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diff --git a/37744.txt b/37744.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0e1a920 --- /dev/null +++ b/37744.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8020 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Recollections and Impressions, by +Octavius Brooks Frothingham + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Recollections and Impressions + 1822-1890 + +Author: Octavius Brooks Frothingham + +Release Date: October 13, 2011 [EBook #37744] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RECOLLECTIONS AND IMPRESSIONS *** + + + + +Produced by Julia Miller, tallforasmurf and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE + + +This etext differs from the original in the following ways. Three minor +typographical errors have been corrected that did not affect the sense +of the text. The oe character is shown as [oe]. + + + + + RECOLLECTIONS AND IMPRESSIONS + + 1822-1890 + + + OCTAVIUS BROOKS FROTHINGHAM + + AUTHOR OF "BOSTON UNITARIANISM, 1820-1850, A STUDY OF THE LIFE + AND WORK OF NATHANIEL LANGDON FROTHINGHAM," + "THE RELIGION OF HUMANITY," ETC., ETC. + + G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS + + NEW YORK LONDON + + 27 WEST TWENTY-THIRD ST. 27 KING WILLIAM ST., STRAND + + The Knickerbocker Press + + 1891 + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1891 BY + OCTAVIUS BROOKS FROTHINGHAM + + The Knickerbocker Press, New York + + Electrotyped, Printed, and Bound by G. P. Putnam's Sons + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + I PARENTAGE 1 + II EDUCATION 19 + III DIVINITY SCHOOL 25 + IV SALEM 35 + V THE CRISIS IN BELIEF 53 + VI JERSEY CITY 65 + VII NEW YORK 76 + VIII WAR 104 + IX THE FREE RELIGIOUS ASSOCIATION 115 + X THE PROGRESS OF RELIGIOUS THOUGHT IN AMERICA 133 + XI THE CLERICAL PROFESSION 146 + XII MY TEACHERS 165 + XIII MY COMPANIONS 190 + XIV MY FRIENDS 225 + XV THE PRESENT SITUATION 248 + XVI THE RELIGIOUS FUTURE OF AMERICA 272 + XVII CONFESSIONS 289 + INDEX 303 + + + + +RECOLLECTIONS AND IMPRESSIONS. + + +I. PARENTAGE. + + +My father was, as I have said elsewhere, a clergyman in Boston, +Massachusetts, a Unitarian minister to the First Church, standing in a +long line of men, of whom the earliest was severely orthodox, while he +abhorred orthodoxy. Yet he was ordained without hesitation, was more +than acceptable to the best minds through a service of thirty-five +years, and continued more and more unorthodox to the end; so gradually +and insensibly did the Puritan tenets disappear one by one until the +shadow of them only remained. We are assured that by 1780 nearly all the +congregational pulpits were filled by Arminians. In 1815, the year of my +father's ordination, they were well domesticated in New England, +Calvinism having lost its hold on the minds of thinking people, and none +but keen-eyed watchers on the tower seeing what course opinion was +taking. How far the tendency towards the moral and practical view of +religion as distinct from the speculative view had gone, is well +illustrated in my father's case. He was a man of excellent education, +one of the best scholars in a distinguished class at Harvard, an +enthusiast for intellectual cultivation, singularly refined in +perception, an acute critic, a careful, precise, elegant writer. His +tastes were pre-eminently literary. This is said in full view of the +fact that he was a learned theologian, a pungent disputant, a zealous +student of biblical researches, a faithful pastor. + +He was essentially a man of letters. His passion was for the Latin +classics. The best edition of Cicero was on his shelves; the finest copy +of Horace graced his book-case. His knowledge of the Greek literature +and language was fair. He was fond of poetry of a stately and romantic +description; was, himself, a poet of a gentle, meditative, spiritual +cast, especially eminent as a composer of hymns written for church +occasions, the dedication of meeting-houses, the consecration of +ministers, many of them of permanent and general value, as both +"liberal" and "orthodox" collections attest; while he has done as much +as any man in his generation to elevate, purify, and console delicate +and serious natures. + +His library of about three thousand volumes was exceedingly +miscellaneous, illustrating the breadth of his interests and the +activity of his mind. There were Bibles of choice editions and in every +tongue. There were biblical commentaries, dictionaries, grammars. The +Church Fathers were well represented. Church history was presented by +its best narrators. But the bulk of the collection was secular. It +contained copies of Addison, Johnson, Bayle, Carlyle, Milton, Bacon, +Dante, Dickens, Emerson, Grote, Shakespeare, Goethe, Schiller, Hugo, +Heeren, Hume, Iriarte, Michelet, Lessing, Kingsley, Macaulay, +Longfellow, Plutarch, Pindar, Pope, Scott, Rousseau, Racine, Rueckert, +Rabelais, Tasso, George Sand, Thucydides, Theocritus, Virgil, Voltaire, +Wieland, Pliny, Wordsworth, Wilkinson, Zschokke, Walt Whitman. They were +very various. They commanded all extremes: Augustine and Anacreon; +Aratus and _Annual Register_; AEschylus and Moliere; Aristotle and +Herrick; Seneca and Horace; Antoninus and Almanacs; Burton and +Boccaccio. There was no pure metaphysics--a compendium or two of +philosophy, a bit of Spinoza, of Kant, of Cousin, of Jouffroy, of +Malebranche, the "Dialogues" of Plato--nothing of Schelling or Hegel. I +find Proclus, and Jamblicus, and Boehme, and dramatic literature in +Greek, Latin, French, German. Here is Burlamaqui on Law, and Erasmus +Darwin, and Godwin's "Memoirs of Mary Wollstonecraft," and the +Hitopadesa, and the "Hymns" of Orpheus, and Palaephatus, together with +many a forgotten book. + +The favorite language next to English was German, then came French, +then Latin, which was pretty well represented in its literature. Dr. +Frothingham was a wide reader, but his finest gift was a power of +penetrating to the heart of an author, a power that was akin to genius. +He called himself a _taster_. But every taster must take into his mouth +some things that are unpleasant, and he did. He nibbled at Heine, but +Heine's philosophy disgusted him. He nibbled at Browning, but Browning's +lack of sensuous music did not satisfy his idea of poetry. His mind, +trained in the old school, could not adapt itself to the new style of +expression. + +He gladly turned his back on doctrines he did not like. He was +spiritually minded, but soberly so, as if to be spiritually minded +belonged to a special temperament; a Christian theist in all respects, +though indifferent to many details of Christian doctrine; an optimist on +principle as well as from instinct, inclined to put the most cheerful +construction on the ways of divine Providence, and to look patiently on +the moral conditions of human life; an unquestioning believer in Christ, +immortality, the need of revelation, the supremacy of the religious and +moral nature, the demand for the steady influence of the spiritual world +to enlighten mankind on the truths of conscience no less than on the +mysteries of faith. He was no seer, gazing on things unseen with the +penetrating, inward eye; no prophet possessed by an overwhelming +conviction of the absolute law; no regenerator believing that men must +be lifted up from the earth by an interior renewal of soul; no reformer +bent on changing the circumstances of society. He was an apostle of air, +sunshine, and the mild, enticing summer shower which covered the wintry +ground with the smiling grass and the sweet-smelling flowers. Reformers, +of whatever school, were not to his taste, partly because their methods +seemed to him violent, but partly also because their primary assumption +that the world was out of joint did not command his sympathy. He could +not think that the established institutions of the age ought to be +subverted, even though they might be improved under enlightened +teaching. Socially he was conservative, although by no means +reactionary; disposed to see the soul of good in things evil, though not +always as studious as one must needs be to "search it out." Rather he +took it for granted, and was often impatient with those who felt keenly +the evil but could not discover the good. + +High-minded he was rather than deep-souled; devout in sentiment, +chivalrously moral in principle and in practice; ideal, poetic, delicate +of sensibility, but not soaring of spirit; certainly not a spiritual +enthusiast, as little a prosaic plodder; no mystic but no disciple of +"common-sense." For the dignity, decency, purity, propriety of the +clerical profession he had great regard, but as much on account of its +social position as on account of its sanctity. It indicated the highest +type of gentlemanliness, the finest style of personal character, a kind +of exquisite courtliness of manhood, humanity of a finished stamp of +elegance; and he resented everything like an admixture of ordinary +philanthropy. It was in his view a descent to enter the arena of strife +even for the purpose of removing an evil. Thence his dislike of +Channing; his disapproval of Pierpont, otherwise a particular favorite +of his; his disagreement with Parker, of whom he was fond. When the +"Miscellanies" were published the writer sent a copy to his friend, who +acknowledged the volume by a letter in which expressions of personal +affection were curiously blended with antipathy towards the class of +speculations with which Mr. Parker was identified. George Ripley and +R. W. Emerson won and held his attachment to the end, but he never +visited Brook Farm, and was deaf to solicitations to join the +Transcendental Club. + +His friends were many and various--Emerson, Ripley, Francis, Hedge, +Bartol, Stetson, Parkman, Longfellow, Felton, Hillard,--the list is +long, for the sunny temper of the man drew all hearts to him and his +warm affectionateness of disposition made him tenacious of good-will. He +was interested in men as individuals not as members of a clique or +party, and was not repelled by differences of opinion where his heart +was engaged. On the whole, his sympathies were with conservatives like +George Ticknor and W. H. Prescott, and the literary spirit mainly kept +him in association with those. Where this spirit was wanting and there +was divergence of sentiment there was no attempt at intimacy. + +Of interest in the denomination, the sect, the party name, he was +absolutely devoid. He never attended the conventions or conferences of +the Unitarian body or spoke in their deliberations. On anniversary week +it was for many years his custom to visit New York, where no +professional responsibility rested upon him, and where he could find +recreations of a purely social kind. But at the "Boston Association" +where he met friends one by one, and could talk half confidentially, +with perfect freedom, in a conversational tone, he delighted to be +present. + +For the rest, he was a man universally respected, admired, and beloved, +mirthful and sportive, more than tolerant of gaiety, as a rule in +excellent spirits, though subject, as such temperaments usually are, to +moods of depression. Without private ambition and utterly destitute of +vanity, his uneventful days were spent among his friends and his books. +The round of clerical duties was even and monotonous; his calling had +few excitements; even poverty had limits, and social iniquity was +manageable in those times when relations were simple. The routine of +parochial service was such as a friendly man of quick sympathies and +ready speech could easily discharge in a few hours of each week, nor was +the transition violent from it to the quiet library, the companionship +of Cicero, Shakespeare, Milton, Walter Scott, Herder, Rueckert. The love +of art, society, literature, was not inconsistent with a love of the +Saviour; and though as a matter of taste he would not have spoken of a +sonata of Beethoven in a sermon, there was nothing in his philosophy to +render secular allusions improper. + +His literary predilections were somewhat at the mercy of his sense of +beauty, as if he had an eye to artistic effect quite as much as to +intellectual justice, as if the firm lines of logical discernment were +blurred by the passion for poetic or scenic grace. Of the two famous +German writers about whom opinions were divided, he greatly preferred +Schiller to Goethe, probably because the former was glorious, ardent, +declamatory. Of the two eminent English novelists whom all the world was +reading, Dickens was his choice far above Thackeray, perhaps for the +reason that Dickens had color and warmth of sentiment, while Thackeray +seemed to him cold, skeptical, and cynical. The flow of eloquence, the +charm of dramatic style made him relish authors as radically unlike as +Carlyle, Ruskin, and Macaulay, rendering him unmindful of qualities in +their cast of thought which he might have disapproved of if less +seductively presented. When a lady objected to Macaulay on the score of +his material ethics, Dr. Frothingham was too much captivated by +Macaulay's manner to criticise his philosophy, and he let the philosophy +go. It sometimes looked as if the way in which things were said was of +more importance in his view than the things themselves; but it was not +so, for he could respond to ideal sentiments when they offered +themselves fairly to his mind, and his moral indignation against an act +of flagrant turpitude was quick and hot. + +With politics, whether speculative or practical, he gave himself small +concern, for in his day politics were hardly an honorable calling. He +belonged to the Whig party, as it was then called, because it comprised +the greater number of educated men--scholars, divines, lawyers, +physicians, judges, and people of consideration from their position in +society. The Republican party in Massachusetts was not formed till his +public life was nearly ended, and we may doubt whether he would in any +case have connected himself with it, for its aims and purposes were +hardly such as he could have gone along with. The well-known sentiment, +ascribed to Wendell Phillips, "Peace if possible, Truth at any rate," he +would in all probability have reversed so as to read, "Truth if +possible, Peace at any rate"; not because the search for truth was +difficult, and peace furnished the most promising conditions for finding +it, but because peace was preferable in itself as being stable and +quiet. He was not a fighter; he disliked the noise of battle; his horror +of anti-slavery agitation, as of all other, was constitutional; and even +if he had been convinced of the slave's degradation, no mode of redress +that was proposed commended itself to his gentle, apprehensive mind. To +him the chief interest of society was enlightenment associated with +refinement; the needed influence was that of education. He was a +delicately organized, sensitive man, fond of repose, happy in his +temperament, in his tastes, in his occupation, in his social position, +in his relationships, in his home. He had his disappointments and +sorrows like other men, but he did not repine. His latter years were +afflicted with total blindness, accompanied by constant distress and +steadily increasing pain; but his friends never failed to find him +cheerful; the companion who ministered to his daily necessities and +culled from books and periodicals the materials for his entertainment, +seldom had reason to complain of his petulance; the visitor could with +difficulty be brought to believe that the man was living in the presence +of death, and was exposed to frightful phantoms due to a slowly +decomposing brain. + +His aesthetic tastes were active, as may be supposed, and would have +been keen if there had been opportunity for cultivating them, and +leisure to pursue them. The pictures that adorned his parlor walls were +not distinguished as works of art, but they were pure in sentiment, they +showed a love of color, and of the highest truth. There was not much +fine painting at that time in America, and what there was required for +its fair appreciation more training and experience than was possessed by +one immersed in the cares of an exacting profession and interested also +in literary pursuits. Mr. Frothingham's artistic taste was, besides, so +much controlled by moral feeling that he could not be critical of form. +Of art for its own sake he had no conception, and could have none, for +that cry which voices the demands of technical execution had not been +raised; but even if it had been he would have felt no sympathy with any +kind of excellence that was not directly associated with the moral +sentiment. + +His taste in music was much like his taste in painting,--that is to say, +it was uneducated and unscientific. To the great music,--that of the +intellect and the soul,--the compositions of the masters, of Bach, +Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, he was indifferent; but the music of the +heart, of feeling, emotion, elevated passion,--the Scotch songs, the +Irish melodies, the English lays, madrigals, glees, was his delight. He +was especially fond of religious airs. The oratorios of "The Creation" +and "The Messiah" he was never tired of hearing. His voice was +melodious, and he was fond of using it. His organist taught him the +principles of his own art, and hours were spent at a parlor-organ in +playing favorite hymn-tunes, the melody of which he sang as he played. +He amused his children by trilling nursery ditties, and joined his boys +as they performed glees from the "Orphean Lyre," sometimes singing with +the heart quite as much as with the understanding. His joyous nature +expressed itself instinctively in song. His whole nervous system +responded to it. He was transported out of himself by sweet strains, and +fairly trembled under the influence of divine harmonies. + +Mr. Frothingham's love of dramatic art amounted to a passion, but the +art must be high as well as pure. Tragedy he did not like. All of the +Shakespearian plays he was critically familiar with, but he loved "The +Tempest" best, as uniting poetry with cheerfulness in fullest measure. +The lines he wrote on the restoration of the Federal Street Theatre +expressed the depth of his interest. A religious society, afterwards the +"Central Church" in Winter Street, was gathered here. Of this kind of +enterprise the poet says: + + More reverence than befits us here to tell, + We yield to courts where sacred honors dwell. + But have not they their places? Have not we? + Has not each liberal province leave to be? + +The "Lecture-Room" he had little respect for, none at all for the +"Variety Show." To every device he wishes a cordial farewell, +exclaiming: + + Restored! Restored! Well known so long a time, + These buried glories rise as in their prime. + Our tastes may change as fickle fashions-fly, + But art is safe: the Drama cannot die. + More than restored! Whate'er