Would you be happy?

Pan! r. W?uld 'ou be ha

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WOULD YOU BE HAPPY l

"Who would not ?" Happiness is the desire and aim of all
men. The desire is instinctive. Every man, every child is
conscious of its existence and its influence. It moves every
mind, sways the emotions of every heart, governs and con-
trols the actions of every life. We arc formed for happiness.
The creatures arouud us are so, and whether they soar iu the
• air, or browse in the meadow, or swim in the lake, the river
and the ocean — all, in their several spheres, and to the full
measure of their several capacities, realize the enjoyment of
which ^hey are susceptible, and which has been designed and
provided for them by the beneficent aud bountiful Creator.

But are men thus happy I History, experience, conscience,
all concur in testifying to the contrast which, in this' respect,
exists betwixt them and the creatures that surround them.
-Your conscience, my reader, confirms the sad and melancholy
truth. You are not happy. Ifcalthy you may be — you Lave
food to eat and raiment to put on — you are not a stranger to
the comfort of a home, the sympathy and solace of friend-
ship, the endearments of domestic life, the multiplied advan-
tages of social intercourse, and the manifold benefits resulting
from educational attainments. To you, history unfolds her
ample page, poetry pours forth her melodious numbers, sci-
ence reveals her exuberant resources, and art exhibits, iu end-
less variety of forms, her fascinating mimicry of nature.

Still you are not happy — no, , and if these sources of en-
• joyment were multiplied a thousand fold, and each a thousand
times more copious, they could not secure to you that inesti-
mable boon. The eye could not be satisfied with seeing, nor
the ear with hearing, nor the heart with enjoying all that
earth can offer or bestow. Why ? Because all could not fill
the capacities, allay the anxieties, or meet the anticipated

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■ WOULD YOU BE HAPPY;

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destiny of the human mirra. Must yon, then, my reader,
ought you to forego the hope, to relinquish the pursuit of
happiness? Assuredly not. This were to resist the first
law of nature— to do violence to all the instincts of your con-
stitution— to counteract the purpose and the will of God. He
has made you to be happy. He has provided the means,
precribed the method, furnished all the requisite facilities for
attaining and securing all the enjoyment which your most en-
larged capacities, your most expanded desires can demand.

More than twenty years since, the writer became acquainted,
in the capital of Russia, with a man who had devoted all the
energies of a great mind, and all the sensibilities of a benev-
olent heart, to the mitigation of human misery. He had
been a merchant in extensive business, but dissolved his
secular connections, and gave himself to the hallowed work
of personally ministering to the temporal and spiritual neces-
sities of the most wretched of his race. He sought and ob-
tained the countenance and confidence of the emperor, and
under his auspices, gained access to the prisons both of the
ancient and the modern capital — introduced many improve-
ments into the discipline of those receptacles of crime — and
was soon hailed as the friend and benefactor of the worst
outcasts of society.

At this period, the writer first knew him, and enjoyed many
precious seasons of free, fraternal fellowship. "We took sweet
counsel together," and often did we kneel at a throne of mercy
and plead the promise, "If any two of you agree on earth as
concerning any thing ye shall ask of my Father, it shall be
done unto you." lie had once sought happiness in the busi-
ness and pleasures of the world, But light had broke in
upon his mind. He was convinced of sin. The earnest, cotf-
trite, importunate petition of the publican became his own
— "God be merciful to me, a sinner !" — and the prayer was
answered. He heard and believed that faithful saying, "that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinuers." He found
"peace and joy in believing," and the calm serenity which
ever sat upon his noble countenauce, was but the reflection of
that "peace of God which passeth all understanding," and
which "ruled" supremely "in his heart." 0, how eloquently,
how energetically would he expatiate on the sublime reaj-

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WOULD VOU BE HAPPV I 3

ities of the Christian faith! With what intense thankful-
ness and unfeigned humility would he adore the riches of
redeeming and adopting grace ! Had you seen him, my reader,
had you heard him, you would have said : "This is happiness.
How nobly does religion here assert and vindicate her claims
to my homage and esteem ! What but her enlightning, sanc-
tifying, soul-enriching influence could have given such vigor
of thought, such vividness of conception, such sublimity of
sentiment, such sacredness of feeling, such sweetness of dis-
position, such suavity of address, such exuberant and inex-
haustible benevolence of heart."

