CHAPTER I.

THE NECESSITY OF REFLECTION.

By reflection, I would signify, the habit of often and seriously meditating upon the various topics connected with your prosperity and enjoyments. On arriving at years of understanding, you perceive that the race to which you belong, exists in company with countless grades of other creatures. And you also discover that man is elevated far above, and is, indeed, ruler over all other forms of earthly existence. The cause of this exaltation, it can not fail to be perceived, arises from the superior faculties with which you are endowed—the intellectual and moral capacities which compose the mind. These mental powers make man all that he is—the sage, the philoso pher, the mathematician, the astronomer—capable of penetrating deep into the operations of Nature's laws--capable of converting the elements to his purposes, and of ascending high the infinite scale of attainable knowledge. Take from the human race these powers, and the bright chain

which links them to a higher world, to a more lofty grade of beings, is severed, and they sink to the level of the brutes--differing from them only in form and feature. For what purpose are these ennobling faculties bestowed upon you?--to remain idle and dormant? Surely not. Nature never imparts any power but for use. To animals is granted instinct for their guidance and control; and the dictates of this instinct, which is ever in active operation, they invariably follow while life endures. But to man has been given the higher power of reason, for a similar purpose—to direct and govern him in his intercourse with his fellowbeings. These mental faculties in man, should no more be idle, than is instinct in brutes. And a neglect in the one case, would be as deleterious to the enjoyments of its possessor, as in the other.

The habit of exercising the mind in reflection upon the future, as well as the past and present, is one of the most valuable that can be established. And yet it is one, in regard to which, the young are extremely liable to fail. The present—the present with its amusements and its gayeties, absorbs the greater proportion of their thoughts. And when they occasionally glance at the future, it is too often, but to dress it in the bright attire of the imagination—in the blooming garlands of life's sweetest pleasures. I would not unnecessarily overshadow present enjoyments, by the gloomy clouds of future anticipated evils. But

the young should bear in mind the truth of the

stanzas—

"The beam of the morning, the bud of the Spring,
The promise of beauty and brightness may bring;

But clouds gather darkness, and, touched by the frost,
The pride of the plant and the morning are lost.

Thus the bright and the beautiful ever decay,

Life's morn and life's flowers—O, they quick pass away!" It is important that youth should remember these things, because they are true; and because a knowledge of them may inspire the mind with a sense of the importance of frequently casting your thoughts into the future, to select your course of life, rather than to rush blindfolded along. When the ship approaches a dangerous coast, a "look out" is stationed, to warn of the approach to reef or breaker. So the young, in navigating the dangerous voyage of life, should establish reflection as the "look out," to give timely notice of those fatal shoals of imprudence and vice, upon which so many, originally possessing the brightest prospects, have been wrecked.

It

There are many advantages accruing from a well established habit of reflection. It will enable you to form those just conceptions of your nature and constitution, and of the laws by which they are governed, that will make you wise in regard to the true sources of your happiness. will show the vast distinction between those enjoyments that are proper to you, as intellectual beings, and those belonging more expressly to your animal nature. Reflection will convince you that your higher faculties are bestowed upon you,

to become sources of more pure, elevated and lasting enjoyments, than can possibly be experienced from the passions. It will teach you that the individuals who forget or overlook these evident truths, and who depend for all their happiness, upon the indulgence of evil propensities, not only disgrace themselves, and the race to which they belong, but are deprived of all the advantages of the higher powers bestowed upon them, and might as well have been created the brute, as for any important benefit which they obtain from these valuable sources. It will convince you that those in this condition, are in a bondage, deep, disgraceful and miserable—a bondage to be feared more deeply than prisons, chains and fetters. It › will satisfy you that 66 man was created for pur

poses high and noble—such as angels engage in, and in comparison with which, all other objects sink into insignificance, and all other enjoyments are contemptible as ashes."

Reflection is an important safe-guard in selecting associates, forming habits, choosing occupations, and, indeed, in all that concerns youth.— The young man or the young woman who thinks deeply, will act wisely. They will be aware of the nature of the dangers which hover around 'their path, and therefore, will act cautiously and safely. They will be enabled to penetrate those specious appearances in which vice so frequently presents itself—they will look beneath the gaudy veil which so often covers the deformities of sin,

and behold the native blackness of the monster. They will be aware that "all is not gold that glitters," and will readily detect the gilded imitation when it would occupy the place of the pure metal. They will weigh well the influences and the effects of every important step, and not be led astray by the deceitful devices of the transgressor..

How few, who are now advanced in years, would not act materially different were they to pass over the track of life again! Experience has taught them wisdom. In looking back upon their history, they can clearly perceive where they have been mistaken, where they have failed, where they have acted foolishly. And could they again pass through life, this dearly bought wisdom would enable them to amend where they before had gone counter to their true welfare. How many, when it is too late, unavailingly regret, that in early years, they had not been more reflective and cautious. The young are now, where the aged would desire to be, to do better than they have done. But as this can not be, they willingly impart their wisdom and experience to youth, to enable them to avoid those evils which they experienced. Those who have failed, readily instruct you where they missed their way; and all wise youth will listen and reflect deeply on their suggestions. Solomon says "A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels." There is no indication more promising in youth, than a desire