PLAGIARISM, PLEASURES SENSUAL.

399

to form an empire in the West. God suffered it, nay, he raised up the intolerant Stuart, as he raised up Pharaoh, to do this work, that he might make of these chosen exiles a great people on this continent, as in another Canaan. [See 428, 639, 774.] 697. PLAGIARISM.

Toplady. Keep your hands from literary picking and stealing. But if you cannot refrain from this kind of stealth, abstain from murdering what you steal.

A young preacher once read a discourse to father Moody, and solicited remarks. The father replied, "Your sermon is a very good one, but you have selected the wrong text for your subject. You should have taken the -Alas! master, passage for it was borrowed.""

698. PLEASURES SENSUAL.

Cowper. Pleasure is deaf, when told of future pain.

Our pleasures, for the most part, are short, false, and deceitful. Like drunkenness, they revenge the jolly madness of one hour, with the sad repentance of many.

Spring. The spirit of the world is the spirit of self-indulgence. The men of the world are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. They are eager for enjoyment, and find it in dissipation of thought, of feeling, and of deportment. Lawless pleasure, in all its forms of novelty and excess, notwithstanding its shame, its infamy, its ruin, is the idol of their hearts and the law of their existence.

Sh.

ль.

Violent delights have violent ends,
And in their triumph die; like fire and powder,

Which, as they kiss, consume: The sweetest honey
Is loathsome in his own deliciousness,

And in the taste confounds the appetite.

Pleasure and revenge

Have ears more deaf than adders to the voice

Of any true decision.

Burns. Pleasures are like poppies spread,

You seize the flower, its bloom is shed;
Or like the snow-falls in the river,

A moment white-then melts forever;

400

PLEASURES, PLENTY, POETS.

Or like the borealis' race,

That flits ere you can point their place;

Or like the rainbow's lovely form,

Evanishing amid the storm.

Ed. Pleasure is seldom found, when sought as an end, or where it is most eagerly sought. It was designed as a reward, not as an end.

699. PLEASURES, INTELLECTUAL.

Eaton. The process of reasoning, and the steady progress of the understanding towards a logical conclusion, awakens a most pleasurable interest; and when the clear and demonstrative conclusion is arrived at, the interest frequently rises into a joyous excitement.

Ed. Intellectual pleasures are not only more refined, and more numerous and diversified than sensual delights, — but like knowledge, are capable of endless progress in degree and perfection. It is for this reason, that mere sensual pleasures are so little esteemed in heavenly places. Mohammed's imaginary paradise would appear perfectly despicable to those who have tasted the pure, intellectual, and cordial happiness of heaven.

Graham, S. Our benevolent Creator has endowed us with peculiar powers, and set no bounds to our intellectual and moral acquisitions; and by all these great bestowments, he calls us to the cultivation of our higher capabilities, and has placed around us elevated motives to lead us onward and upward in a course of intellectual and moral greatness, virtue, and glory.

700. PLENTY.

Johnson. Plenty is the original cause of many of our needs. Ezek. 16: 49. This was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness.

701. PLOTS, PLOTTING.

Men are never more easily deceived, than when plotting to deceive and injure others. Hence counter-plots, like that of Hushai the Archite, often succeed. [See 208.]

702. POETS, POETRY.

Cowper. There is pleasure in poetic pains,

Which only poets know. The shifts and turns,

POLICY, POLITENESS.

Th' expedients, and inventions, multiform,
To which the mind resorts, in chace of terms,
Though apt, yet coy, and difficult to win
T'arrest the fleeting images, that fill

The mirror of the mind, and hold them fast,
And force them sit, till he has pencill'd off
A faithful likeness of the forms he views;
Then to dispose his copies with such art,
That each may find his most propitious light,
And shine by situation, hardly less
Than by the labor and the skill it cost,
Are occupations of the poet's mind

So pleasing, and that steal away the thought,
That, lost in his own musings, happy man.

401

Dr. Watts, when a child, early formed the habit of making rhymes on almost all occasions; and his father, fearing it would prove injurious to him, threatened to chastise him if he did not cease rhyming. The son instantly and pleasantly added, "Dear father, do some pity take,

And I will no more verses make."

