Underneath the wings of the seraphim are stretched the arms of the divine mercy, ever ready to receive sinners.—­The Talmud.

Sweet mercy is nobility’s true badge.—­Shakespeare.

Merit.—­There is merit without elevation, but there is no elevation without some merit.—­La ROCHEFOUCAULD.

Distinguished merit will ever rise to oppression, and will draw lustre from reproach.  The vapors which gather round the rising sun, and follow him in his course, seldom fail at the close of it to form a magnificent theatre for his reception, and to invest with variegated tints and with a softened effulgence the luminary which they cannot hide.—­Robert Hall.

On their own merits modest men are dumb.—­George Colman.

The art of being able to make a good use of moderate abilities wins esteem and often confers more reputation than real merit.—­La Bruyere.

The mark of extraordinary merit is to see those most envious of it constrained to praise.—­La ROCHEFOUCAULD.

Method.—­Method is essential, and enables a larger amount of work to be got through with satisfaction.  “Method,” said Cecil (afterward Lord Burleigh), “is like packing things in a box; a good packer will get in half as much again as a bad one.”  Cecil’s despatch of business was extraordinary; his maxim being, “The shortest way to do many things is to do only one thing at once.”—­Samuel smiles.

Mind.—­Our minds are like certain vehicles,—­when they have little to carry they make much noise about it, but when heavily loaded they run quietly.—­Elihu Burritt.

We ought, in humanity, no more to despise a man for the misfortunes of the mind than for those of the body, when they are such as he cannot help; were this thoroughly considered we should no more laugh at a man for having his brains cracked than for having his head broke.—­Pope.

It is the mind that makes the body rich.—­Shakespeare.

A weak mind is like a microscope, which magnifies trifling things, but cannot receive great ones.—­Chesterfield.

Were I so tall to reach the pole,
Or grasp the ocean with my span,
I must be measur’d by my soul: 
The mind’s the standard of the man. 
—­Dr. Watts.

The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven. 
—­Milton.

The blessing of an active mind, when it is in a good condition, is, that it not only employs itself, but is almost sure to be the means of giving wholesome employment to others.

He that has treasures of his own
May leave the cottage or the throne,
May quit the globe, and dwell alone
Within his spacious mind. 

                                    —­Dr. Watts.