"He heeded not reviling tones,

Nor sold his heart to idle moans,

Though cursed and scorned and bruised with stones :

"But, looking upward, full of grace, He prayed, and from a happy place, God's glory smote him on the face."

II. THE YOUNG MAN AT HOME.

prepare him for the

We saw him to be

IN my last Lecture I spoke sufficiently of the young man's duties to himself to work of a man in the present age. rich in the examples of nobleness which the past has furnished-earnest in his fidelity to the present and the future, and consecrating the fresh energy, enthusiasm, vigor and hope of his early days to the purest and highest purposes. By such means he becomes capable of accomplishing the best and most glorious results.

But there are relations to others which demand consideration. As no man liveth, and no man can live to himself alone-as his own happiness and good must depend, in a great measure, upon those around him, and theirs, too, reciprocally, upon him-it becomes a matter of considerable importance to understand how best the relations to others can be improved for the good of the whole.

to

First in time, if not the first in rank, come forward the duties which the young man owes at home his family and kindred. So I have decided to ask your attention this evening to a consideration of the Domestic Duties of Young Men.

Those of you who have been constant attendants upon the weekly service in this place, know that our

thoughts have frequently been directed to the contemplation of home duties, because, I have no doubt in my own mind, the institution of the family has, under Providence, a vast influence, not only upon individual character, but also upon the progress of civilization and religion. Had we time to devote to it, the power of home and its influence upon the character of the human race, would be a subject well worthy our investigation. I think it can be shown that those nations have the truest theory of civilization, and the truest practice, also, which have the most regard to home and its duties, and among which home holds a high and sacred place. We, of the Anglo Saxon race, are accustomed to think of ourselves as standing in the van; as holding the front rank in the onward march of mankind. It is not without reason that we are accustomed thus to think. There can be no question that in energy, in perseverance, in skill in the useful arts, in ideas of government and theories of religion, we do stand in the front rank. Let us once understand what can be done by man, and there will always be found enough among us willing and able to do it. And it will not be difficult to determine how much of all this is due to the influence of home; for home is peculiarly an Anglo Saxon word, with a peculiar Anglo Saxon meaning. Just so it is. With us, home is the grand though quiet theater of our noblest and purest duties, and in its true character becomes to us not only an educating influence, exerted upon one's own manhood, but also

the educating influence of society. It has been called, and not unjustly, the conscience of society; for it certainly is the regulating principle of social forces. It is but necessary that there should be a right home education to produce a state of society which would be, so far as possible, perfect. So convinced am I of this fact, that there is nothing which I would wish to guard with more sacred and constant vigilance than the home affections; nothing which I would oppose with a more strenuous resistance than that which in any way attacks, or undervalues, or seeks to undermine them. All social evils find their worst result in the destruction of these; in the rupture of domestic ties; in the overthrow of that institution of the family, on which, as a foundation, the fabric of society rests most securely. What gives intemperance such a dreadful character is, in most part, that it degrades and destroys home. What is one of the worst features of Slavery is, that it separates families, makes the marriage tie depend simply upon custom, and caprice, and ownership, and stains the holiest affections of human nature with a vile concupiscence. What seems to me the most dangerous as well as the most revolting aspect of Mormonism is, not the slavish subjection of the mind to a priestly domination for that is a characteristic of other communities;-but the sanctioned. practice of polygamy debasing, uncivilized, and fatal as it must be to all the best interests of human life.

It is true, that this feeling respecting home may de

generate into a selfish love of home comforts and ease; and that it may so completely engross the heart as to shut out the recollection of those who are homeless. One may be so fully occupied with his own home as to forget the claims of those outside of its walls, and be unmindful of his duties toward them. But that is by no means a legitimate result. A right home education always takes into account that the pure and warm affections which expand amid the quickening influences of domestic life, are not narrow or exclusive in their embrace. One soon learns that under the truth of what Jesus has taught respecting God and man, all mankind form one great family, and that it is none other than a brother or a sister whom we are called upon to love and labor for. One soon learns that the ties of kindred connect all human life together, and, as they extend, invisibly, but every where, throughout the world of human effort and human labor, join us all in one grand unity, to promote and strengthen which is the great object of our earthly existence.

I think, then, I do not over-estimate the domestic duties of young men when I bring forward their consideration as of prime importance. Is it necessary that I should urge you to love your homes? That love is even now in all our hearts. We can not wholly eradicate, indeed we would not wish to do it, the love we feel for the home we have quitted; nor can we break the ties which bind us to it. It belongs to the human heart to cast a retrospective eye upon the