703. POLICY.

Honesty is the best policy.

Ed. Policy succeeds best, with ample force in reserve. Ib. The policy of leaving the stern doctrines and pinching duties of the Gospel out of sermons, strict morals out of religion, reproof out of friendship, discipline out of the churches, learning out of education, evidence out of conclusions, and system out of order, is much more popular than profitable in the end.

Ib. Christian policy - doing right towards the wrong, acting wisely towards the unwise, and kindly towards the unkind. [See 766.]

704. POLITENESS, ETIQUETTE.

Chesterfield. A man's fortune is frequently decided by his first address. If pleasing, others at once conclude he has merit, but if ungraceful, they decide against him.

Ib. Good breeding is the result of much good sense, some good nature, and a little self-denial for the sake of others.

Politeness is the benevolence of trifles; or the preference of others to ourselves, in little occurrences in the commerce of life.

True politeness springs from the heart.

Great talent and success renders a man famous; great merit procures respect; great learning, veneration; but politeness alone ensures love and affection.

An accomplished man will shine more than a man of mere knowledge; as polished brass has more lustre than unpolished gold.

Politeness is the medium between ceremony and rudeness. Witherspoon. Politeness is real kindness, kindly expressed. Ed. Then kind and faithful reproof is a very prominent feature of it.

Politeness is like an air-cushion. There may be nothing in it, but it eases our jolts wonderfully.

Cumberland. The happy gift of being agreeable seems to consist not in one, but in an assemblage of talents tending to communicate delight; and how many are there, who, by easy manners, sweetness of temper, and a variety of other undefinable qualities, possess the power of pleasing without any visible effort, without the aids of wit, wisdom, or learning, nay, as it should seem, in their defiance; and this without appearing even to know that they possess it.

Steele. Wisdom, valor, justice, and learning, cannot keep a man in countenance that is possessed with these excellences, if he wants that inferior art of life and behavior, called good breeding.

Ib. A man endowed with great perfections, without goodbreeding, is like one who has his pockets full of gold, but always wants change for his ordinary occasions. [See 562.]

705. POLITICAL MAXIMS.

Absolute despotism may prevail in a state, and yet the form of a free constitution remain.

Preistley. No people were ever better than their laws, though many have been worse.

POLITICAL INTEGRITY, POLITICAL RESTRAINT.

403

Montesque. A nation may lose its liberties in a day, and not miss them in a century.

Dr. Sprague. In the same proportion that ignorance and vice prevail in a republic, will the government partake of despotism.

A mercantile deputation from Bordeaux, being asked by Louis XIV. what should be done to advance their interests, replied, Sire, let us alone.

Coleridge. The three great ends for a statesman are, security to possessors, facility to acquirers, and liberty and hope to all. [See 400, 683.]

706. POLITICAL INTEGRITY.

Em. Daniel found wisdom and integrity abundantly sufficient to answer all his political purposes, without ever stooping to the low arts of intrigue. While he presided over a hundred and twenty princes, he clearly and sensibly perceived the nature and tendency of that diabolical policy which they employed to take away his life. But he opposed honesty to dishonesty; justice to injustice; wisdom to cunning; and open integrity to all their dark and deep designs. Nor did he fail of confounding their counsels, and of turning their own artful and malicious devices to their own destruction. Truly wise and upright politicians will never find occasion to employ any other weapon than perfect integrity, in order to defeat the pernicious purposes of their most subtile and malignant enemies, whether at home or abroad. Daniel found, by happy experience, that honesty was the best policy. His faithfulness to the Deity secured his favor and assistance; and his fidelity to men secured their sincere and warm attachment to his person and interest. As he constantly persevered and increased in integrity, so he constantly increased in wealth, in honor, and outward prosperity. Let who would fall, Daniel stood. Let who would sink, Daniel rose. Let who would be in power, Daniel was their favorite. Let who would combine against him, Daniel always succeeded and prospered. 707. POLITICAL RESTRAINT RESISTED.

Em. There is a natural propensity in mankind to oppose law and religion; and therefore their eyes, and ears, and hearts are