member this: a refractory, turbulent, disobedient apprentice or servant, will most probably make a capricious, tyrannical, and ill-judging master. The apprentice whom his master cannot govern will be the master who cannot govern his apprentice. This is not simply one of the retributions of Providence, but one of the natural results of the course of things. The great principle which gave to the Jesuits such prodigious power in past ages, was unhesitating and unlimited obedience to their Superior. Heroes have usually been trained in the school of obedience and discipline. So our most thriving tradesmen, especially the men who have risen to a high situation, have first served well in a low one. But when I recommend submission and obedience, I mean that which springs from principle, and not merely from compulsion and fear. In this, as well as in everything else, you should do that which is right to be done, because it is right. Call in your judgment, your conscience, your sense of propriety. It is just and good to obey the authority of a master. The principle of fear, the mere sense of compulsion, will train you badly. The slaves of tyrants, who obey only from dread of punishment, upon their emancipation make the greatest tyrants. A character cast in the mould of fear must be a mis-shapen one. As to capacity for application, dispatch, sagacity, quickness, perseverance, in the situation of a master, you must get all these while learning your business as an apprentice. If not learned then, they never will be. An idle apprentice will make an idle tradesman; a pleasure-loving youth a pleasure-loving man. On the other hand, a quick, sharp, clever boy, will make a quick, sharp, clever man. Tell me what the apprentice is, and I will tell you what the tradesman will be. Be diligent, be submissive, be honest, be attentive to business. Determine, by God's blessing, to excel. Aim to be eminent. Do not be contented with dull mediocrity. Have ambition to stand well and to rise

high. A clever, industrious, successful, religious tradesman, is an ornament to his town and his country. Future life is before you, prepare for it thus.

IV. But the chief preparation for life, without which indeed no reliance can be placed on any other, is the formation of a moral and religious character. Having already reminded you how much the happiness and usefulness of life depend, even in this world, upon the formation of character generally viewed, I now refer to religious character. Genuine religion, the parent of sound morality, (and no religion is genuine that does not produce morality) is the surest guide to success in this world; other things being equal, he will be almost certain to be the most successful tradesman, who is the most consistent Christian. And as religion is the best guide to happiness in this world, it is the only way to happiness in the world to come. It has been a thousand times told you, on the authority of Holy Writ, that "Godliness is profitable for all things, having the promise of the life that now is," mark that, 66 as well as of that which is to come." Who will contradict it? Religion will preserve you from all the habits that tend to poverty and misery, and aid the formation of all that tend to wealth and happiness. Have you ever studied, (for I would not so reflect upon you as to suppose you have never read,) Solomon's exquisite allegory, in which he so beautifully describes the nature and consequence of true religion? "Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain therof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies; and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her; and happy is every one that retaineth

her." Now the wisdom here so exquisitely described, and so forcibly recommended, is true religion. Who will rise up to say that religion ruined them? And how many millions could rise up, some on earth, and some from hell, to say they were ruined for want of it?

If the formation of character is one of the preparatory processes of life, then you should not have your character to establish, your principles of action to choose, when you want them to use. Your rule should be laid down, your standard adjusted, your purpose formed, when you begin to act. You are about to set sail on the perilous ocean of life, not as a passenger merely, but as both captain and owner of the vessel; and should you not have learned navigation, and have prepared a chart, and a compass, and a sextant, and acquired practical skill to use them? There are rocks and shoals to be avoided, and storms and contrary winds to be encountered, on your going out of port. Without fixed religious principles, and established moral character, you may be wrecked before clearing the harbour. It is of infinite consequence that you should pos. sess the fear of God, a hatred of sin, and dread of judg ment to come, before you embark. Remember therefore your Creator in the days of your youth. Set the Lord always before you. Be rooted and grounded in the love of Christ. Be a young disciple, and then you are ready for everything. Religion will be your guide in perplexity, your shield in danger, your companion in solitude, your comfort in sorrow, your defence against temptation, and (if it be genuine, earnest, and consistent,) it will not fail to make you holy, happy, and useful.

V. There is another thing I would most earnestly enforce upon you as a preparation for life, and that is, a deep sense of the importance of habit, and the necessity of forming good habits while young. Among the words of our vocabulary which you should select, as having greater importance than others, and as deserving to be

more intently pondered upon, is habit.

Dwell upon it; it is a golden word of incalculable value. It means the facility of doing a thing well, acquired by having done it frequently, together with a certain impulse or inclination to do it. It differs from instinct, not so much in exercise as in origin; habit being acquired, and instinct natural. I shall not trouble you with a discussion upon the philosophical theory of habit, but only advert to its importance. Consider, then, of what moment it is to do by habit what is right, and thus to have everything which is good and proper to be done made easy; not to have disinclination, difficulty, and awkwardness to encounter every time a right thing is to be done, but to go to it with the impulse and ease of habit; to be good, not only from principle, but from habit. On the other hand, how dreadful is it to be carried forward in the way of evil, by the double force of inclination and habit. Now childhood and youth are the time for forming habits. We see this in the mechanical arts, and it is so in all the mental and moral processes. Industry and self denial, forethought and caution, religion and virtue, will all be comparatively easy to the man who has acquired the babit in early life. Through God's grace, the most difficult duty, the most rare virtue, may thus become easy.

And now let me enforce this preparation for future life upon you. Recollect what it is I am urging upon you. Ponder it well. Weigh it in the balance of reason. It is preparation for life. What a sentence ! How pregnant with meaning! Suppose you were going upon a voyage to a strange land, never to return to your own country. Would you not prepare both for the safety and comfort of the voyage, and also for your wellbeing in the country where you were going to dwell for the remainder of your existence; and would not everybody be astounded at you, if you were busy about a variety of things, and yet gave no care at all to the work

of preparation for your voyage and your foreign resi dence? And what is your life but a voyage to eternity, a state requiring preparation both for itself and what lies beyond it? Now if in the former case you would be anxious to get a safe vessel; to select a skilful and agreeable captain; to choose a comfortable berth; to sail with pleasant companions; to lay in a good stock of necessary articles and if you would commence the preparation in due time, that when the hour of embarkation arrives you might have nothing to do but to go on board; how much more necessary is it that now in youth you should be diligently preparing by and by to embark on the ocean of human life. And if in the case I have supposed, you would be still more anxious about the foreign land in which you were going to dwell than even about the comfort of the voyage itself, how much more important is it that you should be more careful about that eternity to which this life leads, than the comfort of life itself?

Not only does life require a preparation, like everything else, but more than everything else. If every situation in life demands previous consideration, provision, and training, if every new scene or pursuit demands an adaptation, a meetness, a bracing up of the mind to it, how much more the whole of life. Who can do well any thing that is novel, difficult, and important, without forethought, plan, and purpose? Who then shall think of entering upon life without preparation, and stepping upon the stage of existence without learning to act well a part in the great drama? A life altogether unprepared for must be a life of perpetual mistakes, faults, and miseries. A man cannot live happily, righteously, usefully, or successfully, who does not prepare to do so: that is, he cannot at all expect to do so, and ordinarily he does not do so.

You are to recollect, young men, that while the brute creation are prepared by instinct for their life, and without any previous education perform all the functions which