d to the work of
human improvement those mighty energies which were employed in human
destruction. Could the physical and intellectual energy of Napoleon,
the order and method of Alfred, the industry, frugality, and wisdom of
Franklin and Washington, and the excellence and untiring perseverance
of Paul, and Penn, and Howard, be united in each individual of the
rising generation, who can set limits to the good, which they might,
and inevitably would accomplish! Is it too much to hope that some
happier age will witness the reality? Is it not even probable that the
rising generation may afford many such examples?

SECTION II. _On Motives to action._

Not a few young men either have no fixed principles, no governing
motive at all, or they are influenced by those which are low and
unworthy. It is painful to say this, but it is too true. On such, I
would press the importance of the following considerations.

Among the motives to action which I would present, the first is a
regard to _your own happiness_. To this you are by no means indifferent
at present. Nay, the attainment of happiness is your primary object.
You seek it in every desire, word, and action. But you sometimes
mistake the road that leads to it, either for the want of a friendly
hand to guide you, or because you refuse to be guided. Or what is most
common, you grasp at a smaller good, which is near, and apparently
certain, and in so doing cut yourselves off from the enjoyment of a
good which is often infinitely greater, though more remote.

Let me urge, in the second place, a regard for the family to which you
belong. It is true you can never fully know, unless the bitterness of
ingratitude should teach you, the extent of the duty you owe to your
relatives; and especially to your parents. You _cannot_ know--at least
till you are parents yourselves,--how their hearts are bound up in
yours. But if you do not _in some measure_ know it, till this late
period, you are not fit to be parents.

In the third place, it is due to society, particularly to the
neighborhood or sphere in which you move, and to the _associations_ to
which you may belong, that you strive to attain a very great elevation
of character. Here, too, I am well aware that it is impossible, at your
age, to perceive fully, how much you have it in your power to
contribute, if you will, to the happiness of those around you; and here
again let me refer you to the advice and guidance of aged friends.