Alas! had Oliver listened at first to reason, his case would not have been thus. Had the dictates of conscience been regarded, all would have been well. His situation would have been easy; his pleasures temperate, as become a sensible being. He would have enjoyed repute and honour, and the repose of opulent old age; have lived respectably, and died happily.
Surely, my young friends, you shudder at such lamentable folly. I hope as you grow up you will avoid bad company, and the love of more liquor than nature requires. Always attend to what your friends advise. So may God prosper your pursuits. Be good, and you will sooner or later be happy. If not in this life, in that beyond the grave.
Be always careful of your money; laying it out on something that may be useful. Money is intended for some good purpose. You may sometime want it extremely. Never buy any thing, without asking your friends what is most proper for your age and capacity. Never spend it without thought.
Days, months, and years pass on. At times, look back, and examine if a good use has been made of them, and if we may not do something better in future. The design of this life is to prepare our minds and dispositions to enter upon a state of existence perfectly happy; where no care or misery is known, but where all people, who have been virtuous here, enjoy complete felicity. In that future state, those who have done evil actions in this world, feel misery that cannot be described; and better would it have been for them, had they never possessed rational faculties, but have been brute beasts, without understanding, yea, never to have existed.
If vice at any time appears to us in an engaging dress, it is occasioned by overlooking the deformities it endeavours to hide. The disposition of a wolf is not changed, though he put on the clothing of a sheep. If vice ensnares for a moment, think of the story of Young Oliver, and be wise ere it is too late.