the pen since wrought + Of loftiest, sprightliest, here that wealth has brought. + Whate'er the progress of the age has lent + Of purer taste and comelier ornament,-- + To this our temple it transfers its store, + And makes each point shine lovelier than before. + +But the drama must be clean: + + But more yet,--and how much! We claim a praise + The Playhouse knew not in the ancient days. + Own us, ye hearts with moral purpose warm! + Our word Renewal adds the word Reform. + + * * * * * + + Come, friends of Virtue! Share the feast we spread. + It loads no spirits, and it heats no head. + But rouses forth each power of mind and soul + With food ambrosial and its fairy bowl. + + * * * * * + + Hearts are improved by Feeling's play and strife; + Refined amusement humanizes life. + So wrote the Sages, whom the world admired; + So sang the Poets, who the world inspired; + Why in New England's Athens is decried + What old Athenian culture thought its pride? + +Thus Righteousness and Peace are made to kiss each other. Art and +Virtue walk hand in hand. The sole condition is that art shall be +virtuous and that virtue shall be artistic. There was a singular +blending in his mind of the sacred and the secular. Perhaps Matthew +Arnold's definition of religion as "morality touched with emotion" comes +as near expressing Dr. Frothingham's conception as any. There must be +morality; that is cardinal; that lies at the foundation of all systems; +that must be strict and high. But emotion is indispensable also. This +runs into praise, the love of goodness, the worship of the highest. This +imparts warmth, glow, passion, the upward lift that inspires. Morality +alone is cold, emotion alone is apt to be visionary. But the two united +propel the ship, one serving as ballast to keep it steady, and one as +sails to catch the winds of heaven. + +My mother was an example of pure character. She laid no claim whatever +to literary talent. Indeed she had none. I cannot associate her with +books of any special description, but I can always associate her with +goodness, with humility, sincerity, duty, kindness, pity, and +simplicity. Truthfulness was her great virtue, and was saved from +bluntness only by her delicate feeling for others and her inborn +politeness. The severest rebuke I ever received from her was on account +of a sharp arraignment of merchants in a youthful sermon, which to her +seemed presumptuous. Her household cares, the nurture of her children +(she had seven, five sons and two daughters, all of whom she trained +most carefully like a devoted mother), the family visitings, the parish +calls, missions among the poor, occupied the day. She would sit for +hours knitting or sewing, or in an armchair before the coal fire +silently musing. She was quiet, reserved, old-fashioned in her +sentiments, but with a great fund of inward strength, which came out on +emergencies. I shall always remember her ceaseless solicitude for an +unfortunate elder brother of mine who had for years been an anxiety and +a trouble. When he died in early manhood, after nursing him tenderly, +she softly closed his eyes, and preserved the memory of him in her +heart. Her chamber window in the country looked upon his distant grave, +the little white stone over which kept him before her eye who was always +in her thoughts. + +She accepted the existing order of things because it was established, +disliking experiments, however humane, for the reason that they had not +been tested; and if she had misgivings, she kept them to herself not +daring to set up her private feelings in opposition to the will of the +Supreme, the question whether the existing order expressed the will of +the Supreme never being raised by her. + +She was Unitarian, having so been taught, but speculative matters were +out of her reach as well as uncongenial with her sphere. Her faith was +of the heart, and all the reason for it she had to give was an uplifted +life, "unspotted from the world." Of creeds she knew nothing, not that +she was deficient in mind, but because they seemed to her to be affairs +of criticism, with which she had nothing to do. Her concern was with +practical things, and conduct was, with her, more than seven eighths of +life. Even the very mild decoction of theology that was administered +from Sunday to Sunday in Chauncy Place was sometimes too much for her. +She was a practical Christian, if there ever was one. + +Her love of nature was genuine. As a young woman she could distinguish +the colors of a flying bird. When she had a house of her own in the +country, she preferred a spot remote from the world of society; went +there as early as possible in the spring, and stayed as late in the +autumn as she could. She delighted in the place; loved the air, the +trees, the smell of the ground. She enjoyed her garden; liked to see +plants grow. Every morning after breakfast she went out to inspect the +grounds, and came back laden with modest flowers; in the fall with pine +cones, the flame of which she enjoyed. On her last evening, quite +unaware of her coming end, she sat on the piazza, and looked at the +sunset, wrapped in shawls, though it was midsummer, for she was weak and +emaciated but patiently tranquil. + +Her habits were simple, not from parsimony but from taste. She cared +nothing for decoration or display. She spent no more than was necessary +on dress or furniture. She was fond of old-fashioned, solid things. In +the midst of abundance, her appetite was for plain food, yet she was no +ascetic or prude, but a largehearted, sensible woman, sober and serious +but genial too. + +Browning makes Paracelsus say: + + 'T is only when they spring to heaven that angels + Reveal themselves to you; they sit all day + Beside you, and lie down at night by you,-- + Who care not for their presence,--muse or sleep, + And all at once they leave you and you know them. + +This is in a measure true. Death is a great revealer. Unfortunately it +is a great deceiver also, putting wings on very earthly bodies. But in +this instance, the qualities were all there in the living form, and all +clearly visible to those who sat all day beside my mother. Death did but +brush away a little film that hung before distant eyes. + +Until near middle life I had the example and advice of these dear +spirits. It is my privilege to have their blood in my veins. That was my +best endowment, and kept me always hopeful of a better future in the +time to come. The dream of a nobler age for literature, art, science, +humanity, came directly from my father. The desire to do something to +make the dream an actual fact, to prove myself as of some service in the +world, came from my mother. His was the love of intellectual liberty. +Hers was the passion for practical accomplishments. He was a scholar. +She was a worker. + +Both had thoughts deeper than they could express. Both were utterly +sincere in their calling, and the limitations of their age alone +confined their advance. The times were quiet then; the world was small +and disconnected; Boston was a little place and shut off even from +American cities by difficulties of travel and by exorbitant rates of +postage. Thus responsibility was mainly confined to individuals. There +were no wearing duties; no perplexing cares; even railroad disturbances +did not worry, for there was no railroad speculation, and no railroad +system. Hours were early, dinner was at two or half-past, tea at six or +seven, the evening ended at ten, and was spent with books, melodious +music, or playful games of amusement, not of instruction. There were few +social gatherings; balls were very rare, seldom lasting later than +eleven o'clock. There was an occasional concert, and here and there a +theatre, but there were no great dinner parties. Social problems were +exceedingly simple; the classes were divided by lines that nobody +attempted to pass over. Socialism was unborn, and labor agitations were +unknown. In a word, there was such a thing as leisure, and this was used +chiefly for the cultivation of the mind. + +My father was greatly interested in the education of his boys; watched +all their attainments; taught them French; encouraged their learning how +to box, and fence, and swim; while my mother shed an atmosphere of peace +over the whole household. She made one joke only, as far as my memory +serves me,--and I mention it here lest any one should suppose there was +a lack of sunshine in her nature. My father was very fond of "voeslauer," +an Austrian red wine. When the last bottle was produced my mother, said +archly, "your _face_ will _lower_ when it is all drunk up." It was not +much of a joke, but a small jest will show the spirit of fun quite as +well as a large one. + +There was a singular combination of aspiration with peace at that time. +Probably there is as much aspiration now as there was then, perhaps +more; but it is associated with social reform rather than with personal +perfection; there is peace, too, at the present day, but it is harder to +get at and needs to be sought most often in private homes; the inward +peace is found in all periods. + +How the principles then formed would bear the strain of a later age or +a larger sphere remained to be proved. Fifty years ago the modern era +with its complications and perplexities could not even be suspected. The +foundations alone could then be laid. + + + + +II. EDUCATION. + + +Of the primary schools it is unnecessary to speak. They were of the same +kind that were established in Boston at that period. Indeed I can +recollect but two, one, a child's school of boys and girls, kept by a +Miss Scott, at the corner of Mt. Vernon Street and Hancock; the other a +boys' school kept by a Mr. Capen, a poor hump-backed cripple who could +not get out of his chair, but wheeled himself about the room, and kept +on his table a cowhide, which was pretty generously exercised. The +school was on Bedford Street behind the "Church of Church Green." A +little alley-way ran along in the rear of the church through which I +used to go to the school-house. + +The Latin School was an old institution brought hither by Rev. John +Cotton, who remembered the Free Grammar School founded in Lincolnshire, +England, by Queen Mary, in which Latin and Greek were taught. It was +established here, in 1635, five years after the landing of Winthrop, two +or three years before Harvard College. When I was there, it stood on +School Street, opposite the Franklin statue. It had a granite front and +a cupola. The head-master was Charles K. Dillaway, an excellent scholar, +a faithful teacher, an agreeable man. He had to resign in consequence of +ill-health. The tutors were Henry W. Torrey and Francis Gardner, who +afterwards became head-master. Both were pupils of the school. Mr. +Frederick P. Leverett, author of the Latin Lexicon, was chosen to +succeed Mr. Dillaway, but died before assuming the office. The next +head-master, during my course, was Epes Sargent Dixwell, a most +accomplished man, an elegant scholar, a gentleman of the world, very +much interested, as I remember, in the plastic art of Greece. He is +still living, and amuses himself by writing Greek. Mr. Dixwell held +office till 1851, when he established a private school. The discipline +of the Latin School was strict but mild. Corporal punishment was the +unquestioned rule, but it was never harshly administered, though the +knowledge that it might be undoubtedly did a good deal toward +stimulating the ambition of the scholars. Here and there no doubt a boy +exasperated the teacher by idleness or disorder; possibly at moments the +teacher was nervous and irritable. I recollect a single instance in +which he was over-sensitive, too prone to take offence, which fastened +suspiciously upon some individual scholar; but injustice was a very rare +occurrence. We learned Greek and Latin, the rudiments of algebra, +writing and declamation; but the best part of the education I received +in those days was an atmosphere of elegant literature, derived from +friends of my father. I used to see William H. Prescott taking his walk +on Beacon Street, in the sun, and have often sat in his study in his +tranquil hours, and heard him talk. The beautiful library of George +Ticknor, at the head of Park Street, was open to me, and I can see his +form now as he walked on the Common. George S. Hillard, the elegant man +of letters, was a familiar figure on the street. Charles Sumner, then a +young law student, strode vigorously along, his manner even then +suggesting the advent of a new era. + +In 1846, I listened to his oration before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of +Harvard University on the Scholar [Pickering]; the Jurist [Story]; the +Artist [Allston]; the Philanthropist [Channing]; and his bold +declamation was strangely in contrast with the academical gown that he +wore. Daniel Webster used to stalk by our house, the embodiment of the +Constitution, the incarnation of law, the black locomotive of the train +of civilization. Ralph Waldo Emerson often sat at my father's table +diffusing the radiance of serene ideas, and heralding the diviner age +that was to come. + +From the Latin School to Harvard College was an easy transition. There +existed an impression that Latin-School boys might take their ease for +the first year at Cambridge, because they were so well prepared, but I +found enough to do; there was the great library, there were the advanced +studies, there was the more perfect training. The President was Josiah +Quincy, the elder. Henry W. Longfellow was professor of modern +languages; Cornelius C. Felton, the ardent philhellene, taught Greek; +Charles Beck, a German, taught Latin; Benjamin Peirce was professor of +mathematics; James Walker was an instructor in intellectual and moral +philosophy; Joseph Lovering, teacher in chemistry. Among the tutors were +Bernard Roelker, in German; Pietro Bachi, in Italian; Francisco Sales, +in Spanish. + +The new buildings now in the college yard were not erected; Holworthy +(1812), Stoughton (1804-1805), Hollis (1763), Harvard (1766), Holden +(1734), Massachusetts Hall (1720), University Hall (1812-1813) were in +existence. There were no athletics; there was no gymnasium; there was no +boating; there was little base-ball. There were few literary societies; +so that we were driven back mainly upon intellectual labor. The +professors' houses were always open, and there was choice society in the +town. I recollect particularly well going to the house of John White +Webster, who was executed later for the murder of Dr. Parkman. He was +very fond of music and had a daughter who sang finely, besides being +handsome. She afterwards married Mr. Dabney, of Fayal. The Doctor was a +nervous man, high strung, but good-natured and polite. His fatal +encounter with Dr. Parkman I always attributed to a sudden outbreak of +passion. + +Within the grounds of the college we were quite studious, companionable +among ourselves. There was no rioting, no excess of any kind. Walking +and swimming in the river Charles were our chief recreations. Connection +with Boston was infrequent and difficult, as there was no railroad. The +Sundays could be passed in the city if the student brought a certificate +that he went regularly to church; otherwise it was expected that the +First Church, or one of the others, should be frequented. The +instruction was of a cordial, friendly, courteous, and humane kind; the +professors were enthusiastic students in their departments. I well +recollect Professor Longfellow's kindness; Professor Felton's ardor (I +visited Pompeii with him in 1853). Charles Beck was a burning patriot in +the war. Pietro Bachi's great eyes lighted up and glowed as he talked +about Dante. Bernard Roelker afterwards became a lawyer in New York. +Charles Wheeler and Robert Bartlett, tutors, both rare spirits, died +young. On the whole, life at Harvard College was exceedingly pleasant, +and a real love of learning was implanted in young men's bosoms. + +The corner-stone of Gore Hall was laid in 1813. The books were moved +into the library in the summer vacation of 1814. There were forty-one +thousand volumes at that time. + +In the early part of my career, I took my meals in Commons, at an +expense of two dollars and a quarter a week, the highest price then +paid. Commons was abolished for a time in 1849, it being found difficult +to satisfy the students, who for some years had boarded in the houses in +the neighborhood. + +There were excitements too. Though there was no gymnasium, or boating, +and little foot-ball, base-ball, or cricket (these games were all very +simple and rudimentary), there were the clubs, the "[Greek: Alpha Delta +Phi]," still a secret society, and occupying a back upper room, to which +we mounted by stealth,--the same room serving for initiations and +sociables,--was exceedingly interesting in a literary point of view. +There were papers on Scott, Byron, Wordsworth, delightful conversations, +anecdotes, songs. + +The "Institute of 1770" taught us elocution, and readiness in debate; +the "[Greek: Phi Beta Kappa]," no longer a secret society, and no longer +actively literary, hung over us like a star, stimulating ambition and +inciting us to excellence in scholarship. + +Altogether it was a delightful life; a life between boyhood and +manhood; of purely literary ambition, of natural friendship. There was +no distinction of persons, no affected pride. We found our own level, +and kept our own place. Money did not distinguish or family, only +brains. There was no care but for intellectual work; there was no excess +save in study. Expenses were small, indulgences were few and simple. The +education was more suited to those times than to these, when culture +must be so much broader, and social expectations demand such varied +accomplishments. + + + + +III. DIVINITY SCHOOL. + + +To enter at once the Divinity School was to start on a predestined +career. From childhood I was marked out for a clergyman. This was taken +for granted in all places and conversations, and my own thoughts fell +habitually into that groove. There was nothing unattractive in the +professional career as illustrated by my father. I was the only one of a +large family of brothers who pursued the full course of studies at +Cambridge, or who showed a taste for the scholastic life. An appetite +for books rather than for affairs pointed first of all to a literary +calling, while a fondness for speculative questions, a leaning towards +ideal subjects, and a serious turn of mind naturally suggested at that +time the pulpit. An inward "experience of religion," which in some other +communions was regarded as essential to the character of a minister of +the gospel, was not demanded. Religion was rather moral and intellectual +than spiritual, a matter of mental conviction more than of emotional +feeling. The clerical profession stood very high, higher than any of the +three "learned professions," by reason of its requiring in larger +measure a tendency towards abstract thought, an interest in theological +discussions, and a steady belief in doctrines that concerned the soul. +Literature was not at that period a profession; there was no Art to +speak of except for genius of the first order like that of Allston or +Greenough. Men of the highest intellectual rank, whatever they may have +become afterwards, tried the ministry at the start. The traditions of +New England favored the ministerial calling. The great names, with here +and there an exception, were names of divines. The great books were on +subjects of religion; the popular interest centred in theological +controversy; the general enthusiasm was aroused by preachers; the +current talk was about sermons. The clergy was a privileged class, +aristocratic, exalted. + +Divinity Hall had been dedicated in August, 1826. It was situated on an +avenue about a quarter of a mile from the college yard. It contained, +besides thirty-seven chambers for the accommodation of students, a +chapel, a library, a lecture-room, and a reading-room; it stood opposite +the Zooelogical Museum. Before it was a vacant space used for games. +Behind it was meadow land reaching all the way to Mr. Norton's. Just +beyond it was Dr. Palfrey's residence. George Rapall Noyes, D.D., was +elected in May, 1840, with the title of "Hancock Professor of Hebrew and +Oriental Languages, and Dexter Lecturer on Biblical Literature." He had +already translated the poetical books of the Old Testament, and it was +his eminence as a translator which had won him fame while a minister at +Petersham. It was his duty also to explain the New Testament, and in +addition to give lectures in systematic theology. Besides all this he +was to preach in the college chapel a fourth of the year. He steadily +grew in the respect and attachment of the young men; his authority in +the lecture-room was very great; his opinions were carefully formed and +precisely delivered; and his shrewd, practical wisdom was long +remembered by his pupils. Convers Francis, D.D., appointed to the +"Parkman Professorship," after the resignation of Henry Ware, Jr., was +his associate. The branches assigned to him were ecclesiastical history, +natural theology, ethics, the composition of sermons, and instruction in +the duties of a pastor; besides all this he was to preach half of the +time in the college chapel. Dr. Francis was an accomplished scholar and +a faithful teacher. The best man, too, for his position, at a time when +in an unsectarian school it was exceedingly desirable that the +professors should harmonize all tendencies; for with a strong sympathy +with "transcendentalism," as it was then called, he had been a most +successful parish minister, a very acceptable preacher, and a man in +whom all the churches had confidence. + +At Cambridge, owing to the influence of Buckminster, Ware, and Norton, +Unitarian opinion prevailed, though the controversial period had passed +by when I was there. The clouds of warfare no longer discharged +lightning; there was no roll of thunder; only a faint muttering betrayed +the former excitement; and the memory of old conflicts hovered round the +spots where the fights had been hottest. Marks of strife were still +visible on texts, and chapters were scarred with wounds. Comment still +lingered near the passages where polemics had raged, and the blood +burned as we read the tracts or studied the essays of the champions we +admired. + +It was impossible to forget the interpretations that had been given to +words or phrases. A strictly scientific study, either of the Bible or +the creed, was therefore out of the question. But the course of +exercises was broad, generous, inclusive, as far as this was feasible. +The bias was decidedly unorthodox, yet without the bitter temper of +opposition. The old system was rather set aside than attacked. It was +assumed to have been vanquished in the fair field. The professors were +liberal in their views. A small but serviceable library furnished the +students with a certain amount of needed material, the college library +was freely opened to them, and the collections of the professors were +gladly placed at their disposal. The days were fully occupied with +lectures, recitations, discussions, exercises in writing out and taking +of notes. Once a week there was a debate on some general theme not +connected with the topics of the class-room; and at the latter part of +the course there was special training in the composition and delivery of +sermons, accompanied by a brief experience of extemporaneous speaking. +The Unitarian ministry was alone contemplated; no wide divergence from +it was encouraged, and the conservative methods of interpretation were +the ones recommended. Some knowledge of Greek and Latin being +presupposed, the study of Hebrew was made the one study of language, and +this was pursued with the best available helps. Biblical criticism +naturally took a prominent place in the current curriculum, under the +guidance of the most distinguished authorities; books of every school +were recommended, whether old or new, Catholic or Protestant, +"conservative" or "liberal," Horne, Tholuck, De Wette being consulted in +turn. The New Testament and "Historical Christianity" were taken for +granted; and these meant belief in miracles, which were defended against +rising objections of the Strauss and Paulus schools, the former holding +by the "mythical" theory, the latter favoring the notion of a natural +explanation of some sort. The hostility towards rationalism was decided. +This was forty years ago, before the "historical method," as it was +called, instituted by Baur, Schwegler, Zeller, Sneckenburger, and the +_Theologische Jahrbuecher_, had any expositor in this country, long +before the Dutch school, the later French school--Kuenen, Reville, +Reuss, Nicolas, Renan,--came out. The great issue was the credibility of +the miracles of the Old and New Testaments. The half-monastic life we +led at Divinity Hall cut us off a good deal from social amenities, +reform agitations, attempts to change institutions, and even from the +deeper currents of religious sentiment. None but the very observant took +note of Brook Farm, or heeded the movements in behalf of Association +that were going on in other communities. Whatever was outside of the +"Christian" ministry concerned us but little. The professors did not +direct our eyes to the mountain tops or call attention to the bringers +of good tidings from other quarters than the Christian Revelation, as +explained by its scholars and writers. Even such a phenomenon as Emerson +did not make a profound impression on the average mind. + +A tone of old-fashioned piety pervaded the establishment. A weekly +prayer-meeting, always attended by one of the professors, though +officially rather than as a stimulator, was much in the manner and +spirit of similar exercises at Andover. The students were cautioned +against excessive intellectualism. Several of them spent their Sundays +in teaching classes of the young in the neighboring towns, in +ministering to the sick in hospitals, or in carrying the monitions of +conscience to the criminals in the prison at Charlestown. The aims of a +practical ministry were thus kept in view as well as the circumstances +of the time permitted. Of course the school could not be a philanthropic +institution any more than it could be independent or scientific. It was +committed to a special purpose, which was the supply of Christian +pulpits with instructed, earnest, devoted men. That they should be +Unitarians was expected; that they should be Christians in belief was +demanded. There were two ever-present spectres, "orthodoxy" and +"rationalism," the one represented by Andover, the other by Germany. +Audacity of speculation when unaccompanied by practical piety was +discountenanced, and in flagrant instances rebuked. + +The literal form of the orthodox creed, it need hardly be said, was made +more prominent than its imaginative aspect. This was inevitable, for the +object was to assail it rather than to understand it. To be perfectly +fair to all sides was, under the circumstances, not to be expected at a +period so near the era of controversy. An earnest, ingenuous youth could +find at Cambridge all the courage and impulse he needed, for the +atmosphere of the place was neither chilling nor depressing. The less +emotional, more intellectual scholar was left to pursue his studies +undisturbed, the wind of spiritual feeling not being strong enough to +carry him away. + +In a word, the institution was all that could have been looked for in a +time when ecclesiastical and doctrinal traditions were fatally though +not confessedly broken, and naked individualism was not avowedly +adopted. The task of the professors, conscientious, hard working, +utterly faithful men, was laborious, difficult, and thankless. The +Unitarian public, fearing a tendency to unbelief, gave them a grudging +confidence; the students, I am afraid, were not considerate of +them,--the zealous finding them lukewarm, the cold-blooded blaming them +for stopping short of the last consequences of their own theory. It is +wonderful that the school went on at all. The single-minded devotion of +the teachers alone preserved it. Looking thoughtfully back across a wide +gulf of years, the writer of these pages feels that he owes this tribute +to Convers Francis and George R. Noyes. How often he has wished he could +take them by the hand and ask their forgiveness for his frequent +misjudgment of them, misjudgment the remembrance of which makes his +heart bleed the more as he can only think of their generous forbearance. +Their influence was emancipating and stimulating. They were friendly to +thought. Under their ministration the mind took a leap forward towards +the confines of the Christian system of faith. What the divinity school +of the future may be able to accomplish it would be hazardous to +conjecture. It could hardly then have done more than it did. + +The study of comparative religions, so zealously prosecuted within a +few years, together with a desire to do perfect justice to orthodox +doctrines, may render practical a scientific review of theological +systems, but in this event a predilection in favor of a separate +"Christian" ministry can be no longer characteristic of a divinity +school which proposes to prepare young men for the clerical calling. + +The three years of secluded life passed quickly away. The trial sermon +in the village church was delivered and criticised. The President of the +college then was Edward Everett, my uncle. The next morning I went to +his office; he spoke warmly of my sermon, but advised me henceforth to +commit sermons to memory as he did. This I tried two or three times, but +the effort to write the sermons so fatigued me that the task of +committing them to memory was too great, and for years I wrote my +discourses, until for convenience' sake I learned to preach without +notes. The diploma was bestowed, the actual ministry was begun. The term +of preaching as a candidate did not last long. By the advice of friends +an invitation was accepted to an old established conservative parish in +Salem, Mass. Ordination and marriage soon followed, and public life was +inaugurated under the most promising conditions. I had the best wishes +of the conservative portion of the community to which I was, properly, +supposed to belong, and the hopes of the radical portion who anticipated +a change of view as time went on, and I was brought into sharper +collision with prevailing habits of thought than was possible at +Cambridge, where the student was in a great measure cut off from +intercourse with the world. + +At the "Divinity School" I was known as a young man with conservative +ideas. I remember now discussions, essays, criticisms, in which the +opinions in vogue among old-fashioned Unitarians were defended somewhat +passionately against the more daring convictions of my companions. In +especial my faith was in direct opposition to the spiritual philosophy; +Strauss was a horror; Parker was a bugbear; Furness seemed an innovator; +Emerson was a "Transcendentalist," a term of immeasurable reproach. All +this was soon to pass away, and I was to go a great deal beyond even +Parker. The word "Transcendentalist" ceased to be a synonym for +"enthusiast." The philosophy of intuition was first literally adopted, +then dismissed, and I came out where I least expected. But I well +remember, one evening as I was walking out from Boston, presenting to +myself distinctly the alternative between the adoption of the old and +the new. I am afraid that the old commended itself by its venerableness, +the solidity of its traditions, and the authority of its great names, +while the new was still vague and formless. I then and there decided to +follow in the footsteps of my fathers, a course more in sympathy with +the prevailing temper of the age and with the current of thought at +Divinity Hall, though Emerson had delivered his address some years +before, and the New Jerusalem was even then coming down from heaven. + + + + +IV. SALEM. + + +Old Salem was a city of the imagination. History does it no justice. +The "Essex Institute," founded in 1848, by the union of the "Essex +County Historical Society" and the "Essex County Natural History +Society," has a very fine collection of books, pamphlets, manuscripts, +an invaluable museum, relics, pictures, so that in no locality in the +country has so much been accomplished in exhuming the treasures of +municipal and civil history, and in bringing to light antiquities. +Hurd's "History of Essex County," published in 1888, with its monographs +on commerce, religion, literature, newspapers, etc., written by +thoroughly competent men, throws a flood of light on the past of the +place. Mr. Upham's "Memoir of Francis Peabody," published in 1868, gives +an admirable account of the literary eminence of the old town. Colonel +Higginson's article in _Harper's Monthly_ on "Old Salem's Sea Captains," +published in September, 1886, gives something of its romantic character. +But best of all as illustrating this feature are the articles written by +"Eleanor Putnam" (Mrs. Arlo Bates), and republished after her death +under the title of "Old Salem," in 1887. She was about thirty years old +when she died; but if she had lived she would have presented the old +city in its quaintest aspect. Her love of antiquarian research, her +taste, her devotion to Salem qualified her in an eminent degree for her +self-appointed task. + +There can hardly be a doubt that the origins of the town were +religious; that a religious purpose, deep though undefined and +undeclared, animated the emigrants before Winthrop. The very name, +Salem, the Hebrew for peacefulness, instead of "Naumkeag" (the old +Indian name), adopted in 1628, to commemorate the reconciliation between +the company of Roger Conant and that of John Endicott, was already +suggestive of spiritual qualities. Eminent forms loom up in the +distance: Francis Higginson, the first minister of Massachusetts Bay; +Roger Williams, whose name is identified with "soul freedom"; Hugh +Peters, his opponent. John Endicott was a most imposing figure; hasty, +rash, choleric (as was shown by his striking a man in early life), +imperious, but brave and bold. He was a stern Puritan, hating popery so +much that he cut out the image of the king from the English banner, +because it was an image, while at the same time he persecuted the +Quakers, because they advocated obedience to the "inner light" and were +disturbers of the established peace. But he had sweeter +qualities--gentleness, generosity, and kindness. An old scripture +(Ecclesiasticus xi., 28) says: "Judge none blessed before his death; for +a man shall be known in his children." The descendants of John Endicott +are graceful, elegant, refined people, lovely in manners, gentle in +disposition. The root of these qualities must have been in the +forefather two centuries and a half ago. The intellectual history of the +city is very illustrious and began early. A strong intellectual bent +characterized the early settlers, who were persons of inquisitive minds, +addicted to experiments and enterprises, exceedingly ingenious. Near the +middle of the last century there was in existence in Salem a social +evening club, composed of eminent cultivated and accomplished citizens. +On the evening of Monday, March 31, 1760, a meeting was held at the +Tavern House of a Mrs. Pratt for the purpose of "founding in the town of +Salem a handsome library of valuable books, apprehending the same may be +of considerable use and benefit under proper regulations." The books +imported, given, or bought, amounted to four hundred and fifteen +volumes. This society, which may be regarded as the foundation of all +the institutions and agencies established in this place to promote +intellectual culture, was incorporated in 1797. In 1766, the famous +Count Rumford was an apprentice here. In 1781, Richard Kirwan, LL.D., of +Dublin, an eminent philosopher of the period, had a valuable library in +a vessel which was captured by an American private armed ship and +brought into Beverly as a prize. The books were given by Dr. Kirwan, who +would accept no gratuity and was delighted that his volumes were put to +so good a use. The books were sold to an association of gentlemen in +Salem and its neighborhood, and formed the "Philosophical Library." This +and the "Social Library" were afterwards consolidated into the "Salem +Athenaeum," which was incorporated in March, 1810. + +Among the distinguished men were William H. Prescott, Benjamin Peirce, +Nathaniel Hawthorne, John Lewis Russell, Charles Grafton Page, and Jones +Very. Here lived Edward Augustus Holyoke, president of the Massachusetts +Medical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; Timothy +Pickering, Rev. John Prince, Rev. William Bentley, Nathaniel Bowditch, +author of the "Practical Navigator" and translator of the "Mecanique +Celeste"; John Pickering, Joseph Story, of the Supreme Bench; Daniel +Appleton White, Leverett Saltonstall, Benjamin Merrill, and many another +man of accomplishments and learning. Even the uneducated, and those +engaged in the common occupations of everyday life, gratified their love +of knowledge, and followed up, for their private enjoyment, researches +in intellectual and philosophical spheres; apothecaries and retail +shopkeepers distinguished themselves as writers; one of them--Isaac +Newhall by name--was reputed the author of the famous "Junius Letters," +thus enjoying companionship with Burke, Gibbon, Grattan, Camden, +Chatham, Chesterfield, and other distinguished writers. + +Its commercial history was exceedingly brilliant. In its palmy days it +had more trade with the East Indies than all the other American ports +put together. Its situation by the sea encouraged maritime adventure. +From