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A further danger, to which youth, associated for literary purposes are exposed, is that of dissipation. By dissipation I mean waste of time, occasional indolence, suffering the mind to wander from those objects which ought to confine it, and a criminal indulgence of the appetites. That this is wrong in a moral or religious view, is too obvious to admit serious doubt. God who gives and continues human life, requires that we use it to good purpose that we cultivate our mental powers, and apply them to those objects for which they are adapted-for which they were bestowed. He requires that we govern our appetites and maintain uniform sobriety and temperance.

Nor is it more certain that every species of dissipation militates with moral duty, than that its effects are unfavorable to the acquirement of knowledge. In proportion as your intellectual powers are at your own command, in proportion to your ability of directing them to what object you please; the less they are disturbed or obscured by passion or licentiousness; clearness will be acquired to your perception, soundness to your judgment, and strength to your memory. But all indolence and disorder, all indulgence, either of the angry or licentious passions, tend to dissipate the thoughts, and to enfeeble the powers of perceiving and discriminating.

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Having mentioned in general, the dangers to which you are exposed, I would indicate in a few words, by what means you may be rendered most secure in the midst of them. curity arises from a habit of acting from principle. know, that nothing more severe can be said of a man, than that he acts without principle. Unprincipled and worthless are epithets which we unite merely for the purpose of expressing the same thing more strongly. We never suppose that the latter contains anything more than the former. Now if an unprincipled man be worthless, so is an unprincipled youth. Nay, there are many men of this description, who in youth were not so. Of course, if persons are rendered immoral in early life, there is reason to apprehend, that in subsequent years their profliVOL. II.

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gacy will become pre-eminent. If acting from principle is so important, let us see what is implied in it.

When we speak of a man as acting from principle, we do not mean that human estimation is the rule of his conduct. That the approbation of discerning and good men is desirable cannot be questioned. But even their approbation, imperfect as they are, is not your standard. Much less are you so to regard the fluctuating opinion of the majority. If such were your criterion, what is right to-day might be wrong to-morrow. No man, I apprehend, who is conscious of much integrity, or even supposes himself in much repute, would be willing to have it thought, that no higher motive than the love of popularity governed his life.

Neither is he to be considered as acting from principle, whose deportment is governed by present interest. The only occasion on which such a man can be trusted, is when your own interest and that of the public are not only consentaneous with his, but believed by himself to be thus consentaneous. What then are we to say of the man of mere sensibility and good nature? Is he to be considered as a man of principle? Doubtless these qualities do not entitle him to that honor. His sensibility to one object may lead him to practise injustice towards another. The good nature of a judge may acquit a culprit, to the disturbance and terror of the public. The man who has no other guide but his feelings, can never be entitled to general confidence, because we can never know in what direction these will carry him.

In a principle of honor, you imagine, perhaps, that there is permanence and uniformity. If by honor you mean moral rectitude, it is undoubtedly both uniform and permanent. But if you mean a regard to reputation, it is subject to all the changes of public opinion. And the man, who is thus honorable, stands ready for any crime, as soon as the public sentiment is sufficiently corrupt to approve it.

Independently of our choice,-independently of the choice of angels, or of any being in the universe, there are such things as truth and error, moral rectitude and moral obliquity. The nature of these can neither be altered nor confounded. Should

the most elevated of creatures, or even were it possible, should the Deity himself choose and proceed in opposition to that eternal rectitude, which it is the glory of his character to have maintained, still, that which is wrong would never become right; neither would that which is right ever become wrong. In truth and morals, there is perfect immutability.

Now he who acts from principle, has regard to this unchangeable rectitude; that rule, with which the proceedings of angels and of God are in perpetual unison. By this have been influenced all, who have deserved reputation in this world, or who will enjoy it in the next. This will preserve you from indolence, instability, and profaneness, from licentiousness, and dishonor. It will give you confidence before men, and humble hope in the day of final retribution. For though "by the deeds of the law can no flesh living be justified," it is the gracious establishment of Christianity, that the offences of all, who possess this inward rectitude, this holiness of temper, shall be freely pardoned at the day of judgment.

I conclude this lecture in the well known words of Dr. Price: "Virtue is of intrinsic value and of indispensable obligation; not the creature of will, but necessary and immutable; not local and temporary, but of equal extent with the divine mind; not a mode of sensation, but everlasting truth; not dependent on power, but the guide of all power. Virtue is the foundation of honor and esteem. The use of it is not confined to any one stage of our existence, nor to any particular situation, but reaches through all periods and circumstances of our being. Many of the endowments and talents, which we now possess, and of which we are too apt to be proud, will cease entirely with the present state; but this will be our ornament and dignity in every future state, to which we may be removed. Beauty and wit will die; learning will vanish away, and all the arts of life be soon forgot; but virtue will remain forever.-One virtuous disposition of soul is preferable to the greatest accomplishments and abilities, and of more value, than all the treasures of the world. If you are wise, then, study virtue, and contemn every

thing, which comes in competition with it. Remember, that nothing else deserves one anxious thought or wish. Remember, that this alone is honor, glory, wealth, and happiness. Secure this, and you secure every thing; lose this, and all is lost."

LECTURE ON THE VALUE OF TIME.

For the present lecture I have not taken a subject, which, if we speak with accuracy, ought to be denominated theological. My object is by a plain and practical address, to enforce the necessity of making a sedulous use of your time.

However difficult it may be for a philosopher to give a satisfactory definition of this term, the difficulty seems not to be attended with any practical inconvenience. The importance, and, if the language be permitted, the efficiency of time, are too obvious to be concealed or called in question. By its agency, infantile weakness is exchanged for the stature and strength of manhood, and these are succeeded by the deformity and decrepitude of age. Rich establishments and large possessions are the result of time; whose ability to dissolve, dissipate and destroy, is not less than its power to create, adorn, and establish. To some it brings learning, influence, and character; while from others it wrests every possession, and spares not even hope itself. Ages are formed by accumulated years; and ages give existence, form, and stability to nations and governments, or they change and annihilate those which are already established.

When we say that all these changes are the effect of time, it is evident that we speak in figurative language. Time of itself can do nothing. Every change is effected by some intelligent agent. Those changes which have been mentioned, are the result of human efforts, employed for certain periods. Character is formed by a series of actions. Knowledge is obtained by mental application. Wealth is acquired by activity, discretion, and perseverance. Political establishments are formed from exten

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