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"Tis gold

Which buys admittance; oft it doth; yea, and makes
Diana's rangers, false themselves, yield up

Their deer to the stand of the stealer; and 'tis gold
Which makes the true-man killed, and saves the thief;
Nay, some time, hang both thief and true-man.
Can it not do and undo!-Shakspeare.

What

Gold? yellow, glittering, precious gold?....
Thus much of thee will make black, white; foul, fair;
Wrong, right; base, noble; old, young; coward, valiant.
This yellow slave

Will knit and break religions; bless the accursed;
Pluck stout men's pillows from below their heads;
Place thieves . . . with senators on the bench.
Shakspeare.

Oh thou sweet king-killer, and dear divorce
"Twixt natural son and sire! thou bright defiler
Of Hymen's purest bed! thou valiant Mars!
Thou ever young, fresh-loved, delicate wooer,
Whose blush doth thaw the consecrated snow
That lies on Dian's lap! . . . Oh thou touch of hearts!
Think, thy slave man rebels; and by thy virtue
Set them into confounding odds, that beasts
May have the world in empire.-Shakspeare.
Auro pulsa Fides, auro venalia Jura,
Aurum Lex sequitur, mox sine lege Pudor.

Aurum omnes, victa pietate, colunt.

Propertius.

Crescentem sequitur cura pecuniam Majorumque fames. Multa petentibus Desunt multa. Bene est cui Deus obtulit Parca quod satis est manu.-Horace. Effodiuntur opes irritamenta malorum.—Ovid. Amor pecuniæ est radix omnium malorum. Auri sacra fames.- Virgil.

Ferro nocentius aurum.-Ovid.

CONCLUSION.

Q*

THEME XLI. The middle Station of Life is most favourable to Virtue and Happiness.

INTRODUCTION.-Great riches and great poverty bring many a snare and many a vexation, from which those who have "neither poverty nor riches" are generally exempt.

1ST REASON. The wealthy are immersed in a distracting round of pleasure; the poor are distressed with pinching want. Neither of these states is so favourable to virtue and happiness as one of competency and moderate employment.

2ND REASON. The very exalted are placed too high for the exercise of those virtues which only inferiors can practise towards superiors; such as patience, resignation, industry, obedience, &c.

The very abject are placed too low for the exercise of those virtues which only superiors can practise towards inferiors; such as generosity, humanity, affability, and charity. But those who stand between these two extremes, being poor in comparison to their superiors, and rich in comparison to their inferiors, have ample scope for the practice of every virtue, and can enjoy the "sweet incense of every good deed."

3RD REASON. The highest are deprived of the luxury of ambition and emulation; the lowest are debarred from the heart-felt joy of honest pride, and the gratitude of feeling they are not the most abject. Those in the middle station of life can both aspire to a higher grade, and also rejoice in the measure of favour which they already enjoy.

4TH REASON. The great are too independent to feel the full value of praise, and the imperative necessity for strict moral decorum:

The mean feel that they are too little regarded to care for either.

5TH REASON. The wealthy and great are rarely good

scholars, because they have too little inducement to subject themselves to the toil essential for that purpose:

The poor have no time, opportunity, or money for literary pursuits. But the middle class have every inducement and every means to make them seek and value solid learning, than which nothing more conduces to happiness and virtue.

6TH REASON. The rich are subjected to great temptations, and have both means and opportunity at their disposal to indulge in them; the poor are also subjected to temptations in order to relieve their pressing necessities, and furnish them with some little respite from never-ceasing toil. The middle classes are far more likely to escape the snare, the sin, and the sorrow, than either the mighty or the mean.

7TH REASON. The rich are scarcely sensible of the wholesome restraint of popular opinion, and rarely deny themselves for the purpose of gaining popular favour :

The poor feel that they are too obscure to excite observation: But those who occupy the golden mean between poverty and riches, are placed too low to feel themselves independent of their neighbours, and too high to lodge a hope that "sin will never find them out."

8TH REASON. The wealthy have so much time upon their hands, that they frequently seek to relieve their ennui with amusements by no means unobjectionable:

The abject have so little time to spare, that they can think of little else besides the all-absorbing thought, "what shall we eat, what shall we drink, and wherewithal shall we be clothed." Both these states are less favourable to virtue and happiness than one where life is "seasoned by employment," and employment lightened by relaxation.

9TH REASON. The "mammon of unrighteousness" and the cares of poverty are both unfriendly to religion; for while, on the one hand, "not many mighty, not many noble are called;" on the other hand, not many righteous can be found "who are forsaken, and beg their bread."

SIMILES. The Temperate zone is more healthy and more favourable to morality, literature, and happiness, than either the Torrid or Frigid zones.

A river is more useful in the promotion of health and fertility, than the thundering torrent or the stagnant pool.

A certain torrent meeting a stream with which it had long been united in bonds of strictest amity, spoke thus with noisy disdain and haughtiness:-"What, brother, still in the same state? still low and creeping? Are you not ashamed when you behold me, who have emancipated myself from a grovelling runnel,-am now become a mighty river, and intend shortly to outvie the Danube and the Rhine, if these friendly rains continue a few months longer?" Very true," replies the humble stream, "you are now indeed swollen to a most monstrous size; but, methinks, you are become withal somewhat turbulent and muddy: I am content with my humble station and purity; and so farewell!"

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Iron is more useful than either gold or lead.

Convenient food is more healthy and more favourable to morality than either gluttony or starvation.

Neither the dense air of deep mines, nor the rarefied air of high mountains is equal to that which is inhaled by the "general dwellers upon the earth."

Cheerfulness of temper is to be preferred to immoderate laughter or deep grief.

Liberality is preferable to meanness and prodigality. Pure and undefiled religion to superstition or atheism, &c.

HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS.-Agur, the son of Jakeh, said to Ithiel, "Two things have I required of thee; deny them not before I die. Give me neither

poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me, lest I be full and deny the Lord; or lest I be poor and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.”—Prov. XXX. 7-9.

Saul, the king of Israel, was both virtuous and happy

in his early life, but after he was created king, became arrogant and disobedient to God (1 Sam. xv. 11-23); and was for ever tormented with jealousy, envy, and moodishness.-1 Sam. xviii. 9-11.

Solomon was noted for his piety and wisdom before he was anointed king; but no sooner did he become possessed of supreme power and unbounded wealth, than he forsook God," drew sin as it were with a cart-rope,"and declared his life to be "a weariness to his flesh."

Thomas à Becket, in early life, was notorious for his humility, courtesy, and cheerfulness of temper; but, after he was raised to the highest honours to which a subject could attain, his arrogance was unbounded, his insolence intolerable, and his temper morose and gloomy.

Cardinal Wolsey was the admiration of England, till his wealth made him ambitious, and his ambition made him a traitor.

Policrates bestowed five talents (11257.) for a gift upon one Anacrisa, who was so troubled with care how to keep them safe, and how to bestow them, that his life was a misery to him: After the expiration of two days and two nights, he took them back to Policrates again, saying, They are not worth the pains I have already taken for them."

Luther, being offered by the Elector of Saxony the produce of a rich mine at Sneeberg, refused it, saying, He could not sell his honesty and peace of mind."

When Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked, then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation.-Deut. xxxii. 15.

"When Ephraim spake tremblingly, he exalted himself in Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died. . . . According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me. Therefore, . . . . I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart," &c.-Hos. xiii. 1. 6. 8.

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