Care keeps his watch in every miser's eye; And where care lodges, sleep will never lie. Shakespeare. Care, that in cloisters only seals her eyes, CALUMNY. He that lends an easy and credulous ear to calumny, is either a man of very ill morals, or has no more sense or understanding than a child. Menander. Slander is a secret propensity of the mind, to think ill of all men, and afterwards to utter such sentiments in scandalous expressions. Theophrastus. If anyone speak ill of thee, consider whether he hath truth on his side; and if so, reform thyself, that his censures may not affect thee. Epictetus. Be very cautious in believing ill of your neighbours; but be doubly cautious in reporting it. Shelley. Common fame is a liar, and truth seldom comes into her mouth, without some addition or diminution of it. Shelley. "Pursue in health that conduct which a bed of sickness made you resolve upon; let not fear of death be the only thing to enforce goodness of heart, for this is the height of meanness, because well knowing that your whole life has been such as to leave no hope of mercy, you attempt at the last moment to be good and religious, only by reason of three things setting themselves before your eyes in such distinct and different appearance, to what they ever had before. These three-death, judgment, and hell! Religion must be love for God, and not fear of Him." The best way is to slander Valentine With falsehood, cowardice and poor descent; Three things that women highly hold in hate. Shakespeare. Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny. Shakespeare. I am beholden to calumny, that she hath so endeavoured and taken pains to belie me. It shall make me set a surer guard on myself, and keep a better watch upon my actions. Ben Johnson. Believe not all you hear, nor speak all you know; and as you should be very cautious in believing any ill of your neighbours, so you should be much more cautious in repeating it. Shelley. Dispraise not anyone behind his back, for that looks malicious; but tell him privately of his faults, that you may work a reformation in him. No might nor greatness in mortality Shelley. Can censure 'scape; back wounding calumny The whitest virtue strikes. What king so strong, Can tie the gall up in the slanderous tongue ? CHRISTIAN. The fortitude of a Christian consists in patience; not in enterprises which the poets call heroic, and which are commonly the effects of interest, pride, and worldly honour. Dryden. "A Christian does good even to his enemies: thus incense perfumes even the very souls which consume it." Of all virtues that the Word of God would have man possess himself, to do good for evil is the one most difficult of practice. CONSCIENCE. The word conscience properly signifies that knowledge which a man hath within himself of his own thoughts and actions; by comparing them with the law of God, his mind will either approve or condemn him, according as he hath done good or evil; therefore this knowledge or conscience may properly be called both an accuser and a judge. Dean Swift. Conceal your weakness from your child, lest he despise your instruction, and be hardened in folly for he who sees your folly will scarce be ashamed of his own. Shelley. Conscience doth make cowards of us all. Shakespeare. If we all had windows in our breasts today, what a demand there would be for blinds to-morrow. Punch. Conscience will put man into a kind of a hell; if that be not governed by a right judgment, and he be not governed by that. Whichcote. Conscience is a great ledger book, in which all our offences are written and registered, and which time reveals to the sense and feeling of the offender. Burton. There be five kinds of consciences on foot in the world. First, an ignorant conscience, which neither sees nor saith anything; neither beholds the sins in a soul, nor reproves them. Secondly, the flattering conscience, whose speech is worse than silence itself, which, though seeing sin, soothes men in the committing thereof. Thirdly, the seared conscience, which hath neither sight, speech, nor sense, in men that are past feeling. Fourthly, a wounded conscience, frighted with sin. The last and best is a quiet and clear conscience, pacified in Christ Jesus. Of these, the fourth is incomparably better than the three former, so that a wise man would not take a world to change with them. Yea, a wounded conscience is rather painful than sinful, an affliction, no offence; and is in the ready way at the next remove, to be turned into a quiet conscience. Fuller. CHRISTIANITY. Christianity came into the world with the the greatest simplicity of thought and language, as well as of life and manners; holding forth nothing but pity, charity, and humility, with the belief of the Messiah and His kingdom. Sir William Temple. CREATOR AND CREATION. The Almighty-whose hieroglyphical characters are the unnumbered stars, sun, and moon, written on these large volumes of the firmament. Sir Walter Raleigh. |