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SPEECHES, ADDRESSES,

AND

OCCASIONAL SERMONS,

BY

THEODORE PARKER,

MINISTER OF THE TWENTY-EIGHTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN BOSTON.

IN THREE VOLUMES.

VOL. III.

BOSTON:
HORACE B. FULLER,

(SUCCESSOR TO WALKER, FULLER, AND COMPANY,)

245, WASHINGTON STREET.

1867.


Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by
THEODORE PARKER,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court
of the District of Massachusetts.




CONTENTS OF VOLUME III.


I.

A SPEECH AT A MEETING OF THE CITIZENS OF BOSTON
IN FANEUIL HALL, MARCH 25, 1850, TO CONSIDER THE
SPEECH OF MR. WEBSTER                                 PAGE 1

II.

A SPEECH AT THE NEW ENGLAND ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION
IN BOSTON, MAY 29, 1850                                   38

III.

A DISCOURSE OCCASIONED BY THE DEATH OF THE LATE
PRESIDENT TAYLOR.--Preached at the Melodeon, on
Sunday, July 14, 1850                                     87

IV.

THE FUNCTION AND PLACE OF CONSCIENCE, IN RELATION
TO THE LAWS OF MEN; A SERMON FOR THE
TIMES.--Preached at the Melodeon, on Sunday, September
22, 1850                                                 131

V.

THE STATE OF THE NATION, CONSIDERED IN A SERMON
FOR THANKSGIVING DAY.--Preached at the Melodeon,
November 28, 1850                                        180

VI.

THE CHIEF SINS OF THE PEOPLE.--A Sermon delivered
at the Melodeon, on Fast Day, April 10, 1851             230

VII.

THE THREE CHIEF SAFEGUARDS OF SOCIETY, CONSIDERED
IN A SERMON AT THE MELODEON, on Sunday,
July 6, 1851                                             292

VIII.

THE POSITION AND DUTIES OF THE AMERICAN SCHOLAR.--An
Address delivered at Waterville, August 8, 1849          346




I.

SPEECH AT A MEETING OF THE CITIZENS OF BOSTON, IN FANEUIL HALL, MARCH
25, 1850, TO CONSIDER THE SPEECH OF MR. WEBSTER.


Mr. President and Fellow Citizens: It is an important occasion which has
brought us together. A great crisis has occurred in the affairs of the
United States. There is a great question now before the people. In any
European country west of Russia and east of Spain, it would produce a
revolution, and be settled with gunpowder. It narrowly concerns the
material welfare of the nation. The decision that is made will help
millions of human beings into life, or will hinder and prevent millions
from being born. It will help or hinder the advance of the nation in
wealth for a long time to come. It is a question which involves the
honor of the people. Your honor and my honor are concerned in this
matter, which is presently to be passed upon by the people of the
United States. More than all this, it concerns the morality of the
people. We are presently to do a right deed, or to inflict a great wrong
on others and on ourselves, and thereby entail an evil upon this
continent which will blight and curse it for many an age.

It is a great question, comprising many smaller ones:--Shall we extend
and foster Slavery, or shall we extend and foster Freedom? Slavery, with
its consequences, material, political, intellectual, moral; or Freedom,
with the consequences thereof?

A question so important seldom comes to be decided before any generation
of men. This age is full of great questions, but this of Freedom is the
chief. It is the same question which in other forms comes up in Europe.
This is presently to be decided here in the United States by the
servants of the people, I mean, by the Congress of the nation; in the
name of the people; for the people, if justly decided; against them, if
unjustly. If it were to be left to-morrow to the naked votes of the
majority, I should have no fear. But the public servants of the people
may decide otherwise. The political parties, as such, are not to pass
judgment. It is not a question between whigs and democrats; old party
distinctions, once so sacred and rigidly observed, here vanish out of
sight. The party of Slavery or the party of Freedom is to swallow up all
the other parties. Questions about tariffs and banks can hardly get a
hearing. On the approach of a battle, men do not talk of the weather.

Four great men in the Senate of the United States have given us their
decision; the four