lication of German infidelity to
the Unitarianism of New England.

This celebrated advocate of temperance and freedom was prompted by a
deep and unselfish love of his race. He was descended from a soldier of
the Revolutionary army, and inherited that indomitable will, strong
patriotic impulses, and native talents, which had characterized his
ancestry for several generations. His mental qualities were of a lofty
type. He was a linguist who, in correctness of speech and facility of
acquisition, had few equals on this side of the Atlantic. His eloquence
was stirring and popular, while his pen was facile and fruitful.
Commencing to preach in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, the unusual
character of his pulpit ministrations attracted public attention. On
being invited to Boston, he assumed the pastoral relation over a
newly-formed church, the Twenty-Eighth Congregational Society. In
addition to his sermons, he lectured in all parts of the Northern
States, and found time to write regularly for periodicals, compose
original works, and make translations of German authors with whom his
own theological opinions were in sympathy.

Though often in feeble health, he seldom allowed physical languor to
intermit his work. When threatened with consumption he was induced to
spend some time at Santa Cruz, whence he sailed for Italy. He died at
Florence in the spring of 1860, not having completed his fiftieth year,
and after a pastorate of only fourteen years at the Melodeon. He had
often expressed a desire in earlier life that, like Goethe and Channing,
he might not be deterred from labor by the prospect of immediate death.
Shortly before his decease he addressed to his congregation in Boston a
lengthy letter containing his experience as a minister. He now lies in
the little cemetery outside the walls of Florence; his tombstone, at his
own request, simply recording his name and the dates of his birth and
death. He bequeathed his library, containing over thirteen thousand
volumes, to the Free Library of Boston.

Our chief concern is with Mr. Parker as a theologian. He was a stranger
to moderation in every form. Having conceived certain skeptical views,
he knew no terms strong enough to condemn the whole evangelical scheme.
His chief defects of style are abruptness and occasional vulgarity,
which no man more regretted than their author in his calmer hours. But
there can be no apology for his dealing with serious subjects in that
vein of sarc