MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS. 375 ness, a very Samson ; yet his soul had a tender part in it, and would weep and bleed, if touched in the right vein. He never knew indeed what sickness meant, and therefore, though he was continually entertained with complaints, new and old, yet he shewed very little sympathy with his suffering friends under their various pains of nature. But he met with many sharp reproaches for want of it, and had daily severe lectures read to him at home on that occasion. One evening he was attacked with more fury than usual, and it awakened him to make this short reply : " Prithee, Egridia, do not labour in vain. Beef or stock- fish may be beaten till it be tender, but the soul of a man is neither flesh nor fish; it is not to be buffeted into softness, nor teized or scolded into compassion." Egridia took the hint, and changed her artillery in order to a conquest. In a few days she found that Samson's heart was not all made of iron, but there were some kinder materials in his composition. She dropt a few tears on him, and the clay grew soft ; she practised upon him with the arts of kindness, and he melted like wax into compassion before the gentle fire, and began to condole sincerely upon all her complaints. Reproaches, like "needles, may snake. uneasy impressions upon a rough temper, and awaken it to fury ; but every surgeon will tell us, that a callous or hard flesh, is to be cured by suppling oils, and not by the incision knife. Perpetual rhetoric of the clamorous kind, may at last force the countenance of a Samson perhaps to imitate pity, for the sake of his own peace ; but it can never teach his soul to practise the tender passion. Persecution may sometimes produce a hypocrite, but it is soft persuasion and kindness only, can make a real convert to sympathy, and turn a heart of stone into sincere tenderness. Man is the same thing still, as he was in the days of Solo- mon ; and human nature in Great Britain is to be managed the same way as it was in Judea above two thousand years ago. The maxims of that philosopher are everlasting truths, and his prudentials will stand the test in all ages. "A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up strife. By long forbearing, even a prince is persuaded, and a soft tongue break - eth the bone." Prov. xv. 1. and xxv. 15. XLIII. Ignorance of ourselves. How strangely are we situated in this mortal state ! 'We open our eyes, we employ our senses, and take notice of a thou- sand things around us; but we see and know almost nothing of ourselves. We are conscious indeed of our being, and therefore we are sure that we are ; but what we are, lies deep in darkness. We see and feel these limbs, and this flesh of ours ; we are ac-
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