deadly siege, till he consumes all that is fair and lovely in the eye
of virtue. His present gifts are poverty misery and distress, and his
capital prize, a premature grave.
This champion is ravaging our beloved country, and seducing her sons
of freedom to the disgraceful ranks of slavery and oppression.
Intemperance is that tyrant that has under his control many formidable
evils that infest the world. His boasted labor is to hurry on
thousands of victims to the commission of crime, and bring down upon
them the many misfortunes that attend man in this mutable world.
Intemperance involves public broils, tumults and disturbances, and
domestic discord, misery and strife.
We trust the number among our readers is small, who are so regardless
of a good name as to have abandoned themselves to the intoxicating
bowl, or who have sundered all the ties of moral obligation,
determined to tread the downward path of vice to a disgraceful tomb.
We hope they have a higher regard to the invaluable worth of a good
name; and we pray that they may venerate its price far above the
momentary glitter of silver and gold. That shall live, when wealth
shall have lost its lustre, and flourish immortal, when gold shall
have corroded to dust.
Blasphemy is another unreasonable vice against which the public
speaker or writer should raise his voice. And let no one flatter
himself because we believe in the universal and unbounded goodness of
God, that a man may go on as he please. So long as a Being of infinite
wisdom is enthroned in the heavens and governs the universe, so long
he can never fail to measure out to every offence its adequate
punishment, and has all the means at his disposal to bring it
unavoidably upon the head of every transgressor. He, who flatters
himself that he can sin with impunity, is ignorant of the government
of his God, and has never reflected upon human life in all its varied
lights and shades. Do you profess to be a Universalist, and yet treat
with irreverence the name of HIM who made you, and whom you
acknowledge to be a faithful Creator--an indulgent Father? Your
professions are nothing. "He that hath this hope in him purifieth
himself even as he is pure." That very breath by which he inflates the
lungs, can you breathe it back in blasphemies against his holy name,
which angels never pronounce but with veneration and awe? Choose, O
choose a good name, which can only be obtained by choosing a virtuous
course of conduct. However lightly you may treat your own station in
life, or however much you may disregard the dignity of your nature,
yet remember the station you hold, however obscure, is stamped with
responsibility. You are surrounded by a generation of youth, among
whom are your own children, ready to imitate your example. Do you wish
them well! Then guard your heart and life by setting a reasonable
value on a good name, and remember you cannot move without touching
some string that may vibrate long after your head rests on its cold
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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