The Knickerbocker, Vol. 10, No. 3, September 1837Various
History
The Knickerbocker, Vol. 10, No. 3, September 1837
Various
Periodicals
'Let the body die, then, be it in fire or in water, on earth or in
air--what matters it! Let it die, this dung-hill, this nest of worms,
this lump of filth, this dying worm, this clod of earth; let it die,
this perishing rottenness, this tricked-out decay, this painted
sepulchre, this congregation of diseases, this bundle of rags, this
six feet of nothing! Let it die!--let it perish! Let it decay,
this living hospital, this sport of chance, this little heap of
earth--when, how, where it may--it matters not! But I beseech thee,
by thy soul's salvation--I sound it in thine ears, with uplifted
hands, let not the SOUL perish! This curious and precious handiwork
and image of God--this priceless and unfading jewel of eternity--this
pure and peaceful sister of the spirits made blessed--oh let not
_this_ perish by sin, for this is the only death that is terrible
indeed!'
There are passages like the above, scattered here and there,
which will show that our author was something more than a mere
pulpit-joker, and that he had within him all the elements of high
eloquence. Our conscience, indeed, reproaches us, at times, that we
are not doing the old worthy justice, but picking out his knotty
points and excrescences, to amuse our contemporaries with their odd
twists and turns, and air of hoar antiquity, rather than laying open
the sound core and pith that lie beneath them. But our object--and
we hope it as an excusable one, in these trying times--is rather to
beguile the reader into a smile, than edify him by serious discourse,
a plenty whereof is to be found at every corner, without going back
for it to Pater Abraham a Sancta Clara.
* * * * *
FOR the present, we leave our 'man of mark,' reserving his homily
to maidens, his advice to parents, touching the use of the rod; his
counsels to the rich, etc., for another number.
FOOTNOTES:
[8] Speaking of ears. That was an ingenious and kindred elucidation
of a passage of Scripture, which was given by a Methodist clergyman,
of whom we have somewhere read. 'In those ancient days,' said the
divine, 'small crimes were punished by cropping off the ears; so that
it rarely happened, that a large concourse of people could assemble,
without a considerable proportion of them, and oftentimes more, being
deprived of their auricular members. Hence we view, my brethren, the
propriety of that frequent remark of our Saviour, when addressing a
mixed multitude, 'He that _hath_ ears to hear, let him hear!'' It was
the same profound biblical critic, who made St Paul's similitude,
touching his late conversion, ('as one born out of due time,') quite
level to the comprehension of his hearers, by explaining, that the
apostle 'was undoubtedly a seven-months' child!'
EDS. KNICKERBOCKER.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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