has courage in speaking, another in doing; one in the senate, another in the field; according to the gift or ability that either may perceive or imagine in himself. But the same man is not the same always and every where in respect of these kinds of gifts and consequent courage, nor of any other kind indeed. THE FEAR OF GOD IS THE TRUEST COURAGE, as it is said to be the truest wisdom: and the man who fears and obeys Him as he ought, has the most reason to be bold in other respects. "The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion" (Prov. xxviii. 1). A righteous man will be as far as any from several sorts of courage above enumerated; as from rashness in conduct and impudence in conversation, e. g. In the last mentioned part especially he will just have courage enough to disregard the frowns, the winks, the nods, the side looks, and the down looks, with many other weapons of the kind with which he is assailed by foolish emulators; although, considering the invisible presence with which he is surrounded, he has seldom the courage to talk highly with any man in the presence of such superior witnesses. Therefore, upon the whole, it may be said of courage, and of personal qualities generally indeed, as it is of persons, that their quality is best known by their company: and as a man must be a fool to take up with every fool that he meets, sc Courage with Levity Intemperance } will be Rashness. Madness. -2, The property of Anger discovers itself on the side of aversion, though often as it were by constraint and against the predilection of the subject, which is rather for collision. Its different shades and varieties, which are pretty numerous, may, like those of the last mentioned property, be generally reckoned among the little intellectual and nearly brutish constituents of the invisible kingdom; though some of these shades are too closely allied with a vicious intellect to appear in this stage of the property; and of the particulars that might be severally mentioned here it is not worth while to make a distinction, since all are fundamentally the same. But if these shades and varieties of anger generally seem to rest on a brutish foundation, some of them will not however be brutish, as 1, when they are not suffered to continue too long; and 2, when we can so manage as to do nothing under their influence, but what we may approve thereafter, when such influence shall be past. For this were agreeable to Christian precepts, and Christian precepts do not make brutes; as that, "Be ye angry, and sin not" (Eph. iv. 26), e.g. But unrestrained passions, which is a giving of place to the devil (Ib. 27.) will make brutes, or something worse; when all in a house seems clamour and discord-the man wreaking his anger on the partner of his bosom; she hers on their common offspring; the father also on the children; they again on the servants; and these just as freely on the poor cattle: making altogether a very hell upon earth through this house full of demons, the accursed spawn of pride and cowardice; which dare to trample on the weak, but will vanish at the sight of a superior. Thus anger cannot long preserve its neutrality; but must needs degenerate into an evil characteristic, if persevered in, degrading its subject, if an intellectual, at the same time to the condition of a brute or a fiend. Beware, therefore, O intellectual, of whatever degree thou art! "Leave off from wrath, and let go displeasure: fret not thyself, else shalt thou be moved to do evil" (Ps. xxxvii. 8). -3, Surprise, wonder, and astonishment are more of this aversive than of the opposite or appetitive class, though the aversion they denote is not so sensible or striking as its outward expression. For if the feeling of surprise, &c., do not clearly indicate aversion, the natural action consequent thereon, as starting, recoiling, &c., will be expressive enough; unless it should happen to be studiously restrained by the property next mentioned, being -4, Secrecy or concealment, the aversive character of which is every way more decided. For secrecy will con sist in the withholding of information, whether the object to which it relates be general or particular, constant or occasional, and the subject matter of greater or less importance. Indeed some persons have that admirable share of secrecy belonging to them, that they can display it upon any objects, and with matter or information of any importance, or of none, if necessary, as it most frequently happens. There are three essential kinds of secrecy besides some more characteristic; the essential, of which we are thinking, as follows, v. g. the first consisting in manner and disposition, which is reserve; the second, in word or conversation, which is silence or taciturnity; the third in action or deed, which is concealment, or secrecy properly so called. But of the first mentioned, Reserve, it may be questioned almost, whether it do not speak sometimes, and lie too, as before signified, by affecting to conceal what it does not know, "hiding counsel without knowledge" (Job. xlii. 3.) as it is said. And in the next place, if a man knows any thing, he had better, in general, shew his taciturnity by selection than by self restraint: he should not force himself to say little, but rather be careful what he says; first, that he may not abuse the opportunity afforded him of speaking a word in season- " and a word in due season; O, how good is it!" (Prov. xv. 23.); 2, that he may not feel the inconvenience of a word spoken out of season; which is better prevented by caution than remedied by any means. But the times may be so unfortunate, perchance, that a man shall hardly know how to prevent mistakes, or how to say any thing, or whom to confide in: when, as the prophet says, "there is none upright among men the best of them is a brier; the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge. . . . Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide, keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against the mother-in-law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house" (Mic. vii. 2, &c.). .... In such a state of society, and generally indeed, if a man should have the grace to mean good and the happiness to do it, he had best take care, how he mention the same, or suffer it to be known; as our Saviour advises with respect to one sort of beneficence. "When thou doest alms (says he) let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth" (Mat. vi. 3). It may be said with a little circumlocution, Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, for fear it should pick thy pocket: for there are always those about you who will be glad to take advantage of your ostentatious charity, whether by imposture, stealth, or taxation. This may be one argument for secrecy in doing good, and a very prudent one sometimes, no doubt; but the nobler and most proper for a Christian at all times appears in the reason which our Saviour annexes to his forementioned advice, "Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine alms may be in secret: and THY FATHER WHICH SEETH IN SECRET HIMSELF SHALL REWARD THEE OPENLY" (Ib. 4). He will reward thee with the true riches, the heavenly treasure which none but himself can bestow; with the riches of his grace and approbation, and the consequent increase of thy own moral and intellectual worth, which is worth more to thee than any thing. Indeed, it is very evident, how the habit of doing good in secret improves a man's moral character; particularly when done as our Saviour requires, in respect to " Him which seeth in secret". As much worth almost is lost by seeking the praise of men for beneficence, as for fasting, or chivalry, or any other ridiculous exhibition of one's self, or even by a hardened indifference to what others seek, without looking to any farther consequence. But from the time that men begin to consider that secret and inevitable witness, to seek His approbation especially, to make Him the prime or only object of their ambition to please; from that time they begin to acquire a degree of positive worth, and to cover themselves with no ideal glory. And we can be secret enough in the evil that we do, or in that which the world condemns; why not, therefore, likewise in the good which our conscience approves? Secrecy in doing good is as necessary as secrecy in doing evil, and the occasion much more becoming. Indeed, when either is done the less we say of it generally the better: but THERE SECRECY AND LIBERALITY, HERE CONFESSION AND ATONEMENT WILL BE THE BEST ACCOMPANIMENT. Thus too, it appears again, how indifferent properties may be made either good or evil by a choice of objects; as a good secrecy, e. g. with doing good sincerely, for its object; and an evil secrecy with doing evil, for its object; though boasting with evil is worse at last than secrecy. If there had been a name for that excellent property of doing good in secret, or of secrecy in doing good, it could not have been mentioned here: but through the absence of a name merely the same is kept at home; and, like many an useful plant perhaps, but little cultivated for want of being more considered. Absolutely regarded, however, there will be nothing more characteristic in secrecy than in -5, The properties of Avoiding resistance and others of their kind; which denote merely the withdrawing of one's self from any object, or a forcing it off, which amounts to the same point, with more or less violence, whereby the several degrees of such avoidance are marked; as 1, Flying or simply avoiding; 2, Repulse, defence, offence, &c. And by the rule just mentioned, according to what the object avoided is, the subject or avoidance will be: wherefore, the distinction may here be omitted, if only to preserve the indifference, or, as it may be said, the essentiality of the subject. And also with regard to the next shade or degree of the general property of aversion, or next property of the aversive class; -6, Doubt, hesitation, with other essential, and consequently neutral properties of the kind, it is necessary to observe some bounds, in order to avoid that which would make either of them an evil characteristic, being its vice or excess; which must needs be a vice. For were we to doubt |