MORAL POWER OF YOUNG MEN.-No. II.

I PROCEED now to remark, that with a Christian character young men may do eminent good to mankind in all the religious, social, and public duties and relations of life.

If you would qualify yourself to put forth the greatest and most benign influence upon the world, you must become religious. What attainments in knowledge and in blessedness would the human race have ere this made, had all been sinless like angels of heaven, all constantly impelled onward by the holy and benevolent power of religion! Judge from the change often witnessed in men at their regeneration; the very countenance and eye speak the kindling of a new intellectual as well as moral life. Multitudes have thus been redeemed from inglorious torpor, and made active and distinguished instruments of good. Facts demonstrate that a very large proportion of that enterprise which goes to elevate and bless our nation and the world, both intellectually and morally, is of pious minds.

Read history; look abroad on the world. Who first led mankind to think? Men taught by God. Who unlocked the earliest treasures of knowledge? Men imbued with knowledge from on high. And in more recent times, who awoke the world from a night of ages? Christians. Who introduced civil and religious liberty? Christians. Who have ever taken the lead in the march of the human soul towards a higher and more excellent condition? Christians. Who are at this moment resuscitating the dead intellect, and kindling the torch of science, in the dark places of the earth? Christians. In a word, who are putting forth an influence to reclaim this world of fallen, guilty, miserable minds to knowledge, to virtue, to God? Christians.

Observe the salutary influence produced by attending the means of grace. Mark the surprising difference between those places which have long enjoyed the influence of an enlightened, pious ministry, and those which have not. And even in towns favoured with the preaching of the gospel, the children of those families which shun the house of God, and waste the sabbath at home or in the fields, will seldom come to anything good or great. Their history like that of their fathers, will be

briefly and sadly this-They were born, they ate, they drank, they were married, they had children like themselves, they died, they were buried, unknowing and unknown, unblessing and unblest. And where do we find the abject victims of superstition and the miserable tools of political demagogues so numerous, as in places long destitute of the preached gospel?

Now it happens, that in all ages of the world, and in all countries, those communities and nations which have enjoyed most real freedom of every name, social, religious, intellectual, civil, and have been most elevated in the scale of all that makes men and nations great and blessed, are those identically in which the Bible has been most faithfully preached. Where the Bible has not been proscribed, either by avowed infidels or corrupt ecclesiastics, and in its place the grovelling dogmas of men substituted, there have been the green spots of our earth, the oases of the desert. There men and nations have risen from darkness and thraldom to life and liberty.

You will sometimes hear men of erratic minds undertaking to enlighten the world, treat the Bible as an old almanack, which was of service once, but may now be laid aside for something better and more modern. Allow me to say, that it is constantly becoming more and more apparent to all sound intellects, that the Bible, though the oldest book in the world, and though not given expressly to teach us natural knowledge, is yet in advance of all the sciences, arts, literature, governments, and improvements of the world. You cannot advance any science which the Bible has not, in its moral aspects, anti

cipated; you cannot enter into any improvements of politics, law, civil institutions, domestic relations, where the Bible has not gone before you to prepare the way. At various periods have men risen up against it, and advanced imposing theories subversive of its Divine authority, or of its doctrines; but they and their theories have perished together. Many a great perverted intellect has risen up, like a flaming comet threatening wide disaster, which has soon passed away and disappeared for ever; while this divine luminary has been steadily ascending higher and higher towards its throne and zenith in the heavens. And we know that the time must come when

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Whatever tends to exalt the mind and the character; whatever imparts to the immortal spirit dominion over the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, and the pride of life; whatever tends to diffuse through society the charms of elevated and benevolent sentiment; whatever tends to break from the mind the fetters of bigoted ignorance, and infuse into it the life of genuine liberality; whatever lifts up the sweet smile of virtuous blessedness in domestic circles; whatever encourages and rewards industry in all classes; whatever sustains the institutions of science, and of equitable civil government; in short, whatever is concerned in the promotion of that godliness which is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come, every wise and benevolent citizen will love and promote.

The learned professions all look for their supplies to young men. Think of the immense moral power they wield over society. Is it of small importance, whether those who are to illustrate and advocate our laws, and adjudicate our civil rights, those who are to be the professors in our public seminaries and teachers of our youth, those who are to have in trust the health and the lives of their fellow-beings, in the season when the presence and consolations of religion are so essentially needed, shall be men fearing God and honestly seeking to "do good to all men" as they have opportunity? Were it no calamity to have them" haters of God" and "lovers of their own selves," cold and dead to all sentiments of piety, reckless of their moral accountability, and scattering pestilence and destruction around them?

