Rendering the balance for guilt, atonement to the utter

most?

Thou art subtle to thine own thinking, but wisdom judgeth thee a fool,

Resolving thou wilt not bow the knee to a Being thou canst not comprehend:

The mind that could compass perfection were itself

fection's equal;

per

And reason refuseth its homage to a God who can be fully understood.

Thou that despisest mystery, yet canst expound nothing, Wherefore rejectest thou the fact that solveth the enigma of all things?

Wherefore veilest thou thine eyes, lest the light of revelation sun them,

And puttest aside the key that would open the casket of

truth?

The mind and the nature of God is shadowed in all his

works,

And none could have guessed of his essence, had He not uttered it himself.

Therefore, thou child of folly, that scornest the record of his wisdom,

Learn from the consistencies of nature the needful

miracle of godhead :

Yea, let the heathen be thy teacher, who adoreth many

gods,

For there is no wide-spread error that hath not truth for its beginning.

Be content; thine eye cannot see all the sides of a cube at one view,

Nor thy mind in the selfsame moment follow two ideas : There are now many marvels in thy creed, believing what thou seest,

Then let not the conceit of intellect hinder thee from worshipping mystery.

OF THINKING.

REFLECTION is a flower of the mind, giving out wholesome fragrance,

But reverie is the same flower, when rank and running to seed.

Better to read little with thought, than much with levity

and quickness;

For mind is not as merchandize, which decreaseth in

the using,

But liker to the passions of man, which rejoice and expand in exertion :

Yet live not wholly on thine own ideas, lest they lead

thee astray;

For in spirit, as in substance, thou art a social crea

ture;

And if thou leanest on thyself, thou rejectest the guid

ance of thy betters,

Yea, thou contemnest all men,-Am I not wiser than

they?

Foolish vanity hath blinded thee, and warped thy weak

judgment:

For, though new ideas flow from new springs, and enrich the treasury of knowledge,

Yet listen often, ere thou think much; and look around thee ere thou judgest.

Memory, the daughter of Attention, is the teeming mother of Wisdom,

And safer is he that storeth knowledge, than he that maketh it for himself.

Imagination is not thought, neither is fancy reflec

tion :

Thought paceth like a hoary sage, but imagination hath wings as an eagle;

Reflection sternly considereth, nor is sparing to condemn

evil,

But fancy lightly laugheth, in the sun-clad gardens of

amusement.

For the shy game of the fowler the quickest shot is the

surest;

But with slow care and measured aim the gunner point

eth his cannon:

So for all less occasions, the surface-thought is best,

But to be master of the great, take thou heavier metal.

It is a good thing, and a wholesome, to search out bosom

sins,

But to be the hero of selfish imaginings, is the subtle poison of pride:

At night, in the stillness of thy chamber, guard and curb thy thoughts,

And in recounting the doings of the day, beware that thou do it with prayer,

Or thinking will be an idle pleasure, and retrospect yield no fruit.

Steer the bark of thy mind from the syren isle of

reverie,

And let a watchful spirit mingle with the glance of recol

lection :

Also, in examining thine heart, in sounding the fountain of thine actions,

Be more careful of the evil than of the good; and humble thyself in thy sin.

The root of all wholesome thought is knowledge of thyself,

For thus only canst thou learn the character of God toward thee.

He made thee, and thou art: he redeemed thee, and thou

wilt be:

Thou art evil, yet he loveth thee: thou sinnest, yet he

pardoneth thee.

M