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A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

Virtue consists
in preferring

THE PUBLIC GOOD TO OUR OWN,

In order to be Virtuous

Α ΜΑΝ

Must resist his propensities, his inclinations. his tastes, and maintain

AN INCESSANT CONFLICT WITH HIMSELF.

The philosopher Lalouberé, envoy from Louis XIV, to Siam, says, in the account which he gives of his mission, that the Asiatics laugh us to scorn, when we boast to them of the excellence of the Christian religion, as contributing to the happiness of

states. They ask, on reading our histories, how is it possible that our religion should be so humane, while we wage war ten times more frequently than they do? What would they say, then, did they see among us our perpetual law suits, the maliciouscensoriousness and calumny of our societies, the quarrels of the populace, the duels of the better sort, and our animosities of every kind, nothing similar to which is to be seen in Asia, in Africa, among the Tartars, or among savages, on the testimony of missionaries themselves? For my own part, I discern the cause of all these particular and general disorders, in our ambitious education. When a man has drunk, from infancy upward, into the cup of ambition, the thirst of it cleaves to him all his life long. It is not religion, assuredly, which occasions this. I cannot explain how it comes to pass, that kingdoms, calling themselves Christian, should have adopted ambition as the basis of public education. p. 82.

The Arabs extend their humanity to the

very horses; they never beat them; they manage them by means of kindness and caresses, and render them so docile, that there are no animals of the kind in the whole world, once to be compared with them in beauty and in goodness. They do not fix them to a stake in the fields, but suffer them to pasture at large around their habitation, to which they come running the moment that they hear the master's voice. Those tractable animals resort at night to their tents, and lie down in the midst of the children, without ever hurting them in the slightest degree. If the rider happens to fall, his horse stands still instantly, and never stirs till he has mounted again. D' Hervieux says, that the whole stock of a poor Arabian of the desert, consisted of a most beautiful mare. The French consul at Saïd offered to purchase her, with an intention to send her to his master, Louis XIV. The Arab, pressed by want, hesitated a long time; but at length consented, on condition of receiving a very considerable sum, which he named. The consul, not

daring, without instruction, to give so high a price, wrote to Versailles for permission to close the bargain on the terms stipulated. The king gave orders to pay the money. The consul immediately sent notice to the Arab, who soon after made his appearance, mounted on his magnificent courser, and the gold which he demanded was paid down to him. The Arab, covered with a miserable rug, dismounts, looks at the money; then, turning his eyes to the mare, he sighs, and thus accosts her: "To whom am I going to yield thee up? To Europeans, who will tie thee close, who will beat thee, who will render thee miserable: return with me, my beauty, my darling, my jewel! and rejoice the hearts of my children!" As he pronoun, ced these words, he sprang upon her back, and scampered off toward the desert.

p. 93. Those among us who have any ambition that regards futurity, restrict it to the being themselves distinguished by the age in which they live, for their knowledge or their philosophy. The ancients employed their

thoughts in prognosticating the character and condition of their posterity; and we revolve what our ancestors were. They looked forward, and we look backward. We are in the state, like passengers embarked against their will on board a vessel; we look toward the stern, and not to the prow; to the land from which we are taking our departure, and not to that on which we hope to arrive. p. 96.

The finest flowers are not always those for which we conceive the highest affection. The moral sentiment determines at the long run all our physical tastes. p. 101.

The first precept of religion is to love God. We are enjoined by religion to love him above all things. We are encouraged to address ourselves to him as to a father. If we are commanded to fear him, it is only with a relation to the love which we owe Him; because we ought to be afraid of offending the person whom we are bound to love. Besides, I am very far from thinking,

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