The Woodville Republican. [volume] (Woodville, Miss.) 1847-1853, 1851-03-04
The Blind Preacher.
by WILLIAM WRIT.

| ~ WAS SunndNt AS lTaNtlltu NuEo
the county of Orange, that my eye was
caught by cluster of horses tied near
ruinous old wooden house. in the for
est, not far from the Dad. side Hav.
ing frequently seen such objects be>
fore, in travelling through the States,
had no difficulty in understanding
that this was a place of religious wor.
ship.
Devotion alone should have stopped
me to Join in the duties of the congre>
CATION; but must confess. that curi>
osity TO hear what the Preacher of
such wilderness had to say, was not
the least of my motives.
On entering | was struck with his
preternatural appearance. He was a
tall and spare old man his head,
which was covered with white lin
men cap, his shrivelled hands, and his
voice, were all shaking under the in
fluence of palsy, and in n few mos
ments ascertained that he was blind
The first emotions that touched the
breast were those of mingled pity and
veneration. But ah sacred God
how soon were all my feelings chang.
ed the lips of Plato were never more
worthy of "a prognostic swarm Of bees,
than were the lips of this holy man |!
1t was the day of the administration
of the sacrament; and the subject, of
course, was the passion of our Saviour
had heard the subject handled a
thousand times, had thought it ex-
hausted long ago. Little did | sup>
pose that in the wild woods of Ameri-
ca, was to meet with n man whose
eloquence would give this topic new
and more sublime pathos, that had
ever before witnessed
As he descended from the pulpit, to
distribute the mystic symbols, there
was IA peculiar a more than human
soemnitv in his air and manner, which
made my blood run cold and my frame
Shver.
He then drew picture Of the suf-
ferings Of our Saviour; his trial be-
fore PLATE, his ascent up Calvary ;
his crucifxion and his death. knew
the whole history; but never until
then, had heard the circumstances so
selected so arranged; so colored--
it was all new; and | seemed TO have
heard it for the first time in my life.
His voice trembled on every syllable ;
/ md every heart in the assembly trem-
bIeu in unison. His peculiar phrase,
hal that force of description that the
original scene appeared to be at the
moment acting before our eyes. We
saw the faces OF the Jews; the starts
ing, frightfu distortions OF malice and
rage, with flame OF Indignation ! and
my hands involuntarily clenched.
But when he came to touch on Inc
patience, the forgiving meekness OF
our Saviour; when he drew to the life,
his blessed eyes streaming to Heaven,
his voice breathing to God soft and
gentle prayer of pardon on his enc
mics, "Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do" The voice
OF the Preacher had all along faltered,
and grew fainter and fainter, until his
utterance being entirely obstructed by
the force Of his feelings, he raised his
handkerchief to his eyes. and burst in
to loud and impressible flood of
grief.
The effect is nconceivable. The
whole house resounded with the min
gled groans, and sobs, and shrieks OF
the congregation.
1t was long time before the tumult
had subsided, SO far as to permit him
to proceed. Indeed, judging by the
usual but fallacious standard of my
own weakness, | began to be very un-
easy for the situation Of the preacher.
For | could not conceive how he would
be able to let his audience down from
the height to which he had wound
them, without impairing the solemnity
and dignity of this subject or perhaps
shocking them by the abruptness of
the fall. But-oh, the descent was as
beautiful and sublime as the elevation
had been rapid and enthusiastic. The
first sentence with which he broke the
awful silence was a quotation from
Rosseau =" Socrates died like phi
losopher, but Jesus Christ like a God =,
despair OF giving you any idea of
the effect produced by this short sen
tence unless you could perfectly con-
ceive the whole manner of the man,
as well as the peculiar crisis in the dis.
course. Never before did understand
what Demosthenes meant by laying
such stress on delivery.
You are to bring before you the
venerable figure of the Preacher, his
blindness, constantly recalling to your
recollection old Homer, Ossian and
Milton, and associating with his per.
iormance the melancholy grandeur OF
| heir .tranit1e Vnu ara IN imagine chs