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No young man, however humble his birth, or obscure his condition, is excluded from the invaluable boon. He has only to fix his eye upon the prize, and press towards it, in a course of virtuous and useful conduct, and it is his. And it is interesting to notice how many of our worthiest and best citizens have risen to honour and usefulness by dint of their own persevering exertions. They are to be found, in great numbers, in each of the learned professions, and in every department of business; and they stand forth, bright and animating examples, of what can be accomplished by resolution and effort.

Indeed, my friends, in the formation of character, personal exertion is the first, the second and the third virtue. Nothing great or excellent can be acquired without it. A good name will not come without being sought. All the virtues of which it is composed are the result of untiring application and industry. Nothing can be more fatal to the attainment of a good character than a treacherous confidence in external advantages. These, if not seconded by your own endeavours, will " drop you mid way; or perhaps you will not have started, when the diligent traveller will have won the race."

Thousands of young men have been ruined by relying for a good name on their honourable parentage, or inherited wealth, or the patronage of friends. Flattered by these distinctions, they have felt as if they might live without plan and without effort,-merely for their own gratification and indulgence. No mistake is more fatal. It always issues in producing an inefficient and useless cha

racter.

In the formation of a good character, it is of great importance that the early part of life be improved and guarded with the utmost care and diligence. The most critical period of life is that which elapses from fourteen to twenty-one years of age. More is done during this period, to mould and settle the character of the future man, than in all the other years of life. If a young man passes this season with pure morals and a fair reputation, a good name is almost sure to crown his maturer years, and descend with him to the close of his days.

On the other hand, if a young man, in this spring season of life, neglects his mind and heart; if he indulges himself in vicious courses, and forms habits of inefficiency

and slothfulness, he experiences a loss which no efforts. can retrieve, and brings a stain upon his character which no tears can wash away.

Life will inevitably take much of its shape and colouring from the plastic powers that are now operating. Every thing almost depends upon giving a proper direction to this outset of life. The course now taken is usually decisive. The principles now adopted, and the habits now formed, whether good or bad, become a kind of second nature, fixed and permanent.

Youthful thoughtlessness, I know, is wont to regard the indiscretions and vicious indulgencies of this period, as of very little importance. But believe me, my friends, they have great influence in forming your future character, and deciding the estimation in which you are to be held in the community. They are the germs of bad habits; and bad habits confirmed, are ruin to the character and the soul.

The errors and vices of a young man, even when they do not ripen into habit, impress a blot on the name which is rarely effaced. They are remembered in subsequent life; the public eye is often turning back to them; the stigma is seen; it cleaves fast to the character, and its unhappy effects are felt till the end of his days.

"A fair reputation, it should be remembered, is a plant, delicate in its nature, and by no means rapid in its growth. It will not shoot up in a night, like the gourd that shaded the prophet's head; but like that same gourd it may perish in a night." A character which it has cost many years to establish, is often destroyed in a single hour, or even minute. Guard, then, with peculiar vigilance, this forming, fixing season of your existence; and let the precious days and hours that are now passing by you, be diligently occupied in acquiring those habits of intelligence, of virtue and enterprise, which are so essential to the honour and success of future life.

To the formation of a good character it is of the highest importance that you have a commanding object in view, and that your aim in life be elevated. To this cause, perhaps, more than to any other, is to be ascribed the great difference which appears in the characters of men. Some start in life with an object in view, and are determined to attain it; whilst others live without plan, and reach not

for the prize set before them. The energies of the one are called into vigorous action, and they rise to eminence, whilst the others are left to slumber in ignoble ease and sink into obscurity.

It is an old proverb, that he who aims at the sun, to be sure will not reach it, but his arrow will fly higher than if he aimed at an object on a level with himself. Just so in the formation of character. Set your standard high; and, though you may not reach it, you can hardly fail to rise higher than if you aimed at some inferior excellence. Young men are not, in general, conscious of what they are capable of doing.

They do not task their faculties, nor improve their powers, nor attempt, as they ought, to rise to superior excellence. They have no high, commanding object at which to aim; but often seem to be passing away life without object and without aim. The consequence is, their efforts are few and feeble; they are not waked up to any thing great or distinguished; and therefore fail to acquire a character of decided worth.

