GAMES, GENEROSITY, GENIUS.

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faculty, would have been thrown away upon such stupid and benighted minds, were not just such objects necessary to give the best variety and contrast to the system of the universe. 377. GAMES, GAMING.

The best throw upon the dice, is to throw them away. Gaming is the child of Avarice, the companion of Vice, and the father of Despair.

Cumberland. It is well for gamesters that they are so numerous as to make a society of themselves; for it would be a strange abuse of terms to rank those among society at large, whose profession it is to prey upon all who compose it.

Em. The inventor of card-playing has done immense mischief to the world. He invented this game of chance to amuse one of the kings of France. It spread from the king to the court; from the court to all the lower classes of men through the kingdom. From France it spread to Britain, to all Europe, and to America. It has destroyed the property, the peace, and the temporal and eternal happiness of millions; and it still threatens to destroy millions and millions more.

Ed. Who can fathom the intrigues, or the fascinations, of games of chance? The whirlpools of the ocean can give us but a faint view of their power to decoy and destroy! If civil laws are wisely employed to protect society against thieves and robbers, they ought to be turned with effect against gaming. [See 107.]

378. GENEROSITY.

Ed. There are several species of generosity, such as generous promises, generous invitations, generous proposals, generous provisions, and generous donations and performances. Those who most abound in promises, are often most wanting in performances. Practical generosity is the thing.

Ib. Generosity is a delectable disposition, a desirable habit, and a choice attainment. It creates cheerful faces, and gladness of heart. All the mean and niggardly vices are reproved and restrained by its presence and prevalence.

379. GENIUS.

Who can produce more than many others, has vigor; who

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GENTLENESS, AMIABLENESS.

can do still better, has talents; who can produce what nonc else can, has genius.

Swift. When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign- that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.

It is the prerogative of genius, to produce novel impressions from familiar objects.

Hogarth. Genius is nothing but labor and diligence. Ed. With a little something peculiar, to prompt them.

One of the strongest characteristics of genius, is the power of lighting its own fire.

If we scrutinize men of genius, we shall find that activity and persistence are their leading peculiarities.

Ed. Genius is a tact for devising and doing difficult things. The adversary has a tact for deceiving and destroying. Solomon had a tact for apt and forcible expression. Washington had a tact for combining, directing, and employing physical force, in surprising and overwhelming the enemies of his country. Shakspeare had a tact for description, imagination, and original, varied expression. Edwards had a tact for tracing effects to their causes. Emmons had a tact for theological distinctions, deductions, descriptions, and harmonies. Whitefield had a tact for chaining the attention, and moving the feelings of an auditory. Bunyan had a tact for allegorical imagery and description. These were original geniuses in their several different occupations, whose names have escaped, and will escape, oblivion. [See 922.]

380. GENTLENESS, AMIABLENESS.

Good nature is more agreeable in conversation than wit, and gives an air to the countenance more amiable than beauty. A cheerful manner denotes a gentle nature; whereas, a sour countenance indicates a froward disposition.

Ed. We are indebted to Christianity for gentleness, especially towards woman. This grace is scarcely to be found among pagans, or mormons, or the gross corrupters and perverters of Christianity.

GENTLENESS, GIFTS AND GRACES.

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Ib. Parents forfeit the name of Christians, who do not train up their children to be gentle spirits.

Gentleness disarms the fierce, melts the cruel, and will correct whatever is offensive in manners.

381. GENTLENESS, MATRIMONIAL.

Be gentle! weary hours of pain

"Tis woman's lot to bear;

Then yield her what support thou canst,

And all her sorrows share.

Be gentle for you little know
How many trials rise;

Although to thee they may be small,
To her of giant size.

Be gentle though perchance that lip
May speak a murmuring tone,
The heart may beat with kindness yet,
And joy to be thine own.

Be gentle for the noblest hearts

At times may have some grief,

And even in a pettish word
May seek to find relief.

Be gentle none are perfect

Thou 'rt dearer far than life;

Then, husband, bear and still forbear,

Be gentle to thy wife.

382. GIFTS AND GRACES.

Cowper. But O thou bounteous Giver of all good, Thou art of all thy gifts Thyself the crown. Give what Thou wilt, without Thee we are poor, And with Thee rich, take what Thou wilt away. Ed. Gifts and graces are God's to give, and ours to use. Ib. Perishable gifts are more desired by mankind than imperishable graces, which many despise.

Em. God has given to some men a more solid, acute, and comprehensive understanding than to others. He has given a

more retentive memory to some than to others. He has given a livelier imagination to some than to others. And he has given a more easy and flowing eloquence to some than to others. He has diversified and distinguished mankind as much by their intellectual powers as by their corporeal forms, and features, and external circumstances.

383. GLUTTONS, GLUTTONY. Gluttony kills more than the sword. Ed. Besides torturing whom he kills.

Ed. Food was made to nourish and sustain, not to sicken and overwhelm us. The varieties of food are suited to the different climes, constitutions, and tastes of men, and desirable changes in aliment. This rich variety ought not to be perverted to oppressive sensual indulgence. Gluttony is an ungrateful, stupid, and cruel vice, for it is perverting and debasing the bounties of Providence that might be a great comfort and help to the poor and destitute, who are ever with us. [See 556.]

384. GOD, AS REVEALED IN SCRIPTURE.

God is light; God is love; God is a spirit; is a man of war; is a consuming fire; is a great King over all the earth; is a God of knowledge; is a jealous God.

385. GOD, SUPREMELY EVIDENT.

Em. We have higher evidence of the existence of God than of any other existence, but our own.

Ib. That there is a first and supreme Cause who is the creator and governor of the universe, is a plain and obvious truth which forces itself upon every attentive mind. But though we may easily conceive of the existence of the Deity, yet his nature and perfections surpass the comprehension of all minds but his Our eyes can perceive, without difficulty, the scattered rays of the sun; but if we fix them steadily upon the sun itself, we are immediately involved in darkness by a profusion of light. So our general ideas of the Deity are clear, and distinct; but if we take a more steady and particular survey of

own.

the Divine mind, our mental sight is confused by the greatness and brightness of the object.

Whelpley. The character of God is sufficiently manifested to his rational creatures to command supreme and universal love and adoration. There is no character among the heroes and patriots of history so fully displayed, so prominently evident, so easily and clearly apprehensible. This infinitely glorious character appears, from what God has revealed of himself in his works and in his Word.

Alexander. Of all conceptions of the human mind, the idea of God is the most sublime. It is not only sublime, but awful. Everything else appears diminutive, while the mind is occupied with this thought. Though the idea of an eternal and infinite being is too great for the grasp of the human intellect, yet it is suited to the human mind. It fills it, and produces a feeling of reverence, which is felt to be a right emotion. If there is no such being, this is the grandest illusion which ever possessed the imagination of man. If it be an error, then error is preferable to truth; for, on this supposition, truth, in its whole compass, has nothing, in grandeur, to compare with illusion. Remove this idea, and the mind is confounded with an infinite blank. Deprived of this, the intellect has no object to fill it; it is confounded and distressed with the retrospect of the past, and prospect of the future. But it cannot be, that this noblest of all conceptions of the human mind should be false; the capacity of the soul of man to form such a conception is a proof of the existence of a great, and good, and intelligent First Cause.

In the sun, the moon, the sky,

On the mountains, wild and high;
In the thunder, in the rain,

In the grove, the wood, the plain;

In the little birds that sing,

God is seen in everything.

The world we inhabit must have had an origin; that origin must have consisted in a cause; that cause must have been intel