its very infancy its inhabitants sent vessels across the Atlantic +of forty to sixty tons, and followed up the trade with Spain, France, +Italy, and the West India Islands. In the war of the Revolution it sent +out one hundred and fifty-eight armed ships, mounting at least two +thousand guns, and carrying not less than six thousand men. In 1785, +Salem sent out the first vessel to the Isle of France, Calcutta, and +China; she began also the trade to the other ports of the East Indies +and Japan; to Madagascar and Zanzibar, Brazil and Africa. In the south +seas, Salem ships first visited the Fiji Islands; they first opened up +to our commerce New Holland and New Zealand. In the war of 1812 she had +two hundred and fifty privateers. When the war was over, these vessels +were engaged in the merchant service. Mr. E. H. Derby, one of the great +merchants, said to be the richest man in America, sent out thirty-seven +vessels in fourteen years, making a hundred and twenty voyages. The +names of the great merchants, E. H. Derby, N. Silsbee, William Gray, +Peabody, Crowningshield, Pickman, Cleveland, Cabot, Higginson, are of +universal celebrity. Then Derby Street was alive with sea-captains, the +custom-house was active, the tall warehouses were full of treasures, the +great East Indiamen fairly made the air fragrant as they unloaded their +merchandise. To quote the language of "Eleanor Putnam": "There was +poetry in the names of the vessels--the ship _Lotus_, the _Black +Warrior_, the brig _Persia_, the _Light Horse_, the _Three Friends_, and +the great _Grand Turk_. There was, too, a charm about the cargoes. They +were no common-place bales of merchandise, but were suggestive in their +very names of the sweet, strange odors of the East, from which they +came. There was food for the imagination in the mention of those +ship-loads of gum copal from Madagascar and Zanzibar; of hemp and iron +from Russia; of Bombay cotton; of ginger, pepper, coffee, and sugar from +India; of teas, silks, and nankeens from China; salt from Cadiz; and +fruits from the ports of the Mediterranean." + +Miss Putnam speaks of the gorgeous fans, the carved ivory, the blue +Canton china, the generous tea-cups, the tureens, the heavy tankards, +the Delft jars, the ancient candle-sticks, the heavy punch bowls, the +strange beads, suggestive of the Hindoo rites, Nautch dances, and women +with dusky throats. Then the very air was weighty with romantic +adventures. We read with awe of cashmere shawls hanging on clothes +lines, of jars full of silver coin, of the gilded fishes on the side of +each stair, of the grand staircase in the front hall of Mr. Pickman's +house on Essex Street, of logs of sandal-wood. The museum of the East +India Marine Society contains sceptres from the Fiji Islands; a musical +instrument from New South Wales, another from Borneo; a carved statue of +a rich Persian merchant of Bombay; an alabaster figure of a Chinese Jos; +a copper idol from Java; a mirror from Japan; fans from Maraba, the +Marquesas Islands, Calcutta; cloth from Otaheite; an earthen patera from +Herculaneum; two dresses of women from the Pelew Islands; sandal-wood +from the Sandwich Islands; a parasol from Calcutta; nutmegs from +Cayenne; thirty-six specimens of Italian marble; cement from the palace +of the Caesars at Rome; white marble from Carthage; porphyry from Italy; +beads worn by the Pundits and Fakirs in India; a glass cup from Owyhee; +Verde Antico from Sicily; sandal-wood tapers from China; wood images of +mummies from Thebes; a silver box from Soo-Soo; porphyry from +Madagascar; a piece of mosaic from ancient Carthage; silk cocoons from +India; marble from the temple of Minerva at Athens; piece of pavement +from the site of ancient Troy; and polished jasper from Siberia. + +When I was in Salem, from 1847 to 1855, this splendor had departed. +Derby Street was deserted, the great warehouses were tenements for +laborers. Hawthorne has described the custom-house in his famous preface +to the "Scarlet Letter." The sailors had disappeared; the commerce, +owing mainly to the shallowness of the water in the harbor, had gone to +Boston and New York. But traces of the old glory still lingered. Here +and there a great merchant was seen on the streets. Some of the old +houses remained: the Pickering House on Broad Street, built in 1651; the +Turner House; Roger Williams' house, at the corner of Essex and North +Streets, built before 1634; and Mr. Forrester's house. + +As the chairman of the Salem Lyceum, it was my privilege to entertain +such men as R. W. Emerson, George W. Curtis and others. Thomas Starr +King, when he lectured in Danvers, drove over to my house, and spent the +rest of the evening. Nathaniel Hawthorne I used to meet frequently on +the street. I often saw Mrs. Hawthorne leading her children by the hand. +Mr. Hawthorne, who was in Salem from 1846 to 1849, was remarkable for +his shyness. His favorite companions were some Democratic politicians, +who met weekly at the office of one of them, where he occupied himself +in listening to their talk, but he avoided cultivated people. On one +occasion a friend of mine asked us to meet him at dinner; twice he went +to remind his guest of the engagement. The hour arrived, the dinner was +kept waiting half an hour for Mr. Hawthorne to come. He said but little +during the dinner, and immediately afterward got up and went away; his +reluctance to meet people overcoming his sense of propriety. + +My church, the "North Church," as it was called, was a handsome +building on the main street, a stone structure with a tower, and a green +before it. It was founded in 1772 by people who had left the First +Parish by reason of great dissatisfaction. The first minister, called in +1773, was Thomas Barnard. He was a broad-minded, liberal man, and left +the church substantially Unitarian. His successor was J. E. Abbot, +called in 1815, whose ministry, from ill-health, was very short. My +predecessor, John Brazer, a cultivated, scholarly, sensitive man, a good +preacher, an excellent pastor, was settled in 1820. My ministry there +was exceedingly pleasant and tranquil for several years. There were long +hours for studying; the parish work was not hard; the people were +honest, quiet, sober, some of them exceedingly refined and gentle; it +was as if the old Puritan spirit, modified by time, still lingered about +the old town. Family life was beautiful to see; the homes were charming; +there was luxury enough; there was great intelligence, singular activity +of mind; and I remember well the bright conversations, the +entertainments, the teas, the dinners, the receptions, the social +meetings. The women, especially, were distinguished for interest in +literary matters. Many interesting people still lived in the town, +Daniel Appleton White, for instance, Dr. Treadwell, Benjamin Merrill, +Thomas Cole; some of these were my parishioners and all were my friends. +But the life was almost too quiet for me, as circumstances presently +proved. + +At the same time, as if to render impossible my further ministration in +this first place of service, the anti-slavery agitation was at its +height, dividing churches, breaking up sects, setting the members of +families against each other, detaching ministers from their +congregations, and arraying society in hostile camps. The noise of the +conflict filled the air. It was impossible to evade the issue. Those who +had fixed positions in the community, were of a tranquil temperament, or +of an easy conscience, might survey the battle calmly, or be vexed only +by the confusion in the social world; but they who had the future still +before them could not but feel the necessity of taking sides in the +quarrel. When Garrison, the incarnate conscience, was enunciating the +moral law and illustrating it by flaming texts from the Old Testament; +when the intrepid Phillips was throwing the light of history on +politics, and putting statesmanship in the face of humanity, judging all +men by the maxims of ethical philosophy; when Parker was proclaiming the +absolute justice, and Clarke was applying the truths of the eternal +love; and many others, men and women, were thundering forth the divine +vengeance on iniquity; when facts were set out for everybody's reading, +and tongues were unloosed, and fiery messages proceeded from all mouths, +and conviction was deep, and eloquence was stirring, it was impossible +to be still. + +Now the situation is changed; the evil is removed; the wound has +healed; the surgeon's knife has been put up in its case. A new +philosophy is disposed to blame the action of the anti-slavery +champions. Some critics have doubted whether the conduct of the +abolitionists was wise; whether their primary assumption of the +political equality of all men was correct; whether a race that had never +founded a government or contributed to the advance of civilization could +add any weight to the cause of liberty. But then such misgivings could +not be raised. The abolitionists seemed to have on their side the +precepts of the New Testament, the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, +the character and example of Jesus, the burning language of prophecy, +the inspiring traditions of primitive Christianity, the humane instincts +of the heart, the moral sentiments of equity, pity, compassion, all +reinforced by the growing democratic opinion of the age, and by the +tenets of the intuitive philosophy then coming to the front. The glowing +passages from Isaiah and from Matthew: "Let the oppressed go free; break +every yoke"; "Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these, ye +did it unto me," shone in our eyes. To the anti-slavery people belonged +the heroic virtues, courage, faithfulness, and sacrifice. Theirs was the +martyr spirit; the readiness to surrender ease, position, and success +for an idea. It would have been strange if, at such a time, a young man, +a clergyman, too, had been a champion of vested interests. The doctrine +of a higher law than that of the State commended itself to his idealism, +and pledged him to oppose what he regarded as legalized wrong. The +doctrine of legal rights for all men made him a firm enemy of organized +inhumanity. It was a period of passionate war. In every department of +the Church and State the irrepressible conflict went on. It was no time +for the calm voice of the loving spirit of wisdom to be heard. It was no +time to propose that the local laws respecting slavery should be +remodelled, and the relation between whites and blacks readjusted on +more equitable principles. The science of anthropology had no weight in +America or anywhere else. No exhaustive study of race peculiarities +could be entered on. The combatants had the whole field, and between the +combatants there seemed to be no room for choice by a minister of the +Gospel, an enthusiastic friend of humanity, a democrat, and a +transcendentalist. + +On one occasion, after a brutal scene in Boston attending the return of +a slave to his master, feeling that the larger part of his congregation +were in sympathy with the government, and approved of the act of +surrender, the excited minister declined to give the ordinance of +communion, thinking it would be a mockery. This action brought the +growing disaffection to a head. The feeling of the parish was divided. +Bitter words were exchanged. The situation on both sides became +uncomfortable, and he accepted an invitation to another city, where he +could exercise his independence without check or limit. + +The position in regard to slavery which was taken thirty years ago +there is no room to regret. It was taken with perfect sincerity, and +under an uncontrollable pressure of conviction. The part performed by +the abolitionists was predestined. The conduct of their opponents looks +now as irrational as it did then. American slavery was so atrocious a +system, so hideous a blot, that no terms were to be kept with it. +Probably nothing but the surgeon's knife would have availed in dealing +with such a cancerous mass. The cord had become so fatally twisted that +the knot, too closely drawn to be untied, must be cut with the sword. +The abolition of slavery was inevitable; it came about through a great +elemental upheaval. The situation had become intolerable and was past +reforming. Long before the war, it had become impossible to get along +with the slaveholders, except on the most ignoble principles of trade or +fashion. All manly acquiescence was out of the question. The Unitarians, +as such, were indifferent or lukewarm; the leading classes were opposed +to the agitation. Dr. Channing stood almost alone in lending countenance +to the reform, though his hesitation between the dictates of natural +feeling and Christian charity towards the masters hampered his action, +and rendered him obnoxious to both parties,--the radicals finding fault +with him for not going further, the conservatives blaming him because he +went so far. The transcendentalists were quite universally +abolitionists, for their philosophy pointed directly towards the +exaltation of every natural power. Wherever they touched the earth--as +they did not always, some of them soaring away beyond terrestrial +things--flowers of hope sprang up in their path. In France, Germany, and +England, they were friends of intellectual and social progress, of the +ideal democracy. The spiritual philosophy was in the air; its ideas were +unconsciously absorbed by the enthusiastic spirits. They constituted the +life of the period; they were a light to such as dwelt in darkness or +sat under the shadow of death. + +In this country Mr. Emerson led the dance of the hours. He was our +poet, our philosopher, our sage, our priest. He was the eternal man. If +we could not go where he went, it was because we were weak and unworthy +to follow the steps of such an emancipator. His singular genius, his +wonderful serenity of disposition inherited from an exceptional ancestry +and seldom ruffled by the ordinary passions of men, his curious felicity +of speech, his wit, his practical wisdom, raised him above all his +contemporaries. His infrequent contact with the world of affairs, his +seclusion in the country, his apparitions from time to time on lecture +platforms or in convention halls, gave a far-off sound to his voice as +if it fell from the clouds. Some among his friends found fault with him +for being bloodless and ethereal, but this added to the effect of his +presence and his word. The mixture of Theism and Pantheism in his +thoughts, of the personal and the impersonal, of the mystical and the +practical, fascinated the sentiment of the generation, while the lofty +moral strain of his teaching awakened to increased energy the wills of +men. His speech and example stimulated every desire for reform, turning +all eyes that were opened to the land of promise that seemed fully in +sight. How much the anti-slavery conviction of the time, along with +every other movement for the purification of society, owed to him we +have always been fond of saying with that indefiniteness of +specification which communicates so much more than it tells. This must +be said, that, in the exhilaration of the period, they that worked +hardest felt no exhaustion, and they that sacrificed most were conscious +of no self-abnegation, and they that threw their lives into this cause +had no sentiment but one of overflowing gratitude and joy. The +anti-slavery agitation was felt to be something more than an attempt to +apply the Beatitudes and the Parables to a flagrant case of +inhumanity--it was regarded as a new interpreter of religion, a fresh +declaration of the meaning of the Gospel, a living sign of the purely +human character of a divine faith, an education in brotherly love and +sacrifice; it was a common saying that now, for the first time in many +generations, the essence of belief was made visible and palpable to all +men; that Providence was teaching us in a most convincing way, and none +but deaf ears could fail to understand the message. + +It was, indeed, a most suggestive and inspiring time. Never shall I +forget, never shall I cease to be grateful for, the communion with noble +minds that was brought about, the moral earnestness that was engendered, +the moral insight that was quickened. Then, if ever, we ascended the +Mount of Vision. I was brought into close communion with living men, the +most living of the time, the most under the influence of stimulating +thoughts; and if they were intemperate in their speech, extravagant in +their opinions, absolute in their moral judgments, that must be taken as +proof of the depth of their conviction. They loved much, and therefore +could be forgiven, if forgiveness was necessary. They sacrificed a good +deal, too, some of them everything in the shape of worldly honor, and +this brought them apparently into line with the confessors and saints. +They made real the precepts of the New Testament. Their clients were the +poor, the lowly, the disfranchised, the unprivileged, against whom the +grandeurs of the world lifted a heavy hand. They were champions of those +who sorrowed and prayed, and this was enough to win sympathy and disarm +criticism. It was a great experience; not only was religion brought face +to face with ethics, but it was identified with ethics. It became a +religion of the heart: pity, sympathy, humanity, and brotherhood were +its essential principles. At the anti-slavery fairs all sorts and +conditions of men met together, without distinction of color or race or +sex. There was really an education in the broadest faith, in which +dogma, creed, form, and rite were secondary to love; and love was not +only universal, but was warm. + +Salem was the home of story and legend. There Puritanism showed its best +and worst sides, for there Roger Williams preached, and there the +witches were persecuted. The house where they were tried and the hill +where they were executed were objects of curiosity. There were the wild +pastures and the romantic shores, and broad streets shaded by elm trees, +and gardens and greenhouses. There were spacious mansions and beautiful +country-seats and pleasant walks. There was beauty and grace and +accomplishment and wit. There were quaint old buildings, and ways once +trodden by pious and heroic feet. On the whole, this was the most +idyllic period in my ministry. Thither came Emanuel Vitalis Scherb, the +native of Basel, an exile for opinion's sake, a man full of genius, +learning, enthusiasm. Young, handsome, hopeful, his lectures on German +literature and poetry attracted notice in Boston, whence he came to +Salem to talk and be entertained. The best houses were open to him; the +best people went to hear him. Alas, poor Scherb! His day of popularity +was short. He sank from one stage of poverty to another; he was indebted +to friends for aid, among the rest to H. W. Longfellow, who clung to him +till the last, and finally died