Year: 1860

| him who alone can bestow the blessing, is little better than practical atheism. 1t is acting just as if there were no God in the heavens. Against this foolhardy selfconf dence, solemnly warn you The highways of the world are paved with the bones o those who trusted in it. When men forget God and restrain prayer and undertake tc go on without his aid, they must expect to be left to their own blindness; to grope and fall into pits and snares, and many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in de- struction and perdition. So emphatically true is it, that he who trusteth in lis town heart is a fool"

 Nor, my young friends, in recommending self-reliance as virtue, would I dissuade you from asking counsel of persons who are older and wiser than yourselves. It would be cut ting you off from your birth-right. Itis your privilege to seek the experience and counsel of your seniors, as it is their duty and will be their pleasure to advise you, in all cases of doubt and difficulty The habit of self. reliance, which would have you form early, is very different thing from rejecting the counsel of God, or the instructive Icssons of human experience. will illustrate what I mean, by two or three examples.

 Here are two men, who have grown up to- gether from childhood, and whose prospects of rising in the world were about equal. Que of them is ti,nid, hcsitating and self:distrust- full. When anything is to be done, requir- ing effort and resolution, he is always look ing at the difficulties. There is lion in the way, and if he ventures out alone, he shall be slain in the streets. So, like coward as he is, he shrnks back and looks around for somebody to help and protect him, when if he would only gird himself up and put forth his strength, he would need no help. He calls upon Hercules before putting his own shoulder to the wheel. He never accemp- fishes anything worthy of man, because he lacks self-reliance He fails, not fer want of strength and ability, but for want of resolu- ton to face d faculties and overcome them.

 Not so his friend and ueghbor. He never magniies mole hills into mountains, they don't frighten him. His max m is, that what has been done, cam be done; and he has all- other, very much like it, which is, that no man can tell what he can do until he has tried. He would be ashamed to ask any body to ielp him, till assistance is really nee cssary, or to finch from any undertaking, however difficult, which he is fairly called to meet You may remember to have read in the history of our last war with Great Brit ain, that when, at the battle of Lundy's Lane, tormidu ble battery of the enemy was sweeping down the American ranks at most fearful rate, Gen. Brown rode up to Col. Miller, and pointing to the battery in full blaze, said, "Coloucl, it must be silenced. Can you take it?" I've will try" was the instant and heroic answer; and in few min utes it was stormed aud turned upon the re- treating British colonies This incident may help to illustrate what I mean by self-reli ance. It never says can't, but lcM try. And acting upon this resolution, men like Col. Miller and bis gallant band, overcome thousand difficulties, which seem to others insuperabe.

 Take another illustration of what mean by self-reliance, in the case of two men as before. One of them has no mind of his own. Before he can determine what is right, or how to act, he must find out what other people think, or how they intend to act. He dis. trusts his own judgment. and is afraid that it will mislead him, or that somebody will differ from him, and he goes timidIy feel ing his way along, and is the merest echo of every popular voice that happens to strike his ear

 Turn now to the man who has always been accustomed to think for himself, and act ou his own responsibility. When question of public or private duty arises, he don't stop to inquire what the timid and wavering around him have to say, or how they intend to act. But looking at the subject in its va rious aspects and bearings, aided by all the light he can gain from above and around, he makes up his judgment and follows it, not as infallible, for he is aware of his liability to err, but as the safest guide he can follow; rightly thinking that it is better for his judgment sometimes to fail than never to trust it. By proper selfreliance, he will se- cure the respect of others, and be far more likely to go right than if at every step, he were to ask what be ought to do.

 Que example more. Two young men set out together to get public education. They are both poor, and expect to struggle hard, but they are made of very different stuff. One of them, soon begins to falter. It is a great undertaking; he finds, it will cost so many years of hard study, and so much money, and where is the money to come rom! How can he ever earn it? And so ne sits down in utter Encouragement, and goes to sleep over his grammar aud lexicon

 Not so with his companion. "What if we are poor," he says, "and without any Pa'Iohase on which we can rely? We have health and hands, and such abilities as God has given us. We can study, we can work

 we can teach. and live on little Tn ons way or another, we can fit for college. When there, we can find the ringing of the bell the keeping of the library, or something else to do. If worse comes to worst, we can leave college for year, and earn money and then come back to the next class. What if We are longer in getting through, than we should

 be, if our parents or other friends could hell

 us? l am determined to go on and do m,

 best, and trust Providence, and never yield

 to any discouragements. till am compelled to-" He goes on, his selfreliance sustains ant carries him through aud prepares him to ris.

 tn the world and become useful man.

 | One day when Patrick Henry was sitting