Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1834-11-13


be Indifferent about them, If they were
az perishable as the flowers OF May-i
the traces of your memory were as soon
10 disappear as the wake OF the swift
shin. or of the flying arrow. fou might
he unconcerned about the mental trea-
sures you are collecting, if hereafter,
you could view them with perfect lndif-
ierence-if they were to have no effect
on your future condition. But this IS
not the case. Your thoughts in them
selves, are imperishable. When they
are once impressed, nothing can blot out
the lettering. They are as fixed as the
throne of Heaven, and will become the
grand source of your bliss or woe.
This great truth which we have dis
cussed, shows the high responsibility a
rising from intercourse with society, as
acting upon the human intellect. Ii IS
a general estimate that professional
man exerts an influence, in greater or
less degree, upon thousand individuals
around him-is the author OF many OF
their thoughts and principles--the modi-
fyer Of their moral character and condi-
ton, both in time and eternity. How
much good, then, or evil may you entail
upon your fellow n en-. lie who throws
arrows, fire. brands and death, is Justly
called a madman. But the mischief
which he may thus effect, is only tenn
porary, but when you inculcate false
creed or dangerous maxims Of life upon
the minds of those with whom you have
intercourse, you may do something
worse than lay cities in ashes, or strew
the earth with the bodies of the dead
you may ruin a soul, and be the authors
of greater misery than you have powers
to estimate-you may fix in the minds
of those around you, the lasting causes OF
pain and ignominy-you may stain that
immortal spirit which, otherwise, might
have shone forever among the stars oil
Heaven. Oh, how fearful then, is the
responsibility of purposely laborIng to
people another's mind, with immortal
oughts-with the germs oflle or death,
The topic we have presented to you,
gentlemen, is calculated to awaken our
ioy and praise for it exalts the human
mind, and clothes it with the highest
dignity. 1t is true, that it is lorboding
TO The incorrigible transgressor. For 1t
erects in his own breast, a tribunal OF
stern and frightluI justice, from which
there lies no appeal, and from which he
can never flee. But to the good man, 1t
throws the brightest glorles over the pre-
sent and future state. Even the earth,
the spot which is the joyous scene oiour
youth, is clothed with thousand charms
of memory. We gaze upon the sun
with other emotions than we should pos.
sess, if we did not rccollect, that it had
bapiised with its beams, the countless
millions Of past generations--all the
great and good Of ancient times-and
did we not know from the experience
gained from memory, that after we are
dead, it will continue to enlighten bright
er and happier empires, till the earth be-
comes lasting paradise. And what,
but the "reminiscences of memory, what,
but a recollection Of what he has done to
save his country, casts such quench-
less halo around the statesman, who
stands untainted amid all the corruptions
of intrigue and venalty and unbend-
ing amid the rage Of those political
storms, which threaten TO sweep away
the whole fabric Of human freedom.
"Ha! thou, immortal MEMORY!
-IIail! in thy exhaustless mine,
From age to age unnumbered treasures shine!
Thonghi and her shadowy brood thy call obey,
And place, and time are subject to thy sway!
Thy pleasures most we feel, when most alone,
The only pleasures we can call our own
Lighter than air. hopes summer visions fly,
If but Aeeting cloud obScures the sky;
II but a beam Of sober reason play.
Lo, fancy's fairy frost work nelts away
But can the wiles OF art, the grasp of power,
Snatch the rich relics of u wei! spent hour!
These, when the trembling spirit takes It's flight,
Pour round her path stream Of living light,
And gild those pure and perfect realms of rest.
Where virtue uumphs and her sons are blest."