evangelical;" and that scarcely any work of any compass would bear the test of such a garbling analysis for a single moment. It is disingenuous and unfair, and no more a specimen of Mr. Parker's theological dimensions than it would be to judge of a man's bodily stature or physiognomy by some abscinded locks of his hair, the paring of his nails, or the number of humors we might count upon his face. Such a letter reminds one of the man who carried about a brick as a specimen of the house he had built. It was a very good brick, but a poor enough edifice; and he who would be shallow enough to judge the whole mansion by that bit of baked clay would deserve no better shelter for his credulity. Let those believe who will, that Mr. Parker sweeps the board of all that we call saving faith; for our own part we doubt the fact, and we deny it, notwithstanding this awful array of spectral sayings quoted in the letter. We have intimated that a more candid and charitable examination of Mr. Parker's writings would evolve quite as much, on the other side, which may be deemed (to use a common phrase) "evangelical" or orthodox. "It is a poor rule," they say, "which will not work both ways;" and we shall therefore take such analysis, or rather extracts, from these writings, as may offset the extracts of Mr. Waterston's letter. It would be difficult, indeed, to find in any theological works more glowing and beautiful representations of the Saviour's character, more profound reverence for all that is holy and good, or more faithful expositions of Christianity as the absolute truth of God, than are contained in the miscellaneous writings of Mr. Parker, and his voluminous "Discourse on Religion." For example, speaking of Christ, he calls him "the chiefest incarnation of God"; "the organ through which the Infinite spoke"; "the King of truth"; "the proudest achievement of the human race"; "the greatest soul of all the sons of men"; "that divine man whose name is ploughed into the world"; "the profoundest religious genius God has raised up"; "that loftiest spirit that has bestrode the ages, standing still before us as the highest ideal ever realized on the earth."- "In an age of corruption, (he continues) as all ages are, Jesus stood and looked up to God. There was nothing between him and the Father of all; no old word, be it of Moses or Esaias, of a living Rabbi or a Sanhedrim of Rabbis; no sin or perverseness of the finite will. As the

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result of this virgin purity of soul and perfect obedience, the light of God shone down into the very deeps of his soul, bringing all of the Godhead which flesh can receive. He felt that God's word was in him; that he was one with God. He told what he saw, the Truth; he lived what he felt, a life of Love." Again, in another place, he says "To our apprehension Jesus was much greater than the evangelists represent him." "How vast has his influence been. How his spirit wrought in the hearts of his disciples-rude, selfish, bigoted, as at first they were. How it has wrought in the world. His words judge the nations. The wisest son of man has not measured their height. They speak to what is deepest in profound men; what is holiest in good men ; what is divinest in religious men. They kindle anew the flame of devotion in hearts long cold. They are spirit and life. His truth was not derived from Moses and Solomon; but the light of God shone through him, not colored, not bent aside. His life is the perpetual rebuke of all time since. It condemns ancient civilization. It condemns modern civilization. Wise men we have since had, and good men; but this Galilean youth strode before the world whole thousands of years - so much of Divinity was in him. His words solve the questions of this present age. In him the Godlike and the Human met and embraced and a divine life was born. Measure him by the world's greatest sons, how poor they are! Try him by the best of men, how little and low they appear! Exalt him as much as we may, we shall yet, perhaps, come short of the mark. In him, as in a mirror, we may see the image of God, and go on from glory to glory, till we are changed into the same image, led by the spirit which enlightens the humble. Viewed in this way how beautiful is the life of Jesus. Heaven has come down to earth, or rather, earth has become heaven.”

Once more, speaking of the fulness of our Saviour's sympathy, this modern heretic exclaims-"That mightiest heart that ever beat, stirred by the spirit of God, how it wrought in his bosom ! What words of rebuke, of comfort, counsel, admonition, promise, hope, did he pour out; words that stir the soul as summer dews call up the faint and sickly grass!" "What deep divinity of soul in his prayers, his action, sympathy, resignation!" "Rarely, almost never, do we see the vast divinity within that soul, which,

new though it was in the flesh, at one step goes before the world whole thousands of years, judges the race, decides for us questions we dare not agitate as yet, and breathes the very breath of heavenly love. The Christian world, aghast at such awful beauty in the flesh, transfixed with wonder as such a spirit rises in his heavenly flight, veils its face, and says 'It is a God. Such thoughts are not for men. Such life betrays the God.' And is it not the Divine which the flesh enshrouds? To speak in figures, the brightness of his glory; the express image of his person; the clear resemblance of the all beautiful; the likeness of God in which man is made?" "Here, indeed, was the greatest soul of all the sons of men; one before whom the majestic mind of Grecian sages and of Hebrew seers must veil its face. His perfect obedience made him free. So complete was it that but a single will dwelt in him and God; and he could say, 'I and the Father are one.' For this reason his teaching was absolute. God's word was in him." *** "What man, what sect, what church has mastered his thought, comprehended his method, and so fully applied it to life? Let the world answer in its cry of anguish!"

