Boon's Lick times. [volume] (Fayette, Mo.) 1840-1848, 1842-02-19
SHORT PATENT SERMON.
The words of my text may be found in
the primer for children, as follows:
Time cuts down all,
Both great and small,

My hearers-Notwithstanding the scythe
OF Time has been kept in constant usage
ever since the conception of creation in
the womb of chaos, it is still as sharp as
ever. and needs no whetting to lop down
such brittle weeds as we are. with single
stroke. 1t has been sweeping across this
rough rocky and ragged globe of ours for
thousands Of years, and not a nick can
now be found in It's edge, nor a batter
upon lis back. 1t is true it has come in
contact with all sorts of charaCters-some
! hard--some soft--some grccn-some ripe,
and some full of grit and gravel, like the
glZzard Of a Guinea hen; but, in spite Of
all this, it has kept its kcenness like well
used razor; and is just as dangerous now
as it was when it first took clip at the
frail tickle and feeble fancy work Of Jeho-
yah, which was constructed to perish in
period, and be no more.
Nv friends-vhcre can we flee to protect
our legs from the old man mowers fatal
sCythe ! If we 90 into the cities, we find
that he cuts double swarth there, directly
in the thckest the fairest and the freshest
Of human vegetation. The green tender
blades of youth--,hc ripencd stems Of
manhood-and the blooming flowers Of
beauty, all fall indiscrimjnately before his
fell stroke. and wither together, like skunks
cabbage, cloyer-hcads, herds grass and Ill
! les. If we depart into the country, where
population is as shrubbery on sand hi,l.
we see that Times work of destruction is
! still going on--that. every now and then,
a stalk of mortality i, snapped as short as
pipe stem, and left to decompos2 in the
damp dungeon Of death. y zen one IF
cut down By our side, without even fore
warning. it makes US feel ticklish about the
ribs; and we instinctiyely stand little one
side, lest we feel the fatal instrument Of
the great destroyer scratching at our heels.
Oh, my dear friends! would that time
might grow weary, and fall asleep mid the
roses of summer. to slumbcr through all
eternity Then the green wreaths and
| tlowery garands, that nature strews over
the earth, would never fade beneath the
| frosts of a cherries winter, then infancy,
childhood, youth and maturity would al
ways remain as they are; and decline and
death be no longer known upon this subiu.
nary sphere. But no--the sands in the
hour glass will never cease to run merely
| for the accommodation Of US, poor. insig-
nifcant mites Of mortality, who are deS-
tined to crawl about for an hour over
| lump Of earth, and then sink into its bow
els, like a drop of water into the pores
of sponge. Our doctors of physic and
flummerv have long been trying to wrest
the scythe of time from his iron grasp,
but they find their exertions Of little or
no account. While attempting to save
Others they often find themselves mortally
wounded, and instead Of bunting the edge
of his deadly instrument, they serve as a
milestone to sharpen it for its work O.:
destruction.
My dear friends-Time is a monster,
over whom no earthly power can exercise
control His home is amid the rolling
spheres Of the universe, and the myrlads
Of worlds that spange the heavc"s are his
pIaythings. His voracious appetite is nc
yer cloycd. He makes his meals Of men
swallows nations ct 4 mouthful, and picks
his teeth with the points Of the pyramids
Of Egypt; and expect that when lie shall
have swept this terrestrial board he will
guIp down the earth itself by way CT CO.
thartic pill. and give up the ghost with q
croan that shall cause creation to creak ard
crumble into chaos. Although the first
foot prints that he made upon the words
sandy shore are mostly oblIterated by the
wave of oblivion, the tracks that he now
leaves behind him are perfectly visible. and
bear the marks Of irrremC3tab.1 violence.
Here Il beautiful blossom Of hope has been
crushed to earth-hcre he has traNplcd
wantonly upon our ncw-so"n beds OF JOY
and anticipation-and here he has tangled
up some Of the talicst grass that ever grew
in the fertile meadow Of mortaEs mind.
| NJ friends you may take time by the
/. forelock, but there is no holding him by
the tail lie will 20 on. destroying aal to
destroy. in spite of all human eXcruone.--
! You must all, sooner or later, be cut down
/ by him-proyided YOU are not run up b.
la rope and cut down by the hangman.-
Therefore be preparcd--young and old
male and htmale---to fail, when you fall.
upon the soft bed of resignation. and as
gently as falls the dew upon the velvet car
pet Of the earth. As the flowers of the
! field fall before the mowers scythe and
! breathe out their sweet souls N perfume to
! the breeze, so may you, yc young and beau
! tiful creatures of the tender Sax, il cut
down in your bloom, send up The fragrance
of virtue to heaven at the evening hour of
existence, and yield your pure spirits into
, the hand OF Him who gave them. calmly,
rcsigncdlv. and without murmarinG whis-
per. Aud OH my dear friends, be prepar-
ed one and all! You know not how soon
You may be cropped from your native soil,
and left to wilt in the uncongenial Amos
] I e 4. 10 Gbl =