The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1859-04-27


The following Communication should
have appeared las, week, but was, by
mistake, omitted.
Seldom does an entertainment of an
hour at the Sanctuary compare favorably
with that of last fast-day. While the
body tasted, the soul banqueted. As sun
lights amid gloom, as teeming showers in
the midst Of general aridity and drouth.
As leaflet and blossom and f~ruitage in tho
lap Of baroness. As diamonds and gold
amid sands and debris, or as form and
comeliness leaping forth from the womb
Of chaos. So was this characteristic dis
course to its favored auditory when pulpit
themes are trite, and bold and mastery
efforts to awaken deep and abiding in
tercsts are too seldom put forth.
The discourse was founded upon this
passage of holy writ.
The prosperity of fools shall destroy
them" Prov. l., 80. None were exhor.
ted to practically ignore prosperity. She
was a Goddess at whose shrine all might
innocently worship. True prosperity
should be sought, obtained and enjoyed.
There is a marked distinction between the
prosperity of the wise and that of fools.
The one e~levates and then crowns /; the
other lifts up only to dash its giddy victim
to ruin. In other words, remarked the
speaker, "Unsanctiied prosperity des.
sroys its votaries."
This proposition was elucidated and
strengthened by an array of testimony
brought from three main sources.
First, matters Of fact, drawn from gen.
oral observation, were called to the stand
and hidden to testify In an unanswer-
able manner did they affirm and confirm
the truth of the proposition. Among the
various witnesses American Slavery was
permitted, and indeed required to give in
her testimony, and most conclusively did
she establish and admit that, though she
had chosen her dwelling place in the land
OF tho palm and the orange, whose soil is
naturally a garden, DER which hang gen.
ial skies, and aromatic breezes play in
merry pastime where the Frost-Ki ling, in
might, seldom iutrudes, and stern winter
finds it difficult to creep into bed betwixt
autumn and spring and take more than
a brief snooze. When INC untains and
rivers and forests and "bays and broad
armed Ports each contribute to enhance
the natural advantages of the sunny
South" quite beyond the ste riIe rocky
coasts Of New England and in addition
sne had been "prospcyed" with an oppcr-
tunity to enrich herself for a century on
unrequited earnings of millions of slaves /;
yet this seeming prosperity, this INSANE
tilted prosperity had most signa.lly I'M
povished them. 1t had dug a pit into
which they were about to fall and be des-
troyed. Interesting and important sta
tistics were introduced, showing how the
north had rapidly risen to a point of
prosperity on which the appreciate ION of
Heaven rested while the 'unsanctiiod pros
perity Of the South invoked the vens ,ence
and curse of an incensed Deity. To day
the South, once far richer than the N orth
is literally well nigh bankrupt in con-
science, in pocket and in true prosperity.
As an instance the speaker stated that the
single city Of New York was worth more
than the entire StOte of Virginia, with
all her Slaves thrown in at their estimated
value, and that the hay crop of the IRE 9
States is worth more by 64 millions o.
dollars than the whole boastcd cotton crop
of the Slave States. That Vermont even.
produced, in 1850, l66,ls tons of hay,
which is more than was produced by all
tho slave States, if we except Virginia.
The speaker introduced a class Of witness
es from'ancient history, and by them it was
proved that the almost universal opinion
obtained that great and unparalleled sue
cess was the fororunner of impending evil
the harbinger of approaching calamity
and distress. The Poets were summoned
and told to testify and they also corrobo-
rated In measured cadences, the general
current of testimony that the pros.
pcrity Of FOOLS or sinners (Which are syn.
onyms) destroys them.
Lastly, to any and all objections TO the
doctrine of the sermon. an appeal wa.
taken to the word of God, and both from
Old and New Testaments many divine
utterances we're adduced. showing that un,
sanctifed prosperity is fearfully dangerous
The case of Dives is in point (; So Of tina,
mlser, who. addressing the inner man
said, Soul thou has much goods, laid W