from disease in a military hospital +early in our Civil War. + +I remember, in connection with Samuel Johnson, collecting an audience +for Mr. A. B. Alcott, the most adroit soliloquizer I ever listened to, +who delivered in a vestry-room a series of those remarkable +"conversations"--versations with the _con_ left out--for which he was +celebrated. It was, in many respects, a happy time. + + + + +V. THE CRISIS IN BELIEF. + + +I was in Salem when this came. It happened in the following way: A woman +in my choir, a melancholy, tearful, forlorn woman, asked me one day if I +knew Theodore Parker. I said I did not, but then, seeing her +disappointment, I asked her why she put that question. She replied that +her husband had abandoned her some months before and with another woman +had gone to Maine. There he had left the woman and was living in Boston, +and was a member of Mr. Parker's Society; and she thought that if I knew +Mr. Parker I might find out something about him, and perhaps induce him +to come back to Salem. I told her I was going to Boston in a day or two, +and would see Mr. Parker. + +My visit, again and again repeated, resulted in an intimacy with that +extraordinary man which had a lasting effect on my career. His personal +sympathy, his profound humanity, his quickness of feeling, his +sincerity, his courage, his absolute fidelity of service, even more than +his astonishing vigor of intellect and his earnestness in pursuit of +truth, made a deep impression on my mind. To be in his society was to be +impelled in the direction of all nobleness. He talked with me, lent me +books, stimulated the thirst for knowledge, opened new visions of +usefulness. As I recall it now, his influence was mainly personal, the +power that comes from a great character. He communicated a moral +impetus. Faith in man, love of liberty in thought, institution, law, +breathed in all his words and works. His theological ideas were somewhat +mixed, as was inevitable then. His gift of spiritual vision, especially +as shown in his interpretation of the Old-Testament narratives, may have +been imperfect; his moral perspective may have been incomplete; his +learning was copious, rather than discerning. But his single-mindedness +was perfect, and his devotion to his fellow-men was almost superhuman. +It was a privilege to know such a man, so simple-hearted and brave. The +slight disposition to put himself on his omniscience, to strike an +attitude, was not strange considering his enormous force, his +consciousness of power, his singular influence over men, and his +conviction (in large measure forced on him by his advocates) that he was +a religious reformer, a second Luther, the inaugurator of a new +Protestantism. His three doctrines, to which he constantly appealed, and +in proof of which he adduced the testimony of the human soul,--the +existence of a personal God, the immortality of the individual, and the +absoluteness of the "moral law" might have been untenable in the +presence of modern knowledge under the form in which he stated them. His +vast collection of materials in attestation of Theism may have been +valuable chiefly as a curiosity; but the man himself was all of one +piece, genuine through and through. The mingling of fire and moderation +in him was very remarkable, the blending of consuming radicalism with +saving conservatism puzzled his more vehement disciples; but his +character interested everybody; his firmness was visible from afar, and +his warmth of heart was felt through stone walls. There were no two +ministers in Boston who did as much for the inmates of hospitals and +prisons as he did. His ministry ceased a quarter of a century ago, but +the effect is vital yet, and will last for years to come. At this +distance the heart leaps up to meet him. His chief work was done, for it +consisted mainly in the adoption of a type of character, and length of +days is not needed for this, while it is apt to be impaired by the +infirmities of age. His long, wearisome illness, full of weakness and +pain, tested the strength of his fortitude, patience, hopefulness, and +trust, and was interesting as showing the passive, acquiescent side of +heroism, all the more impressive in view of his love of life, his desire +to finish his course, his sense of accountability (stronger in him than +in anybody I ever met), and his wish to serve his kind. It was my +happiness, more than ten years after he went away from men, to dwell for +months in his atmosphere, while writing his biography, and all my old +impressions of him were confirmed. And five years later, reviewing his +life in the _Index_, I was again struck by his greatness. I may be +excused for quoting the closing passage from the _Index_, of July 5, +1877, in which I stated the claims of Theodore Parker to the honor of +posterity. The paragraph sums up the qualities that have been ascribed +to him--integrity, catholicity, outspokenness; to these might have been +added warmth of heart, but this last attribute lay on the surface, and +could be easily appreciated by ordinary observers--in fact, was seen and +acknowledged by his enemies, and by those who knew him least. + + On the whole, then, I should say that _manliness_ was Theodore + Parker's crowning quality and supreme claim to distinction. That he + had other most remarkable gifts is conceded as a matter of course. + Everybody knows that he had. But this was his prime characteristic. + The other gifts he had in spite of himself--his thirst for + knowledge, his love of books, his all-devouring industry, his + unfailing memory, his natural eloquence or power of affluent + expression; but character men regard as less a gift than an + acquisition,--the fruit of aspiration, resolve, fidelity,--the + product of daily, nay, of hourly, endeavor. Hence it is that + intellectual greatness does not impress the multitude; even genius + has but a limited sway over the masses of mankind. But character + goes to the roots of life. In fact, Theodore Parker's eminence as a + man of thought and expression in words has concealed from the world + at large the intrinsic quality of the person. His reputation as + theologian, preacher, controversialist, has concealed the real + greatness which comes to light as the dust of controversy subsides. + The very causes in which the heroism of his manliness was + displayed--as, for example, the anti-slavery cause, to which he + devoted so much of his time and vitality--rendered inconspicuous + the contribution he made to the treasury of humane feeling. Now + that that great conflict is over, now that its agitations have + ceased and its heats have cooled, the character of which this + conflict revealed but a portion, the career in which this long + agony was but an episode, loom up into distinctness. The greatest + of all human achievements is a manly character--guileless, sincere, + and brave; that he by all admission possessed. He earned it; he + prayed for it; meditated for it; worked for it;--how hard, his + private journals show. And for this he will not be forgotten. For + this he will be remembered as one of the benefactors, one of the + emancipators, of his kind. + +From a shelf in his library, I took Schwegler's "Nachapostolische +Zeitalter," a work which threw a flood of light on the problems of +New-Testament criticism. This led to a study of the writings of F. C. +Baur, the founder of the so-called "Tuebingen School." A complete set of +the _Theologische Jahrbuecher_, the organ of his ideas, was imported from +Germany, and carefully perused. These volumes contained full and minute +studies on all the books of the New Testament--Gospels, Epistles, the +writing termed "The Acts of the Apostles," with incidental glances at +the "Apocalypse." The calm, consistent strength of these expositions +commended them to my mind. The author was a university professor, a man +of practical piety, a Lutheran preacher of high repute, simple, +affectionate, faithful to his duties, quite unconscious that he was +undermining anybody's faith, so deeply rooted was the old Lutheran +freedom of criticism in regard to the Bible. In the German mind, +religion and literature, Christianity and the Scriptures, were entirely +distinct things. The scholar could sit in his library in one mood and +could enter his pulpit in another, preserving in both the +single-mindedness that became a Christian and a student. + +Other theories have arisen since, but none that have taken hold of such +eminent minds have appeared. Theodore Parker accepted it; James +Martineau adopted its main proposition in several remarkable papers +written at various times, last in the Unitarian magazine _Old and New_. +In the brilliant lectures delivered in London, during the spring of +1880, on the Hibbert Foundation, Ernest Renan's striking account of +early Christianity owed its force to the assumption of the fundamental +postulate of the Tuebingen School. In the latter years of his life, Baur +summed up the results of his criticism in a pamphlet that was designed +to meet objections; and in 1875-1877 his son-in-law, the learned Edward +Zeller, one of his ablest disciples, an eminent professor of history at +Berlin, published an earnest, carefully considered, masterly report of +the writings of the now famous teacher, in the course of which he paid a +merited tribute to his character, vindicated his views from the charge +of haste and partisanship, and predicted for them a triumphant +future.[*] + + [*] "Vortraege und Abhandlungen," von E. Zeller, 2 vols., Leipzig. + +The adoption of these opinions, so opposed to the views current in the +community, compelled the adoption of a new basis for religious +conviction. Christianity, in so far as it depended on the New Testament +or the doctrines of the early Church, was discarded. The cardinal tenets +of the Creed--the Deity of the Christ, the atonement, everlasting +perdition--had been dismissed already, and I was virtually beyond the +limits of the Confession. But Theism remained, and the spiritual nature +of man with its craving for religious truth. Without going so far as +Theodore Parker did, who maintained that the three primary beliefs of +religion--the existence of God, the assurance of individual immortality, +the reality of a moral law--were permanent, universal, and definite +facts of human nature, found wherever man was found; without going so +far as this, I contended that man had a spiritual nature; that this +nature, on coming to consciousness of its powers and needs, gave +expression to exalted beliefs, clothing them with authority, building +them into temples, ordaining them in the form of ceremonies and +priesthoods. In support of this opinion, appeal was made to the great +religions of the world, to the substantial agreement of all sacred +books, to the spontaneous homage paid, in all ages, to saints and +prophets; to the essential accord of moral precepts all over the globe, +to the example of Jesus, to the Beatitudes and Parables, to the respect +given by rude people to the noblest persons, to the credences that +inspire multitudes, to the teachings of Schleiermacher, Fichte, +Constant, Cousin, Carlyle, Goethe, Emerson, in fact, to every leading +writer of the last generation. All this was so beautiful, so consistent +and convincing, so full of promise, so broad, plain, and inspiring that, +with a fresh but miscalculated enthusiasm, over-sanguine, thoughtless, +the young minister undertook to carry his congregation with him, but +without success; so he went elsewhere. This action proceeded from the +faith that Parker instilled. Parker was pre-eminently, to those who +comprehended him, a believer. + +In the words of D. A. Wasson, his successor in Music Hall: + + Theodore Parker was one of the most energetic and religious + believers these later centuries have known. This was the prime + characteristic of the man. He did not agree in the details of his + unbelieving with the majority of those around him, because it was + part of his religion to think freely, part of their religion to + forbear thinking freely on the highest matters. But he was not only + a powerful believer in his own soul, but was the believing Hercules + who went forth in the name of divine law to cleanse the Augean + stables of the world.... This, I repeat, and can not repeat with + too much emphasis, was the characteristic of the man--sinewy, + stalwart, prophetic, fervid, aggressive, believing.... The Hercules + rather than the Apollo of belief, it was not his to charm rocks and + trees with immortal music, but to smite the hydra of publicity, + iniquity, and consecrated falsehood with the club or mace of + belief; if this might not suffice, then to burn out its foul life + with the fire of his sarcasms. + +To quote my own words, written in 1873 (see "Life." p. 566): + + With him the religious sentiment was supreme. It had no roots in his + being wholly distinct from its mental or sensible forms of + expression. Never evaporating in mystical dreams nor entangled in + the meshes of cunning speculation, it preserved its freshness and + bloom and fragance in every passage of his life. His sense of the + reality of divine things was as strong as was ever felt by a man of + such clear intelligence. His feeling never lost its glow, never was + damped by misgiving, dimmed by doubt, or clouded by sorrow. Far from + dreading to submit his faith to test, he courted tests; was as eager + to hear the arguments against his belief as for it; was as fair in + weighing evidence on the opponent's side as on his own. "Oh, that + mine enemy had written a book!" he was ready to cry, not that he + might demolish it, but that he might read it. He knew the writings + of Moleschott, and talked with him personally; the books of Carl + Vogt were not strange to him. The philosophy of Ludwig Buechner, if + philosophy it can be called, was as familiar to him as to any of + Buechner's disciples. He was intimate with the thoughts of Feuerbach. + He drew into discussion every atheist and materialist he met, talked + with them closely and confidentially, and rose from the interview + more confident in the strength of his own positions than ever. + Science he counted his best friend; relied on it for confirmation of + his faith, and was only impatient because it moved no faster. All + the materialists in and out of Christendom had no power to shake his + conviction of the Infinite God and the immortal existence, nor would + have had had he lived till he was a century old, for, in his view, + the convictions were planted deep in human nature, and were demanded + by the exigencies of human life. Moleschott respected Parker; Dessor + was his confidential friend; Feuerbach would have taken him by the + hand as a brother. + +There can be no greater mistake than to call Theodore Parker a Deist; +than to class Theodore Parker with the Deists. He was utterly unlike +Chubb or Shaftesbury, Herbert of Cherbury or Bolingbroke. Even the most +philosophical of them had nothing in common with him. Hume and Voltaire, +for instance, were utterly unlike him. They, it is true, believed in _a_ +God, the "First Cause," the "Author of Nature," the "Supreme Being," and +in a future life. But their belief was merely logical and mechanical, +his was vital; he believed in the real, living, immanent Deity. They +thought that religion was an imposition, a policy of the priests, who +played upon the fears of mankind; he believed that religion was a +working power in the world, the origin of the highest achievement, the +soul of all aspiration. They had no faith in the direct communication of +the "Supreme Mind" with the soul of man; he believed in the infinite +genius of man, and in the direct communication of the absolute +intelligence. They thought of justice as a contrivance for securing +happiness; he thought of it as the law of life. One of Mr. Parker's +friends ascribed to him a gorgeous imagination; if he had it, it is a +surprise that it should have been so completely suppressed as it was, +for his taste in pictures and in poetry was very questionable. His want +of speculative talent probably helped him with the people. Whether he +formulated his thoughts is uncertain. Such was not his genius. He was a +constructive, not a destructive. It was his faith that he criticised the +Bible in order that he might release its piety and righteousness; that +he tore in pieces the creeds in order to emancipate the secrets of +divinity. + +It is useless to conjecture what Parker might have been had he lived. +That he would have held to his primary convictions is almost certain; it +is quite certain that he would have loved mental liberty. He would have +been a great power in our Civil War; he would probably have been a +leader in the free religious movement. Parker, when I first knew him, +was in full life and vigor. He had gone to Boston a short time before my +ordination in 1847, and had before him a long future of usefulness. All +the exigencies in which he might have been conspicuous were distant. +That the effect of such a man on me and my connections was exceedingly +great is not strange. It would have been strange had it been otherwise. +In sermon, prayer, private conversations my convictions came out. That +the people were disappointed may be assumed, but they were kind, +generous, and patient. The congregations did not fall off; there was +little violence or even vehement expostulation. But the position was not +comfortable, and when an invitation came from Jersey City to found a new +Society, I accepted it at once. It had been a dream of Dr. Bellows to +establish a Society at that place, and, learning that I was in search of +another sphere of activity, he asked me to undertake the work. This was +seconded by a cordial representation from Jersey City itself, on the +part of some who were Dr. Bellows' own parishioners. The uprooting was +not easy, for Salem had become endeared to me as the first scene of my +ministry, a place where I could be useful in many ways, and which +contained a delightful society; an established, well-furnished town, +with historic associations; a country centre, an agreeable situation. +But the waters were getting still there, and the sentiment of the past +was getting to over-weigh the promises of the future. + + + + +VI. JERSEY CITY. + + +Jersey City, to which I went directly from Salem, was a very different +place from what it is now; smaller and perhaps pleasanter. Where now is +a large city, a few years ago was but a village. Now it is a +manufacturing place, with great establishments, foundries, +machine-shops, banks, insurance companies, newspapers, more than forty +schools, and more than sixty churches. Then it was a large town, though +it was nominally a city (incorporated in 1820), with a population of +about twenty thousand, the increase being chiefly due to the annexation +of suburbs, not to its own vital growth. It was substantially rural in +character, with extensive meadows, broad avenues; a place of residence +largely, the gentlemen living there and doing business in New York. +There were a few Unitarians, a few Universalists, but there was no +organized Unitarian society before I went there. A great many cultivated +people resided in this place. There was wealth, culture, and interest in +social matters. A meeting-house was built for me and dedicated to a +large, rational faith. + +The chief peculiarity of my ministry there was the disuse of the +communion service. This rite I had thought a great deal about in Salem. +There had been, then, a well-meant proposal on the part of the pastor to +make an alteration in the form of administering the communion service. +The custom had been (quite an incidental one, for the usage was by no +means the same in all the churches of the denomination) to thrust the +rite in once a month, between the morning worship and dinner time, and +to offer it then to none but the church-members, who composed but a +small part of the congregation. As a consequence of this arrangement, +the observance became formal, dry, short, and tiresome. To the majority +of the Society it seemed a mystical ceremony with which they had no +concern, while those who stayed to take part in it, wearied already by +the preceding exercises, and hungry for their mid-day meal, gave to it +but half-hearted attention. The observance was thus worse than thrown +away; for, in addition to the loss of an opportunity for spiritual +impression, a dangerous kind of self-righteousness was encouraged in the +few church-members, who regarded themselves as in some way set apart +from their fellow-sinners, either as having made confession of faith or +as being subjects of a peculiar experience. To impart freshness to the +rite, and at the same time to extend its usefulness as a "means of +grace," the minister proposed to celebrate it less frequently (once in +two or three months), to substitute it in place of the usual afternoon +meeting, to make special preparation for it by the co-operation of the +choir, and to throw it open to as many as might choose to come, be they +church members or not. The suggestion met with feeble response, and that +chiefly from young people who had hitherto stayed away out of a laudable +feeling of modesty, not wishing to remain when their elders and betters +went out, and not thinking themselves good enough to partake of a +special privilege. The "communicants," as a rule, set their faces +against the innovation, perhaps because they were secretly persuaded +that the change portended the secularizing of Christianity by a removal +of the barrier that divided the church from the world, possibly because +they wished to retain an exclusive prerogative which had always marked +the "elect." + +The matter was not pressed; the routine went on as before; the +minister did his best to render the service impressive and interesting. +But his studies and meditations led him to the conclusion that the +observance had no place in the Unitarian system; that it was a mere +formality, without an excuse for being; that it contained no idea or +sentiment that was not expressed in the ordinary worship; that it was a +remnant of an otherwise discarded form of Christianity, where it had a +peculiar significance; that it was the last attenuation of the Roman +sacrament of transubstantiation; that it ought to be dropped from every +scheme of liberal faith as an illogical adjunct, a harmful excrescence, +a hindrance, in short. No whisper of these doubts was breathed at the +time, but the pastor's silence allowed the scepticism to strike the +deeper root in his mind. Mr. Emerson's departure from his parish, on the +ground that he could no longer administer the communion rite according +to the usage of the sect, had occurred many years before this, but was +still remembered in discussion and talk. Theodore Parker had no +communion; but he was an established leader of heresy, and did not +furnish an example. Many, agreeing with Emerson's reasoning, disapproved +of his course in resigning his pulpit rather than continue to administer +the bread and wine. He himself advised others to hold on to the +observance, if they could, hoping for the time when it might be +universally vivified by faith. Some might do it as it was. The +congregations would, it is likely, without exception, have decided as +his did, to lose their minister sooner than their "Supper." Some years +later, on passing through Boston on my way to another scene of labor, I +called on a distinguished clergyman who had taken a part in my +ordination, and was asked by him what I intended to do in my new parish +with regard to the communion. I replied that it was not my purpose to +have it, "You cannot give it up," he said; "it is stronger than any of +us. I should drop it if I dared, for there is nothing real in it that is +not in the general service, but I am afraid to try. I shall watch your +experiment with interest, but without expectation of its success." "Very +well," I replied, "we shall see." The experiment was tried and +succeeded. For four years I had no communion, and not a word was said +about it. On leaving for New York, several of my friends, who had been +accustomed to the ceremony all their lives, were asked if they did not +think it would be wise to reinstate the rite. To my surprise, they with +one voice said that there was no need of it, that the Society got along +perfectly well without it. It is needless to say that in New York the +observance was never celebrated. + +The ceremony was justified among Unitarians by various reasons which, +in the end, seemed apologies. With the old-fashioned, semi-orthodox +members of the congregations it was a precious heirloom, prized for its +antiquity; a link that still held them in the bond of fellowship with +the universal church; a last relic of the supernaturalism to which they +clung without knowing why; the pledge of a mystical union with their +Christ. Any change in the administration of it was regarded as a +desecration; the suggestion of its complete discontinuance could, they +thought, arise in no mind that was not fatally poisoned by infidelity. +It was not, in their opinion, a symbol of doctrine, but a channel of +divine influence, which no intellectual doubts could touch, which +spiritual deadness alone could dispense with. Tenets might be abandoned, +forms of belief might be discredited, but this citadel of faith must not +be assailed or approached by irreverent feet. Mr. Emerson's example was +not followed by his contemporaries. His fellows did not so soon reach +his point of conviction. Even radicals, like George Ripley, did not. In +my own case it was the growth of time. At the moment there was no +disposition to abandon the observance, simply a desire to reanimate it. +It was not perceived till much later that the changes proposed implied a +virtual abandonment of the rite itself; that the communion is regarded +as a sacrament, that as a sacrament it might be presumed to be +supernaturally instituted for the communication of the divine life; +that, when faith in the supernatural declines, the sacrament no longer +has a function as a medium, and must be omitted; that no attempts to +revive it as a sentimental practice could be justified to reason; that +all endeavors to awaken interest in it by assuming some occult efficacy +must be futile because groundless. The "memorial service" can in no +proper sense be called a sacrament. It may be a pleasing expression of +sentiment, somewhat over-strained and fanciful, but capable of being +made attractive. The task of reproducing the emotions of the early +disciples as they sat at supper with their Master, nearly two thousand +years ago, is too severe for the ordinary imagination, and when +persisted in from a sense of duty may become a dull, creaking +performance, against which the sensitive rebel and the witty are tempted +to launch the shafts of their sarcasm. The only way of saving it from +gibes is to ascribe to it some mystical efficacy for which there is no +logical excuse. The Roman Catholic doctrine of Transubstantiation had a +foundation in the philosophy of the Church. The Lutheran doctrine of +Consubstantiation, which recognized the presence of Christ on the +occasion, but not the literal change of the substance of his flesh, was +legitimate. But the Sabellian theory, which the Unitarians inherited, +was in no respect justified, save as a tradition. + +The sole alternative at that time for me, when the Communion service +was made a test question between the "conservative" and the "radical," +was to drop it. At present the situation is altered. It is no longer a +ceremony or a tradition, but a means of spiritual cultivation. It stands +for fellowship and aspiration, not for a communion of saints, but of all +those who desire to share the saintly mind, of all who aim at +perfection. The rite is one in which all may unite who wish, however +fitfully, for goodness; _all_, whether Romanist or Protestant, and +Protestant of whatever name; _all_, in every religion under the sun, +Eastern or Western, Northern or Southern, old or new, every dividing +line being erased. I once attended the Communion service of a Broad +Churchman. The invitation was large and inclusive, comprehending +everybody who, though far off, looked towards the light, everybody who +had the least glimmer of the divine radiance; and none but an absolute +infidel was shut out. There was a recognition of a divine nature in +men,-- + + Like plants in mines which never saw the sun, + But dream of him, and guess where he may be, + And do their best to climb and get to him. + +The idea of spiritual communion is a grand one. It is universal too; it +is human in the best sense. The symbols were ancient when Jesus used +them, the Bread signifying Truth, the Wine signifying Life. Originally +the symbols referred to the wealth of nature, as is evident from an +ancient prayer. It was the custom for the master of the Jewish feast to +repeat this form of words: "Blessed be Thou, O Lord, our God, who givest +us the fruits of the vine," and then he gave the cup to all. + +Leaving out the personal application which is purely incidental, and +discarding the sacramental idea which is a corruption, throwing the +service open to the whole congregation as an opportunity, a great deal +may be accomplished in the way of spiritual advancement. True, the +ceremony contains no thought or sentiment that is not expressed in the +sermon or the prayer, but it puts these in poetic form, it addresses +them directly to the imagination, it associates them with the holier +souls in their holiest hours, and brings people face to face with their +better selves in the tenderest and most touching manner, teaching +charity, love, endeavor after the religious life. The rite is full of +beauty when confined within the bounds of Christianity, but when +extended to the principles of other faiths, it is rich in meaning, and +may be used with effect by those who wish to educate the people in the +highest form of idealism, who desire comprehensiveness. A symbol often +goes further than an argument, and a symbol so ancient and so +consecrated ought to be preserved. A friend of mine included all +religious teachers in his commemoration. This was a step in the right +direction, but if the people are not ready for this yet, they may +welcome an extension of the reign of spiritual love among the disciples +whom theological hatred has kept apart. But this was not suspected then. + +It will be remarked that my reasons were not those of Emerson. His +argument was solid and sound, but his real reason was personal. He said +in his sermon: "If I believed it was enjoined by Jesus and his disciples +that he even contemplated making permanent this mode of commemoration, +every way agreeable to an Eastern mind, and yet on trial it was +disagreeable to my own feelings, I should not adopt it.... It is my +desire in the office of a Christian minister to do nothing which I +cannot do with my whole heart. Having said this I have said all.... That +is the end of my opposition, that I am not interested in it." My ground +was different; I had no objection to the symbol, none to an Oriental +symbol, and the mere fact that I was not interested in it seemed to me +not pertinent to the case. My objection was that it divided those who +ought to be united; that it encouraged a form of self-righteousness; +that it implied a "grace" that did not exist. For the rest, my form of +religion was of sentiment. It was scarcely Unitarian, not even Christian +in a technical sense or in any other but a broad moral signification. It +was Theism founded on the Transcendental philosophy, a substitute for +the authority of Romanism and of Protestantism. This was an admirable +counterfeit of Inspiration, having the fire, the glow, the beauty of it. +It most successfully tided over the gulf between Protestantism and +Rationalism. Parker used it with great effect. It was the life of +Emerson's teaching. It animated Thomas Carlyle. It was the fundamental +assumption of the Abolitionists, and of all social reformers. + +I had perfect freedom of speech in Jersey City; there was no +opposition to the doctrine announced. The Society there was large and +flourishing, and its influence in the town was on the increase. But +Jersey City was, after all, a suburb only of New York. Some of my most +devoted hearers came from New York, and urged me to go there. Dr. +Bellows was anxious to found a third Society in the great city, and +added his word to their solicitations, so that in the spring of 1859 I +went thither. My church in Jersey City was continued for a short time, +but I had no settled successor; the congregation did not grow; some of +my most earnest supporters had either died or left the town. The war +broke out and was fatal to institutions that had not a deep root. The +building was sold soon after, for business purposes I think, and the +society was never renewed. This may appear singular considering that +there are Unitarian churches elsewhere in New Jersey, at Camden, Orange, +Plainfield, Vineland, and Woodbury. The changed condition of the town +may have had something to do with the failure to revive, after the war, +the Unitarian Society. The Catholic, Presbyterian, Orthodox +Congregationalist communions were more suited to the new population than +the Unitarian was. Possibly, too, the "radical" complexion of the parish +had something to do with the disrepute that fell upon it. However this +may have been, the cause did not seem to prosper. Mr. Job Male, who died +recently at Plainfield, was one of my most zealous supporters and +exerted himself to keep the enterprise alive, but in vain. It is +understood that the flourishing Unitarian church in Plainfield was +largely due to his efforts. + + + + +VII. NEW YORK. + + +For the first year in New York I lived with Dr. Bellows at his +parsonage. Mrs. Bellows and the children were at Eagleswood, New Jersey, +the children being at school with Mr. Weld. And this is the place to say +something about Henry Whitney Bellows. He was a very remarkable man, +most extraordinary in his way; an original man, a peculiar individual; +of mercurial temper, various, quick, sympathetic, brave, whole-hearted, +generous, but all in his own fashion. More Celtic than Saxon, more +French than English, prone to generalize, something of a _doctrinaire_, +indifferent to personalities, but of warm affections where he was +interested; loyal, as knights always are, where his honor was concerned, +but impatient of dictation, restless, nervous, impetuous, dashing from +side to side, always consistent with himself, yet rarely consistent with +ordinary rules of conventional society. Such a man is best described in +detail. + +Dr. Bellows, as we called him, had a singular gift of _expression_. +This was the soul of him, his most prominent feature, the trait that +explains every other. His appearance indicated as much. He had a mobile +mouth, flexible features, a ringing voice, a cordial manner. He was fond +of talking, brilliant in conversation, attractive in social intercourse, +a charming companion, full of wit, rapid in repartee, ready with +anecdote, illustration, allusion. He was a great favorite at the +dinner-table, at friendly gatherings, at the club, where a circle always +collected round him and were delighted with the endless versatility of +his discourse. In fact, he was a man of society rather than a clergyman, +though he occupied a pulpit from the beginning, and was faithful to all +the duties of his profession. Still they were not altogether to his +taste, and he got away from them whenever he conscientiously could. His +best deliverances were half-secular addresses on some theme of immediate +popular interest, speeches, orations, ethical talks, ever on a high +plane of sentiment, but looking towards the urgent preoccupations of the +time. He was not a student in any direction; not a deep, patient, +exhaustive thinker; not a scholar in any school, but an immense reader +of current literature, of magazines, papers, memoirs, and an eloquent +reproducer of thoughts as he found them lying on the surface of the +intellectual world. His brain was exceedingly active, and reached forth +in all directions; his pen was fluent, facile, and busy; language exuded +from all his pores. As a preacher he was conventional, restrained, and, +it must be confessed, not engaging as a rule, but as a talker he was +delightful, copious, entertaining, kindling, attractive to old and +young, and crowds thronged the house when he spoke about what he had +seen or felt, while his pulpit discourses did not fill the pews. Like +many men of remarkable talents, he imagined his strong points to be +those in which he was most deficient, not being gifted with much power +of self-knowledge, and perhaps aspiring after accomplishments he did not +possess. He prided himself more than he should have done on his insight +as a theologian, his depth as a philosopher, his skill as an +administrator, his practical success as an organizer; whereas his +consummate ability consisted in exposition, not in original discovery. +He was not a theologian, not a philosopher, not a builder, but a most +persuasive advocate, perhaps the most adroit I ever met with. His range +was wide, his exuberance infinite, his sway over his listeners absolute. +It is no marvel that such a man was persuaded that he could achieve all +things. + +He was the only speaker I ever knew who could talk himself into ideas. +Many, by dint of talking, can work themselves into an implicit faith in +doctrines they were indifferent about at starting; but this man had the +dangerous gift of being able, not merely to think on his feet, but to +set his faculties in motion by the action of his tongue. Again and again +he has gone to a public meeting, at which he was expected to speak, with +no preparation at all, or none but a