the memory of Theodore Parker!- not because of his opposition to the supernatural part of Christianity, but in spite of that opposition. It is because of his broad humanity, his generous love of truth, justice, and right. See how such men as Robertson in England, and Beecher in America, guide the hearts and the thoughts of tens of thousands, because they are prophets of this great future, of the day when God and Christ shall be seen to be the friends of all human beings, and reason and revelation be wholly at one! And see the universal expression of esteem and love which has risen from the whole land like a cloud of incense, honoring the heroic and generous soul of our own brother Starr King! The "New-York Independent" forgets that he was a Unitarian and Universalist, and honors him with warm tears of affectionate sorrow. The Democratic papers forget that he was antislavery and Republican, and give the truest and best testimonies to his character and worth. It is because he was a youthful prophet and example of the HOUR WHICH COMETH, AND NOW IS; of the future day of the Church and State; of the religion of reason, justice, humanity; of the Christ who is to come, and is already here. There are those, who, taking a literal view of Scripture, teach that Jesus Christ is coming back to earth in some particular year, in outward form, and in some particular place. No doubt, he is coming. His hour cometh, and now is. He is coming more abundantly, just as he has come already, in a greater inspiration of faith, a greater sense of the nearness of God, a greater love for God and man, a universal outflowing of humanity and brotherhood to all. That is the second coming of Christ, and the only second coming that has any significance or value to us. If he should come outwardly in the sky, with the noise of a trumpet and a great light, that would be only a portent, a wonder, something to excite astonishment, fear, admiration; but it would not make a single man any more of a Christian than he is now. That was the sort of sign which the Jews wanted, and of which Christ said, "An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given them but that of the Prophet Jonah." Jesus comes as his truth comes, as his love comes. He comes with his Father to dwell in us, and we in him. As he comes so, every knee bows. Sin is conquered. The last enemy, death, is overcome. Christ comes to redeem us from the power of all evil. Then heaven cometh, and now is. Then, God's will being done on earth as it is in heaven, heaven begins here. It is here already in its seeds and roots; and we have the foretaste of the world to come, the firstfruits of a higher life, while we are yet dwelling in this. And so, lastly, we realize that death is nothing; that we are already immortal; that the hour of immortal life cometh, and now is. Death ceases to exist to a Christian. He looks forward to the time when he shall fall asleep, and wake again, surrounded by all whom he loves, and who love him; by the spirits of the just made perfect; and shall find the truth of what Plato and Milton said, that what we call life is death, and what we call death is life. For Plato says in a striking passage in his Gorgias, "I should not wonder if Euripides spoke truth when he said, 'Who knows if to live is not really to die, and to die really to live; and that we now are, in reality, dead? Our present existence is perhaps our death, and this body our tomb.' And so Milton says, 66 'Meekly thou didst resign this earthly load Of death, called life, which us from life doth sever." That which Plato and Euripides thought possible, Jesus saw to be real; and so he said, "He who liveth and believeth in me shall never die." So he always called death sleep; so his disciples said that he had abolished, annihilated death; so he took away its terror out of their hearts; and they felt, that though to live was to be with him, yet to die was to gain more than they lost. Thus it is that immortality and heaven are coming, because they are already here. Thus it is that true worship, pure Christianity, humane religion, are sure to come in their full and ripe harvest, because they are already here in their seed and germ. So it is, that the living experience and the deep convictions of the human heart are always a sure word of prophecy of the glory which is to be revealed; and the life which comes now from God and Christ is the promise and assurance of the life which is to come hereafter. II. THE LETTER AND THE SPIRIT. 2 Cor. iii. 6: "WHO ALSO HATH MADE US ABLE MINISTERS OF THE NEW COVENANT: NOT OF THE LETTER, BUT OF THE SPIRIT; FOR THE LETTER KILLETH, BUT THE SPIRIT GIVETH LIFE." Rom. ii. 28, 29: "HE IS NOT A JEW WHICH IS ONE OUTWARDLY: BUT HE IS A JEW WHICH IS ONE INWARDLY; IN THE SPIRIT, AND NOT IN THE LETTER; WHOSE PRAISE IS NOT OF MEN, BUT OF GOD." HE chief distinction between man and man, in THE any pursuit or occupation, is this, — that the one sees the SPIRIT of a thing, and works in that; the other, only the LETTER, and sticks in that. For in every thing there is a spirit and a letter. It is not merely in the Bible, but everywhere. Every thing which exists, exists literally and spiritually; in its form and its essence; in its body and its soul. For example: Suppose a man should undertake to describe a landscape, a scene in the White Mountains, or in the heart of the Mississippi Valley. He might give you the height and position of the mountains; state accurately the size of the trees, and the position of every thing in the foreground, the middle distance, and beyond: but he would not give you any thing, after all, but a number of details. Another man, with a few suggestive words, would place you in the scene itself. You would feel the majestic presence of the mountain, with its varying shades of sombre, dusky green, or its purple tints melting into aerial blue. You would feel the air stirring among the great multitude of leaves, and waking the deep silence of the forest. You would feel the life of the great sycamores, reaching out their white arms over the lazy streams. The one description, though perfectly accurate, would awaken no interest, suggest no picture, and be forgotten in an hour: the other would fill your imagination with the presence of Nature herself; and years after, when it came up to you, you would scarcely know whether it was some place you had heard described, or some place where you had been yourself. The one gave you the letter of the scene; the other, its spirit. I recollect several such descriptions which I read in childhood; and they seem like something I have seen. Some of Walter Scott's descriptions are of that kind. Shakspeare's are all so. Take, for example, his description of a brook: "The current that with gentle murmur glides, Thou know'st, being stopt, impatiently doth rage; He makes sweet music with the enamelled stones, Giving a gentle kiss to every sedge He overtaketh in his pilgrimage: And so, by many winding nooks, he strays, |