196 FIRST TRUTHS, FISHING, FLATTERY. such as firmness in bad habits, firmness in bad manners, firmness in errors and delusions, and especially firmness in injustice, oppression, and cruelty. 350. FIRST TRUTHS, OR PRINCIPLES. Em. Never try to throw a man down, who stands upon nothing. Ed. A denial of first truths is impious and ridiculous. Watts. It is very useful to have some general principles of truth settled in the mind, whose evidence is obvious, that they may be always ready at hand, to assist us in judging of the great variety of things which occur. These may be called first notions, or fundamental principles. There are metaphysical, physical, mathematical, political, economical, medical, theological, moral, and prudential principles of judgment. Lord, J. K. It is a first principle, that all knowledge has its origin in God, and that we can know nothing correctly, without seeing the first and final cause of all things in him. Ed. It is, also, an ultimate fact, that our first intellectual views and impressions are intuitive, and especially our first notions of the cardinal first truth, the existence of God. Without this, the things which are made would not appear to us as evidences of his existence and perfections. We must make deductions from first truths already discovered, in order to increase our stock of knowledge. Intuition is the eye that discovers first, or ultimate, truths. [See 60, 953.] 351. FISHING. Johnson. Fishing-rod a stick with a hook at one end, and a fool at the other. Ed. This applies to fishing for sport, country fishing in general, and especially to fishing for honors and offices. 352. FLATTERY. Diogenes being asked, What is that beast, the bite of which is the most dangerous, replied, "Of wild beasts, the bite of the slanderer; and of tame ones, that of the flatterer. Matron. When men flatter, think them false; I've found them so. Flattery, like Champaigne, soon gets into the head. FLATTERY. As he flatters, so he cuts, so he detracts. Lavater. The shameless flatterer is a shameless knave. 197 Ib. The most exuberant encomiast, easily turns into the most inveterate censor. 1b. Keep your heart from him who begins his acquaintance with you by indirect flattery of your favorite foible. Cowper. The lie that flatters, I abhor the most. Antisthenese. It is better to fall among crows, than among flatterers. Those only devour the dead, these the living. Johnson. Men are like stone jugs-you may lug them where you like, by the ears. Ed. Yes, yes, if you do not reprove them, but, on the contrary, tickle them with flattery and amusement. A person who will flatter one to please him, will slander him to please others. Fools drink in flattery, as a thirsty man drinks water, and put it to the credit of the flatterer; wise men lay it aside, or put it to his account. A little praise upsets a little mind. Flattery is nauseous to those whose olfactories are not stupefied. Ed. The tender mercies of the wicked, are cruel flattery. one, If we did not flatter ourselves so much, the flattery of others would not do us so much harm. Socrates. Flattery is like friendship in show, but not in fruit. Flatter no man to gain his favor, for this will add falsehood and injury to hypocrisy, that will react with a sure and sore vengeance. Revilers call us fools flatterers make us such. Ed. Mankind love flattering compliments, because they strengthen and increase self-flattery. Men do not flatter without some private end in view, and those who listen to such music, must pay for it. Flatterers lift a man up, as the eagle does the tortoise, to gain something by his fall. [See 299.] 353. FLATTERY, NATIONAL. Mass. Election Sermon, 1791. America stands, like the sun in the heavens, the centre of light, and the wonder of an admiring world, who feel the influence of its rays. There the persecuted will find rest - tortured virtue, and exiled worth, will take refuge among them, from every quarter of the old world. Ed. This enconium needs a little emendation, as follows. America stands, like the sun, passing behind a dark cloud. In some portions of her domain, the persecuted find refuge, while in others, the oppressor holds millions of the human race as chattels personal, withholding all the essential rights and privileges of humanity, and crushing them to death under laws and customs that are the scorn and execration of the universe. 354. FOOD. Eat to live, not live to eat. Agur. Feed me with food convenient for me, lest I be full and deny thee; or poor, and steal. Sully, the great statesman of France, who accustomed himself to very plain and frugal meals, having been reproached for not making more sumptuous provision for his guests, replied, "If they are men of sense, there is sufficient for them; if they are not, I can very well dispense with their company." if Feed your body to serve Christ, not to serve sensual vices, you desire either present or future enjoyment. Save your spices till you become old, and then you may never need them. After sweetmeats, come bitter tastes. Ed. God has prepared perishable food, in sufficient variety and profusion, to sustain and invigorate the body; and imperishable, in greater variety and profusion, to sustain and invigorate the mind. But the human race more highly prize the former than the latter, and pervert both to their present or everlasting ruin. [See 229, 349, 350.] FOOLS, FOLLY, FORBEARANCE. 355. FOOLS, FOLLY. When wise men play the fool, they do it to perfection. 199 Folly first, the going to law; second, standing a law-suit. Thacher. When wise men become fools they are superlatives. To be a fool, and not to know it, is a double misfortune. Nothing is more worthless than sinful pleasures, but fools mortgage eternal happiness for them. A little pleasure, or wealth, or honor, or perhaps all, may be purchased at the price of eternal misery. A wise man is a great wonder. Ed. A fool is a greater one, if we may be allowed to reason from popular admiration. Ed. Fools-those who make everything of nothing, and nothing of everything. Ib. Fools were made to teach wise men wisdom. Solomon could not have produced his book of Proverbs, had he not taken lessons from the fools of his generation. Arabian Pr. A fool may be known by six things: Anger without cause; speech without profit; change without motion; inquiry without object; putting trust in a stranger; and mistaking his foes for his friends. Ed. Aye, and by six more: Trusting in his own heart; by rejecting and scorning just reproof; by drinking in flattery; by hating and despising knowledge; by intoxicating himself in sinful lusts and pleasures; and by making nothing of sin. He who steps out of his way to play the fool, is pretty sure to miss the prize. 356. FORBEARANCE, FORGIVENESS. To err, is human; to forgive, Divine. Spring. The Bible enjoins, "Love your enemies; bless them that curse you; do good to them that hate you; and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you." This is a spirit so unnatural to man, that it has been reproached as unreasonable and absurd, and the ancients had no word to express it; or if they had, it represented it as a vice rather than a virtue. But how worthy of its Author! how sublime! how truly it bears the stamp of Divinity! 200 FORBEARANCE, FORGIVENESS.. To be able to bear a provocation is indicative of great wisdom; and to forgive it, of a great mind. To return good for evil is the supreme point of goodness and greatness. Forgiveness the odor which the trampled flower diffuses to bless the foot which crushes it. Has any one injured you? Bear it with patience. Hasty words rankle the wound; soft language dresses it, forgiveness cures it, forgetfulness takes away the scar. It is better to overlook trivial offences, than to quarrel for them. By the last, you are even with your adversary; by the first, above him. He is more than great who instructs his offender, while he forgives him. Each other to forgive, is the tenderest part of love. Will find occasion to forbear, And something every day they live To pity, or perhaps forgive. That which is very bitter to endure, may be very sweet to remember. Secker. To do evil for good, is human corruption; to do good for good is civil retribution; but to do good for evil, is Christian perfection. Though this be not the grace of nature, it is the nature of grace. Ib. There is a requital of evil for evil; this is blamable; -of good for good, this is laudable; - of evil for good, this is abominable; - of good for evil, this is admirable. Forgiveness is the most glorious kind of revenge. Nothing annoys an enemy more than kindness. It is an arrow that generally hits the mark. Herbert. He that cannot forgive others, breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself; for every man has need to be forgiven. Lavater. He, who being master of the fittest moment to crush an enemy magnanimously rejects it, is born to be a con queror. Strive not against a person who has never injured you. |