INSANITY, INSINUATIONS, INSOLVENCY.

474. INSANITY.

Em. Insanity destroys reason, but not wit.

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Quem Deus vult perdere, prius dementat, i. e., Whom God intends to destroy, he first infatuates.

Sh. O judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts,

And men have lost their reason.

475. INSENSIBILITY, APATHY.

Young. All feeling of futurity benumb'd;

All godlike passion for eternals quench'd;
All relish of realities expired;

Renounced all correspondence with the skies.
Dismounted every great and glorious aim ;
Imbruted every faculty divine;

Heart-buried in the rubbish of the world.

Ed. It is an alarming judgment, to be "past feeling." 1b. Sin stupefies, and is therefore called "spiritual death." But holiness vivifies the whole man.

476. INSINUATIONS, IMPLICATIONS, ETC. Lavater. He who, when called upon to speak a disagreeable truth, tells it boldly and has done, is both bolder and milder than he who nibbles in a low voice, and never ceases nibbling.

Ed. Slanderous insinuations and implications are cowardly, and mischievous, however mild. But plain and faithful reproof to the face, though it offend, is well adapted to amend.

Imputations, however unjust, sully, if they do not stain a character.

477. INSOLVENCY, BANKRUPTCY.

Gain is temporary and uncertain, but expense is constant and certain. Ed. Hence, the need of industry, frugality and economy, to avoid insolvency.

Ed. Insolvency is the legitimate child of avarice, ambition, and personal neglect of sacred trusts. Hence, with few exceptions, it is a much greater transgression than calamity. If men, approaching this vortex, do not "turn away their heads, shut their eyelids, and roll away their eyeballs," they must ordinarily come to the knowledge of their approaching defection gradually.

Then arises the struggle between integrity and presumption. The latter usually prevails. Then follows closer concealment of debts, splendid offers, generous promises on time, and zeal to collect spoils on credit. To cover the ruse, there must be a good deal of underselling, or selling off at cost. No matter how many bona fide business men are injured, or outstripped, if the public be benefited by more than generous sales and purchases. And when the catastrophe comes, and the forty, fifty, sixty, seventy-five or more per centum off on a dollar falls like an earthquake upon a confiding community, the blame is all cast upon unfortunate and untoward circumstances. If laid at the right door, it is soon forgotten, provided insolvent persons or companies are generous enough to deliver up what spoils they have not wasted, or the chief part of them, instead of working themselves through into clandestine affluence. They may soon enter the course unshackled, for another race. And since I have arrived to this train of thought, I will here give railroad and canal corporations, bridge, boat, and other building companies and contractors a few hints of advice, in relation to success. Let the act of incorporation, or basis of combination, be as irresponsible towards the public as possible, and the more out of sight the better. Then, be sure to puff and trumpet the object or enterprise, both at home and abroad, in respect to its utility, feasibility, and universal advantage. Ally as many capitalists and great men to the enterprise as possible, by all means, - either in reality, or by a tenure which they can cut at pleasure, so as to have the advantage of their influence. Then, push the enterprise; pay generously, as far as you pay at all; promise, with equal or greater generosity; apologize plausibly for delays in payment, and as these multiply, let promises become more confident and generous. Believe me, you will always find plenty of credulous and confiding persons in the community to see the enterprise carried through successfully, on promissory payments. Then, you may be as prudent, non-committal, and cold as you please, to creditors, while the enterprise is going through bankruptcy, and the irresponsible wire-workers are dis

INSTABILITY, INSTINCT.

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solving their company, transmitting their enterprise to others, at a sufficient discount to become par, pocketing the splendid profits of the chartered enterprise, and being off. A hint to the wise is sufficient. [See 207, 680.]

478. INSTABILITY.

Virtue which parleys, will soon surrender.
Spectator. A man so various that he seem'd to be
Not one, but all mankind's epitome

Stiff in opinion, always in the wrong,
Was everything by starts, and nothing long!
But in the course of one revolving moon,
Was chymist, fiddler, statesman, and buffoon.
Then all for women, painting, rhyming, drinking,
Besides ten thousand freaks, that died in thinking;
Bless'd madman, who could every hour employ
In something new to wish, or to enjoy!
In squand'ring wealth was his peculiar art,
Nothing went unrewarded but desert.

Pope. Some have at first for wits, then poets past,

Turn'd critics next, and prov'd plain fools at last.

