Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser., 1848-08-24

devotes all his moments, his energies. bis
thoughts, TO schemes which begin and end
in personal advantage grasper of gold,
and lands, and tenements-the devoee OF
pleasure-the man of ignoble and sinister
ambtion-the woman of frivolity, extrava-
gance, and fashon-the idler, the gambler,
the voluptuary-on all these and their my
rad compeers, while borne on the crest of
the advancing billow, how gentle is the re-
proof, how charitable the judgment Of the
world! Nav, is not even our dead Chris
tianity, which picks its way SO daintily,
cautousl y, and inofensively - which re-
CARDS with gentle rebuke, and is regarded
with amable federation by some of the fore
most vices OF the times is /. not too often
obivious in its paramount duty to teach
men how to live worthiIy and nobly? Are
there not thousands to whom its incuca-
tons, SO far as duties to man are concerned,
are substantially y negative in their character
who are fortified by its teachings, in The
belief lha: to do good is casualty, and not
frame Of being-who are taught by it to
feed the hungry and colhe the naked, when
they thrust themselves upon the charity of
portly atlluence, but as an irksome duty,
for which they should be rewarded, rather
than blessed privilege, for which they
should be profoundly grateful? OF the
millions now weekly listening to the minis
trations of the Christian pulpit, how many
are clearly, wildly impressed with the great
trnth, that each, in his own sphere, should
live for mankind, as Christ did for the re-
demption, instruction, and exalta!ion of the
race-and that the power to do This in his
proper sphere abides equally with the hum
blest as the highest? How many centuries
more will be required to teach. even the re-
gIous world, so called, the full meaning Of
the term CHRISTIAN
A true life must be simple in all its ele-
ments. Animated by one grand and ennobl-
ing impulse, all lesser aspirations find their
proper places in harmonious subservience.
Simplicity In taste, i'll appetite, in habits Of
lille, with corresponding Indifference 10
worldly honors and ggrandizemenls, is the
natural results of the predominance of a d.
vine eand unselish idea. Under the guidance
of such sentiment, Virtue is not an effort,
but law of nature, like gravi,ation. 1t is
Vice alone that seems unaccoun,able-mon
slrous-weIl nisn miraculous. Purity is
felt TO be as necessary TO the mind as health
TO the body, and its absence alike, the iuevi-
table source of pain.
A true life must be calm. A life inper-
fecily directed, is made wretched through
distraction. We give up onr youth to ex-
element. and wonder that decrepil old
age steals on US so soon. We wear out
our energies in s;ile for gold or fame, and
then wonder alike a, the cost and worthless
ness of the need. SIS not the life more
than mea, - Ay, truly! but how few have
practically, consistently. so regarded it -
And little as it is regarded by the imper-
teclly vlrluous, how much less by the Vi
cious and the world|ing? What chaos of
struggling emotions is exhibited by The lives
of the multitude? How like to the wars of
the infuriated aninalcue in magnifed drop
of waller. is the strife constantly waged in
each little mind How Slo,h is iostled by
Gluionv. and Pride wreslled with bv Ava
rice, and Oslentation bearded bv Meanness!
The soul which is no. large enough for
the indwelling of one virtue, affords lodge
menl and scope and arena for hundred
vices. But their warfare cannot be induIged
with impunity. Agitation and wre,chedness
are the inevitable consequences. in the midst
OF which the flame of life burns flaringly and
swiftly to its close.
A true life must be genial and joyous
Tell me not, pale anchorile, of your cease
less vIgIls, your fasting, your scourgings.-I
These are fit offerings to MoIoch, not to
our Father. The man who is not happy in
The path he. has chosen, may be very sure
he has chosen amiss, or he is self-deceived. |
II love God and little children" says Ger
man poet. The good are ever attracted
and made happier by the presence of the in
nocent and lovely. And he who finds his
religion adverse TO, or a restraint upon, the |.
truly innocent pleasures and gayeties of life,
so that the latter do not interfere with and
ar upon its more sublime objects, may well
doubt whether he has, indeed, ''Iearned
Jesus"
SENSE AND SENTIMENT. |