Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1841-05-05

Wnen the Lord God OF Hosts calls 10
weeping, and to mourning. and badness,
andto girding with sackcloth. IIsaiah,
XXI, IL And when can this be said TO
be the case, if il be not in the day when
nations, communities, churches and min
itsers are called upon to humble them
selves before God, on account Of great ma
:ionai sins Hypocrites may indeed coun- |
ter.eit such humiliation-;he may "bow I
doVntheif head like a bulrush, aud spread I
sackcloth and ashes under them, and call I
il a fast while they nevertheless refuse
TO s break the yoke Of oppression. But
this furnishes no good reason why Jere- |
miah should cease to weep, and Ezra re-
fuse to confess, and why Isaiah should
suspend his terrible denuncia:ions of d.
vine judgment, to crack merry jokes! -
The Scribes and Phafisees could indeed
deceive men with their "sad countenan-
ces and dis6gufed faces" while they tide
voured widows houses" out there was
none the less occasion that the Prince of
Reformers should weep over their city,
nor did it furnish any just excuse for Pc
/ ter and James and John to make sport,
and lampoon each other for diversion, in
order to prove that they were not hypo-
critical Pharisees ts
We repeat 1t, there is no room for levi
ty, while the judgments of Heaven are
hanging over our guilty nation, for It's
sins. lfa sceptical statesman could 'frem-
bic for bis country' half century ago,
in anticipation of those judgments, is it
not most lamentable that Christian reform
ers and ministers should now think to
}rouse the nation to repentance. by inter
mingling and splicing their solemn exbor-
ltations, with facetious jibes2s Was thus
/ (does any one believe) that the Ninevites
were led to humble themselves, and aban-
don their sins Is it marvellous that men
do not tremole and repent, under the de-
nunciations of orators who show that they
themselves are so little affected with the
solemn considerations aud the fearful ap-
prehensions which they urge on the at
tention of others, that in almost the same
breath in which they declare their settled
convictions that the nation must speedily
! repent or be destroyed, and that the church
es must be thoroughly purified or subvert-
ed, they suddenly slide into the facetious
and the ludicrous as though intent on
Testing the extent of their powers over
their hearers, and as # disposed to exhibit
& the skill and tact and success with which
they can dispel the soemnity they had
spread over the faces of their auditors, and
how readily they can conVulse them with
laughter, while the tears are still coursing
down their cheeks?
We know there are objections and ca
] wills against efforts for reformation, and
against a practical regard for human
rights, which it is difficult to meet with.
out showing them to be, what they really
; are, ridiculous and absurd. On such ex
hibltions, the hearers may sometime:
2 smile, without the fault of the speaker
But the tendency to merriment, over exhi
billions of popular folly and wiekedness
should always be vigilantly watched, ant
! scrupulously repressed. Fools make
! ! mock at sin, but wise men weep over il
The thought of foolish directors is always
{ sin. and as such it should be compassion
{ ately deplored and earnestly reproved
! The philosopher who laughed at human
Il follies was less lover of his race than h.
J who contemplated them with tears. |
9 was on account of human folly that tn
g Savior was man of sorrows and acquaint
J ed with grief 1.-THE prophets used irony
it was of the solemn, severe denunciator.
: reprovng kind, which sinners are littl
y accustomed to be delighted with, or t
: smile over If lighter kind of satir
= and ridicule are to be used at all, the
: should be used as dangerous medicine
! are, cautiously, judiciously, and sparingly
: Comedians have always satirized huma
: folly. and fools throng the theaters from
q age to age. where their own folIies are rid
q iculed They laugh--they pay for be
2 ing ridiculed-but they are not reformed
The satirist,
Shutting and vapoling in an empty school,
i Spends all his force and makes no proseyte
$50.
So did not Paul. Direct me to quip
: Or merry turn in all he ever wrote,
lie And consent YOU take it for your text,
Is Your only one, till sides and benches fall"
r We are aware that speakers who max
OF their hearers alternately laugh and wee
1t at their pleasure, are often highly extol
e, ed. But we are aware, too, CT some 9th
a. er things. Q.1 That men may exto
of popular orators without being reformed
4 u That while many ex,ol, others ar
Ii disguised. Among these, we NAV com
II monty reckon the most serious and reaec
er tive. 81 The present. condition of GU
= reformatofy ranks admonishes us, iha
n little IS gained by gathering chaf, instea
le OF whea', into our gamers. a. Thos
" who can be laughed into our ranks ca
< be as easily laughed ont again. s(5.) w
Isl have seer d convention tested into 200
hI1rn mr. IL IL. = L