The Columbian fountain., 1845-11-27

that you raise not son in the community
who shall be curse and a pest TO society,
and whose degradation shall embitter your
future life. With you rests the issue--in
your hands is the destiny of your children
at the bar Of your country, and at the bar
OF your God, you must answer for what
ever influence you exercise over their char
acler pray you most earnestly, pay strict
attention to this matter; for upon your chill
dren will rest the honor and perpetuity of
all that is good and useful in society.
As men, be ever ready to exert every
power of yonr minds in order to press for
ward this noble cause, that you may be in
strumental in saving your fellow-men from
an appetite 50 degrading, and fate SO aw-
full; for let us ever remember that sure dis
tinction awaits every man whose appetites
and passions are superior, and govern his
mental powers. When man regards his
own will, and the qualification Of his appc-
tites, as the only arbiter before which he
tries the issue of his happiness, the decision
Will be OF such nature as cannot fail to
scduce him to his ruin, and final overthrow.
Its consequences are to throw a dark and
lmpsnctrable gloom over the image OF God,
and the glory of his power 1t robs our
Creator OF all that is grand in his govern
ment and consoling to his creatures in its
administration. 1t sends man out upon the
ocean Of life without compass or chart, cx-
posed to the storm in all its madness and
fury. 1t converts the earth into one vast
arena, where passion wars against passion,
and the trophies Of triumph are but the deg
radiation Of all that is noble in mans nature
and calculated to ally him to his C.eator.
God IS no longer the maker and upholder
OF the universe-He no longer sheds the
light Of his Spirit upon the minds Of his
creaiures-they hear not his voice in. the
sweet melodies of nature, or behold his
power III the riches and magnificance Of the
universe with which they are surrounded.
Man sits himself in darkness, his mind be-
wlldered by strange dreams Of the unknown
worll, his heart chilled in moral gloom, his
spirit drinks deep at the fountain Of corrup-
ton; and he who was destined to stand a
bright, pure spirit, before the throne Of Him
who dwelleth in glory, trembles, and is
about to sink to companionship with
those spirits whose hab,ation is the domin
ion of moral darkness and death. From
such an awful fate it is your duty to snatch
your erring fellow men. q Need use one
argument to induce you to awake to this
duty To give force and energy to your
minds and your good resolutions, it needs
only that you behold the object in order
that you make the effort for his rescue and
restoration. If such principles shall gov
ern you, and you shall keep the principles
OF temperance pure, and stamp upon them
moral and intellectual dignity, the star Of
your hope must be onward and onward:
The banner of your triumph must wave
with peace, and social happiness embla-
zoned upon its folds, and your victorious
song shall echo and re-echo, from mountain
top to mountain top, and reverberate through
every valley, until the world shall be re-
deemed from the effects of mans second
lall. .... OLp JACOB.
carrier pigeon was recently found near Lon