124 
(sound and wholesome) words and addict 
yourself to the best instructions: for I can 
assure you that the vessel will long retain 
the scent, which, when new, tt had imbibed. 
'— Parvosque docent procumbere natos. 
Thebaid. lib. x. 
«« And teach their little children to adore. 
““See Stockton on Family Instrucuon, 
chap. iv. § 22. p. 287, 288. 
«* Compare I Sam. viii. 8. 
«© V, 13. The slothful man saith, There 
is a lion without, I shall be slain in the 
streets. 
“« See chap. xxvi. 13. 
« V.19—21. That thy trust may bein the 
Lord, I have made known to thee, this day, 
even to thee, &c. 
«« Vide Luke i. t—4._ 1 Pet. iii. 15.” 
«¢ Matthew, Ch. vi. v. 14. For if ye for- 
ive men their trespasses, your heavenly 
Father will also forgive you. 
« Aristotle, Rhetor. ltb. i. cap. ix. § 41. 
Ixys t down asa rule, that a man then ho- 
nours his noble birth, when in proportion to 
the greatness of his extraction, he is sg much 
the more placable (xalarraxlinwlee@) in his 
disposition. 
*¢ And ib. cap. xiv. § 21. almost in the 
very words of this and the following verse, 
makes it a point of virtue, to exercise for- 
giveness towards humanity. 
« }socrates, Panegyr. ed. Op. Steph. p. 49. 
makes it to be one object of the celebrated 
Grecian games, to abolish enmities. Qs:— 
ras EN Spas—diadvea.eves— 
«* Cieero, in his Oration pro Ligario, 
speaks of it to the praise of Cresar, that he 
forgot nothing but injuries: Nihil oblivisci 
soles, nisi injurias. And though we should 
Yook upon this to be mere flattery and com- 
pliment, yet it does not atall the less signify, 
that forgiveness of injuries was held both by 
Cicero and Cesar, to be a very commendable 
and honourable quality. 
** Hpictetus, lib. ii. cap. x. p. 196. sup- 
sing one to ask, May 1 not hurt him that 
te injured me? advises him, in the first 
place, to ask himself, whether he has really 
received any injury or not, and to remember 
what the philosophers say upon this head ; 
and then again, to ask the question, Did 
not this man hurt himself by injuring me? 
How then am | like to fare by returning it? 
Eyw spaviov an BAabw ; And ibid, cap. xxil. 
he makes it a requisite property in one. that 
would cultivate Mentahip with mankind, 
that he should be of a forgiying temper, 
CoyyrapounGe, 
** Maximus Tyrius, has a whole disser- 
tation (ii.) against the revenging of injuries, 
and says, that he who does so, is guilty of a 
greater crime than the first. aggressor (+e 
THEOLOGY AND ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS. 
meovmapExlO. adixnaleeG@), and that the al- 
lowing injuries to be returned opens a door 
to endless quarrels and animosities, illustrat- 
ing the observation by a variety of historical 
facts. 
“<In Dion Cassius, lib. Ixxi. p. 812. ed. 
Hanoy. the emperor Antoninus, 1s made té 
speak of the fonpiyine injury, and the retain= 
ing friendship towards one who had violated 
the laws of friendship, as a conqueror’s 
greatest reward; and if, says he, this should 
be thought incredible, let it be known that 
there are some remains of ancient virtue 
(aexasas mere) amongst us. 
«* /AeJian, in bis Various History. lib. xii. 
cap. xlix. relates the eal” of Phocion, who, 
after having long served his country, was 
adjudged to death ; and when about to drink 
off the fatal cup, being asked by his sur- 
rounding friends, whether he had any thing 
to leave in charge to his son, Only this, 
says he, that he would not revenge upon 
the Athemans this injury done me. ‘The 
historian adds, by way of remark; He that 
does not look upon this man with admira- 
tion, (osis ux emaiver, &e.) appears to me to 
be a man of no sense or discernment what- 
soever; agreeably to the observation of An- 
dronicus Rhodius, in his Paraphrase upon 
the Ethics of Aristotle, lib. iv. cap. v. p. 105. 
ed. Cantab. that to forget and overlook in- 
juries, is the mark of a noble-and a magna- 
nimous mind, pryeroloxyee” 
Tt will appear from these citations, 
and from every page of the work, that 
the writings of the ancient heathens 
were not destitute of excellent moral 
sentiments: and there is indeed scarcely 
a precept in the gospel, to which a si- 
milar precept may not be found in the 
philosophical relics of Greece and Rome. 
But the learned reader well knows that 
these excellencies occur in the midst of 
the most striking and lamentable defects, 
and that these truths, so impressive in 
their detached state, are almost lost in 
the error and absurdity by which they 
are surrounded. ‘The dictates of Chris- 
tian morality appear in far different 
circumstances: in the scriptures of the 
New Testament there is no polluting 
mixture of erroneous sentiment; every 
maxim is founded upon reason and 
truth; no injunction is weakened by 
some neighbouring inconsistency; the 
principles upon which the conduct is 
directed to proceed are the most effica- 
cious that can be formed; and the 
sanctions by which virtue is‘encouraged 
and vice restrainee, the most powerful 
that can be announced. 
. 
