cies. But it does not demand the perspicacity of a watchman to discover their course. They go on, at a fearful rate; and it may demand a thunderbolt to arrest either in the impious ca reer. ON SCANDAL. Study to be quiet, and to do your own business." THE Thessalonians, to whom this rule was given, were probably an inquisitive race, and like the men of Athens, spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing. We must frame such a supposition, to excuse St. Paul from the charge of impertinence. For nothing can appear more a work of supererogation, than to tell man, selfish by nature, to live in peace, and to pursue his own advantage. Nature, and the primary laws of being, have told him so already. But this epistle, written at Athens, and sent to Thessalonica, that is, from one tattling, idle city to another, was seasonable and proper, notwithstanding all fine reasoning to the contrary. For myself, I can affirm confidently, that I need not turn over the archives of the Thessalonians, to discover a million of cases, where men study to be restless, and to pry into other people's busi ness. Impertinent curiosity is, however, a vice of the village rather than of the city. I am sur prised that Paul did not give the direction in the text, expressly to the country people. For though impertinence is not so local, as never to be found, except in cottages; still it is a fact, that the askers of whys and wherefores are ge nerally villagers, and not cits. In town, strange sights are so common, and the tongues of fame so numerous, that each inhabitant, distracted with endless variety, thinks it better to mind his own business, than to inspect the concerns of a thousand neighbours. In the country, external circumstances being essentially different, the manners of the people assume a different colour; there the incidents are so few, on which glutton curiosity can feed, that even morsel novelties are seized upon with avidity. A farmer's purchase of a silk gown for his wife, or the irregular pregnancy of his daughter, I have known to engross, for weeks, the thoughts and chat of those vacant and meddling neighbourhoods, which disobey the precept of Paul. A certain elegant fabulist among the Latins, describes a race of the busy bodies, running wildly about, out of breath with inquiring, prying into every nook, and, by their restless indolence, wearying themselves and tormenting others. This is a strong picture, and some might say, overcharged; a Darly's caricatura of manners rather than the natural strokes of an Italian. But I will engage to find the originals of this portrait, in every village I visit. Men in the country, no less than in town, have various schemes to execute, and many duties which ought to be discharged. But negligent of these, and with the beam in their own eyes, they go groping about to discover a mote in their neighbours.-'Tis a mote, in general, that they gaze for most earnestly, and it is a mote that they magnify into a mountain. This weak, if not criminal conduct, is generally the first begotten of jealousy and rivalship. The malignant inquiries that are then made of a neighbour's fortune or fame, are veiled by an affectation of impartiality and candour. But all may discern that such insidious queries are like arrows discharged from a covert, meant to deeply wound, and yet, by their course, not to betray the archer. What is it to thee, censorious woman, if thy frail sister have lapsed by the wayside? Doth her fall shake thy foundation, and hast thou to bear the burden of her suckling? Gaze not at her infirmity, nor circulate her reproach. Con over the catalogue of thy own gallantries, and trust me, thou wilt not have a moment left to read or to compile a scandalous chronicle. What is it to thee, meddling man, if thy neighbour's goods be attached, hast thou to pay the fees of the officer? Keep thy leger accu rately, and peep not into his day book. Ask not of his apprentices, how they fare at their master's board, nor how many dollars he takes in a year. Study to be quiet, and to mind thy own business; and thou wilt find that thou hast little leisure to take an inventory of another man's wealth. |