The commonwealth. (Wilmington, Del.) 1858-18??, 1863-09-30
THE EoBLENEss OF A TRUE LIFE.

BY HON. HORACE MANN,
Whoever yields to temptation debases
| him elf with IL dehaseml t from which he
can ever arise This, inlee |, is the ealain-
ity of ca'anitiei, the bittcrest dreg in the
cup of bitterness. Every unrighteous act
tells with thousand fold more force upomli
the actor than upon the sufferer, The flsej.
mau Is more. false to himself tlian any one |.
else. lie may despoil others, but himself Isl
the chief loser. The world $ sccrn he might
tsomctimcs forget, hut the knowledge of his
owf peifaly is nndying. The fire of guilty
passions may torment whatever lies within
the circle Of its iadlatons; but fire is always |
hottest at the centre, and that centre is the
| pronlgate ow., t. ,...,..,
A man can b, wrongel and live; but the !
unresistad, unchecked impulse to uu wIvng i
| is the first and second death. The moment
any one Of the glorious faculties with wli;h
God has endowed us is abused or mistsed, |
that faculty loses, forever, portion of its
de'icacy and ii energy. Every injury |
il which we infli,t upon our mora! nature in
this life, must dull, for ever and ever, our
keen capacities OF enjoyment, though in the
midst oil infinite bliss and weaken our power
Of ascen ion, where lirtuous spirits are ever
ascending.
Ii must send us forward into the next
stage of existence manned and crippled so
that, nowuYer high we mar soar, our hight
will always be less lofty than it wonld other
wise have been; and however exquisite our
bliss, it will always be less exquisitely blissfu
/ than it was capable Of being.
Z Every instance of violated conscience, like
every broken string in harp, will limit the
, com pass OF its music, and mar its harmonies
forever. 1remble, then, and forbear, oh
Z af thy nature anl the immortal glories of
3 thy destiny; for if thou dost cast down thine
eyes to look with complaOency upon the
| tcmpter, or lend llinc ear to listen to his SC
dlciionl, thol dost doom thyself to move
e for ever and ever through inferior spheres OF
# being; thou dost wound and dim the very
s organ with which alone thou canst behold
. the splendors Of eternity
- Thi world is entering upon a new moral
. cycle The greal heart o humanityi3 heav
h ing VII hnNes of brighter day. All the
higher insi'ncs Of our nature propht sy Its
k approach and tho best int1llccts Of the race
e are struggling to turn that prophesy IL jtil=
d iillment. Thoughts Of freedom, duty, be-
y negolence, equality, an ! human brotherhood
h aGitatc the nations; and neither the pope
" with his cardinal nor the ear with his Cos
to sacks can suppress them.
l. Were these thoughts imprisoned in the
y centre Of earth, they wou'd burst its granite
/? folds, speed onward in thcircarecr, and fulfill
II their destiny, They are imbued with a
Il deathlcss vigor. They must prevail, or the
10 idea of aAloral Governor of the universe is
h an imposture, and the divine truths Of the
o Gospel fable.
Here, then is opened new and noble
u career for the ambition Of emulous youth ;
L. not the ambition Of subduing men into
Il slaves, but the holy ambition of elevating
iii them into peers not for usiirping princi-
n, pality or Kingdom, but for building himself
I'd up into plincipality and kingdomi not merely
&c for gathering renOwn, as it We're, star by
rs star, to be woven into glittcring robe fol
~ his person, or to make a crown of glory for
le his head; but to expand his own soul into
le grander proportions, to give it angelic and
he archangelic ottiness of stature, and to fill il
G. perpctually with that song of joy which even
IL the morning stars could not but sing when
nc they beheld the splendor of the Godhead re-
Is fleeted from the new creation.
IN Here are opportunities, means, incite-
ie ments, through which the young miln may
nj build himself up more and more into a like
II ness Of the universe in which he dwells anr
tc con6gure himself more and more to the In
e, finite Perfection that governs it.
n, In Il physical and in IL spiritual sense, thu
m universe around Us is full; and as We cannot
&c 20 beyond the circumference OF presen
he physical discoveries without discovering ncV
e. theatres ei being, 50 also we cannot go be
he yond the circumference of existing splrtua
ly relations without finding new spiritual rela
tinni.
Columbus was devoted to the study O
, &c, Apply. As the result Of that study b
felt that there was continent to be diseov
cred. and he discovered it, The mind Il