The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1854-06-28

cgo was freely extended to the provinces
had it been done in the representative
form, it might have been Of great advan.
tage but given, as it was, as personal
right to all the mass, it hastoued her rap
id descent TO ruin; for often the sharp
contests of political elections wero de-
cided by the spear and bludgeon cf sold,
icrs, who marched intn the streets Of
Rome under provincial banners.
From whence, then, did our system
Gomez Certainly not from politicians
or statesmen. The first idea OF rep.
resontatvc council began with the mini
istcrs of the Gospel AS carly as tho
sixth century they had introduced all
over Christcndom the most perfect sys;
tenn of representation. Every Chris.
tian minister, however humble, had his
share in the formation of these great as:
semblics, by which tho affairs Of the
church were regulated. The gathering
of political parliaments, under the rep
resentativo system, was not till the thir.
tccnth and fourteenth centuries in tho
European States. Six centuries before
the time assigned to representative civil
cenvocations, the councils Of Nice and
Antioch had shown perfect models Of
universal representation, BY delegates
from diocescs in remote portions of Eu.
rope and Asin, and covering field wider
Nbroader than the whole RomanEmpire.
This was done centuries before William
the Conqueror assembled his sixty thous-
and men, for II political purpose, at
Winchester, or Clovis gathered his whole
army at Chomps-de-Mai. While we are
here, then, in the enjoyment of all the
privileges of our representative system,
let it be borne in mind that the model
of that system was furnished by the
clergy in their ecclesiastical organiza'
tons.
l call your attention to another mat
ter of history, to the reformation that
brought civil and religious freedom to
the world. There is no question as to
its authors; and there is as little ques.
ton tina, Wickliffe. aud Huss, and Luth'
er. and Melancthon, and Iwinglc were
ministers of the Gospel. They began,
and for long time carried on their great
work Of redemption, while the whole civ
il power was frowning upon their efforts.
Princes and 2otentates desired things to
remain as they were. Those in power
do not wish change; for ii the existing
system pass away they must pass with it.
1t was so then, and to save repetition, ]
ask you to consider, as we pass on, wheth.
er it has not been SO in every instance
which | shall name since that time. BY
the law of their nature and their Office,
rulors are not reformers. Their judg.
ments and feelings are warped to the
belief that the system under which they
live is the best system. Their interests
resist innovation and if their judgments
arc convicted, they are bribed to silence
by their selfsbnoss. Against that strorg
natural tendency the clergy then and
since warred bravely and successfully.
In the English revolution of 1858 tho
clergy took the lead they first set the
elements in motion. In that cventful
struggle, to which the world is so much
indebted, the pulpit was the lever and
the fulcrum that moved tho mass of the
people to secure their rights. English
freedom had been indebted to the power
Of the pulpit generations before. When
liberty had expired in all the great con-
tinontal monarohies, and its last feeble
chickering's were seen in England, tho
English clergy, electrified by the spirit
of the reformation, reused the people to
rescue their liberties. From the time
of Henry VIII, through seven succeed
ing reigns they held their way undaunt-
edly onward, bearing the crushing weight
of thorns and parliaments. The only light
that cheered them was in the bright but
brief career of Edward vi. THERE'S no
other bigotry on earth so exclusive, in.
tolerant, and relentless as the bigotry Of
intidelity; and yet the chief of infdel
bigots gives to religious men. led by the
clergy, the credit of the great reform
that planted the seeds OF liberty in Eng
lish and American soils
In France tho clergy took subordin-
ate but important part in the revolution.
Many Of them were heedless of the signs
of the times, saw not the storm that was
gathering; and whom it broke in its wrath
upon them, they we're stupidity insensiblc
to danger while thoir battlemcnts were
reeing in every blast. But there wero
among them many wise, righteous, pat
riotic men, laboring with successful in
fiueuce for reform and il, when called,
they had stood as a separate estate, they
might have done great good. But they
made the mistake Of the other two or
ders, and merged the three in one. In
that devouring maelstron everything
human was ingulfed.
With this brief allusion to long passed
aud foreign affairs, l invite your atten-
tion to things at homo. When the his
tory Of the American Revelation is writ
ten, as it should be, and will be written,
it will be seen that the ministers bore
part moro important and effective than
any other class. The statements that l
make Of historical facts are general, and,
like general statements, are liable to ex-
coptions but these are very few [
cannot descend to particulars, and have
no wish to make seetarian, or sectional,
or party comparisons. My purpose is
to vindicate the character aud rights Of
the whole class, The clergy we're pecu-
liarly fitted, by their training aud posi-
tion in colonial society, to take the lead
in tho Revolution The people Of their
time were eminently religious people,
aud the ministers often drafted the laws
that regulated tho community. Minis
ters were very frequently the leaders of
their hocks through the wilderness l
will give you single instance, aud the
gentleman from New Hampshire Mr..