Puslapio vaizdai
PDF
„ePub“

IV.

Remember that thou keep holy the fabbath-day. Six days fhalt thou labor and do all that thou haft to do; but the feventh day is the fabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou fhalt do no manner of work, thou, and thy fon, and thy daughter; thy man-servant and thy maid-servant, thy cattle and the stranger that is within thy gates. For in fix days the Lord made heaven and earth, the fea, and all that in them is, and refted the feventh day: wherefore the Lord bleffed the feventh day, and hallowed it.

ง.

Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

[blocks in formation]

X.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou fhalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his fervant, nor his maid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is his.

These are the commandments of God himself, firft delivered to Mofes, the great leader and lawgiver of the Jews, and afterwards repeated by Jefus Chrift, as our law-giver and guide; if you obey them you may be fure of happiness; if you disobey them you will as certainly be punished. Thus life and death, heaven and hell are fet before you.-The earlier you begin to confider what you are about, the better; and do not imagine you need only to repeat the words, but think yourself bound to attend to them, to have them always in your head, and in your heart; to delight in obedience to them, and to perish rather than offend the Author of them, even the great Lord of heaven and earth.

4. Danger of Lying, and the great Advantages of Truth.

I have hated,' fays Solomon,

many things, but nothing like a falfe man, for the Lord will

• hate him

• The

The lip of truth shall be established for ever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment.

A thief is better than a man that is accustomed. to lie, but they both shall have destruction to he⚫ritage.'

Prove to your mafter, and to all others, that you have a foul worthy the name of a Briton, by daring to tell the truth, though you condemn yourfelf: It is thus you may be fure every one will love, and respect, and promote you.

The birds will refort unto their like, fo will • truth return unto them that practise in her.

Keep thy word, and deal faithfully, and thou fhalt always find the thing that is neceffary for < thee.'

Above all things, my good lad, avoid lies, and all kinds of falsehood and evafion. Lying is a vice which now walks abroad with most gigantic ftrides, and lays waste the virtue of the common people of the land. Heaven knows what will be the confequence. Every wife man, as I have faid, learns to hold his tongue when it is not proper he fhould speak but when he is confcious that another has a right to question him, then to lye or to deceive is practifing in the works of the devil, who is the father of lyes: therefore as you value the falvation of your own foul, cherish the love of truth: be affured fhe

:

[blocks in formation]

will return into your own bofom, and will repay you amply for all your respect to her. In the moft chearful hours of life, or on the day when death fhall hold up his dart, fhe will comfort and support you. God is truth, and he that loveth truth, loveth God; and he who loveth God, will furely be beloved of him: and the man that is beloved of God, must be happy, whatever his condition be on earth.

Exercise yourself therefore in this confideration, and whether in labor or in reft, with a ploughfhear, a fhuttle, or an ax in your hand, discharge your duty as a brave man ought; and defy the world, the flesh, and the devil. This is the natural effects of the love of truth; fo delightful are her charms, fo pregnant with good to all the children of men.

5. Prudence.

Prudence is but another word for wisdom, and the darling child of truth. It is neceffary in every part of life. It is the faithful friend and fincere lover of truth. To avoid falfhood and deceit, and to be cautious what you do and fay, is prudence.

The heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the

• mouth of the wife is in his heart.'

Such is the force of caution in regard to what you fay, that even a fool when he holds his peace,

is counted wife: and he that fhutteth his lips, is efteemed a man of understanding.'—And,

• The words of a wife man's mouth are gracious, but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself.'

;

A liar, a tale-bearer, or a mischief-maker, is an enemy to himself, and to all mankind: he endevors to deceive every one, and every one defpifes him the best which can happen to him is to be severely punished by those who have any hopes of his amendment.

6. Danger of Strong Drink.

He that gets drunk with liquor is no longer a master of his actions.

Of all the pleasures of a man, or a chriftian, that furely is the greatest which confifts in the entire poffeffion of his own foul, to think or do whatever is right; and this pleasure can be the reward only of temperance and fobriety. This will make you delight in your duty, and live comfortably it is this will make you esteemed as a good man and a good friend, whereas a drunken man in his actions, much more in his words, all prudence and felf-government forfake him.

Beware, I fay, of strong drink-many mighty men have been laid low by it. Drunkennefs, fays Solomon, increaseth the rage of a fool till he offend it di• minishes

« AnkstesnisTęsti »