The Wheeling repository — Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.], 1807-06-25 00:00:00, page 2

Written in characters cf gold, presented
Itself before my eyes ; at the same time
;wa inward i oice sjiOkc to mv under
standing, and a certain superior hand,
which j afterwards knew, quieted ni\
heart. (1 should have to mention other
circumstances if 1 were to relate mv
w hole history to \ ou.The se ntence
was tins : A' joicc a!ways in thy God: c
gain J say rijs.ee. —L was astonished ;
1 read it again, and still I could not
persuade ray self that mv eyes did not
deceive me-Rejoice always in thy
Godl Here I stoj peel in suspense with
that joy lul ahvay , w hich e mbraced all
the events oi my lite. Again J say re
iAce. Her.: now mv heart fell itseli
moved by this admirable hope. C«od
'ii 1 ot deceive me, said 1 within mv
: i. ; and ii he, or some one in his name,
counse ls me alway s to rejoice, it is a j
certain sign that this state is attainable
in lite. 1 turned a lew leaves back, and
met with a hero, swimming, as it were,
in a se a of gladne: I shut the book,
unci sunk into profound reflection ;
but, restless, i :■ pun opened it, like one
who wishes to rccal to mind what he
has read ; and lo 1 in a different place, I
beheld this e xpression, written in lette rs
not less brilliant ) 1 have rejoiced in all
things, f'jr *<:•<".v<torn went before me. In
order to we igh and to know things, then,
as I ought, inferred I in my own behalf,
this heavenly jov must visit me, and
hcavi.n must direct me. No sooner did
T unde rstand this, than He ll ction cn
•*vred into me, and spoke to me in this
manner :
38. God cn at-, tl me for some purpose,
: ceing he does nothing w ithout design ;
and mv ht art, restless, atixh u<, and ea
r, informs me that it is r< alls see-kin >
this purpose, be it what it may. Wei.!
•f by the motion oi a stone the centre,
-vh re it has to rest, be known; if by the
restlessness of the needle the north be
discovered ; by the beatings of mv heart
its aim and tendency may likewise be
discover d, as well as that in which it
has to tin 1 it . repos*-. General experi
ence teaclv s us. d,. ; die human heart
finds its tranc;uilit\ in God alone,be
cause so. ly ioi himself must the ( r* a
tor have lonned it. J'ossi ssing there
fore, as I do, a soul so i obi in its de
* B »' k iii.
•}• hi 1 's Kpiill to the PhB'ppianp, iy 4
J '"1 u haft girted me with glaiintf life.
PJit I. XXX If.
$ V/ ;1 '(im V I 1
•?lrq i f.m cr: cvroofttum iontc riquicfcat
(. — Aug*
! sires, so exalted in its affections, and so
| incap.of being satisfi 1 with any
j tiling whatever, it‘•is not pos ■ si bio that
this soul should have been formed by
the h. a\ nlv hand to content itself with
the creature. Solely for himself God
must have formed my heart so great, it
is, tli wrfove, verv certain, that only in
the enjovment ol God can my heart per
fectlv rejoice. Then, only, will it have
peace, quietness, and complete content;
aud then,onlv, will it remain like a stone
at the centre, and like the needle at the*
north, calm and rejoicing in the jov of
G >!_!.* lint how will this be possible,—
asked I myself,—bow, in the present
die, will this be possibl ? To this ques
tion l heard a sonorous and agreeable
voice in the grove, where I then was,
thus reply:
Towards that date whi h G a 1 infpires
I.ifix thy will, and ihou 111 i'f cab
A biifs which to fin ere defircs
Is promis'd—promis’d not in vain.
I was almost beside myself when I h anl
this song; and felt, as it were, the draw
ing of a curtain, by which I was enable d
to see a thousand things which I could
not before perceive : and 1 understood
that as a stone, cheeked and suspended
!>v an enormous chain, in the air, enjoys
not the centre to which it has a propen
sity,—hut motionless, quiet, and calm,
keeps in the straight*, at direction toward
if, possessing, in as great a degree as
is possible, a future tranquility;—as the
needle,lodgcd upon its axis,possesses not
the N orth,but remains still and immove
able to the sight, enjoying, according to
its c'rcuvnstnnc* the object to which it
tends;—so mv soul, whilst detained in
the prison of this lile, and unable to
plunge itself into that immense ocean of
* ternal fruition to which its understand
ing and will are adapted, possesses its
felicity in the manner most suitable to i',
!>v pointing that way;—that is to sa\,
the judgment and the heart conform
themselves to the object ior which th \
were f ramed.—In this \ ou have all im
philosophy.
39. Whilst Misnno was thus speaking,
lu* observed that th ph nsurc with which
his guests had attended to him at the
beginning, gradually diminished; lot
the eyes, like tattling servants, declare,
without being qu stioned, whatever
passes in the cabinet oi the mind. It
was then that he abruptly cut tlv tlu e..d
I 'Thou haft put ^laUuels in my heart fral iv.7.
of his discourse, and refraining, for the
present, all explication of the sound, me
taphysical theology, to which his highly
enlightened spirit was bending its flight;
he chose ratln r to reserve his doctrine
lor a more suitable occasion, and re
stricted buns If, at this tiiue,to the at
tempt lie had made to convince them,
that the true happiness, to which the
Creator invites, is attainable in this life.
The eloquent sage began now to speak
in a more clear and common language ;
and like a vast river, which vuslus with
such\ iolence as to break down its banks,
unable to check it.-, own impetuosity, he
suffered the overwhelming torrent of
bis reasoning, with which his soul a
boumlcd, to flow in full and pleasant
streams, lie spoke in this manner:
40. 11 bellowing some attention up-.
<• • ;i m. s w hu h Cod mule for the
• ating the bv /iily senses,
i y . . !’nv improbable
il IS .. !!* t till •« l*i Oil - t. L t ' 111* .r.
happim ss. Observe the ? < i i. ,uti g
beautv of tlu* universe. I do uot now
urge y(iU to reflect upon the most briili*
ant ol ji i ts, the pomp and magnificence
ol whose beauties astonish us ; look ra
th r, w ith attention, upon the vilest and
most contemptible objects. Take a view
; ol those rude rocks, which, overhanging
i and almost disjoined from the moun
tain, threat) n th< river. Well, what is it
! that you se ? That tend) r guinea-grass,^
I which, like green velvet, clothes and a
! dorns them ; those little white flow rets,
which form over them a refreshing
j shade ; and even von crags, which ap-.
! pear to be defects,show, it closely exa
: mined, that industrious N ature has con
| verted them into tt decoration ; lor ii4
the most interior of them she cause s to
spring up those eh li) ate sprigs of flow
• r .,which, as soon as the y reac h the door
j of the prison in which they had their
birth, scatter themselves abroad, by
climbing, elcsci nding, and running about
on all sides ; still, how ever, they are ve
i ry timid, ami cling fast to the rock, like
lender children who will not ! eve the
| arms of the mother from whom they had
j th.ir being.
hx 1 K ACTS.
Xo man ha-. so much c trc as he who
j endeavours utter tlie most happiness.
An unmixed cup of comfort in human
lilt i. what we are not to look for.
It is to»od to spend one’s days in the
oundj ol a free and sincere friendship