: Strong and Steady; Or Paddle Your Own Canoe by Alger Horatio Jr - Orphans Juvenile fiction; Conduct of life Juvenile fiction; Boys Conduct of life Juvenile fiction; Bildungsromans; Honesty Juvenile fiction; Success Juvenile fiction; Theft Juvenile fiction;

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TO THE BISHOP OF LONDON.

THY Letter, Friend, instead of awakening the Conscience of the hardened Sinner, or confirming the Faith of the staggering Believer, has confounded their Understandings, and led them into a Labyrinth, out of which it is impossible they should ever extricate themselves by the Strength of the mere natural Man.

THOU hast without any Authority, represented the two Shocks of an Earthquake, lately felt, as a supernatural Event; and magisterially pronounced them the Effects of a special Providence, threatning Vengeance upon a wicked and profligate Generation. Who knoweth the Councils of the Almighty? Strange and wonderful are all his Works, and his Ways past finding out. What is Man, that he should dive into the Secrets of his Providence, or the Son of Man, that he should deal out his Judgments according to his vain Imaginations? Verily, Friend, Thou wast under no Temptation to make such an use of that Dispensation of his Providence; and thou mightest have found sufficient Matter from a natural Effect to have excited thy Readers to a sincere Repentance, without arrogating to thyself a Knowledge to which thou hast not the smallest Claim, or furnishing the Ungodly, in the first Line of thy Work, with Matter of Prejudice against all that thou couldst say; since they could plainly discover by their natural Understanding, that without the Gift of the Holy Spirit, thou couldst not, and oughtest not to have ascribed to a special Providence, what may be rationally explained by the general Laws that govern Matter and Motion. These Laws are, no doubt, in the Hands of the Almighty: and the sovereign Disposer of all Things may, for the wise Purposes of his Providence, stop, alter, or controul them at his Pleasure. But, because we believe and are assured, that he hath reserved the Power to himself, must we, weak-sighted Mortals, have the Arrogance to conclude, that, on every Occurrence, which appears in the least singular and unusual, this special Power is exerted; and that the Order of Nature is inverted, as often as our gloomy Imagination is pleased to think that it ought to be so?

"Can't you guess what you are likely to get?"

"I can guess, but I may not be right. Father promised to give me a gold watch-chain some time. You know I have a gold watch already."

"Yes, and a regular little beauty."

"So it wouldn't surprise me much to get a chain for a present."

"You're a lucky boy. My watch is silver, and only cost twenty dollars."

"I dare say I should be just as happy with a silver watch, Lem."

"I suppose you wouldn't like to buy, would you? If so, I'll give you the chance. A fair exchange is no robbery."

"No, I suppose not; but it wouldn't do to exchange a gift."

"Perhaps, if my watch were gold and yours silver, you wouldn't have any objections."

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