One of the first and most important rules of life which should be established by the youthful, is the constant cultivation of purity of heart. This is the great safeguard of the young. It is their brightest jewel—their most attractive ornament—the crowning glory of their character and being. It adds a captivating lustre to all charms of whatever description; and without it all other excellencies are lost in perpetual darkness. It should be a fixed rule, never to violate the dictates of purity either in action, language, or thought. Many imagine it is a matter of small moment what their thoughts may be, so long as in action they do not transgress the requirements of virtue. This, however, is a serious error. The outward action is but the expression of the inward thought. Wicked deeds would never have birth, were they not first prompted by wicked desires. Hence if the young would have their words and deeds characterized by purity, they must see that their hearts and thoughts are constantly pure.
"Pure thoughts are angel visitants! Be such
The frequent inmates of thy guileless breast.
They hallow all things by their sacred touch,
And ope the portals of the land of rest."
The heart is the source of all actions. A dark, muddy fountain cannot send forth clear waters. Neither does a pure fountain send forth muddy waters. A foul heart, the receptacle of unclean thoughts and impure passions, is a corrupt well-spring of action, which leads to every vicious practice. Let the hearts of the youthful be pure as crystal, let their thoughts be sanctified by virtue and holiness; and their lives shall be as white and spotless as the driven snow—winning the admiration of all who know them. With purity as a shield, they are doubly guarded against sin. However enticing temptation may be—however artfully or strongly it may assail them—they are prepared to rise above it, in any and every emergency.
Another of the fixed rules of conduct should be to aim high in all the purposes of life. The great obstacle to success with many of the young, is that they adopt no standard of action for their government; but allow themselves to float along the current of time like a mere straw on the surface of the waters, liable to be veered about by every puff of wind and whirling eddy! If the current in which they float happens to waft them into the smooth waters, and the calm sunshine of virtue and respectability, it is a matter of mere fortunate chance. If they are drawn into the dark stream of sin, they have but little power to resist, and are soon hurried into the surging rapids, and hurled over the boiling cataract of ruin! True, they may not utterly perish even in plunging down the cataract. They may possibly seize hold of some jutting rock below, and by a desperate effort drag themselves from the raging waters. But they will come forth bruised, bleeding, strangling, and half-drowned, to mourn the folly of their thoughtlessness. How much wiser and better to have taken early precaution, and guarded in the first place against the insidious current, which compelled them to purchase wisdom at so dear a rate.
To avoid this great folly, the youthful should establish a fixed purpose for life. They should set their mark, as to what they wish to become; and then make it the great labor of their lives to attain it. And let that mark be a high one. You cannot make it too elevated. The maxim of the ancients was, that although he who aims at the sun will not hit it, yet his arrows will fly much higher than though his mark was on the earth. A young man who should strive to be a second Washington or Jefferson, might not attain to their renown. But he would become a much greater and better man, than though he had only aspired to be the keeper of a gambling-house, or the leader of a gang of blacklegs. In all your purposes and plans of life, aim high!
"Again a light boat on a streamlet is seen,
Where the banks are o'erladen with beautiful green,
Like a mantle of velvet spread out to the sight,
Reflects to the gazer a bright world of light.
The fair bark has lost none of its beauty of yore,
But a youth is within it,—the fair child before;
And the Angel is gone—on the shore see him stand,
As he bids him adieu with a wave of the hand.
Ah! a life is before thee—a life full of care,
Gentle Youth, and mayhap thou wilt fall in its snare.
Can thy bark speed thee now? without wind, without tide?
Without the kind Angel, thy beautiful guide?
Ah! no;—then what lures thee, fair youth, to depart?
Must thou rush into danger from impulse of heart?
Lo! above in the bright arch of Heaven I see
The vision, the aim so alluring to thee:
'Tis the temple of Fame, with its pillars so fair,
And the Genius of Wisdom and Love reigneth there.
Advance then, proud vessel,—thy burden is light,—
Swift speed thee, and guide his young steps in the right;
For in life's 'fitful changes' are many dark streams,
And paths unillumed by the sun's golden beams."
Cherish self-respect. Have a deep regard for your own estimation of your own merits. Look with scorn and contempt upon low and vicious practices. Cultivate pride of character. I care not how proud the youthful are of all their valuable attainments, their correct habits, their excellings in that which is manly, useful, and good. The more pride of this description, the better. Though it should reach even to egotism and vanity, it is much better than no pride in these things. This pride in doing right is one of the preserving ingredients, the very salt of man's moral character, which prevents from plunging into vice.
Live for something besides self. Build with your own hands, the monument that shall perpetuate your memory, when the dust has claimed your body. Do good. Live for others, if you would be embalmed in their recollections.
"Thousands of men breathe, move, and live—pass off the stage of life, and are heard of no more. Why! They did not a particle of good in the world; and none were blessed by them; none could point to them as the instruments of their redemption; not a line they wrote, not a word they spoke could be recalled, and so they perished; their light went out in darkness, and they were not remembered more than the insects of yesterday. Will you thus live and die, O man immortal? Live for something. Do good, and leave behind you a monument of virtue that the storm of time can never Destroy. Write your name by kindness, love, and mercy, on the hearts of the thousands you come in contact with year by year, and you will never be forgotten. No, your name—your deeds—will be as legible on the hearts you leave behind, as the stars on the brow of evening. Good deeds will shine as brightly on the earth as the stars of heaven."[1]
"Up! it is a glorious era!
Never yet has dawned its peer;
Up, and work! and then a nobler
In the future shall appear.
'Onward!' is the present's motto,
To a larger, higher life;
'Onward!' though the march be weary,
Though unceasing be the strife.