s, and accomplishing an end by which
they are affected. The purpose for which any one has lived, the point
which he has attained, the personal history which he has unfolded,
constitute the moral of his life.

For instance, here is a man whose life is frivolous,--divided between
aimless cares and superficial enjoyments. He has no resources in
himself, no fountain of inward peace and joy. His spirit leaps like new
wine in the whirl of exciting pleasure, but in the hour of solitude and
of golden opportunity, it is "flat, stale, and unprofitable." He marks
off the year by its festivals, and distributes the day into hours of
food, rest, and folly. In short, he holds no serious conception of life,
and he is untouched by lofty sentiment. The great drama of existence,
with its solemn shifts of scenery and its impending grandeur, is but a
pantomime to him; and he a thoughtless epicurean, a grinning courtier,
a scented fop, a dancing puppet, on the mighty stage. And surely, such
a life, a life of superficiality and heartlessness, a life of silken
niceties and conventional masquerade, a life of sparkling effervescence,
has a moral. It shows us how vain is human existence when empty of
serious thought, of moral purpose, and of devout emotion.

Another is a skeptic. He has no genuine faith in immortality, in
virtue, or in God. To him, life is a sensual opportunity closing up with
annihilation and to be enjoyed as it may. It is a mere game, and he who
plays the most skilful(sic) hand will win. Virtue is a smooth decency,
which it is well to assume in order to cover and artful selfishness;
and it is a noteworthy fact, too, that, in the long run, those who have
trusted to virtue have made by it. At least, vice is inexpedient, and it
will not do to make a public profession of it. Religion, too, he says,
is well enough; it does for the weak and the ignorant; though shrewd
men, like our skeptic know that it is all a sham, and, of course,
scarce give it a serious thought. What is religion to a keen-minded,
hard-headed, sagacious man of the world? What has it to do with
business, and politics, and such practical matters? Pack it away for
Sunday, and then put it on with clean clothes, out of respect for
the world; but if it lifts any remonstrance in the caucus or the
counting-room, why, like a shrewd man, laugh it out of countenance. What
has our skeptic to do with the future world or with spiritual relations?
Keep bugbears to frighten more