Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1838-01-05
THE BLIND PREACHER.

The wing letter giving an account
Wadd"iI, n minister ofthe Gospel who was
deprived of sight. we copy from the British
Spy. Those who have not seen it. will
read It with pleasure and profit. II is
from he pen of the excellent William Writ.
RICHMOND. Oc'. 10.
have been. my dear S.. ON
an excursion through the counties which
NC along the eastern side Of the Blue
Ridge. A general description Of that
country and lis inhabitants may form tho
subject Of future letter. For the present
! must entertain you with an account Of
most singular aud interesting adventure,
which met with, in the course Of the tour.
1t was on Sunday, az travelled through
the county of Orange, that my eye was
caught by n cluster of horses tied near a
rninons, old, wooden house, in the forest,
not far from the road side. Having fre-
qnen'ly seen such objects before, il travel
Ing through 'hese states, had no Difficult.
~ IN understanding that this was place Of
religious worship.
Devotion should have stopped me, To join
W Tie duties Of the cnngrerntion but
must confess, that e4.:.....y, IT. uuar the
preacher ofsuch a wilderness, was not the
least OF my motives. On entering, | was
struck with his pre,erna'ural appearance,
he was tall and very spare old man; his
head which WAS covored with white linen
cau, his shrvrtIrd hands, aud his voice
were all shaking under the influence OF a
pa'sev; and few moments asccr'aned to
me that he was perfectly blind.
The first emotions which touched INV
breast, were those Of mingled pity aud ven
Grafton. But sh! sacred God! The lips
of Plato were never more worthy Of a
procnos'c swarm Of bees, than were the
lips Of ,h- holy man! It was day Of the
administration Of the sacrament aud his
subject, Of course, wa the passion of our
Saviour. ! had heard the suhjrc' handled
"A Thousand times; ! had thought it exhaus
ted long ago. Li',le did suppose, tia, in
the w'Id woods of America. was to meet
with man whose eloquence would give to
this topic a new and more sublime pa'hos.
than had ever before witnessed.
A he descended from he pulpit. to dis,
tribute he mystic symbols there was pecul
and manner which made my blood run
| c"ld and my whole Franc shlver.
He then drew picture of the sufr;rngs
of our Saviour his trial before Plate; HI
ascent up Calvary; his cruc tixion, and hl.
death. ! knew tle whole history bur
never, until then, had heard the cream.
stances so selected, so arranged, so colour
ed! 1t was all new and seemed 10 have
heard II for he frs, time in my life. HIS
enuncIat'on was 50 dehbcra,e,rhat his voice
trembI"d on every syllable; and every
heart IN the Assembly ,rembIed in unison
Ills peculiar phrases had that force Of DIES
| cr,plon that the original scene appeared to
be, al that moment, acting before our eyes
We raw the very faces of the Jews; the
staring, flghtul distortions of malice and
rage. We saw the bufft my soul kin.
died with flame of Indignation and my
hands were Involuntary and convuslvey
chnchcd.
BuI when he came to touch on the pa
thence. the iorglvng mcekness OF our Sa,
vluur: when he drew 20 The life, his blessed
eyes streaming in 'ears to heaven; MS
,nlce breathing to God, a SIT aud gentle
prayer OF pardon on his enemies, Father
brglve them, for they know not what they
m.' The voice Of the preacher, which
Ind all along tal'ered, grew fainter ana
fainter, until his ullerance being entirely
Distracted by the force OF his feelings, he
raised his handkerchief to his eyes and
burst into loud and lrrepresslble flood OF
lgref. The effect was lnconceivable. The