The certainty of death and the mutability of fortune, observations which press themselves upon the mind of man everywhere, are their principal staples, and cast over them a hue of melancholy, relieved by exhortations to enjoy to the utmost what the present moment offers of pleasure and sensual gratification.

'Small certainties are the bane of men of talents' (Strahan), ii.

&c. An admirable antidote for such as, too sober and sincere to pass off feverous sensations for spiritualities, have been perplexed by Wesley's assertionsthat a certainty of having been elected is an indispensable mark of election.

The utmost certainty is desirable as to the time, method of payment, and amount.

The certainty of having done the right, the wisest thing, was a support, a proud satisfaction.

You think yourself certain because such certainty is a way to yourself out of your present misery.'

CERTAINTY and DEMONSTRATION are things we must not, in these matters, pretend to.

Neither Sir Edward nor Lady Moseley had given up the expectation of seeing Denbigh again, as a suitor for Emily's hand, and to both of them this certainty of his loss was a heavy blow.

A strange certainty that he had died in the night settled upon her mind as soon as she waked from her troubled sleep; and when she reached Lizzy's door, and saw standing before it the undertaker's wagon, which she so well remembered, there was no shock of surprise to her in the sight.

Faith in the reign of law, and a prophetic certainty of man's elevationthese were his religion.

“Why, when no honest man will deny in private that every ultimate problem is wrapped in the profoundest mystery, do honest men proclaim in pulpits that unhesitating certainty is the duty of the most foolish and ignorant?

Upon this Ajax assured our friend that he need not despair, and he said that the vexed question of the fair's appetite had been set at rest: a happy certainty was the sauce that had whetted her hunger.

He was sure of his man, and that certainty was a delight to him.

Many scenes from history might be portrayed in illustration of this idea; and the certainty of a future state, and of the immortality of the soul, which we derive from revelation, are surely subjects for poetry of the highest class."

But a critically-minded man will urge against it that 'certainty' is a subjective and psychological criterion, and that no one has been able to devise a method for distinguishing the alleged logical from the undeniable psychological certainty.