doors and windows of house and shop, and possibly a thousand sycophants will press through the crowd to touch the hem of his garment. Few inquire what his character may be; for the sounding title awes them into respect, and there is a perfect shower of boquets, waving handkerchiefs, and doffing hats. The idea of virtue and vice is annihilated in the scene.

So with wealth. The multitude often run after a rich man more than after a good man. Introduce a millionare into any community, and character or no character, a class will follow him with the most obsequious demeanor. Wealth and honor are the world's two idols. The question of right and wrong is comparatively lost in the homage paid them. Hence, it is not strange, fired with ambition, and flushed with the desire of honor as human nature is, that the law of conscience is disregarded, when the language of the world to every young man is, in the couplet of Pope,

"Get place and wealth if possible by grace,

If not, by any means get wealth and place.”

The other characteristic of the age, closely wed to the above, is the counterfeiting and deception which are incorporated into business. This is a money-getting age. There have been ages of iron and of brass, but this is literally an age of gold. Gold excites the mass to more earnest and hearty

efforts than God. A California is worth more to the multitude than a Canaan. The "argumentum ad crumenam an argument to the purse, is more powerful than “ argumentum ad hominem' an argument to the man. Growing out of this, probably is the counterfeiting and deception to which reference is had.

The food upon our tables and the clothes upon our backs, were they gifted with speech, would tell a story that ought to tingle on the ear. Coffee compounded with pulverized

peas-sugar skilfully "alumnized tea flavored with herbs native and exotic-spices of nameless mixtures and lusty braces of chickens two years old - these are a specimen of our lying provisions. Then our fine German doe-skin is a real native American · our Irish linen of Yankee manufacture, and half cotton at that—our Brussel's carpets fresh from some youthful Lowell our French calicoes just in from some Merrimack Mills · our French hosiery and hats beautifully stamped on this side the Atlantic with the mark of Paris- our superfine silk paper of reputed Parisian quality, on which the preacher writes his sermon, reminded of the Ninth Commandment at every stroke of the pen, is the best that rolls over an Amesbury cylinder; this is a specimen of our lying apparel and fixtures. Then the poor, sinking, dying patient doses with deception. His strength-restoring wine, reported fresh from the vineyards of Portugal, was expressed from the clusters of New England-his London porter is of home manufacture, possibly the product of some "Albany brewery"— his cod liver oil turns out to be the veritable sperm once dipped from the head of a mighty whale — and with the numberless catholicons whose fame is spread through the land he drinks a dose of deception, too unmedicinal to cure, and too harmless to kill. He asks for bread and receives a stone, for a fish and receives a scorpion.

If God should give a voice to every article we eat and every article we wear, with the manufacture and sale of which deception is practised, we should be struck deaf with the stunning peal that would roll upon the ear-drum. Every thing is counterfeited from silver coin, to character. There is false food, and false apparel, and false medicine, and false honor, and false friendship, and false patriotism, and false religion, and false everything.

It is not surprising that in such a state of things the young man in search of his fortune loses sight of moral distinctions,

and thus violates, and continues to violate, his conscience. It may seem a small matter to put a foreign stamp upon domestic goods, or to seek worldly promotion by doubtful instrumentalities, but it is inflicting a wound upon conscience. It destroys the distinction between virtue and vice, and thus maims and cripples the most glorious part of human nature. In this way the times make practical swindlers philosophically.

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It is grand and ennobling to abide by the decisions of conscience amid the roar of life's business. To be able to look the world steady in the face with unblanched cheek and guiltless eye, and to say, "I have wronged no man," this is manhood's noblest attribute. To be able to point to suffering worldly interests - -to hours of darkness and frowning danger—the scars and nail-prints of a persecuting worldall endured for "conscience sake," this is the sublime of human character. Our hearts venerate the man who takes the noble stand of the brave Magyar- Kossuth the statesman and orator. who, when tempted by the Sultan of Turkey to renounce the Christian religion, replied, “Welcome, if need be, the axe and the gibbet; but curses on the tongue that dares make to me so infamous a proposal." Men record such examples on brass and marble because they exalt the conscience.

