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We live in a day when it becomes us to be equal every way to our adversaries. This we can never be, if we cherish a contempt for liberal science. Infidelity lifts her standard, and advances with daring front, to 115 'defy the armies of the living God.' Distinguished talents rally around her ensign. The charms of eloquence, the force of reason, the majesty of literature, the light of science, are all enlisted under her banner; are opposed to the truth as it is in Jesus.' Let us, 120 in reliance upon divine aid, meet them upon equal terms, contend with them on their own ground, turn against them their own weapons! Let us meet them in the plain, or upon the mountain; let us ascend to their elevation, or stoop to their level! Let us oppose sci125 ence to science, eloquence to eloquence, light to light, energy to energy! Let us prove that we are their equals in intellect, their colleagues in literature: but that, in addition to this, 'One is our master, even Christ'that we have a more sure word of prophecy,'-and 130 that our light, borrowed from the fountain of illumination, will shine with undiminished lustre, when their lamp, fed only by perishable, precarious supplies, shall be for ever extinguished!

84. The Blind Preacher.

One Sunday, as I travelled 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 road-side. Having frequently seen such ob5 jects before, in travelling though these states, I had no difficulty in understanding that this was a place of religious worship. 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 10 a wilderness, was not the least of my motives.

On entering the house, 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 shrivelled hands, and his voice, were all shaken

15 under the influence of a palsy, and a few moments ascertained to me that he was perfectly blind. The first emotions which touched my breast, were those of mingled pity and veneration. But ah! How soon were all my feelings changed! It was a day of the administra20 tion of the sacrament, and his subject, of course, was the passion of our Saviour. 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 25 would give to this topic, a new and more sublime pathos than I had ever before witnessed.

As he descended from the pulpit, to distribute the mystic symbol, there was a peculiar, a more than human solemnity in his air and manner, which made my 30 blood run cold, and my whole frame to shiver. He then drew a picture of the sufferings of our Saviour― his trial before Pilate-his ascent up Calvary-his crucifixion and his death. I knew the whole history; but never, until then, had I heard the circumstances so 35 selected, so arranged, so colored! It was all new;

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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.

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 45 flame of indignation, and my hands were involuntarily and convulsively clenched. But when he came to touch the patience, the forgiving meekness of our Savior-when he drew, to the life, his blessed eyes streaming in tears to heaven-his voice breathing to God, a 50 soft and gentle prayer of pardon on his enemies, "Fa

ther, forgive them, for they know not what they do,"the voice of the preacher, which had all along faultered, grew fainter and fainter, until his utterance being entirely obstructed by the force of his feelings, he rais55 ed 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.

It was some time before the tumult had subsided, so 60 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 to let his audience down from the height to which 65 he had wound them, without imparing the solemnity and dignity of his subject, or perhaps shocking them by the abruptness of the fall. But the descent was as beautiful and sublime, as the elevation had been rapid and enthusiastic.

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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 !!" Never before did I completely understand what Demosthenes meant by laying such stress on delivery.

Wirt.

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JOEL ii.-Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand; 2 A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong: there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. 3 A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them. 4 The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen so shall they run. 5 Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle-array. 6 Before their face the people shall be much pained; all faces shall gather blackness. 7 They shall run

like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks: 8. Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded, 9 They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief. 10 The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining: 11 And the Lord shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?

86. 2 Samuel 1: 17-27.

2 SAMUEL i.-17 And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul, and over Jonathan his son: 18 (Also he bade them teach the children of Judea the use of the bow: behold, it is written in the book of Jasher.) 19 The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen! 20 Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph. 21 Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain upon you, nor fields of offerings: for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil. 22 From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty. 23 Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided : they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions. 24 Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet, with other delights; who put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel. 25 How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thy high places. 26 I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan very pleasant hast thou been unto me thy love

to me was wonderful, passing the love of women. 27 How are the mighty fallen and the weapons of war perished!

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All truth is from the sempiternal source

Of light divine. But Egypt, Greece, and Rome,
Drew from the stream below. More favor'd we
Drink, when we choose it, at the fountain-head.
5 To them it flow'd much mingled and defil'd
With hurtful error, prejudice, and dreams
Illusive of philosophy, so call'd,

But falsely. Sages after sages strove
In vain to filter off a crystal draught

10 Pure from the lees, which often more enhanc'd
The thirst than slak’d it, and not seldom bred
Intoxication and delirium wild.

In vain they push'd inquiry to the birth

And spring-time of the world; ask'd, Whence is man ?

15 Why form'd at all? and wherefore as he is?

Where must he find his Maker? with what rites
Adore him? Will he hear, accept, and bless?
Or does he sit regardless of his works?

Has man within him an immortal seed?
20 Or does the tomb take all? If he survive
His ashes, where? and in what weal or wo?
Knots worthy of solution, which alone

A deity could solve. Their answers vague
And all at random, fabulous and dark,

25 Left them as dark themselves. Their rules of life,
Defective and unsanction'd, prov'd too weak

To bind the roving appetite, and lead
Blind nature to a God not yet reveal'd.
'Tis Revelation satisfies all doubts,
30 Explains all mysteries except her own,
And so illuminates the path of life,

That fools discover it, and stray no more.
Now tell me, dignified and sapient sir,
My man of morals, nurtur'd in the shades
35 Of Academus-is this false or true?

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