, 1843-07-29

ments; your mlseries will increase as
your sun declines, and you will 90
down to your burial oppressed with
the weight of accumulated sorrows.
II you are panopiIed in the bright ar
mou OF morality you will be like the
knarled and sturdy oak; the blasts of
the storm-klng may whistle among is
broad foliage; the tempest and the
whlrlwind may hold high festival amid
his ancient branches, but he stands
amid the tempest and defes the storm.
Nay, the lightning may visit it and
rend 1t in twain like smoking flax.
vet from its blackened and crisped
TRUNK thcre wiltsPringforth p@errenni.
al shoots that will one day bear his
%tr'2f'es well.' But if you foster the
germs of immortality and vice, YOU
will be like The poor fragile reed, the
playthlng of every passing breeze,
and the victim Of every change. You
Will yield to every succeeding temp
tation and be allured by every spe-
clous appearance. o, you know not,
you know not the temptations to
which you will be subjected; the fur,
lac OF affection through which you
must pass. Do you wish 10 escape
a thousand miseries! cherish the les
sons that are now taught you in your
sabbath school; foster the principles
OF religion and virtue, and when af-
fllctions set heavy upon you; when
You quatf the bitter cup of misfortune.
when the fairy-like dreams of your
youth shall have all vanished, you can
IN the spirit of resignation say:
U kindly take what God hath given,
And like His own bright flowers,
Look up TO Heaven with a smile
And gently bend in showers"
You may imagine that the poetry
OF childhood will ever linger around
you and as in Imagination YOU trace
round cycle after cycle of the vast
inlure you behold nothing but bright
fields in almost endless prospectus.
You array the future in all the allur-
ing pencIiIngs of fancy. You span
the area of the coming years in all
the rainbow coiourings of youthful
hope. You revel in all the luxuries
OF an imaginative existance. Here
you are enchanted By the syrin voice
OF pleasure. as she trips along n her
silver sandals, and those broad fields
that you are to call your OWL are
stretching out beneath the smiling
SUM-. Every thing to you wears the
'erdure of perpetual spring, and mir
rors hack celestial happiness. Be
rare! you are breathing the poison Of
the fatal upaS; you are dreaming
away that portion Of your existence
which viii alone enable you 10 found
"a fem basis for future happiness. Re-
hert ,hen ere Inv mo,nlag star fades
and tay clustering hopes are scatter
ed by the winds. II you squander
away the mornin- Of your lives, your
noon will be overcast with clouds.
and your evening sun will set in
storms. lfvOu IA" away your youth.
the future. instead Of being irraved in
rainbow col"rincs will he covered
with the black pail of midnight; and
instead of quafins from the delicious
cup of pleasure. YOU will drink deep
of the wormwood and gall OF bitter
disappointments. /: you 60 ont into
the world with no governing prInci
pies Of morality. you will be like the
bark that is cruising for pleasure amid
sands and storms and tempests. You
are prefering the bubble to the
stream; the shadow for the substance.
Seeking for durable pleasures which
are Incompatible with morality is like
raking for the embers Of life amid the
receptacles Of the dead. Instead Of
vitality and beauty, you find nothing
but the decayed remnants Of humanl-
ty. 1t has been wisely remarked that
"A joy in which our reason bears no part,
Is but a sorrow tickling ere it stings."
All! pleasure is a beautiful creature
but in her eye may be seen despair,
and beneath her tongue is the venom
of the snake. Virtue will always
bring its reward and vice its punish
ment.
"Ill firmly to SUPP orr, good fully taste.
Is the whole science of felicity"
Let this be the governing maxims Of
YOUR lives. Pursue that course tina;
will most rebound TO your eternal
good; then will you be fully enabled
to support the thousand ills incident
TO human nature.
Oh, of what immense moment is
the period of your existence. How
invaluable every privilege you enjoy.
How priceless every opportunity OF