Men there are, indeed, who now and then start up and make themselves famous, in neglect of all apparent rules and all established precedents-men who seem to know by instinct, and to cxcel by intuition, to whom nature seems to open voluntarily all her secrets-men of great genius-half inspired men -intellectual comets, who rise, and blaze, and fill the whole hemisphere with their glory, drawing af ter them the wondering admiration of the world; but just as the material comet is guided and controlled by law in all its reachings and rovings, so are these men in every flight they take and every achievement they perform; and it is just because they follow the bent of their mind, and give way to the full impulse of their nature, and thus observe the law of their being more, that they outstrip every rival, and seem to excel without effort. Genius, true genius, is the perfection of law. Nature gives a bias to some one pursuit-the mind yields to it, yields heartily, wholly yields, gives up every power and feeling to it -this is genius; the mind following its instincts, working according to its laws, and seeking its happiness and its success in the channel marked out by nature this is genius; native power faithfully and fully improved-the only genius worthy of the name -the only genius to which the world owes any thing great or good. That wild erratic thing sometimes called genius, which affects to be singular, and aims to be great without labor, by a few impulsive and spasmodic efforts, that is not genius, but presumption, conceit, self-sufficiency, with nothing of genius but the eccentricity. And what has such genius ever done? What perennial song has it ever sung? What

noble discovery in science or in art ever made? What prize in scholarship ever borne away? What lasting benefit to the race ever brought? We have heard of men, who have forced themselves up from the very lowest walks of life, and by dint of unsleeping diligence made themselves masters of the many babbling tongues of earth. We have heard of men, who by toil and study have lifted themselves up to the stars, and stood face to face with God in the great laws and lights of His universe. We have heard of men, who by many a month and year of painful labor, have builded up the immortal poem or the historic classic. But this wild and prideful genius, disregarding law and labor, what "Iliad," what "Faerie Queene," what "Paradise Lost," what "Novum Organum," what "Principia" can it boast of? None. And he who trusts to mere native power alone, who neglects to lead out that power by dai. ly exercise, and to make it hardy and skilful by patient labor, will be nothing, will accomplish nothing nothing worthy of name.

It is recorded of Cicero, that he became at one period of his life the victim of dyspepsia. The orator hastened to Greece, entered the gymnasium, put himself under its rules for two whole years; and returned to the mental struggles of the forum, sturdy as the peasants on his Gusculan farm. We must do for the mind what Cicero did for the body-gymnase it by systematic and appropriate exercise. The toil may leave us for the moment breathless and exhausted; but we will come to each successive struggle with a firmer step and a surer hand. Acting thus -studying hard, laboring manfully-there will re

main nothing morbid, nothing dyspeptic about our intellectual being; it will be hale and athletic, prepared for every task, capable of any fatigue; and every year will add a full cubit to our stature. The great thing is to get the mind started, to give it the command of its own powers, and the inclination to use them. Like the ancient armour, which had to be buckled on, and kept on, and the body accustomed to it, before it could be used easily and efficiently, we must grapple with the elements of learning, and make the exercise of mind demanded by it a pastime and a pleasure, before we can move with ease and grace in its higher regions of thought, and revel amid its glories and beatitudes.

Turn now and view this principle in a further aspect. Man is a social being; he is linked to his fellows by moral bonds: and if there are powers of mind to be improved, there are also tastes and affections, feelings and moral habits to be cultivated.

Here then is a law established by God, and seen working out every day in life-that character, upright, honorable principle, industry, temperance, and the like, are the seed and sure forerunners to success in life, to honor and advancement, to the accumulation round about us of the respect of our fellow-men, and to the possession of all that makes life dignified, and happy, and worth having;-and on the other hand, that the neglect or violation of these, the want of principle and of industry, will in the long run affect our happiness, our fortune, and our standing in society-will end in the ruin of our reputation, our self respect, and our social position. Providence, if I may so speak, keeps a great store

house, a great mart of commodities. Men come, and Providence says to them." Here is reputation, and advancement, and competence, and a calm conscience, and a useful life; all these I have for sale-they are not given, they must be purchased. I have given you much I have given you being, and thought, and judgment, and will, and conscience, a head to plan and a hand to do, a capacity for action and enterprise; but these things I sell, and if you want them, you must bring the price. You must bring your manly virtue and your upright principle—you must bring your prudence and your industry, your love of good and your hatred of evil;-bring the price, and you shall have the thing. But if you imagine that these can be obtained without any such price-that you can be successful in the world, and enjoy the confidence of your fellows, and the respect of your own conscience, without putting forth effort, and maintaining a character of honesty and virtue, you will find yourselves in the end sadly mistaken. You may for a time succeed; but by and by you will be made to feel, in the consciousness of your moral being, and in the the neglect and contempt of the world, that nature and Providence cannot be defrauded with impunity; and that there is a law by which men must move forward in society, and fairly purchase and earn a thing, before they can wear it with honor and satisfaction to themselves."

I know there are apparent exceptions to all this. There are men who trample on these great principles, and yet seem to obtain reputation and standing in the world; by supple tact and pliant principle, they worm and win their way to these things; and the

law seems to fail. But these are only apparent exceptions; these men never enjoy the true respect of the world; and if we could read the workings of conscience within them, if we could feel the thorns that prick and agonise their bosoms, we should then find, that they have not dared to break the law of their being, without suffering the consequences. All things may seem to prosper for a while, wealth flowing into their hands, and influence gathering around them their head high and their step lofty; but somehow or other things will leak out-there is always something to start suspicion about these men ; the cordial confidence of the world is not theirs, its respect and hearty well-wishes are not theirs-they live feared and avoided, despised and abhorred. They may put on cunning as a garment, and plan artfully, and step carefully; and Heaven may seem to smile, and the world may seem to favor; but just when their mountain appears to have reached its summit, and the bulwarks and buttresses to be all builded compactly around, some false step, some trifling incident, some sudden gust of fortune, shakes the foundation, and all topples into ruins.

It is in the very nature of things that it should be so; and God, moreover, has so ordered it. Let a man be upright, determined to be true to virtue and to his own conscience; and if there be any power in God, or any strength in moral goodness, and if any conclusion can be drawn from the constitution and tendency of things, there shall be a recompense. He may move slower, than the men of policy and art, to the desired end; but most surely he will rise higher and stand longer than they.