will. He belongs to whatever can seize him; and innumerable things do actually verify their claim on him, and arrest him as he tries to go along, as twigs and chips floating near the edge of a river are intercepted by every weed and whirled into every little eddy. Having concluded on a design, he may pledge himself to accomplish it, if the five hundred diversities of feeling, which may come within the week, will let him.

On the contrary, a man of decisive character, cannot bear to sit still among uncreated decisions and unattempted projects. We wait to hear of his achievements, and are confident we shall not wait long. The possibility, or the means may not be obvious to us, but we know that every thing will be attempted, and that such a mind is like a river, which in whatever manner it is obstructed, will make its way somewhere. It must have cost Cæsar many anxious hours of deliberation, before he decided to pass the Rubicon, but it is probable he suffered but few hours to elapse after his decision, before he did pass it.

One signal advantage possessed by a mind of this character, is, that its passions are not wasted. The whole measure of passion of which any mind, with important transactions before it, is capable, is not more than enough to supply interest and energy to its practical exertions. As little as possible, therefore, should be expended in a way, that does not augment the force of action.

LESSON LX.

Courage essential to Decision of Character.-Foster.

A man possessed of a decisive character, says, with a sober consciousness as remote from a spirit of bravado as it is from timidity-"thus and thus is my conviction, and my determination. Now for the phantoms of fear. Let me see them in the face. They will find I am not made of trembling materials. I dare do all that may become a man; I shall firmly confront every thing that threatens me in the prosecution of my purpose, and I am

Will, power of the mind, determining faculty.
-Verify, show the truth of, make good.

Arrest,, seize, lay hold of, a law term.
-Intercepted, stopped, recalled, obstructed.
-Whirled, carried violently, slung, moved circularly.
Five hundred, a definite number for an indefinite.
Diversities, varieties, kinds, changes.

-Let, hinder, prevent, permit, suffer, stop, allow.
On the contrary, to take an opposite view of the sub-
»ject.

Unexecuted, undone, unaccomplished, unfinished.
Projects, designs, attempts, objects, calculations.
.Achievements, åt-tshève' mênts, deeds, exploits, ac-
tions.

-Confident, not diffident, bold, assured, convinced.
Obvious, plain, clear, not difficult, in the way.
Obstructed, impeded, stopped, hindered.
Make its way, force a passage, cut a channel.
Cæsar. Give some account of Cæsar.

Anxious, troubled, solicitous, painful.

See app.

Rubicon, a small river of Italy. By crossing it Cæ-
sar began a civil war.

Elapse, glide by, pass along. Whence the allusion?
.Advantage, åd-vân' tådje.

-Passions, anger, emotions, feelings, state of mind,
love.

Is decision of character a desirable quality ?

What are some of its advantages?

Is decision of mind in a wicked man desirable?

Courage. What do you understand by courage?
-Possessed of, inheriting, having of, owning.
.Consciousness, self-knowledge, internal sense.
Bravado, boasting, foolish exultation, glorying.
Timidity, fearfulness, bashfulness, improper fear,
trembling.

Phantoms, scarecrows, images, apparitions, ghosts.
Dare do, ready to undertake, not afraid to engage in.
May become, is proper for, is lawful for, is expedient.
Confront, meet, engage with, boldly stand up against.
Prosecution, execution, suit in law for debt or damage.

prepared to meet the consequences of it, when it is accomplished. I should despise a being, though it were myself, who could be held enslaved by the gloomy shapes of imagination, by the haunting recollections of a dream, by the whistling or howling of winds, by the shrieks of owls, by the shades of midnight, or by human words or frowns."

In almost all plans of great enterprise, a man must systematically dismiss, at the entrance, every wish to stipulate for safety with his destiny. He voluntarily treads within the precincts of danger, and though it is possible that he may escape, he ought to be prepared with the fortitude of a victim. This is the inevitable condition on which heroes, travellers, or missionaries among savage nations, and reformers on a grand scale, must commence their career. Either they must allay their fire of enterprise, or they must hold themselves in readiness to be exploded by it from the world.

