THE IMPORTANCE OF PRINCIPLE IN THE REGULATION OF CONDUCT.
Fear God.-1 PETER ii. 17.
THE first thing that a man ought to do, as soon as he becomes capable of it, is to adopt principles and lay down rules for the direction of his future conduct; as without this precaution there is a danger that his whole life will be one continued series of folly and inconsistency. The slave of his passions, and misled by prejudice, and the example of the vicious, or sunk perhaps in stupid indolence, neglecting to cultivate his talents by a due exercise of them in some laudable pursuit, he will never possess any dignity, stability, or consistency of character; and his days will be spent without much comfort or advantage to himself, or benefit to society: nay, it is likely, that such a man will not only bring ruin and disgrace upon himself, but be the cause of much mischief in the community of which he is a member. Experience may indeed open his eyes at length, and convince