them to swallow down all their opinions at once, without examining what truth or falsehood there is in them. Men take their principles by inheritance, and defend them as they would their estates, because they are born heirs to them. I freely grant, that parents are appointed by God and nature to teach us all the sentiments and practices of our younger years; and happy are those whose parents lead them into the paths of wisdom and truth. I grant further, that when persons come to years of diserction, and judge for themselves, they ought to examine the opinions of their parents, with the greatest modesty, and with an humble deference to their superior character; they ought, in matters perfectly dubious, to give the preference to their parents' advice, and always to pay them the first respect, nor ever depart from their opinions and practices, till reason and conscience make it necessary. But after all, it is possible that parents may be mistaken, and therefore reason and scripture ought to be our final rules of determination in matters that relate to this world, and that which is to come.

The power of Eloquence.

WHEN a man of eloquence speaks or writes upon any

subject, we are too ready to run into his sentiments, being sweetly and insensibly drawn by the smoothness of his harangue, and the pathetic power of his language. Rhetorick will varnish every error, so that it shall appear in the dress of truth, and put such ornaments upon vice, as to make it look like virtue. It is an art of wondrous and extensive influence ; it often conceals, obscures, or overwhelms the truth, and places sometimes a gross

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falsehood in the most alluring light. The decency of action, the music of the voice, the harmony of the periods, the beauty of the style, and all the engaging airs of the speaker, have often charmed the hearers into error, and persuaded them to approve whatsoever is proposed in so agreeable a manner. A large assembly stands exposed at once to the power of these prejudices, and imbibes them all. So Cicero and Demosthenes made the Romans and the Athenians believe almost whatsoever they pleased.

The best defence against both these dangers, is to learn the skill (as much as possible) of separating our thoughts and ideas from words and phrases, to judge of the things from their own natures, and in their natural or just relation to one another, abstracted from the use of language, and to maintain a steady and obstinate resolution, to hearken to nothing but truth, in whatsoever style or dress it appears,

The government of our Thoughts.

THERE are some thoughts that arise and intrude upon us while we shun them; there are others that fly from us, when we would hold and fix them. If the ideas which you would willingly make the matter of your present meditation are ready to fly from you, you must be obstinate in the pursuit of them by an habit of fixed meditation; you must keep your soul to the work, when it is ready to start aside every moment, unless you will abandon yourself to be a slave to every wild imagination.

It is a common, but it is a very unhappy and a shameful thing, that every trifle that comes across the senses or faney should divert us, that a buzzing fly should teaze our spirits, and scatter our best ideas: but we must learn to be deaf to and regardless of other things, besides that which we make the present subject of our meditation; and in order to help a wandering and fickle humor, it is proper to have a book or paper in our hands, which has some proper hints of the subject that we design to pur'sue. We must be resolute and laborious, and sometimes conflict with ourselves, if we would be wise and learned.

Yet I would not be too severe in this rule. It must be confessed, there are seasons when the mind, or rather the brain, is over-tired or jaded with study and thinking; or upon some other accounts animal' nature may be languid or cloudy, and unfit to assist the spirit in meditation ; at such seasons (provided that they return not too often) it is better sometimes to yield to the present indisposition. Then you may think it proper to give yourself up to some hours of leisure and recreation, or useful idleness; or if not, then turn your thoughts to some other alluring subject, and pore no longer upon the first, till some brighter or more favorable moments arise. A student shall do more in one hour, when all things concur to invite him to any special study, than in four hours, at a dull and improper season.

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Of the arrangement of our Ideas.

As a trader, who never places his goods in his shop or ware-house in a regular order, nor keeps the accounts of

his buying and selling, paying aud receiving, in a just method, is in the utmost danger of plunging all his affairs into confusion and ruin; so a student who is in search of truth, or an author or teacher who communicates knowledge to others, will very much obstruct his design, and confound his own mind, or the minds of his hearers, unless he range his ideas in just order. If we would therefore become successful learners or teachers, we must not conceive things in a confused heap, but dispose our ideas in some certain method, which may be most easy and useful both for the understanding and

memory.

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Erroneous Judgment.

HERE there is wealth, equipage, and 'splendor, we are ready to call that man happy; but we see not the vexing disquietudes of his soul and when we spy a person in ragged garments, we form a despicable opinion of him too suddenly; we can hardly think him either happy or wise, our judgment is so biased by outward and sensible things. It was through the power of this prejudice that the Jews rejected our blessed Saviour; they could not suffer themselves to believe that the man who appeared as the son of a carpenter was also the Son of God. And because St. Paul was of little stature, a mean presence, and his voice contemptible, some of the Corinthians were tempted to doubt whether he was inspired or no. This prejudice is cured by a longer acquaintance with the world, and a just observation that things are sometimes better and sometimes worse than they appear

to be. We ought therefore to restrain our excessive forwardness to form our opinion of persons or things before we have opportunity to search into them more perfectly.

There is scarce any thing in the world of nature or art, in the world of morality or religion, that is perfectly uniform. There is a mixture of wisdom and folly, vice and virtue, good and evil, both in men and things. We should remember that some persons have great wit and little judgment; others are judicious, but not witty. Some are good humoured without compliment; others have all the formality of complaisance, but no good humour. We ought to know that one man may be vicious and learned, while another has virtue without learning; that many a man thinks admirably well, who has a poor utterance; while others have a charming manner of speech but their thoughts are trifling and impertinent. Some are good neighbours, and courteous and charitable towards men, who have no piety towards God; others are truly religious, but of morose natural tempers. Some excellent sayings are found in very silly books, and some silly things appear in books of value. We should neither praise nor dispraise by wholesale, but separate the good from the evil, and judge of them apart: the accuracy of a good judgment consists in making such distinctions.