T H E L A D I E S '   R E P O S I T O R Y .

M A Y,   1 8 4 8 .

      ALTHOUGH in the present utilitarian age, poets and poetry are commonly decried, still the vocation is a high and holy one, and the poet, instead of being looked upon with contempt and pity, should be regarded as one to whom his Maker has intrusted the most precious and ennobling of all his gifts--gifts which, if directed aright, may result in promoting, to an incalculable extent, the best interests of man, and the glory of that God by whom the glorious boon was bestowed.

      Believe it not, then, that all incitement to holy living, and the practice of virtue, must be communicated in dull prosaic style, but rather believe, that aspirations the noblest, aims the loftiest, hopes the brightest, and resolutions worthy of the most philosophic reflection and sagest experience, may be awakened and cherished by the poet's verse. Many of God's great ones have been gifted with this noble faculty, and he has often employed the masters of the lyre to communicate his will to mortals; and never were purer, or more soul-elevating truths made known than when David and Isaiah, catching their inspiration from on high, swept its strings, and joined their glad voices to its deathless numbers.

      Shall we, then, despise instruction, because it is embodied in song; and cast away the pearl of truth, because we like not the casket in which it is found? Shall we not rather receive these teachings reverently, and rejoice that the precepts of wisdom have found costly enclosings, that they may be better appreciated, and longer cherished by being wedded to immortal verse.

      The poet of the present day, although the coal of Divine inspiration has never touched his lips, is still a teacher--one deeply read in the mysterious pages of the human heart, and far more worthy of attention than many, who, by their fine-spun theories in the veriest prose, have won from the throng, who praise what they understand not, the name of favored sons of star-eyed science.

      It is not those who build beautiful, but often baseless, theories, and delight in abstruse speculations, who are best fitted to become the teachers of mankind; many such, when in the pursuit of their [148] favorite phantoms, have been ready to cry "Eureka," and their toils have ended by involving themselves and their followers in the deepest and bitterest disappointment. But he who reads man and nature with a careful, observant eye--who loves all that is beautiful in the outer world--who looks within and notes all the passions and feelings which sway the breast of his fellow, he, of all others, is best suited for a guide and instructor: such is the true poet: hear then his teaching.

      Live, frail mortal, with an eye to the future; thou are but one of a mighty host, that with unflagging footsteps ever marches on to the grave. Myriads have already gone on in their might, until, wearied with life's toils, they have sunk to dreamless and untroubled sleep; the darkness of the grave is but the night which follows life's short and troublous day; there is room for all in the bosom of this wide green-carpeted earth, and, willingly or unwillingly, we must all seek the rest to which she invites. Though the night of the grave be dark--though we may quail as its shades draw nigh, yet, be it a word of hope or fear, know that to all who sleep there will be a time of waking. Hast thou performed well thy part on earth? Have the sorrows of thy kind been made thy own? Like an orb of genial beam hast thou filled up the sphere in which thou hast been placed, and thrown around thy path the light of peace and love? Hast thou been the lover of thy God, and the benefactor of thy kind, and while thy feet have pressed the earth, has thy gaze been fixed on the skies? If so, the darkness of the tomb need not appall thee; thou mayest tread on the verge of the grave with an unfaltering step; the hour of waking will bring to thee no terror; for thou shalt stand unabashed in the presence of thy Judge, and enter on a ceaseless day of pure, unclouded bliss. But if, on the other hand, thou hast been dark passion's slave--if the flower-strewn mazes of earthly pleasure and senseless folly have been sought in preference to the ways of wisdom--if thine ear has ever been open to the voice of the tempter, and the claims of thy selfish nature, and deaf to the call of God and the cry of suffering humanity--if pride and hatred have usurped the seats of humility and love, thou mayest well tremble; for thy darkest forebodings will only prove the faint foreshadowing of the dread and solemn realities which await thy waking from the sleep of the grave; thou shalt lie down in doubt, and thy uprising shall be in dread, and fearful consternation; the bitter memories of the murdered past, like vultures, shall prey upon thy heart, while the glories of those who laid down in trust, shall mock thee with their approachless splendor.

      Care well, then, for the present; for on its employment hangs thy future destiny, and moments well spent here, will reap a harvest of countless ages. Let, then, thy every word bear the impress of devotion to the right, and let every act prove the purity of thy motives, and the sincerity of thy heart. Doubt and despair will then never embitter thy closing moments, and in the morning of an endless life, thou shalt awake in hope and trust.

[The Ladies' Repository 8 (May 1848): 148-149.]

      William Baxter's "Short Sermons from the Poets: Number I" was first published in The Ladies' Repository, and Gatherings of the West: A Monthly Periodical Devoted to Literature and Religion, Vol. 8, No. 5, May 1848, pp. 148-149. This volume, edited by B. F. Tefft, was published in Cincinnati by L. Swormstedt and J. H. Power and in New York by G. Lane and L. Scott for the Methodist Episcopal Church.

      Pagination in the electronic version has been represented by placing the page number in brackets following the last complete word on the printed page.

      Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.

Ernie Stefanik
Derry, PA

Created 12 April 2000.
Updated 28 June 2003.