Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1845-01-31
T II Z FIR E L NJ A N.
"PIiant as reeds where Freedoms waters glide
Firm as the hills to stem Oppression tider'
MONTPELIER, VERMONT, FRIDAY, JAM 81, 1916.
Profession and Practice.

Words and professions alone are but mere APP
pearances and shadows while practice or action is
the index of the soul The former are only al
show-box Of distractions to dazzle the eye and be-
wilder the mird-the faint glimmcriugs of some
uncertain reality, which at best can only msguide,
perpleX and destroy, The latter constitute the
pth and essence of every thing trustworthy and
valuable in our crecds-;he bar, substantial and
massive, from which every thing golden in Theo-
ogy, ethics, and every days experience is hammer
ed out. Separating profession from practice is
like taking the soul from the body worthless
carcass only is left. Our world is full of such pit
lul shams and scarecrows, in the form of human
beings, who make high-sounding professions, talk
Of their good deeds and wonderful achievements,
while the active faculty, the God-like in man has
never been brought into requisition precept has
never been embodied into practice, 1t is all smoke
and talk.
The history Of our nation is an illustration of
this truth. Our fathers made loud professions of
love Tor freedom, but hcw did their after life belle
the language of their lips. The Declaration of
Independence how the language and truths it
cmbodies warns the heart and arouses the best
emotions Of the soul. How glorious the primer
pie it advocates. How refreshing the spirit it
brealhes; ".4N men are created equal, and are ina
ienabiQ entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness" What truth is this Well might
the bondmen Of those times have been filled
with ccsacy and joy as they saw the morn of their
delYcrance dawnng upon them. Well might
they have regarded this as word from heaven
note from an angels song! Long and bloody
was the conflict in which our fathers and not few
even of the slaves, engaged, TO yindcate and de-
ferd this great truth and the object was worthy
of the sacrifice it At length the star Of free
dom rose with more than its usual brightness, to
enlighten the path to cheer and gladden. the hearts
the slaves and left them in more than midnight
darkness. BY words and professions our fathers
built shrine worthy of this " sel(-eydent Truth u
and fashioned body, every way BETTING, for the
soul of Freedom. But by their deeds, they gave
liberty its death-stab and imposed upon part Of
their cOunrymen wrongs and suiEerlngs, one hour
of which, the very Trainer Of that truth declared TO
be worse than ages Of that which our fathers rose
to repe. BY professions and lip service they have
g beslavered" the face of Freedom and been Law
ish Of their afiectionate cureSses, but by their act;
they plunged the dagger to her heart and left hc
a horrd corpse, covered with plague-spots, poi
sonlng the very atmosphere, by taking one sixth
of the inhabitants of this liberty -louing nation ant
crushing the manhood which God has planted
within them, until they have become brutes-by
wringing Immortality out of their souls until they
can be bought and sold like articles of property
by putting into the hands of few tyrants the pow
err TO mprison, enslave, and destroy as many al
i their will and interests may require, giving then
the right to three votes for five of their slaves
thus controlling and governing the land, Robin!
us of our money and fair name, and even under
mining and destroying our Heaven-given inslitu
tons, aud by making the north hunling-grount
for slave-catchers, and placing the whole nation
under mortgage to the slave power-and we
their sons, are willing to have it so. We boast o
our Eagle of Liberty as an emblem of Freedom
and Peace, while in fact it is only bird of prey
that has fastened its talons into the quivern!
flesh of S,OOO,O of our brethren and gluts itsel
on their blood, tears and suferings. We talk o
our free institutions and happy land, while thu
wailiugs and canking chains of suffering mill
ions of our countrymen are music in our ears
We glory in our land of Bibles and religious priv
; ileges, while we make it crime, and in SOM
places even death, for one sXth of our inhabltant