Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1881-12-23
JBeUcrmont 4Banit.
BRATTLEBOROi
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1881.
THE OLD BARREL.


many chinks. But here they are in a dry
goods box, fifteen hundred Of them, all ready
for the paper-mill. Pretty heavy it is. 1t
seems to me when lift it as though it were
as heavy as lead. Perhaps it would not seem
as heavy to any one else, unless he had to
hear them. Then, fear they would seem
heavy enough. All me! how much hot lead
have poured into peoples ears But now
these old sermons are hard aud cold 1t would
take hot FIRE to warm some of them again,
30 that they might run and have free course and
be glorifed. There's bit of the old label on
the box cover, enough TO show that there are
"dry-goods" within. All, what hooking
suggestion is this Of the parched and wither-
ed contents! Dry they are indeed; but
cannot help feeling little wet about the eye
lids when l look at some Of them.
Isuppose ought not to handle them much
for the man will be here soon, and it is al
most time to nail down the cover But it
doesn't matter in what order they 20, so long
as they are all going to the mill. That ser
mon on Revelation" is just as likely to be
torn to pieces first as the sermon ON Gene
sis :" and Jobs Patience (No. GS) " aud 800
seph's Goodness 4l7)' "The Dry Bones
Cpd, " aud '"Ghe Thorn in the Flesh G2I9),n
are all likely to go to the bath together.
Somehow. it seems to me that they ought to
be worth more than two cents pound. But
paper mills are not sentimental and thought
ful, aud the ink Oh the page only lessons It's
value | think I would burn them MP rather
than send them to the mill, il did not have
a satisfaction in feeling that the many sheets
l have spoiled can be made white again
QuOd scrip@ scjfpsi Would that the only
blots and blunders have made were those
on the pages of these sermons
As l look into this box, it seems as il
were looking into a soul glass which lnirror,d
my moral aud intellectual features. | can see
my own soul in this box OF sermons. 1 have
poured it out for forty years. Thank Heaven
it is not all in this box, aud cannot be- sent to
any mill But what burroNel memories these
old sermons awaken. What record they
contain of the history of human mind and
heart The mind was small, but the heart
large. Perhaps if there were more intellect
in then it would not be necessary to send
them to the paper mill. And yet all that
seems valuable to me in them now is the
heart that beats in some Of them still, and
which makes me feel as if l were going to
bury them before they are quite dead
wonder if the idle words they contain are
all taken down in heaven. ! should be sorry
to feel that any angel scribe had recorded
them all in full. For some of them / don't
want TO see again. And yet, if l could send
to the judgment seat a transcript of my soul
10 ba pgaH Mt evidence in,
great trial, should like to send these ser
mons. Bad as they are in form and style and
expression, their dry leaves are redolent of
the best thought ever had. They are stain
ed with no impurity emblttered with no ran
cor, soiled with no earthly passions, marred
by no dishonesty. Here are no dregs of brain
or heart. / put my conscience into them.
The loftiest aspirations, the most exalted
ideas of virtue, the gladdest hopes, the warm
est love, the most sublime thought of God,
the greatest charity for man, the sincerest
devotion to truth, and the profoundest faith
that could cherish have all been poured into
| these sermons. Whatever else | was when
out of the pulpit, however faulty and imper-
feet my life, was pure in heart and devout
in spirit when l wrote these sermons. TO
these, the best energies of my heart and soul
were consecrated.
The old thrill comes back again as l look
over some of these pages. They may be
nothing but cinders and ashes for every one
else but in the embers there are still some
| live sparks for me, which set my soul aflame.
| my heart always had a good deal of finder
in it, and the experiences of life furnished
the flint Some of them are 30 old and so
perfunctory, or so alien to my usual mood,
| that l never can remember where they came
| from and others are so commonplace that
wonder they ever came at ALL But how can
l ever forget the joy and the agony of soul in
which some of them were born Like a
stream of molten fire, they flowed from my
pen. The thought breathed and the words
burned, and the paper seemed to scorch as
wrote upon it. These were the sermons that
famed in the pulpit. The congregation caught
the fire. 1t is a joy to think that some of the
lives they kiudled shone brighter and bright
er to the perfect day. 1t is easy to pick these
sermons from the pile. They are bone of my
bone and flesh of my flesh, my blood flows
through their arteries but the spirit that
| bDthhb III Altll httulh uOl my NOltt, Dul the
very breath of God. And yet never felt so
humble as when had delivered one of these
sermons. Precious legacies of a long minis
try, shall send you with the rest? But why
keep them now? Their work, like mine, is
done. 1t is a comforting thought that the
mill cannot destroy their influence These
words have been transmitted into life and
character Why should 1 keep the paper on
which they are written? Let them go.
Is it little morbid to lnger so long over
this old box? 1t is not the exultatiou Of van
ity nor the sad brooding of regret, but lit
tie selfindulgent contemplation of the monu-
ments-or shall ] call them the wrecks POI
years. Fifteen hundred weeks of my life
packed into that box l can almost live them
over in an hour. What is the fruit? Hol.
lingsworth will say as he puts them on the
scales, ''Nottiag but Ledoes." But leaves have
their use, for the leaves of the tree of life are
to be for the healing of the nations. Here
and there, in the orderly pile think l find
a little balsam. There is No. $40, "Oil fol-
the Wounded Spirit" and 7G3, BLESSED are
they that Mourn" Shall ever forget the
sweet and humble satisfaction that came tC
me with the assurance that the waves of sor
row in a troubled soul had been stilled by
words of mine? Joy enough for any hear
to be called and inspired as a messenger Of
the Holy Ghost. And there, too is that OLD
sermon on 1.-The Ways of Providence" How
many miles We have travelled together VIVA
medley of towns aud dates on the last page
Let me see, -tifty-one times Aud the SO
cret of it all was that Deacon White said t,
me, "Parson, when you exchange preacl
that sermon" And so put it on wheels.
think five thousand people must have hearC
il but it would have been hard work fo
' me 10 oct them tngether all nj once Blu