Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1862-04-16
M0RAI & &RHITGf0US
Religious Miscellany.

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The path of the penitent is not so pain
full and difficult as you imagine 1t to be;
and the tears of penitence are not like the
hot scalding tears of rcmorse. Itis sweet
and blissful sorrow, 10 sit at the foot of the
cross and weep for our sins. And it is an
emotion Of heaven to feel assurance that
atoning blood has so purified our hearts
from deGlement that God is our recorciled
father and heaven is our home
We may deck vice in gay attire Art
and wealth may lend their aid to hide her
deformities, aad grace her manners, SO that
at first she may charm with her blandlsh-
ments and her deccitful smiles yet it is
like dressing up grinning, CHASTITY skele-
ton in the drapery of bride. When her
diabolical end is attained, she will drop her
mask, throw off her drapery, and stretch
out her long fashless arms to cncircle her
victim in the embrace of death.
The joys of religion are the result of
holy obedience. They proceed from a
conscience void of fence toward God and
man. They are the fruits of faith and
love and holy principles implanted in the
heart, which are to be developed and ma
tured by the means of grace; becoming
stronger and brighter as the soul approach
es the scene of It's exaltation, for the path
of the just is to shining light which
shineth more and more unto the perfect
day
Other considerations, such as reputation,
success and the restraints Of public opin-
ion may keep you from open immortality;
but nothing but true virtue, and the i'm
planting of those principles, which are the
work of Gods Almighty Spirit and Grace,
can so renovate the heart, as to secure your
ultimate happiness. Seek religion then,
as the great safeguard and bulwark of de-
fence against vice and seek it now, before
evil habits have worn their burrows so deep
in your heart, that nothing can obliterate
them
Could the habitual swearer only see the
list of his oaths, as taken down by the pen
of the recording angel, he would never sus-
pect that it was the work of man but he
would suppose that it was the outpouring
Of some satanic spirit who had devoted all
.be energies of his mind to the task Of re-
wing his Maker. And though he might
be brave man, his knees would knock
like Belshazzar's when he saw the hand
writing on the wall and the pen would
drop from his nerveless grasp if he were
required to write his signature to the list
and acknowledge it as his deed
Every child, and We all have been chill
drcn once, knows how sweet it is, after
long experience of the wretchedness of dis
obedience, to fall down in penitence at
parents feet and feel that all the guilt of
transgression is forgiven. 1t is a blissful
moment. 1t is the JOY of pardoned sim
1t is the possession of peaceful conscience.
And precisely the same in kind, but great
er in degree is the bliss Of the soul that
experiences the forgiving love Of God. 1t
is the most exalted and purest happiness
known this side of heaven 1t is heaven
begun in the soul.
Pardon does not necessarily imply res
toration. An executive NAV pardon
criminal but he cannot restore him to the
place in society that he had occupied be-
fore he transgresSed There is a stigma
attached to his character, and loss of CON
fdence not easily regained Hence the
nuolS SOoptI pIdA Is UiG ueSi0U6u, nOL
merely to secuIe pardon to the penitent,
or, in other words, to assert the penalty
of the law; but to restore him to the place
which he would have occupied had he
never sinnGd
1t should be a startling thought, that
God may take the swearer at his word, and
in eternity pour upon his head those vials
Of wrath which are as yet unopened Who
would dare to die like that profane wretch
who swore, with an awful oath, that he
would beat rival boat, or blow himself to
hell, and whose body, in FIVE minutes, was
scattered in fragments over the wharf, and
whose soul was in the presence of the Be
ing whom he had insulted and defed.-
What is man that he should dare to pro
yoke the wrath of one who can sweep him
into eternity by His breath?
1t is worldly maxim that vice is the
parent of misery and an inspired truth,
that the way of the transgressor is hard
Every virtue which we are commanded to
practice, conduces to health, honor, wealth /
and happiness, while vice of every descrip- |
ton leads directly to dishonor, poverty and
misery. Thus we have the evidence before /
our eyes, that holiness is necessary to per-
feet happiness; and that all that is reouir-
ed to make hell dreadful as it is represen-
ted by the figures of Scripture, is to let
human passion reign unchecked for it
EnmptimeS maEac n boll ,,~o. -,