very general one, depending upon +some impulse of the moment to set him a-going. A word dropped by a +previous speaker, the mere presence of the audience, a suggestion +awakened in his mind as he sat awaiting his turn, would excite him +sufficiently; and when he stood up one idea started another, an +illustration opened a new field of thought, till the torrent, growing +deeper and more tumultuous as it flowed, carried the hearers away in +ecstasy. One who did not know him found it hard to believe that he had +not meditated his address beforehand. He has gone into the pulpit with a +written sermon, and being struck by a sentence in the Scripture he was +reading, has laid his manuscript aside and delivered an extemporaneous +discourse on an entirely different theme. + +The reason why he did not preach habitually without notes was that this +fatal facility of speech excited him too much, carried him too far, +rendered him discursive, led him on to inordinate length, and wearied +his congregation. He needed the restraint of the paper, the calm dignity +of the closet meditation; he needed also to spread his thoughts over a +larger expanse of time, and thus to secure quiet for his brain. At the +risk, therefore, of being dull, he spared himself, as well as his +parishioners, the stimulating fervor of the extemporaneous address. He +may have felt, too, that his was not the quality of mind for this +method. It required a less fluent talent, a less ready loquacity, a less +mercurial temperament, a more reserved habit. There are those whose +constitutional reticence preserves them from aberration; who can see the +end from the beginning; can cling closely to the matter in hand; can +walk a thin plank; and have too few ready ideas to be in any peril of +going astray. Such are the most successful extemporaneous preachers. Dr. +Bellows' genius was better adapted to an address, therefore, than to a +sermon. + +The secular view of things was more attractive to him than the +spiritual. His defence of the drama in 1857 (an oration delivered in the +Academy of Music, and which was very bold for that time); his vigorous +conduct of the _Christian Inquirer_, a Unitarian paper, which he managed +and for which he wrote constantly for four years, advocating an unwonted +liberality of sympathy, maintaining, for example, the substantial +identity of the Unitarian and the Universalist confessions; his interest +in questions of social and philanthropic concern; his lectures before +the Lowell Institute in 1857,--all attest his desire to effect a +reconciliation between science and religion, between this world and the +next. His oration before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard, in 1853, +is an admirable specimen of his treatment of similar themes. The subject +of the oration was "The Ledger and the Lexicon, or Business and +Literature in Account with American Education"; and its purpose was to +assert the claims of popular life against those of scholarship,--to +state the case of natural instincts and practical intelligence as the +controlling force of our destiny. He says, most truly, at the outset, +"Speaking purely as a scholar, I should unaffectedly feel that I had +nothing to offer worthy this audience or occasion," and then he goes on +with a full, earnest, eloquent plea for the intellectual character of +our political and commercial activity. Here is an extract: + + What History asks from us is not Literature and Art. The world is + full of what can never grow old in either. _American_ Literature, + _American_ Art! Heaven save us from them! Let us freely use what is + so much better than anything one nation can make, the Literature + and Art of the whole past and the whole world. History implores us, + first of all, to be true to humanity. She begs to see the + education, the taste, the sensibility of this great people turned + to the serious, vital, universal interest of thoroughly vindicating + _Man_ from the scorn of _men;_ of establishing man on his throne as + man,--free because man, happy because man, noble and religious + because man! Literature and Art will take care of themselves; high + education and scholarship will come in their own time; and so, + thank God, will everything humanity needs. But for ourselves and + the immediate generation, there is no work so worthy as confirming + the faith of our people in their own principles; encouraging + devotion to Liberty as the supreme interest of Man;--of man sacred + in his own eyes, with duties, rights, aims, that are bounded + neither by color, nationality, nor law. The love of the race, the + liberation of humanity from complexional, material, political, and + moral disfranchisements; the elevation of the individual and of + every individual; the prostration of all partition-walls that + separate our kind; the tumbling of the artificial pedestals that + elevate the few, into the unnatural pits that bury the rest; the + affiliation of the foreigner, and the emancipation of the slave; + the subjugation of rebellious matter and reluctant wealth to the + wants and desires of man; the establishment of beautiful and + independent homes, of high and free and noble lives;--this is + American scholarship, this American art. A country that sacrifices + even its nationality, that proudest of all prejudices, to its + humanity, will be the first to pay that tribute to man, which + Christ waits to welcome as the final triumph of his kingdom. And, + finally, here in America, where for the first time universal + comfort and general abundance reign, the race looks to us to + pronounce the banns between the spiritual and material interests + and pursuits of man,--his worldly well-being, and his heavenly + prosperity,--a union that shall not be a miserable compromise of + which both shall be ashamed and which neither shall keep, but an + honorable, hearty, and intelligible alliance, on the highest + grounds. + +This is very fine and brave, and similar in tone was all he said +about American life and destiny. He tried to exalt common things, and in +this way he more than made amends for his lack of scholastic equipment. +His mission was to encourage and fortify and console actual men and +women, not to solve deep problems of fate. A good but commonplace man +spoke to me with tears in his eyes of his endless gratitude to Dr. +Bellows because on one New Year's Day he preached a doctrine of promise, +and said that men did their best, and that the world was as good as +could be expected; not an extraordinary doctrine certainly, but one that +is seldom announced with so much cordial, human sympathy. This same +ardor he threw into his ordinary lectures, carrying audiences away with +a flood of conviction. When our Civil War broke out and it became +evident, as it soon did, that the conflict would be a long one, +necessitating large armies in a region of country unused to military +needs and ignorant of military exigencies, Dr. Bellows' attention was +drawn to the questions involved in the maintenance of a vast number of +men in the field, their protection, discipline, and comfort; the proper +supply of food, clothing, medicine; the best kind of tent, the best kind +of hospital, the duty of keeping up the home associations by means of +correspondence and missives. He talked over the situation with a few +friends; societies were formed, organizations instituted, the means of +relief set in motion. Out of this grew the Sanitary Commission, of which +he was the mouthpiece and the inspiring soul. The work was immense, but +the task of awakening the country to the necessity of endeavor was, +beyond all ordinary power of conception, arduous. Such was the blind +faith in the government,--a government inexperienced in similar +matters,--such was the indifference of multitudes who were far removed +from actual danger, such the unconsciousness of the magnitude of the +peril, such the insensibility to the demands of the hour, the serene +confidence that all was going well, the jaunty sense of complacency in +having raised the regiments, that nothing less than a trumpet call was +required to rouse the country to a feeling of obligation. Afterwards +when the magnitude of the strife was self-evident, when the dangers of +camp-life were understood, and the temptations to infidelity of many +kinds were painfully apparent, other forces came in to carry forward the +work; but at first prescience was needed, and zeal, and faith in +principles, and a sense of the gravity of the situation. It is hardly +too much to say that but for the energy shown by the Sanitary Commission +in the early part of the war, the issue might have been indefinitely +postponed. That the Commission itself flourished to the end was due in +the main to Henry Bellows. Of course he did not do everything, but he +did his part. The labor of organization was discharged by other orders +of genius. The duties of treasurer devolved upon men differently +constituted still; there were many hands employed, many heads busy with +planning. But his was the potent voice. He sounded the clarion; East, +West, North, and as far South as he could go, he argued, remonstrated, +pleaded, exhorted, interpreted, inspired, and wherever he was heard he +filled veins with patriotic fire. He was never daunted, never +disheartened, never depressed. His tones always rang out clear, strong, +decisive. The bugle never gave an uncertain sound. In Washington he +addressed the highest authorities and was so urgent, not to say so +imperious, that President Lincoln asked him which of the two ran the +machine of government. He possessed in a singular degree the power of +making people work, and work gladly,--all sorts of people, men and +women, the sensible and the enthusiastic, the practical and the +sentimental, the low-toned and the high-strung; and they toiled day +after day at scraping lint, packing garments, raising money, organizing +fairs. In the meantime he travelled to and fro, lecturing, addressing +crowds in the meeting-houses, halls, theatres; writing letters to +committees, visiting men of influence, inspecting hospitals and camps, +making himself acquainted with the newest methods of dealing with +sanitary problems, and imparting ideas as fast as they came to him. His +activity was prodigious. He was one of the most conspicuous figures in +the country. He brought the Commission into universal repute. Under his +spell it lost its local character and became a national concern. He was +a Unitarian preacher; his immediate co-operators were Unitarians; yet so +broad and mundane was he that no savor of sectarianism mingled with his +zeal, nor could it be suspected, except for his aims, that he was a +clergyman. As long as the war lasted this energy continued, the +enthusiasm did not abate, the outpouring did not slacken. It was not +till the struggle was over that the over-tasked brain craved repose. +Then the reaction was purely nervous, not in the least moral or +intellectual. He sprang up again and threw himself into new enterprises +with the old fervor and the old brilliancy of speech, striving to awaken +a desire for religious unity, as he had promoted national concord. The +establishment of the National Conference of Liberal Churches, which was +to supplement the more local Unitarian Associations, was his suggestion. +The scheme did not entirely meet his expectations, but this shows how +large his expectations were, and how comprehensive were his purposes of +good. As has been intimated already, his desires were in advance of his +practical ability. He was a man of wishes rather than of expedients. His +plans often failed, but his aspirations were always pure and lofty, and +it was characteristic of him to impute the failure of the special plan +to some stubbornness in the materials he attempted to manipulate, rather +than to any deficiency in his own faculty. Thus his confidence in +himself was sustained, and he went on trying experiments and believing +in his talent to set anything, even communities and States, on their +feet. + +People used to say that his advocacy was very uncertain; that it was +impossible to tell in advance whether he would take a liberal or a +conservative view of a party or dogma; in short, he had the reputation +of being somewhat of a chameleon, of catching his line from the last +person he talked with. One of his parishioners remarked, jestingly, that +the hearers of Dr. Bellows were taught in perfection one lesson,--that +of self-reliance. This was probably true, as it was a general +impression; and it illustrates the warmth of his sympathy, the +impressionableness of his temperament, the readiness of his adaptation, +the facility of his discourse, as well as the want of depth in his +speculative intellect and his lack of hold on fundamental principles. He +was an advocate by nature, not a theologian, a philosopher, or a critic; +an adept in speech, not a subtle or profound thinker. He saw the +effective points in either doctrine, and chose the one that was most +captivating at the time. His eclecticism was simply ease of +transference, not a keen perception of the grounds of identity. His +logic was the skilful accommodation to circumstances, not absolute +fidelity to the laws of reason. His affluence of diction and his +profusion of thoughts covered up his essential poverty of insight, and +persuaded some that he looked farther than he did; but still it remains +true that he was not a sure guide in matters of opinion. He was a most +adroit, subtle, engaging talker, and as such was of incalculable value; +a fountain of entertainment, and a source of influence. A decided vein +of Bohemianism ran through his character. He was light-hearted, gay, +versatile, fond of fun, restless, addicted to society, abhorrent of +solitude, darkness, confinement; a friend of artists, musicians, wits; a +club-man; could smoke a cigar, and drink a glass of wine, and tell a +merry story; a man of quick emotions, volatile some would call him, +though of unquestioned and unquestionable loyalty when any principle was +at stake, or any person he loved and trusted was in trouble. Otherwise +he forgot unpleasant things and went to something else, dropping the +individual, but holding fast to the elements of charity. This faculty of +changing rapidly from one interest to another saved him from a vast deal +of fatigue, and enabled him to pursue his almost incredible labors with +less wear and tear than would have been possible under other +circumstances. The formation of roots, and the necessity of pulling them +up frequently with a feeling of loss and pain, is sadly weakening and +disabling. This fosters a disposition to stay at home, to form few ties, +to remain quietly where one is placed by destiny, to expose one's self +to no more disruptions than are appointed, to hide one's self in a +corner of existence, to avoid the wind. The scholar hugs his library, +reads books, meditates, cultivates his mind, appears in public only when +he is prepared. The man of society dashes out and deems the time wasted +that is passed in the house. Dr. Bellows once expressed his wonder that +a friend should have no desire to go abroad, but should be content in +his study. + +He was a knight-errant, a Norman gentleman, ever ready to succor the +oppressed, but satisfied when he had unhorsed the oppressor, though the +victim lay helpless on the ground. He derived his name from "Belles +Eaux." He was not a democrat as implying one that had affinities with +the people. On the contrary, he was at bottom an aristocrat, looking +down on the people; but he was humane in idea, holding it to be the part +of a gentleman to relieve the unfortunate. The motto, "_Noblesse +oblige_" applied to him exactly, with the understanding that he belonged +to the _Noblesse_, and was privileged to patronize. This tendency was +prominent in him. He would not allow a companion to pay his car fare, +because he would not borrow so small a sum, but he confronted the man to +whom he had lent fifty dollars, and who had forgotten the payment, as +people often do. Meeting the defaulter in the street, he reminded him of +the transaction, taxed him with infidelity to his engagements, and had +the satisfaction of receiving his money and relieving his mind at the +same time. Magnanimous he was by nature. I will give a single instance +of it, out of several I could detail if personalities did not forbid. +When I first came to New York to found a parish, there was a woman in my +congregation,--an angular, brusque woman, not sunny or agreeable,--whose +husband, being unfortunate, had, to repair his fortune, gone to San +Francisco; she stayed in New York and kept school, for the purpose of +educating her children, and of eking out the family expenses. One day, +complaining to me of her lot and labor, she spoke of certain prejudices +against her as interfering with her success, and accused Dr. Bellows of +being one of her enemies. Having satisfied myself of the injustice of +the impression about her, and of her worthy deserving, I took occasion +at once to speak to Dr. Bellows on the subject. Reminding him of the +circumstances in which the woman was placed, I asked him if he did not +think she ought to be helped instead of being hindered. He acknowledged +that he knew her, that he did not like her, that he had spoken harshly +of her under the impression that she was not deserving of moral support. +On my presentation of her case, and conviction that he was wrong, he, +being persuaded of his heedlessness, offered to do everything in his +power to repair any mischief he might have caused. In my excitement, I +became audacious and suggested the drawing up and signing of a +paper,--about the most disagreeable thing that could be proposed. But he +assented, prepared the paper, affixed his signature, and from that hour +did his utmost to befriend the woman whom he took no pleasure in +thinking of. This was noble, even great. He could put his personal +tastes aside when a principle was involved. + +It used to be urged against him that he dropped people when he had done +with them, and felt no scruple in sacrificing them to his views of +policy. But it cannot be proved that he was false to anybody, and his +notion of the absolute unfitness of the individual for his place, or of +the man's unreliability, was probably the real cause of his opposition. +Probably, in each instance of his withdrawal of confidence, there were +excellent reasons for his conduct, though it was natural that those who +were suddenly neglected or displaced should feel indignant and +aggrieved. Dr. Bellows was not one to act on a private prejudice or a +personal pique. His affections were strong and would have led him to +make any concession that was consistent with what he regarded as his +public duty. No doubt he was somewhat imperious in judging what his duty +was; he lacked the useful faculty of remaining in the background; he was +impetuous and forward; but he never was or