Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1841-03-24
this place will be to suggest few topics
of inquiry, and those chiefly in one partic-

this place will be to suggest a few topics |
Of inquiry. and those chiefly in one partic-
ular direction. We are concerned to
know what the churches of Christ leither
professedlv or really such) have been do
ING. all this timei What have the great
majority of prominent ministers OF rell-
gion been doing? What are they doing
now! What is the position OF the chur-
ches and ministry in general-cr the
whole2 Arc they the helpers, or the op-
oosers, and the dead weights of the re-
formations now in progress2 What is
the testimony, on this point, of those zeal
Gus and active Christians and ministers
who have been engaged in this work
We all know the answer that truth re-
quires us to give to these questions. So
far from finding auxiliaries in the church
es, and efcienI agents in the ministers,
we have found in the great majority of
them, the most formidable obstacles which
the reformation has been called TO encoun-
tel. When we say this. we do not, of
course, forget, nor overlook, nor under
value. the splendid exceptions to these
general statements A remnant, thanks
to God, have been found faithful. But
we speak of the great body of professed
and accredited ministers and Christians
And what do facts testify2 We have
seen every distinctive principle of the tenn
perance and anti slavery reformations con-
tested, inch by inch, by the champions
who were set for the defence of the Cos
pell We have seen the Bible itself tor
tured into the defence of wine bibbing,
and the most abominable system of lcen-
tiousness and heathenism and oppressionl
We have seen Literary and theological
reviews" denouncing "the highest civil
penalties and ecclesiastical censures a.
gainst the advocates of mercy and purity
and justice! We have seen the leading
influences of the church sympathzing
with the oppressor, instead Of the Cypress
ed. While shareholders have been well
coined to church fellowship, and slave
holding ministers invited to our pulpits,
the advocacy of immediate emancipation
has been accounted an offenss for which
exemplary Christians have been persecu.
ted, and ministers, in effect, shut out from
the vineyard of the Lord. When favora-
bic changes have been noticed in the Ian
guage of leading ministers and ecclesias-
.ical bodies, it has too often seemed to be
| the language of mere constrained compii-
ance with the changing public sentiment,
rather than that of penltent amendmen,
and hearty enlistment. Not unfrequent-
iy, in asserting for the first time, to cor
rect sentiments, we have witnessed the
| ungenerous attempt to create the impress
/ ion that the sentiments now avowed have
been held from the beginning, when it is
well known that they had been bitterly
opposed by them. And we are COMPEL
ed to inquire whether this is the reforma
tion which God requires at their hands
and whether the world is to be brought to
submit to the divine authority under the
administration of Christian ministers like
lthese2
| The course of our larger ecclesiastical
bodies has been most painfully instructive
They have, at best, been mere cypher.
and straws. They have been drift-wooe
on the current of worldly expediency.-
Their strength" has been to '.sit STILL
They have attempted nothing in the de
partment Of reform. But this is not ALL
They have not always contented them
selves with neutral position. The Gen
eral Assemblies Of the two rival Presby
terrain bodies, and the General Conferenc,
Of the Methodist Episcopal church hav,
gone far, in taking sides with the trans
gressors of Gods law, against the pro
; gress of reform. Uuder their influence
numbers Of ministers once prominent in
the ranks of reform, have been seducec
back into the ranks of the opposition. ane
still greater number have become neu
tralized and inefficient. What must hav,
!, been the influence of their example ant
teachings upon the great mass of aboli
tiouisls and temperance men, connecte'
with the churches in which such minis
tiers are the prominent teachers2 Nee
we wonder at the apostacy, the apathy
the instability that arrests our attention Of
, every sde2 Is it not miracle of mere,
that remnant is left US, and that We ar
not become like Sodom and Gomorrah
: Obi what armies of reformers have w
seen melt away and retreat, within tn
last fourteen years! What a melanchol,
spectacle!
Reformation mast begin at the hous
of God" Until THIS work is attempted
all our other attempts at reformation vii
prove futile.