Duties of Young Men Author:Edwin Hubbell Chapin Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: LECTURE III. DUTIES OP YOUNG MEN AS CITIZENS. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king as supreme ; or un... more »to governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do well.—1 Peter u. 13, 14. This lecture is properly a continuation of the last; for, our obligations as citizens lie strictly underhe head of our social duties. Government is at once the offspring and the safeguard of society. In those forms in which it approaches nearest its perfect development, it is a bond imposed upon each individual, whereby he is obligated to discharge certain duties for the good of the whole ; at the same time receiving, by reciprocal action, an amount of benefit which could not accrue to him in his natural state. It does nol need that I should illustrate this definition by examples. You well know the vital importance of government. Youwell know, were we to overthrow the tribunal of the magistrate and trample under foot the law, the bonds of society would be broken, the elements of passion and physical power let loose, the benefits of the social compact swept away, and communities resolved to chaos.—Government is the great life-principle of the body politic. It moves each member to discharge its proper functions, keeps every organ and every nerve in its true tone, and sends the vivifying blood, through ten thousand arteries, to the remotest extremities of the vast and complicated frame. It is the established centre of a system, and around it, as their great source of light and heat, glide a million orbs ; each bound by it in a safe and defined orbit, each kept from interfering with the other; yet all happy and free in their courses, rejoicing and making harmony as they move, and bath...« less