being, and to the danger of endless mifery, it is impoffible that this temper fhould be natural.

1744. For men to refolve to be of no religion till all are agreed in one, is juft as wife and as rational, as if they should determine not to go to dinner till all the clocks in town ftrike twelve together.

1745. Cicero hath observed, That no kind of men are more afraid of God, than fuch as pretend not to believe his being. These are the men who above all others are most liable to be affected with dread and trembling, more especially in the time of sickness, and the approaches of death.

1746. My lord Bacon, towards the latter end of his life, said, That a little fmattering in philofophy would lead a man to atheism, but a thorough infight into it will lead a man back again to a first caufe; and that the first principle of right reason is religion: and seriously professed that, after all his ftudies and inquifition, he durft not die with any other thoughts than those religion taught, as it it profeffed among the Chriftians.

1747. The confent of all men, fays Seneca, is of very great weight with us; a mark that a thing is true, is when it appears fo to all the world. Thus we conclude there is a divinity, because all men believe it, there being no nations, how corrupt foever they be, which deny it.

1748. I never had a fight of my foul (fays the Emperor Aurelius) and yet I have a great value for it, because it is discoverable by its operations; and, by my conftant experience of the power of God, I have a proof of his being, and a reafon for my veneration.

1749. God

1749. God hath wifely provided, in his present adminiftration of things, to give us inftances enough of his juft procedure towards the good and bad; and yet to leave us inftances enough of unrewarded virtue, and profperous wickedness, to affure us he intends an after reckoning.

1750. As infidelity is the greatest fin, fo for God to give a man over to it, is the greatest punishment.

1751. It was good counfel given to the Athenians, To be fure that King Philip was dead, before they expreffed their joy at the report of it, left they might find him alive to revenge their hafty triumph. The like advice may be proper to all unbelievers; let them be fure there is no God, before they prefume to defy him, left they find him at last to affert his being to their deftruction.

1752. Nothing has more horror than annihilation. The worft that good men can fear, is the best that evil can wish for, which is the diffolution of the foul in death.

1753. Virtue needs no outward pomp; her very countenance is fo full of majefty, that the proudeft pay her refpect, and the profaneft are awed by her presence.

1754. If we believe that God is, and act confonantly, we shall be fafe if he be not, and eternally happy if he be: whereas, if we believe that he is not, we are fure to be miferable forever if he be, and are only fafe from being miferable for ever, if he be not.

1755. What is this life, but a circulation of little mean actions? We lie down and rife again, drefs and undress, feed and wax hungry, work or play, and are weary, and then we lie down again, and the circle returns. We spend the day in trifles, and, when the night comes, we throw

our

ourselves into the bed of folly, amongst dreams, and broken thoughts, and wild imaginations. Our reafon lies afleep by us, and we are for the time as errant brutes as those that sleep in the ftalls, or in the fields. Are not the capacities of man higher than these? and ought not his ambition and expectation to be greater? Let us be adventurers for another world; it is at least a fair and noble chance, and there is nothing in this worth our thoughts, or our paffions. If we should be disappointed, we are ftill no worse than the rest of our fellow mortals; and, if we fucceed in our expectations, we are eternally happy.

1756. Wisdom allows nothing to be good, that will not be fo for ever; no man to be happy, but he that needs no other happiness than what he has within himself; no man to be great or powerful, that is not master of himself.

1757. When a man has once got a habit of virtue, all his actions are equal.

1758. The first step towards virtue, is to abstain from vice. No man has true found fenfe, who is immoral. 1759. A good man is influenced by God himself, and has a kind of divinity within him.

1760. It is a great difgrace to religion, to imagine that it is an enemy to mirth and chearfulness, and a fevere exacter of penfive looks, and folemn faces.

1761. The true fpirit of religion cheers as well as composes the foul. It is not the business of virtue to extirpate the affections of the mind, but to regulate them. 1462. Were there but one virtuous man in the world,

he would hold up his head with confidence and honour he would fhame the world, and not the world him.

1763. Though it be a truth very little received, that virtue is its own reward; it is furely an undeniable one, that vice is its own punishment.

1764. If a man would but confult this golden rule, of dealing as he would be dealt by; thofe very paffions which incline him to wrong others, would instruct him to right them.

1765. It is infolent, as well as unnatural, to trample upon the venerable decays of human nature. He that acts in this manner, does but expose his own future condition, and laugh at himself beforehand.

1766. No body giving attention to Diogenes while he difcourfed of virtue, he fell a finging, and every one crouding to hear him, Great Gods! faid he, how much more is folly admired than wisdom !

1767. Virtue is a steddy principle, and gives stability to every thing elfe; though while good men live in a giddy and rolling world, they muft in fome measure feel its uncertain motions.

1768. All earthly delights are fweeter in the expectation, than in the enjoyment; all fpiritual pleafures more in fruition, than expectation.

1769. The Arabians have a faying, It is not good to jeft with God, death, or the devil: for the first neither can nor will be mocked; the fecond mocks all men, one time or another; and the third puts an eternal farcafm on thofe that are too familiar with him.

1770. It is faid of Socrates, whether he is teaching the

rules

rules of an exact morality, whether he is anfwering his corrupt judges, whether he is receiving fentence of death, or fwallowing the poifon, he is ftill the fame man; that is to fay, calm, quiet, undisturbed, intrepid, and, in a word, wife to the laft.

1771. It was faid by one of the Antients, That trouble marched before virtue, and after vice: but pleafure followed virtue, and vice was followed by repentance.

1772. A firm faith, and true honefty, are not to be for

ced by neceffity, or corrupted by reward.

.

1773. To love the publick, to study univerfal good, and to promote the interest of the whole world, as far as lies within our power, is the height of goodness, and makes that temper which we call divine.

1774. A little wrong done to another, is a great injury done to ourselves. The fevereft punishment of an injury, is the confcience of having done it; and no man suffers more than he that is turned over to the pain of repentance.

1775. It cofts us more to be miferable, than would make us perfectly happy: how cheap and easy to us is the service of virtue, and how dear do we pay for our vices!

1776. He that falls into error for want of care and diligence to find out the truth, can have no pretence to pardon. We are as much bound to know our duty, as obliged to practise it.

1777. A virtuous man may be innocently revenged of his enemies, by perfifting in well doing; and a wicked man, by reforming his life.

1778. Alexander Severus allowed Christianity out of love