that polar star to guide man to happiness and peace, the consequences are often disastrous. DESPAIR. A dark cold calm, which nothing now can break, Upon whose surface morn and summer shed Their smiles in vain-for all beneath is dead.-Moore. No calamity can produce such paralysis of the mind, as despair. It is the cap stone of the climax of human anguish. The mental powers are frozen with indifference, the heart becomes ossified with melancholy, the soul is shrouded in a cloud of gloom. No words of consolation, no cheerful repartee, can break the deathlike calm no love can warm the pent-up heart, no sunbeams dispel the dark clouds. Time may effect a change; death will break the monotony. We can extend our kindness, but cannot relieve the victim. We may trace the causes of this awful disease; God only can effect a cure. We may speculate upon its nature, but cannot feel its force, until its iron hand is laid upon us. We may call it weakness, but cannot prove or demonstrate the proposition. We may call it folly, but can point to no frivolity to sustain our position. We may call it madness, but can discover no maniac actions. We may call it stubbornness, but can see no exhibitions of indocility. We may call it lunacy, but cannot perceive the incoherences of that unfortunate condition. We can call it, properly, nothing but dark, gloomy despair, an undefined and undefinable paralyzation of all the sensibilities that render a man happy, and capable of imparting happiness to those around him. It is a state of torpid dormancy, rather than a mental derangement of the cerebral organs. It is induced by a false estimate of things, and of the dispensations and government of the God of mercy. Disappointments, losses, severe and continued afflictions, sudden transition from wealth to poverty, the death of dear friends; may cast a gloom over the mind that does not correctly comprehend the great first cause, and see the hand of God in every thing; and produce a state of despair, because these things are viewed in a false mirror. Fanaticism in religious meetings has produced the most obstinate and melancholy cases of despair, that have come under my own observation. Intelligence, chastened by religion, are the surest safeguards against this state of misery; ignorance and vice are its greatest promoters. Despair is the destruction of all hope, the deathless sting, that refines the torment of the finally impenitent and lost. It is that undying worm, that unquenchable fire, so graphically described in Holy Writ. Reader, if you desire an insurance against the iron grasp of despair, you can obtain it without money and without price, by applying to the immaculate Redeemer. He stands, with open arms, to receive, and keep in safety, all who believe in His name and put their trust in Him, for time and eternity. Then you may hope on and hope ever. Then you will have a sheet anchor to your soul, that will enable you to outride the storms of time, and at last, be moored in the haven of eternal rest. E 2 DISCRETION. THIS important principle is, wisdom applied to practice. It is one of those terms that many measure by the sliding scale, so much in use by those whose judgments are warped by circumstances, who are men of principle according to their own interest; whose consciences are as elastic as India rubber; who wind themselves up in self, like a cocoon, and run counter to the design of their creation; mere automatons in the scale of being, so far as usefulness is concerned. The party man deems it discreet to do all within his power to advance the interests of his party, right or wrong. The applicant for an office, in many instances, deems it discreet to resort to wire working, pipe laying, and all other means within the compass of his, ingenuity, to accomplish his object. Many incumbents of elective offices, consider it discreet to use every exertion to make capital for their reëlection; others, who hold their places at the will of a superior, crouch and fawn, like spaniels, before their master. Each religious sect is prone to deem it discreet to make all the proselytes in its power, seeming more anxious to increase numbers, than Christian graces, especially, when coldness has paralyzed the hearts of its members, and nothing but the form of godliness is left. The man of ambition deems it discreet to gratify his desires, by turning every occurrence to his advantage, that will forward his designs. The miser deems it discreet to hoard up his gold from every source from which it can be drawn; starve and freeze his body, and neglect the interests of his immortal soul. Some deem it discreet to use alcohol moderately every day; others, to have a real spree now and then; and others think they are discreet, if they do not drown their mental powers with this deadly poison, more than once a month. There are many other degrees on this sliding scale, that the reader is left to figure out. Do you ask, what is DISCRETION? I will first answer negatively. It is not that grasping propensity, that imposes increasing toil without enjoyment; it is not that narrow, selfish disposition that starves those around it, and spurns the hungry poor when they approach; it is not the calculating spirit, that studies the rule of loss and gain, more than the Bible; it is not that jealousy, that keeps a feline watch over all around, and distrusts every one; it is not that cunning, that prefers intrigue to manly openness; it is not that want of moral courage, that shrinks from any call of duty; in short, nothing is discretion, that is adverse to wisdom. Affirmatively; discretion is the development of a sound and wise judgment—a benevolent and good heart. It seeks a happy equilibrium in all things; it aims at pure happiness in time, and in eternity; it pursues noble ends by honorable means; it shuns all appearance of evil, and meets, with fortitude and resignation, the ills flesh is heir to; it applies the touchstone of plain, common sense, aided by Revelation, to every thing; it is practical in all its operations; it rigidly tests fine spun theories, before it adopts them; it induces rational enjoyments-but considers no pleasures rational, that disqualify the soul for the enjoyment of a blissful immortality beyond the grave; it clearly discerns what is right, and has sufficient moral force and energy to pursue the right and shun the wrong; it is cool, deliberate, reflective; but resolute, strong, and efficient; it is economy, without parsimony; liberality, without prodigality; benevolence, without ostentation; wealth, without pride; sincerity, without dissimulation; and goodness, without affectation. Parents should teach it to their children by precept and example. Teachers should enforce it upon their pupils; it should take its appropriate place in the political arena-in the departments of State-in our legislative halls-in the cabinet-in the executive chamber -in our international negotiations and intercoursein our courts of justice-in our seminaries of learning -in our pulpits-in our social meetings-in the domestic circle-in family government-in the juvenile nursery-in match making-in short, discretion should regulate all our conduct for time, and in view of eternity. Let it be the helm to guide our bark on the sea of life, that we may be safely wafted to the haven of lasting rest. DUELLING. Am I to set my life upon a throw, Because a bear is rude and surly? No.-Cowper. FALSE honor, like false religion, is worse than none. They both lead to destruction, and are deprecated by all good men. The one is a relic of the barbarous ages-the other is somewhat older, having first been imposed on old mother Eve, by the devil. That cool, deliberate murder should be tolerated in this land of gospel light and moral reform, is as aston |