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States that never knew

A change but in their growth, which a long peace Hath brought unto perfection, are like steel, Which, being neglected, will consume itself With its own rust; so doth security

SELF-COMMAND.

SELF-Regulation of.

Thou must be emptied of self before thou canst be filled with the Spirit. Thornton.

SELF-Study of.

Above all subjects study thine own self. For no knowledge that terminates in curiosity or speculation is comparable to that which is of use; and of all useful knowledge, that is most so, which consists in the due care, and just notions of ourselves. This study is a debt which every one owes himself. Let us not then i be so lavish, so unjust, as not to pay this debt, by spending some part at least, if we cannot all, or most of our time and care, upon that which has the most indefeasible claim to it. Govern your passions, manage your actions with prudence, and where false steps have been made, correct them for the future. nothing be allowed to grow headstrong and disorderly; but bring all under discipline. Set all your faults before your eyes, and pass sentence upon yourself, with the same severity as you would do upon another, for whom no partiality hath biassed your judgment.

Eat through the hearts of states, while they're SELF-Thinking Only of.

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Let

Bernard.

Of all that have tried the selfish experiment, let one come forth and say he has succeeded. He that has made gold his idolhas it satisfied him? He that has toiled in the fields of ambition-has he been repaid? He that has ransacked every theatre of sensual enjoyment-is he content? Can any answer in the affirmative? Not one. And when his conscience shall ask him, and ask it will, "Where are the hungry, whom you gave meat! The thirsty, whom you gave drink? The stranger, whom you sheltered? The naked, whom you clothed? The prisoned, whom you visited? The sick, whom you ministered unto?" how will he feel, when he must answer, "I have done none of these thingsI thought only for myself!" Johnson.

SELF-ACCUSATION.

And be it indeed that I have erred, mine Job. error remaineth with myself.

SELF-COMMAND-its own Reward.

We should not sadden the harmless mirth of others by suffering our own melancholy to be seen; and this species of exertion is, like virtue, its own reward; for the good spirits! which are at first stimulated become at length | Thomas Scott. real.

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SELF-EXAMINATION.

SELF-DENIAL-Bravery of.

There never did and never will exist anything permanently noble and excellent in a character which was a stranger to the exercise of resolute self-denial. Sir Walter Scott.

Teach self-denial, and make its practice pleasurable, and you create for the world a destiny more sublime than ever issued from the brain of the wildest dreamer. Ibid.

The more a man denies himself, the more he shall obtain from God. Horace. SELF-EXAMINATION-Design of.

Give no quarter unto those vices which are of thine inward family, and having a root in thy temper plead a right and propriety in thee. Examine well thy complexional inclinations. Raise early batteries against those strongholds, built upon the rock of nature, and make this a great part of the militia of thy life. The politic nature of vice must be opposed by policy, and therefore wiser honesties project and plot against sin; wherein, notwithstanding, we are not to rest in generals, or the trite stratagems of art. succeed with one temper which may prove successless with another. There is no community or commonwealth of virtue, every man must study his own economy, and erect these rules unto the figure of himself.

That may

Sir Thomas Browne.

SELF-EXAMINATION

ness of.

Thorough

Is it asked, how can the labouring man find time for self-culture? I answer, that an earnest purpose finds time, or makes time. It seizes on spare moments, and turns fragments to golden account. A man who follows his calling with industry and spirit, and uses his earnings economically, will always have some portion of the day at command. And it is astonishing how fruitful of improvement a short season becomes, when eagerly seized and faithfully used. It has often been observed, that those who have the most time at their disposal profit by it the least. hour in the day, steadily given to the study of SELF-EXAMINATION-Wisdom of. some interesting subject, brings unexpected 'Tis greatly wise to talk with our past hours, accumulations of knowledge. And ask them what report they bore to heaven,

A single

W. Ellery Channing. SELF-DENIAL-Advantages of.

Self-denial is an excellent guard of virtue, and it is safer and wiser to abate somewhat of our lawful enjoyments, than to gratify our desires to the utmost extent of what is permitted, lest the bent of nature towards pleasure hurry us further.

SELF-DENIAL-Bravery of.

Townson,

Brave conquerors! for so you are,
That war against your own affections,
And the huge army of the world's desires.

