Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1804-10-06

hodpitants- but fother miSer.cs time
brings, though SLIGHTLY, ye. visbly forwatd,
by it's Own lapse, which yet approaches
unseen, because we turn our eyes away,
and they seize us unresisted, because we
would not arm ourselves against them, by
setting them before US
That it is in vain TO shrink from what
canDo: be avoided, and to hide that from
ourselves which must sometimes be found,
Is truth which we all know, but which all
neglect, and perhaps none more than the
speculative reasoner whose thoughts are
always from home, whose eye wanders
over life, whose fancy dances atter mete-
ors OF happiness kindIed BY itself, and who
examines every thing rather than his own
state.
Nothing is more evident, than that the
decays of age must terminate in death
Yet there is no man (says Tully) who does
not believe he may live another year, and
there is none who does not upon the same
principle hope another year for his parent
or his friend; but the lal!acy will be in time
detected; the last year. the last day will
come it has come aud is past" The lie
which made my own life pleasant, is at an
end, and the gates of death are shut upon
my prospects"
The loss Of friend on whom the heart
has fixed, ard TO whom every wish and
endeavor tended, is state of dissolution in
which the mind looks abroad impatient Of
itself, and finds nothing but emptiness and
horror. The blamclsss life, the artless
tenderness, the native simplicity, the mo-
dest resignation, the patient sickness and
the quiet death, are remembered only to
add value to the 'oss--tc aggravate regret
Tor what cannot be arnended--to deepen
sorrow for what cannot be recalled.
These are the calaniities by which Pro-
violence gradually disengages us from the
love of life. Other evils Fortiiude may re-
pei, or hope may mitigate; but irrepara-
bic privation leaves nothing to exercise re-
solution, or ilatter expectation. The dead
cannot return, and nothing is left us here
but languishment and grief
Yet such is the course OF nature, that
whatsoever lives long must outIive those
whom he loves and honors. Such is the
condition OF our present existence, that life
must one time lose its associations, and e.
very inhabiiant Of the earth must walk
downward TO the grave alone and unre-
garded, without any partner of his Joy or
grief, without any interested witness OF his
misrortunes or Observation-Disclosures in
deed he may yet feel, FOR where is the bot
tom Ct the misery Of man but what is sue
cess 60 him, who has none to enjoy il
Happiness is not found in sclf-contemDia-
ton; it is perceived only when it il reileGt-
ed from another.
We know little Of the state OF departed
souls, because such knowledge is not ne
cessary to a good life. Reason deserts US
at the brink of the grave, and gives no far
Their intelligence. Revelation is not Who'll
ly silent. "There is JOY among the an
gels in heaven over sinner that repent
eth" And surely the JOY is communica-
bic 10 souls dsentangled from the BODY,
and made like angels.
Let hope, therefore, dictate what reye-
lation does not confute--that the union of
souls may still remain: and that we, who
are struggling with sin, sorrow, and mfr
mites, may have our part in the attention
and kindness Of those who have finished
their course, and are now receiving their
reward.
These are the great occasions which
force the mind 10 take refuge in religion.
When we have no help in ourselves, what
can remain but that we look I'D to high
er and greater power? And to what hope
may we not raise our eyes and hearts, when
we consider that the greatest power is the
best
Surely there is no man, who, thus affiic-
ted, does not seek succour in the Gospel,
which has brought life and immortality to
light! The precepts of Epicurus, which
teach Us to endure what the laws of the
universe makes necessary, may silence
but not content US. The dictates of Ze-
no, who commands as 10 look with indif-
ference on abstract things, may dispose us
TO conceal our sorrow, but cannot assuage
Zeal alleyiationof the loss of friends,
and rational tranquility in the prospect of
our own dissolution, can be received only
from the promise Of him in whose hands
are life and death, and from the assurances
Of another and better state, in which all
tears will be wiped from our eyes, and the
whole soul shall be flied with Joy. Phi
losophy may inluse stubbornness, but re-
ligion only can give patience.
SAM. Johnson.