t. 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.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Pages From an Old Volume of Life
by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

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