Alexandria gazette & advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1822-1824, 1822-10-22
LIE aAiNDITS USES.
"D4m uiuinsMs, psvunut

We who.addresses us. onthe value OF
Lila. a subject in which all are equally
concerned, is certain of alluriug IT ne
cannot conviict and though his prose-
lytes,hs few j his audience will be large.
He.who,preeends to increase our bless
sings, ongive stability to those we pos
sess, touches = string that entw'nes the
HANNAH hsart, and harmonizes with our
fAsiiues.S II would indsed, be strange,
If man needed much exhortation to
make him comply with the suggestions
of interest, or REFUGE to pursue that
course which experience has declared
the road to shappiness. Hence the pro-
nensity, inherent in human nature, to
reward those who, by shortening the
way to riches, have conferred Dement'S
on society. ifthen honors be allotted
TO him who teaches us how to obtain
this comparatively inferior blessing,
how. much greater is his merit who
.eaches US how to enjoy life, on which
every other blessing dependsp The
road oflite is dark, and who would re-
fuse guide! Many are the quick
sands in the o:ean of existence. and
who would navigate it without a pilot?
Influenced by the prevalent opinion
Sin their favor, there have appeared
some. in every age, who, in an authora-
tive manner, have drawn the lines be-
tween happiness and misery, and held
forth recipee for avoiding the one and
obtaining the other. By the interPreta-
ton OF some, OUT. motto commands the
qualification of the passions, and entire
dsyotions TO sensual pleasure. They
would lead US over beds of roses to ha-
VEINS Of increasing bliss, where man
NAV breathe away his life in the luxury
of endowment, without remorse for the
past or dread of the future. Needless
af tboss lines which the Creator has
drawn between day and night, man is
taught to apply both to the purpose OF
Measure: he is to obey no God, for re-
I;sion is averse to sensuality; he is to
so2esnous of his fellow creatureu,' for
dove is the offspring of prejudice. He
is to ;sexert his energies" to obtain
whatevsr.he wishes: and in his wishes
Ia isto be restrained by no consldera-
ton, either of utility or right. IN .
word. he is tos eat, drink. and be mer-
ry. for to morrow he must die. such
ia the substance of a doctrine, founded
upon the worst passions of the human
heart, and directly subversive OF reli.
gion aud happiness. AS long as there
exists God, and future happiness Is
.he object of present existence-as long
assman 10 intended to seat, that he may
live. and mot to live, that he may eat, !"
so,longl will the pleasures of the volup-
tnary be considered as the golden APP
niles. which draw the attention from the
grand object of life, as abysses more
dreadful, because covered with How
ecs. ,3eas sl ~
We psss from the fowery but decep.
eve vale of pleasure. to the gloomy ca
yern Of superstition snd here we are
cold that we must abstain from every
pleasure. however innocent; thata man
is placed on earth, like cat on an, air
pnmp. where he must endure the most
-exOrutiating torture, without hope Of
relief, or possibility of escape.
TO every one, who reflects, the state
: ofhim who lives IA continual fear OF
death, is as deplorable as his who has
no hope of future existence. The
soa of superstition and the votary OF
pleasure. will be equally distant from
che rewards Of a we'll spent life, as the
bod OF Procrustus was equally fatal to
che tall and the short. q
tCharleston Courier.