Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1854-12-01
The Blind Preacher.

Itwas one Sunday, as Travelled through
the county of Orange, in Virginia, that my
eye was caught by a cluster of horses tied
near a ruinous old wooden house in the
forest, not far from the road side Having
frequently seen such objects before, in ira.
yelling through these States, l had no diff.
ficulty in understanding that this was q
place Of religious worship.
Devotion alone should have stopped me
to join in the duties of tie congregation I;
but must confess, that curiosity to hear
the preacher of such a wilderness, was not
the least of my motives. On entering,
was struck with his supernatural appear
ance: be was tall and very spare old
man his head, which was covered with a
white linen cap, his shriveled bands, and
his voice, were all shaking under the influ-
ence Of a palsy, and few moments proved
to me that he was perfectly Lind The
first emotions that touched my heart were
those of mingled pity aud veneration. But
how soon we're all my feelings changed
The lips of Plato were never more worthy
Of prognostic swarm Of bees, than were
the lips of this holy man. 1t was a dav
Of the administration Of the sacrament !;
and his subject was, of course, the passion
Of our Saviour. had heard the subject
handled thousand times had thought
it exhausted, long ago Little did l sup
pose that in the wild woods of America, l
was to meet with a man whose eloquence
would give to this topic new and more
sublime pathos than had ever before
witnessed.
! As he descended from the pulpit to dis.
tribute the mystic symbols, there was a
peculiar, more than human solemnity in
bis air aud manner, which made my blood
rap cold, and my whole frame shiver.
lie then drew picture of the sufferings
of our Saviour; his trial before Plate; bis
ascent up Calvary; his crucifxion, ,and death.
| knew the whole history. out never until
thea bad | heard the circumstances so
Selected, SO arranged, so colored. 1t was
all new !: and l seemed to have heard it
for the first time in my life. His enunci-
alton was so deliberate, that his voice
trembled on every syllable, and every
heart in the assembly trembled in unison.
His peculiar phrases had that force Of des-
cription, that the original scene appeared
to be at that time 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 soul kind
led with fame of indignation, and my
hands were involuntarily and convulsively
clenched.
But when he came to touch on the pa
tience, the forgiving meekness Of our Sav.
iour when he drew, to the life, his blessed
eyes streaming in tears to heaven, his voice
breathing to God soft and gentle prayer
of pardon on his enemies, "Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do! 7"
the voice Of the preacher, which had all
along faltered, grew fainter and fainter,
until his utterance being entirely obstruct-
ed BY the force of his feelings, he raised
his handkerchief to bis eyes, and burst into
a loud and irrepressible food of grief. The
effect was inconceivable The whole house
resounded with the mingled groans and
shrleks OF the congregation.
1t was some 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, I began to
be very uneasy for the situation Of the
preacher for could not conceive how be
would be able to let his audience down from
the height to which be had wound them,
without impairiug the solefnnity and Dig
nifty Of the subject, or perhaps shocking
them by the abruptness Of his fall. But
no; the descent was as beautiful and sub
lime as the elevation had been rapid and
enthusiastic.
The first sentence with which be broke
the awful silence, was quotation from