knowledge as men by natural reason attain unto. Thirdly, consider them that have from time to time opposed themselves against the Gospel of Christ, and most troubled the church with heresy. Have they not always been great admirers of human reason?....By these and the like disputes an opinion hath spread itself very far in the world, as if the way to be ripe in faith were to be raw in wit and judgment; as if Reason were an enemy unto Religion, childish Simplicity the mother of ghostly and divine Wisdom. R. HOOKER There seem 327. CHARACTER OF PHILIP OF MACEDON. to have been two features in his character, which, in another station, or under different circumstances, might have gone near to lower him into an ordinary person, but which were so controlled by his fortune as to contribute not a little to his success. He appears to have been by his temperament prone to almost every kind of sensual pleasure. But as his life was too busy to allow him often to indulge his bias, his occasional excesses wore the air of an amiable condescension. So his natural humour would perhaps have led him too often to forget his dignity in his intercourse with his inferiors. But to Philip, the great king, the conqueror, the restless politician, these intervals of relaxation occurred so rarely, that they might strengthen his influence with the vulgar, and could never expose him to contempt. From that he was secured by the energy of will, which made all his faculties and accomplishments of mind and body, and even his failings, as well as what may be called in a lower sense his virtues-his affability, clemency, and generosity-always subservient to the purposes of his lofty ambition. C. THIRLWALL 328. CHARACTER OF XENOPHON. Not only therefore had Xenophon no advantages compared with others, but he was under positive disadvantages. He had nothing to start with except his personal qualities and previous training; in spite of which we find him not merely the prime mover, but also the ascendant person for whom the others make way. In him are exemplified those peculiarities of Athens, attested not less by the denunciations of her enemies than by the panegyric of her own citizens,-spontaneous and forward impulse, as well in conception as in execution— confidence under circumstances which made others despair— persuasive discourse and publicity of discussion, made subservient to practical business, so as at once to appeal to the intelligence, and stimulate the active zeal, of the multitude. Such peculiarities stood out more remarkably from being contrasted with the opposite qualities in Spartans—mistrust in conception, slackness in execution, secrecy in counsel, silent and passive obedience. G. GROTE 329. TRUE WISDOM. There are that bear the title of wise men and scribes and great disputers of the world, and are nothing in deed less than what in show they most appear. These being wholly addicted unto their own wills, use their wit, their learning, and all the wisdom they have, to maintain that which their obstinate hearts are delighted with, esteeming in the frantic error of their minds the greatest madness in the world to be wisdom, and the highest wisdom foolishness. Such were both Jews and Grecians, which professed the one sort legal, and the other secular skill, neither enduring to be taught the mystery of Christ: unto the glory of whose most blessed name whoso study to use both their reason and other gifts, as well which nature as which grace has endued them with, let them never doubt but that the same God who is to destroy and confound utterly that wisdom falsely so named in others doth make reckoning of them as of true scribes, scribes by wisdom instructed unto the kingdom of heaven. THE HOPE OF THE RIGHTEOUS. R. HOOKER For the hope of 330. the ungodly is like dust that is blown away with the wind; like a thin froth that is driven away with the storm; like as the smoke which is dispersed here and there with a tempest, and passeth away as the remembrance of a guest that tarrieth but a day. But the righteous live for evermore; their reward also is with the Lord, and the care of them is with the most High. Therefore shall they receive a glorious kingdom, and a beautiful crown from the Lord's hand for with His right hand shall He cover them, and with His arm shall He protect them. WISDOM OF SOLOMON 331. DEFINITION OF LAW. A law therefore generally taken, is a directive rule unto goodness of operation. The rule of divine operations outward, is the definitive appointment of God's own wisdom set down within himself. The rule of natural agents that work by simple necessity, is the determination of the wisdom of God, known to God himself the principal Director of them, but not unto them that are directed to execute the same. The rule of natural agents which work after a sort of their own accord, as the beasts do, is the judgment of common sense or fancy concerning the sensible goodness of those objects wherewith they are moved. The rule of ghostly or immaterial natures, as spirits and angels, is their intuitive intellectual judgment concerning the amiable beauty and high goodness of that object, which with unspeakable joy and delight doth set them on work. The rule of voluntary agents on earth is the sentence that Reason giveth concerning the goodness of those things which they are to do. And the sentences which Reason giveth are some more some less general, before it come to define in particular actions what is good. R. HOOKER 332. THE human mind is of a very