Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1854-09-17
From the San Francisco Evening News.
Responsibility of Young Men.
ELOQUENT EXTRACT.

The following eloquent extract ia the peroration
of the Lecture delivered by the Rev DR.. Scott be-
fore the young Mems Christian Association" of
San Francisco. The subject of the Lecture, our
readers will remember, was "the Responsibility of
Young Men for their influence upon Society" and
from the portion that follows they may derive an
idea Of the trsnscendanty able manner il which
it was treated:
You have. my young friends, two immortalilies.
One you leave behind you when you die, and it
walks the earth and represents you IN the family or
social circle or in the higher and broader walks Of
life The other Immortality you will carry with
you beyond the grave to that lofty sphere for which
your moral and spiritual habtudes here have fitted
you. You are invested with responsibility that
traverses and peryades an indefinite but ever il.
creasng circle Az Americans, you have q com
mission from your Creators hand, and an amounting
from his Providence and from the Eternal Spirit,
to exercise vast power over widespread race in
the present and in all coming ages. And in what
You now do in serving your generation according
TO the will Of God, You may read your own epitaph
and gaze on your own monument. Death is not
the utter destruction of humanity The body dies,
but the soul dieth not. Your influence cannot be-
embalmed and put TO rest in mummy cloths The
echoes of your words will be repeated and viii roll
along and be reflected through the long drawn aise7
of succeeding ages.
When man turns to the Lord says an oh
Hebrew writer, "he is like a fountain filed with
living water and rivers flow from him to men ol
all nations and tribes" Ii is just such men YOU
are called to be. Your age and your country, Your
antecedents responsibilities, and prospects, call
aloud for fountain men-men OF deep original ex-
perience in the grace of faith and in the knOwl-
edge of God and Of his Word. The blessed Crea-
tor has given you goodly heritage. Your wealth
education, and style of mind and your social and
political status in the world your geographical Io
sition and commercial standpoint place in your
hands and invest you inseparably with an aggrr-
gate of Influences that are absolutely fearful. 1t
is fearful thing to Hve--tO have an existence al
all, under such terrible auspices but theie is no
escape from them but in meeting them with VA, 81,
heart and courageous soul Ponder well, thr,,
beseech you, young men, your responsibilities as
Young men, as Americans, and as Christians Re
member your patrimOny, your age and your mis-
sion in the world. You dare not segregate YOUR
selves and sit down on some chosen mount and re-
main idle spectators of the worlds stern battlnrs
You have stake in these. You are in the deep
est and swtest current and only the stouest limbs
and brayest hearts can save you. 1t is on awful
fact, that you can neither live nor die neutral7-
You canpot be moral blanks. Your being is a
ticket that is sure to draw prize. Every man
radiates either q benign or n dark influence on So
ciety. You must be either the leaven that sours
and corrupts, or you the light that spl"ndidly
Eliminates. and the salt that silently operates and
saaeons and saves. You must therefore not only
| icon mace with your generation, but you must
r,orcb before it. No mere private or selfish aims
80 nartv bigoted, or partial endeayOrs viii meet
-o,r r.sponsibities. No creeping, halEheartcd
- will do. "The intellect as Lord Bacon ex
,csses If. "must be stretched and wdened, 40 as to
ha capable of the image of the world, such as we
Grd Il" Men can no longer be tied up to the
strictness of bgotry the narrow steel jackets of
| little things. Fill your mind then with splendid
and ilustrious objects. Remember that it is to 90
rood that you have being, and that God air swells
YOUR lungs, and that Gods sun gladdens your way.
Yield yourselves to the belief that there is really