Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1840-09-02

- loia' we shall see In the end of GU,
course that each month and week, day and
hour, minute and second bears an impor.
tant relation to our future veal or wo.-
dFnce we cannot be too particular as to
the manner in which it is improved.
The text exhors US to redeem ito
recover or buy back, what is already lost.
lhefe is sense in which this is impossi-
DIE In as much as time once gone is los,
forever; but 10 another sense it may be
redeemed, by making the best use of what
remains. This is the sense in which I
shall treat the subject in the present dis
course.
l. 1t is implied that a considerable por-
ton oil their time had already run 10 waste
or been spent IN vain. Perhaps the ma
Jof part had been so improved as to be far
worse for themselves and the community
than blank. This, in some degree, can
be said Of, the most holy and laborous
who are noa0 using all diligence to make
their calling aud election sure. To be
more particular, remark:
/, That all the time we lave spent in
ldleness and sloth is lost time Our rela-
tons, both 10 this world and TO et9rn;tu
demand the most economical improve
ment OF every moment which is not i'm
perlouSI Y required in rest and refresh
ment. Not even a moment is aIowed for
ldeness This will appear, by consider
ing the numerous and diversified duties
which devolve upon US during our NOR
tai existence. We are ushered into life
IN state of physical, moral and intellect
ual destitution. Hence all, by the grace
Of God. depends on the dnt of our indi-
vldual and personal effort. The infant in
creases in physical strength and arrives
to maturity by means of exercise And
We all retain what power we have in the
same way. To secure this exercise, God
has made our earthly subsistence depend
ent on the labor Of our hands, or, in Bible
language, on the sweat Of the brow. So
it is ordained that if we will not work
neither shall we eat. It is true all is de-
pendent on God. But it is equally true
our Maker governs men, as he does the
planets, by fixed and invariable laws
Our intellectual resources depend on our
own efforts. We are born as ntelectu-
ally destitute as we are physically; and
every step Of our progress bears a Just
proportion to the intellectual effort put
tor'h. The reason why the world has
no more MENTIONS aud Lockes, Edwardses
and Fullers, Is, but few men of native tai
ent are willing to apply themselves as
constantly and as intensely as they did, =
Suppose that, en- an average, two hours
each day, by all business and labo.ine
men, were appropriated in cuItivating oal
intellectual powers. This, each year
amounts 20 730 hours-in ten years, &c
1900, and in twenty, 1860 This is
time enough for measuring up vast
amount of knowledge Who will say
they cannot appropriate two hours day
to cultivate those powers which dis,in
guISh them from the brute, and bv which
they are allied TO angels and to Deity @
We hope no one Then you see that mer
alone are responsible for want Of men,a
acquisitions, and not their bountiful Cfea
tor. Yet what an immense amount c
time is lost, or spent in intellectual dssi
patton. Ny soul sickens at the though
! 1t is more importan. that our mora
powers are cultivated, than either on
phgsic6L or intellectual God designed
that the moral powers should control an'
govern the whole man. That our pro
pensities rnd inteIIects should act in pei
feet harmony with their holy Dictates
But unfortunately BY reason of our apo<
tacy from God gu: moral and intellectual
natures, for six thousand years, have bee
under the cruel and selfish dominion c
the propensiles. Hence when men hav
ap lied themselves to the acquisition {
knowledge it has not Usually been to ODE
and serve their Creator, but 10 glut thei
avarice, to crafty their lusts, or for othe
base purposes equally offensive to Go