Page:Reflections among the monuments.pdf/4

 more honourable to have entered the liſts, and to have fought the good fight, before they come off conquerors. They who have born the croſs, and ſubmitted to afflictive providences, with a cheerful reſignation, have girded up the loins of their mind, and performed their Maſter's will, with an honeſt and perſevering fidelity;—theſe, having glorified their Redeemer on earth, will probably be as ſtars of the firſt magnitude in heaven. They will ſhine with brighter beams, be repleniſhed with ſtronger joys, in their 's everlaſting kingdom.

Here lies the grief of a fond mother, and the blaſted expectation of an indulgent father.—The youth grew up, like a wellwatered plant; he ſhot deep, roſe high, and bid fair for manhood: but juſt as the cėdar began to tower, and promiſed ere long to be the pride of the wood, and prince among the neighbouring trees:—behold! the axe is laid unto the root; the fatal blow ſtruck; and all its branching honours tumbled to the duſt.—And did he fall alone? No: The hopes of his father that begat him, and the pleaſing proſpects of her that bare him, fell, and were cruſhed together with him.

From this affecting repreſentation, let parents be convinced how highly it concerns them to cultivate the morals, and ſecure the immortal intereſts of their children. If you really love the offspring of your own bodies;