IN the brief race of life, we all start from the same point. We enter the world unconscious of our origin, of our very existence, and of the objects which surround us; and profoundly ignorant of the dark and dreary future, which spreads out before us. We differ through life in our information, in the part we play in life's drama; and we shall finally differ in the world to come; yet all our differences, to a greater or less extent, depend upon our own exertions. The wisest and best of men become so, by continual labor; while the corrupt and degraded, reap only the reward of their own wicked lives. In our jail and penitentiary reports, we see clearly that, crime most abounds in the hands of ignorance; and while we must admit that, the drunken, profane, and vile of all climes, from their mistakes in the objects of life, bring upon themselves their deepest misery, we are led to ask ourselves the profound question, Why do mortals of earth, sin against God, their Creator and kind Preserver? Solomon has answered the question: "The way of the wicked," said he, "is as darkness; they know not at what they stumble." "Darkness," indeed, "has covered the earth, and gross darkness the people." "The blind lead the blind, and both fall into the ditch together."

No one can walk in the light, who has it not; and if correct moral conduct, spiritual progress, and eternal life, at the end of our earthly journey, depend in the least, upon the quality and amount of our moral light, the study of life should be, to gain true knowledge. It is a singular truth that, men often become quite wise in the affairs of this world, who, nevertheless, remain children in the things that pertain to God; and it is still more strange that, there are large funds of false wisdom, which close the mind and heart to the true fountain, which is able to enlighten every man that comes into the world. The question, "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" is not more appropriate than to ask, "What shall it profit us, though we acquire all the knowledge the world can furnish, and Yet fail to gain 'The true light' which comes from above, and which alone can give assurance of 'That rest which remains for the people of God.'"