r holier spirit than Burns,
for the inherited beliefs of New England and the country to which New
England belongs. Let me sweeten these closing paragraphs of an essay not
meaning to hold a word of bitterness with a passage or two from the
lay-preacher who is listened to by a larger congregation than any man who
speaks from the pulpit. Who will not hear his words with comfort and
rejoicing when he speaks of "that larger hope which, secretly cherished
from the times of Origen and Duns Scotus to those of Foster and Maurice,
has found its fitting utterance in the noblest poem of the age?"

It is Tennyson's "In Memoriam" to which he refers, and from which he
quotes four verses, of which this is the last:

"Behold! we know not anything
I can but trust that good shall fall
At last,--far off,--at last, to all,
And every winter change to spring."

If some are disposed to think that the progress of civilization and the
rapidly growing change of opinion renders unnecessary any further effort
to humanize "the Gospel of dread tidings;" if any believe the doctrines
of the Longer and Shorter Catechism of the Westminster divines are so far
obsolete as to require no further handling; if there are any who thank
these subjects have lost their interest for living souls ever since they
themselves have learned to stay at home on Sundays, with their cakes and
ale instead of going to meeting,--not such is Mr. Whittier's opinion,
as we may infer from his recent beautiful poem, "The Minister's
Daughter." It is not science alone that the old Christian pessimism has
got to struggle with, but the instincts of childhood, the affections of
maternity, the intuitions of poets, the contagious humanity of the
philanthropist,--in short, human nature and the advance of civilization.
The pulpit has long helped the world, and is still one of the chief
defences against the dangers that threaten society, and it is worthy now,
as it always has been in its best representation, of all love and honor.
But many of its professed creeds imperatively demand revision, and the
pews which call for it must be listened to, or the preacher will by and
by find himself speaking to a congregation of bodiless echoes by and by
find himself speaking to a congregation of bodiless echoes.

MEDICAL ESSAYS

By Oliver Wendell Holmes

1842-1882

CONTENTS:

I. HOMEOPATHY AND ITS KINDRED DELUSIONS

II. THE CONTAGIOUSNESS OF PUERPERAL FE