rity, like the sun, brightens all its objects. Gentleness is,
in truth, the great avenue to mutual enjoyment. You, too, have your
failings. Humility and knowledge, with poor apparel, excel pride and
ignorance, under costly attire. The best men often experience
disappointments. Advice should be seasonably administered. No assumed
behavior can always hide the real character.

RULE 4. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.
Continue, my dear child, to make virtue thy chief study. Canst thou
expect, thou betrayer of innocence, to escape the hand of vengeance?
Death, the king of terrors, chose a prime minister. Hope, the balm of
life, sooths us under every misfortune. Confucius, the great Chinese
philosopher, was eminently good, as well as wise. The patriarch Joseph
is an illustrious example of true piety.

RULE 5. Peace of mind being secured, we may smile at misfortune. To
enjoy present pleasure, he sacrificed his future ease and reputation.
His talents, formed for great enterprises, could not fail of rendering
him conspicuous. The path of piety and virtue, pursued with a firm and
constant spirit, will assuredly lead to happiness. All mankind compose
one family, assembled under the eye of one common Father.

KEY TO THE EXERCISES.

RULE 6. We have no reason to complain of the lot of man, nor of the
mutability of the world. Sensuality contaminates the body, depresses the
understanding, deadens the moral feelings of the heart, and degrades man
from his rank in creation.

Self-conceit, presumption, and obstinacy, blast the prospect of many a
youth. He is alternately supported by his father, his uncle, and his
elder brother. The man of virtue and honor, will be trusted, relied
upon, and esteemed. Conscious guilt renders one mean-spirited, timorous,
and base. An upright mind will never be at a loss to discern what is
just and true, lovely, honest, and of good report. Habits of reading,
writing, and thinking, are the indispensable qualifications of a good
student. The great business of life is, to be employed in doing justly,
loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God. To live soberly,
righteously, and piously, comprehends the whole of our duty.

In our health, life, possessions, connexions, pleasures, there are
causes of decay imperceptibly working. Deliberate slowly, execute
promptly. An idle, trifling society, is near akin to such as is
corrupting. This unhappy person had been seriously, affectionat