Prosperity is the touchstone of virtue; for it is less difficult to bear misfortunes than to remain uncorrupted by pleasure.—­Tacitus.

Prosperity demands of us more prudence and moderation than adversity.  —­Cicero.

We must distinguish between felicity and prosperity; for prosperity leads often to ambition, and ambition to disappointment.—­Landor.

He that swells in prosperity will be sure to shrink in adversity.  —­Colton.

Prosperity is very liable to bring pride among the other goods with which it endows an individual; it is then that prosperity costs too dear.—­Hosea Ballou.

Prosperity, in regard of our corrupt inclination to abuse the blessings of Almighty God, doth prove a thing dangerous to the soul of man.—­Hooker.

It is one of the worst effects of prosperity to make a man a vortex, instead of a fountain; so that, instead of throwing out, he learns only to draw in.—­Beecher.

Prosperity makes some friends and many enemies.—­VAUVENARGUES.

They who lie soft and warm in a rich estate seldom come to heat themselves at the altar.—­South.

Take care to be an economist in prosperity:  there is no fear of your being one in adversity.—­Zimmerman.

Providence.—­The Providence of God is the great protector of our life and usefulness, and under the divine care we are perfectly safe from danger.—­Spurgeon.

I know not where His islands lift
Their fronded palms in air;
I only know I cannot drift
Beyond His love and care. 
—­Whittier.

The decrees of Providence are inscrutable.  In spite of man’s short-sighted endeavors to dispose of events according to his own wishes and his own purposes, there is an Intelligence beyond his reason, which holds the scales of justice, and promotes his well-being, in spite of his puny efforts.—­MORIER.

Divine Providence tempers his blessings to secure their better effect.  He keeps our joys and our fears on an even balance, that we may neither presume nor despair.  By such compositions God is pleased to make both our crosses more tolerable and our enjoyments more wholesome and safe.—­W.  Wogan.

He who ruleth the raging of the sea, knows also how to check the designs of the ungodly.  I submit myself with reverence to His Holy Will.  O Abner, I fear my God, and I fear none but Him.—­Racine.

Duties are ours; events are God’s.  This removes an infinite burden from the shoulders of a miserable, tempted, dying creature.  On this consideration only can he securely lay down his head and close his eyes.—­Cecil.

Yes, thou art ever present, power supreme! 
Not circumscribed by time, nor fixt to space,
Confined to altars, nor to temples bound. 
In wealth, in want, in freedom or in chains,
In dungeons or on thrones, the faithful find thee! 

                                    —­Hannah more.