stant presence to his consciousness, coloring the thoughts which passed through his mind, the feelings which rose in his heart, the desires, wishes, purposes and plans of his whole being, was evident to all who were about him, and is strikingly displayed in his letters to his friends. They are the letters of a religious mind; not formally and professedly discussing religious topics, excepting on special occasions; but full of those incidental expressions and allusions which disclose unawares the habit and bias of the mind. They show that a thoughful regard to the divine presence, an unreserved trust in Providence, an habitual reference to the highest principles and motives, and a sensibility to spiritual things as if visible realities, were a part of his very life, and accompanied him like the life-blood of his body. They gave him the fortitude with which he bore the sufferings of his long disorder, and the cheerful equanimity with which he waited its trying vicissitudes, its certain progress and its final approach toward death. It all illustrated his faith and proved the power of his principles.

Such a man as this could not fail of leaving an impression on the society in which he labored. When God qualifies one of his servants with such gifts, and they are faithfully used, he certainly crowns them with a blessing. And I trust that I have explained, as I proposed, the secret of his efficiency by the description which I have attempted of his preaching, his pastoral life, his system of action, and his personal character. Take them all together, observe how each operated by itself, and then how they all wrought in conjunction, and there can be no mistake as to the causes of his success, so far as he was himself concerned. And I cannot conclude this survey better, than by saying, in the words of a friend who has written to me respecting

him, that the contemplation of his example "may be as profitable for his brethren, as it would be for an agriculturist to visit a spot where he could see the best improvements in the cultivation of the soil carried into effect." It is for his brethren, especially for beginners in the ministry, that I have felt myself to be writing. No men are so likely to enter life with general and undefined purposes of usefulness as clergymen. No profession offers so vague a map of duty, and allows so wide a choice of means and measures, so extensive a range between activity and indolence. None, therefore, so much need specific direction from the experienced, and, what is yet better, some pattern of a well arranged and efficient administration. Such a pattern may be found here. Let our young men study it; let them enter thoughtfully into its spirit; let them tread devotedly and discreetly its paths; not slavishly, not minutely, but in the becoming temper of free minds, which own Christ for the only Master, but which yet love to learn of, and imitate those who have worthily served him. They may then hope for satisfaction in their work, for they will see it pros-' per; and the church will rejoice in the brighter day of activity, piety and peace, which will be growing up beneath their toil.

We must now turn our attention to his more public relations. At the time of his ordination, the division which has rent in twain the Congregational body of New England, had not been made. Ministers and churches held fellowship with each other on the broad ground of their common Christianity, and had not learned to refuse it on the narrow ground of their peculiar interpretations of some parts of Christianity. But the signs of the coming

division had begun to show themselves; voices were already heard clamoring for it, and suspicion and hesitancy, were beginning to mark the conduct of leading men. The two Congregational churches in Portsmouth had from time immemorial dwelt side by side in the interchange of the offices of Christian fellowship, though the standard of orthodoxy had been higher in the one than in the other. Dr Buckminster was now minister of the North Parish, a distinguished and respected name, exercising deserved influence over a large and flourishing congregation. Though aware of the extent in which Mr Parker's opinions fell short of what he himself regarded as sound theology, he soon formed for him an affectionate attachment, and united with him in Christian and ministerial offices. They lived like father and son, mutually respecting and aiding each other. It was a beautiful instance of two disciples merging their differences in their love for a common Master and for one another. In the infirmities which soon came upon the declining years of the elder, the younger was a trusted and confidential companion; and in the perplexities which attended the early ministry of the younger, the elder was a ready counsellor and aid. And when a zealous person, who doubted whether her new minister were sufficiently orthodox, inquired of Dr Buckminster whether she ought not to forsake his ministry, he charged her not to do so, for that any one who should listen aright to Mr Parker, would find the way of salvation.

Dr Buckminster died in 1812; Mr Parker preached the sermon at his funeral; and in 1815 gave the right hand of fellowship at the ordination of his successor, the Rev. Israel W. Putnam. The customary intercourse continued between the ministers, notwithstanding that the growing

controversies were producing and increasing the ruptures of ancient fellowship in every part of the country, until the year 1819. In the course of this year, Dr Parker joined in the ordination of Mr Sparks in Baltimore. This was seized upon as the occasion for suspending ministerial intercourse with him, and from that time he and his church were treated as heretic and excommunicate. Of course so important a change in the religious relations of two neighboring communities, from ancient fellowship to sudden alienation, from mutual offices of faith and love, to anathema on the one part, and a sense of wrong on the other, could not take place without the excitement of a good deal of feeling. Dr Parker did not affect insensibility. It was a serious change in his own situation, as it abridged his opportunities of religious intercourse. But it altogether failed of affecting his influence as a minister, or of retarding the prosperity of his congregation. Though denounced as unworthy the countenance of the Christian community, and separated from the Church universal as far as human power could separate it, it yet continued to advance in numbers and repute. Not by raising the banner of controversial war, and hurling back anathemas; but by carrying into more vigorous action, those fundamental truths and practical principles which they had contended for as the common ground of Christianity. The adherence to these, in the spirit of love and good works, was every year more and more blest. Those that were of the contrary part, were ashamed, having no evil thing to say of them; and many even of the congregation which had disowned them, became convinced that God was with them, and joined their fellowship; so that it was pithily said, "Individuals and families continue to migrate from the North, in hopes of

finding a more congenial climate at the South." This climate they found; and there was evidence that beneath its benignant influences souls were ripening rapidly for heaven.

It is no small trial to the spirit, even in a land where the church has no secular power to enforce its decrees, to be stigmatized by a dominant party as an enemy to the Saviour, and have one's name cast out as evil. But where the trial is borne with meekness and faith, it tends to purify and elevate the character, to confirm the allegiance to conscience, and to strengthen attachment to the holy truth for whose sake the obloquy is endured. Dr Parker bore it thus, and there can be no doubt that he shared a blessing in the result. One of his friends remarked to me, that he thought he had perceived an evident progress, from this time, in the higher attributes of his Christian life. He seemed to feel a new responsibility when he found himself bearing the burden of a despised and rejected faith. He searched with new diligence into its foundations, he received new convictions of its power and worth, pressed it more closely to his bosom, and exerted himself with new watchfulness in its defence. Not, as I have already said, by contending, but by seeing to it, that, on himself and on those committed to his charge, it was permitted to exert its legitimate influences, and thus vindicate its divine power. When he attributed the increase of the parish, in his discourse on occasion of removing from the old meeting-house, "principally to the liberality ' of its members and their peaceable spirit," he uttered what was true, but not the whole truth. It was still more owing to the care which its minister took to maintain that peaceable spirit, and to make the truth lovely by its visible effects.

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