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4 The Desire of Perfection. We are taught that the great Be ing who created the universe, is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipres ent, immutable and eternal—perfect in the infinitude of all the grand attributes necessary to make a perfect creator. This being so, it ap pears that every effort of his crea tive power brings forth a perfect production. And this notion accords with all that we see in nature, ex cept what is accounted for. So far as we can observe the world, the sun, moon and stars revolve in a perfect system, with perfect regu larity of course and motion. The different elements of the world all conduce with perfect concord to the end for which they were made—the sustenance and continuance of ani mal life. Hence all creation seems to be a perfect work. : But when we come to consider man, for whom all things percepti ble seem to be made, we find, that he is imperfect. He is not perfect ly good or perfectly bad ; and in every capacity that he exist, he ex hibits some fault, and some degree of absence of fault. The best men who ever lived, had faults. Even the holy Prophets and Apostles, whom it pleased God to honor, as ~~>2 S f° r the exhibition of His super-natural power, sometimes did wrong, thus infallibly demonstrat ing the fact of the crookedness of the human mind and soul. On the other hand, we find no man, how ever mean, who does not show some goodness of disposition, and occasionally in an admirable de gree. But, notwithstanding the imperfect character of humanity, every man has in his mind a standard of per fection of some nature, and at least. desires to attain it. If a man :has neglected the cultivation of his bet ter impulses, having turned his at tention to deviltry, he desires to be an expert in this. If he has cast off" his obligations to be honest, he wishes to understand all the best plans for cheating and stealing. Re is anxious to completely under stand the mechanism of safe locks and the best way of rendering them useless. If he has shut his eyes and hardened his heart against the beauty and intrinsic value of femi nine chastity, he is quite zealous in his efforts to acquire a perfect knowledge of all the seductive arts by which he may prostitute woman, poison society, tortue hearts, and steep his own soul in pollution. To cause these diabolical effects may not be his ultimate desire, but it is to be perfectly skillful in ob taining his own wish—the gratifi cation of his depraved appetite— and this leads to such effects. The THE converse is also true. The man who has turned his eyes on virtue, has found beautiful, and desires to win her, strives to learn how he may completely overcome sinful habits, that he may stand in the radiance of her perfect glory. And as before indicated, this principle of man’s perfect standard applies in regard to happiness in this world. What youth of sound mind, of any degree or station, whose imagina tion has not pictured a handsome home surrounded by all the com forts and luxuries of life, and pre sided over by the sweetest and most perfect of women ? And I suppose that parents delight in dreaming of the perfect welfare of their children. The principle of ideality is also applicable to men in their avocations, and in every thing pertaining to what they do, of this nature. They want to be a perfect merchant, farmer, or physi cian or lawyer; they wish to pro duce a perfect machine, a perfect picture, a perfect piece of music and a perfect oration. In fact, while man is so imperfect, his mind and soul bear the impress of perfection, though wretchedly defaced, as sure ly as the earthen vessel bears the impress of the potters mould. And since the desire of perfec tion is universal, all approxima-. tions to it, whether in art, science, morality, or religion, are univer sally admired. A sufficient proof of this, is the attention which a fine picture, and ingenious machine, or beautiful music, elicits, and the de ference which a good man com mands. The steam engine retains our admiration to this day. We can listen with pleasure every day to music well rendered, and the eyes do not get tired of gazing at the elegant painting. Millions continue to honor Washington, Luther, Paul and other good men. So, here we discover one great stimulant to our desire for perfec tion, and one of the causes of hy pocracy. Men consciously or un consciously recognize the controll ing influence of perfection or ap proximations to it, they are urged to attain it, on the one hand, while on the other, since the genuine article is hard to produce, they disgracefully put on perfection’s appearance as nearlj' as possible, so as to receive its homage and re ward. And I venture that one half the sin committed, arises in aping perfection. How .strongly are college boys given to this crime. We desire to meet the pro fessor’s cal] with a perfect recita tion, at all times. At least, we wish to present the appearance of having studied pretty well. There are different ways of making this appearance, and boys, knowing this, often foolishly waste their time. But when called on, they put on a perfectly honest face and by means of a mysterious peep, or a slip of ten cent tablet paper, or a list from the other part of the room or from a neighbor, “spit out a max.’’ This is a grand tribute to perfection, but the habit is a cancer in the mind and soul, and will con sume both, unless the will, by means of the sharp knife of honesty and energy cuts it out. No ; however brightly the divine spark of desire for perfection may shine, it can never be approached by dissembling. By a terrible ac cident to our first parents, we lack much at our best, of being perfect. And even to approach our first es tate, in any particular, requires our honest and most strenuous efforts.-■ Even when we do our best, there still are many defects, and it is very evi dent that to cover these up, does not remove them. And sooner or later, they will spring up and ex hibit our sin. So all that is left to be done honestly is to do the best we can and acknowledge our short comings. Thus, to do in the strength of Him who alone is per fect, is the only way of restoring our mind and soul to that which our nature points —the impress of perfection. The Prohibition Medal. In our last issue we published a letter from Hon. Walter B. Hill, to Dr. Battle, in which he stated to Dr. Battle that he would give a gold medal to the student produc ing the best essay on prohibition. This, it seems, would have incited many of the boys'- to write, but strange to say, the magnanimous offer has prompted very few of the students to enter the contest. Why is this? A want of interest in this great question?—or no hope of getting the medal? Surely, boys, we are not so ignorant as not to have some conception of the mag nitude and gravity of this great question, which is now agitating the mind of the Union. Surely we are not so destitute of public spit(t, as to feel no interest in prohibition which is so intimately connected with the happiness or miserv of humanity. As to getting the medal, that ought to be the least thing in mov ing us to write. It is true, that this should be an incentive, but wisdom is better than gold or fame. The question of prohibition is em phatically a living and will doubtless come to a general issue in our day. It is a question which ‘ demands, and will have the support or opposition of all tvhb are now college boys. It must be settled, and this ought to be done intelligently, with all incident ques tions clearly before the mind. ! Since we are not so well informed, how can we perform our duty thus, unless we study the question. No better a time or opportunity will ever cpme, than now. Let each boy who can study and write, as well for his own instruc tion, and from a sense of duty to country and fellow-man, as for a hope of getting the medal which Mr. Hill so magnanimously offers. Death of a Distinguished Alumni. Dr. W. 0. Wilkes, of Gainesville, Ga., a distinguished alumnus of Mercer University, died Wednes day night, March 3d, after an ill ness of about two weeks. He was President of the the Gainesville Baptist Seminary, at his death, and was exceedingly beloved by all connected with it. He has held many other prominent positions in Georgia, and by his uprightness and strict attention to duty, has en deared himself to the Baptist all over the State. He graduated from Mercer in 1843, with the highest honors of his class. Before the Baptist congress, re cently held at Danville, Professor Winston, of Richmond, read inter i esting papers on the subject of ad mitting into all colleges, females who desire a more liberal education 'than is furnished by high schools. 1 It seems that a few lectures, or even one, on our system of govern ment, State and National, would be highly instructive to many of the? students. Professional base ballist will, this summer, again drain the Southern pocket-book. Macon is well adapted for the State School of Technology, and we hope she will take the proper steps to secure it. Students make it a particular point to trade with those houses which advertise in the Monochord. Dentists seem to think that an aching tooth will bring the students to them without the direction of an “ad.” Sagacious set, and stingy. Many of the students could not forbear going to the Volunteer’s fair, so that they might see ladies “in full evening dress,” as was ad vertised. They went, they saw, and their pockets were conquered. Well rung are the Chimes of Shorter College. The hands are dextrous as they are fair.