has no
time to follow their advice." This is good sense, though humorously
put. Promptitude is a quality that should be assiduously cultivated.
Like punctuality, it becomes a most valuable habit. "Procrastination,"
it is said, "is the thief of time," and "hell is paved with good
intentions." These proverbs are full of wisdom. When we hear people
saying, "They are going to be this thing or that thing; they _intend_
to look to this or to that; they will by and by do this or that," we
may be sure there is a weakness in their character. Such people never
come to much. The best way is not to _speak_ about doing a thing, but
_to do it_, and to do it _at once_.

To these thoughts on the use of time we may fitly add the great words
of Scripture, "So teach us to number our days that we may apply our
hearts unto wisdom," Ps. xc. 12. "Redeeming the time, because the days
are evil," Ephes. v. 16. We transform time into eternity by using it
aright.

[1] These illustrations are given by Mr. Davenport Adams.

[2] _Beginning Life_.

CHAPTER VII.

COURAGE.

We all know what is meant by courage, though it is not easy to define
it. It is the determination to hold our own, to face danger without
flinching, to go straight on our way against opposing forces, neither
turning to the right hand nor the left.

It is a quality admirable in the eyes of all men, savage and civilized,
Christian and non-Christian--as admirable as cowardice, the opposite
quality, is detestable. The brave man is the hero of the savage.
Bravery, or, as the Scriptures term it, _virtue_, is a great requisite
in a Christian. If it is not the first, it is the second
characteristic of a Christian life. "Add," says St. Paul, "to your
faith virtue," that is to say, courage.

It is the very glory of youth to be courageous.--The "sneak" and the
"coward" are the abhorrence of youth. It is youth which climbs "the
imminent deadly breach" and faces the deadly hail of battle, which
defies the tyranny of custom and the hatred of the world. One may have
compassion for age, which is naturally timid and sees fears in the way,
but youth which is cowardly is contemptible.

There are two kinds of courage--the one of a lower, the other of a
higher type. (_a_) The first, the lower kind of courage, is that which
has its root and foundation in our physical nature. It is
constitutional; there is little or no merit in it. Some men are born
to know no fear