The Monitor-register., 1897-12-03
THE NECESSITY OF MORAL Gull
TURE IN EARLY LIFE.

capacities OF the mind, ike the several
parts and organs of the body are de-
veloped more or less SUCCESSFULLY, aud to
a greater or less exteut in a definite
order. s.sssxaes~s.a
Some of these powers sfeAqdiekand
active in earliest childhood, while others
are more tardily awakened and some
acquire their highest degree of intensity
only in the later periods of life, or at a
time when many of the prevailing i'm
pulses of manhood and of youth may
have lost their energyf or become almost
extinct.
Man is to be contemplated as an intel
leetual and as a moral being.
By his intellectual powers he acquires
the knowledge of facts and observe
their connections and traces the conclu-
sions which arise out of them.
But when, we contemplate man as a
moral being, new relations open to our
view and these are of a mightier import.
ES1SRHa fud him occupying a place in a
great system of moral government, in
which he has an important station to fill
and high duties to perform. We find
him possessed of powers, which qualify
him to feel these relations and of priuci-
pies calculated to guide him through the
solemn responsibilities which attend his
state of moral discipl inc.
We now perceive a marked difference
between the moral and the intellectual
nature of man. Each man is a nature,
but uniformed and this nature he is to
develop into character, aud youth is the
time to begin its foundation.
We do not commonly think of youth
as a solemn time, yet l think we are
wrong if we look at it in any other way.
l believe it to be the most solemn time
in the world. l might say even more
solemn than death, yet there is a like
ness between youth and death; both are
N~b6ginnings entering upon the unknown,
but they are beginnings of a very diff
kfsraRt sort. s~-sp1s>v~s.~s
10 death l am passive. l am IN the
hands of one and that one the highest,
but in youth l am in the hands of three,
my brother, myself and my God. The
~RfiRRipal constituents that &c to make
sup a moral life afe the WIZ powsf, me
conscience, integ rity and character.
aethesays his observation was that
"he who is firm in will moulds the world
to himself" History and biography
Tlustra&es the fact that the men who
hays, turned the tide of nations and
monfdedAshe sd-essiaiassNf large CON
tiles of their fellows have been men of
iron will. Such vas Napoleon and
Crom we'll, and Frederick the Great.
Such also was our own Washington and
Jackson, and Scott and Grant. Thus it is
shown that fairness of temper and in
tensity of will have distinguished most
of the worlds great heroes.
Invinoible resolution is the stepping
stone to achievement. Is it not then i'm
portant that we encourage in our youths
ot a
strong will power and a determination to
dare and do the right, for the youths of
the. present are the men of the future
and if their lives are fashioned and
moulded after the pattern of the noble,
the great and the good men, then
twenty years from the present there will
be a generation ots@men that will enact
laws and form principles to the honor
and glory to the cause they repre-
sent, instead 81 tie 6onor aud glory
to the party which pays the most
money. What tho world needs to
day more than any other thing is men of
principle and moral force enough to
stand up squarely, (even fanatioally if
you choose to put it so) for the uupopu-
lar side of wrong doing.
Conscience is another one of the
agencies which help constitute a moral
life and what a wonderful faculty it is.
1t deals not only with the affairs of life,
but brings the soul face to face with
God. No one who has studied the
character of childhood will be disposed
to disagree with me when l say that in
youth the conscience is more tender and
easily appealed to. When has self re-
proach for wrong doing been mole
keenly and bitterly felt; when has ire.
sistible joy at the thought of duties per-
formed faithfully or obedience rendered,
or s~elfishness.. sacrificed, so overspreld the
heart as in the days of childhood and
youth. In the early morning of our being
the still small voice called conscience,
which is embosomed in every man, en-
ables us to discern the right from the
wrong.
Young man, young woman, if you
could but see the possibilities of your
youth noso as clearly as you will see them
some day, there would he fewer wasted
mornings of life and fewer gloomy sun
sets. Dear young people, will you not
cultivate the best within yourselves? IL
is a duty you owe to yourselves and to
the coming generation.
One of the nobIest virtues that help to
make up a good moral life is that of in
tegrity. By a man of integrity is popu-
larly understood as a square man." a
man whom you can count on every time,
a level man. a gentleman. true as steel, a
fellow you can vouch for, as John Web
ster says ''Integrity of life is fame's best
friend" Nothing more quickly creates
for an individual a fair aud advantageous
reputation than such life or speech as
impress the community with a convic-
ton of his moral ~soundless. No term of
greater praise in political circles and
commercial transactions is known than
: He is a man OF integrity" The very
word is weighty with good meaning.
Public life is a field in which integrity
is tried.
History perhaps furnishes no finer il
lust ration than in the case of Gen. Gao.
Washington. During his administra.
ton as first President of the Uaited
States, a gentleman, the friend and COM
panion of the general throughout the
whole course of the Revolutionary War,
applied for a In crative and very response
BILE office. Being a staunch friend of the
Generals, he had full confidence of sue
cess and his friends already cheered him
on the prospect of his arrival at oompe .
tenCy and ease, While on the other hand
his opponent was q gentleman known to