Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1858-05-06

that, In a great measure, my future happiness
or wretchedness depended on my conduct through
this day. The time for assembling approached
| saw that people began to come together. My
feelings were all in arms against me: my heart
leaped almost into my mouth " NJ
These feelings, however, he conquered. When
the time came, he fortified his countenance, and
set ont with his Bible and Psalmbook under his
arm'-the only insignia Of the clergyman about
him his singular style of clerical dress natii-
rally excited much remark. / could not pur-
suade myself to raise my eyes from the ground,
he writes, 'until had assembled the pulpit,
Here he sat for few moments in silence, col
lectlng resolution for the effort to begin.
made the attempt. He found his yoicA Asas
full command; his anxiety was hushed in 4 -
ment; his perturbation entirely subsdqd ;dC.rf
ne telt all the serenity of calm al;nrl S 81
morning He went through the exercises of
the forenoonSWithout the slightest dificultyy-
: No monarch on his throne, he records, could
have achieved greater triumph,
During the intermsson, however, he heard
whispers in swift circulation among the people.
which annoyed him not little: such as:
who is he Deacon? lie is smart man, I
should say, and evangelical: but what does he
wear such strange clothes for?"
Do MT know answered the Deacon sbut
we DO MT want a minister for his clothes. Is
the sermon good that's the main pint
Butthe consultations among the leading men,
pers OF the society, gathered in little knots I'M
der the trees about the church, resulted, it ap-
peared, in the conclusion not to hire him. This
information was distinctly but courteously con-
veyed to him, after the afternoon service, by his
landlord, who advised him (having been little
disappointed himself, that his distinguished
clerical guest had not received call') to make
application to a Mr.. Baldwin, a minister at
Palmer, town twenty miles distant, for a
knowledge of, and an introduction to. yacan-
cies for ministry. He does so and Mr.. Bald
win, after examining him in orthodoxy, and
scrutlnlzing his ministerial garb rather closely,
is at last satisfied, and gives him letter t5onc
Deacon Gray, at Pelham, eighteen miles farther
on Here he is hired for four Sabbaths, at ivo
dollars Sabbath not large price, as sminis-
ters 60 nowadays; but as the old Indian
preacher said Poor pay, poor preach
The town of Pelham was settled with the
'straitest sect of New England Prcsbyterians,
very orthodox, very critical upon ministers and
when once disturbed, violent and overbeariss in
their passions and their opinions. Tlsas> mad
called and discharged several clergymsa, stlid
with the last two had had almost pitched
oattles -
After his first two Sabbaths, young BIZ lis
lad borrowed enough to add to his sS4Ms~yy'
to endow himself with hahE suited
% his calling. After the four SabbatIh Ihs were
'ver, they engaged him for sixteen mord
One day he was called upon, in ssrilatc
house, to preach a funeral sermon The notes
If this sermon, as Of the others, were those of
lis fathers old sermons, which he had taken
With him from home. In the pulpit, it was all
veil enough; but being in private house, the
AIDED manuscript was overlooked: suspicious
we're excited he was called upon to explain
md confessed ingeniously, that being suddenly
,alled upon, and having no time to prepare
discourse, he had used the sermon of another
person, an aged evangelical friend, rather than
'etuse to preach. But the suspicion was not
'lloyed, that Mr.. Davis was preaching some
body elses sermons; and it was determined to
est him. on short notice. So one Saturday
morning. he was waited upon by one of the
suspicious deacons, and requested to deliver, the
1ext morning, a sermon from the first clause of
'he fifth verse of the ninth chapter of Joshua
" Old shoes, and clouted on their fcet.'
He promised to do it but the study of it
vas at first rather unpromisng at length, how
'ver, the matter 'opened upon his mind and
le conceived, and delivered the next morning.
5he discourse; which, for ingenuity and adap-
ation, is a very remarkable production The
'ynopsis which he gives of it is as follows:
I" In handling this discourse, the exordum
consisted of description of the Gibeonites -
'he duplicity which they practised upon the
Jews; the nature and general tendency of de-
,est, etc. After had gone through with the
Introduction, | divided my discourse into three
general heads, namely, to consider in the first
place, of Shoes secondly, of Old Shoes :
ind thirdly, of 'ClOuted Shoes. In treating
If the first general head, namely, shoes, con-
dered them in metaphorical sense, as show
ng our mode of conduct in lfe We are all,
aid |, sojourners in this world, but for sea-
on, travelling to another country, to which we
hail. ere long, arrive we must all be shod, in
rider to enable us to travel tie road before as.
We find the good man represented as having his
feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of
'eace.' All mankind are liza ssate of notion
zone remain inactive on this stage of probation,
i'll are moving forward with rapidity, and
fastening to their final end. Not only the nat
lral world, but likewise the mental is filled
With briers and thorns, stones, and rubbish,
which wound us at every step, when we are not
hod to guard us from those injuries, we should
therwise receive from those impediments-
lankind, finding this to be the case, have i'm
Mediate recourse to such coverings for their feet,
s they imagine will protect them from the in
uries to which they are exposed, etc., etc.
In treating the second head, namely, of old
hoes, | endeavored to show, that they repre-
ented those who had been hewing to them
elves cisterns, broken csterns, which can hold
20 water. We find, said |, from the earliest
ges of the world, mankind practising upon that
ystem. They have continued ever since to
read in the stems of their predecessors. and To