Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1837-06-21
MORAL REFORM.
From the Journal of Public Morals.
THE DEPOSED MINIsTERS..-PRINC
Piles OF REFORM.

THE DEPOSED MISUNDERSTANDING |
Piles OF REFORM.
We have taken no part in the discussion !
which has been carried on between several
editors respecting the ":hree deposed minis
ters," because We have known nothing Of
, the men, or of their connections with the
subject of Moral Reform. If it be fact
that these men were made what they have
proved themselves to be, by the develop
ments Of Moral Reform, let it come out and
be established by proper evidence, and like
all other truth it will advance the cause of
holiness. But if this is only the guess work
of those editors, who have always doubted
the expediency of every species of reform
until that reform had gained an ascendencv
over the public mind, so that it was policy
for these editors TO fall in with the popular
current, why then let this also appear. We
much regret that two things have been said
or rather intimated, in this discussion re-
speeding the deposed ministers, viz: That
Moral Reform is regarded as an interruption
in those means, which have been making
Announcements against the sin Of Iicentous-
ness for the "last fifty years." and 2. That
the principles of modern Moral Reform have
a tendency to increase the evils which it
pretends to remedy. The first position as
sumes that the influence Of RIGHTEOUSNESS
on the public mind and morals has been de-
creasing for the last fifty years. We deny
the assumption and unhesitatingly aver that
it is contrary TO fact. In one section of the
country only New-England-h this evil
decreased within the last fifty years, and
that decrease is owing to the fact that GER
tain customs connected with courtship have
been laid aside, and that decrease has been
confined entirely to country towns. But in
the cities even of New-England it has in
creased during this time. In this city, we
have the testimony OF resident physicians
that 1t has more than doubled during very
few years past, and these very physicians
have named as one Of the principal causes
of this increase, the silence Of the pulpit
and the press. Yea, the very opposition Of
the religious press to Mr.. McDowalrs
movements, Objectionable as some might
have regarded them, has been made sub
servent to the ends Of the wicked; and at
the very time of this opposition, some Of
these religious papers, unfriendly to Mr..
McDowall's efforts, were subscribed for and
received in some dens of infamy.* Did
this opposition encourage the wicked or not
Were they emboldened in their sins, when
they saw the onl y man, who had ever ven
tured TO declare open war with their system
Of denominations, discountenanced and OPP
posed by men of piety and influence? Who
, is on the Lords side? The wicked knew
that the inspired sentiment, A house d1r'd-
: ed against itself cannot stand, was as ap-
plicable 10 the good as the bad, and when
) they saw public attention turned from their
; dark and dreadful deeds to a controversy
2 about the best mode of attack, they hattered
themselves that they should remain, at least
7 for some gears, unmolested. 1t remains to
be proved, that the RIGHTEOUSNESS of this
| country has decreased under the advance
2 ment Of the ordinary means of grace for the
last fifty years. Fifty years ago and oul
v pulpits could declare the whole counsel oil
, God. But now the evil of RIGHTEOUSNESS
; has so moulded the public sentiment and
Y taste of the age, and has such an influence
in some of the cushioned seats of our church.
es, that the pulpit is silent upon this subject,
, or utters such faint and feeble notes as not
- a; all to alarm the wicked. We would not
q SANDER our brethren, but we know what we
1 say, and if the truth of the above remark
= be questioned. we are ready to defend it by an
r appeal to facts.
a AS to the main principles Of modern Nor,
/, al Reform, there can be no question in any
r intelligent mind as to their correctness, for
: they are the same which lie at the founda
v alton, now prosecuted by the churches oil
Christendom, the principles of LIGHT AMI
O TRUTH AND ACTION, as opposed TO the policy
It of silence and inactivity. These were the
). principles which governed Luther IN his eff
d forts to dsenthrall the church from the
q bondage Of papacy, the principles which
O have originated and are now moving for
n ward every popular benevolent enterprise
O Shall their soundneSs, so readily acknowl-
edged when applied TO other objects, be
r questioned when applied to Moral Reform!
!. We assert, fearless Of contradiction, that
: the principles of Moral Reform are founded
e upon the laws Of God, and Of the human
IS mind, the principles which must lead on tc
v the conversion Of the world. If your objec
J. ton is not to the principles, but to the man
e ner in which they are developed and applied
IF then be it so. Wisdom is profitable TO d.
e reel, and IN the multitude Of counseIlOrt
e there is safely. Vulgarity and abuse are
( no more necessary to give efficiency to the
d cause of Moral Reform than to any other
\, although in this more than any other, there
; is danger of descending to them. Let the
/, manner in which the great principles OF the
h cause are applied, be refined, chaste, anC
st perfectly consistent with the demands of
d virtuous and praiseworthy delicacy, and the
IS triumph of virtue over vice will the sooner
d be secured. There is no necessity Of using
p in our attack upon Satan, the weapons
Is which he himself furnishes US. We have
$ always sought in our management OF this
k, enterprise to be governed, as to manner: by
e the principles which pervade the Bible
E. wherever it speaks Of the seventh command
re ment, or of any other subject which appeal:
Or to the strong propensilies Of human nature
n. i. e. to rrrite and speak dlt1dys IN s"c'
~ connections, and Nth such associations
u and in such language, as acoutd pre1en
or the imagination from being corrupted, any
We t''e Po'oo'Oy' e:I''ec' ~ u"o:s rnrose