The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1840-11-20
From the Knickerbocker for November.
LORENZO BOWS SUCCESSOR.

AoAeAAAS2O WV ~ ocOOAboocAt.
Several years ago, as many Of our readers will
remember, series OF Lay Sermons appeared
in popular country journal in Pennsylvania.
They were from the pen OF the Hon. Charles
Miner, author of the "poor Richards" sketches,
and were written with such freedom and sim
plicity, and inculcated virtuous deeds and moral
principles in so attractive manner, that they
became widely known and admired throughout
the country These popular lay discourses, we
may presume, afforded the original hint for the
.'Short Patent Sermons which are reported
from the lips Of Lorenzo Dow, Jr, in the New
York Sunday Mercury" No one who opens
that entertaining sheet can fail to observe the
figure of a powerful preacher" leaning over a
small box of pulpit, with open mouth and up
lifted hand, Staying down the law" with all the
iervor Of Mawworm. Dow Jr's discourses,
like those of his eccentric progenitor, are the
most desutory things imaginable; but there is
about them an oddly, an originality, that at
once attracts attention; something, we know
not what, that pleases, we know not how.
With an occasional redundance that abhors all
discrimination; which compares till it perplexes,
and illustrates till it confounds and conceits Of
ten strained to the height Of bizdrrerie, there
are mingled passages containing genuine humor,
fine pictures of nature, touching pathos, and APP
posite imagery The Imagination Of the preach
err, indeed, is "a good blood-mare and goes
well y and her only fault is, that she sees, too
many paths before her. In the use of personif-
cation, Dow Jr. outvies the Persian. He seems
to be quite aware Of this propensity. 81 don't
know why IT is" says he, shat am SO apt to
personify every thing; but creatures Of all shapes
and forms are continually dancing in the sun
light Of my fancy, and hail them as they APP
pear. The wind to me has a form and sub
stance; there is ditty in every breeze the
stones trees, brooks, and rivers, all have tongues
Ia xnrh, LAT,
understand build houses from airy no
thing, coop up tho hours and sometimes carch
minutes in my hat. talk to things inanimate
as well as to animate" We have collated
few passages from our lay preachers discourses,
on various texts taken from ancient and modern
writers, to illustrate his style:
my friends, allow me 10 show you how the
human body is likened to house. MY text ex-
plains this. Il says that the big bones are the
main timbers: very true II says also that the
ribs are laths, well plastered; but should say
they are raiters, that run into the ridge-pole,
backbone. The mouth is the door, and the nose
is the chimney especially for smokers. The
throat is the entry that leads to the kitchen Of
the stomach, where all sorts Of food are cooked
up; the lungs are the bellows that blow the
flame of life, and keep the pot Of existence al
ways boiling; the heart is the great chamber,
where the greatest variety Of goods imaginable
are stored; some good, many bad, and few ra-
ther middling. In this way, my hearers, you see
the house Of the human body is formed; and
since it is house of no small value, you ought
to be careful of it; keep well swept, and never
let cobwebs of SIN gather in the corners Of its
apartments. | beseech you, especially, to look
after the great chamber of the heart, and see
that every thing there is arranged according TO
the very letter OF morality. If there is any use
less rubbish there, clear il out, to make room for
goods that are saleable in the markets of the vir
tuous. The chambers of some hearts present an
awful dirty appearance! should like to walk
into them with bran-new broom: the way I'D
brush out sin, and sand the floor with virtue,
would be caution to depravity!'
The following is characteristic passage of
natural description, which has the additional
merit Of being seasonable for more golden au-
tumn than the present, or more gorgeous Octo-
Der sunsets, we have never beheld:
"The mildest day of autumn seems to coax
heaven itself down to implant rapturous kiss
on the blushing cheek Of earth, and send thrill
of ecstacy through the very heart of the uni
verse! My friends, Pomona has brought aprons
full of her choicest apples, and emptied them
upon the old women's fruit tables at the corners
of the streets the sickles Of Ceres has been put
to the golden grain; bottle-nosed Bacchus sits
by the way side, Teasing on grapes and wine,
and Natures table is loaded down with the rarest
over the leaves, stems, and scattered fragments
will be strewn over the fields in the widest con-
fusion; but they wont lie there long. No. b.
reas with his broom will sweep them all into the
corners of the fences, and keep on sweeping
till the white napkin Of winter is spread for the
season Oh there is something so fasci
mating in the first blush of evening, Just after
the sun has shaken his last golden feathers upon
the hill-tops! It's enough 10 make man strip
of his jacket of mortality, and swim the gulf Of
time, for the sake Of reaching the srlendors that
decorate the opposite shore have seen some
evening twghts, my friends, that take the shine
of Of everything below, and clap on few extra
touches of their own. ] have sat and admired
the western armament, when it seemed as
though ten thousand dye-pots of glory had been
upset in the chamber of heaven, while their gor
geous contents leaked through and stained the
heecy clouds beneath with coors MOTTO be mock
ed by the daubng pencil of art. Then my ina
gination would take wings and play truant up
aoft, like hayward child, but was always sire
to return with spring OF comfort, plucked from
the evergreen Of idcality Oh there is an in
viting peace in yon ocean of blue tranquility =
can't look upon it my brethren, without feeling
my suspenders stretch. Pm sure, if they were
TO give way, should go up like a balloon, and
leave nothing but my breeches and boots be-
hind Those clouds are living things. The
lesser ones are gold fish, swimming about in the
celestial sea. The larger ones are dying dol
phins of heaven, disclosing new beauties with
every wave Of the Il y and Frightening as they
expire in the dark billow of night"
Like many gossipping preachers Of the cleri-
cal school, Mr. Dow, Jr. has great deal TO say
concerning himself, and his experiences. Hear
him:
"What precious piece of goods am = |
hardly fit for mock auction shop; damaged |
remnant OF youthful ambition; moth-eaten by |
time, grown fimsy by age, and scratched TO
pieces by the cares, disappointments, and trials
of vexatous world feel myselfio be nothing
more than a soap bubble, blown into existence