The daily Green Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1861-1865, 1863-12-07
From the Christian Messenger
OUR NATIONAL CIRCULATION. :
OR
PERFECT THROUGH SUFFERINGs.

The unequalled victory which Christ
achieved in the days Of his flesh was reached,
as IS well Known, only through unparalleled
sufterings. As it was with MIN so it mas been
with every subsequent exhibition of his spirit
upon earth all great moral truths Of his
kingdom, having had to fight as it we're for
leave to exist, having had to conquer their po-
sitioD, having had to encounter persecution
and opposition the most determined and re-
lontless-to come up in the most literal sense
Of the term " through great tribulations."
There has never been, yeature TO say. since
the world began, single principle Of moral
purity advanced, single law carrying justice
against the cruelty and wickedness of passion,
any truth, any equity, any humanity whatev-
er, that has nos been subjected to the severcst
critical fires that has nor been 10 every Dos
slDe way put to the contest, that has not, in
q WORD, gone ~ yusn the period Of suffering
What reform tgut has ever been successfully
Introduced that did not at first have to endure
the fiery ordeal o. popular denunciation, that
was not despised, rated, prosecuted, beIied, re-
jected of men anu crucifed Indeed it may
be doubted whether any great stride 10 ad-
vance in any Observation-Disclosures any great
moral transformation comes, but by tribuIa-
ton and sorrow. No royal road, think, has
ever yet been found to reform. On the con-
trlry the path to excellence has been invaria-
bly, found to lie through conflicts tolls, and dis
tress. Carlyle never spoke more truly or for
cbly than when he remarks, " Reform is new
er joyous but grievous. No Slrole man can
reform himself without stern sut1eflDo luch
less q community--a nation OF lrr The
serpent sheds not it's old skin without rusty
Observation-Disclosures lie is not happy but misera-
BILE. la the wator-cure Itself do you not sit
teeped for months, shed to the very heart
in elemental droDchlngs, and like Job made
to curse your day? Thus Mcde4 when she
would make men young again, was wont, loh
Heaven y to hew them TO pieces with meat
axes, cast them into caldrons aud boil them
for a length OF tIml. | sell you this reform
ing a nation Is % terrible business" The
same sentiment 10 the more elegant lines Of
our Quaker poet is thus expressed, and with
a direct reference to our prescott trial.
We wait beneath the furnace blast
The psngs of transformation,
Not psinlessIy doth God cast
And mould anew the nation
Hot burns the fire
Where wrongs expire,
Nor spares the hand
That from III. land
Uproots the ,oieAt evil"
The great practical truth embodied in the
humel but pregnant ut'erances OF the philoso-
pher as also in the ringing, stirring linos Of
our New EogIani bard, Is this, that whose
would achieve auy real grandeur of result,
whether as ua;ious or a. individuals, must ex-
pect to do 1t only by " taking up his cross )"
that whose shall dare be just wise, humape,
conscientious beyond the average Of his con-
temporarIes, must expect, for the time beng,
to bring not peace but sword, and to be made
periec, il at all, like the greal Captain Of our