ucation shall make him a man.

Otherwise, no scholarship grows up within the halls of a university more than within those of a circulating library.

But the point to be aimed at here is, the injurious effect of such a habit upon the religious character. It is a serious impediment in the way of religious self-command and the indulgence of a devout turn of mind. The general remark holds true here, which asserts that any indulgence in known wrong is adverse to a religious spirit. He who gives way to this taste for frivolous reading is all the time conscious of doing wrong; his conscience accuses him daily of frittering away time, misusing talents, wasting precious opportunities, and enfeebling his mental powers: yet he still yields to the pleasing temptation. What chance has a religious habit of mind with him? He is unfitted, by this very enervating indulgence, for the enjoyment of any high religious exercise of mind not only unfitted · the false and feverish excitement in which he lives has indisposed him to it, and, unless the admonition of conscience excite in him the resolution to break away from the temptation, he becomes its inevitable victim, and purposely gives up his religious improvement, that he may find temporary peace. Serious books and serious thoughts are only a perpetual reproach to him; and he flies from them, to absorb himself in the unreflecting luxury which he loves, sacrificing his moral strength to this poor and perilous gratification. There can be no doubt that, by this process, the Spirit has been quenched in many minds that once glowed with the honest desire of all right and heavenward improvement; just as in other walks of life the unwary have been led astray by the gay company of the trifling and the alluring displays of fashionable pleasure. No duty can live in the midst of dissipation, whether of society or of the solitary chamber. Religion is a duty, and the self-indulgence which turns life

into a scene of amusement, be it in the city or in the college hall, with dice or with books, is the deadly foe of that religion which is the chief duty of man. "He that liveth in pleasure is dead while he liveth.” The present time is squandered without honor or reward, while nothing is done to prepare for, but every thing helps to unfit for, the inevitable and infinite future.

There still remain other circumstances to be noticed, in order to a full view of our subject; but they must be left till the afternoon. Let us pause for the present with the reflection, that, while religion is the great law and ultimate interest of every human being, every thing in our situation and habits, of every sort, is capable of being regarded in a religious point of view, and must be so regarded by him who would faithfully discharge the present, and prepare for the future, as an accountable creature of God. This is the position with which we start, under the sanction of the text. To this we refer every illustration of condition and duty which is brought forward. Religion consists of two partsthe knowledge and the practice. No man is excusable for ignorance in any degree beyond what the necessity of his situation imposes upon him. If the situation of the student opens to him special facilities for knowledge, it, for the same reason, requires of him fidelity in practice. If there be peculiar temptations and impediments unknown to other men, so, too, there are peculiar means of avoiding and resisting them. The mind, like the body, grows strong by contention with obstacles; and he who has been permitted to enjoy great advantages for the cultivation of the mind, and yet has lived a life of moral and religious ignorance and neglect, unimproved by his privileges, unstrengthened by his trials, can expect nothing at the end but the reproaches of his conscience and the condemnation of God.

WHATSOEVER YE DO, DO IT HEARTILY, AS TO THE LORD, AND not unto

MEN.

I OBSERVED in the morning, that these words obviously suggested the great law of human character and life; viz., that man is to live in hearty and cheerful conformity to the will of God; to do every thing as to the Lord; and that not of compulsion, but voluntarily, and with holy delight. This rule, I said, is to be sacredly applied to all of human existence, to direct man in that right use of the present, and that right preparation for the future, which constitute the whole business of earth. He who does this is the wise and religious man, whatever his occupation in the world may be. He who has done this has accomplished the true end of life, whether his lot have been high or low, and whether his fortunes have been successful or adverse. This, therefore, is the consideration to which every thoughtful man will have supreme regard; since, if the great end of life be not gained, all else is vanity and loss.

I proceed to apply this truth to the life of the student, and

FACILITIES AND HINDERANCES TO A RELIGIOUS LIFE. 335

to point out whatever facilities and obstacles therein exist, in regard to the prosecution of a religious character. I have already specified some of the peculiar advantages which it affords for the study and just apprehension of divine truth, and for the cultivation of those principles in the understanding, on which all true knowledge and prac-. tice are founded. I have also described some of the impediments which exist in the circumstances of the scholar's life, and some temptations belonging to his situation, which need to be guarded against and resisted. These were,

1, the danger of being beguiled by habit into a dull, mechanical routine, without life or love; 2, that of the intellectual tasks of the day crowding out all direct moral and religious exercise; and, 3, that of being tempted to ruin mind and heart by indiscriminate indulgence in reading, as an entertainment. Without recurring more minutely to the lessons which were thus taught, I now proceed to point out other circumstances of disadvantage and temptation, arising from the fact that a literary life is not a life of action, and therefore tends to give birth to some habits of life, and to some habits of mind, which are greatly prejudicial to a right character and religious growth.

1. Some habits of life. Being separated from the world, as has been said, and his business-being a certain pursuit of intellectual truth, apart from the affairs of men, the student is likely to become ignorant of common affairs, and the habits which belong to those engaged in them. Those laws, for example, of regularity, punctuality, economy, and foresight, which are so needful to be observed amid the engagements of society, he is likely to be thoughtless of; so that it has always been remarked of studious men, that they know nothing of the world; that they are unfit for society; that they know nothing of business; cannot take

care of themselves. Undoubtedly, confinement to study, and absorption in letters, possess a tendency to the formation of precisely this sort of character- an injurious tendency, because an evil character; therefore to be deliberately guarded against. Why should the best habits of intellectual life be accompanied by bad habits of social life? Nay, however much any of us may feel ourselves reproached by the remark, yet must it not be said that these bad habits of social life, by which the exclusive student separates himself from the customs of common men, are, undoubtedly, to a certain extent, immoral and irreligious? He is under the same obligations to men and society that others are; and to shut himself from them, as he does, when, by refusing these virtues, he refuses to live with men on equal terms, is as truly a dereliction of duty, as for them to do so. No class can fairly consider itself exempt from conformity to those modes of life on which the comfort and order of social life depend. The obligation is one imposed by that great Being who formed society and its laws. To be unfaithful to them, is unfaithfulness to him, and therefore irreligious. We may do it thoughtlessly, from the power of early habit, too incautiously formed; but still we ought not to do it, and the habit is pernicious. Irregularity, want of punctuality, thoughtlessness, and the kindred infirmities commonly attributed to men of genius and of books, just so far as they are indulged, weaken the moral power of the man, and impair his capacity for religious growth. It is essential to religious growth, that a man have power of self-control, and exactness in discharge of even small duties. He that is faithful in little, it is, who will also be faithful in much. But he who, because of engagements of mind, contrives to escape the demands of the minor morals of common life, how shall he hope to be able to acquit himself faithfully of