ee 
1826.) Reminiscences. “809 
yridhés'|whieh® they! knew ‘not! who’ should gather; andvalleat: last!had 
3 diaway from)/among the multitudes of earth.’ When death has-been 
Jaround!us‘inhis silent! but overwhelming power; and parted from ‘our 
oviewsthe fortis with whom we ‘have been accustomed ‘to -mingle” in» the 
‘daily pursuits of life; when we bid adieu for ever to'their cold ‘remains, 
‘and ‘sée them borne to'their undreaming bed in the clay, ‘the ithousand 
\petty'injuries we have experienced sink into forgetfulness, andvall their 
‘forgiveness,benévolence,” kindness, and generous acts rise in suecession 
befote*us) “ Their-virtues are’ estimated when the garb in which’ they 
/wére clothed is passed over and forgotten: so true it is that’ a reflect- 
‘ing mind must! always feel’ something like grief, when’ bidding farewell 
for ever to persons and objects in themselves indifferent. Thereis*an 
awful feeling in eternal separation ; and, however brightly faith may un- 
fold a meeting in ‘an ‘after-state, the constitution of our minds is'so 
‘interwoven with earth; that the certainty we shall behold one no more 
below, is attended with a persuasion of everlasting sundering. | Gra- 
dually we are left alone in a strange world; human things are still 
around us in multitudes, but we no longer bear a part in any thing 
beneath the sun. Our places become causes of bitterness and, jealousy 
to young rivals in the career of fame, and we feel as if our very, offspring 
would hurry us,through the portal of, the grave. And yet with,.what 
tenacity we,cling to life! _The tomb is a cold, and a dark, and,a;silent 
dwelling-place ;..the path that leads to it lies through. a gloomy, yale, 
-whose-palpable darkness and shapes of fear we shudder to encounter. 
‘The shadow of death’s invisible form is awful; the hollow sound.of his 
_bodyless,voice alarms.the feeble spirit’; the withering impress of his,icy 
yhand:isterrible.|,,Could we. pass away like a summer, cloud, from,,the 
portion,allotted us) below, without the <‘pompa mortis,” the, shroud, 
the bier, the sable plumes, | and. the marble tomb that. would keep, ‘ the 
dust. wei haye from mingling with the dust we are,” much, of the-horror 
\ which, now-attends the idea of dissolution would vanish from the heart. 
| The, mere departure from this trying world is invested, with too, much 
observance, and too little care is bestowed upon that higher duty which 
‘should prepare the soul to meet its God in judgment. I have often 
gazed.upon.a,mildewed flower, and watched its almost. imperceptible 
decay; and. have fervently wished that my spirit might depart from, this 
Ps world as softly as the life (strange life) steals from the withered) petals 
» of the.rose.,,Can it)be. that man is elevated in the scale of being,only, 
_ in life and death, to be doubly wretched? Is it not rather true that, by 
_ the perversity (of /his inclinations and the, obliquity of his, judgment, he 
\ inflicts. continually ,on his own heart those many miseries which he 
_dmpiously imputes,to imaginary fate ? otord 
>, Continned.,recurrence’ tothe. season of youth as the only season of 
_ enjoyment, sufficiently proves thatmen look back upon their earlier days. 
» with,delight..,, But, youth is not always.a time of gladness and. rejoicing. 
» The, young brow, is-sometimes |furrowed with the woes  of| many, years ; 
_)theryoung form bowed with the burden ofa crushed spirit and a broken 
heart. Adversity chastens unsparingly; the bright eye, beaming with 
> sanguine expectation, is often dimmed with many tears, and the light 
) smilejof, anticipating hope driven, from the lip by the dark gloom.of ;des- 
ioqpondency,,. The, eagle, hides his, death-wound with, his, mighty wing, 
| and the, proud spirit,of| youth often conceals. the arrow that rankles, in, the 
» heart, lest, insulting pity should mock his agony. Human life, indeed, in.all 
»dts;changes and. diyersities,,is full of error, sinjand sorrow. Neither, youth 
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