The Wilmingtonian, and Delaware advertiser., 1826-02-16
LIFE AND DEATH.

The dearest ties are Sundered ana the sa-
BILE pail conveys to the grave the young, the
beautiful, the aged and the worthy. The So
Tenn knell rolls along the breeze as 1t tolls
the mournful obsequies which are paid to the
dead; and strikes en- the ear OF the living
with an ominous and warning note.
There is something peculiarly instructive
in those simple ceremonies which we devote
to our deceased friend, when we say, Let
us arise and bury our dead The last look
which we bcstow upon the countenance
which has gladdcncd us with its smile; the
company Of mourners and friends who have
assembled on this heart rendng occasion; the
address which ascends from the lips Of the
divine to the Being who is seen in his works;
the silence and sorrow of these who are left
for a time on earth, until it shall be their
fate to follow the departed-the procession
as it slowly moves towards the last earthly
tenement of man---the peal struck from the
village church which now comes upon our
listless ear ofclay--the falling of the earth
upon the young and amable--thc return
and dispersion of the silent congregations
and those saddened feelings which we bear
with us to the pillow, and the void, never
again to be filed, which is made among the
little rank of those we love---all these furnish
moral too forcibly applied to be resisted,
and awaken thoughts upon the future, be-
yond all that the most laboured essay or most
eloquent tongue can produce. We turn
| from this scene to that which is pencied
upon future years When the rose and sweet
briar shall spring from the turf resting on
that bosom now beating with pleasure at cur
approach and heaving the convusive sob at
our affliction. When, in fine, all that we
now look upon with so much delight, shall
become but an unseemly skeleton within a
narrow grave.
| Change the dream. and we ourselves are
to become the victims of a like transforma-
tion. The sun, the cottage of our infancy,
the lake glimmcring beneath silver moon,
the vault of heaven, the friends Of our youth,
the partner of our pillow, all, all the luxu-
ries of imagination and of life are 10 become
dim and indistinct; passion after passion
must expire, sense After sense must follow,
oblivion will steal each object of perception
or of affection, from before us, we must be-
come torpid, unconscious, and finally die,
and the same sad parade will be repeated,
and 'where are we?' The world will mo- g
onward, the minutes space we have filled
will be forgotten, and other generations tread
sportivelv over the little hillock of earth
within which we are steadily mouldering
back to our primitive clay.
Often it is the case, that we cannot but in
dulge in the idea, that when the soul is sev
cred from its body, we shall in spirit, revisit
these scenes which in life were dear to us
that we shall again look from some high cliff
upon the blue waters and gaze upon the tall
ship, as she booms over the sea. beneath an
evening sky-that we shall watch over the
fortunes of those we loved in life, IN eet them
again in affection, when they shall have
thrown of the clog of mortality, and be rea-
DIV hand in hand, to ascend to higher regions
of bliss, when the earth shall have passed
away. But the sportive tricks OF wild i'm
agination should give place to the sober GER
tainty of revelation. Though we delight tc
linger round these scenes which are dear te
US upon earth, though our consciences tells
US that we are not to bury In parsimonious
grave, those thoughts and perception which
attach us so closely to disembodied spirits
yet the present period of danger warns US
most emphatically to set our hearts in such
order, that we may challenge death to the
combat His bolts are falling around us, and
the small space which is allotted MS before
we shall be summoned to the lists in an un-
: known cline, demands that our panoply
should be ready.
To provoke a person whom you woult
convince, not only rouses his anger, and set:
/ it against your doctrine, but 1T directs hi:
resentment against your person, as well as
against all your instructions and arguments
You must treat an opponent like friend, i