Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1836-05-19
From the Christian Indez.
~"THIS MINUTE. 81

How much may be, and Is, being done
this gerry minute! 1t is, no doubt the
first and the last with thousands and
while multitudes are rejoicing because
a man is born into the world" as many,
we suppose, are sobbing |" farewell" as
they take the last look at the face of the
dead. Now, just mac, the knot of Hvmen
is tied between some youth and virgin
and now the pair 2lighted to each other
for life, through veal and wo, are publish
ed apart by divorce. Now the fond pa
rent is doting on his absent son, and si-
lencing the forebodings Of suspicious age
with the sanguine hope that his boy shall
be the stay OF his failing nature, and snatch
his name and memory from the grave -
and now that beardless boy, in the full
tide of festive feeling, is taking his. first
glass, ignorant and careless of the dis
grace and wretchedness he drinks Now
1.-The reeling sot is laundering into his own
door, to frighten the partner of his bosom
and the little ones--the pledges of her
love, AT this moment the pert lad who
has the indulgence of his parents, lays
Light finger on the price of his halter -
and now, the prisoner falls into his last
fitful sleep, to dream of execution and to
wake up to the horrid reality, and cause
the lottery-dealer or the actor whose tempt
atoms allured him from the paths of hon
esty and industry!
This minute is the bearer of joys or
pangs to the memories of thousands, and
the birth of bliss or wo to thousands more.
| ND hat fN
spectator? or am | sub ject to the possible,
nav, the sure results ofthis minute Does
the stream of time cease its rolling while
I gaze on its surface and contemplate its
course and termination? No; it flows
onward and bears away, disdainful of
bride and without discrimination, the no.
bic and the mean, the rich and the poor,
the beautiful and ill-tavored, the wise and
the fool the infidel and saint, and heeds
no mandate but HIS who babe it flow, and
flow it shall, till the same voice proclaim
that time shall be no more.
This manUte am in the current. for
the stream has no eddies. How rapidly
have passed in succession the numerous
Fl points on its banks! How soon shall |
reach its mouth and then, o then the
, ocean-the bottomless and shoreless ocean
Am of materials and structure to mount
its waves and move buoyantly and safely
on its broad bosom? or shall the gross
ness of my corrupt nature and habits sink
me into its deep and dark abyss, not to
drown, but to endurethe sufocation of end.
less despair?
Then, what. my fellow-men, is this
. minute worth Is it worth the pleasure
you desire while 1T passes from the indul.
gence of appetite or idle curiosity! Is i,
worth the money you paid for the las,
show. or the sum you. extort from your
neighbor? What is it worth You
; may barter it for dram or monkey
show; but royal grandeur, at the point Of
death, once exclaimed "a world of wealth
for an inch of time !"
MORAL REFORM AND MIssIoNs.-Said
, an agent of the American Board, "The
heather world is but one great brothel.'
lfso, then the work of moral reform must
!. precede and prepare the way for the work
I of missions; or while our missionaries
are preaching the gospel, they must also
aim to correct the corrupt state of public
sentiment among the heather, as to the sin
of lewdness. They can never do this in
( directly. The evil is too great ever to be
e overcome by indirect efforts 1t must be
v openly and boldly attacked as a SIN agains
q God. But can we ask our brethren to dc
: among the heather what we are unwilling
= to do at home?-tJOuruGl of Public Nor
e ais *>*ss#