The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-06-26

Justly appreciate the charms of vir-
tue and the obligations of duty, how
imperative is it on us, whose hearts
have been illumined by the Divine
light of Revelation, 10 govern our
lives by the great truths it teaches.
It may be that in your passage
through life, when you see the good
man fail while the wicked prospers;
when you see truth, justice, piety,
trampled under foot by falsehood, in
justice, infidelity; when you see a
brave and gallant people, who gave
their all for liberty, crushed to earth
by despotism, pure faith in the JUS
tice of God may be staggered, and
you may be tempted to callIin ques-
tion, these great truths. But it will
be not only narrow. view of the
great system of which the Creator is
the centre as well as the author, but
q. fatal delusion, iflyou yield to these
doubts If. this earth was mans
only abiding place, if after his allot-
ted space here he was to pass away
forevers sinking beneath the bonnd-.
less ocean of time, as pebble sinks
beneath the waters Of .thesea, leaving
only ripple on their surface, then
indeed might we expect to see the
hand of God interposed to reward
virtue. and toltpnnish vice in this
world +, But when you reflect that
this is nerely'at place of probation to
fit you for another and q higher life;
when you consider how short is the
Life of man, or lofcinations, in the
eyes of Him in whose ,'.sight thou
sand years are but as yesterdays"
when yen contemplate the grand
scheme of the universe unfolded in
all its vast proportions, you can
readily comprehend what would
otherwise seem dark and incompre-
hensible. You can then understand
how vice SO often goes apparently
unpunished in this world, while vir-
tue bows beneath her heavy load of
sorrow; you can understand how the
good man is called to bear his cross
on earth, whilst the wicked has his
hearts desire; you can understand
how the noblest cause that ever
reused a people in its defence may
seem to perish, for you know that
not until the last great day will the
final reckoning come, when all will
be weighed in the great scales held
by the impartial hand of just and
God. If your faith is
steadfast, reflections such as these
will reconcile you to many things
which would otherwise appear incon-
sistent with the perfect justice and
the infinite mercy of the Almighty,
and they will teach you that you
should not rashly presume to ques-
tion His wisdom, nor call upon Him
to "'vindicate the ways of God to
man." It is not for me, however, to
venture to tell you of your duty to
Heaven. 1 have spoken of your OBJ
legations as citizens, but I leave it to
your reverend and holy teachers to
point out to You mans primal duty
that to his God. From their lips and
their lives you must learn the divine
truths of Christianity which teach
you your duty to your Maker. Mine
Is but the humber task to urge upon
you the faithful performance of those
daily duties to man and to your State
which will meet you on all sides in
your journey through life, and to
caution you not to be led astray by
the glare of success, nor to allow
yourselves for one moment to sup
pose that it is of itself an evidence
of right. All history, sacred as we'll
as profane, would contravene any
such doctrine as that success is the
criterion of right. You yourselves
have seen the wicked prosper and the
evil cause triumph, when, in the in
spired language of the Psalmist,
"the vilest men are exalted" Ma.
ture herself works by violent revolu-
tions, and it is from chaos that she
evokes order. Storms purify the
moral rs well as the material world,
and from the wild confusion of the
political elements now prevailing we
may hope to see eliminated those
better principles which will give new
life to the country. Be not dis
mayed, then, because in the great
upheaval society has undergone you
see the dross now uppermost, nor be
misled by those false lights which
are hung out by worldly prosperity
or unworthy success. Your histori-
cal researches will have made you
familiar with the wondrous story of