Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1860-07-20
Geo. VIM. Curtis on Modern InHdeIIty and
Theodore Parker.

Mr.. @. W. Curtis, last Sunday, delivered a
discourse at the Boston Music Hall, on Mod
err Inhdelity. At the conclusion of this he
spoke as follows of the late Rev. Theodore
Parker;
As l end this discourse l am Of course
thinking of what you are thinking Of the
man who stood in this place, and whose
whole life was an act of faith in the doctrine
Of private judgment. Since Roger Williams
preached in the old Colony of Massachusetts,
Bay, that the Government had no right to
inquire whether or not citizen believed in
God; since William Ellery Charming petit
toned for the unconditional pardon Of a man
who had been sentenced to prison in the city
of Boston for denying the existence Of a God
upon the simple ground, in each case, not
of sympathy with the opinion, but of the
absolute right of religious liberty--no man
in the world has more bravely and proudly
yindicated that right, than he who made this
hall precious in your memories forever The
Colony of Massachusetts Bay sent Roger
Williams out into the wild forests, among
wild men and beasts; the city of Boston in
dignantly protested against DR.. Channing's
petition, and the Governor Of Massachusetts
refused its prayer and here, in the same city,
the cloud of contumely which hovered over
the head of Theodore Parker would have
harmed and hidden him, if his heaven-tipped
virtue had not dissipated il and passed its
lightning harmless into the ground, you
know better than can say.
When remember under the exterior of
the farmers son, these soft graces that made
nobility, when l reflect how his days and
powers and opportunity were never wasted
but only too profusely spent how the hearts
of young men in the land, looking for light,
turned TO him, as flowers to the sun, how he
strengthened moral purpose in this country;
how he stimulated honest thought; how he
encouraged free speech; how plainly he taught
that love to man meant love to him whom
the law deprives of all right equally with
him who makes and declares the law; and
how he scorned the plant and brilliant Ju-
ddses who betray Christ in humanity with a
kiss-I do not wonder that his name shone
in other lands, and ought we to be surprised |
that it was obscured at home Old Cotton |
Mather said that Roger Williams had wind |
mill in his head; old Hubbard of Ipswich de- |
clared he had hy-blown imagination. So |
an ecclesiastical body near by prayed the |
Lord to close the mouth of your minister; and
in his good mercy he had closed it. but only
as the Arabian fruit closes, after the precious
seed is dropped. Theodore Parker was the
intellectual child of Charming. Only four
years before the South Boston sermon was
preached, DR.. Charming had written these
Worus: AS 10 human favor, feel more and
more that it must be given us. If l know
Christianity, it is so at war with the present
condition Of society that it cannot be spoken
or acted out without giving great offense"
OF robust and gladiatorial nature, how
gladly the young hero accepted the great
debate with human wrong. He leaped into
the lists, and though his Ephesus was called
Boston, the contest was sharp and lifelong.
Friends, friends, not the orators of perfumed
phrase, not the speakers of adroit avoidance,
have consecreted this beautiful hall; but he
who taught here that religion is life, not
ceremony; he whose opulent and vehement
mind beat out truth, as with the inceSsant
blows of a trip-hammer, fitting it alike to
the sternest and sweetest duties of life; he
who preached and lived in this city that eter-
nal truth of God which was before Abraham,
and shall outlast the world. o, friend and
Sa%d a ., loving heart large brain, open
and farewell