companion of success. Know you not, that dangers are not to be overcome by blindly rushing among them? The wisest and best men are they who, like the greatest generals, take distinct cognizance of their dangers, and prepare with proper forecast to overcome them. Napoleon, that great master of war, never failed to calculate upon, and to provide beforehand for, every imaginable difficulty. Had his lieutenant, the unfortunate General Dupont, acted on the same principle in Spain, the defeat he suffered at Baylen would not have tarnished the lustre of his early fame, nor rested as a spot on the military glory of France. But he failed of fully apprehending the perils of his position; was enveloped between two armies, and ingloriously defeated. And you, young man, unless you view life as it is, unless you substitute the sober lessons of experience for the brilliant fancies of imagination, will find your Baylen,

where you will lie, crest-fallen and crushed, between the vices of your own nature and the evil influences of vicious society.

Up, then, with a heroic spirit, and gird yourself for

mortal conflict with the great Apollyon who bestrides your pathway! If he has subdued thousands, thousands have also subdued him. And you too may be his conqueror! Look courageously at the chart of your intended voyage! If, by every sunken rock, and beneath every dashing wave, there lies the wreck of youth who perished untimely, there is also a haven, beyond the sea, into which "a thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands" have triumphantly entered, in defiance of stormy winds and roaring waves. You may do the same, if you will take timely heed to your ways. Success is before you, if you resolutely and wisely seek it. As says a modern writer, "The seas of human life are wide. Wisdom may suggest the voyage, but it must first look to the condition of the ship, and the nature of the merchandise to exchange. Not every vessel that sails from Tarshish will bring back the gold of Ophir. But shall it therefore rot in the harbor? No! Give its sails to the wind!"

And so say I. Yield your young heart up cheerfully to the battle of life. Calculate upon difficulty,

but calculate also upon success;-only be sure you do it wisely! To aid you in this task, and to point out the safe road to eminence on earth and to glory in heaven, is the object of the succeeding chapters. Follow my counsels, and in your old age you will be like the trees in Alcinou's garden, which were covered with blossoms and laden with fruit at the same time; in eternity, you will flourish as a choice plant, in the garden of God.

3

CHAPTER II.

THE CORNER-STONE OF A SUCCESSFUL LIFE.

erect a magnificent mansion. With free and lavish expendi

ture, he raised its walls; and adorned it, within and without,

to suit his taste. When finished, it was a stately and majestic pile of architecture. But, before it was ready for occupation, large apertures became visible in the walls. The floors and ceilings began to sink, and it was pro

nounced unsafe for habitation. The unwise owner had been in such unpardonable haste, as to neglect proper precautions in laying the foundation. He had built that massive structure upon an unsound surface, instead of digging down deep into the ground, after the solid rock. There was no rem

edy, but to take it all down, and begin anew. This he was unable to do, having already exhausted a large proportion of his entire fortune in its construction. He was obliged, therefore, to leave it to decay and ruin, to mourn at leisure over the irreparable folly he was too hasty and too thoughtless to avoid

at the beginning.

I want the young man to give this, my simple par able, an application to his own life, since he is and must be engaged in the construction of a character for two worlds. His actions and motives are to compose its materials. These, as they accumulate, will give it form and subsistence. It will be good or evil a shelter or a curse according to their quality. Composed of evangelically virtuous and noble acts, it will afford quiet, honor and comfort, in this life; and in the life to come, an abode with the blessed. Composed of unprincipled and irreligious conduct, it will yield him unrest, shame, disgrace, in this world, and eternal infamy in the next.

How vastly important, then, for a young man to lay a foundation suited to the structure he designs