REMARK. LESSON LVIII. The pathos of the description in the following lesson is its great beauty, and requires an appropriate tone and manner. PRONOUNCE correctly.Join, not jine: cov-er'd, not cov-ud: sac-ra-ment, not sa-cra-ment: pict-ure, (pro. pict-yur) not pic-tshure, nor pic-ter: fig-ure, pro. fig-yur: grand-eur, pro. grand-yur: por-tentous, not por-ten-shus: at-ti-tudes, pro. at-tit-yudes. 2. Pre-ter-nat'-u-ral, a. beyond or differ- 3. Prog-nos'-tic, a. showing something to come. Sym'-bol, n. a sign or representation of something. E-nun-ci-a'-tion, n. the act of utter ing. U'-ni-son, n. agreement, harmony. Pas'-sion, n. suffering, the last suffer- 5. Dis-tor'-tion, n. a twisting out of ing of our Savior. Pa'-thos, n. that which excites feeling. 4. Mys'-tic, a. sacredly obscure, involving some secret meaning. shape. Buf'-fet, n. a blow with the fist. 7. Fal-la-cious, a. deceiving. Ab-rupt'-ness, n. suddenness. 9. Por-tent'-ous, a. foretelling of evil. THE BLIND PREACHER. 1. As I traveled through the county of Orange, my eye was caught by a cluster of horses tied near a ruinous, old, wooden house in the forest, not far from the roadside. Having frequently seen such objects before, in traveling through these States, I had no difficulty in understanding that this was a place of religious worship. + 2. Devotion alone should have stopped me to join in the duties of the congregation; but I must confess, that curiosity to hear the preacher of such a wilderness, was not the least of my motives. On entering, I was struck with his preternatural appearance. He was a tall and very spare old man; his head, which was covered with a white linen cap, his shriveled hands, and his voice, were all shaking under the influence of a palsy; and a few moments ascertained to me that he was perfectly blind. + 3. The first emotions that touched my breast were those of mingled pity and veneration. But how soon were all my feelings It changed? The lips of Plato were never more worthy of a prognostic swarm of bees, than were the lips of this holy man! was a day of the administration of the sacrament; and his subject was, of course, the passion of our Savior. I had heard the subject handled a thousand times; I had thought it exhausted long ago. Little did I suppose, that, in the wild woods of America, I was to meet with a man, whose eloquence would give to this topic a new and more sublime pathos, than I had ever before witnessed. 4. As he descended from the pulpit, to distribute the mystic symbols, there was a peculiar, a more than human solemnity in his air and manners, which made my blood run cold, and my whole frame shiver. He then drew a picture of the sufferings of our Savior; his trial before Pilate; his ascent up Calvary; his + crucifixion. I knew the whole history; but never until then, had I heard the circumstances so selected, so arranged, so colored. It was all new; and I seemed to have heard it for the first time in my life. His enunciation was so deliberate, that his voice trembled on every syllable; and every heart in the assembly trembled in unison. 5. His peculiar phrases had that force of description, that the original scene appeared to be at that moment acting before our eyes. We saw the very faces of the Jews; the staring, frightful distortions of malice and rage. We saw the buffet; my soul kindled with a flame of indignation; and my hands were involuntarily and convulsively clinched. 6. But when he came to touch on the patience, the forgiving meekness of our Savior; when he drew, to the life, his voice breathing to God a soft and gentle prayer of pardon on his enemies, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," the voice of the preacher, which had all along faltered, grew fainter, until, his utterance being entirely obstructed by the force of his feelings, he raised his handkerchief to his eyes, and burst into a loud and irrepressible flood of grief. The effect was inconceivable. The whole house resounded with the mingled groans, and sobs, and shrieks of the congregation. 7. It was some time before the tumult had subsided, so far as to permit him to proceed. Indeed, judging by the usual, but fallacious standard of my own weakness, I began to be very uneasy for the situation of the preacher. For I could not conceive how he would be able let his audience down from the hight to which he had wound them, without impairing the solemnity and dignity of the subject, or perhaps shocking them by the abruptness of his fall. But, no: the descent was as beautiful and sublime, as the elevation had been rapid and enthusiastic. 8. The first sentence, with which he broke the awful silence, was a quotation from Rousseau: "Socrates died like a philosopher, but Jesus Christ, like a God!" I 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 I completely understand what Demosthenes meant by laying such stress on + delivery. 9. You are to bring before you the venerable figure of the preacher; his blindness, constantly recalling to your recollection old Homer, Ossian, and Milton, and associating with his performance the melancholy grandeur of their geniuses; you are to imagine that you hear his slow, solemn, well-accented enunciation, and his voice of affecting, trembling melody; you are to remember the pitch of passion and enthusiasm, to which the congregation were raised; and then, the few moments of portentous, death-like silence, which reigned throughout the house; the preacher, removing his white handkerchief from his aged face, (even yet wet from the recent torrent of his tears), and slowly stretching forth the palsied hand which held it, begins the sentence, "Socrates died like a philosopher"-then, pausing, raising his other, pressing them both, clasped together, with warmth and energy, to his breast, lifting his "sightless balls" to heaven, and pouring his whole soul into his tremulous voice-"but Jesus Christ-like a God!" 10. This man has been before my imagination almost ever since. A thousand times, as I rode along, I dropped the reins of my bridle, stretched forth my hand, and tried to imitate his quotation from Rousseau: a thousand times I abandoned the attempt in despair, and felt persuaded, that his peculiar manner and power arose from an energy of soul, which nature could give, but which no human being could justly copy. As I recall, at this moment, several of his awfully striking attitudes, the chilling tide with which my blood begins to pour along my arteries, reminds me of the emotions produced by the first sight of Gray's introductory picture of his Bard. WIRT. QUESTIONS.- Can you describe the personal appearance of the blind. preacher? What effect was produced by his manner? What, by his language? When he described the character and conduct of Christ, what was the effect on the congregation? What effect was produced by the circumstance of his blindness? What was the secret of the preacher's great power? LESSON LIX. REMARK.-Be careful to speak such little words as by, in, on, a, and, at, of, with, for, to, from, through, the, &c., very distinctly, and yet not to dwell on them so long as on other more important words. PRONOUNCE Correctly.-Path-less, nct path-liss: u-ni-verse, not u-ni-vuss: thou-sand, not thou-sund: mo-ment, not mo-munt: ar-ma ments, not ar-ma-munts: sav-age, not sav-ij: tem-pests, not tem-pists. APOSTROPHE TO THE OCEAN. 1. THERE is a pleasure in the pathless woods, + By the deep sea, and music in its roar. What I can ne'er express, yet can not all conceal. 2. Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean, roll! When for a moment, like a drop of rain, Throughout this work, that definition is given which belongs to the word as it is used in the lesson. This meaning is frequently ngurative. He sinks into thy depths with bubbling groan,. 3. The armaments which thunderstrike the walls These are thy toys, and, as the snowy +flake, 4. Thy shores are empires, changed in all save thee; + 5. Thou glorious mirror, where the Almighty's form Calm or convulsed; in breeze, or gale, or storm, Dark heaving; boundless, endless, and sublime, The image of Eternity, the throne Of the Invisible; even from out thy slime Obeys thee; thou goest forth, dread, fathomless, alone. BYRON. QUESTIONS. What is the society which exists where none intrudes ? What is meant by "oak leviathans?" How is the ocean the image of eternity? Where is Trafalgar, and for what is it celebrated? Where were Assyria, Rome, Greece, and Carthage? |