Em. One principal reason why men are so often useless is, they neglect their own profession, and divide and shift their attention among a multiplicity of objects and pursuits.

Ed. Priestleyan somersets in theology and ethics, is the way to buy popular notoriety. Public esteem and confidence, however, have not yet become quite so dog-cheap.

479. INSTINCT.

Smith, Rev. R. There are modes of knowledge enjoyed by inferior creatures, which are mysterious to man. Who comprehends the thousand curious instincts of the brute? Who teaches the camel in the desert to scent the springs of water that lie unseen and far away over the trackless and burning sands? Who teaches latitude and longitude to the sea-fowl, whose nest is on the little rock just rising above the ocean wave — while she stretches her wings, and sees a new horizon upon the watery waste, and plays in every zigzag course, as food or sport may call her; yet all day long she keeps the bearing of her little

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INSTITUTIONS, RELIGIOUS.

home, and turns her eye up to the sun to see how time is moving; and as her shadow lengthens on the deep, she knows her distance well, and for a hundred leagues, she flies over the pathless billows, straight to her well-known bed? Who can tell the chart by which she moves, the way-marks which direct her, or the strange attraction which draws her surely to her downy home?

Ed. The instinct of animals bears a resemblance to the intuitive in man, though the latter grasps different objects.

480. INSTITUTIONS, RELIGIOUS.

Em. The open enemies of the Gospel point their enmity and opposition directly against instituted duties and Divine ordinances. These they view as the bulwarks of Christianity, and confidently imagine, that if they can demolish these, they can entirely destroy the religion of the Gospel. They accordingly point their heaviest artillery against the Sabbath, against public worship, and against the sacraments. Infidels and errorists are wise to do evil, and judge very correctly, that if they can only lead Christians to disbelieve and set aside the Sabbath, they can easily be induced to set aside the preaching of the Gospel, a standing ministry, and all Divine ordinances. When these are all set aside, all revealed religion must follow, and nothing remain but Deism and atheism. This was the systematic course which the French philosophers and infidels pursued, to exterminate Christianity. They abolished the first-day Sabbath, and substituted every tenth day for amusements, diversions, and profligacy, instead of a day of religious devotion and public worship. And when they had abolished the Sabbath, they had no occasion for ministers, nor any religious services, nor for any religion at all. The same means will produce the same effects. Only let the Sabbath be abolished in any Christian country, and it will subvert all Christian ordinances, and consequently Christianity itself. How alarming are the present signs of the times? Every engine is set at work to destroy the sanctity and obligation of the Sabbath. Never, in this land, did it more concern Christians to be watchful, and strengthen the things that remain and are ready to die.' It becomes churches to stand erect,

INSTRUCTION BEFORE IMPRESSION.

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when the enemy is coming in like a flood, and spreading errors and delusions, contentions and divisions among them. (Ms. Ser. Lk. 22:15). [See 406.]

481. INSTRUCTION.

Cicero. The wise are instructed by reason, ordinary minds by experience; the stupid by necessity; and brutes, by instinct. Poverty and shame attend those who refuse instruction. Ed. Nor have those escaped these evils who gave instruction, when mingled with the proper reproof, admonition, and warning. Those who refuse instruction, will abuse faithful instructors.

Ed. It has been said, that the great object of the moral teacher is not to inform, but to persuade. Whether this be true or not, it is a desideratum with every wise and faithful teacher, to hide himself, while he teaches the true knowledge of God, of religion, and of morals; and let the heart of God, and the intrinsic moral power of his truth do the persuading.

482. INSTRUCTION, BEFORE IMPRESSION.

Em. The understanding is the inlet to the other powers of the mind. No objects or truths can impress the mind, unless they are first perceived by the understanding. The wise preacher, therefore, will address the understanding before the conscience; and the conscience before the heart. This is the order of nature; and this order must be observed, to make the deepest impression on the human mind. When the understanding is informed, and the conscience awakened, then the affections may be raised as high as possible. There is no danger of raising the affections too high, by the exhibition of truth, though there is nothing else that can raise them higher. Instruction should always go before declamation. It can answer no valuable purpose to inflame the passions, before light is thrown into the understanding and conscience; but rather serve, on the other hand, to produce the most fatal effects. Many souls, no doubt, have been destroyed by this mode of preaching. To raise the fears, and then the hopes of sinners, without exhibiting a proper portion of Divine truth, only serves to make them build upon the sand, and to fill them with a momentary joy, which must end in everlasting sorrow.