final termination. In that hour, the spirit and the flesh will separate; when the one shall be committed to the earth, and the other will go to the God who gave it. Though it be necessary and proper to plan for time, it is a higher duty to form our plans with reference to eternity. If the end of life is kept constantly in view, you will in all your acts manifest a preference for good deeds, and your resolutions and words will conform to your acts: you will prefer that fame, which will not only endure throughout the present life, but which will live after you are dead, which will benefit you in life, and honor you in the coming ages of the world. The great men of antiquity looked to the honor which posterity would bestow upon their memory. It is easy to float with the current, but hard to stem it. Yet difficulties must be overcome, dangers must be encountered, and a host of ills must be endured in the performance of the great duties of life. These bring their reward by displaying powers which are given to be used, and when properly used insure a reward. To endure to the end is better than to yield to circumstances which ought to be a stimulus to exertion. The pursuit of wisdom should not be relinquished on account of the jeers of the proud or the foolish. Virtue and vice should be placed in opposite scales, that a comparative estimate may be made of the value of each. Splendid attainments without corresponding honorable and praiseworthy acts, are rather a blot upon a fair page than any thing to be commended or desired. Talent properly applied and directed may be matter of just pride, but when it is the only thing of which you can boast, it is certainly matter of sorrow, if not of shame. The repeated blows of the hammer of industry will form

a brighter and more durable polish than the chance stroke of superior talent; labor will more than compensate the vivid but uncertain effort of genius. Well directed aims and diligence in your pursuits will cause you to observe those rules which will make you good if not great. You will attain those arts which make life pleasant and prosperous. Most men seek present and intermediate good, nothing durable. Wealth, honor and pleasure are the common pursuits of man: for them no obstacles are too great to be surmounted, no danger too perilous to be hazarded, and for which no effort is left untried. If the object is attained by dishonorable means, it is a curse to the individual, and will not compensate the nights of watching and days of care he has spent in the pursuit. Generally pleasure is derived from objects unworthy the end of a wise or a good man.

Nights and days are squandered in those walks where the Syren sings her song of delusive joy, of momentary gratification, of drunken bliss, of soul-destroying phrenzy ; amid scenes where the strong currents of passion are bearing their muddy waters to the abyss in which remorse, with viper head and fang, is inflicting a thousand pangs. Ambition of earthly honor, a momentary ele-vation above others of your race, though the object of constant exertion with regard to the means of attainment, when attained, will be like the fruit of Sodom, fair to look upon, but filled with ashes. These pursuits are attended with pain of body, and distress of mind, and terminate in repining and self-abasement. The aged disciple of Plutus grasp the riches of earth with one hand, and with the other attempts to secure the prize of heaven. Whatever the pretensions to the contrary, the effort to

carry the god of earth to heaven, will show that this world, to such, is the end of life. Let the acts be good, the motives laudable, and let the life be guided by wisdom, and the end will be such an one as will be matter for just gratification. The purest of men, who pride themselves upon their love of the enforcement of moral duties, the performance of contracts, the discharge of obligations, and the amalgamation of the useful and the honest, may have occasion to pray, O, Lord, forgive our faults, and forgive our virtues too. The acts may be well and commendable, but the motives are wrong; they are the Pharisee's prayer in a corrupt heart.

II.

"Adhere to truth, at all times and under all circumstances."

Perhaps it is unnecessary to define what is meant by truth, yet error grows out of a misapprehension of terms. Discussions become wordy in consequence of the vague sense in which words are used. Truth, as understood in relation to facts, means the adherence to facts in the relation or in the statement of their existence. In this sense it is opposed to a lie, which is either the substitution of a new state of facts, or a variation in the true statement of the same. It means in a higher sense the harmony of the universe: the light of life and the essence of the Creator. God is truth. The want of a strict adherence to truth misleads others; it induces error. It is the misdirection of a person who is seeking for the right way. Directing the traveller in a wrong path, in Athens, was made a penal offence. Truth is the basis

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termed punic faith, be

of good faith, which is the strong bond of society. The violation of the obligation imposed by declarations and agreements, destroys, to a great extent, not only the happiness but the peace of society. A want of a rigid fulfilment of pacts by nations, was cause the Carthagenians violated their treaties. Slight errors in statements in giving details, produces great error in results. Truth will in the end prevail, though falsehood for a time has the ascendency. If falsehood does not lead to any fatal consequences to others, it always leaves a stain upon the character that cannot be washed out. By falsehood I mean a lie, though between them there are many shades of difference. In common parlance they are synonymous. A lie is always a perversion of the truth for a corrupt purpose: a falsehood may be with or without corrupt intention. The one is always intentional, the other may or may not be. When once "liar" is written on your forehead, it will be indelible. When once it is written, no chemical preparation will wash it out. It is one of those words which mark moral obliquity, and the reiterating it causes many appeals to the god of truth. The character of the liar is so despicable as to render the truth questionable; though it takes not from its weight, the source whence it is derived gives it a suspicious character.

Truth gives peace and quietness of conscience; amid all the changes of life, it will take away fear, create joy and confidence in the darkest hours. Truth always passes current without any ornament. A lie is always dressed out in false colors to make it pass for truth even among the most ignorant. Truth is always direct, always bold and fearless. Truth elevates the moral worth of the

man. A lie debases the man, and robs him not only of his worth as a citizen, but takes from him all the characteristics which add weight to his character. Words or writing, are not always necessary to constitute a lie. Pictures or tokens intended to impress the beholder with what is untrue, is a legal lie. This is termed a libel, the most aggravating species of lie.

In the language of Shakspeare:

"He who takes from me my good name,

Takes that which makes him nought the richer,
But makes me poor indeed."

Truth is an ornament to the whole face and constitu tion of nature, and it gives light and shade to the formation of the plants, trees, leaves, blossoms and fruit. It is the great principle which beautifies and adorns the world, which gives force and power to the whole of the animate and inanimate creation. In nature there is no falsehood, no deception; all her works are perfect; all are true; all fulfil the design of the Creator; all produce harmony in the motions of the planets, and in the seasons of the year. There is no variation from the order or law of the Maker. Every plant, every spear of grass, is true to the design and end for which it is made.

It is the same principle of truth which beautifies the spiritual world, which is unfolded and becomes the highest ornament of the physical world. The same perfectness and completeness is manifested in the spiritual powers that is visible in the objects of nature. The instinct given to the lower animate creation, which guides them without instruction to results which are above the

highest reasoning powers, is the truth of nature. The reason of man, that highest and best gift of the Deity,