The benevolent institutions and movements of the age depend for their success very much upon young men. They do not of course look to them for their largest pecuniary aid, but for ingenuity, courage, energy, labour, to originate means and urge them on. "A propensity rather to indulge the illusions of hope, than to calculate probabilities," says the author of the Natural History of Enthusiasm, "may seem almost a necessary qualification for those who, in this world of abounding evil, are

This general principle may be equally applied to those in the earlier periods of life, while yet hope, ardour, and enterprise predominate over the chastised, subdued wisdom of advanced age. And hence, while wisdom, counsel, and funds must come principally from the more advanced, young men are to strike out plans, invent ways, and push on the wheels, with courage, resolution, and labour.

You should also accompany your active efforts with the contribution of money, according to your means. A little given by a young man just starting in life, is worth as much as a large sum given later. Give systematically and from principle. If at any time you are unable to be present at the stated time for contributing to a benevolent object, which it is your duty to support, either send your contribution, or double it the next time. Be sure you do not forget this, and spend it in some other way; it would be a hazardous aggression upon the integrity of your principles.

Although it is desirable that you should accumulate a sufficient capital with which to pursue your business to advantage, yet do not suppose that you are exonerated from beneficence, or rather deprived of the privilege of exercising it, till that point is gained. Consider a portion of the first money you obtain as sacred to benevolence; let the same principle go with you through life, and thus appropriate a part of all your gains. This is infinitely important to the moral health of your own soul, as well as to your usefulness. The highest wisdom ever known has said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive;" and that man has the true value of money yet to learn, who has not learned to do good with it. But while you give to public objects, remember also your family connexions, and other poor but worthy relatives and acquaintances. Some men neglect these, even while contri

buting with a becoming liberality to public objects. "These things ought you to do, and not to leave the others undone."

It will serve to help your benevolent principle, if you at once abandon all idea of laying up large property for your children, or of accumulating a fortune to retire and live upon. I do not say that men while in the vigour of life should make no provision for their children, or for the infirmities of age; but I say, that they should consider themselves devoted to a benevolent end; and this principle should govern all their plans, gains, expenses, and benefactions.

As to acquiring a fortune to retire for purposes of self-indulgence, it is the severest deception that ever the adversary of human happiness played upon his covetous subjects. How selfish, how miserable it is, when a man has secured the means of rendering extensive benefit to the world, that he should retire from active service and lavish it upon his indolence and pleasure!

But he is usually punished. Scarcely ever is he a happy man, from the moment he retires to a life of inactive indulgence. He builds or buys his fine house, plants his gardens, gravels his walks, smooths his plats and lawns, makes his pools and fountains of water; stores his cellar with an abundance of the choicest wines; gets to him men servants and maidens; puts all things in order-and then he says, "I shall die in my nest, I shall multiply my days as the sand." But scarcely does one short month expire, before he begins to be discontented. Then does he say in his heart, as did the Frenchman who built the goodly mansion near Boston. Having made his fortune, erected his house, and gathered about him all the means of earthly enjoyment, he soon became uneasy, and wished to sell his place. Why, what's the matter now ?" said his friend, "don't you like your place?" "Oh, de place is well enough," replied the unhappy man in the French style, abating some profanity-" but I tell you, pursuit is de good; possession is de evil!"

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And wherein does this differ from the very lesson taught us in the Bible, respecting one who lived almost three thousand years ago? "I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards: I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits: I made me

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pools of water, to water therewith the young trees; I got me servants," etc. "Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do and behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.'

There is, however, it must be allowed, occasionally to be found a man of an indolent and pleasure-loving disposition, who has so educated himself to it, that anything like benevolent active effort has become a task, and who thus contrives to live wholly to himself upon his fortune, with a sort of oyster-like satisfaction. By that exclusiveness, towards which this form of selfishness always tends, such men soon lose their influence over society, and become to the world much the same as if they had gone to the grave. It is a kind of premature death; and for the good of the world, it is doubtless better that such should die than live.

