ETAT. 21] HOW TO AVOID RASH JUDGMENTS. 117 especially after rising out of a warm bed, and consequently makes the circulation brisker and more complete, and braces up the solids, while lying in bed dissolves and soaks them in moisture. This is evident from the appetite and hunger which those that rise early feel beyond that which they get by lying long in bed." The practice needs no further recommendation than the simple statement that no one ever regretted its adoption. I would strongly urge the reader who may need some stimulus in the formation of this habit, to read Mr. Wesley's sermon on Redeeming the Time." 26th. "Rose at six. Felt some irritation this morning but have been able to overcome it. Been troubled with anxious thoughts about my future lot. I retired for devotion and was enabled to cast all my care upon God. These words have very much supported me they that seek the Lord shall not want any good.' My future destiny is no concern of mine. All I have to do is to seek the Lord." Nothing ever proceeded from his pen more characteristic than the following:-27th. "In thinking or speaking of any class of persons among whom I have not mingled much, let me remember that it is probable I may have an erroneous idea of them. Be particularly careful to ground no conclusions upon narrow and imperfect views, either of persons or things. This course will lead to truth and charity."-We cannot avoid receiving impressions as to the character of those with whom we come in contact, but these can never be confidently relied on until they have been often repeated. Every man varies in his moods, and the impression we receive of him at one time, under one class of circumstances, will sometimes be the very opposite of that we should receive at another time, under another class of circumstances. And not only so, but our impressions will be influenced by the states of our own mind. Nor should it be forgotten that the particular features of character which a stranger exhibits to us, depends greatly on those which we exhibit to him. Man, in his social nature, is like one of those flowers which discloses itself in a genial atmosphere, but folds its leaves and conceals its beauties on the approach of an unfriendly breeze. Our impressions of character therefore depend greatly upon ourselves. Here is a string of aphorisms relating chiefly to mental and moral habits. "An acquaintance with the first principles of many subjects will have a tendency to consolidate all one reads into an harmonious system. There is a tendency to forget first principles." “Have such an arrangement of the mental economy that the results of observation may be deposited in their right place, and be always ready for use." "I can do nothing unless I get my studies into order. Then only my eye is clear and my arm strong. I cannot proceed effectually unless I know in what part of the regions of knowledge I am. I like always to have one central thing upon which my attention is concentrated.” "It is of the utmost importance to have the plan of life distinctly laid down, to have the boundaries of that plan well defined, and always to keep the grand ultimate object of pursuit vividly in view. This has been the case with those men who have shone so conspicuously—who have astonished and blessed the world through which they passed with rapid march to a glorious immortality." "Give the intellectual power the sovereignty, but keep imagination, taste, &c., like a well-trained army in its service. Edward's reason sat solitary upon the throneno courtiers. It became a tyrant, and spread around it the gloom of tyranny." ETAT. 21] APHORISMS ON MENTAL AND MORAL HABITS. 119 "Always aim to give supreme attention to the thing in hand. Suffer nothing to tempt the mind away from it. In nothing does the student suffer so much as in feebleness and irresolution of purpose." "In a course of sound study there must be much selfdenial. Almost every hour wandering desires must be restrained, and strong propensities crossed." "If I give up daily labour, combined with a habit of repose upon the Eternal, there is no hope for me. Both greatness and goodness are an aggregate-the result of daily accumulation." "It is far better to do a little well than attempt too much. Be careful about the quality, quantity will increase in due time." "It is desirable to cultivate a state of mind that will attract whatever is good, and repel whatever is evil.” "He has made no mean attainment who can go to every subject with the sole purpose of finding out the truth. The cultivation of this spirit will do more towards attaining the great end of study than the most rigid discipline of the intellect." "There is danger of looking at truth through a contracted medium-from one point of observation only. Nothing can so effectually correct this as extensive intercourse with the world. There is much to be learnt everywhere. It is a valuable mental exercise to find out sources of information and means of improvement out of the beaten path. Let us make the best of those circumstances into which we may be thrown." "We must be in private what we wish to be in public. If we attempt before others that which we do not cultivate when alone, we shall be almost sure to fail. The discern ing will see that such things do not sit easy upon us-that they are foreign to our character." "Those who devote themselves to mental pursuits should seek great variety of employment, for thus only can overtaxation of the brain be avoided. The amazing acquirements of some military and business men abundantly prove that if the bodily organs be vigorously exercised, the brain is capable of great efforts." "The proportionate cultivation of our faculties is necessary to intellectual happiness. Much of the ill-nature and misery of studious men arises from straining some faculties and leaving others unemployed." "He is a noble man who seeks Mid the world's love, toil, and strife,- Ever in his onward way Beauty, grandeur, he descries, Or in summer's azure day Or in winter's stormy skies." CHAPTER VIII. AT HOWDEN. Termination of his correspondence with Miss ** -Consults a London physician respecting his health-On the range of pulpit-topics-His resignation to the Divine will— Southey's Life of Cowper-Foster's Essays-Bloomfield's Greek Testament-Difficulty of accurately judging the motives of others -Prayer an aid to study-Didactic and devotional aphorisms. ALL the anxiety Mr. Hessel had felt, and which a young man of his powers and purposes could not but feel, from the dark shadow cast upon the future by his precarious state of health, was "a thing of nought" compared with what he was now called to experience. Enough of his correspondence with Miss * * has been published to show the strength as well as purity of that attachment. "I trust my dear C-," he had said, to give one quotation more, we shall have reason to bless God, both in time and eternity, that ever we became acquainted. Our connection has arisen purely out of esteem and affection; it owes its origin to no extraneous influence. I feel that this gives a nobility to love. The interchange of good is equal. You have it in your power to make me happy by offering those sympathies of the heart which wealth cannot purchase, and which I greatly need; and I hope to be able to extend over you my sheltering care. How wisely our Creator has constituted our nature, and what happiness may be realized when it is not perverted by sin!" Such had been his feelings. And now the connection was to terminate. Those tender bonds were to be severed. There was no rupture-no alienation of feeling on either side. It was his own deed; done at the bidding of what he believed to be stern duty, and with the full approval, if not I |