Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1879-01-25
Saturday, January 25. 1879.
The Old and the New.
from tie KnorriNe gribnne F,

The fol owing extract from 4 sermon deliver
ed on January lst, 1871. by Rev. W. j. Nun
sey. is not surpassed in beauty or suhmlty by
anything in the language. We produce 1t to-
day. aud it is as appropriate 70 this time as II
was when originally delivered. With the
execution of an occasional change Of date, the
extract is reproduced without change from the
original copy as written by the grandest divine
Of the century
Last night the old year died. Did You see
ths. old man, so pale, frail and ghostly who
stood npou the bleak and icy hills last night,
leaning in his decreptude upon the arm OF his
last surviving bat dying child, The departing
December?
The chaplet Of buds, flowers and fruis
wreaihed around his brow by spring, summer
and autumn, were frosted by winter; his san
dals were old and covered with snow and mud;
his garments were tat,ered, and glistening
with eleet were fastened around bis wasted
form his grey locks were frosted his breath
was cold, and his pulse quivered like an icy
thread in his chilled aud shrunken arm.
Who is he !? lie was the child Of remorseless
Time. lie was ore Of numerous family that
presents us no two contemporaries. The birth
Of one has always been preceded by the death
Of the solitary other. The wailing requiems
over the death of the oae have always ended
in ullabies over the cradle Of his successor.
Who is he? He was the Old Year. Last
night eternity horologue toled out low twelve
mon its sounding bell Il was bis death
knell. and at that lonely hour while we slept,
when cadayerous ghosts are iabied TO creep
amid the lvied ruins Of castles old, and shrink
through the crevices Of tottering church bel
fries. and dry old bones shake and clatter in
cbnrchyards, he died. aad the spirits of winter
passed him in cold cloud drawn by borea
winds. and drove him out to sepulcbra obliv-
ion. and buried him in grave who.e cerimenis
are eternal lie will return no more forever J
Farewell old year Let thy cold ghost mngIe
with the shades Of thy predecessors, but let it
rot come back tc haunt Us when we die.
Gone. but he has lett his footprints The
lovely babe the mother 50 foudly kissed last
New Year is net here this morning, Il simply
cane. smiled then wept aud departed. 1t
seemed to come from heaven, aud to stay Just
long enough to make us love it, and then to
return. Its mission appears to have been to
Gather M our affections aud carry them back
10 heaven with it, to make Us love heaven more
and earth less.
Some beautiful girls and noble boys, whoge
laugh and shout euhvened our homes during Il Q
Christmas aud New Year holidays, are not
with us to-day. DreamleSs they sleep beneath
the SHOWS Of the winter in our neishboring
cemeteries, and foul decay has married their
lovely forms.
In placing the house in order these holi-
DAYS, we have found toy, shoe, hat, a
book. unclaimed and owneress, which made
us weep anew o, shall they ever live again ?
The old arm chair that sat IN the corner, and
was tenanted by smiling old age one year ago,
is empty now-its occupant is gone and some
# rs are fathetless. The head Of the table is
also vacant The dust lies heavily upon the
mantel-piece, and disorder has crept into the
family chamber, for with some Of Us mother
has gone too. some familiar football is missed,
some well-kuown voice is hushed. The reced-
inc wear has touched us somewhere. We are
a wear older, year nearer the grave. This
wear NAV laud US in heaven, or snk ms to hell.
Are YOU ready to die? Ii die we must, this
year we may ascend to heaven.
But the misty spirit Of the Old Year.
wreathed away into the dark, din past, the
angels Of God sang the birth hymn OF the New
Year. And still you may hear the dying
touches of the dying wind still lingering in the
mountain tops, and quivering gently 10 the
happy air, aBd coursing sweetly the nerve cor
riders leading to the minds sensorum to greet
tho hnmsn soul. The New Year Is here
How many years since the world was made !
know not, neither does any man. How many
years since man was made know not-our
cbronoloqies cannot be absolutely relied npon.
Bot il is eighteen hundred and seventy-eight
years since the infant Savior was born, wfapt
in swaddlng clothes, and laid to sleep 10 a
mencer; eishteen hundred and fofty-fve years
since lis c.ucfxicn, burial, resurrection and
ascension 10 heaven.
The New Year is here, ard with him bis
children. lie came crowned with eliiterng
frost aud robes of trailing snow two with
tempests In their fists, and stray sunbeams on
their hrows: fur clothed iu green. -eDaneled
with buds. flowers and fruits, and ctratcned
with golden ripeness three With robes OF
yellow, red and purple one in freezing nudl-
IS with sceptre OF ice. Before the hrst may
pass we mag lie dead, and the remaining
eleven may dance the rounds upon our graves.
10 wear has ever passed without some one
diving whom we knew and loved. Every suc-
ceedine year marks It's number aud name upon
some tombstone in our cemetery. Our burial
grounds keep up the record Of the ages. This
YEAR will be the date Of the death Of some one
present. Eighteen hundred and seyenty-oine
viii be chiseled oa tie marble which Will marx
some Of our graves Who will it be ?
.