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Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down: And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them.1-Amos ix. 2, 3.

1

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.2-GAL. vi. 7.

Behold, ye have sinned against the Lord: and be sure your sin will find you out.3-NUMB. xxxii. 23.

In the corrupted currents of this world,
Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice;
And oft 't is seen, the wicked prize, itself
Buys out the law. But 't is not so above:
There is no shuffling, there the action lies
In his true nature; and we ourselves compelled,
Even in the teeth and forehead of our faults,
To give in evidence.-HAMLET. Act III. Scene 3.

Foul deeds will rise,

Though all the earth o'erwhelm them to men's eyes.

HAMLET. Act 1. Scene 2.

1 Ps. cxxxix. 8; Jer. li. 53.

2 Job iv. 8; Prov. xi. 18; Hos. viii. 7.
* Gen. iv. 7; xliv. 16; Is. lix. 12; Prov. xiii. 21.

Time shall unfold what plaited cunning hides.

KING LEAR. Act. I. Scene 1.

Now if these men have defeated the law, and outrun native punishment, though they can outstrip men, they have no wings to fly from God.

KING HENRY V. Act IV. Scene 1.

Can we outrun the heavens ?

KING HENRY VI. (2d part).

Act v. Scene 2.

LVII.

A SINGLE FAULT

SOMETIMES EXTINGUISHES ALL MERIT.

Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour.

ECCLES. x. 1.

Oft it chances in particular men,

That for some vicious mole of nature in them,
As, in their birth (wherein they are not guilty,
Since nature cannot choose her origin);
Or, by the overgrowth of some complexion,

Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason;
Or by some habit that too much o'erleavens
The form of plausive manners;—that these men—
Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect;
Being nature's livery or fortune's star,—
Their virtues else (be they as pure as grace,
As infinite as man may undergo)

Shall, in the general censure, take corruption
From that particular fault; the dram of base
Doth all the noble substance often dout,*
To his own scandal.-HAMLET.

Act I. Scene 4.

LVIII.

THE DANGERS OF IDLENESS.

By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through.-ECCLES. X. 18.

Send him to labour that he be not idle; for idleness teacheth much evil.-ECCLUS. Xxxiii. 27.

Oh, then we bring forth weeds

When our quick minds lie still.

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. Act I. Scene 2.

* Do out.

LIX.

THE ENVY OF THE WICKED.

The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him.1-Ps. xxxvii. 32.

The Scribes and Pharisees watched [Jesus], whether he would heal on the Sabbath-day; that they might find an accusation against him.2-LUKE vi. 7.

Oh, what a world is this, when what is comely
Envenoms him that bears it.

AS YOU LIKE IT. Act II. Scene 3.

LX.

SELF-DELUSION AND SHORTSIGHTEDNESS OF THE WICKED.

They (sinners) lay wait for their own blood: they lurk privily for their own lives.3-PROV. i. 18.

The wicked shall fall by his own wickedness.1

1 Gen. xxxvii. 18-20; xxvii. 41. 3 Matt. xxvii. 3-5.

PROV. xi. 5.

2 Dan. vi. 4.

4 Ps. vii. 15; Ezek. xviii. 27.

So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai.1-ESTHER vii. 10.

His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate.-Ps. vii. 16.

Let his net that he hath hid catch himself; into that very destruction let him fall 2—Ps. xxxv. 8.

Though those that are betrayed

Do feel the treason sharply, yet the traitor

Stands in worse case of woe.

What things are we!

CYMBELINE. Act III. Scene 4.

Merely our own traitors. And as in the common course of all treasons, we still see them reveal themselves, till they attain to their abhorred ends; so he, that contrives against his own nobility, in his proper stream o'erflows himself.

ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL.

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