FullReads

It was after a sermon on this very chapter of Scripture history that Governor Griswold, in passing out of the house, laid hold on the sleeve of his first acquaintance: “Pray tell me,” said he, “who is this minister?”

“Why, it is old Father Morris.”

“Well, he is an oddity–and a genius too, I declare!” he continued. “I have been wondering all the morning how I could have read the Bible to so little purpose as not to see all these particulars he has presented.”

I once heard him narrate in this picturesque way the story of Lazarus. The great bustling city of Jerusalem first rises to view, and you are told, with great simplicity, how the Lord Jesus “used to get tired of the noise;” and how he was “tired of preaching, again and again, to people who would not mind a word he said;” and how, “when it came evening, he used to go out and see his friends in Bethany.” Then he told about the house of Martha and Mary: “a little white house among the trees,” he said; “you could just see it from Jerusalem.” And there the Lord Jesus and his disciples used to go and sit in the evenings, with Martha, and Mary, and Lazarus.

Then the narrator went on to tell how Lazarus died, describing, with tears and a choking voice, the distress they were in, and how they sent a message to the Lord Jesus, and he did not come, and how they wondered and wondered; and thus on he went, winding up the interest by the graphic minutiae of an eye witness, till he woke you from the dream by his triumphant joy at the resurrection scene.

On another occasion, as he was sitting at a tea table, unusually supplied with cakes and sweetmeats, he found an opportunity to make a practical allusion to the same family story. He said that Mary was quiet and humble, sitting at her Savior’s feet to hear his words; but Martha thought more of what was to be got for tea. Martha could not find time to listen to Christ. No; she was “‘cumbered with much serving’–around the house, frying fritters and making gingerbread.”

Among his own simple people, his style of Scripture painting was listened to with breathless interest. But it was particularly in those rustic circles, called “conference meetings,” that his whole warm soul unfolded, and the Bible in his hands became a gallery of New England paintings.

He particularly loved the evangelists, following the footsteps of Jesus Christ, dwelling upon his words, repeating over and over again the stories of what he did, with all the fond veneration of an old and favored servant.

Sometimes, too, he would give the narration an exceedingly practical turn, as one example will illustrate.

He had noticed a falling off in his little circle that met for social prayer, and took occasion, the first time he collected a tolerable audience, to tell concerning “the conference meeting that the disciples attended” after the resurrection.

“But Thomas was not with them.” “Thomas not with them!” said the old man, in a sorrowful voice. “Why, what could keep Thomas away? Perhaps,” said he, glancing at some of his backward auditors, “Thomas had got cold-hearted, and was afraid they would ask him to make the first prayer; or perhaps,” said he, looking at some of the farmers, “Thomas was afraid the roads were bad; or perhaps,” he added, after a pause, “Thomas had got proud, and thought he could not come in his old clothes.” Thus he went on, significantly summing up the common excuses of his people; and then, with great simplicity and emotion, he added, “But only think what Thomas lost! for in the middle of the meeting, the Lord Jesus came and stood among them! How sorry Thomas must have been!” This representation served to fill the vacant seats for some time to come.