worked on the farm, taught school winters, but studied incessantly. One day he swung the scythe from sunrise to sunset upon his father's meadow, and the next entered Harvard College. While there, he improved his opportunities, made use of every moment, and graduated a finished scholar. This was not enough. He could not content himself with the knowledge possessed by an ordinary college graduate. The literature of Europe and the east was locked away from him, and so he sat down and mastered the French language, till it was as familiar to his tongue as "household words." He then studied German, and enjoyed the pleasure of reading the great German authors and poets in their own language. The Italian, the Spanish, the Persian, and indeed all still more difficult languages were made his own, until the civilized world, and parts half civilized, were within his reach. After due preparation Mr. Parker entered the ministry, and was settled as pastor over a Unitarian church in West Roxbury, Massachusetts. He first excited the suspicions of the religious world by the delivery of a sermon in South Boston, upon the occasion of the ordination of the Rev. Mr. Shackford, in the early part of the year 1841. We will make a single quotation from this sermon, which will indicate its character:

"It has been assumed at the onset, it would seem, with no sufficient reason, without the smallest pretense on its writer's

B

part, that all of its authors were infallibly and miraculously inspired, so that they could commit no error of doctrine or fact. Men have been bid to close their eyes at the obvious difference between Luke and John; the serious disagreement between Paul and Peter, to believe, on the smallest evidence, accounts which shock the moral sense and revolt the reason, and tend to place Jesus in the same series with Hercules and Apollonius of Tyana.

* * * "An idolatrous regard for the imperfect scripture of God's word is the apple of Atalanta, which defeats theologians running for the hand of divine truth. But the current notions respecting the infallible inspiration of the bible have no foundation in the bible itself."

This sermon created a good deal of excitement among the Unitarian body, especially the conservatives. They were not satisfied that a man holding such views should have the reputation of being a Unitarian clergyman in good standing. At this time Mr. Parker left the country for Europe, where he remained for three years, making the acquaintance of some of its most learned and philanthropic men. Among others, we may mention the name of Thomas Carlyle, who is to this day his warm friend and admirer. In the autumn of 1844 he returned, and exchanged pulpits with the Rev. Mr. Sargent, of Boston, a Unitarian clergyman. The conservative Unitarians were exceedingly indignant that Mr. Sargent should admit such a heretic into his pulpit, and they

commenced a persecution against him, which obliged him to resign his charge. The Rev. Mr. Clarke, another Boston clergyman, soon after offered his pulpit to Mr. Parker, which resulted in great excitement, and a loss of members to the church. The following extract from a sermon preached by Mr. Parker, about this time, will show the nature of his heresy:

"The Jehovah of the Old Testament was awful and sterna man of war, hating the wicked. The sacerdotal conception of God at Rome and Athens was lower yet. No wonder, then, that men soon learned to honor Jesus as a god, and then as God himself. Apostolical and other legends tell of his divine birth, his wondrous power that healed the sick, palsied, and crippled, deaf and dumb, and blind; created bread, turned water into wine, and bid obedient devils come and go-a power that raised the dead. They tell that nature felt with him, and at his death the strongly sympathizing sun paused at high noon, aud for three hours withheld the day; that rocks were rent, and opening graves gave up their sainted dead, who trod once more the streets of Zion, the first fruits of them that slept; they tell, too, how disappointed death gave back his prey, and, spirit-like, Jesus, restored in flesh and shape the same, passed through the doors shut up, and in a bodily form was taken up to heaven before the face of men! Believe men of these things as they will; to me they are not truth and fact, but mythic symbols and poetry; the psalm of praise with which the world's rude heart extols and magnifies its King. It is for his truth and his life, his wisdom, goodness, piety, that he is honored in

my heart; yes, in the world's heart. It is for this that in his name churches are built, and prayers are prayed; for this that the best things we know we honor."

The result of the utterance of such sentiments was the excommunication of Mr. Parker from the Unitarian body. He had powerful friends everywhere in the region of Boston; he had warm sympathizers in the Unitarian church, but they were not of sufficient numerical strength to be of service. His church in West Roxbury was crowded; his Boston admirers came out every Sunday, in large numbers, to hear him. At last they were determined that he should be entirely independent, and therefore invited him to preach to them in the Melodeon. He accepted their invitation, and was settled as their pastor, in the old Puritan fashion. There are no rites or ceremonies connected with his society; he does not administer baptism or communion, and there is in fact no church organization. About a year since his congregation hired the Music Hall, the finest interior in Boston, and now every Sunday an audience of three thousand people, comprising many of the most refined, intellectual, and wealthy people in Boston, convene to hear "the infidel preacher." His salary, we believe, is three thousand dollars. He lives a few miles out of town in the summer, or has a residence there, as well as in the city of Boston.

The personal appearance of Theodore Parker is not remarkable, and yet the observing man will discover indications of his wonderful genius in his face. He is slightly under the average height of men, rather spare in flesh, has a partially bald head, a fine, compact brow, and a flashing eye. His features are rather small, and his organization is of the finest mould. There is a delicacy in his nervous system, which is indicated by the fineness of his hair; just. that amount of delicacy which is necessary to make a nervous and intense writer and speaker. A man with the nervous system of a Tom Hyer cannot become a great orator. He cannot himself feel intensely, cannot understand the subtler methods of reaching the souls of men.

People who have read the sermons of Mr. Parker are usually disappointed in hearing him preach or lecture. He is not an accomplished orator; in an ordinary discourse he is altogether too lifeless, too devoid of gesture. But he has a voice of exceeding beauty, and he can, when he chooses, charm an audience by his striking and fascinating gestures and manner. Occasionally in his sermons, from the bold and magnificent, from the intensely passionate, he suddenly glides into the calmly beautiful. The contrast at such times is almost overpowering, and the heart of the listener is touched, as by the voice of an angel. The pictures of strange and quiet loveliness,