42 A PATTERN OF EXCELLENCE. upon what he is, and what he ought to be; upon virtue, duty, life, and destiny. Let him early learn to hold coun cil within himself over every desire and impulse that rises within him, over every action of the soul, and see that at all times obedience is yielded to the dictations of this council. To be successful in this, he must be always watchful, always guarded, always striving for the more perfect attainment of the great object before him. At home and abroad, in the field and in the shop, in the hour of pleasure and the season of sorrow, in prosperity's day and adversity's night. in confidential intercourse with companions and friends, and in the treatment of enemies and defamers, he should enthrone his will, and put forth every power within him, to be just what he should be. Has he a pattern of excellence before him, some friend, some acquaintance, some illustrious character, whom he would imitate? Then let that character be perpetually before him, like a Divine Omniprescence. Let him remember the perfect pattern, the "Man Christ Jesus," "the One altogether lovely, the chiefest among ten thousand," and strive always to conform to that pattern. It is within the power of nearly every youth to be great and good, to be pure and excellent, to moderate the vehemence of every desire, chasten every feeling, subdue every passion, restrain every impulse, and curb every wayward tendency. All that is necessary to accomplish this, is firmly to determine upon the object, and persevere in carrying it out. ECTURE III THE DANGERS OF IMPULSE. The Dangers of Impulse-Obstacles to Virtue-Evils of Ungoverned Passions-Criminality the Fruit of Impulse-Restraint of the Animal Passions-Enthrone ment of Morality and Intelligence-Self-government the Soul of Progress-Pub lic Evil flows from Individual Vice-Our Future in the Hands of our Youth. On the outposts of the human soul, its great Author has wisely stationed a sentinel, whose duty it is to watch for danger. When faithful, it warns of both physical and moral danger. Its eye is as an eagle's, and its heart sensitive, and easily alarmed. But, strange as it may seem, many youth have deemed it cowardly to listen to the warnings of this noble watchman of the mental family, and have turned a deaf ear, till the watchman has ceased his cry, and the sacred soul-sanctuary has been overrun by enemies from without and within. Youthful reader, are you one of this unwise number? Does the cry of this sentinel ring through the arches of your soul, warning of the danger of impulse, and rehearsing in your ears the miserable results of its impetuosities? If not, call him to duty; for above all things else, you need his friendly admonitions. The dangers of impulsiveness are not chimerical. They are real, positive, and awful. Who does not know that 44 OBSTACLES TO VIRTUE. the devil has pitched his camp within us, and made our impulses his imps of ruin? What else but impulse led our Eden mother from the bower of innocence and virtue? Where else but on the tree of impulse grew the fruit she ate, which turned to ashes on her lips? What else was the "knowledge of evil" she acquired but the results of impulse; and what else was the "knowledge of good" thus obtained but the blessings of self-control? Has her sad experience given us no warning? Has the recklessness of the whole world given us no alarm? It is time to take warning. This age is pregnant with some great good. What is it? It travails for delivery. Feel we not already, therefore, inspiration of its embryo good? Is it not a deliverer for youth, a divine lawgiver for the young soul, to re-establish in it the Eden-trampled throne of self-dominion, to crown thereon imperial Right and Duty as king and queen, who shall bridle the impulses for the soul's everlasting servants? Let the warnings of the past, and the developments of the present, bid us hope for so great a good. Little are many youth aware of the obstacles to the approach of this "good time coming," the obstacles which they permit to exist within themselves. There are thousands of youth of good motives, generous desires, honorable ambition, who hate meanness, despise a vicious course of life, who are yet in very great danger from their impulses. A temptation a little stronger than they have met, an evil a little more seductive, a moment a little more unguarded, may work their ruin; or if not work absolute ruin, may plant thorns of moral poison that will sting them with a EVILS OF UNGOVERNED PASSIONS. 45 thousand regrets, and cause the blush to mantle the faces of all their best friends. All very impulsive persons live perpetually among thorns. They do and say things almost daily that cause themselves, or somebody else, most sore disquietude. When they are so stupid as not to see the improprieties of their own course, they may be causing frequent and deep wounds in the hearts of all who love them best. How often an impulsive person wounds the feelings of his truest friends! His thoughtless words, poisoned, it may be, with the gall-drops of a fit of anger or jealousy, envy or pride, or a momentary flash of displeasure, may cut like twoedged swords to the heart's core. Or, wanting that sweet refinement given by self-control, their very roughness and harshness may "grate horrible discord" in the ears of those that love him, and would gladly be charmed by his sweet words of wisdom and goodness. How much, oh, how much unhappiness is thus caused by the uncontrolled waywardness of impulsive natures! If we were to probe the hearts of all refined and sensitive natures, and express what we should find, we should reveal a great world of misery that is all unexposed to human gaze now. In the secret, silent chambers of the purest, loveliest souls, these sorrows are felt, and felt with a keenness all unknown to less refined and sensitive minds. And what is worse, we thus cause our loveliest and most truly excellent friends to suffer. How mortifying is the thought that such friends are pierced with anguish, occasioned by our want of self-control, by the reckless impulses we nurse 46 CRIMINALITY THE FRUIT OF IMPULSE within us. Go into the homes of men, where the world's eye is shut out, and see the desecration of love's hallowed sanctuaries; see companions estranged; see brothers and sisters living as strangers to each other, performing rone of those little offices of love that are so sweet and delectable; see children growing up in an atmosphere of icy coldness, and learn the evils of ungoverned passions. Go again into the world, and witness the strifes, animosities, quarrels, and disgusting scenes of neighborhood disturb ances, and another similar lesson may be learned. Friendships are broken, which long years of faithful confidence and good offices had cemented; and affections are estranged, which a thousand cords of tenderness had bound. There is hardly a danger to which youth is exposed, to which the great avenue does not open from the fruitful source of some passion-fire. Read the history of criminals, of all the most unfortunate classes of beings, and you will find that impulse was the rock on which they split. Their first digressions from rectitude were not premeditated. They were the works of haste, of thoughtless impetuosity. They were often yielded to as innocent, were even regarded as sprightly, as evidences of wit, or genius, or strong affection, and not unfrequently have been imitated by admiring companions. There is a wild, untamed beauty about these impulsive feelings, that often causes youth to admire and imitate them. And they frequently have much the appearance of virtue in their exhibitions, when they are fast leading those who are nursing them on to ruin. Look at the thousand sorrowful cases of intemperance, spread like |