The Lansing state Republican. [volume] (Lansing, Mich.) 1855-1874, 1860-06-27

sic hall, Boston, on Sunday. The spacious hall
was crowded in every part, and hundreds OF men
and women remained standing through the entire
services, lasting upwards Of two hours. So great
vas the desire 70 be present. that people went to
the hall as early as o'clock; and by $50 the
ball was filed Charlie n. Ellis. Ralph Waldo
Emerson, and Wendell Phillips were the speak
ers.
"At the death of good and admirable per-
son, we meet to console and animate each other
BY the recollection of his virtues.
81 have the feeling that every mans biography
| is al bis own expense. He furnishes not only
the facts bur the report. / mean that oil blogra-
ply is autobiography. 1t is only what be tells
| Of himself that comes to be known and believed
| In Plu, arch's Lives Of Alexander and Pericles
YOU have the secret whispers of their confidence
| TO their lovers and trusty friends. For, It was
each report of this kind that impressed those to
" hom it was told in manner to secure its being
told everywhere TO the best, and to those who
| speak with authority to their own times ana
| therefore to ours For the political rule IS
cosmieal rule, and if man is not strong in his
own district, be is not good candidate else
where.
"He whose voice will not be heard here again
we're all favorable to him, and were part Of the
history of the civil and religious history OF the
times Theodore Parker was son OF the soil,
charged with tue energy Of New England, strong,
eager, inqusitive of knowledge, Of diligence
that never tired, upright, Of naughty inde'
pendence, yet the gentlest of companions; man
| of study, fit for a man OF the world; with deci
ded opinions and plenty Of power to state them
rapidly pushing bis studies 60 far as to leave fe"
men qualified to sit critics. He elected his
part OF duty, or accepted uobly that assigned
him in bis rare constitution. Wonderful acqul-
s,ion of knowledge, rapid wit that heard all,
and welcomed all that came, by seeing Its bear.
| ing. Such was the largeness of his reception OF
facts and his skill to employ them, that it looked
as if he were some President of Council in whom
score of telegraphs were bringing in reports;
and the information would have been excessive,
| but for the noble use be made Of it ever in the
| i'm crest of humanity. He bad strong under.
standing, logical method, love for facts, "a
pid eye for their historic relations, aad skill In
stripping them of traditional usters. He had
sprightly fancy, and often amused himself with
| throwing his meaning into pretty apologies; yet
we can hardly ascribe to his mind the poetic ele-
ment, though his scholarship had made him a
reader and quoter of verses. A little more feel
| ing of the poetic significance OF his facts would
| have disqualified him for some OF his severer OF.
fees to his generation. The old religions have
charm for mcst minds which it is little uneanny
to disturb. lis sometimes question shall We
not leave them to decay without rude shocks!
| | remember that found some harshness in bis
treatment both of Greek and Of Hebrew anti.
guilty, and sympathized with the pain OF many
good people in his auditory, while l acquitted
him, of course, of any wish to be fippant. He
| came at time when to the irresistible march OF
opinion the forms still retained by the most ad.
vanced secis, showed loose and leless, and be,
with something less of affectionate attachment to
the old, or with more vigorous logic, rejected
them IT'S objected to him that he scattered too
many illusions. Perhaps more tenderness would
have been graceful; but it is in vain to charge
him with perverting the opinion OF the new gen
Grafton. The opinion Of men are organic. Sim.
ply those come to him who found themselves ex-
pressed by him. And bad they not met this en-
lightened mind, in which they beheld their own
opinions combined with Zeal in every cause Of
love and humanity, they would have suspended
their opinions and suppressed them, and so sunk
into melancholy or mslignity-a feeling Of loneli-
ness and hostility to what was reckoned respect
able IT'S plain to me that he has achieved a
historic immortality here that he has so woven
himself iu these few years into the history Of
Boston, that he can never be left out of your an
nails It will not be in the acts Of City Councils;
not Of nhsoon;n"e Mayors: nor in the State.
House, the prOclaustions Of Governors, Win
their failing virtue-fai!ing them at critical mo-
nents-that the coming generation will sturdy
what really befel, but in the plain lessons Of
Th, odore Parker in this Music Hall, in Faneul
Hall, or in the Legislative Committee rooms, that
the true temper and authentic record Of these
days will be read. The next generation will care
little for the chances of election that govern
governors now it will care little for fine gentle
men who behaved shabbily, but it will read very
nteigently in his rough story, fortified with ex-
act anecdotes, precise with names and dates,
what part was taken by each actor who threw
himself into the cause Of humanity, and come to
the rescue Of civilization at q hard pinch, and
who blocked its course.
"The vice charged against America ID the want
of sincerity in leading men. 1t does not lie at
his door. He never kept back the truth for fear
to make an enemy. But, on the other hand, it
that his zeal burned with too hot fame. It is
90 difficult in evil tin es to escape the charge
for the faithful preacher most Of all. 1t was his
merit, like Luther, Knox, and Latimer, and John
Baptist, to speak tart truth when that was per.
emptory, aud when there were few to cay it.
But his sympathy for goodness was not less ener.
getic. One fault he had he overestimated his
friends-I may well Say it-and sometimes vexed
them with the importantly Of his good opinion,
| while they knew better the eob which follows
unfounded praise. He was capable, it must be
said, of the most unmeasured eulogies on those
he esteemed, especially if be had any jealousy
that they did not stand with the Boston public
as highly a. they ought. His commanding merit
40 a reformer is this-that he insisted beyond all
men in pulpits-I cannot think of one rival
| that the essence of Christianity 10 ito practical
morals; it is there for use, or it is nothing; and
if you combine it with sharp trading, or With Or
binary city ambitions to glaze over municipal
corruptols, or private intemperauce, or success.
full fraud or immoral politics, or unjust wars, or
| the cheating of Indians, or the robbery of from.
! tier nations, or leaving your principals at home
to follow on the high seas or in Boston a supple
comPiaisance to tyrants-it is hypocrisy, and the
truth Is not io you; and no love Of religious mu.
sic, or Of dreams Of Swedenoorg, or praise of
John Wesley, or of Jeremy Taylor, can save you
from the Satan which you are.
His Ministry fell on political crisis also on
the years when Southern Slavery broke over ito
old banks, made new and vast pretensions, and
wrung the weakness or treachery of Northern
people fatal concessions in the Fugitive Slave
bill and the repeal OF the Missouri Compromise.
Two litter days in the memory Of Boston, the
days Of the rendition of Minis and Burns, made |
the occasions OF his most remarkable discourses |
He kept nothing back. In terrible earnest he |
denounced the public crime, and meted GU. to |
every official, high and low, his due portion. By |