tions to compel fortune in his behalf, by making himself worthy of
her favours. Some of the greatest wrecks we have seen in life have
been those of waiters on patronage; and the greatest discontents which
we have seen in corporations, churches, and states, have arisen from
the exercise of patronage. Shakespeare tells us, in his exquisite
vein, of a virtue that is twice blessed,--blessed in those who give,
and blessed in those who receive. Patronage is twice cursed,--cursed
in the incompetency which it places where merit ought to be, and in
the incompetency which it creates among the class who make it their
trust. But the curse which you have mainly to avoid is that which so
often falls on those who waste their time and suffer their energies to
evaporate in weakly and obsequiously waiting upon it. We therefore
say, Rely upon yourselves. But there is One other on whom you must
rely; and implicit reliance on Him, instead of inducing weakness,
infinitely increases strength. Bacon has well said, that a dog is
brave and generous when he believes himself backed by his master, but
timid and crouching, especially in a strange place, when he is alone
and his master away. And a human master, says the philosopher, is as a
god to the dog. It certainly does inspire a man with strength to
believe that his great Master is behind him, invigorating him in his
struggles, and protecting him against every danger. We knew in early
life a few smart infidels--smart but shallow; but not one of them ever
found their way into notice; and though we have not yet lived out our
half century, they have in that space all disappeared. There are
various causes which conspire to write it down as fate, that the
humble infidel should be unsuccessful in life. In the first place,
infidelity is not a mark of good sense, but very much the reverse. We
have been much struck by a passage which occurs in the autobiography
of a great general of the early part of the last century. In relating
the disasters and defeats experienced in a certain campaign by two
subordinate general officers, chiefly through misconduct, and a lack
of the necessary shrewdness, he adds, "I ever suspected the judgment
of these men since I found that they professed themselves infidels."
The sagacious general had inferred that their profession of infidelity
augured a lack of sense; and that, when they got into command, the
same lack of sense which led them to glory in their shame would be
produ