how he may best fulfil the great purposes of his being. And this, my friends, is an exercise peculiarly appropriate at your time of life.

Joyous and flattering as the prospect before you may seem, let me tell you, there is much in it that is fitted to make you serious and thoughtful. You cannot take a just view of your state and prospects, without feeling that you are placed in circumstances of deep and solemn interest. Your Creator has placed you here in the midst of a shifting and transient scene, to sojourn, a little while, as probationers for eternity, then to pass from the stage and be here no more.

He has formed you for society, for duty and happiness; and has so connected you with the living beings around you, that they, as well as yourselves, are to feel the good or ill effects of your conduct, long after you shall have gone to render up your account at his bar. How imperious, to beings in such a state, is the duty of consideration! How wise, how all important to inquire,-What am I, and what is my destination in this and the future world? For what end was I created, and for what purpose placed here in the midst of beings like myself?

What are the relations which I sustain to those beings and to society? What the duties which I owe to them? How can I be prepared to perform those duties, and how accomplish the great end for which my Creator gave me existence, and placed me in this world of probation and trial? The man who thinks lightly of such inquiries, or who never brings them home to his own bosom, as matters of direct, personal concern, violates every principle of reason and common prudence.

Let me press them upon you, my young friends, as demanding your first and chief attention. They are indeed grave inquiries; and light, trifling minds may reject them because they are so. But they are suggested by the reality of things; and never, without a due consideration of them, can you be qualified for the duties of life, or sustain the responsibilities so soon to come upon you as members of society.

Another requisite for meeting the claims of society is intelligence, or a careful cultivation of your minds. In despotic governments, where the subject is a mere vassal, and has no part either in making or executing the laws,

ignorance is, no doubt, as the advocates of legitimacy claim, an essential qualification of a good citizen.

The less he knows of his rights the more contented he is to be deprived of them; and the less he understands of duty, the more pliable he is as a mere instrument of ambition and power. Not so in this country. Here every man is a public man. He has an interest in the community, and exerts an important influence over the interests of others. He is a freeman; and this ought always to mean the same thing as an intelligent man.

He possesses the right of suffrage; and in the exercise of that right, he is often called to aid in the election of rulers, to deliberate and act respecting the public welfare, to fill offices of influence and trust, and to perform innumerable duties in the course of life, which can be well performed, only in the possession of an intelligent and well furnished mind. And certainly, whatever be a man's circumstances, he cannot but be a happier and more useful man, by possessing such a mind.

It is not an extended, critical acquaintance with the sciences on which I here insist; this must of necessity be confined to a few; but such a measure of knowledge as may be acquired by men of business, by all men who will but make a proper use of their faculties and time. Franklin was a man of business; he was an apprentice boy in a printing office; but by a careful improvement of that time, which by many young men is thrown away, he became one of the wisest statesmen and most distinguished philosophers of his day.

Sherman, too, of our own State, was a man of business; he was a shoe-maker; but by self-impulse, by patient, untiring effort, he rose from the bench of the shoe-maker, seated himself in the halls of congress, and there took his place with the first.

A small portion of that leisure time, which you all possess, and which, by too many, is given to dissipation and idleness, would enable any young man to acquire a very general knowledge of men and things. A judicious economy of that time, for one year, would afford you opportunity to read a great many useful volumes, and to treasure up much useful knowledge.

The means of intellectual improvement were never more abundant or accessible to all classes of persons, than

at the present day; and I may add, never were there stronger inducements for young men to avail themselves of those means, and to aim at high attainments in knowledge. Society is rapidly advancing in general improvement; the field of enterprise is fast widening, and useful talents of every kind find ample scope for employment.

And permit me to remind you, my friends, that in respect to mental improvement, the present is the most important period of your life. It is, indeed, the only period in which you can enter upon such a course of improvement with any hope of success. If from the age of fifteen to twenty-five, a young man neglects the cultivation of his mind, he will probably neglect it till the end of life. If during that period he does not form a habit of reading, of observation and reflection, he will never form such a habit.

