If this character be good, if you
possess amiable and obliging and generous feelings, you may soon
possess a home of your own, when the joys of your childhood will in
some degree be renewed. And if you will pass your days in the service
of God, imitating the character of the Savior, and cherishing the
feelings of penitence and love, which the Bible requires, you will
soon be in that happy home which is never to be forsaken. There, are
joys from which you never will be separated, There, are friends,
angels in dignity and spotless in purity, in whose loved society you
will find joys such as you never experienced while on earth.
When a son was leaving the roof of a pious father, to go out into the
wide world to meet its temptations, and to battle with its storms, his
heart was oppressed with the many emotions which were struggling
there. The day had come in which he was to leave the fireside of so
many enjoyments; the friends endeared to him by so many associations--
so many acts of kindness. He was to bid adieu to his mother, that
loved, loved benefactor, who had protected him in sickness, and
rejoiced with him in health. He was to leave a father's protection,
to go forth and act without an adviser, and rely upon his own unaided
judgment. He was to bid farewell to brothers and sisters, no more to
see them but as an occasional visitor at his paternal home. Oh, how
cold and desolate did the wide world appear! How did he hesitate from
launching forth to meet its tempests and its storms! But the hour had
come for him to go; and he must suppress his emotions, and triumph
over his reluctance.
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