ated are covered in eternal
forgetfulness.

On the contrary, the censorious man often separates intimate friends by
repeating a matter and digging up forgotten quarrels. The charity which
is most divine is that which hides a multitude of faults. It is pure in
itself, and labours to promote the peace and happiness of all. If one
would be noble, he must be habitual in the cultivation of lofty
principle and generous love.

What advantage comes of the uncharitable criticisms and judgments which
are passed one upon the other? Is any one the better? Do they not rather
result in mutual ill-humour and enmity? Who likes to have his motives
called in question? Who can endure with meekness to have himself and his
works put through the crucible of a mere mortal, as though that mortal
were the Judge of eternal destinies? Let us remember that we are all
frail, and as such should exercise towards each other that charity which
we hope the Supreme One will exercise towards us.

"Oh what are we,
Frail creatures as we are, that we should sit
In judgment man on man? and what were we,
If the All Merciful should mete to us
With the same rigorous measure wherewithal
Sinner to sinner metes."

XXIV.

_THE DOGMATIST._

"I am Sir Oracle:
And when I ope my lips let no dog bark."
SHAKESPEARE.

This talker is one who sits in company as a king whose words are law; or
as a god whose communications are divine; or as a judge whose decisions
are unalterable. There is, however, this drawback to his supremacy--it
is only in his _own_ imagination. He is to himself an infallible
oracle--infallible in all points of theory and practice on which he
converses. He has surrounded himself with such fortifications of
strength, that to attack him with a view to gain a surrender on any
questions of dispute is like trying to break a rock with a bird's
feather, or taking Gibraltar with a merchant ship's gun. He is
invulnerable in everything. His words, like Jupiter's bolts, come down
upon you in such fury that your escape is as likely as that of a gnat
thrown into a caldron of flaming oil. Hercules crushing an infant in his
grasp is a difficult task compared to the ease with which this giant
talker grasps and crushes his opponent. In every mode of hostility he
meets you as Goliath met David--with lips of scorn and words of
contempt--to presume t