Elizabeth-Town gazette. [volume] (Elizabeth-Town, N.J.) 1818-1821, 1820-01-11
sEAsoNABLE REFLEcTIoNs.

| The New Year comes upon us wrapt
10 snowy mantle, as if to forewarn us
how idle all our earthly aoticipations are.
How beautiful does futurity appear when
ldecked out 10 all the rainbow hues of fan
icy; the year comes upon us mantled in
Iifownss and in storms; but 10 the course of
lew more revolving months, we shall be
again saluted with joy, and life, and fra
Igrance, and song. DR.. Beattie draws from
this subject an argument TO prove the inn
mortality oftbe soul:
|" Shall be left forgotten in the dust,
When fate relenting lets the flower revive;
Shall natures voice, to man alone unjust,
Bid him tho doomed to perish, hope to live.
Is it for this fair virtue oft must strive,
With disappointment, penury and pain;
No, Heavens immortal spring shall yet arrive,
And mans majestic beauty bloom again.
Bright thro the eternal year of loves triumphant
reign.
There is sort Of solemnity 10 the COM
mencement Of New Year, peculiarly cal
Iculated to awaken serious and religious re-
Elections. 1T is true, that we have survi-
we'd the dissolution Of one year--we may
wander by the graves of our departed
friends, but how much nearer are we our
Iselves advancing TO that silent bourne from
whence no traveller returns. If we con-
lsult our features in the glass, we behold the
lravages Of time--our auburn locks begin
10 assume silvery hue, as if the frost OF
death was already collecting on our TEN.
|ples. Many an eye, perhaps at this mo.
ment porting over this page, will, before
he arrival Of another year, be as cold and
as motionless as the clod of the valley
Serious as such reflections are, they are
not destitute Of consolation We are taught
by the march of the seasons, that this earth
is not our abiding place-we are taught
by the death Of those friends, in whom, to
adopt the language OF Shakespeare, our
hearts have been "garnered up,'' that no.
thing short OF immortality can crafty the
longing Of an immortal soul. Friends COM
monty pledge to each other friendship for
life, but does that tie merit the sacred name
|of friendship, that is dissolvabIe by exis-
lence? No. We have often delighted
ourselves with the belief that those imper-
feet attachments, founded amidst SO many
cIashing and discordant interests, subject
ed to SO many infiru1ities, liable to SO many
Interruptions, broken by SO many adverse
interests, were but the commencement OF
those sympathies which will survive the
dissolution of the universe. There is JOY
| in heaven over one sinner that repents, a
decisive proof that superior beings feel a
tender sympathy for man. Man loses bis
proper dignity when he ceases to look to
the Heavens, and he degrades himself, he
becomes the slave Of ten thousand passions
unworthy the serious concern of soul on
the wing for eternity.
While we are sitting by our firesides,
surrounded by our wives and little ones,
enjoying all the comforts Of life-while We
are secure from the pelting storm, we
should not forget the miseries Of our less
fortunate fellow creatures. Many there
are, who, stretched upon the bed Of sick
ness, witness the expiring embers ere the
chilling night approaches, aud are not able
TO add single stick of wood TO rekindle
them. True charity does not only delight
| 10 the humble calls and humiliating en-
treaties of the unfortunate poor, but with
a warm heart and willing mind, seeks the
abodes of the wrelched. The great Foun.
der Of our charity has taught US not to look
for objects Of distress amid the circles Of
the great. The iron-barred cells OF the
gloomy prison-the wretcbed novels Of
indulgence, are the mansions of poverty
and to these unfriendly abodes our walks
should be extended. The manned father
the aged mother, the needy widow, and
the helpless orphan, wiIithere make known
to us the reality of their sufferings--the
Imam whose heart can melt with sympathy
and sweep with those that weep" will re
turn to his home and repose on his downy
bed with mind conscious of having re
lieved the snfferings Of his unfortunate fell
low creatures.-Bah. Chronicle.