Year: 1875




A very interesting lecture was de.
livered by the Rev. DR.. Eells OF this
city, at. Sacramento on Tuesday
evening last, before large and ap.
preciative audience. The title was
do Your Own Thinking" and the
subject matter was so replete with
deep thought and valuable sugges'
tions. that we reproduce it, moi
giving the speakers exact language
but by presenting the more salient
points !:


THE SECRET OF SUCCESS.


Success does not spring up by
magic, but its edifice must be care
fully built and its architect must
be thought. We live in the day and
region of wonderful enthusiasm.
Enterprise rules the world; every
chord is at work, and every muscle
at 6all tension. Many believe this
the best element of success, but it
.is.error. The American too often
,conceives q project, and then ap-
plies whip and spur to win the de-
sired end---too often an end for
which he is untitled. In the larger
number of cases failure is the re-
suit. With such warnings before
them. young men still rush on in
that course, hoping to avoid the
rocks on which others have been
lost. Thought. careful thought, the
habit OF thinking. is the great want.
1t gives the mind self-control, and
cultivates self-reliance. As a means
to all success, there must be con-
seriousness OF strength that is the
product of thought. tits not when
lie will be, but when he is tit to be,
his own master. that man will
clearly see the greatest aim IN his
life march. He has attained much
who can intelligently rely on him
self. and knows what he can and
what he cannot do. The men for
whom there is urged need are those
who are known and felt for whst
they are. Such are superior to Tor
tune, and not the creature OF accl-
dent. There is true nobility in the
man who would not hatter Neptune
for his trident, or Jove for his
thunder. Those mixtures of self
conceit, some learning, much igno-
rance and assumption, do not con-
stitute man.


WHAT CONSTITUTES MAN.


Be he in office or desk, or at
bench and wheel, he is the needed
man, who is built up against the
evils of the world like the eddy
stone lighthouse, eac h stone bolted
to its fellow and anchored securely
to the firm rocky foundation. The
purpose to be himself is the germ
of mans success. However small
his consciousness of ability, such a
man enters his career knowing that
it is his. The requisite conscious
ness can be obtained only by
thoughtful self-study. The mere
schemer, moved by impulses and
forever experimenting, may tumble
on temporary success, though ii
attained is seldom held to any
length of time. Not the man who
makes great slash in the water is
chosen for diver Of pearls, but he
who can go to the bottom straight
and bring up the jewel. The power
to 20 to the depths in the sea of
knowledge may in large degree
be attained by patient thinking.
The habit of analysis, the purpose
to subject everything to our own
thoughts, will give us abundant re-
ward in the strength We shall gain,
and in the revelation Of ourselves
to ourselves. Thought establishes
order in the mind, where OF all
places there must be arrangement
and order, not places for encyclo
pedic and abstract and numbering
facts. The result of order in the
mind is skill; the minds of skillful
men are like laboratories in order
Learning will not bring forth order
Only thought can adjust ani
arrange the powers so there shall b.
the least friction in working on t.
success with the intellectual ma
chinery.


The man of fixed opinions, VIII,
boasts that he never changes, is tn
inexorable old fogy, and he may dis
pense with thinking. The only liv
ing men are the thinkers of the day
The habit Of thought enables us t
maintain mental discipline and oh
tain force. Too often this habit
valued only as it bears on the specis
vocations of men, and while ma
must have an accurate KNOWLEDGE {