PREFACE.
I have collected in these volumes several Speeches, Addresses and occasional Sermons, which I have delivered at various times during the last seven years. Most of them were prepared for some special emergency: only two papers, that on "The Relation of Jesus to his Age and the Ages," and that on "Immortal Life," were written without reference to some such emergency. All of them have been printed before, excepting the sermon "Of General Taylor," and the address on "The American Scholar;" some have been several times reprinted. I do not know that they are worthy of republication in this permanent form, but the leading ideas of these volumes are very dear to me, and are sure to live as long as the human race shall continue. So I have published a small edition, hoping that the truths which I know are contained in these pages will do a service long after the writer, and the occasion of their utterance, have passed off and been forgot. I offer them to whom they may concern.
THEODORE PARKER.
August 24, 1851.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.
I.
The Relation of Jesus to his Age and the Ages.—A
Sermon preached at the Thursday Lecture, in Boston,
December 26, 1844 PAGE [1]
II.
The True Idea of a Christian Church.—A Discourse
at the Installation of Theodore Parker as Minister of the
Twenty-Eighth Congregational Church in Boston, on Sunday,
January 4, 1846 [23]
III.
A Sermon of War.—Preached at the Melodeon, on Sunday,
June 7, 1846 [63]
IV.
A Speech Delivered at the Anti-War Meeting in
Fanueil Hall, February 4, 1847 [113]
V.
A Sermon of the Mexican War.—Preached at the
Melodeon, on Sunday, June 25, 1848 [127]
VI.
A Sermon of the Perishing Classes in Boston.—Preached
at the Melodeon on Sunday, August 30, 1846 [185]
VII.
A Sermon of Merchants.—Preached at the Melodeon,
on Sunday, November 22, 1846 [227]
VIII.
A Sermon of the Dangerous Classes in Society.—Preached
at the Melodeon, on Sunday, January 31, 1847 [279]
IX.
A Sermon of Poverty.—Preached at the Melodeon, on
Sunday, January 14, 1849 [333]
X.
A Sermon of the Moral Condition of Boston.—Preached
at the Melodeon, on Sunday, February 11, 1849 [364]
: