Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1885-09-11
A FATHERS ADVICE.

At the request of one Of our readers,
we reprint the following letter written
by Mr.. Edwards Pierrepont, former
minister to England, to his son, Mr..
Edward Pierrepont. The son was a
young man of rare gifts and accomplish
ments and Of great promise. He was a
brilliant scholar, close student, tho
roughly upright Christian gentleman,
and manly fellow. Educated at Ok
ford University. England, and thereaf-
ter law student at Columbia College,
he died in April last, while secretary of
the American legation at Rome, at the
early age Of twenty-five years, shatter-
ing the brilliant hopes and rainbow
promises of parents who counted not
their life dear unto them in serving
their only son. Alas, what 5lighted
hopes what brilliant, broken plans.
On the sth of March, 1879, Mr.. Pierre
pont wrote the letter to his son. Its
publication will inspire and strengthen
by its counsels many young man:
-' NEW YORK, March s, 1879.
My DEAR SoN-I would gladly save
you from much annoyance and many
SORROWS by giving you the benefit of my
own experience. have been through
the preparatory schools and the uni
versity, and know all their trials and
their temptations. l also know how
prone boys are to think that the times
have changed since their fathers were
young, and that the true rules for the
conduct of life have ceased to be the
same. My son, as you grow older
you will find that from the time of Sol
omon to this hour human nature has not
changed at all, and that the guide to a
prosperous and happy life is precisely
the same as it was when that wise man
wrote. The boy who is fortunate
enough to have a father whose experi-
ence is large and varied, and who conf
municates it with no possible motive but
the best good of his child, has great adj
vantage if he will heed what is told him,
but will suffer all the more deeply in
the end if he comes to see that the care,
and the earnest warning, and the faith
full counsel have been disregarded.
Danish forever from your mind that
folly which young men so stupidity
cherish, that "the world and the ways
of the world are essentially different
now from what they were forty years
ago." and settle forever in your mind
certain principles which you are never
to doubt, and never to swerve from In
your course of life.
First-That there is great first cause
which rules the world; something
which we can but dimly comprehend,
because it is too vast for our finite minds.
1t is the infinite. 1t is God. 1t is fruit
less to try "to find out God" He is
"our Father in Heaven;" this is all that
the simple child can know; it is all that
the most learned man can ever know.
That this Great Creator is just and mer-
ciful, and rules by equal laws, we have
every reason to believe; and that 1t is
one of the Creators laws that our lives
may be Influenced by earnest prayer for
guidance in the right way. there is no
doubt.
do not mean to say that to pray for
specific things, such as riches and hon.
ors, will bring riches and honors as a
matter of course, bu. that honest and
earnest prayer to our Father in Heaven
for guidance in the way that is for our
best good is sure 10 bring strength and
enlightenment to the mind, and thus
aid us in the affairs of life.
Every day ask your Heavenly Father
to guide you in all things in the way
which is right, and you will not go
wrong.
Most of the scientific men of our time
devote themselves to the study of the
laws of mater, and they seem to forget
that man, even while on earth, has
a spiritual as we'll as material
nature. They find nothing but matter
in the brain which they dissec., and
they jump at the conclusion that there
is nothing but matter. Their discover
les in the laws of matter are wonderful
and invaluable, but they utterly neglect
the study of spiritual laws, which are as
real and as certainly part of man as
the grosser substance. That the soul
survives the body, and that it is happy
or miserable, according to the deeds
done in the body" never allow yourself
to doubt. If skeptics wish to talk to
you about it, don't argue; arguments
on these subjects never do any good /;
you might as well argue that you love
your mother. Practice what suggest,
and you will know from conscious ex-
perience that what tell you is true,
and you will be made much happier and
serener day by day, and far more pros
porous in this world. When in the fam
lily of the Rev. Henry Seymour, at
Eolme Pierrepont, you saw how cheer
full and serenely happy they all were
under the influence Of a religious life.
Second-That truth, unfaitering In
tegrity, justice aud honor are never to
be departed from under any circum-
stances. -1
Lies come from meanness, low vanity,
cowardice and of depraved nature, and
they always tail of their object and
bring the liar into contempt. Without
strict integrity, justice and honor, no
one can have continued success in any.
thing, or lasting respect from anybody.