Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1839-07-24

WHICH Will 6u0CtudliJ ACSsOlS snO SnutSH z
to her former standing, or that life Of 'all il
holy conversation and goodness which is
required of her members, and which {
characterized the saints of apostolic days,
when they consecrated all to the Lord.
and when the Lord added to the church ;
daily such as should be saved' And
will not proper attention to the word OF
God most naturally tend to awaken and
arouse the church day and night unto God
for his Spirit, until the gift be sent down
from on high as powerfully as on the day
of Pentecost, and the stimes of refresh
ing shall come from the presence of the
Lord, and he shall send Jesus Christ,
whom the heavens must receive, till the
time of restitution of all things, which
God hath spoken by the mouth of all his
holy prophets since the world beganP
May l not then present some glazing
and astounding facts. now seemingly too
little known or thought of showing that
the scriptures are strangely neglected, in
stead of being read and used as they Dug ht |
to be In religious communities?
One of the facts, is the great and la
mentable desttution of copies of the BIZ
: BILE, which exists in communities profess
eddy believing in Christianity. Before
the late resolutions of Bible societies to
supply every destitute family with copy
of the holy scriptures, it seemed to most
people having Bibles altogether incredi-
!, Bile, that there could be families of their
own towns and neighborhoodS, living qui-
: city without single copy of the scrip
LII al
: But in accordance with these resolutions,
J finduiry has been made through the length
II and bredth Of our land, and, to the sur
- prise of almost all classes, proportion OF
= one tenth, one eighth, one sixth, and some
= times one fourth, of the families upon an
u average, have been found not having a
- full copy of the Bible in their houses
: And what was more remarkable still, was
- the fact, that these destitute families were
- too equally found among the professedly
= pious. But because Of the disrepHtable
70 ness of living without the form OF Ri
- bic, most OF those destitute families ha,
- the New Testament, or something els
n called their Bible, containing the lids Q
We the Bible and more or less of the Old an,
y New Testament, soiled, tattered and torn
y having in some instances been the worn
NC out family Bible of their parents befor
y them; and in one instance, when max
~ ing these researches myself as Bib
ay agent, l found family protesting godli
lo' ness, or at least the mother, who had n
We Bible but small quarto copy, which wa
al badly smoked and decayed, and, as sh
' 'e said had been the family Bible of he
,rcn parents before her, and Of her grand p;
~ rents before them. Of course, this B
90 BILE seemed as kind of an idol to he
::ui because of Its antiquity, and the relatio
~ it had so long sustained to her ancestor
~, ~ whose dear memory it was helping her
10; peTpetuate.
nal Another thing apparently more lamen
na able in these destitutions which foun
", "" was a great backwardness, many time
~ in such families, TO supply themselv
20 with new Bible, brought to them ar
~ offered for fifty cents, upon trust if desire
~ Their excuse for not wishing TO purcha
~ ~ was, usually, their professed poverty, whi
~ most of them, it is believed, were 6ndir
10y means for obtaining other things geners
orc ly, by which they were enjoying a col
oao Portable conformity to the customs of Il
: world. And sometimes the excuse w
nv offered, that their deficient copy containe
,nrs as much of the aoOrd Of God as they cOu
w find time to read, and much more Mt
theg practice.
!. Although it has been publicly report
Dc - that these destitutions have all been 81
ie is piled, leaving many to suppose that tn
Inc no longer exist, it has been found and
ever my personal knowledge, that similar d,
De- titutions are experienced again i'll I
ues- same sections, as often as every five or :
lpon years, where researches and supplies ha
n1 Oh been repeated.
nge Now, since good and fair copies Of t
u IT, Bible can be had so plea1tifully, conve
now iently and almost for nothing, (when I
lIent entirely gratuitous,) these multiplied a
rue repeated destitutions certainly prove mc
rip than that the destitute read the Bible
IS ot little. And do they not afford stro
OF presumption, that their neighbors arou
the me them having the Bible, are not much
en- the habit of searching, understanding a
anu feeling, its converting and sanctifying
the fuence? And is it not fact, that if thc
age who are we'll supplied with Bibles VIZ
!, al making that use of it they ought, as q
tue sword of the Spirit, "a lamp VI
Ken s their feet and light unto their pat
ters' and as words of food to the soul. 'swee
'ugn than honey to their mouth as the f
cans Christian seemed to do, their general c.
iong duct would make It's holy influence
iieu' their minds manifest 10 all around, so II
part at least, their neighbors protesting TO
spH- lieve it, would be ashamed, even in
itlHS cref af the fho,IUht of not hayin ~ a 6