Wolf.” -Esop's fable. "The Woodman and Mercury." The lying woodman was not only disbelieved, but also lost his axe as well.— Esop's fable. A tortoise wishing to fly into the air like a bird, had recourse to the following stratagem: He told an eagle that he knew of a mighty treasure which he would discover, if the eagle would carry him on her back. After they had reached a great height, the lie was discovered, and the eagle instantly tossed the tortoise from her back; he fell to the earth, and was killed in the fall. "The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing."-Æsop's fable. "The Jackdaw and the Doves."-Æsop's fable. A wig is far more troublesome and less becoming than our natural hair. HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. -Acts, v. Ananias and Sapphira. Gehazi, the servant of Elisha.-2 Kings, v. 20–27. The spies, who brought the lying report of the promised land to Joshua and his colleagues.-Numb. xiii. 21-33. One day, as Archbishop Leighton was going from Glasgow to Dunblane, he was descried at a distance by two robbers, who had not courage to attack him. One of them, therefore, pretended to be dead, while the other went to the archbishop, and said that his comrade had been struck by lightning, and he wanted money to bury him. Leighton gave the fellow money; but when the liar returned to the spot where he had left his companion, he found him lying actually lifeless on the ground. Abraham, when he sojourned in Gerar, gave out that Sarah his wife was only his sister; this misrepresentation brought trouble on himself, his wife, the king Abimelech, and all his court.-Gen. xx. Pharaoh by his falsehoods brought down on the kingdom of Egypt a series of fearful plagues; which ended in the death of every firstborn, and the destruction of himself and army in the Red Sea.-Ee, iv.-xiv. St. Peter in the judgment halk--S. Mark, xiv. 66–72. QUOTATIONS.-Esop being asked, What benefit a liar received for his pains, replied, "Never to be believed even when he speaks the truth." A lie has no legs, but scandalous wings. He who tells a lie needs twenty others to make it good. Truth is always consistent with itself, and needs nothing to help it out: It is always near at hand, and sits upon our lips, and is ready to drop out before we are aware: Whereas, a lie is troublesome, and sets a man's invention on the rack to fabricate twenty more in order to make it good.-Euripides, Phonis. The ninth commandment. Lev. xix. 11. Proverbs, xii. 9, 19, 22; xx. 17; xxi. 6. Mentiens nullus multum temporis latet.-Menander. Facile capitur improbitas, et undique per se-ipsam implicatur.-Theognis. Principium mendacii exiguum habet gratiæ: circum verò finem lucrum turpe nascitur.-Theognis. Mendaci homini, ne vere quidem dicenti, credere solemus.- Cicero. Fallacia alia aliam trudit.-Terence. CONCLUSION. Hence THEME VIII. Make Hay while the Sun shines. INTRODUCTION.-Hay is greatly injured by exposure to rain and fog; therefore, a wise husbandman will avail himself of the earliest opportunity to gather in his hay crops, lest the fine weather should not continue. The spirit of this proverb is applicable to all procrastinators, who are reminded that good opportunities are as uncertain as an English sky, and should be embraced immediately they are offered. 1ST REASON.-Life is uncertain, and no man has awarrant that he will survive the morrow. 2ND REASON.-Health is uncertain; to-day a man may be in his "full strength," and to-morrow even the grasshopper may be a burden to him.” 3RD REASON. Opportunities are evanescent, from the general mutability of all sublunary things. 4TH REASON. A thousand contingencies may occur when a future opportunity offers to render it unavailable: thus a farmer who deferred his haysel till the autumn, would be overtaken by wheat-harvest. 5TH REASON.-Competition is so great, that a procrastinator is outstripped by more vigilant and active rivals. 6TH REASON.-The market is very variable; so that a procrastinator may bring his stores into the town after the "fair" has been removed. SIMILES.-When a fox is chased she never stops, and therefore is caught with difficulty: but a hare, though a much swifter animal, is easily overtaken, because she frequently halts to listen to the hounds. The hare in Esop's fable of "The Hare and the Tortoise." If a sick man delays to apply to his physician at the early stage of a disorder, it may become too obstinate to be cured. The five foolish virgins.-S. Matt. xxv. 1-13. Seed sown out of season never thrives. A ship must be launched at high water; when the tide is down, the water is too shallow to float it. Iron must be modelled while it is hot; immediately it becomes cold it is untractable. |