The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1839-06-29

pant ueeply the SeeuS Oh WlueI ""N
extended action The love and gratitude we feel
towards an earthly parent are helps TO the great
DUTY of love and gratitude to the Almighty Father
of all. Our good will and Kindness towards our
kindred. is the best and sincerest beginning to
sv,nn,thv with the whole human race. And this
IS the true and Just sense of the saying that Char
jtt nhot is the true benevolent teelmg) begins at
home.
grow up in private they have moral associations
connected with them which almost ensure their
preservation for the future. When we consider
the images of purity and love, and truth, and con-
tent, which cluster around the pous household, can
it be wondered at thatwe should recur to the duties
which rendered US SO happy! Iii the want of
the calm happiness of cheerful Preside which
has left many hearts TO be swallowed up i'm vain
amusements and dangerous eXcitements. And
when there is no thought of sympathsing and
happy home to win one from temptations, his
heart and principles are at the mercy ofevery vain
show, and every artful adviser, and of every
bad companion, and of every false friend. But it
| is not so with him, who has learned to show and
has found piety at home. He may go into a
strange city and meet with its alurcments but the
| love of his own hearth saves him from giving his
affections elsewhere. The words of the profane
and scornful, and profigae, sound upon his ears
but the voice ofholy purity is heard by him the
louder and sweeter from his own distant dwelling
He meets in the broad world with vice and deceit
in every corner and at first he may distrust and
weep for human nnture, and may be tempted to
fall in with the evil of the mass. But he soon is
taught that it is mans own doing which has so
debased him, and SO shrouded the brightness of his
nature, when he reflects on the unperverted hearts
he has left behind, and from the contrast, he loves
purity and virtue all the more. His soul may
sink within him at seeing the vain chases of man.
kind after happiness, and he would say, ALI uan-
ity, did not his memory picture forth the happy
contentment of his own home. Elsewhere, he
may be the victim of injury, and the dupe ofnsin-
certify, and the object of unjust suspicion, but there
at least he is sure of willing kindness-of finding
truth and of being beloved.
The remembrance therefore ola home of piety
is no slight defence for our virue, no surer a
refuge in the season of darkness and the storm
than the shelter of affection, and the strong hold
of principle. 1t will save one from thirst for excite
ment, which so often takes the unrahecng from
from the common dnties and innocent happiness
of life, and leads them into temptation, and from
that restless spirit, which, wishing it knows not
what, hurres so many into reckless courses-and
it can give peace, which as long as the worldly
spirit is excluded from the heart, the broad world
with all its attractions ofpeasure can never take
away.
Nor is this ALL Consider the power of such a
home to reclaim IN case it have not preserved the
heart.
In one point of view, moral danger is next to
hopelessness. 1t is so, when one has yielded to it
deliberately having first given up better thoughts
and rememberances. But it is not so in the
case of one who in an evil hour has been taken
unawares. There is hope here. For the time
Of self-examination will come, and he will see
That he is not what he should be, and there will
be sorrow in his heart and this may work repent
ance.
At such moment Of our lives, how precious
would be the remembrance of ones first piety at
home The associations OF purer days-they
only promise of ones youth-the fond dependence
of those we love upon our love, and respect and
gratitude to them-the hope which we know they
cherish of hearing our praises-the chilling fear
lest they should be disappointed-the bare fancy
of bringing gray hairs with sorrow to the grave
of communicating the good name of ones kim
dred, and laying disgrace at the door where SIAN
der never dared TO pause-these, would be no vain
counsels Could one, amidst such appeals, 90 on
the evil course he had begun reckless how he
turned the praise of those who were near and dear
to him, into the btterest reproach or careless
how he darkened with grief the eager counten-
ances that are looking with joyful hope for tdngs
of his success and honor; trihing at the thought
of making the heart of affection heavy; or I'M
moved at bringing misery and shame upon his
once honored and happy dwelling?
X X X y
In word, there is power in the associations
that are connected in our mind with we'll loved
home, which is sufficient to guard, to reprove and
stimulate the heart and life, preserving and enforc-
ing the persuasions of memory and the warnings
of conscience. But this influence, (Which after
all may be wise instinct) becomes douby strong
and permanent when made virtuous and sacred
as it is by pety at home.
1t was the thanksgiving Of holy man of old
10 God, that He had laid up for him d,oel1ing
IF health. But how much more to be priced is a
dwelling of piety! For this will sweeten health
and highten joy, and soften sickness, and soothe
sorrow. Health alone, may take us away from
he peace of home, into the decisions with which
active life is filed. But the dwelling of petv,
whether we are there or absent from it, will have
.herished and will still cherish native purity.
Health alone, may make its vigor plea for plung
nginSo guilt, Butpiety,' whether weak or strong,
will preserve integrity, or reclaim hearts.
Health must at last fail. But by this piety we c
,re saved nj the closing hour of life from the adj