Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1853-09-15
- 'o''s AN ADDRESS,
Delivered before tie Sunday School, al
Alexander Chanel.
BY ]. w. M'coRMIcK.


confne myself to the discussion of an
abstract subject, but simply call your at
tentipn to a few thoughts on the dutie
and responsibilities of youth, and thos
about to enter upon the duties of activ'
life. Let me be considered as addres
sing more particularly the youthful por
ton of this audience than the aged.
Ny Young Friends, Ny words shal
be few. We are convinced of the truth
that every individual, blest with tn,
powers of reason, and not under tn,
years of accountability, has duties anC
responsibilities of binding nature, thai
cannot be shaken off, and which embodJ
a threefold obligation; of that which W.
owe to ourselves, our fellow beings, and
to God, the Creator and Governor of the
Universe.
1t is not for us, who live in land oi
civil and religious liberty, where truth,
arrayed in her peaceful robes, bids erro,
be submissive 70 the right, where igno.
rance and superstition, with battered
and broken down walls, lie moulderino
IN ruins, beneath the temple of knowl-
edge, to be as the heather in his blind.
ness, neglect our privileges, and live on,
regardless of duty and responsibility,
in sei6shness and corruption.
Nay, the youth of the present day,
enlightened as they are by the glorious
principles of virtue and truth, must aim
at things more noble in themselves, seek
to arrive at greater perfection in educa-
ton and morals, in view of their exalted
privileges, their duties and their respon-
sibilities.
1t strikes me forcibly, that never, in
the whole course of human life, does a
responsibility rest with such weight up
on the individual as Just when preparing
to enter upon the duties of active life;
because it is then our character and
habits are forming, we are setting the
standard that governs the whole of after
life, and as we are in youth, so will we
be in age, as regards virtue and piety,
''for disposition is builded up by the
fashioning of first impressions"
Think Of this, you that are parents,
for here is duty for which you are
alone responsible; that duty, the giving
those first impressions to the youthful
mind, which have SO much to do with
the well-being of your children, when
they shall have entered upon the more
advanced stages of life. Be aware,
then, ye who have the guidance of the
young mind entrusted to your care, how
much the success and prosperity of the
man depends upon the early training of
the child.
But if we, my young friends, are not
responsible for our first impressions, the
time soon rolls around that we are ush-
cred into the years of accountability,
and then oar duties begin, and responsi-
bility falls upon ourselves. 1t is then
our duty to commence the education and
discipline of the mind and heart, that
we may be governed by the dictates of
true wisdom, our characters may be pure
and spotless, and we firm and abiding in
the truth. If we are not so governed,
and have not such characters, who shall
bear the responsibility, who shall answer
for our wilful blindness and obstinacy,
but we who formed them thus by our
own misguided action. The greatest
obligation then we are under to our
selves is a proper education and disci-
pline of the mind and heart.
The mind must be trained for reason,
meditation and reflection, and the heart
imbued with the principles of charity,
virtue, and truth. Our usefulness, our
prosperity and happiness demand this
much, as an essential qualification, and
this should be the great object of life
Without thought, without mental disci-
pline, the mind runs to waste, and moul-
ders in ruins, and without well culti-
waited heart, the spirit of virtue and
truth dies within the man, and the noble
being, formed in the image of his Crea-
tor, falls, the wreck of grandeur, and al
most Of perfection itself. 1t is a true
saying, that 1--WE must educate, or we
mustperish." Be admonished, my young
friends, of the necessity of a wise i'm
provement of time. This presents itself
for your consideration, as of the greatest
importance.
We are aware that we have touched
a difficult point. We may say easily
and truly enough, time is short and
feet. and the great work of life demands
wise improvement of the whole of it;
yet it is not so easy to ''confer the dis
position and create the determination to
use it to the best possible advantage.
Time is the most precious of all things,
and yet what are we more lavish of.
what are we more willing to spend for
nought, or to trifie with, than the pre-
cious moments of time. Indeed many,
who in other respects save everything,
are wasteful and lavish of this which
should most concern them, as being of
the greatest importance, of which it has
been nobly said, by Seneca of old, 'sit is
ayirtue to be coyetous."
We may say with truth that Incidence
is the parent of vice and misery, and
that al things noble and permanent in
human character are but the result of a
wise, industrious improvement of time.
In view of usefulness, of greatness, and
of pure nobility. we must grasp each
moment as it flies, rejecting that only
the present is ours; improve it diligent-
ly,in thought, reflection, and energetic
exertion, in mental and physical action.
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