Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1840-03-18

in the endless foturitY? Would YOU not
think that term, as but a little, trifng in
terval would you not esteem il DIS yes.rr-
day when j: IS past, and as watch in the ,
night, or as Sleep? And why not think
the same OF that seventy years, which be-
gins the endless series?
| But you may be thinking, what is the
PROFIT OF this calculation, if death does not
end nor even Interrupt our existence, what
II lie be as 1t is represented by US?
4, Hear t&en anot4er part of the est
mate. We have not vet taken into he .
view the bearing of this life Oh the life to !
come 1t II Were an unconnected quanti-
j ty, no matter for it. No matter how short
and how squanjered. if, when gone, it
were gone forever and forgotten; if the
consequences of time did not survive time
nset; II no influence We're sent out from
1t into and through eternity; if life and .
all lis doings were not TO pass under the
eye and the review of God. Bat Time is .
to give complexion to eternity. The mo-
ments that come and 90 in such rapid .
succession and are counted 10 be no more, !
are, every one of them, immortal in their
consequences. Every moment that God !
gives TO man, shall return at the appoint
ed day and make its report of every deed,
and whisper and thought before the iudg-
nent throne. Time Is to man, in some
respects, more serious season than eter-
njty Eternity is absolutely the creature
of time derives ali is cast aud character
from time; is troubled or serene, inviting
or revolving, 4 blessing or curse, as time,
omnipotent ti5.e ordaius it. Life is pro,
batlonary, immortality retributive. The
) present Is seed time, the future is harvest
; season. Take this lDto the estimate In
) the numbering of your days, overooa
not this most serious consideration.
So then this is tie result We have
seventy years given US, diminished indeed
by few deductions, and though nothing
3 IN comparison with eternity, yet some
= thing in itself, and in this term we are to
, act for eternity, we are TO make or to
mar our endless future prospects, and this
you suppose is the end of this alarming
} computation. No.
I. 5. There is one thing more, in the
II omission Of which we should be misera-
J. bly, out In Our calculations 1t is lha:
l. which embarrasses the whole proceeding.
= | have been speaking It's if all the items
, IN this Enumeration were known and Ger
l. tain; but ah, there is one unknown and
$, e variable quantity in this arithmetic, and
there is no algebraic process by which
the value Of it can be ascertained We
20 called it seventy years, but in the tea thou
II sand cases 1t means nothing like that. II
. on V mag mean that, aud ii NAV and doe;
l. also stand for any thing less, down to tn,
IL inflnt'S first and only moment; and W,
= can never know what it stands fer, unit
III it is too late to care for it. This it is thi
u battles u.s. and there is no rule IN arithme
: tic which will help Us out of the Official
IS ty. There is constant addition of days
y but how many yet remain in the han
'' that tells them off, we have no means
~. ~ knowing. 1t is the secret of the Lord
H. which he never tells, not even to them tn;
fear him. He may have written for ter
cll or thirty, or fifty years, or he may strik
l the account tomorrow or this night h
SIS. may break in upon your anticipation
GU and hopes, and say 10 thee, when th
or, heart is beating high and strong, Tho
as fool, this night Thy soul is required of the,
Oh ! forget hot This unknown number
ust forget not this uncertainty, this enlLarfas
H. ing, most alarming uncertainty
e1t' And mOp q0!Gt IS The final result ?
are Where ends our calculation What
ate life? Not the probable life; bet III !,
we we are certain Of; the life we can ca.c
We; late upon; the life which we have rig
oiS to cali ours 1t is tAiS, and no moe til
sTtS' this the present, indlvisib,e, irreGetn
''e Die moment addel to the moments Il
oct- a,e past; and since, in some sense, a
5S''- for all that is yet 20 be done, The momer
'He past are as if they had never been, il is Il
u ar moment only, which you cannot ref
'''o upon. ere it Is gone irrecoverahIy, Il
"Tl which, when gone, Is past all raust
rent price to redeem. There was price
cstl- heaven for the soul bat there is nc
aD- for lost and sqaandared days. Our da
'cu- when Numbered, arr reduced to this t
III II ment, this, and perhaps the next, and
S, many more as God WILL Il is NOW, j
TO the very least which that word ever 5
must nies. You sii unalarmed, We dying IN
and know why. You are thinking that
: ra- pfobab lilies are millions 10 one; that
nee. to Won, is more, much more than l
tive, making it, You are right. | am o
: be- conending for the one chance that
oar against YOU argue bot for the posi-
nifty. iry. That is enough for NE. Their
ex- one against you; aud, oh it is dreaC
plete thing to piav al a game, when The st
All, is eternity, at any odds, at any hazard
Us of Great as isthe probability Of life, it is
'wer, er diminishing; and the time will CO
cam, when the probability sill continuing
sand you will live. the fact will be that
the will die; and that this is not falls
least puerile calculation. how often does