I am the more anxious to impress this subject on your minds, because I consider your usefulness, your present and future happiness, as most intimately connected with it. A young man who has a fondness for books, or a taste for the works of nature and art, is not only preparing to appear with honour and usefulness as a member of society, but is secured from a thousand temptations and evils to which he would otherwise be exposed. He knows what to do with his leisure time. It does not hang heavily on his hands.

He has no inducement to resort to bad company; or the haunts of dissipation and vice; he has higher and nobler sources of enjoyment in himself. At pleasure, he can call around him the best of company,-the wisest and greatest men of every age and country-and feast his mind with the rich stores of knowledge which they spread before him. A lover of good books can never be in want of good society, nor in much danger of seeking enjoyment in the low pleasures of sensuality and vice.

Another thing demanded of you by society is an upright and virtuous character. If a young man is loose in his principles and habits; if he lives without plan and without object, spending his time in idleness and pleasure, there is more hope of a fool than of him. He is sure to become a worthless character and a pernicious member of society. He forgets his high destination as a rational, immortal being; he degrades himself to a level with the

brute; and is not only disqualified for all the serious duties of life, but proves himself a nuisance and a curse to all with whom he is connected.

No young man can hope to rise in society, or act worthily his part in life, without a fair, moral character. The basis of such a character is virtuous principle; or a deep, fixed sense of moral obligation, sustained and invigorated by the fear and the love of God. The man who possesses such a character can be trusted. Integrity, truth, benevolence, justice, are not with him words without meaning; he knows and he feels their sacred import, and aims, in the whole tenor of his life, to exemplify the vir tues they express.

Such a man has decision of character;-he knows what is right and is firm in doing it. Such a man has independence of character;-he thinks and acts for himself, and is not to be made a tool of to serve the purposes of party. Such a man has consistency of character;-he pursues a straight forward course, and what he is to day you are sure of finding him to morrow. Such a man has true worth of character;—and his life is a blessing to himself, to his family, to society and to the world.

Aim then, my friends, to attain this character,—aim at virtue, and moral excellence. This is the first, the indispensable qualification of a good citizen. It imparts life and strength and beauty, not only to individual character, but to all the institutions and interests of society. It is indeed the dew and the rain that nourish the vine and the figtree, by which we are shaded and refreshed.

Consider, how pleasant will be the retrospect of past life, if you faithfully serve God and your generation according to his will. It is but a little time, before you, who are young, will be looking upon a generation rising up to take your places, just as the fathers are now looking upon you. You will soon pass the meridian of life, and be going down its decline to the invisible world. Consider that time as come, as present. Think of yourselves as retiring from the scene of action; your heads whitened with the snows of age, and your limbs stiffened with the frosts of winter.

O, how cheering to be able now, to look back upon a life of beneficent and useful action; a life spent in the service of God and for the good of mankind? How pleasant

and consoling to reflect, that you have done your duty as members of society, and have sustained, honourably, the great interests that were committed to you? How animating too the prospect before you-how glorious the anticipations of the future? All the great interests of society safe; all its institutions secure and flourishing; a generation rising up under the influence of your example and training, intelligent, virtuous, enterprising; prepared to fill your places and carry on the system of human affairs. To them you commend all that you hold most dear on earth, the high interests of the church and society,-happy in the assurance, that they will sustain the sacred trust and transmit the precious inheritance entire, to those who shall come after them. To a mind gladdening with such reflections and prospects, how bright and benignant shines the sun of declining life? The shades of evening gather around him in peace; he reposes in joyful hope, and all his powers are invigorated and cheered by the delightful visions that burst upon his view.

LESSON IV.

Benevolence of the Deity.-DICK.

THE Benevolence of God is that perfection of his nature, by which he communicates happiness to the various ranks of sensitive and intelligent existence. The system of Nature, in all its parts, exhibits an unbounded display of this attribute of the Divine Mind, both in relation to man, and in relation to the subordinate tribes of animated existence.

In relation to Man-the magnificence and glory of the heavens the variegated colouring which is spread over the scene of nature-the beautiful flowers, shrubs, and trees, with which the earth is adorned, which not only delight the eye, but perfume the air with their delicious odors the various kinds of agreeable sounds that charm the ear-the music of the feathered songsters, which fill the groves with their melody-the thousands of pleasant images which delight the eye, in the natural embellishments of creation-the agreeable feelings produced by