heart as at its early dawn, and the future—still the future is the promised reward of every undertaking—the echo of every aspiration of the soul. Is it then for gray hairs and old age? No; that is still less probable, for half the occupations in which mankind engage would be useless, if that were the only end at which we aimed. But is it for death and the grave? "Ah! no," you answer with a shudder, "we know that death must come, but we banish it from our thoughts, beause we can not bear to look upon it as the consummation of all we wish, and strive for 'to attain.'"
Alas! what a melancholy fate is theirs, who live only to sail down the stream of pleasure toward a point of destiny, for which they make it no part of their duty to prepare! But what shall we say when the mother not only hurries along this course herself, but takes along with her the choicest treasure committed to her trust, for whose temporary safety she would almost sacrifice her life?
We can only say, that if all other beings had been reckless of future destiny, we should have looked to the mother, with her natural yearning for the welfare of her child, to have eagerly appropriated those promises of eternal happiness which are set forth in the gospel, as necessary for her peace of mind in relation to her child, if not to herself; and as the last of many earnest and affectionate appeals, I would urge her once again to implore the protection of Him who alone can effectually shield from danger the motherless and the orphan, and who, when she no longer fills the place of a parent upon earth, can receive her beloved ones into the bosom of eternal rest.
It is for the mother to ponder these things well, and to ask of her own heart whether the conditional offers of everlasting safety which the gospel holds out, though encouraging, important, and necessary for herself, are not a hundred-fold more valuable, when they bring with them what her tenderest solicitude could never have procured, in the salvation of her child, and in her indissoluble union through all eternity, with those whose affections constituted her happiness on earth.
