which will not give him peace in death or the hope of heaven. There may be principles which will sustain a man through many severe trials, but which will fail him in the near prospect of judgment and eternity. Those must be truly Christian habits of life, on which a man can look back from his death-bed with complacency. Those must be truly Christian principles, which will enable a man to meet death as the messenger of God's love and the herald of immortal life. That must be the genuine armour of God, by which the terrors of the grave are overcome. And when one has gone from us, who maintained to the last moment undisturbed tranquillity, unshaken confidence, unclouded hope, we know that such an one has fought a good fight, has finished a holy course, has kept the true faith. We can safely mark and imitate him as an upright and holy man. The examples of the holy dead are the property not of persons in similar circumstances, of the same age, rank, or profession, but of mankind in general. For it is principles, not the particular manifestations of them, that we are to imitate. The manifestations may vary indefinitely with time, place, and circumstance. But the principles of rectitude and piety are the same for all men everywhere, are indeed the same for the humblest saint on earth and the loftiest archangel in heaven. And, could we trace the progress of the latter from glory to glory, there would be nothing in his example which we could not propose for the imitation of the former. Every created being stands in the two great relations of a creature and a fellow-creature, - a creature of God, and a fellow-creature of all with whom he is connected. From these two relations results the universal law of love,love to God and love to every known creature of God; and all the duties that can be incumbent on a created intelligence are so many forms and expressions of this comprehensive, universal love. Thus adoration, prayer, resignation are forms and expressions of love to God; justice, mercy, forbearance, and the like, forms and expressions of love to fellow-creatures. And all duties, thus resulting from the two great relations which every created being sustains, are common to all God's children; and in the discharge of them. every child of God, whether human or superhuman, and, if human, whether high or low, whether learned or ignorant, whether in public or private life, whether clergyman or lay VOL. XVI. -- N. S. VOL. XI. NO. I. 14 man, may serve as an example to every other. To be sure the external acts of duty to be performed by different classes of men or beings are different; but the duties themselves are the same. Now there is a prevalent mistake with regard to the use to be made of good examples. Some people imagine that, in order to follow the example of any individual, they must see precisely what his external conduct was, and bring theirs into conformity with it. But there is no moral benefit, there may be great guilt, in thus mechanically copying the conduct even of a perfect being; for it may be our duty, not to do precisely the same thing which it was his duty to do. In order to appropriate a good example to our own use, we must make it the subject of an intellectual process, we must analyze it, and then apply it. When we have before us the example of a virtuous and pious man, the first thing is to inquire how he acted. The next question is why he acted thus, what were the principles which led to such and such courses and habits of action. And, when we have ascertained these principles, we have nothing more to do with his conduct, which, if his external circumstances were unlike ours, may have been widely different from what our conduct ought to be. Thus an exemplary and faithful minister of Christ may, even in his official relation and duties, present a profitable example, not only to his brethren in the ministry, but to every private Christian, however humble and limited his sphere of duty. Nor can a sketch of the manifestations of a pure, energetic, and devout spirit ever be otherwise than interesting and useful to every serious reader. We have been led by these considerations to present to the readers of the Christian Examiner a brief sketch of the life and character of the Rev. Dr. Parker, late of Portsmouth, N. H. Nathan Parker was born at Reading, Mass., June 5th, 1782. His father was a farmer, in good, though not affluent circumstances. The son early manifested a perseverance and zeal in the pursuit of learning, to which, rather than to any predetermination of his parents, he was indebted for the advantages of a liberal education. While laboring on his father's farm, he was in the constant habit of rising before the dawn of day, in order to devote an hour or two to undisturbed study. When a boy, he was also distinguished for decision of character, mental energy, and the love of truth. He was beloved and respected by his companions, was the leader in all their sports, possessed great influence over them, and always used his influence for good purposes. There is reason to believe, that at a very early age he became sensible to the claims of Christian duty, and that the foundation. of his subsequent usefulness and worth was laid in youthful piety. He has often been heard to observe, that, since the age of twelve, he had not known what the fear of death was, evidently implying, that at that early age he had learned to take a Christian view of the event of death, and to cherish a Christian's hope in the prospect of it. Dr. Parker was fitted for college at Boxborough, under the charge of the Rev. Mr. Willard. He graduated at Harvard University in 1803; and carried thence a high reputation for industry, talents, and moral worth. His professional studies were conducted partly at the University, but chiefly under the tuition of the Rev. Dr. Bancroft of Worcester, who ever after regarded him with a truly paternal interest and affection. After being licensed to preach, he officiated for two years as Tutor at