Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1841-04-21
VOL. XIII. No. 81.

on Whleh TefofGatorY Efforts can be made,
As good and eyil-Tight and wrong are
COMPOUNDED, the wicked can not be con-
WINGED OF their Wiekedness, nor the up
right justified in their Integrity. Indeed,
{ the very significance of the words righte-
Gus and wicked has vanished. We are
lost in maze We wander about with
ont aim or object amidst endless confu-
sions; the sport Of every idle wind, of ev-
cry hap-hazard impulse.
The positive institutions of religion
were designed to subserve the end of NOR
laf distinctions. Hence, they derive their
meaning. Apart from this end, they are
unintelligible and worthless. From this,
they derive whatever sacredness we as
cribe to them; become hallowed IL the
1eyes of men. As hailowed things, they
are commonly regarded . The calling
tofassembiies--thesolemn meeting" with
what reverence they are looked upon
The temple of the Lord, the pulpis, the
Communion tabie-ali the arrangements
land exercises Of public Worship-how no.
ffy they are generally esteemed Here
men expect 10 find the standard of Recti-
ltude-the model of sound CHARACTER
And what if they find iniquity here excus-
led, or countenanced, CT justified! What
| if iatemperance or oppression finds a re-
| fuge here2 What if pride builds. here a
nest, and prejudice finds here home -
What if worldly spirit aud malignant
passions riot and revel here2 What if
decisive measures to expose popular vices,
to raise the depressed, to shelter the out
east, to relieve the oppressed, are discoun-
Itenanced here-are pronounced inpractic-
able and ridiculous What if the earn
est and determined advocates of freedom
of temperance-of an effective and COM
prehensive philanthropy are here grossly
misrepresented and spitefully traduced -
And what if in the midst of all this, spe-
eial efforts at saving souls are proposed
Special expedients are hit upon. Meet
ings are multiplied and protraeted. Zeal
flames up on every side Large success
ia building up the church is boosted
Scores of converts flock around the COM
munion table. And ali this, while the in-
EQUITY characteristic of the meeting hold
ers is cherished and maintained! A few
vague, general confessions are made as
thing of course. But eulogiesS on wine
drinking remain unrevoked-arrange
nentsH to tempt the vicious and increase
intem 2erance stand frm-theE injured
outcast is spurned as contemptuousIy as
ever-church processes and decisions vio-
lative of the simplest principles Of justice
are not so much as called in question:
and** the cruel exclusion of the cause Of
the oppressed from the pul pitpasses unex-
posed, uncondemned 10 one word, iniqui-
ty and the meeting move on hand in handl
Thus things the most incongruous, and
just there, where human improvement and
welfare are most vitality concerned, are
strangely confounded! How on such
ground, can sound character be produced!
How even understood
And wnat must be the various bearing
of all this? What, upon those who
amidst the general excitement are reckon
| ed converts? Here is one, who has all
along been driving hard after the world
an eager, greedy earthling He finds in
the church and among those, who are ac-
tive in extending lis limits aud controlling
its movements, sordid WorId!mcss bap-
| tized indeed, but sordid worIdIne>s still.
| Will he, thus countenanCed break friend
ship with the world. which he has long
worshined2 viii the slave of artificial
Iity-the victim Of respect Of persons strug-
Gle to throw off his bonds on entering
Icommunity where such bonds are worn
by way of ornament and held to be quite
consistent with Christian liberty? Will
the convert who had all along been wine
bbber eschew the dangerous drtughto
beneath pulpit, whence issue seulogies
on wine-dri7king Or will be, awho,had
been a STAKEHOLDER, who had sold his fell
low-men and lived upon the price Of tIood,
enter church brohen-bearted for his sin,
where the sin of slavery is denied or pal
lated? In the midst of good earthlings,
good rum-sellers, good Wine-drinkers, good
friends of slavery-in the midst Of such
odd combinations, such gross incongrui-
ties, such inexplicable confusion, what
Standard can be found by which sound
character may be formed and matured2--
IF these things are consistent with the Law
of Rectitade-- Christian habits The
Law Of Rectitude must BIZ loose affair
Christian habits must be any thing or
nothing, adapting themselves to the hu-
NOR or convenience Of the lhoughiless, the
frivolous, the selfish. Amidst such ia.
6EuEogies on arine- drinkfng. This aIlusion will =
be understood by those, upon whom long paper
was inflicted. first in the church and then IN tbs