Every bean hath its black.

Every luminary is sometimes eclipsed.

HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS.-Xerxes, replenished with all the good things of the body and of fortune, proposed a reward to that man who would contrive a new pleasure.

Croesus, the most wealthy and glorious king of Lydia, was once visited by Solon the philosopher. When the monarch asked whether Solon did not account him a happy man, the philosopher replied, "No man should be called a happy man till he has finished his life." Not long after this, Croesus was taken captive by Cyrus the Persian, and being condemned to be burnt alive, called to mind the words of Solon, so significant of the mutability of human happiness.

Alexander the Great was not contented after he had conquered the whole world, but actually wept because he could not find another world to conquer also.

The Sybarite, who enjoyed every luxury which the earth could afford, complained of broken sleep and disturbed ease, because a rose-leaf was accidentally doubled under him when he went to take his siesta.

Dionysius assured Damocles, by a most painful experiment, that, although a king possessed everything the heart can covet, yet a sword of sorrow is always suspended by a single hair from the ceiling directly over his head.

Solomon says, "Whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them: I withheld not my heart from any joy;" but adds, "behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit."Ecc. ii. 10, 11.

Ahab, the king of Samaria, was so vexed in spirit that he "laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread," because one Naboth, a Jezreelite, would not sell him a small vineyard close by the palace grounds.-1 Kings, xxi. 1-4.

QUOTATIONS.-Life is a mingled yarn.

As sparks fly upward to the sky,

So man was born to misery.-Pope and Job, v. 7. Man never is but always to be blest.-Pope. Every black must have its white,

And every sweet its sour.-Percy's Relics. There is no happiness on this side of the grave. There is a poison-drop in man's purest cup. Every path hath its puddle.-Scotch proverb. There's no joy without alloy.

There is a crook in every lot.-Boston.

Gen. iii. 17-19.

What hath man of all his labour

for all his days

are sorrows, and his travail grief.-Ecc. ii. 22, 23.

Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.-Job, xiv. 1.

Non v'è rosa senza spina.-Italian proverb.

Ogni medaglia ha il suo reverso.-Italian proverb.

Cui omnes bonæ felicitates magis adversæ sunt.Terence.

Dici beatus ante obitum nemo debet.—Ovid.

Nulla dies nobis mororem e pectore demet.-Lucretius. Caduca et mobilia Fortunæ munera.-Horace.

Fortuna constans in levitate.-Ovid.

THEME XXI. Resist the beginnings of Evil.

INTRODUCTION. All temptations to sin should be withstood firmly the instant they occur; and not be suffered to take root before vigorous measures are taken to resist them.

1ST REASON.-Evil at the beginning is smaller and weaker, than after it has been suffered to have free course for any length of time.

2ND REASON.-Sin creeps on so stealthily, and by such imperceptible encroachments, that its progress is scarcely to be heeded, after its first entrance has been allowed.

3RD REASON. The mind is more willing to give up enjoyments it has never tasted, than those which have vitiated the appetite and become palatable.

4TH REASON.-Conscience becomes seared and indurated by indulgence in sin; and when the watchman is asleep the fort may be easily entered.

5TH REASON. The hope of restoration declines as evil becomes habitual; and the mind, in despair, gives up every effort of resistance.

6TH REASON. The power of temptation and of resisting it are always in inverse proportion; as the one increases the other declines.

7TH REASON. Sin to the novice always appears sinful and revolting; by familiarity it not only loses its singularity and odiousness, but becomes so attenuated to the mind's eye, that it is difficult to distinguish between right and wrong.

SIMILES. A stream at its source may be checked by a child; but after it has become a strong river, a giant could not stand against it.

Sin is like a wedge-once insert the thin end, and the rest can easily be made to follow.

Diseases at their first appearance are easily cured; but after they have been suffered to undermine the constitution, always prove fatal.

An oak, when it first shoots from the cotyledon, may be easily plucked up; but even Milo of Crotona could not root from the earth an aged patriarch of the forest.

When water first oozes through a dam, it is easily

stopped; but when the full stream rolls through, it requires no ordinary mechanical power to close the sluice.

A little spark may be put out with the tip of one's finger; but after it has kindled into a blaze, the raging fire is irresistible.

A serpent's egg may be trampled under foot without danger; but the full-grown serpent is a fearful antagonist to encounter.

A falling stone increases in speed according to the squares of the time occupied in falling: thus, if it fell 16 feet in the first second, it would traverse 48,3ft. in the next second; 80,5ft. in the third second; 112ft. in the fourth second; and so on.

HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS.-Nero is described by his biographers to have been a very mild, humane, and indolent young man; but after he succeeded to the crown he began to indulge in sin, and became ultimately a monster of tyranny and wickedness.

The beginning of Caligula's reign gave promise of the greatest moderation, justice, and beneficence; but, after a time, the temptations of sin overcame him, and he made his name to "stink in the whole land."

Macbeth is represented by Shakspeare, in the first part of his immortal tragedy, as hospitable, brave, generous, and conscientious; but he yielded to temptation, was hurried from one crime to another, and in a few years the inhospitable regicide was universally abhorred as a reckless assassin, tyrant, and oppressor.

Dion's son was brought up with great care in primitive simplicity and stoical self-denial, till his father was sent to Corinth; when the tyrant Dionysius, in a spirit of diabolical jealousy, determined to ruin the young lad. For this purpose he plied him with wine, introduced him to harlots, and led him into every sort of temptation. When Dion returned to Syracuse, the power of sin had gained full ascendancy over the young man, and he threw

himself headlong from the palace roof, because his father tried to reclaim him from his evil ways.

66

Only a drop" has made many a drunkard.

Hogarth, the great painter, has illustrated the accumulative power of sin in several pictures of extraordinary merit: of which "The Harlot's Progress," "The Rake's Progress," and "The Stages of Cruelty," are striking exemplifications.

When Hazael, the captain of Benhadad's army, was sent to Elisha, he shuddered at the very thought of crime; and said to the prophet who revealed to him his future career of sin, "What! is thy servant a dog that he should do this?" But temptation came; the wall of conscience was thrown down; and Hazael, who trembled at the bare mention of sin, became the murderer of the king, the usurper of the throne of Syria, and the oppressor of the people; he set on fire the strongholds of Israel, slew the young men with the sword, dashed their children against the ground and ripped up their women that were with child.”—2 Kings, viii. 7–15.

QUOTATIONS. Thou shalt not covet.
Nip sin in the bud.

Oppose the first appearance of evil.
To parley with temptation is to yield.
Many a little makes a mickle.

And since the quarrel'

Will bear no colour for the thing he is,
Fashion it thus; that what he is augmented,
Would run to these and these extremities;
And, therefore, think him as a serpent's egg,

Which hatched, would, as his kind, grow mischievous;
And kill him in his shell.-Shakspeare.

Vice is a creature of such hideous mien,
That to be hated needs but to be seen,

Yet once beheld, familiar with her face,

We first endure, then pity, then embrace.-Pope.