imitative nature; nor is it possible for any set of men to converse often together, without acquiring a similitude of manners, and communicating to each other their vices as well as virtues. The propensity to company and society is strong in all rational creatures; and the same disposition which gives us this propensity, makes us enter deeply into each other's sentiments, and causes like passions and inclinations to run, as it were, by contagion, through the whole club or knot of companions. Where a number of men are united into one political body, the occasions of their intercourse must be so frequent, for defence, commerce, and government, that, together with the same speech or language, they must acquire a resemblance in their manners, and have a common or national character, as well as a personal one, peculiar to each individual. D. HUME THE MERIT OF DISCOVERY. The powers of nature, 333. which are ever the same, and are continually performing their operations before us, whether we understand them or not, often present facts of the utmost value and importance, which we overlook or regard with indifference. Hence, it happens, that when an enlightened observer makes any discovery, it is so often observed that somebody has seen the fact before him, or given some confused hints respecting its theory. It is evident, however, that the first discoverer, if there be any merit in discovery, is not the man who lights upon the treasure and lets it lie as he found it, but he who is aware of its value, and applies it to use. On these principles it is that the claims of the discoverers of steam, as a prime mover, must be estimated. THE DESIRE OF EXCELLING. And as for the desire 334. of excelling others, as great and noble things as it makes men undertake, whilst it aspires only to a transcendency in virtue and in goodness; when that passionate desire, by making men too greedy of superiority in fame and power, degenerates into ambition, how many vices are usually set to work by this one passion! the contempt of laws, the violation of oaths, the renouncing of allegiance, the breach of leagues and compacts, the murder of one's nearest relations, (if they be more nearly related to a crown,) and all the other crimes and miseries that are wont to beget or attend civil wars, are the usual as well as dismal productions of this aspiring humour in a subject. 335. PRAYER. But efficacy is ascribed to prayer without the proof, we are told, which can alone in such a subject produce conviction, the confirmation of experience. Concerning the appeal to experience, I shall content myself with this remark, that if prayer were suffered to disturb the order of second causes appointed in the universe too much, or to produce its effects with the same regularity that they do, it would introduce a change into human affairs, which in some important respects would be evidently for the worse. Who, for example, would labour, if his necessities could be supplied with equal certainty by prayer? How few would contain within any bounds of moderation those passions and pleasures, which at present are checked only by disease, or the dread of it, if prayer would infallibly restore health? In short, if the efficacy of prayer were so constant and observable as to be relied upon beforehand, it is easy to foresee that the conduct of mankind would, in proportion to that reliance, become careless and disorderly. W. PALEY 336. THIS ally (or rather this principal in the war,) by the confession of the regicide himself, was more formidable to him than all his other foes united. Warring there, we should have led our arms to the capital of wrong. Defeated, we could not fail (proper precautions taken) of a sure retreat. Stationary and only supporting the loyalists, an impenetrable barrier, an impregnable rampart, would have been formed between the enemy and his naval power. We are probably the only nation who have declined to act against an enemy, when it might have been done in his own country; and who, having an armed, a powerful, and a long victorious ally in that country, declined all effectual co-operation, and suffered him to perish for want of support. On the plan of a war in France, every advantage that our allies might obtain would be doubled in its effect. Disasters on the one side might have a fair chance of being compensated by victories on the other. Had we brought the main of our force to bear upon that quarter, all the operations of the British and Imperial Crowns would have been combined. The war would have had system, correspondence and a certain direction. But as the war has been pursued, the operations of the two Crowns have not the smallest degree of mutual bearing or relation. 337. ADVANTAGES ARISING FROM THE FORMATION OF A SCIENTIFIC TASTE. A mind, which has once imbibed a taste for scientific enquiry has within itself an inexhaustible source of pure and exciting contemplations: one would think Shakespeare had such a mind in view, when he describes a contemplative man as finding Tongues in trees, books in the running streams, A thousand questions are continually arising in his mind, a thousand subjects of enquiry presenting themselves, which keep his faculties in constant exercise, and his thoughts perpetually on the wing, so that lassitude is excluded from his life, and that craving after artificial excitement and dissipation of mind, which leads so many into frivolous, unworthy and destructive pursuits, is altogether eradicated from his bosom. SIR J. HERSCHEL |