Literary cadet and Rhode-Island statesman. [volume] (Providence, R.I.) 1827-1829, 1828-10-01

barbarian, and the most enlightened,
alike study rather to avertHlis wrath than
to gain his love-; and religion is with
them rather an impulse Of fear, than
the overdowing Of gratitude for his mer-
cies. The gods Of different nations have
partlken of the nature OF the people who
worshipped. Those who compose the
| mythology Of the ancients are sullied
with all human impurities, and arc the
slaves Of the worst Of human passions;
easily excited to wrath, and readily to be
appe ased. Tire fabulous Jove commit
ted crimes in heaven that earth would
revolt from, yet he was pictured as being
powerful, and was adored. The sacrI-
fees offered to conciia,e him were such
as would consign the christian to the
wors, of addition, yet they gained the
heathen heaven, if 80 it may be called,
governed by one pictured less merciful
than man. They copied their paradise
from their earthly pursuits, aud peopled
it with such beings as would minister to
their earthly desires, reviyified in anoih-
or region. Their dream Of futurity was
an eternity OF human pleasures, varied to
suit the taste Of the dreamer, and thus
we find the Goth reveling at the festive
board in the hall Of Odin, and the idle
Mahomotan luxuriating in his harcm with
houries, whose charms will never fado.
The one could imagine nothing surpass-
ing an everlasting drinking bout, with
the scull of his foe before him to hold
| his beverage, and the Other could con-
ceive no heaven where the grossest OF
his earthly appettes might not enter
But with us, Louisa, it is different, for
those who have a mind to enjoy scene
like this we now contemplate, may pic
ture heaven far beyond the heathen's
conception
"Truc, my BROTHER" she replied,
"with us it is different; we enjoy light
which the hcathen did not enjoy, but
that light only serves to render to the
guilty tho prospect of the future moro
terrible
'Not so, my Louisa; it is rather
beacon to those who have erred. The
best of hurran Institutions are attended
with partial evil, and even those of di-
vine origin, when applied to human at
! fairs, are not altogether exempt. Re-
vealed religion is the holy bond which
binds the mass Of mankind lndissolub!y
together; break it, and chaos would
literally come again.-It adds cheerful
ness to the light Of heart, and is balm
TO the wounded spirit; yet not unfrequent-
Iy il prostratcs in the place Of comforting
for its denunciations alone are heard by
many, and its bright rewards and prom
ises are considered as extending to a
few of the chosen. Such imagine that
heaven can only be attained by passing
through a life Of purgatory here, and
know not that the inost grateful offering
that can be rendered is a cheerful heart
! and pure one We came not here TO
mourn in sackcloth and ashes over the
inboin sin Of the old Adam, but rather
to rejoice and be grateful for the life that
was given, and render that life gift to
be rejoiced at
'True, we came not to mourn over
the inherent sIn,' she replied, but the
sin that owes its. origin 10 us, we must
answer for
'And hast thou not answered for it,
| he exclaimed, 'as few have answered!
Has not the atonement in this world
I been sufficient without extending to the
next! Such is the variety of human Of
fences, that gownsmen themselves can
scarcely designate those that are against
divine, from such as are merely infringe
ments Of human laws. Too frequ emily
they are confounded, and the wrath Of
J the Omnipotent is heard in the imagina-
ton OF the offender, for an act not VIC
ious in ITSELF but created into a crime
by human institutions. 1t is possible to
refine on virtue until it becomes a vice,
and 10 phlosophize on vice until it as
sumes the aspect Of virtue. You arc
fading fast, Louisa, and l know not at
what moment breeze may come, and
forever nip the flower that have so long
and tender y watched over. There was
time when you were the pride of my
heart, and when my heart was pl oudest.
Nay, weep not at the recollection; for
dear to me as you then were, at no mo-
ment Of your life were you ever more
dear to me than at the present. But
the time is fast approaching, when that
delicate form must mingle with the clods
Of the valley, and become desolale.
Still it is in your power to leave me one
reflection that will be to me as a day
star in my wanderings.'
'My brother name it,
die as would have you Let me
see smile on your lips as close your
eyes in death, to satisfy me that you
leave not this world in terror. ! know
it is the creed of your sex, that she who
keeps her virtue unsullied, may be can
oniZcd as saint though begrimej with