young men. He has appended a list of works which he
has consulted, and has endeavored to acknowledge his indebtedness for
any help in the way of argument or illustration that they have afforded
him.

It will be a great gratification to him to learn that the book has been
in any way useful to the young men, of whose position, duties, and
temptations he has thought much when writing it; and he sends it forth
with the earnest prayer that the Spirit of God may bless his endeavors
to be of service to those whose interests he, in common with his
brethren in the ministry, regards as of paramount importance.

EDINBURGH,
_28th June, 1892._

CONTENTS.

CHAP.

I. CHARACTER
II. SUCCESS IN LIFE
III. PERSONAL INFLUENCE
IV. FRIENDS
V. MONEY
VI. TIME
VII. COURAGE
VIII. HEALTH
IX. EARNESTNESS
X. MANNERS
XI. TEMPER
XII. RECREATION
XIII. BOOKS
XIV. FAMILY LIFE
XV. CHURCH
XVI. CITIZENSHIP

APPENDIX
LIST OF WORKS

LIFE AND CONDUCT.

CHAPTER I.

CHARACTER.

Everything in the practical conduct of life depends upon character.

What is character? What do we mean by it? As when we say such a man
is a bad character, or a good character, or when we use the words, "I
don't like the character of that man."

By character we mean what a man really is, at the back of all his
actions and his reputation and the opinion the world has of him, in the
very depth of his being, in the sight of God, "to whom all hearts are
open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid."

It is said of Burns, the poet, that walking along the streets of
Edinburgh with a fashionable acquaintance, he saw a poorly-dressed
peasant, whom he rushed up to and greeted as a familiar friend. His
companion expressed his surprise that he could lower himself by
speaking to one in so rustic a garb. "Fool!" said the poet, with
flashing eye; "it was not the dress, the peasant's bonnet and hodden
gray, I spoke to, but the man within--the man who beneath that bonnet
has a head, and beneath that hodden gray a heart, better than a
thousand such as yours." What the poet termed the "man within," what
the Scripture calls the "hidden man of the heart," is character--the
thing a man really is. Now, there are five things to be remembered
about _character_.

I. Character is a growth.--As the man without grows, so the man within
grows also--grows day by day either in beauty or in de