The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1845-01-06
Moral and Religious,
Farewell TO the Year.

comes over us whichever way we look. Backward
scenes of joy can never renew, errors we
cannot retrieve sins which penitence is unable to
wash away Before us-who tell what is before
us, save death we have fet the grave in which
have lan,a and eternity we have never tried'
Il is u serious hour
But should we be sad? Should We give way to
regrets that Gfo is passing away as years continue 10
TolI3
Arc not escaping from sorrow' few years
carry through li(es few changes; We learn to cor
rect tho errors of hope and imagination by tho exPo-
rence of reality: and when hope has nothing to OK
pcct and imagination nothing TO conceive, how dull
and drenry is all that remainS We would net I'M
dervalue the blessings of Providence, nor dress up
the skies in sackcIoh though life were perpet-
ua funeral; but why is it that death comes so easily
Mt last is desired and sought but that the cup Bit
Ter which is dashed from the liPss Say what Phos-
ophy will, and support affection the gospel does,
still the heart will ache, and the whole creation groan
and travail in sorrow. Who Of our readers has not
wept the past year; What record would be made,
if every tear no has she'd r every pang he has felt,
If every sigh he has breathed and complaint he has
uttered, numbered!-Why then should the
good man regret the rolling year, which bears him a.
way from the storm?
Is sin to be vanqushed here? The christian has
resolved and striven, wept and prayed, and yet il
lives, blot upon his soul, death to his peace, and
offence to his God Have others conquered who
fought against it, apostles, martyrs missionaries and
the chief of saint'' Have they not confessed their
bondage, and groaned for deverence from ihesbody
Of death? Is it at the grave that the imperfect
puts perfection, the delormed beauty, the impure
IN ha ;,t ,od a..
God? Should retiring years then be regretted, when
'he christian is attaining to perfect NATURE is be.
coming like the angels and the redeemed, and thus
fitted 10 stand with them before the throne?
And who have gone before us3 Has not heaven
been peopled by those we loved' and gained at
Traction in proportion the earth has lost it, Is not
the father who prayed for therel the mother
who wept u.s. helhusband, the wife, the BROTH
or, the sister, the child, over whose graves we have
planted the evergreen and the flower, and on the
marble sculptured the names love even in soll-
tude to repeat. They lave gone before u.s. they
wait for US, that families may be reunited and the
affections of nature snnclifed by grace become eter-
nal What parngs and sorrows have been reported
week by week in obituary columns the past
year? How many have finished their course. on
how many tombstone has bean written, Blessed
not our columns told that some dear TO you have
gone to their rest during the twelve months which
have just passed, and will you regret the lapse Of
time, whose current you are borne to the Same
home?
Does the aspect OF the world invite You to stay?
We may hope for better days; prophecy declares it,
the current Of events leads to expect il. But will
they be your days' Is not cOnhc, to precede,
lonU nr1u ate2 l. III al,
ing, when heaven s. he'll marshaling their forces,
and the great battle OF God Almighty is to be fought
in the fields of Armagoddon' While life lasts, let
no heart quail hand be dIe or service be declined
to which the Lord shall call Under him the victory
is sure, though it be distant, and every blow upon
Sntan's kingdom will hds,en the triumphant day
But who may abide that dayl Who breast that
sorm' Who stand in that conflict? If God so please,
may we not desire TO escape the day Of evil to be
gathered home before the skies lower, and the temp
est burst upon the word'
is death terrible that should regret the rapidly
timer But was it terrible 10 tho people of God in
ancient times, who desired to depart and be with
Christi Was it terrible to the christians by whose
bedside you have stood, their spirits returned to
their God? Was not fear dsarmed as even the timid
approached the conflict, and when the power Of ma
tu'e iaHeuS uu not the eyes Deam Win Joy.
"lnd mean the things they could not speal?''
Death has its sting but it may be duled, if not
pluoked, and the exhibitions Of suffering be the re-
suit of muscular action hin Of absolute agony
BE it much or litlle ii endures hut Cor a moment,
and then comes the eternal weigh, Of glory! There
is progress in life; infancy is succeeded by childhood
and childhood by youth, and youth by manhood, and
manhood by old age; and the progress shall 60 on in
an eternal movement-through the grave to Immortal
ity; and the child might well fear the pains he
shall endure in attaining manhood as the christian
shrink from the suffering of dying, which sends him
onward in the career of glory.
No regrets then should the christian pour over the
lapse of time; all things his whether life or DEATH
things present or things to come; permitting him,
with an exultaion others feel to say 10 the
new, as he bids farewell to the old year,
"Fly swifter round, ye wheels Of time,
And bring the welcome day!''
Cong. Journal.