The Portland daily press., 1882-10-05
A. B. C. r. NJ.
The following is a verbatim report OF the
Rev DIR. e. A. Parks address Yesterday.
CONTINUED from Supplements

1He ioiloWluS Is VeEDatlm report or tne
Rev. Dr. e. A. Parks address yesterday.
Two or three Gays ago met gentleman
whom had not seen for thirty years. Speak
ing of himself, after that lapse of time, he
said II cannot remember names, | can re-
member things, but cannot remember names.
The only man whose name have remembered
for the past ten years was a man named Fox.
was classmate with hin in the academy /
met an old academy friead one day, and said
Fox You saw Fox?' Is he in ,hese regions?
Yes, saw him. Are you certain YOU saw
him?' Yes Il think not Are yon certain
that it was not Wolf whom you saw?' Yes.
it was Wolf,-that's the mani" [Lsughter
and applause Now / think myself that DR..
Alden is as much superannuated as that man
Was. Laughter tod him, as L thought,
not more that five minutes ago that | should
not speak; but he Is so far gone that he cannot
distinguish yes from no. Laughter and ap-
plause
Now I must say that have no idea what to
speak upon. Laughter. | have been srm-
moned to speak on the fact that ability and
obligation are COLI mensurate; but everyho
knows that, and If man does not know d at,
he doesn'ts know anything. [Laughter.] 1
ought to say, however, that / was very much
impressed by the staten ent made by DR.. Al
den, in the paper which he read this morning.
The mention of these names awakened remi-
Dlscences which cannot well be expressed in
speech. He mentioned the name of Jonathan
Edwards. That great man, that profound
genius, that poet, v as a foreign missionary
he went to Stockbridge, he lived among
the Indians, he was oppressed with
poverty, but he loved to be a mission
ary--a missionary among the Indians: and
when called from his missionary station TO be
president OF Princeton College, he wept like a
chlld; ne could not leave the dear heather, to
whom his heart was bound. / have in my pos
session old almanacs, old letters old newspa-
pers, on the margin of which he wrote his
views of the missionary cause, of the opening
throughout the world for the entrance of the
church Ct Christ. He was SO poor that it may
be said with perfect truth he needed often the
necessaries of life. While engaged in that
missionary work he consecrated his son, Jona-
than Edwards, Jr, to the same great work
He sent that son to live among the Gndiaus, TO
eat as the Indians ate, in order that the boy
might acquire knowledge of the Indian Ian
gusge and be we'll qualified to preach in that
language the Gospel to the heather.
And the pupil of Jonathan Edwards, Samu-
el Hopkins, was also a missionary to the hea-
then. While engaged in his metaphysical
studies he wrote sermons for the Indians.
have read many of these sermons: they are
plain, simple, practical, we'll fitted for the ig-
norant audiences whom he addressed His
soul was in the work of foreign missions; be-
fore our revolutionary war he instituted a plan
for foreign missions, and he eng ged in that
plan with man who was a, terwards president
OF Yale College, Ezra Stiles, man of grest
learning. DIR, Hopkins, as you well know,
was a strong Calv'nst, while DIR. Stiles was
not SO strong in his Calvinism; still they were
both united in this work, to send missionaries
to Africa. DR.. Stiles was acquainted with DR.
Chauncey of Boston, who was opposed to the
doctrines of Calvinism, utterly and decidedly,
Dut ne had rich congregation. DIR. Stiles
wrote letter to DR.. Chauncey, saying: "You
nnu oofl
some M ney for US, for we desire to send
missionaries to Africa?'' and Dr. Chauncey
wrote, IF you will let the negroes alone they
Will do well enough; but if you send them
old Hopkins missionaries, it is all over with
them" (Laughter) And we must be careful
against any theory which would imply that if
we leave the heathen to themselves they may
have probation after death; but if we send
missionaries to them then they will depend
upon nothing but the foolishness of our preach
ing. (Applause)
In his missionary life Dr. Hopkins lived OPP
pressed with poverty. He too was often de-
MED the necessities of life; but he was abstem-
1ouS, he was economical, and [ have in nv
possession a letter written by him from the
city OF Salem, wing as he was at that timein
the house OF the pastor who was the predecessor
OF the gentleman who has last addressed us !;
and that venerable old metaphysiciaD, that
stern preacher of the gospel, said in this letter.
Il lind the ministers around Salem and in the
eastern part of Massachusetts are great eaters
and drinkers. They drink cider, and must
say that they are awfully sunken creatures" :"
Uaughter.)
A pupil of DR.. Hopkins was Samuel Spring,
who also lived missionary life. My opinion
isl may differ some from Others-that the
Americ Board of Foreign Mission originat
ed with Samuel Spring 1t is certain hat it
originated with Samuel Spring, and Samuel
Wooster, Whether The one or the other sug-
gested 1t first is OF but little consequence. One
thing is very certain, that Samuel Spring was
the chief agent in instituting the Massachu-
setts Missionary Society, and that society a
foreign missionary society in reality. The oper-
ations OF the American Board mig hit be conducts
cd now under the charter of the Massachusetts
Missionary Society. Why was that society
formed? For the heathen in our own country
as well as for the destitute in our waste places
ought to say also that when DIR. Spring. who
was The father of Andover Theological oemin-
aiy laid the plan for that seminary, he intend
cd that 1t should be missionary institution. 1t
is a remarkable and interesting fact that the
first copy of the constitution of the seminary
was pretaced by an article which DIR. Spring
had previously written In the Massachusetts
missionary Magazine, an appeal for missions
That seminary was designed to be a place for
education of men who should go to the
heather in our own land and to the heathen in
other lands.
1t becomes us to inquire what was the cause
kins and Spring and men of that character
They believe In God, in the greatness of
God, in The su remacy of God, and in the
holiness of Gods law. They believed that
God could not do wrong, that he could not
require of man more than he ought to be
required, that he could not threaten men with
more punishment than they ought to receive
and that he could not inf1ct upon men anv
punishment which they did not deserve and
which they ought to suffer Their confidence
was in the God of justice who in their view
was the Gcd of love. And another idea in
their minds was that man has soul of
grandeur ard majesty that man is free as
God is free. and that there is the great dignity
OF human nature. But the other idea was
that man had destroyed himself, th IT he had
laid himself down in a spiritual grave, and
would never rise from that grave ex-
cept under the influence of the same
power which will seraise the dead at
the last day. Their feeling was feeling OF
dependence on the sovereignty of God They
believed, too, in Jesus Christ and in the great
ness OF His atonement-an atonement which
bonored the law and the distributiye Justice of
God, so that the distributive justice of God is
as honorable as the mercy of God or the grace
OF God. They bowed before the king of kings
and the lord Of lords, as he manifested himself
in Calvary. They bowed before the cross;
their whole sys EN- of theology was saturated
with the theology of the cross of Christ: and
unless we adopt their views of God and of the
atonement of our blessed Lord, unless we
adopt their views of the depravity of man and
bis neeo OF the regenerating influence of the
Holy Spirit, we have reason to fear that we
shalt cut the nerve OF our missionary effort.
and we might as well scuttle our missionary
ships at once as adopt any theology at variance
with this which is the theology of Paul and the
theology of the whole Bible. We must re ,eive,
as they received, the Bible in its main i'm pres
sion, in its main trend. WeEneed not dispute and
haggle with regard to this word or that word,
but the question is what Is the current of the
Bible2 What is the great stream of Biblical
TRUTH And the stream is like a river thai
rushes onward in one direction, and that is,
the man is lost, and our duty is to work for the
present generation; for If the present genera.
ton do not repent at sin and accept the mercy