The last decisive energy of a rational courage which confides in the Supreme Power, is very sublime. It makes a man, who intrepidly dares every thing, that can attack or oppose him within the whole sphere of mortality; who would retain his purpose unshaken amid the ruins of the world; who will still press towards his object, while death is impending over him. It was in the true elevation of this character that Luther, when cited to appear at the diet of Worms, under an assurance of safety from very high authority, said to his friends, who conjured him not to go, and justly brought the example of John Huss, who in a similar situation and under a similar pledge of protection, had, notwithstanding, been burnt alive. "I am called in the name of God to go, and I would go, though I were certain to meet as many fiends in Worms as there are tiles on the houses." A reader of the bible will not forget Daniel, braving in calm devotion, the decree which consigned him to the den of lions; or Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, saying to the tyrant, "We are not careful to answer thee in this matter," when the furnace was in sight.

Held enslaved, kept under, held in subjection.
Shapes, forms, phantoms, appearances, vain images.
Haunting, hånt' ing, following, closely pursuing.
When are the winds said to whistle? Why are they
said to howl?

Shriek, shreek, sudden cry.

Frowns, froůns, angry looks, fierce countenance. -Shades, place of the dead, shadows, disembodied spirits.

Entrance, onset, beginning, commencement.

.Precincts, prè' singkts, outward limits, boundaries. Victim, sacrifice, martyr.

Inevitable, unavoidable, thing that cannot be shunned.
-Missionaries, persons sent, heralds of the Gospel.
Allay, soften down, moderate.

Why are excited feelings compared to fire ?
Exploded, carried off suddenly, blown up.
Rational, rásh' ůn-ål, reasonable.

Enterprise, arduous attempt, to undertake.
Supreme Power, Almighty Being.
Makes a man, forms a character.

-Sphere, sfère, globe, circumference, limits.
Ruins, desolations, convulsions.

Luther. Give some account of him.

See app.

Worms, a town in Germany, where met a famous council.

-Diet, an assembly of men, food, regimen.

-Conjured, acted the parts of conjurers, entreated.

John Huss.

Relate some facts about him. See app. Burnt alive, suffered at the stake, perished in the flames.

Tiles, thin plates of baked clay used to cover houses. What spirit did this answer of Luther show?

Daniel. Give some account of him.

Decree, statute, sentence, edict.

Dan. VI.

Who put Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the furnace ?

Tyrant, oppressive king. Who is meant ? Dan. II.

1-30.

Abednego, A-bed ne-gỗ,

Furnace, für' nis, an enclosed fire-place. How many times heated ?

LESSON LXI.

Influence of Homer's Ihad.-WAyland.

The Iliad of Homer is a work, the adamantine basis of whose reputation, has stood unhurt amid the fluctuations of time, and whose impression can be traced through successive centuries on the history of our species. Who can estimate the result produced by this incomparable effort of a single mind; who can tell what Greece owes to this first-born of song! Her breathing marbles, her solemn temples, her unrivalled eloquence, and her matchless verse, all point us to that transcendent genius, who by the very splendor of his own effulgence woke the human intellect from the slumber of ages. It was Homer, who gave laws to the artist; it was Homer, who inspired the poet; it was Homer, who thundered in the senate; and more than all, it was Homer who was sung by the people; and hence a nation was cast into the mould of one mighty mind, and the land of the Iliad became the region of taste, the birth place of the arts, Nor was this influence confined within the limits of Greece.

Long after the sceptre of empire had passed westward, genius still held her court on the banks of the Ilyssus, and from the country of Homer gave laws to the world. The light, which the blind old man of Scio had kindled in Greece, shed its radiance over Italy; and thus did he awaken a second nation to intellectual existence. And we may form some idea of the power which this one work has to the present day exerted over the mind of man, by remarking, "that nation after nation, and century after century, has been able to do little more than transpose his incidents, new name his characters, and paraphrase his sentiments."

But considered simply as an intellectual production, who will compare the poems of Homer with the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Where in the Iliad shall we find simplicity and pathos, which will vie with the narrative of Moses, or maxims of conduct to equal in wisdom the Proverbs of Solomon, or sublimity, which does not fade away before the concep tions of Job, or David, of Isaiah, or St. John. But I