Abandon, then, all idea of laying up a fortune with a view to the future gratification of pride, vanity, pleasure, or indolence. You cannot commit a greater or more fatal error. Determine to be actively employed in doing good, as long as you can. Value property and influence mainly in reference to this end. Should Providence ever lay you aside from your present employment, your benevolent ingenuity will still devise many ways by which you can make yourself useful. Our excellent mothers continue to knit stockings for their sons and grandsons, long after the infirmities of age have detached them from the more active duties of life. Do they not enjoy it? And if you are so happy as to learn the luxury of doing good, you will be able to find something for your heart and hand to do as long as you live, á thousand times more conducive to your happiness than indolence or selfish pleasure.

Man was made for action. Such is the law of his nature, that active benevolence is essential to his happiness. The inhabitants of heaven rest only from sin and suffering; as to employment, "they rest not day nor night." Determine to be actively employed in some benevolent way, as long as you live, and it will have an excellent effect on your present character; it will enlarge your heart, expand your vision, and happily modify all your plans and habits.

Expect to live and act for ever!-to

They are frequently the more obvious demonstrations of your kindness, and they serve to open for you a way to the hearts of the objects of your beneficence, through which you may pour the richer blessings of religion. Make it an object, then, as far as your time and means will allow, to enter the abodes of poverty and sorrow; to relieve the wants of the virtuous needy, as well as to rescue and save the vicious; to wipe away the tear of affliction, and soothe the sorrows of the widow and the orphan, by your sympathetic and kind attentions. Your labour will not be in vain. And when the hour of your own trial shall come, as to all it must, how happy will it be to be enabled to say with one of the best of men, "When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me; because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me; and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy."-Hubbard Winslow.

OLD HUMPHREY ON PLAIN WRITING.

PLAIN writing prevents much confusion, vexation, and disappointment. Write it plain, appears at first to be but a homely piece of advice, but a little consideration may make it of more importance. Had it been better attended to in one or two instances in which I have been concerned, it would have saved me much inconvenience. When I was a younger man than I now am, a hamper was addressed to me to be left at a friend's house about three miles from my abode. A fit of economy came upon me at the time, and I thought that, as the hamper was not very large, and as no one was likely to see me, it being almost dark, I might just as well carry it home myself, as give half a crown to a porter. I read the direction on the card, and swinging the hamper on my shoulder, walked at a pretty sharp rate. Before I had got half a mile, it began to rain, the keen edges of the hamper cut my shoulder sadly, and the exertion of moving quickly with such a burden put me all in a perspiration; but what tried me worse than all was, that my hands got so unaccountably sticky, that I could not tell what to make of it. On I went bustling through the rain, shifting the hamper every now and then from one

shoulder to another. By the time I got home I had had quite enough of my burden, but when I came to set it down and to take off my great coat, oh what a pickle was I in! Had any one poured a can of treacle down the back of my great coat, it would scarcely have been worse; the back, the shoulders, the sleeves, and my hands,-but it is of no use to attempt to describe what is beyond description.

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Now what had occasioned all this? why a want of attention to the simple and useful advice, "Write it plain.' "" The hamper contained a good sized gammon of bacon, two chines, some pork pies, and half a dozen large pots of red currant jam; and as the currant jam was rather thin, being full of syrup, the address card had written upon it, Keep this side uppermost.' Unfortunately this was written so small and so illegibly that I had not perceived it; the consequence was, that in swinging the hamper on my shoulder the bottom uppermost, and in hitching it from one shoulder to the other, the syrup had run out of the jam pots. The pies, chines, and gammon of bacon had come in for their share, but my greatcoat was a perfect picture, and such a picture as I never wish to see painted again. Oh the wetting, the rubbing, the sponging that I had to make it any thing like decent to put on ; but the very thought of it makes me uncomfortable, and therefore I will say no more about it, only that it impressed on my memory the good sense and good advice contained in the words, "Write it plain." It is a good thing to profit by the errors we fall into, and if by relating them to others, they too are induced to profit by them, it is a better thing still. But I have not yet done with the piece of advice, "Write it plain."

When I was a youngster, my father had a letter from his cousins, the Merridews, of York, to say that, if convenient, they and their two children would spend a few days at our house, but that they must have a reply by return of post; for if they did not come to us, they should go into Derbyshire. Now, as the Merridews were topping people, as well as very friendly, my father was very particular in not losing a post. A letter was written to say how glad we should all be to see them. I had the credit then of being a good writer; so my father gave me the letter to direct, first scribbling the address on a bit of paper. "Write it plain, Humphrey, write it plain," said he,