Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1859-11-09
HlistrIlancous.
From the Minister'S wooin z
4 THEOLOGICAL TEA.

was the last Sunday sermon on the doc
trine of entire Disinterested Benevolence
;; in which good Doctor Hopkins had pro
claimed to the citizens of Newport theil
g duty of being so wholly absorbed in thc
general good of the universe as even to ac
quiesce in their own final and eternal de
struction, if the greater good of the whole
:. might thereby be accomplished.
We'll, now, dear me- said Mrs Twitch.
81, while her knitting -kneedles trotted con-
tentedly to the mournful tone of her voice
i was tellin' the Deacon, if we only could
get there! Sometimes | think l get lit
tie way,-but then ag'in | don't know; but
the Deacon he's quite down,-he don't see
no evidences in himself. Sometimes he SAYS
he don't feel as if he ought to keep his place
in the church,-but then ag'in he don't
: know. He keeps a-turnin' and turnin'
ont ever in his mind, and a-tryin' himself
this way and that way; and he says he
don't see nothin' but what's selfish, no
way.
Member one night last winter, after
the Deacon got warm in bed, there come a
rap at the door; and who should it be but
old Beulah Ward, wantin' to see the Dea-
con?-'twas her boy she sent, and he said
Beulah was SICK and hadn't no more wood
nor candles. Now | know'd the Deacon
had carried that crittur half cord of wood,
if he had one stick, since Tharksgivin, and
I'd sent her two o my best moulds of can
dles,-nice ones that Cerinthy Ann run
when we killed crittur; but nothin' would
do but the Deacon must get right out his
warm bed and dress himself. and hitch up
his team to carry over some wood to Beu-
lah. Says /. Father, you know you'll be
down with the rheumatis for this; besides,
Beulah is really aggravatin' l know she
trades off what we send her to the store
for rum, and you never get no thanks. She
expects, cause VIC has done for her, we al
ways must; and more we do, more we may
do And says he to me, says he, That's
jest the way we sarvcs the Lord, Polly; and
what if He shouldn't hear us when we call
on Him in our troubles?' So l shet up;
and the next day he was down with the
rheumatis. And Cerinthy Ann, says she;
We'll, father, noac l hope you'll own you
have got some disinterested beneyolence,'
says she; and the Deacon he thought it
over a spell, and then he says, Pm 'fraid
it'sall selfish. I'm jest a-makin' right
eousness of it And Ccrinthy Ann she
come out, declarin' that the best folks nev-
er had no comfort in religion; and for her
part she didn't mean to trouble her head
about it, but have jest as good time as
she could while she's young, cause if she
was 'lected to be saved she should be. and
if she want she couldn't helpit, any how
Mr.. Brown says he come on to Dr. Hop
kins's ground years ago. said Mrs. Brown.
giving nervous twich to her yarn, and
speaking in sharp hard, didatic voice. |
which made Mrs. Twichel give a gentle /.
quiver, and look humble and apologetic.-
Mr.. Browns master thinker; there /
nothing plcases that man better than hard
doctrine; he says you can't get 'em too hard
for him. He don't find any difficulty in
bringing his mind up; he just reasons it
out all plain; and he says, people have no
need to be in the dark; and that's my opin-
ion If folks know they ought to come up
to anything, why don't they@ he says;
and l say so too
Mr.. Scudder used to say that it took
great Affections to bring his mind to that
place, said Mrs Katy. He used to say
that an old paper maker told him once, that
paper that was shaken only one way would
tear across the other, and the best paper
had to be shaken every way; and so he
said we couldn't tell, till We had been
turned and shaken and tried in every way,
where we should tear
Mrs Twichel responded to this senti-
ment with gentle series of groans, such
as were her general expression of approba-
ton. swaying herself backward and for
ward; while Mrs. Brown gave a sort of
toss and snort, and said that for her part
she always thought people knew what they
did know,-but she guessed she was mis-
taken.
The conversation was here interrupted
by the civilities attendant on the reception
of Mrs. Jones,-a broad, buxom, hearty
soul, who had come on horseback from a
farm about three miles distant.
Smiling with rosy content she presented
Mrs Katy small pot of golden butter,
the result of her forenoon's churning
There are some people so evidently broad
ly and heartily of this world, that their
coming into room always materializes the
conversation. We wish to be understood
that we mean no disparaging reflection on
such persons;-they are as necessary to
make up world as cabbages to make up
garden; the great healthy principles of
cheerfulness and animal life seem to exist
in them in the gross; they are wedges and
ingots of solid contented vitality. Certain
kinds Of virtues and Christian graces thrive !