Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1837-01-18

NbitheT mas tue ola year gone :! IL
has gone to be numbered with wears
beyond the f~lood-gone TO have It's e.
vents registered in the records of e,er.
nity-gone 10 rest in silence, until the
trumpet shall awake the sleeping mill
ions in the dust to the scenes of a final
retribution. A year! how long in
prospect when past how contracted
1t appearsi
Time in advance, behind him hides his wings,
And seems 10 creep, decrepit with his age,
Behold him when past by, what then is seen.
But his proud pinions, swifter than the W inds ~
Like the visions ola dream, the de.
parted year fits before the eye, in bro
ken fragments. And yet, to how ma
ny creations, and di~ssolutions, has it
given place? How many (within its
interval have felt the Frightening in
fiuence of cheerfulness, or the gloomy
touches of sadness-the buoyant inspi-
rations OF success, or the blighting
pangs of disappointment-the sunny
leadings of hope or the chilling grasp
of despair! How many during this
short measurement: of time, have been
ushered into being-how many have
closed their eyes in death Ask you
of the sea 1t tells of scattered wrecks
and pours upon your ear the shrieks of
drowning mariners. Ask you of the
land 1t points to the new made
mounds beneath which thousands, who
at It's commencement were active il
the exercise of all the functions of life,
are now dwelling amid silence and or
ruption. Consult you the tablets of
history? They speak of sorrows which
have oppressed, of diseases which have
consumed, of bereavements which have
been sustained. With flowing tears,
and from among the sable garments
of mourning, iatherless children-dis-
consulate widows-ruined fortunes
rise up to view and over tae hours
which are gone, a sombre cloud col.
lects, which darkens the remembrance
of evanescent Joys.
While the past thus fades from the
view, we feel the moving current, and
the eye i%nstlnctively turning to the o.
pening future, asks-whither does it
lead? To wealth. To enjoyment?
We cannot predict. This only do we
know to certainty, that for each of us,
it courses forward without pause, to
the interminable, and fathomless ocean
OF eternity. Upon all the future a veil
is spread, which no mortal eye can Pc
netrate. Was it not wise and being
nant so to do, that JOY might not ex-
haust itself in anticipation, and that
sorrow might not impose a pang, ere
its enyenomed shaft entered the bosoml
Child of mortality, strive not to lift that
veil. Be satisfied hat darkness is inn
pressed upon the coming hours until
they arrive.
What If Il voice should speak to thee,
and say" this year which thou hast
begun shall be thy last thou hast be.
held its d~awning, but its close thou
shalt not see. Before its summer would
have ripened the harvests, or its sue
ceeding winter bound the earth in icy
letters, thy days shall be numbered
thy race Of %sublunary being, ended
thy connection with a busy world, ter
minated the ties of thy relationship
sundered-thy probation over--thy bo-
dy committed to the dust-and thy des.
tiny; in happiness or wretchedness, for
ever fixed Thus is the voice of Di.
vine prescience speaking to thousands
thus, reader, it may at this moment be
speaking to thee. Art thou prepared
for these important changes? AS death
leaves thee, the Investigations Of the
last day will find thee. Are thy ac.
counts settled in relation to the retribu.
tons Of that day.
Ye, in the decline oflife, upon whose
~foreheads age has implanted her ma
ny wrinkles, whose heads are whiten-
ed by the frosts of oft recurring win.
tiers and whose growing ailments
warn you that your stay on earth can
be but short-are your set.
tied? Many ermons have you heard,
many privileges have you enjoyed, ma.
ny warnings have you had, many visi.
tations of the Spirit have you experien-
ced, while mercies and Affections, in
the movements of Divine Providence,
have clustered around, to teach you
the lessons Of heavenly wisdom. Are
you yet out Of the line which encircles
the visible community of Gods peoplel
Are you yet, under the wrath Of accu-
mulated years, cherishing rebellion a.
gainst Him who made, and who has
power to redeem thee? No words can
express the gloom of thy condition
you tread very near upon the brink of
endless ruin. A few more steps, and
the light OF hope will fade forever from
thy vision, and the abyss which even
now yawns beneath thy feet, will re-
ceive thee to its embrace. Tears.
could they flow from an angels eye,
would flow in torrents, to compassion
ate thy hopeless situation. But no
say not of any this side the line of
1 1A-Ak 4L-A A.. 49, 49,. Tf