Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1878-09-03


the roses from his cheeks dim the lustre of
his eye aud his voice, once all melody, Is
now nothing more than tremnlous discord.
Or grant that his health may yet remain, his
soul, the breath of heaven, is sullied. No
more are we enlightened BY the profound re-
marks; no more are we astonlshed at the
brilliant flight of Imagination no more are
we attracted by the amiable sentiment OF vir-
tue. His mind once so active, so extensive,
so towering, now grovels and slumbers in
the dust! All its gay and rich creation of
ideas has vanished like vision of enchant-
ment, and all its glory is extinguished His
heart, too, that once beat responsively to
every caliof virtue, that melted over the talo
of pity, gloWed indignant at the picture of
cruelty, and rose into eestaey at the actions
of generosity and neutrality-suspicious.
have all its delicate sensibili,ies fed 7 Scat
tered and hurled to ruin before the black
storm of vice. Melancholy reverse! See
with what grim discomfort he scowls on that
creation, the view of which once gave him
pleasure The stars that lately beamed
light to him, now become his accusers and
prate of His midnight excesses aud, what
ofall others is the most heart.effectIng change,
that hand which but few months ago was
stretched forth in friendship and respect to
greet him, now points at him ''the slow uu>
moving finger of scorn J" Whittier shall he
look for happiness For happiness, do l say?
Whittier shall he fly for refuge2 The
frightful phantoms of his ruined hopes start
in gloomy array before his imagination, and
haunt him to madness Despair, distraction
in every feature, he is reduced to the bitter
alternative of ponderiug in solitude on the
wreck OF his pane, or of assaugiug for a mo-
-
repetition of his crime. Miserable remedy
as if every new trausgressiou did not lend
an additional thong to the envenomed
scourge of reflection.
Is this fancy, or as IL fact? Let me ap-
peal to the man who has made progress in
this crime, whether bliss be not stranger
TO his breast? nay, whether it be not the
principal employment of his life to fly from
the tormenting alarms Of thought? Whether
the clouds of ignominy and contempt which
surround him, do not assume darkness in
fiuitely more dismal. when he remcmbcrs tho
spIondor with which the sun of his youth
arose Whether he does not sigh with re>
gret for the chaste society which ho has for
feited and whether, in the paroxysms of
his anguish, he does not even pray for an
nihilaton
Well may lie pray for it !; for if the dis
pleasure Of this world be so intolerablc,
what will the displeasure of Heaven be
when his soul, divested of.its earthly tene~
ment, and with it of all the nrtifces with
which he was wont to drown the clamors of
conscience, shall have no other employment
than to survey its own cOntaminations-to
behold ct q distance the ccstatic world of
saints and angel, and to writbe under the
vengeance of an offended God? With what
color of Plsusibility can the hbertine hopo
for future happiness IL his vices render
him an unfit companion of the moro respec>
table part of the human race, can he bo fit
companion for the immaculate purity OF souls
in Paradise? or, suppose he were admitted
to that blessed society, what happines could
he taste +? What is the scene of his pleasure.
the company of the virtuous? No, from
such his soul shrinks back, like the bird Ut
night from the meridian ofulgence of tho
sun and he seeks poor pleasures in cir
Gle whose every habit and sentiment, whose
every look, word aud deed is pollution aud
guilt. Could he hopo for peace theu, even
if he were admitted into the bosom of Heav-
en- No! to him overy chorubic smilo
would be dsgger-every hymn draught of
the deadliest poison.
20 lfthen, tho liber tine knows no real joys
on earth, aud can know none hereafter-h
on the contrary, his life be perpetual flight
from an accusing conscience il his practices
tend, as they certainly do, to the degradation
OF his intellect TO the destruction of his
character and tranquility here, aud to his
perdition in that life which shall never end,
I would demand of him, what object his
Grimes give him sufficient to balance al this
havock l. tho insidious and nercenary
smile of q prostitute an equivalent for tempo.
raj and eternal ruin What pity is II. that
every mans lips will aDswer this question in
the negative, while the lives of so many give
IL an affirmative answer. What pity is il
that while the road to peace and character
here, and to bliss in the realms Of never-fs-
ding light, is 80 simple, 20 obvious, SO direct,
youth forever deyiates into the wilderness Of
vice. Tho timo will come when this choice
shall be repented OF! God, grant that il be
not too late, when death shall have dissolved
the ch,rm which had fettered their senses,
and when repentance shall have no merit
This view OF the subject is too painful let
ns rather indulge in the hope Of reformation.
The arguments in Its favor are so strong that
in order to be effectual, they need only to,be
cOnsidered. On the one hnnd temperance.
health, wisdom, honor, responsibility aud
peace on the other, intemperance, disease,
infa!uy and misery. Pause, and weigh this
statement; pause before dissipation shall have
scattered abroad the bloom of youth and
vigor, and consigned your names to indeIi-
BILE disgrace; pause before tho anger of
Heaven shall overtake you, when your tears
of supplicatiOn and screams of terror shall be
Knocked, when you shall exclaim, amid tho
horrors of eternal ruin, 90! that had
obeyed the injunction of ST. Paul Oh
that had fed youthful lusts 90
SEsEx.
"A frontiersman of experience, asserts
lk.t ..-.-ia dn.-.