Does all this sound like infidelity, in Mr. Parker, or a disposition to depreciate Jesus Christ? Then hear some more. Speaking of the influence of the Saviour's teachings, he beautifully says, "His word swayed the multitude as pendant vines swing in the summer wind; as the spirit of God moved on the waters of chaos, and said, 'Let there be light, and there was light.' No doubt many a rude fisherman of Gennesareth heard his words with a heart bounding and scarce able to keep in his bosom I went home a new man, with a legion of angels in his breast, and from that day lived a life divine and beautiful." *** "So God spake in Jesus, as he taught the perfect Religion, anticipated, developed, but never yet transcended."

Such are the views of Mr. Parker in regard to Jesus and the truth he proclaimed. He calls the words of Jesus "the music of heaven;" the Bible "a whole library of the deepest and most earnest thoughts and feelings and piety and love ever recorded in human speech." "With all the obstacles men have thrown in its path," he eloquently remarks, "how much has the Bible done for mankind? No abuse has deprived us of all its blessings. You

trace its path across the world from the day of Pentecost to this day. As a river springs up in the heart of a sandy continent, having its father in the skies and its birth-place in distant, unknown mountains; as the stream rolls on, enlarging itself, making in that arid waste a belt of verdure, wherever it turns its way; creating palm groves and fertile plains, where the smoke of the cottager curls up at eventide, and marble cities send the gleam of their splendor far into the sky; such has been the course of the Bible on the earth. It has made a deeper mark on the world than the rich and beautiful literature of all the heathen." "There is not a boy nor a girl, all Christendom through, but their lot is made better by that great book," &c. &c.

Such are some of the sentiments of one who is accused of denying the Scriptures and wishing to overturn Christianity.

Let us hear, then, what further he says of Christianity as a system. In his "Discourse on Religion" he speaks of Christ as teaching "a doctrine beautiful as the light, sublime as heaven, and true as God." And again he says "In Christianity we have a religion wide as the East and the West; deep and high as the nadir and zenith; certain as truth, and everlasting as God." Can such a man be truly said to have a contempt for Christianity? If so, then, he is criminating himself, where he says, in another place, "No friend of religion and of man can be hostile to the Christianity of Christ." Who, then, can believe that such a writer and teacher can be, in any true or allowable sense, an enemy to the cross or religion of Jesus? Oh no: as we ourselves must answer to the great "Searcher of hearts," let us judge him with all charity, out of his own mouth and by the prevalent and oft-repeated sentiments of his own books; and there, again, we find it written "The Christianity of Christ is the highest and most perfect ideal **** "It is high ever presented to the longing eyes of man." and noble now as ever. The religion of Reason, of the Soul, the Word of God, is still strong and flame-like as when first it dwelt in Jesus, the chiefest incarnation of God. Age has not dimmed the lustre of this light that lighteneth all, though they cover their eyes in obstinate perversity and turn away their faces from this great light." "Is it not worth a man's wish," he asks, "worth his prayers, worth his work, to seek the living Christianity, the Chris

tianity of Christ? Not having this we seem but bubbles, bubbles on an ocean, shoreless and without bottom; bubbles that sparkle a moment in the sun of life, then burst to be no more. But with it we are men, immortal souls, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ." * * * * "Silence the voice of Christianity and the world is well-nigh dumb; for gone is that sweet music which kept in awe the rulers and the people, which cheers the poor widow in her lonely toil, and comes like light through the windows of morning, to men who sit stooping and feeble, with failing eyes and a hungering heart. It is gone, all gone! - only the cold, bleak world left before them." "Through centuries of wasting these words have flown on, like a dove in the storm, and now wait to descend on hearts pure and earnest, as the Father's spirit, we are told, came down on his lowly Son." "Looking at the word of Jesus, then at real Christianity, the pure religion he taught, nothing appears more fixed and certain. Its influence widens as light extends; it deepens as the nations grow more wise." 'Let men improve never so far in civilization, or soar never so high on the wings of Religion and Love, they can never outgo the flight of Truth and Christianity. It will always be above them. It is as if we were to fly towards a star, which becomes larger and more bright the nearer we approach, till we enter and are absorbed in its glory. If we look carelessly on the ages that have gone by, or only on the surfaces of things as they come up before us, there is reason to fear; for we confound the truth of God with the word of man. So, at a distance, the cloud and the mountain seem the same. When the drift changes with the passing wind, an unpractised eye might fancy the mountain itself was gone. But the mountain stands to catch the clouds, to win the blessing they bear, and send it down to moisten the fainting violet, to form streams which gladden valley and meadow, and sweep on at last to the sea in deep channels, laden with fleets. Thus the forms of the Church, the creeds of the sects, the conflicting opinions of teachers, float around the sides of the Christian mount, and swell and toss, and rise and fall, and dart their lightning, and roll their thunder, but they neither make nor mar the mount itself. Its lofty summit far transcends the tumult; knows nothing of the storm which roars below, but burns with rosy light at evening and