Martinsburgh gazette. [volume] (Martinsburgh, Va. [W. Va.]) 1810-1825, 1824-09-23

to introduce useful aud beneficial re-
Elections, as this field of death; we in
stantly indulge the thought that we are
mortal, by the presence Of so many
Wondering tombs, by seeing such null.
titude of mortals there crumbling and
crumbled to dust
How can we for a moment be so vain
as to suppose that we win survive the
general wreck, when we see on every
side that God hath demolished the no.
blest works of his hand, that he hath de-
signed the body as temporary retreat
for the soul, from whence it must issue
at his call. Then, Am prepared for
deaths is question that every one
should put to himself. How awful must
be the summons of death to the sinner,
to the man whose study il hath been to
seek after the qualification Of his worldly
passions, who INDUCES in the vicious
corruptions of the flesh and the devil
But, since death may be rendered as an
infant child, why does not man, incon-
siderate man, attempt the whole con-
quest' Let him appeal to the grand
=
balsam OF spiritual existence, to the pas
sion and suffering of the Immaculate
Jesus, who laid down his life that we
nigat take UP ours; who, in the good
ness Of his nature, submitted to the ig-
nominious death of the cross as an atone
ment for our gloomy transgressions.-
Jesus himself hath said that he is The cup
of life, that all who with sincere hearts
bow down before him shall be relieved
from their tribulations, and prosper UNI
der the wholesome air of his heavenly
abode.
When the humble votary of Christ
looks upon death, it is with calm com.
placehcy; he smiles as he sees the OBJ
durate Tyrant, drawing an arrow from
his culver, and de6es the point, for he
is armed in the impenetrable habit of
grace, and hath for his guardian and
protector, the awful nod of Omnipotence.
The death of a good man is thus beauti-
fully commented upon by the philoso-
pher and divine, Isaac Watts, death
to a good man, is but passing through a
dark entry, out of one little dusky room
of his fathers house into another that is
fair and large, lightsome and glorious,
diyinely entertaining" Often indulging
in this strain, he, in the rapture OF his
pious spirit, exclaims, 20 may the rays
and splendors of my heavenly apartment
shoot far downward, and gid the dark
entry with such cheerful CLEAN as to
Danish every fear when shall be called
to pass through These are the favor
lite thoughts of the first of men, of man
who had lived life in wait for death,
who had bestowed reflections upon this
aIl-importaut subject, and who had lived
in anticipation of great and grand re-
wards. Let us all, like this child of pie.
ty, reflect upon the awfully grand and
impressive themes of judgment and
death, Of heaven and hell, let our views
take prospective journey and contem-
plate the bliss of harmonic converse with
the Deity, from whose throne continual
ly goes forth a stream of living water
most grateful to the afflicted soul; then
let us turn to the horrors of hell, and see
how the soul shrinks back upon itself,
and startles at the dreadful sight;
yawning gulph ready to receive iniquity,
and inge it in endless torment; the
most agonizing torture await on every
side. Ifthere be any land there are daily
evidences that attest who are deaf to
these considerations, let him then, in the
language nf the benevolent divine, 'go
to the church-yard, and learn from eve
fy tombstone and every little hill that
the way of sin is DEATH" Let him learn
in silence among the dead that lesson
which infinitely concerns all the living;
nor let his heart be ever at rest, till he
is acquainted with Jesus, who is the re-
surrection and the life.
PHILANTHROPOS.