Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1852-04-17
TIE LESSON OF pEATm.BEns.

1BOIu SuthlC'iiCIN di VIC SlObC vi ulo
life, ~ have recently read Solomon with
kind of sympathetic feeling have been
as wicked and as vain. though not as wise
as he but now | am old enough TO feel the
truth of his renection--'All in the world is
vanity and vexation of spirit " Goethe,
the distinguished German philosopher and
poet, declared, at the age of eighty-four, as
the lights of time went out and the great
lodesiars of eternity were beginning 10 open
out on his vision, that he had scarcely tasted
twenly-fonr hours solid happiness in the
whole course of that protracted career
Lord Byron, the great poet, gifted beyond
measure in genius, destitute more than
many of grace. wrote his experience in his
own beautiful but unhappy strains, when he
said, upon the verge of The tomb:
"Though gay companions DER the bowl
Dispe awhile the sense Of ill.,
Though pleasure fill the maddening soul,
The hcart--the heart is lonely still.
CAV, but 10 die, and 90, alas
Where all have gone and all must 60,
To be the nothing that was
Ere born 10 life and living wo.
'Count DER the joys thine hours have seen,
Count o'er thy days from anguish free
And know, whatever thou hast been,
IT'S something better not 10 be.
"Nav, for myself, so dark my fate
Through every turn of life hath been,
Man and the world so much hate,
care not when quiz the scene"
The bitter sarcasm of the poet contrasts,
indeed, with the glorious paean of the Apos-
tie, II have fought good fight, | am ready
10 be offered up. There is reserved for me
crown of righteousness" Voltaite, the
French atheist, pronounced the world 10 be
full of wretches, and himself the most
wretched of them all, Mirabeau, one Of the
same school, died-calling, in his last mo-
ments for opium 10 deaden the terrible fore.
bodinas of coming wo. Paine died intoXi'
Gated amt disappearing. Hobbies prepared
to take leap in the dark and Hume diec
! Joking and testing about the boat of Charon
! NtIN HluNIl, SuslSN't III 'hS ""y "i'ei
school boys whistle when they walk through
a dark and lonely place, just 10 keep thei
spirits up, and their terrors down; bu
Paul, Of far different character, breaks ior,i
as he departs, in the enlhanasia indicated
in the text, 'I have fought good fight"
Why should there be this contrast Wa
Paul fanatic He was the soberest o
men. Was he mere mystic dreamer ! ii
was the most logical of reasoners. Was h
a novice He had been in perls by land
he hand been in perils by sea, in peril
amongst false brethren, arrested, tried, bea
ten, scourged, imprisoned ; and yet, at ih
close Of all, conscious that he had rock be
meath him, and bright light above hin
and glorious hope belore-he breaks fort
in these thrilling-almost inspiring-certair
~ ins1irling, accents, 81 am now ready
be offered, and the time of my deparur
is at hand have fought a good fight
have finished my course, have kept III
faith henceforth there is laid up for me
crown of righteousness, which God, III
righteous Judge, shall give me at that day.
do indeed believe, that sober and exteI
= slve comparison of the deaih-beds of thos
who have repudiated the gospel with III
r diving moments of those who have accepte
r and rejoiced in it, would alone convine
mankind that Christianity is true--that lni
5 deity, practical or theoretical, is dece
tion-a delusion, mischievous in life, al
miserable in death.