sacrifices may be the forerunners of that universal sacrifice, in which all nature shall be consummated by the power of Jesus Christ,

Thus shall we derive advantage from our own imperfections, when they furnish the matter for this whole-burnt-offering. It is the object of real Christians to profit by their own imperfections, for all things work together for good to the elect. Rom. viii. 28.

And if we look at these things closely, and consider them as they really are, we shall find in them great helps to our edification. For as it is certain, that the death of the body is only the image of that of the soul, and as we build on this principle, that we have reason to hope for the salvation of those whose death we lament, if we are not able to stop the course of our sadness and grief, we ought to draw this benefit from it, that since the death of the body is so terrible as to produce in us such emotions, the death of the soul would make us far more inconsolable. God has sent the first to those for whom we mourn; but we hope that he has rescued them from the second. Let us contemplate the greatness of our happiness, in the greatness of our misery; and let the excess of our grief be the measure of our joy.

One of the most solid and useful charities we

they would desire of us, were they still in the world; and to put ourselves, for their sakes, into that condition which they now wish us to be in.

By this means we shall make them, in some sort, revive in ourselves, while their counsels and instructions are still living and acting in

us.

And, as the authors of heresies are punished in another life, for the sinful practices in which they have engaged their followers, in whom their poison is still kept alive, so the dead are recompensed not only for their own virtues, but for those to which they have given rise by their counsels, and their example.

Man is, most certainly, too weak to judge justly of the course of future events. Let us hope then in God, and not weary ourselves with rash and indiscreet apprehensions. Let us commit ourselves to Him for the conduct of our lives: and let not grief have the dominion

over us.

St. Austin observes, that there is in every man, a Serpent, an Eve, and an Adam. Our senses and natural affections are the serpent; our concupiscence is the Eve; and the Adam is

our reason.

Nature tempts us continually; concupiscence is for ever craving; but sin is not complete, unless reason assent to it.

Let us then leave this serpent and this Eve, if we cannot entirely expel them; but let us pray that God by his grace will so fortify our Adam, that he may become victorious, and that Jesus Christ may be the conqueror over him, and may reign in us to all eternity.

THE

XXXI.

MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS.

HE more discernment a man possesses, the more originals he will discover among mankind. People in common do not see this difference between men.

A man may have good sense, and yet not be able to apply it alike to all subjects: for there are those who judge correctly in a certain order of things, and yet are quite confounded in others. Some draw consequences well from a few principles; others draw consequences as correctly from things in which there are many principles. Some, for instance, thoroughly understand the effects of water, in which there are but few

fine as not to be reached without great penetration. Yet these persons would perhaps be no extraordinary geometricians: because geometry includes a great number of principles; and the nature of a man's mind may be such, as to penetrate with ease to the bottom of a few principles, and yet not to dive into things where the principles are very numerous.

There are therefore two sorts of intellects; the one, capable of penetrating quickly and deeply into the consequences of principles; and this is the genius for accuracy: the other is able to comprehend a great number of principles without confounding them; and this is the genius for geometry. One is strength and exactness of mind, the other is extensiveness of mind. And one of these may exist without the other : for the mind may be strong, and yet contracted or it may have a great reach, with but little strength.

There is a wide difference between a genius for geometry, and a genius for business. In the former the principles are palpable, but so far from ordinary use, that a man finds it difficult to turn his head that way, for want of practice; but if he does attend to them, though it be ever so little, he sees them in all their evidence, and must have a very distorted judgment if he draws wrong inferences from principles which are too gross to be mistaken.

But in business, the principles are in common use, and are obvious to all the world. There is no need here to turn the head, or to do ourselves any violence. The only thing wanting is a clear sight. But then it must be clear, because the principles are so unconnected and so numerous, that it is hardly possible but some of them should escape us. Now the omission of any one principle will lead us into error. So that the discernment must be very exact, to comprehend all the principles, and the mind must likewise be just, not to reason falsely from the principles when they are known.

All geometricians would, therefore, be men of business, if they were clear-sighted; for they do not reason falsely on the principles which they know. And men of business would be geometricians, if they could once turn their minds to the unaccustomed principles of geometry.

The reason then, why some very able persons are not geometricians, is, because they cannot turn their minds to the principles of geometry: but the reason that geometricians are not men of business, is, because they do not see that which lies before them. For being accustomed to the clear and obvious principles of geometry, and to reason only after having clearly discerned and arranged their principles, they lose themselves in matters of business, the principles of