Within the circle of my own
observation, young men who leave in this manner, have wished themselves
back again a thousand times.

But be this as it may, so long as you remain in the family, if you are
70 years of age, by all means yield to authority implicitly, and if
possible, cheerfully. Avoid, at least, altercation and reproaches. If
things do not go well, fix your eye upon some great example of
suffering wrongfully, and endeavor to profit by it.

There is no sight more attractive than that of a well ordered family;
one in which every child, whether five years old or fifty, submits
cheerfully to those rules and regulations which parental authority has
thought fit to impose. It is, to use a strong expression, an image of
heaven. But, exactly in the same proportion, a family of the contrary
character resembles the regions below.

Nor is this all. It is an ancient maxim,--and however despised by some
of the moderns, none can be more true,--that he only is fit to command
who has first learned to obey. Obedience, is, in fact, the great lesson
of human life. We first learn to yield our will to the dictates of
parental love and wisdom. Through them we learn to yield submissively
to the great laws of the Creator, as established in the material world.
We learn to avoid, if possible, the flame, the hail, the severity of
the cold, the lightning, the tornado, and the earthquake; and we do not
choose to fall from a precipice, to have a heavy body fall on us, to
receive vitriol or arsenic into our stomachs, (at least in health) or
to remain a very long time, immersed in water, or buried in the earth.
We submit also to the government under which we live. All these are
lessons of obedience. But the Christian goes farther; and it is his
purpose to obey not only all these laws, but any additional ones he may
find imposed, whether they pertain to material or immaterial
existences.

In short, he who would put himself in the most easy position, in the
sphere allotted him by the Author of Nature, must learn _to
obey_,--often implicitly and unconditionally. At least he must know how
to obey: and the earlier this knowledge is acquired, and corresponding
habits established, the better and happier will he find his condition,
and the more quiet his conscience.

SECTION VIII. _Faithfulness._

Hardly any thing pleases me more in a young man, than faithfulness to
those for whom he is employed, whether parents, guardians, masters, or
ot