Year: 1864

obstructed by the force of his feelings, he
i, raised his handkerchief to his eyes and
burst into loud and irrepressible food
Of grief The effect is inconccivablc
The whole house resoundcd with the min.
gled groans, and sobs, and shreks of the
congregation.


1t was some time before the tumult had
subsided, SO far as to permit him to pro-
ceed. Indeed, Judging by the usual, but
fnllacious standard of my own weakness,
| began to be very uneasy for the situa-
ton of the preacher. For I could not
conceive how he would be able to let his
audience down from the height to which
he had wound them, without impairing
the solcmnity and dignity of his subject
or perhaps shocking them by the abrupt
ness of the fail. But, no; the descent
was as beautiful and sublime, as the cle-
walton had been rapid and enthusiastic.


The first sentence, with which he broke
the awful silence. was a quotation from
Rosseau: Socrates died like philoso-
pher, but Jesus Christ like a God"


despair of giving you any idea of the
effect produced by this short sentence,
unless you could perfectly conceive the
whole manner of the man, as well as the
peculiar crisis in the discourse. Never
before did l completely understand what
Demosthenes meant by laying such stress
on detice'y. You are to bring before you
the venerable figure of the preacher; his
blindness, constantly recalling to your
recollection old Homer, Ossian, and Mil
ton, and associating with his performance
the melancholy grandeur of their genius
es: you are to imagine that you hear his
slow, solemn, well-accented cnunciation.
and his voice Of affecting, trembling mel
ody; you are to remember the pitch of
passion and enthusiasm to which the con-
grcgatlon were raised; and then, the few
minutes of portentous, deathlke silence
which reigned throughout the house; the
preacher removing his white handkerchief
from his aged face. (cvcn yet wet from
the recent torrent of his tears, and slowly
stretching forth the palsicd hand which
holds it, began the sentence: i" Socrates
died like philosopler''--then pausing
raising his other hand, pressing them
both clasped together W til warmth and
energy to his breast, lifting his sightlcss
balls to heaven, and pouring his whole
soul into his tremulous voice-"but Jesus
Christ-lke God !" If he had been in
deed and in truth an angel of light, the
effect could scarcely have been more
divine


Whatever had been able to conceive
of the sublimity of Massilon or the force
Of Bourdaloue, had fallen far short of
the power which felt from the delivery
OF this single sentence. The blood
which just before had rushed in hur
ricanc upon my brain, and in the vio-
lence and agony of my feelings, had held
my whole system in suspense, now ran
back into my heart, with a sensation |
cannot describe kind of shudderine
delicious horror. The paroxysm of blen-
dcd pity and Indignation, TO which had
been transported, subsidized into the deep
est self abasemcnt, humility and adora-
tion. | had just been lacerated and dis
solved by sympathy for our Savior as n
fellow creature; but now, with fear and
trembling, | adored hin asa Godr
| If this description gives you the i'm
preston, that this incomparable minister
had anything Of shallow, theatrical trick
in his manner, it does him great injustice.
had never seen in another orator, such
an union Of simplicity ana majesty. lie
has not a gesture, an attitude, or an ac-
cent. to which he docs not seem forced
by the sentiment which he is expressing.
His mind is too serious, too earnest, too
solicitous, and, at The same time, too
dignilied, to stoop to artifcc. Although
; as far removed from ostcntation as a man
can be, yett is clear from the train, the
style and substance of his thoughts that
he is, not only very polite scholar, but
a man of extensive and profound erudi-
tion. l was forcibly struck with short,
yet beautiful character which he drew of
our learned and amiablc countryman, Sir
Robert Boyle he spoke of him as if his
noble mind had even before death, di-
vested itself Of all influence from his frail
tabernacle Of flesh; and called him in
his peculiarly emphatic and impressive
manner, "a pure intelligence; the link be-
tween men and angels


This man has been before my imagi-
nation almost ever since A thousand
times, as rode along | dropped the
reins of my bride, stretched forth my
, hand, tried to initiate his quotation from
Rosscau a thousand times / abandoned
the attempt in despair, and felt persuaded
that his peculiar manner and power arose
from energy of soul, which nature could
give, but which no human being could
justly copy. In short. he seems to be
altogether being of former age, or Of
a totally different nature from the rest Of
mel. +, T y- y7p


Guess my surprise, when. on my ar
rival at Richmond. aud mentioning the
name of this man, found not one per-
son who had ever before heard of James
} .Uaddclt- Is it not strange, genius
such as this, so accomplished a scholar,
so divine an orator, should be permitted