shineth even in darkness, it is worthy of our highest esteem and admiration; but if we consider the use made of it by the Pagans, we cannot praise it without reserve and exception, as their most shining actions of savage virtue had their root in pride and self-love. None of the Pagans, who in other respects have laid down very excellent rules of duty between man and man, have made the love of the Supreme Being the fundamental principle of their morality-none have taught the necessity of directing the actions of human probity to him; thus they may be said to have known the branches, but not the stemthe blossom but not the root of moral perfections Epictetus, a follower of the stoic philosophy, confined all his merit to suffering evils patiently, and bearing pleasure with moderation. He was at Rome when St. Paul Paul made so many converts there, and when Christianity shone out in so much lustre in the unexampled constancy and fortitude of the sufferers who bled to establish their faith. But far from improving from so radiant a light, he blasphemed against the doctrine of the primitive Christians, and the heroic courage of the martyrs. Yet Epictetus was one of the first moralists of his time, and his sayings are carefully handed down to posterity.Among them we find the following:-" To be rich does not depend upon thee, but to be happy does. Riches are always fleeting, but the happiness derived from wisdom endures for ever." "When thou see'st a viper or a serpent in a box of gold, dost thou esteem it the more; and hast thou not always the same horror horror on account of its venomous nature? > Have the same for a wicked man, though thou see'st him surrounded with honours. and riches." "The sun doth not stay to be implored! to impart his light and heat-by his example do all the good thou can'st, without staying till it be asked of thee." When we read such sentiments from Pagans, our admiration is mingled with pity, and we cannot help lamenting that minds so enlightened with morality should be ignorant of the knowledge of Christianity; but the wise director of the universe arranges all for the best, though our contracted understanding cannot always com-prehend his decrees. ON ON AMBITION, "Ambition is at distance A goodly prospect, tempting to the view; AMBITION, though implanted in our nature for the best and most noble purposes, is so liable to be poisoned by an intermixture with our other passions, that it more frequently becomes a curse than a blessing to the generality of mankind. One great misfortune of this passion is, that that it finds easy admittance into noble and generous minds; and frequently runs to such excess that it destroys or vitiates all their virtues, and renders them treacherous, hard hearted, and tyrannical.. The height to which an ambitious man aspires is not perhaps within the reach of possibility for him to attain; nay, this ap.. pears to be usually the case, for though in the pursuit he gains many honours, many stages of greatness, yet they afford him no pleasure, no gratification, while he has some impossible enterprise in view, which renders him dead and ungrateful for all present good. 'Tis torture for him to see but one man rise above him, though he feels no pleasure from the repeated triumphs over the many whom his superior success has left behind; and to him may justly be applied an excellent aphorism of Senecas," Ambition has this fault, that it |