My friends, you may be whatever you resolve to be. Resolution is omnipotent. Determine that you will be something in the world, and you shall be something. Aim at excellence, and excellence will be attained. This is the great secret of effort and eminence. I cannot do it, never accomplished any thing; I will try, has wrought wonders.

You have all perhaps heard of the young man, who, having wasted, in a short time, a large patrimony, in profligate revels, formed a purpose, while hanging over the brow of a precipice from which he had determined to throw himself, that he would regain what he had lost. The purpose thus formed he kept; and though he began by shovelling a load of coals into a cellar, he proceeded from one step to another, till he more than recovered his lost possession, and died an inveterate miser, worth sixty thousand pounds.

I mention this, not as an example to be imitated, but as a signal instance of what can be accomplished by fixed purpose and persevering exertion. A young man who sets out in life with a determination to excel, can hardly fail of his purpose. There is, in his case, a steadiness of aim, a concentration of feeling and effort, which bear

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him onward to his object with irresistible energy, and render success, in whatever he undertakes, certain.

Another thing of great importance in the formation of a good character, is intercourse with persons of decided virtue and excellence. The power of example is proverbial. We are creatures of imitation; and by a necessary influence, our temper and habits are very much formed on the model of those with whom we familiarly associate. In this view, nothing is of more importance to young men than the choice of their companions.

If they select for their associates the intelligent, the virtuous, and the enterprising, great and most happy will be the effects on their own character and habits. With these living, breathing patterns of excellence before them, they can hardly fail to feel a disgust at every thing that is low, unworthy and vicious, and be inspired with a desire to advance in whatever is praiseworthy and good. It is needless to add, the opposite of all this is the certain consequence of intimacy with persons of bad habits and profligate lives.

But, of all the means of forming a good character, the most efficient is a deep and practical sense of responsibility to God. He who has an abiding impression on his mind of the ever present and immutable God, and who contemplates, with due affection and reverence, his relations to him and eternity, has acting on his character an influence of constant and mighty energy, preserving him from all that is low and debasing; and elevating him to all that is holy and blissful.

If to contemplate patterns of human excellence tends to improve the heart and elevate the character, how much more certainly and constantly will a similar effect be produced by an habitual contemplation of the adorable Jehovah,- ແ a character which, to use the language of another, "borrows splendour from all that is fair; subordinates to itself all that is great; and sits enthroned on the riches of the universe." Beholding this character, and living under this influence, we are changed from glory to glory, into the same image, as by the spirit of the Lord.

Indeed, my friends, true religion, the love and the fear of God implanted in the mind, is the most powerfully transforming cause, that can be brought to act on the character of man. The truths it unfolds, the motives it

urges, the interests it involves, the prospects it opens, the hopes it inspires, and the fears it awakens, are fitted to influence, in the most powerful manner, all the feelings and faculties of the mind,-to fill the soul with the noblest views and the purest sentiments; to direct all its energies, desires and purposes, to their proper use and end.

When once seated in the bosom, it raises the thoughts and hopes to God and heaven; it opens the eye on the grandeur and bliss of eternity; it imparts new light and vigour to the mind; throws around the character and ways, the protection of established principles and habits; and secures to its possessor a safe passage through all the temptations of this corrupted and corrupting world, to the abodes of eternal purity and blessedness.

The man of true religion stands on firm and elevated ground; his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord; and he feels within him the workings of a principle, which, like the hand of God, will not let him go; but amidst all the assaults of the world, keeps him in the path of virtue, of happiness and heaven.

The character that is without religion, is without the firmest support, and the chief excellence of a moral being. It has impressed on it the deformity of a great and palpable defect; and whatever virtues it does possess, are like flowers planted in the now, or withered by the droughtwanting the life, the vigour, and the beauty, which religion alone can impart.

LESSON XI.

Government of the Thoughts.-JANE Taylor.

THERE is a prevailing desire in the minds of many young people to be freed from the restraints of authority; an impatience for that period to arrive when they shall be at liberty to direct their own actions. It is not, perhaps, very uncommon for them to imagine that they should be more willing even to do right-that it would be easier, and far more agreeable-if it were no longer a matter of constraint, but of choice.

To any who may have entertained such ideas, I

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