tely wise, just, and good, to
whom you owe the highest reverence, gratitude, and adoration; who
superintends and governs all nature, even to clothing the lilies of the
field, and hearing the young ravens when they cry; but more particularly
regards man, whom he created after his own image, and breathed into him
an immortal spirit, capable of a happiness beyond the grave; for the
attainment of which he is bound to the performance of certain duties,
which all tend to the happiness and welfare of society, and are
comprised in one short sentence, expressive of universal benevolence,
'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.'

"Justice, humanity, and benevolence, are the duties you owe to society
in general. To your country the same duties are incumbent upon you, with
the additional obligation of sacrificing ease, pleasure, wealth, and
life itself for its defense and security. To your parents you owe love,
reverence, and obedience to all just and equitable commands. To
yourself,--here, indeed, is a wide field to expatiate upon. To become
what you ought to be, and what a fond mother wishes to see you, attend
to some precepts and instructions from the pen of one who can have no
motive but your welfare and happiness, and who wishes in this way to
supply to you the personal watchfulness and care which a separation from
you deprived you of at a period of life when habits are easiest acquired
and fixed; and though the advice may not be new, yet suffer it to obtain
a place in your memory, for occasions may offer, and perhaps some
concurring circumstances unite, to give it weight and force.

"Suffer me to recommend to you one of the most useful lessons of
life--the knowledge and study of yourself. There you run the greatest
hazard of being deceived. Self-love and partiality cast a mist before
the eyes, and there is no knowledge so hard to be acquired, nor of more
benefit when once thoroughly understood. Ungoverned passions have aptly
been compared to the boisterous ocean, which is known to produce the
most terrible effects. 'Passions are the elements of life,' but elements
which are subject to the control of reason. Whoever will candidly
examine themselves, will find some degree of passion, peevishness, or
obstinacy in their natural tempers. You will seldom find these
disagreeable ingredients all united in one; but the uncontrolled
indulgence of either is sufficient to render the possessor unhappy in
himself, and disagreeable to al