THEME XIX. Order is needful for Improvement.

INTRODUCTION.-Order comprises arrangement, method, and decorum; without a due respect to which improvement must always be greatly impeded.

1ST REASON.-Order is more agreeable than confusion; and the mind will exert itself with more cheerfulness, alacrity, and profit, upon an agreeable task, than upon one which is distasteful.

2ND REASON.-Ideas systematically arranged are more easy of comprehension than those which are thrown together promisenously; thus in arithmetic, if the parts were not progressively arranged, and the examples sorted under their respective rules, the science would be an almost insurmountable difficulty to the young; whereas it is now within the compass of the most ordinary ability.

3RD REASON.-All things appear fewer when arranged in order, than when scattered about in confusion: and the fewer the objects appear to be, the more willing the mind is to set about the task of learning them: whereas, when the objects presented to the eye appear infinite from confusion, the mind despairs of being able to master them.

4TH REASON. In regard to PERSONAL order,—it is absolutely essential for improvement. Consider what a vast amount of time is lost by the disorderly; books, implements, apparel, &c. are never to be found without diligent search; and thus the time due to study is wasted in a tedious hunt for the requisite materials of study.

5TH REASON-Consider again, what an amount of illtemper is produced by disorder. No one is willing to bear the blame for things mislaid, but all seek to cast the fault upon some one else: by which means the innocent and guilty are alike provoked; while the thoughtless causer of all this trouble, feeling that the time lost must be atoned for, is soured in temper, flurried in spirit, confused in thought, irritated by nervous excitement, and totally disqualified for calm reflection, and mental application.

6TH REASON.-In regard to DECORUM, or order of conduct. The disorderly are involved in perpetual disgrace, and annoyed by constant impositions, which make teachers and the subjects taught objects of aversion; and rouse the mind to resist, rather than receive, instruction.

7TH REASON. Again, the disorderly never patiently attend to instruction; their ungoverned minds wander, and their thoughts are occupied with various irrelevant matters: in consequence of which, they never hear or read with that intensity of thought which is required to give to the mind permanent impressions.

8TH REASON. Lastly: the disorderly have no love for learning, because the regularity and method essential for it, are directly antagonistic to their irregular habits and the spirit of their mind: It is needless to add, that those who do not even care to improve, but rather despise instruction, cannot be expected to make the same progress in literature as those who value and earnestly seek it.

SIMILES. A set of dominoes put into a box, in proper order, will exactly fill it; but if heaped together in confusion cannot possibly be thrust into the same space.

A very small army, well disciplined and marshalled for battle, will vanquish a large host of confused and scattered rebels.

Jewels arranged upon a lady's person appear far more brilliant, beautiful, and valuable, than when lying confusedly in the casket.

If a farm were planted promiscuously with potatoes, turnips, wheat, barley, fruit, flowers, and grass, every crop would be spoilt, and the land utterly wasted.

Bees are famous for method and good order.

Ants afford an admirable example of the benefit of discipline and system.

The letters of the alphabet, thrown together promiscuously, express no thought, and convey no instruction; but arranged in syllables, words, and sentences, reveal mind

to mind, and make known to man even the counsels of Omnipotence.

HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS.-Noah and the ark.

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Alfred the Great duly appreciated the value of order and accordingly arranged the day into three parts, one of which he devoted to exercise, another to study and the state, and the third to sleep and refreshment.

Philosophers have arranged the stars into constellations, to facilitate the science of astronomy.

Similar systems have been adopted by botanists, geologists, zoologists, entomologists, &c.

The science of Mnemonics consists, for the most part, in mere arrangement and classification.

In manufactories the importance of order is so great, that a different individual is, for the most part, employed for every different process: thus in pin-making, one draws out the wire, another cuts it into lengths, another points the pins, another cuts them into pin-lengths, another heads them, another coats them with tin, another polishes them, another sorts them, another papers them, another packs them, another labels them, and so on.

QUOTATIONS.-Order is heaven's first law.-Pope. Let all things be done decently and in order.-1 Cor. xiv. 40.

God is not the author of confusion.-1 Cor. xiv. 33. The least confusion but in one, not all

That system only, but the whole must fall.-Pope. Good order is the foundation of all good things.Burke.

Order is the life of business.

A place for every thing, and every thing in its place. Method implies the placing of several things, or performing several operations, in such order, as is most convenient to attain some end.-Watts.

The man who does not know how to methodise his thoughts, has always a barren superfluity of words: the fruit is lost amidst the exuberance of leaves.-Addison.

Nihil pulchrius, nihil præstantius dispositione et ordine. - Columella.

Quintilian calls method, "breve discendi compendium." Compositius cuncta quam festinantius decet sapientes agere. Tacitus.

CONCLUSION.-Let us, therefore, have a proper place for every thing, and do every thing at the proper time.

THEME XX. None are completely happy.

INTRODUCTION.- -No one on earth is so entirely exempt from the common lot of sorrow, as to enjoy uninterrupted and unalloyed felicity.

1ST REASON. Our own infirmities of flesh, spirit, and temper, are so numerous, that they constantly interfere with our peace of mind.

2ND REASON.-Sickness and death are always too busy with ourselves, or others in whom we feel an interest, to permit our enjoying complete happiness.

3RD REASON. SO many things are beyond our control, and repugnant to our wishes, that none are entirely free from crosses, vexations, and disappointments.

4TH REASON. Our affections, feelings, and sensibilities, are not in our own keeping, but dependent on others; so that every servant and stranger who crosses our path, as well as every relation and friend, must combine to humour and please us, before we can feel completely happy.

5TH REASON.-Our interests and affections are so involved by the ties of consanguinity, alliance, friendship,

and neighbourhood, that all whom we love and know must be completely happy, before we ourselves can experience unmixed felicity.

6TH REASON. Our sympathies would prevent our enjoying complete happiness so long as one single instance of misery, want, unkindness, sickness, treachery, or disappointment in the whole world come to our knowledge.

7TH REASON. Our desires are always in advance of our possessions; so that, if the whole world were laid at our feet, we should want new pleasures, and new possessions, and new powers of enjoyment, and new fields of action, before we could feel satisfied with our lot.

8TH REASON.-If man were completely happy, there could be no development of his moral character. For example, if there were no temptations to dishonesty, there would be no trial for integrity; if no disappointment, there would be no exercise for patience, fortitude, and resig nation.

9TH REASON.-If man were completely happy here, he would never look for "those rivers of joy and pleasures for evermore" reserved for the hereafter: So God has mixed sorrow in the cup of life, in order to wean the affections from the world, and win them to Himself.

10TH REASON.-To eat bread in sorrow is the entail of our first parent's disobedience; and so long as the curse remains, the entail of sorrow shall never be cut off.

SIMILES.-Even the sun is not without its spots.

The most vigorous tree has some dead branches, or withered leaves.

A garden kept in the most exquisite order is never entirely free from weeds and pernicious insects.

Every light must have its shadow.

Every medal has an obverse side.
Even a guinea has its portion of alloy.

No rose is without its thorn.