Page:The collected works of Theodore Parker volume 7.djvu/173

Rh and Norton, there was a gradual growth of piety; in the days of the Mathers, of Colmon, and Willard, and from that time to this, there has boon a steady improvement of the community, in intellectual, moral, and religious culture. Some men could not see the progress two hundred years ago, because they believed in no piety, except as it was manifested in their conventional forms. It is so now. Mankind advances by the irresistible law of God, under the guidance of a few men of large discourse, who look before and after, but amid the wailing of many who think each advance is a retreat, and every stride a stumble. Now-a-days nobody complains at "the ungodly custom of wearing long hair;" no dandy is dealt with by the church for his dress; the weakest brother is not offended by "regular singing"—so it be regular,—"by organs and the like;" nobody laments at " the reading of Scripture lessons," or "the use of the Lord's Prayer" in public religious services, or is offended because a clergyman makes a prayer at a funeral, and solemnizes a marriage,—though these are "prelatical customs," and were detested by our fathers. Yet, other things, now as much dreaded, and thought "of a bad and dangerous tendency," will one day prove themselves as innocent, though now as much mourned over. Many an old doctrine will fade out, and though some think a star has fallen out of heaven, a new truth will rise up and take its place. It is to be expected that ministers will often complain of "the general decay of religion." The position of a clergyman, fortunate in many things, is unhappy in this : he seldom sees the result of his labours, except in the conventional form mentioned above. The lawyer, the doctor, the merchant and mechanic, the statesman and the farmer, all have visible and palpable results of their work, while the minister can only see that he has baptized men, and admitted them to his church; the visible and quotable tokens of his success are a large audience, respectable and attentive, a thriving Sunday school, or a considerable body of communicants. If these signs fail, or become less than formerly, he thinks he has laboured in vain, that piety is on the decline : for it is only by this form that he commonly tests and measures piety itself. Hence, a sincere and earnest minister, with the limitations which he so easily gets from his profession