Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1841-03-12
BEAUTIFUL EXTRACT.
Richmond Oct, 10.

DAAO H " IL Iva L ltlAOAe l
Richmond Oct. 10. I
have been, my dear S........ on an
excursion through the counties which lie
along the eastern side of the Blue RIDGE
A general description Of that country and its
inhabitants may form the subject Of future
letter. For the Present, must entertain
you with an account Of most singular and
interesting adventure, which met with, in
the course Of the tour.
Itwas one Sunday, as travelled tfro'
the county Of Orange, that my eye was caught
by cluster of horses tied near ruinous,
old, wooden house, in the forest, not far from
the road side. Having frequently seen such
objects before, in travelling through these
States, l had no difficulty in understanding |
that this was place ofreligious worship. |
Devotion alone should have stopped me,
to join in the dates ofthe congregation +; but
must confess, that curiosity, TO hear the
preacher Of such wilderness, was not the
least Of my motives. On entering, l was
struck with his preternatural appearance he
was tall and very spare old man his head
which was covered with a white linen cap,
his shrvell hands, and his voice, were all
shaking under the influence Of a palsy: and
a few moments ascertained to me that he
was perfectly blind.
The first emotions which touched my
breast, were those Of mingled pity and VEN
GRAFTON. But ali sacred God 7 how soon
we're all my feelings changed The lips Of
Plato were never more worthy prognostic
swarm ofbees, than we're the lips Of this holy
man 1t was day Of the administration Of
the sacrament: andh subject Of course, was
the passion of our Savior. had heard the
subject handled thousand times had tho't
it exhausted long ago. Little did suppose,
that in the wild woods Of America, l was TO
meet with man whose eloquence would
give to this topic new and more sublime
pathos, than l had ever before witnessed.
As he descended from the pulpit, TO dis.
tribute the mystic symbols, there was pc
culiar, more than human solemnity in his
air and manner which made my blood run
cold, and my whole frame SILVER.
He then drew picture Of the sufferings Of
our savior his trial before Plate his ascent
up Calvary his cruciixion, and his death.
l knew the whole history but never, until
then, had heard the circumstances so selec-
ted, so arranged, so colored! 1t was all new:
and seemed TO have heard it for the first
time in my life. His cnunciation was so de-
liberate, that his voice trembled on every
syllable; and every heart in the assembly
trembled in unison. His peculiar phrases
had that force Of description that the original
scene appeared to be, at that moment, acting
before our eyes. We saw the very faces OF
the Jews: the staring, frightful distortions Of
malice and rage. We saw the buffet my
hands were Involuntary & convulsively
clenched.
But when he came TO touch on the pa
tience. the forgving meekness Of our Savior;
when he drew TO the life, his blessed eyes
streaming in tears to heaven his voice brea-
thing to God, soft and gentle prayer ofpar-
don on his enemies, "Fa,her, forgive them,
for they know not what they do"-the voice
ofthe preacher, which had all along faltered
grew fainter, until his utterance being entire
ly obstructed by the force of his feelings, he
raised his handkerchiefto his eyes, and burs,
into loud and irrepressible food ofgrief.-
The effect is inconceivabe. The whole
house resounded with the mingled groans,
and sobs of the congregation.
1t was some time before the tumult had
subsidized, 50 far as TO permit him to proceed
Indeed. judging by the usual, but fallacious
standard Of my own weakness, I began to
be very uneasy for the situation Of the
preacher. For could not conceive, how he
would be able to let his audience down from,
the heigh. to which he had wound them
without impairing the solenlnity of his sub.
ject, or perhaps shocking them by the alb
ruptness Of the fall. But-no; the descen,
was as beautiful and sublime, as the eleva.
ton had been rapid and enthusiastic.
The first sentence, with which he broke
the awful silence, was a quotation from
Rousseau. "Socrates died like phioso.
pher, but Jesus Christ, like God!"
despair Of giving you any idea Of the
effect produced by this short sentence, un.
less you could perfectly conceive the whole
manner Of the man, as we'll as the peculiar
crisis in the discourse. Never before, did
| completely understand what Domesthenes
meant by laying such stress on delivery.-
You are to bring before you the venerable
figure Of the preacher; his blindness, con.
stantly recalling to your recollection old
Homer, Ossian and Milton, and associating
with his performance, the melancholy gran
deur Of their geniuses; you are to imagine
that you hear his slow, solemn, we'll accen.
ted cnunciation, and his voice Of affecting
trembling melody; you are to remember
the pitch Of passion and enthusiasm 10 which
the congregation were raised and then, the
few minutes Of portentous, death like silence
which reigned throughout the house; the
preacher removing his white handkerchief
from his aged face, (even yet wet from the
recent torrent ofhis tears, } and slowly stretch
ing forth the palsied hand which holds it;
begins the sentence, '.Socratcs died like a
philosopher "-,hen pressing. raising hi.
other hand, pressing them both clasped to.
gethcr. with warmth aud energy to his breas
lifting his 'sightless balls to heaven, and
pouring his whole soul into his tremuiou,
voice-"but Jesus Christ-like a God y
Ii he had been indeed and in truth an ange
flight, the effect could scarcely have beer
more divine. .
| Whatever | had been able 10 conceive O,