Aid thyself and God will aid thee.

Who needs not shall never lack a friend.

One day while Solon was composing his laws he was ridiculed for his trouble. "Writings can never restrain men," said the objector, "they are spiders' webs which catch only flies." "Men," the philosopher replied, “readily observe that which they are agreed on, and I frame my laws in such a manner that the citizens will know it is to their advantage to keep rather than to break them."

BEAUTY.

God hath made everything beautiful in its season. Ecclesiastes, iii. 11.

The beautiful, the beautiful!
Where do we find it not?
It is an all pervading grace,
And lighteth every spot.

It sparkles on the ocean wave,
It glitters in the dew,
We see it in the glorious sky,
And in the floweret's hue.

On mountain top, in valley deep,

We find its presence there;

The beautiful, the beautiful!
It liveth every where.

The glories of the noon-tide day,

The still and solemn night,

The charming seasons-all can bring
Their tribute of delight.

There's beauty in the dancing beam
That brightens childhood's eye,
And in the Christian's parting glance,
Whose hope is fixed on high.

And in the being whom our love
Hath chosen for its own,
How beautiful! how beautiful
Is every look and tone.

'Twas in that glance that God threw o'er The young created Earth, When he pronounced it "very good,"

The beautiful had birth.

Then who shall say this world is dull,
And all to sadness given,

While yet there lives on every side,
The smile that came from heaven?

If so much loveliness is sent
To grace our earthly home,
How beautiful! how beautiful
Will be the world to come.

BENEFITS.

To do good and communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Heb. xiii. 16.

Benefit is the end of nature.

But for every benefit you

receive a tax is levied. He is great who confers the most benefits at the smallest pain. He is least who receives favours and gives none.

We are born to do benefits.

What is yours to bestow is not yours to reserve.

I gaze upon the thousand stars
That fill the midnight sky;
And wish-so passionately wish
A light like theirs on high.
I have such eagerness of hope
To benefit my kind;

I feel as if immortal power
Were given to my mind.

THE BIBLE.

Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Rom. xv. 4.

Whence but from heaven could men unskilled in arts,

In several ages born, in several parts,

Weave such agreeing truths? or how, or why,
Should all conspire to cheat us with a lie!
Unasked their pains, ungrateful their advice,
Starving their gain and martyrdom their price.

Thou truest friend man ever knew,
Thy constancy I've tried;

When all were false I found thee true,
My counsellor and guide.

The mines of earth no treasures give

That could this volume buy;

In teaching me the way to live,
It taught me how to die.

BLINDNESS.

Every one that doeth evil hateth the light.

The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind.

John, iii. 20.

Psalm cxlvi. 8.

He (God) hath sent me (Christ) to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind. Luke, iv. 18.

None so blind as they who will not see.

Light is light, though the blind see it not.

A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages.

There is a poor blind man who every day,

In summer sunshine, or in winter's rain, Daily as tolls the bell, to the high fane Explores with faltering footsteps, his dark way, To kneel before his Maker, and to hear

The chanted service pealing full and clear.

Ask why alone in the same spot he kneels

Through the long year? Oh! the wide world is cold, As dark to him; here he no longer feels

His sad bereavement-Faith and Hope uphold
His heart-he feels not he is poor and blind,
Amid the unpitying tumult of mankind;

As thro' the aisles the choral anthems roll,
His soul is in the choirs above the skies,
And songs, far off, of angel companies.
Oh! happy if the rich, the vain, the proud,—
The plumed actors in life's motley crowd,—
Since pride is dust, and life itself a span,—
Would learn one lesson from a poor blind man.

BORROWING.

The borrower is servant to the lender. Prot. xxii. 7.

The borrower runs in his own debt.

You had better break your own bones, than ride in your neighbour's coach.

BROTHERHOOD.

Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother. Matt. xii. 50.

Love the brotherhood. 1 Pet. ii. 17.

Oh! if the thought be beautiful, if it be wise and kind,

To weave the bond of brotherhood, the whole wide world to bind,