Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1840-01-29

lis mind has never been expanded by
his heart never warmed and
uickened by the genial influences of
hristian love. You call him worthless. (
Nh! are there not within him all the
lowers and affections of man! Is he
lot capable of being made all that yo1Ii
ire, and much more? Is he not able to
become dear child of our Heavenly
Father; an. heir Of God and joint heir
withsChrist? He was made a little less
than an angel There is spark of d.
vinity within him yet 1t can not have
gone wholly out. 1t may be almost
smothered, but not quite 1t must be still
alive, for what is divine can never de-
Breathe on it, then, with the spirit of
unftigned love, and it shall kindle into
fame, and fill the dark. cold bosom Of
your brother with the light and heat of
new life. | am not giving way to
utopian fancy. am not speaking of an
improbabiity. What am proposing to
you, has been done Several instances
are on record of highwavmen, who have
been dsarmed Of their fell purpose by
word Of brotherly love- Sad it is that
we have no more knowledge of the hu-
man soul; that we have no more faith in
man. But suppose you fall victim at
the robbers, hand, you may even then
gain your brother. Let the last accents
from your lips be prayer for his for
giveneSs--the last glance from your eye
look of tender concern for him. That
prayer shall be heard; and at that look
the murderer shall smite his breast in the
anguish of remorse, and weep bitterly
over one who, he has found, loved him
more than his own life. In sacrificing
yourself for his redemption. you shall
taste the joy of angels over a repentant
sinner; and, it may be, send him forth,
with all the zeal Of a Paul after the death
of Stephen, to serve that master who had
inspired you with such faith and such
love.
In all the reasoning of the opposers of
nonresistance 1t is taken for granted, that
the preservation of our own lives is our
fifst duty. Yet the purest instincts, the
hottest affections of the soul impel Us TO
think otherwise. Who does not feel that
the mother, who has sacrificed her health
and even life to sustain her helpless chill
dren, has obeyed ahigher, purer princi-
Pile of her nature than thai, which would
have led her to neglect them, that she
might take care Of herself When a man
| is seen exposing himself to the imminent
peril of his own life, that he may rescue
a fellow being from a watery grave, or
the devouring fumes, where is there a
heart that does not admire his self-forget-
fulness? By the unbought, unsought
irrepressible testimony of all mankind, O.
men in savage as we'll as a civilized
state, believe it 10 be established that the
preservation of ones own life is not the
first law Of humanity, Is not the highes
duty Of man. If it were then Jesus who
came to fulfil all righteousness,-the per
: feet man-was guilty of the greatest sin
His voluntary submission to death, insteae
of being an act of the highest obedience
was an act Of consummate folly Blu
this decision all Christendom would re
ject with horror; for all feel, av, ever
in6dels have acknowledged, that in hi
death we see the highest manifestation O
t the divinity-the power of faith-the self
5 devotion of love. Dsnterestedness, self
r sacrifice is accounted by all men III
r height of virtue. And for what ough
: this sacrifice to be so readily made, rs 70
e the redemption of soul from the bono
:, age of those passions, that drive men t
}, violence and bloodshed?
: If in the extreme case | have been con
: sidering, the christian can find no warrau
: in the precepts or example of his haste
$ for saving his life by doing evil to anoth
g er, much less can we find any excuse 70
e doing any harm to our worst enemy
4 under any other circumstances.
: No, the followers of Jesus arc who'll
Y disarmed by him Of all carnal weapons
It They are left TO rely for their defenc
y entirely upon moral power-the power c
It holiness and love- Although in the pre-.
> ent state of the world, this may be some
$ times Intellectual to protect the faithful
e from bodily harm, it will generally pre-
vail and ultimately it shall triumph glori
e ously. 1t is mighty through God to tn
: pulling down of all the strong holds {
y Satan. 1t is this alone, which can over
: come the evil in the world. Ii will pre-
7 vail. The meek shall inherit the earth
u They who put their trust in the Lor
II shall be safe from all harm. This powe
e it is which shall accomplish the gloriou
y predictions of the ancient prophets an
q bring on that happy day when
u The wolf shall dwell with the lamb
- And the leopard shall lie down with the kid:
e And the calf and young lion and failing together
\ And little child shall lead them
x When
~ The sucking child shall play the hole of ii
e. asp,
! And the ,unanod cL;Id shan nut his hand y