156 EARLY RISING, EARNESTNESS. 268. EARLY RISING. Franklin. Early to bed, and early to rise, Makes men healthy, wealthy, and wise. Plough deep, while sluggards sleep, And you shall have corn to sell and keep. Varle. If you are an early riser, you will find time for everything. Nor is the mere saving of time the only advantage; our spirits are more lively, and our faculties more awake. Doddridge. The difference between rising at five and seven o'clock in the morning, for the space of forty years, supposing a man to go to bed at the same hour at night, is nearly equivalent to the addition of ten years to a man's life. 269. EARNESTNESS. We should always be in earnest, because our work is great, and life short and decisive. Therefore, "whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." An earnest speaker makes attentive hearers. Ed. The man Christ Jesus excelled all others in earnestness. At twelve, his earnest inquiries in the temple astonished the learned doctors, and by his ardent studies he soon astonished his hearers by his knowledge of letters. He so earnestly preached the Gospel that he drew and held an audience of several thousands -so fervently prayed, that he sweat as it were drops of blood-so earnestly reproved evil doers, that they conspired his death so earnestly sought the purity of religious institutions, that he made a scourge of cords, and used it in clearing the temple of intruders-and so earnestly conversed and expounded Scripture, and preached, his disciples caught his spirit, and the world took knowledge "they had been with Jesus." He always had something very important to do, and performed it with the zeal and earnestness demanded. Spring. Christ possessed an intensity of character as far above other men as his active benevolence was above theirs. His object engrossed all his faculties, and stirred up the very depths of his soul. The love of doing good was a flame perpetually burning in his bosom with intense radiance. All his EARTH, EATING, ECONOMY. 157 thoughts, all his life, were at the bidding of this high impulse. The world thought him a madman. He stood alone, and men wondered at him. So intent, so dominant was his purpose, that he made the first and last end of his existence to labor for God and man. Young. Ib. 270. EARTH. A part how small of the terraqueous globe Rocks, deserts, frozen seas, and burning sands; Lean not on earth; 'twill pierce thee to the heart; On its sharp point peace bleeds, and hope expires. Ed. This earth has been honored as the birth-place and theatre of the human race, where innumerable probationers have been raised up and fitted for the amazing destinies of eternity -as the place of Divine mercies and judgments, great and astonishing, and changes the most marvellous; as the missionary field for angels, and especially as the temporary abode of the Son of God, and theatre of the great work of redemption. It will also yet be the theatre of "the battle of that great day of God Almighty," which will give a conquered and regenerated earth to "the people of the saints of the Most High God," for at least a thousand years; when this earth will eclipse the glory of Solomon, and also the theatre of the final resurrection and conflagration. Let no one, therefore, despise his mother-earth, that is destined to afford us ample reminiscences for the reflections of eternity. 271. EATING. An empty belly has no ears nor fears. Never think about eating till the bell rings. Randolph. The philosopher's stone is, to pay as you go. Adventurer. Economy is the parent of integrity, of liberty, 158 EDUCATION, INVALUABLE. and of ease; and the beauteous sister of temperance, of cheerfulness, and of health; while profusion gradually involves her followers in dependence and debt. Zimmermann. Take care to be an economist in prosperity; there is no fear of your not being one in adversity. Franklin. A penny saved is a penny got. Ib. If you would have a faithful servant, and one that you like, serve yourself. Build your house to live in, not to look at. Ed. If you wish to economize in living, pay down for everything. [See 259, 375.] 273. EDUCATION. Burke. Education is the cheap defence of nations. Sprat. The mind that is perverted by false knowledge, or made crooked by deceitful prejudices, must not only be taught, but first untaught; and to unteach is a more difficult work than to teach. Edwards (Tryon). The great end of education is, to discipline rather than to furnish the mind; to train it to the use of its own powers, rather than fill it with the accumulations of others. Lavater. It is the depth of study, not the extent of it, that gives intellectual power. Education polishes good dispositions, and corrects bad ones. Em. The noblest powers of nature stand in need of the nurturing hand of education. The uninstructed mind resembles the unpolished diamond. [See 514, 527, 544.] 274. EDUCATION INVALUABLE. Dr. Cooper. Neither piety, virtue, nor liberty can long flourish in a community, where the education of youth is neglected. How much do we owe to the care of our venerable ancestors in this respect! Had not they laid such foundations for training up their children in knowledge and religion, should we have understood our rights so clearly? or valued them so highly? or defended them with such advantage? Or should we have been prepared to lay that basis of liberty; that happy constitution, on which we raise such large hopes? EDUCATION, HOW OBTAINED. 159 Varle. Education is a companion which no misfortune can depress - no crime destroy -no enemy alienate no despotism enslave. At home, a friend; abroad, an introduction; in solitude, a solace; and in society, an ornament. Without it, what is man ? a splendid slave, a reasoning savage. Cass. The value of education depends far less upon varied and extensive acquirements, than upon the cultivation of just powers of thought. It is not the quantity of knowledge, but the capacity to apply it, which promises success. To use a phrase from an old writer, it is the 'concoction of reading into judgment,' which is the golden rule of education. Exercise is not more necessary to the body, than is the employment of the various faculties of the mind to mental efficiency. A good education is the best inheritance. It gives parents an inheritance in their children, if none for them. 275. EDUCATION, HOW OBTAINED. Johnson. When a king asked Euclid, the mathematician, whether he could not explain his art to him in a more compendious manner? he was answered, that there was no royal way to geometry. Other things may be seized by might, or purchased with money; but knowledge is to be gained only by study, and study to be prosecuted only in retirement. The education, moral and intellectual, of every individual, must be chiefly his own work. Solomon. Through desire, a man having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom. Cowper. 276. EDUCATION, JUVENILE. Our most important are our earliest years. The mind, impressible and soft, with ease Imbibes and copies what she hears and sees, And through life's labyrinth holds fast the clew That education gives her, false or true. Pope. 'Tis education forms the common mind; Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined. Children, like tender osiers, take the bow, And as they first are fashioned, always grow. 160 EDUCATION, JUVENILE. Wordsworth. The child is father of the man. Agesilaus, king of Sparta, being asked, what things he thought most proper for boys to learn, answered, "Those which they ought to practise when they come to be men." Solomon. Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Em. Do n't despair of a pupil, if he has one clear idea. Ib. Parents have the first and easiest access to their children, while their minds are susceptible of the deepest impressions. They are, therefore, under the strongest obligations, to give their children a virtuous and pious education. They ought, in season, to teach them the knowledge of God, the nature of true and false religion, the beauty of virtue, and the deformity of vice, and enforce these instructions by a good example. Instruct your son well, or others will instruct him ill. No child goes untaught. Send him to the school of wisdom, or he will go of himself to the rival academy of dissipation. There is always instruction being given and received of some sort, as in the fields, where vegetation is never idle. Parents who would train up their children in the way they should go, must go in it themselves. N. Y. Observer. We must look the subject of education by the State, fairly and firmly in the face. It is daily assuming an aspect of serious interest, and the time has come, when every citizen should be apprized of its bearings. The Constitution of this State [New York] forbids the appropriation of the public money for the inculcation of any sectarian views, and in various districts, in city and country, the work is in progress to confine the instruction of the school-room to the single matter of intellectual instruction. Examine many school books now in the way of introduction in this and other States, and it will be seen that they are made to meet the demands of this advancing spirit. If there can be a system of morality without the sanction of the word of God for its basis, we will not deny these books their claim to morality. But, for ourselves, we reject |