Inspect the neighbourhood of thy life; every shelf, every nook of thy abode; and, nestling in, quarter thyself in the farthest and most domestic winding of thy snail-house!

Richter.

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Shakspeare.

wear;

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Tell me, where lives that thing so meek and tame,

That doth not all his living faculties
Put forth in preservation of his life?
What deed so daring, which necessity
And desperation will not sanctify! Coleridge.

I would cut off my own head, if it had nothing better in it but wit; and tear out my own heart, if it had no better disposition than to love only myself, and laugh at all my principle in animals; a dread of pain and Self-preservation seems to be an inherent

neighbours.

SELF-KNOWLEDGE

Pope.

Conduct flow

ing from. If we know ourselves, we shall remember the condescension, benignity, and love, that is due to inferiors: the affability, friendship, and kindness, we ought to show to equals: the regard, deference, and honour, we owe to superiors; and the candour, integrity, and benevolence, we owe to all.

SELF-LOVE-arouses to Action.

Mason.

Self-love but serves the virtuous mind to wake. As the small pebble stirs the peaceful lake: The centre moved, a circle straight succeeds, Another still, and still another spreads; Friend, parent, neighbour, first it will embrace, His country next, and next the human race; Wide, and more wide, th' o'erflowings of the mind

Take every creature in, of every kind; Earth swells around, with boundless bounty blest,

And heaven has stamp'd its image on his breast. Pope. SELF-LOVE-the Greatest of Flatterers. Self-love is the greatest of flatterers.

La Rochefoucauld. SELF-LOVE-associated with Flattery. Self-love never yet could look on truth But with blear'd beams. Sleek Flattery and she

Are twin-born sisters, and so mix their eyes, As if you sever one, the other dies.

Ben Jonson. SELF-LOVE-Narrow-Mindedness of.

Thou, who lov'st nothing but what nothing loves, And that's thyself! Dryden.

suffering, and a consciousness of death, which consciousness must be of the highest order in some animals, since they feign death as tion, when all other hopes have failed. An the last remaining struggle for self-preservaimplanted knowledge of the termination of feigned, nor the anxiety for safety be so permanent an object. It cannot be example that sets the fox to simulate death so perfectly that he permits himself to be handled, to be conveyed to a distant spot, and then to be flung on a dunghill. The ultimate hopeescape-prompts the measure, which unaided instinct could not have contrived. What wo, humanly speaking, call knowledge of the world, which is the mainspring of half our acts and plans, is the result of deep observation of character, and of the leading principles which influence society; and this would apply very well with fox in relation to fox; but the analogy must cease here, and we can only say that this artifice of the fox is an extraordinary display of high cunning, great self-confidence, and strong resolution. There are many insects, particularly the genus Elater, the spider and the door-beetle, which feign death when seized by the hand. Thompson.

life must exist, or its effects would not be

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of wit for one man of good sense; and he that will carry nothing about with him but gold, will be every day at a loss for readier change. Addison.

SENSE-Depravity of.

He that lives in the kingdom of sense, shall die in the kingdom of sorrow. Baxter.

SENSE-Good.

What we call good sense in the conduct of life, consists chiefly in that temper of mind which enables its possessor to view at all times, with perfect coolness and accuracy, all the various circumstances of his situation: so that each of them may produce its due impression on him, without any exaggeration arising from his own peculiar habits. But to

a man of an ill-regulated imagination, external circumstances only serve as hints to excite his own thoughts, and the conduct he pursues has in general far less reference to his real situation, than to some imaginary one, in which he conceives himself to be placed: in consequence of which, while he appears to himself to be acting with the most perfect wisdom and consistency, he may frequently exhibit to others all the appearances of folly. Stewart.

SENSIBILITY-Application of.

Sensibility appears to me to be neither good nor evil in itself, but in its application. Under the influence of Christian principle, it makes saints and martyrs; ill-directed, or uncontrolled, it is a snare, and the source of every temptation; besides, as people cannot get it if it is not given them, to descant on it seems to me as idle as to recommend people to have black eyes or fair complexions.

Hannah More.

