The Delaware ledger. (Newark, Del.) 1879-19??, 1888-06-30

express this thought under our
third point which is this, to the
having of a good conscience, it must
be kept alive and quick. There is
a tenderness and sensibility about
the conscience which must be main
tained at all hazards, if we would
avoid shipwreck. There are ten
thousand things in the world to
blunt the sensibility of conscience;
to promote the fallacious error that
whispers in the ears of the young
that the moral qualities of our ac-
tions are matters of little concern.
Again neglect or Indifference to the
promptings of this monitor may be
carried 50 far that a time will come
when his admonitions will fall with
a thud. The life of conscience is
not promoted in any such way. Ev-
er tender, sensitive, pure; even under
the guidance of Gods truth, it will
never die, or become dormant like a
sound compass, whose magnetism
has not been injured it will guide
any one who follows it Alright. Gen
tlemen, let me urge you all to see to
it, in setting forth upon the sea of
active life, that you are furnished
with good conscience, else we can
see nothing before you but a ship
wreck. Like the noble, grand, con-
scientious man who wrote our text:
"Herein exercise yourselves, to have
always a conscience void of offence
toward God and toward man."
But there is one other element so
closely connected with this that
am not sure but that it is part of
what we may call good conscience.
We will however put it in this way;
to be fully equipped for life your
good conscience must be united with
a true and living faith. You can
never expect to come to much good
without this union. A compass is
good thing, but you would not
make much progress if that was all
the ship was provided with. There
must be the unfurled canvas filled
with the winds of heaven. Now a
living faith is something which is
based upon sound creed. 1t has
grown very popular in this our day
to sneer at creeds, as though to be-
lieve nothing were a sign of manli-
ness; the mind is to be kept open
and uncommitted; there is a horror
of dogma they tell US they have a
good conscience but no fixed re-
ligious creed. Well, if l had ten
thousand dollars to safely invest, for
even smaller amount, | would
not trust it to any such man. If
then such cannot do for others how
will they do for self. l want to say
that you might as well expect a
schooner to put out to sea without
an inch of sail and reach a distant
port, as to expect that without de-
finite formulated, personal belief,
you can cross the ocean of life and
at last anchor in the haven of celes-
tial rest. No, you take away
young mans religion, if you take
away his Bible, even though he do
not read it very often, you rob him
of that which gives him moral back
bone. You make him mushy mo-
lusk, rather than mighty mammal.
A vessel far out at sea without COM
pass, or sail is better off than a
young man without any religion
and without any faith. You may
be well educated, you may be men
Of the steadiest habits, you may be
entitled to rank among those whom
our English cousin class as very
clever; but let me tell you, you need
more than that to be equipped for
your life's work. No natural gift
can take the place of spiritual relig-
ion. The wrecks strewed long the
shores of time clearly show this.
Look at Byron, Shelley, Goethe,
Paine and Voltaire Did not gem
ius ruin them? Well if not each of
them is a monument to the truth
that genius without faith is very
dangerous if it does not bring moral
ruin. This brings us to say that
the richer and rarer the cargo Il yes
sci is carrying the more imperative
that it should be well equipped.
What month of the whole calender
year witnesses such a sight as this
month of June. All over our land
from hundreds of institutions go
forth thousands of young men and
women who are soon to be formost
in all that pertains to the progress
and improvement, or alas, it may
be the ruin of our beloved land.
What sight is this See that as
they come a grand army, from
Maine to California, from the lakes
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