Page:Address to an emigrant.djvu/1

 No. 447.

ERMIT a stranger to address you, on the eve of your departure from the land which gave you birth to the shores of a far distant clime, where you probably intend to end your days. After frequently revolving the subject in your mind, weighing the advantages and disadvantages of a removal from the country of your fathers, you have, at length, determined to go forth, to aid in colonizing a remote part of the world. This is, then, a most interesting and solemn period in your history, and the step you are now taking will exert a powerful influence on your future destiny, and probably on that of unborn generations. The circumstances in which you are found can scarcely fail to awaken serious reflections, or to compel you to think of the past with deep emotion. The home in which you were born, the scenes familiar to your childhood, and the friends of your early life all rise to view; and while you remember that, in all probability, you will see them no more for ever, sorrow fills your heart, and you feel the bitterness of separation. But the events of your future life are presented in the distance, surrounded with all that is bright and cheering; or they rise in imperfect and shadowy outline to your view, invested with uncertainty and gloom; and while conflicting emotions of hope and fear fill your bosom, as you remain ignorant of what shall happen to you, you are prompted to say with the patriarch, "If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY, INSTITUTED 1799; 56, PATERNOSTER ROW, AND 65, ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD.