malice and force are joined in the prosecution. Force governs the world, and success consecrates the cause. What avails it, the lamb to have the better cause, if the wolf have the stronger teeth? It is to no purpose to stand reasoning, where the adversary is both party and judge. At Thebes were erected statues of judges having no hands, and the chief of them had his eyes shut; thereby signifying that among them justice was not to be solicited, either with bribery or address. Where there is no law, there is no transgression. He that is not above an injury, is below himself. Fidelity and truth are the foundation of all justice. Magistrates are to obey, as well as execute laws. Power is not to wrong, but to punish the doers of wrong. It breaks the hope of generous inclinations, when they are depressed by servility and ter ror. He that has revenge in his not use it is a great man. power, and does He is the great man that masters his passion when he is stung himself; and pardons when he might destroy. GRATITUDE AND INGRATITUDE. HE that preaches gratitude, pleads the cause both of God and man; for without it we can neither be sociable nor religious. Without gratitude we can never have peace, security, or reputation. Gratitude preserves old friends, and makes new ones. He who conceals a benefit, is to be held but one degree from denying it. Gratitude is a duty none can be excused from, because it is always in our own dispo sal. He that is grateful for profit or fear, is like a woman that is honest only upon the score of reputation. Ingratitude is of all crimes that which we are to account the most venial in others, and the most unpardonable in ourselves. There is this difference betwixt a thankful man and an unthankful; the one is always pleased in the good he has done, and the other only once, in what he has received. He that attends to the present, and remembers what is past, shall never be ungrate◄ ful. Friendship is a medicine for all misfortune; but ingratitude dries up the fountain of all goodness. There is no crime but what has a mixture of ingratitude, it is this which disunites mankind, and breaks the very pillars of society. He that receives a benefit without being thankful, robs the giver of his just reward. He who receives a good turn, should never forget it, he who does one should never rcmember it. It is the character of an unworthy nature, to write injuries in marble, and benefits in dust. It is the glory of gratitude, that it depends only on the will. If I have a will to be grateful, says Seneca, I am so. He that is thankful for a little, has enough, he who complains has too much. Ungrateful minds feed on calumny and slander, as contemptible flies feed on carrion. The pure design of benevolence is to bestow happiness on others; but its intrinsic re ward is bringing happiness home. |