though alone, in the paths of duty. We can be honest, truthful, diligent, were it only out of respect for one's self. We have to be faithful even to the end. Who is not struck with the answer of the slave, who, when asked by an intending purchaser, "Wilt thou be faithful if I buy thee?" "Yes," said the slave, "whether you buy me or not."

In the description of a sermon preached to the working classes by the late Dr. Macleod, in the Barony Church of Glasgow, it is said that he made a grand stand for Character. From the highest to the lowest that was the grand aim to be made. He said that "the most valuable thing that Prince Albert had left was Character. He knew perfectly well that many very poor people thought it was impossible for them to have a character. It was not true; he would not hear of it. There was not a man or woman before him, however poor they might be, but had it in their power, by the grace of God, to leave behind them the grandest thing on earth, Character; and their children might rise up after them and thank God that their mother was a pious woman, or their father a pious man."

Character is made up of small duties faithfully performed, -of self-denials, of self-sacrifices, of kindly acts of love and duty. The backbone of character is laid at home; and whether the constitutional tendencies be good or bad, home influences will as a rule fan them into activity. "He that is faithful in little is faithful in much; and he that is unfaithful in little is unfaithful also in much." Kindness begets kindness, and truth and trust will bear a rich harvest of truth and trust. There are many little trivial acts of kindness which teach us more about a man's character than many vague phrases. These are easy to acquire, and their effects will last much longer than this very temporary life.

For no good thing is ever lost. Nothing dies, not even

ОНАР. 1

Duty immortal.

21

life, which gives up one form only to resume another. No good action, no good example, dies. It lives for ever in our race. While the frame moulders and disappears, the deed leaves an indelible stamp, and moulds the very thought and will of future generations. Time is not the measure of a noble work; the coming age will share our joy. A single virtuous action has elevated a whole village, a whole city, a whole nation. "The present moment," says Goethe, "is a powerful deity." Man's best products are his happy and sanctifying thoughts, which when once formed and put in practice, extend their fertilising influence for thousands of years, and from generation to generation. is from small seeds dropped into the ground that the finest productions grow; and it is from the inborn dictates of Conscience and the inspired principle of Duty that the finest growths of Character have arisen. Thus sings Wordsworth

of Duty:

:

"Stern Lawgiver! yet thou dost wear
The Godhead's most benignant grace;

Nor know we anything so fair

As is the smile upon thy face;

Flowers laugh before thee on their beds,

And fragrance in thy footing treads;

Thou dost preserve the stars from wrong,

It

And the most ancient heavens, through Thee, are fresh and strong."

!

CHAPTER II.

DUTY IN ACTION.

Put thou thy trust in God,

In duty's path go on;

Fix on His Word thy steadfast eye,

So shall thy work be done.-Luther.

Do noble things, not dream them, all day long,

And so make life, death, and that vast forever, one grand, sweet song.

HE

CHARLES KINGSLEY.

O worker of the world! to whose young arm
The brute earth yields, and wrong, as to a charm ;
Young seaman, soldier, student, toiler at the plough,
Or loom, or forge, or mine, a kingly growth art thou!
Where'er thou art, though earthy oft and coarse,
Thou bearest with thee hidden springs of force,
Creative power, the flower, the fruitful strife,

The germ, the potency of life.-The Ode of Life.

E who has well considered his duty will at once carry his convictions into action. Our acts are the only things that are in our power. They not only form the sum of our habits, but of our character.

At the same time, the course of duty is not always the easy course. It has many oppositions and difficulties to surmount. We may have the sagacity to see, but not the strength of purpose to do. To the irresolute there is many a lion in the way. He thinks and moralises and dreams, but does nothing. "There is little to see," said a hard worker, "and little to do; it is only to do it."

There must not only be a conquest over likings and dislikings; but, what is harder to attain, a triumph over adverse repute. The man whose first question, after a

CHAP. II.

Duty and Character.

23

right course of action has presented itself, is "What will people say ?" is not the man to do anything at all. But if he asks, "Is it my duty ?" he can then proceed in his moral panoply, and be ready to incur men's censure, and even to brave their ridicule. "Let us have faith in fine actions," says M. de la Crêtelle, "and let us reserve doubt and incredulity for bad It is even better to be deceived than to distrust."

Duty is first learned at home. The child comes into the world helpless and dependent on others for its health, nurture, and moral and physical development. The child at length imbibes ideas; under proper influences he learns to obey, to control himself, to be kind to others, to be dutiful and happy. He has a will of his own; but whether it be well or ill directed depends very much upon parental influences.

The habit of willing is called purpose; and, from what has been said, the importance of forming a right purpose early in life will be obvious. "Character," says Novalis, "is a completely-fashioned will;" and the will, when once fashioned, may be steady and constant for life. When the true man, bent on good, holds by his purpose, he places but small value on the rewards or praises of the world; his own approving conscience, and the "well-done" which awaits him, is his best reward.

In great knows no

Will, considered without regard to direction, is simply constancy, firmness, perseverance. But it will be obvious, that unless the direction of the character be right, the strong will may be merely a power for mischief. tyrants it is a demon; with power to wield, it bounds nor restraint. It holds millions subject to it; inflames their passions, excites them to military fury, and is never satisfied but in conquering, destroying, and tyrannising. The boundless Will produces an Alexander or a

Napoleon. Alexander cried because there were no more kingdoms to conquer; and Buonaparte, after overrunning Europe, spent his force amidst the snows of Russia. "Conquest has made me," he said, "and conquest must maintain me." But he was a man of no moral principle, and Europe cast him aside when his work of destruction was done.

The strong Will, allied to right motives, is as full of blessings as the other is of mischief. The man thus influenced moves and inflames the minds and consciences of others. He bends them to his views of duty, carries them with him in his endeavours to secure worthy objects, and directs opinion to the suppression of wrong and the establishment of right. The man of strong will stamps power upon his actions. His energetic perseverance becomes habitual. He gives a tone to the company in which he is, to the society in which he lives, and even to the nation in which he is born. He is a joy to the timid, and a perpetual reproach to the sluggard. He sets the former on their feet by giving them hope. He may even inspire the latter to good deeds by the influence of his example. Tennyson hits the mark in the following words :

"O living Will, that shalt endure

When all that seems shall suffer shock,

Rise in the spiritual rock,

Flow through our deeds and make them pure;

That we may lift from out of dust,

A voice as unto him that hears,
A cry above the conquered years,
To one that with us works, and trust,
With faith that comes of self-control,

The truths that never can be proved,
Until we close with all we loved,
And all we flow from, soul in soul."

Besides the men of strong bad wills and strong good