The consciousness of doing that which we are reasonably persuaded we ought to do, is SENSIBILITY-Delicacy of. always a gratifying sensation to the consi- The heart that is soonest awake to the flowers, derate mind: it is a sensation by God's will Is always the first to be touch'd by the inherent in our nature; and is, as it were, the thorns. Moore. voice of God Himself, intimating his approval of our conduct, and by his commendation encouraging us to proceed. Bishop Mant.

SENSE-Common.

To act with common sense, according to the moment, is the best wisdom I know; and the best philosophy, to do one's duties, take the world as it comes, submit respectfully to one's lot, bless the goodness that has given us so much happiness with it, whatever it is, and despise affectation. Horace Walpole.

Fine sense and exalted sense are not half so useful as common sense: there are forty men

SENSIBILITY-Feelings of.

Sensibility would be a good portress if she had but one hand; with her right she opens the door to pleasure, but with her left to pain. Colton.

SENSIBILITY-Keenness of.

There are moments when petty slights are Men have died of the festering of a gnat-bite. harder to bear than even a serious injury. Cecil Danby.

Feeling hearts-touch them but lightly

pour

A thousand melodies unheard before. Rogers.

SENSIBILITY.

SENSIBILITY-Objects of.

We are, as it were, plunged into the universe, tremblingly alive all over, and rendered capable of receiving impressions, pleasant or unpleasant, from every object that addresses our senses; from everything we perceive, and from everything of which we can form an idea. Nothing in this vast universe can, at all seasons, be totally indifferent to every person in it; nothing so inert as to be incapable of exerting some influence in one connection or other, and of calling forth a corresponding passion or affection. Cogan.

SENSIBILITY-not Religion.

When a kind mother closes the eyes of her expiring babe, she is thrown into a flood of sensibility, and soothing to her heart are the sympathy and prayers of an attending minister. When a gathering neighbourhood assemble to the funeral of an acquaintance, one pervading sense of regret and tenderness sits on the faces of the company; and the deep silence, broken only by the solemn utterance of the man of God, carries a kind of pleasing religiousness along with it. The sacredness of the hallowed day, and all the decencies of its observation, may change the

affections of him who loves to walk in the

footsteps of his father; and every recurring Sabbath may bring to his bosom the charm of its regularity and quietness. Religion has its accompaniments, and in these there may be something to soothe and to fascinate, even in the absence of the appropriate influence of religion. The deep and tender impression of a family bereavement is not religion; the love of established decencies is not religion; the charm of all that sentimentalism that is asso

ciated with many of its solemn and affecting services is not religion. They may form the distinct folds of its accustomed drapery; but they do not, any or all of them put together, make up the substance of the thing itself.

Chalmers.

SENSUALITY-Recklessness of.

A man that apprehends death no more dreadfully, but as a drunken sleep; careless, reckless, and fearless of what's past, present, or to come; insensible of mortality, and desperately mortal. Shakspeare.

SENTIMENT-True School of.

Since the close of what we may call the Byronic period in our literature, there has been an increasing reaction against the school of sentiment. This reaction, we conceive, is at present carried to excess. In the recoil

SERVANT.

from the morbid and falsely heroic, are we not falling into the opposite error of considering everything morbid that aspires to be heroic? Is not the wholesale denunciation of cant becoming a sort of cant in itself? Our fast men, who find a generous sentiment in a theatre "bosh," or a kindling appeal in the House of Commons "stump oratory," are illustrations in point. By all means let us expose shams, but at the same time remember that they are such, not because they represent our ideals, but because they counterfeit them. In every high-toned man there is a sense of the heroic, which is, in other words, the sense of devotion to the good and true at every cost. The natural attitude of such a feeling is faith; its natural language is enthusiasm. Even as to real heroes and heroines, the chief regret is, not that they are wanting, but that we do not Men who

always know them when they come. fight the battle of right without calculating hood rather than by their banker's account, the odds, women who rate men by their manare, thank God, nowise rare. Nor are such votaries of romance, as a rule, either victims or martyrs. By a law of natural magnetism, they draw round them all that is best and healthiest in the sympathies of others; while in themselves they have the abiding youth which creates joy where it does not find it, and gains strength and trust from adversity.

SERMONS-Materials of.

Jerrold.

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