Without the moral element which a regard to this law ensures, character is worthless. There may be splendid endowments, noble attributes, fashioned into a character that shines, but it is only with a transient glare.

We read that Potempkin, a princely Russian, erected a gorgeous palace "to surprise and please his imperial mistress. Huge blocks of ice were piled one upon another. Ionic pillars of chastest workmanship, in ice, formed a noble portico; and a dome, of the same material, shone in the sun which had just strength enough to gild, but not to melt it. It glittered afar like a palace of diamonds; but there came.

one day a warm breeze from the South, and the stately building dissolved away, till none were able to gather up the fragments." Fit symbol of a character, embellished with splendid endowments, yet devoid of this saving element!

The laws which have been enumerated act more or less in conjunction with a mighty force-the WILL. It deserves here a passing consideration. In the formation of character it has a powerful influence. With the gift of an enchanter it summons the mental and moral powers to the Herculean task. It laughs at obstacles. It is the mental engine of nameless power that drives on decision, energy, and perseverance of character. When the whole man is under its control he can race and battle with the world. Its energy sparkles in his eye, it twitches in his nerves, it glows on his cheek, it energizes his mind, it electrifies his heart. His spirit, his motions, his eye, his brow, his step, his words, and his noble soul-all make a revelation of its power. Every act has an earnestness, determination, vitality, and thrilling meaning about it. He not only "strikes while the iron is hot, but he keeps it hot by striking." He verifies the old Latin proverb, "Labor omnia vincit" labor conquers all things. And he undertakes a stupendous work with the zeal and determination of Julius Caesar, when he conquer-ed Pharnaces, "veni, vidi, vici—I came, I saw, I con-quered."

It was this which raised Linneus, Pareus, Bandonin, Purver, and Roger Sherman from the bench of the cobbler to the chair of the professor, and the seat of the legislator. It was this which shut up Demosthenes in his subterranean study, and made him the prince of orators. It was this: which marked the life of that Roman senator, who exclaimed to the affrighted pilot in the storm, "Fear not, thou bearest Caesar and his fortunes."

Such is the power, acting in harmony with mental and moral laws, with which God has invested every person to be

employed in working out his earthly salvation. It is a fearful power to possess. "Mere power may be used for any purpose, noble or ignoble. Gunpowder may blast a path for the rail car, or send death into the heart of a defenceless city. Steam may propel to our shores the friendly vessel of commerce, or the hostile naval armament." The rising wind may swell the floating canvass, and bear the voyager delighted to the port, or, lashing the sea into fury, dash hist bark, all shattered, upon a rock-bound coast. In like manner this power, with which God has invested every human being, may prove a blessing or a curse an instrument to be wielded for error or the truth.

At this point it would be a profitable application of the subject, to analyze the personal history of such men as Byron, Napoleon, and Robespierre, and trace the operation of the laws enumerated in the formation of their characters. The subject also, suggests expansive themes relative to the understanding of this mental and moral philosophy in the training of children and youth, and the points of danger and encouragement in every young man's career. But, for want of space, all this must be passed in silence.

It is clear that the formation of character is no hap-hazard work. There is no chance-game to be played in working out our earthly destiny. There is no being born under lucky stars; that belongs to heathenism a relic of Hindoo astrology. Philosophy is "a jack at all trades," yet in none more active and skilful than in the formation of character.

Such is the Philosophy of Character very imperfectly presented. Yet, superficial as our view has been, we have seen enough to show that its faithful fashioning is as truly an art as that which guided the chisel of Praxiteles, or the brush of Raphael. As we ponder the mystic machinery with which the curious workmanship is wrought, we are more than ever impressed with the pithy lesson of Solon-one of the seven