Bowdoin College, where he was highly esteemed, both as a teacher and a disciplinarian, securing at the same time the entire respect of his coadjutors and the undivided affection of his pupils. He had preached occasionally in and near Brunswick while Tutor; and, when he resigned that office, he devoted himself exclusively to the profession of his choice. On the 14th of September, 1808, he was ordained as Pastor of the South Church and Parish in Portsmouth, which had become vacant nearly three years previously by the decease of the Rev. Dr. Haven. The removal of a Junior Pastor from whom much had been expected, the age and infirmities of the eminent and excellent Senior Pastor, and the long vacancy that followed his decease, had greatly reduced and enfeebled the society; so that, when Dr. Parker assumed the charge of it, it could hardly have been deemed an eligible settlement for a young man of his standing and talents. He entered upon the pastoral office, not as a post of ease or honor, but of arduous duty; and to the fidelity with which he discharged his duty, the almost unprecedented improvement and prosperity of his parish bear ample testimony. Though he found able and efficient counsellors and friends in the family of his pre decessor and among other members of his parish, he at first labored under very great discouragements, was obliged for a long time to perform offices which ordinarily devolve upon lay-brethren; and though in the latter portion of his ministry he had many and valuable coadjutors, yet they were in most instances indebted to him, if not for the will to do good, at least for the knowledge of their capacities of usefulness. But, during the last years of his life, he had every thing that a minister could wish to encourage and gratify him. He saw a new, large, and costly house of worship filled to overflowing with punctual and attentive hearers. He administered the Lord's Supper to a church comprising at least a fourth part of all the individuals connected with his parish, and of course a much larger proportion of its adult members. And in an old meeting-house, purchased for the purpose, from two to three hundred of the lambs of his flock assembled, from Sabbath to Sabbath, under the care of fifty or more intelligent, faithful, and zealous teachers. At the same time, he found much to cherish the belief, that this external prosperity was connected with a general and deep interest in religious truth, and in very many instances with confirmed and glowing piety. Such, through the divine blessing, were the fruits of his ministry; and it deeply concerns his professional brethren to know the means by which he was enabled to effect so much. In attempting to discover the springs of his usefulness, we shall speak first of his public services, then of his conduct as a pastor, and lastly of his private character, the influence of which has been more generally, and must be more permanently beneficial, than the sum total of his official qualifications and labors. The most prominent trait in Dr. Parker's sermons was their practical character. Not that he was a practical preacher in the common sense of the words, which usually denote one who confines himself to trite and time-worn topics, who never says any thing that the most unreasonable man living could gainsay, who, though he may enlighten a fool or reclaim a sinner, might preach for ages without making a wise man wiser, or a good man better. To no man could this character be less applicable than to the subject of the present sketch. He grovelled not upon the earth, to conform himself to unrefined tastes and humble capacities, "But, letting down the golden chain from high, He drew his audience upward to the sky." His sermons, by the manifestations of deep, clear, sound thought which they contained, claimed and rewarded the close attention of the merely and highly intellectual; while, by his simplicity and fervor of style and manner, he reached the hearts and won the affections of the illiterate and lowly. In the choice of his subjects, he took a very wide range. He often selected such topics as we find discussed only in systematic, metaphysical, or ethical treatises; but always made them subservient to instruction in righteousness. Political changes and events of general or local interest gave him opportunities, which he never failed to improve, of impressing deeply the duty of integrity, benevolence, gratitude, or submission. He looked at every subject in a religious point of view; every question was to his mind a question of gospel truth or of Christian duty; every event, an admonition of Providence ; every situation in life, one on which religion would frown or which religion should sanctify; and thus he was able to draw spiritual nutriment for his flock from the most widely diverse sources, even as the bee extracts sweetness from plants of every hue and savour. But his favorite topics were those immediately connected with the mission and character of Christ; and, whatever else might be the nominal subject of discourse, the life and teachings of the Saviour furnished arguments, illustrations, and motives. He knew that "neither philosophy, nor rhetoric, nor speculation could satisfy the soul of man; but Christ the bread of life, Christ the image of God, Christ the hope of glory. Love for the souls of his hearers, a desire to save, improve, and sanctify them, pervaded all his public discourses, and gave them point and power. "Reflect," said he to a junior brother in the ministry, who asked his advice, "reflect, in preparing for the pulpit, that there may be among your hearers some impenitent sinner, who in the sermon you are writing will hear the word of God preached for the last time. Make it your aim in every sermon to say something which might induce such an one to seek salvation or show him how to seek it." "I went home," says the clergyman thus addressed, "and with his advice fresh in my mind, prepared a sermon on the text, Now is the accepted |