Nor Sorrow check thy race,― Nor pleasure win thy birthright crown,- EXERCISE 62. Love of Applause.-HAWES. To be insensible to public opinion, or to the estimation in which we are held by others, indicates any thing, rather than a good and generous spirit. It is indeed the mark of a low and worthless character;-devoid of prin5 ciple, and therefore devoid of shame. A young man is not far from ruin, when he can say, without blushing, 1 don't care what others think of me. But to have a proper regard to public opinion is one thing; to make that opinion our rule of action is quite 10 another. The one we may cherish consistently with the purest virtue, and the most unbending rectitude; the other we cannot adopt, without an utter abandonment of principle and disregard of duty. The young man whose great aim is to please, who makes the opin15 ion and favor of others his rule and motive of action; stands ready to adopt any sentiments, or pursue any course of conduct, however false and criminal, provided only, that it be popular. In every emergency, his first question is, what will my companions, what will the 20 world think and say of me, if I adopt this, or that course of conduct? Duty, the eternal laws of rectitude, are not thought of. Custom, fashion, popular favor; these are the things, that fill his entire vision, and decide every question of opinion and duty. Such a man can 25 never be trusted; for he has no integrity, and no independence of mind, to obey the dictates of rectitude. He is at the mercy of every casual impulse and change of popular opinion; and you can no more tell whether he will be right or wrong to-morrow, than you can predict 30 the course of the wind, or what shape the clouds will then assume. And what is the usual consequence of this weak and foolish regard to the opinions of men?-What the end of thus acting in compliance with custom in opposition 85 to one's own convictions of duty? It is to lose the es teem and respect of the very men whom you thus attempt to please. Your defect of principle and hollow heartedress are easily perceived; and though the persons to whom you thus sacrifice your conscience, may 40 affect to commend your complaisance, you may be assured, that, inwardly, they despise you for it. Young men can hardly commit a greater mistake, than to think of gaining the esteem of others, by yielding to their wishes, contrary to their own sense of duty. Such conduct is 45 always morally wrong, and rarely fails to deprive one, both of self respect, and of the respect of others. EXERCISE 63. Christian Integrity.-HAWES. It is very common, I know, for young men just commencing business, to imagine that, if they would advance their secular interests, they must not be very scrupulous in binding themselves down to the strict rules of 5 rectitude. They must conform to custom; and if in buying and selling they sometimes say the things that are not true, and do the things that are not honest; why, their neighbors do the same; and, verily, there is no getting along without it. There is so much competition and ri10 valry, that to be strictly honest, and yet succeed in business, is out of the question. Now if it were indeed so, I would say to a young man; then, quit your business. Better dig, and beg too, than to tamper with conscience, sin against God, and lose your 15 soul. But is it so?-is it necessary in order to succeed in business, that you should adopt a standaru of morals, more lax and pliable, than the one placed before you in the Bible? Perhaps, for a time, a rigid adherence to 20 rectitude might bear hard upon you; but how would it be in the end? Possibly, your neighbor, by being less scrupulous than yourself, may invent a more expeditious way of acquiring a fortune. If he is willing to violate the dictates of conscience; to lie, and cheat, and tram25 ple on the rules of justice and honesty, he may, indeed, get the start of you, and rise suddenly to wealth and distinction. But would you envy him his riches, or be willing to place yourself in his situation? Sudden wealth, especially, when obtained by dishonest means, 30 rarely fails of bringing with it sudden ruin. Those who acquire it, are of course beggared in their morals, and are often, very soon, beggared in property. Their riches are corrupted; and while they bring the curse of God on their immediate possessors, they usually entail misery and 35 ruin upon their families. If it be admitted then, that strict integrity is not always the shortest way to success; is it not the surest, the happiest, and the best? A young man of thorough integrity may, it is true, find it difficult, in the midst of 40 dishonest competitors and rivals, to start in his business or profession; but how long, ere he will surmount every difficulty; draw around him patrons and friends, and rise in the confidence and support of all who know him? 45 What, if in pursuing this course, you should not, at the close of life, have so much money by a few hundred dollars? Will not a fair character, an approving conscience, and an approving God, be an abundant compensation for this little deficiency of pelf? 50 O there is an hour coming, when one whisper of an approving mind, one smile of an approving God, will be accounted of more value than the wealth of a thousand worlds like this. In that hour, my young friends, nothing will sustain you but the consciousness of having been 55 governed in life by worthy and good principles. EXERCISE 64. Watch.-J. MASON GOOD. 1 Life is a sea,-how fair its face, But rocks below, and tempests sleep, Nor leave an hour secure. 2 Life is a wilderness,-beset With tangling thorns, and treach'rous net. One path alone conducts aright, 3 Life is a warfare,—and alike 4 Whate'er its form, whate'er its flow, To watch incessant, firm of mind, And leave to God the rest. 5 'Twas while they watch'd, the shepherd swains Heard angels strike to angel-strains The song of heavenly love: 5 'Twas while they watch'd, the sages traced With new and nobler shine: They follow'd, and it led the way To where the infant Saviour lay, And gave them light divine. 7 'Twas while they watch'd, with lamp in hand, And oil well stor'd, the virgin band The bridal pomp descried; Was clos'd on all beside. 8 Watch! watch and pray! in suffering hour Thus He exclaim'd who felt its power, And triumph'd in the strife. Victor of Death! thy voice I hear: Would watch and pray through life's career, And only cease with life.. EXERCISE 65. New Social Order in America.-DOUGLAS. America is to modern Europe, what its western colonies were to Greece, the land of aspirations and dreams, the country of daring enterprise, and the asylum of mis fortune, which receives alike the exile and the adventurer, 5 the discontented and the aspiring, and promises to all a freer life, and a fresher nature. The European emigrant might believe himself as one transported to a new world, governed by new laws, and finds himself at once raised in the scale of being-the 10 pauper is maintained by his own labor, the hired laborer works on his own account, and the tenant is changed into a proprietor, while the depressed vassal of the old continent becomes co-legislator, and co-ruler in a government where all power is from the people, and in the 15 people, and for the people. The world has not witnessed an emigration like that taking place to America; so extensive in its range, so immeasurable in its consequences, since the dispersion of mankind; hordes of emigrants are continually swarming off, as ceaseless in their pas20 sage, and crowded, and unreturning, as the treilers to eternity. Even those who are forced to reman. behind, feel a melancholy restlessness, like a bird whose w ng is crippled, at the season of migration, and look forward to America, as to the land of the departed, where every one 25 has some near relative, or dear friend gone before him. A voice like that heard before the final ruin of Jerusalem, seems to whisper to those who have ears to hear, “Let us depart hence." Every change in America has occasioned a corres30 pondent change in Europe; the discovery of it overturned the systems of the ancients; and gave a new face to adventure and to knowledge; the opening of its mines produced a revolution in property; and the independence of the United States overturned the monarchy o 35 France, and set fire to a train which has not yet fully exploded. In every thing, its progress is interwoven with the fates of Europe. At every expansion of American influence, the older countries are destined to undergo new changes, and to receive a second character |