His heart yearned over the selected objects of his philan-
thropic efforts. He daily visited their gloomy cells, read and
expounded to them "the word of God, the gospel of salva-
vation ;" and often was he gladdened by the sight of the
penitential tear bursting from the eye and falling on the man-
acles and chains of the awakened malefactor. It was during
one of these visits of mercy, whilst inhaling the polluted at-
mosphere of a wretched prison house, that he was seized with
a malignant ferer, which in a few weeks terminated his Chris-
tian course. He died as he lived — believing in Him who is
"the death of death," and meekly rejoicing in hope of the
glory of God. Nia memory will long nm vhe ; it is inscribed
indelibly on mauy a grateful heart"; and the casual visiter of
the English and American burial ground in the Vasili Ostrou <
will turn aside and view, with peculiar emotion, the simple
monument which Imperial gratitude and admiration have
erected over all that was mortal of the second Howard." ( W
V , Esq.)

But "his record is on high" — his name, his character, his
holy and heavenly conversation are inseparably blended with
the recollections and the spiritual history of surviving friends.
He had a brother, for whose spiritual interests, with those of
his lady, he was intensely anxious. This brotfer was wealthy,
and lived in the fall enjoyment of all that wealth could pur-
chase. Princes and nobles were his frequent guests, and even
Alexander occasionally sat at his elegant and hospitable board.
But he was never happy — never, until, torn by the meekness
and gentleness and placid tranquility of his brother, he began
to inquire into the causes of effects like these. He soon

4 WOU'iD YOU BE ITArPY ■?

found the explanation which he sought. Pie heard, believed,
and obeyed the Gospel of the grace of God. He chose "the
kingdom of God and his righteousness, as his spiritual por-
tion. Confiding in the merits of Christ's propitiation, he
asked and obtained the forgiveness of his sins, acceptance with
God, the spirit of adoption, the blessed hope of a glorious
immortality. With all that ardor and intensity of zeal which
an enlightened perception of divine truth and the indulgence
of sanctified love only could produce, he now sought that his
beloved -partner might be a partaker of the happiness he en-
joyed— the hope he entertained. She was accomplished,
amiable, warmly attached to her husband, yet absorbed in the
gay amusements of the world, and scorned the humiliating,
self-sacrificing doctrine of the cross. These brief pages do
not allow us to narrate the changes wrought in her mind ;
but she evidently becaruje a christian indeed — meekly sitting
at the feet of Jesus— her heart rilled with the love of God — her
eye beaming with the ineffable delight of conscious freedom
from the bondage of corruption, of assured victory over the
world, of habitual communion with her God and Saviour.
They have returned to they h*vn

denghliuiiy exemplified Ine* rejigion of Christ in a life'of ac:
tive piety and consecration to Him.

▼The writer could recount many such illustrations of the
peace-giving, joy-inspiribg influences of true religion. He
has traversed seas and continents, mingled with the inhabi-
tants of many a clirjje, held communion with the honoiable
and the abject, the savage and the sage — and this is the sum
of all his experience — that he alone is truly happy, who mourns
for sin, relies on th£* grace and power of Christ, and, in the
full light of inspired truth, can' "read his title clear to man-
sions in the skies."

Reader, the retrospections of a death-bed — of * judgment-
day, will confirm this conclusion. Anticipate that confirma-
tion, and be wise, that you may 'ifa happy.'

C. Leitoi, Printer, .Petersburg, Yjl.

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