could be insincere, and he +always had a sufficient explanation of the course he pursued,--an +explanation perfectly satisfactory to one who bore his temperament in +mind and considered what he could do and what he could not. + +A most lovable, cordial, faithful man I always found him,--a man to be +depended on in difficult and trying times, high-minded, courageous, +daring, ready to enter the breach, happiest when leading a forlorn hope, +straight-forward, inspiring, easily lifted beyond himself, and imparting +nervous vigor to his followers. Followers he must have, for he was not +content to obey any behest; but then his leadership was so hearty and +wholesome, so free from superciliousness, so abundant in expressions of +loyalty, that it was a joy to go with him. He was more than willing to +do his share of hard work, and to indulge his servants. If one could +forbear to cross him, he was friendliness itself; a warm advocate of +liberty, only insisting that liberty and progress should march hand in +hand; that private idiosyncrasies should not stand in the way of +practical advance. He was a very different man from Dr. Dewey, yet he +loved Dr. Dewey devotedly while life lasted. He was an entirely +different man from me in temperament and in gifts,--quite opposite in +fact,--yet he was one of the best of my friends as long as he lived, +seldom resenting my radicalism, never impatient of my slowness, but +warm, sunny, helpful to the end, the man to whom I instinctively +resorted for sympathy in the most painful passages of my career. + +In a word, the foundation of his character was impulse. He was a man of +fiery zeal, of moral passion, of vast enthusiasm, and when a storm of +spiritual power came sweeping down from some unseen height, he was +easily carried away. This impulsive character explains his chivalry of +disposition, his magnanimity, his self-abnegation; for though he was +self-asserting, he could at once forget himself, and sink his own +individuality entirely when some cause he had at heart strongly appealed +to him. This impulsiveness explains, too, his theological inconsistency, +for when the popular feeling struck him, he was carried away in a +different direction from what he had first proposed. For instance, +once--I think it was at Buffalo--he gave a most eloquent plea for +individualism, having determined to speak in favor of institutions; and +in Boston when he had been expected to uphold a creed, he was so borne +away by the opposite sentiment that, when he ended, a creed seemed +absolutely impossible. + +A very different person from the foregoing was Dr. Samuel Osgood, the +successor of Dr. Dewey in the Church of the Messiah on Broadway, and the +close associate of the pastor of "All Souls," which name he suggested +when the new edifice on the corner of Fourth Avenue and Twentieth Street +was christened. He was a lover of ecclesiasticism, of forms, usages, +ceremonials, though he was not unmindful of the ideas that lay beneath +them, and too good a New Englander, too good a Unitarian, too staunch a +friend of free thought to be anything but a liberal Protestant; a man of +names and dates, and instituted observances, not "electric," "magnetic," +or a leader either of thought or action; not a man of deep emotions, or +moving eloquence in or out of the pulpit; not a man of long reach or +wide influence, but conspicuous in his way, unique, worth studying as a +figure in his generation. + +He was devoted to books, of which he read and produced many, and might +have been called learned, yet he was not a closet man, not a recluse; on +the contrary, he knew about public affairs, talked about what was going +on in the world, attended political, social, and literary meetings, was +a member of the prominent clubs, like the "Century" and the "Union +League," was for years the Corresponding Secretary of the "Historical +Society," rather prided himself, in fact, on the number and intimacy of +his outside relations. With all this, he was a diligent pastor, an +excellent denominationalist, a dependence on all church occasions within +his sect, a speaker at conventions, a worker of the ecclesiastical +machinery, a man much relied on for denominational work. + +His writings were numerous. In fact he always seemed to have the pen +in his hand. Besides the books which are known,--"Studies in Christian +Biography," "The Hearthstone," "God with Men," "Milestones in Our Life +Journey," "Student Life,"--all popular once,--he contributed frequently +to the _Christian Examiner_, the _North American Review_, the +_Bibliotheca Sacra_, and other important magazines; delivered orations, +printed theological discourses, especially a famous one before the +theological school at Meadville, Pennsylvania, on "The Coming Church and +its Clergy," and for several months, during Mr. Curtis' illness, +prepared the essays in the "Easy Chair" for _Harper's Monthly Magazine_. +His interest in matters of education and literature was incessant, +active, and useful. He made speeches, served on committees, prepared +reports, in every way tried to serve the cause of rational knowledge. +Yet with all his industry and all his ability--for he possessed ability +of no mean order,--he had a mind singularly destitute of vitality. His +ingenuity, his pleasantry, his sententiousness, his versatility, could +not conceal this lack of organic power. His vivacity did not exhilarate, +his happy expressions did not create the sense of life in the mind, but +were like artificial flowers that had no perfume, and reminded one more +of the perfection of art than of the involuntary sweetness of nature. He +was destitute of genius to inspire. It is the more wonderful that he +could persevere, as he did, without the popular recognition that his +talents merited, or the applause his endeavors deserved. He had praise, +to be sure, but it was not hearty or effusive, and they who rendered it +probably wondered why they could not put more soul into their laudation. +The address was brilliant, but not warming. One must come within arm's +length of him to feel the beating of his heart, to be sensible of his +force. He was unable to project himself far, and relied upon incidental +advantages of occasion for effects which he could not produce by genius. + +He was a most affectionate man, dependent, clinging, always ready to +serve, obliging, docile, patient, without hardness and without guile. He +was devoted to his family, faithful to his friends, never allowing +differences of opinion to interfere with his duty towards those who +might expect support from him, but fulfilling disagreeable offices when +he felt that loyalty made perfect truthfulness incumbent. There was +something touching in his fidelity towards men who gave him nothing but +outside recognition, and who were willing to abandon him when he could +no longer be useful. There was something plaintive in his readiness to +work for men who accepted his labor as a matter of course, and allowed +him to throw away his love. He, for his part, asked no reward, but was +quite satisfied if his service was accepted kindly by those to whom he +rendered it. Not that he did not like recognition; he did, and the more +public it was the better he liked it. For he was fond of notoriety, had +a craving for publicity, and was happiest when a multitude applauded. +This may have grown out of his affectionateness, for he reached forth +his arms as widely as possible, and wanted to hear the sound of many +approving voices, needing sympathy and the assurance that he was +conferring pleasure, the noise of plaudits reassuring his heart. Still +he could do without this, if he was certain of the attachment of a +single warm friend. Recognition of some sort was essential to his peace, +for he did not possess independence enough to stand alone, and he cared +too much for individuals to be easy if they were displeased. He gave +himself a great deal of pain, worried, took infinite trouble about +imaginary sorrows, not being able to feel or to affect indifference, and +being destitute of the robustness of character necessary to throw off +unpleasant things; for his ambition, not springing from vitality of +mind, was no guard against griefs of the spirit. He that cannot lose +himself in his studies fails to derive from them their best +satisfaction,--that of consolation and refuge. He stands naked to the +wind, and, if his skin is tender, suffers acutely. + +Dr. Osgood was intensely self-conscious, self-regarding, +self-referring. Not vain in the ordinary sense, though he seemed so from +his countenance, attitude, manner, for all of which, I am persuaded, +nature was more responsible than disposition, his physical formation +producing a certain carriage that suggested superciliousness and +conceit. If he were forth-putting, it was, in most instances at least, +because he lacked self-reliance, and wished to be _seen_, knowing that +he could not be _felt_. In reality he was a modest, timid, shrinking +man, with an inordinate desire for distinction, which impelled him +continually to make a demonstration in public. Mere vanity--the love of +appearances--he was destitute of, for he was too tender-hearted and too +conscientious to make victims. One must be self-centred to be vain, as +he was not. I recollect his coming one day into the office of the +_Christian Inquirer_, with his head up as usual, and calling out in a +loud voice: "Where do you think I went on my way down town?" Of course +none of us knew or could guess. "Well," he went on to say, with an air +of complacency, "I stopped at Fowler & Wells' and had my head examined." +"Ah!" exclaimed one of the impudent, "did they find anything, Sam?" +"What they did _not_ find," he said, "will interest you more. They +declared that I was deficient in self-respect, and it is true." And it +_was_ true. Samuel Osgood assumed a brave air, for the reason that he +could not trust himself in the open field. He needed the protection of a +rampart. He wore a showy uniform, because he was not valiant. He had too +much self-esteem to forget himself, and too little courage to assert +himself; the consequence was that he said and did numerous things that +looked vainglorious and were absurd, but which were intended to conceal +his impuissance. It was an innocent kind of bravado, like poor Oliver +Proudfute's, in Scott's romance, "The Fair Maid of Perth." Nobody was +hurt by it, though to him the passion for notoriety was fatal. He liked +to see his name in a newspaper, coveting the kind of reputation that +came in that way, and comforting his heart with the thought of lying on +the broad bosom of the community. His restless desire for public notice +brought ridicule on him, for ordinary people ascribed it to his conceit, +whereas it rather indicated an absence of self-confidence. It was a +cloak to hide his depreciation at the same time that it made him look +larger in the general eye. It was, therefore, more touching than +despicable, and if it excited mirth there was nothing bitter in the +smile which could not break into laughter. Selfish he could not be +called, for he was always serving others, and disinterestedly too; but +on a charge of complacency he could hardly be acquitted. This was the +manner in which he took his reward, and, as I said, it cost nothing to +anybody, while the public received a great deal of service very +ungrudgingly bestowed. + +The change from Unitarianism to Episcopacy is very easily explained. +His craving for sympathy was boundless. He was necessarily isolated in +New York, nor had he the solace of a great popular success. In fact his +following was small; his church was dwindling; his reputation was +certainly not increasing; and he became persuaded, I think without +sufficient reason, that he was the victim of adverse influences. In +London, he was charmed with the blended freedom and sanctity of the +"Broad Church" represented by Stanley, Kingsley, Jowett, and a host of +cultivated men; by its unity amid diversity; its sympathy and fellowship +and large scholarship. Here was a church indeed; wide, holy, liberal, +devout, with articles admitting of various interpretations, sacraments +tender and elastic, forms that did not constrain, and usages that did +not bind, an unlimited range of speculation, and a spirit of reverence +that kept the most widely separated together. Here was something very +different from the sectarianism he had, all his life, been accustomed +to, and, all his life, had loathed. He joined this Communion not so much +on account of its _creed_ as of its _creedlessness;_ not as another form +of denominationalism, but as an escape from denominationalism; a real, +living, comprehensive church, where there was room for all Christian +souls, whatever their special mode of belief; a Protestant church with a +truly catholic temper, cordial, humane, courteous; with a respect for +literature, and a love for knowledge; with no jealousy or ill-will, or +fear of thought. His heart was warmed, his fancy fired. Shortly after +his return, as he sat in my study, I asked him if he had materially +changed his theology. He replied that he had not, he had simply altered +the _emphasis;_ as much as to say that in substance it remained what it +was before, essentially Unitarian, as he understood that designation. In +fact, his sermons were to all intents and purposes the same; they never +abounded in doctrine, they did not now; they were always "sentimental," +in the sense of dealing with sentiment, they were so still. He was not a +prime favorite with Episcopalians in America. He was not narrow or +strict enough for the orthodox; he was not "sensational" enough for the +liberals; he was too ecclesiastical for the Low Churchmen; too +rationalistic for the High Churchmen; and his failure to communicate +warmth was not favorable to his attractiveness. There were not many +Broad Church ministers in New York, so that his circle of fellowship was +small; and on the whole the reception was a disappointment. He longed +for recognition, which he found among many of his old associates, as he +did not find it among his new friends. He was always a churchman when he +was a Unitarian; he was no more of a churchman now, and the sympathy he +sought he might have found in his former connection. Probably had he +lived elsewhere than in New York, where the competition was sharp, and +where individuality alone without distinguished power counted for +nothing, he would have continued Unitarian, and been happy, but he was +ambitious of eminence; he wanted to live in a great city, to be minister +of a metropolitan parish, to be a Doctor of Divinity, and for all this +he lacked the force. There was a perpetual conflict between his +aspirations and his vigor. He joined the Episcopal fraternity, hoping +for what none but those born into it attain without energy of an exalted +kind. His ancient comrades fell away, as was natural; he could not win +other comrades, and his later years became lonely. He cared more for +Christian fellowship than for any other; and he had not the power to +secure this. Thus his affectionateness was against him. He was a loyal +man, true to his convictions, faithful to the bent of his mind. He could +not be a deceiver or a renegade, and his heart was not strong enough or +wide enough to push him forward. + +Some thought him deficient in common-sense, and this is, in a sense, +true. He had not the force to carry projects through, nor had he the +hearty accord with the people of his generation that would give him an +instinctive insight into their wishes and enable him to strike into the +current of their designs. His self-reference always stood in the way of +his sympathy with other men; yet he often took practical views of +speculative questions, and curbed a propensity to moral enthusiasm on +the part of some of his associates. This, however, was due to his +timidity, to his absence of vigor, to his want of vital conviction, +rather than to any clearness of perception. He had no humor, no sense of +the incongruous, the incompatible, or the absurd. He named rocks, +groves, arbors, on his summer estate, after the famous poets, and used +to sit in turn on the seats he had thus immortalized. He said things +that no man of taste would have uttered, and did things that no man of +judgment would have been guilty of. But all this was owing to the +absence of sensible qualities rather than to the presence of visionary +ones. He was not perverse, stubborn, or wrong-headed, did not outrage +common opinion, or fly in the face of established prejudice. His want of +good sense was negative, not positive; innocent, not harmful. + +Such men have their uses and their place, and neither is small or low. +His love of learning, his devotion to duty, his friendliness, his +fidelity, his kindliness, were rare gifts, particularly rare in +communities like ours. His child-like conceit, very different from the +aggressive vanity that offends the sensitive soul, was not offensive or +noxious, and was a source of harmless amusement. His guilelessness was +more than touching; it was admirable as an example and as a lesson, in +an age that honors knowledge of the world beyond its deserts; and his +simplicity of nature, his trustingness, his ingenuousness, rendered him +a confiding friend, dear to those whose hearts were sore. Few men living +have so small a number of enemies. He did not provoke the hostility he +received. It was possible to be sorry for him; it was impossible to bear +him malice. + +As I think of him, the vision arises of a complacent man, with a loud +greeting, a metallic voice, an outstretched hand, a consequential +manner. All this is dust and ashes, but his singleness of intention is +not dead. When everything else is forgotten, his faithfulness will be +remembered. + +Both these men gave me a warm welcome; in fact, my relations were most +friendly among the other Unitarian ministers in the neighborhood. It was +anticipated, no doubt, that I would establish a third Unitarian Society +"up town," of a liberal type; but a wide departure from the existing +order was not suspected. The expectation was that the usual doctrines +were to be proclaimed; that the sacraments were to be administered; that +the regular order was to be observed. Perhaps my willingness to +undertake such an enterprise was regarded as a sign of concession on my +part; perhaps it was supposed that the conservative tone of the city, +together with the attitude of the other churches, would repress the +radical tendencies of the young clergyman; perhaps the trials incident +to a new society and the confusions of the time concealed somewhat the +real bearing of the undertaking. However this may be, there was no +opposition, no criticism, no dictation, no proscription of radical +leanings. My congregations were composed of all sorts of people. There +were Unitarians, Universalists, "come-outers," spiritualists, +unbelievers of all kinds, anti-slavery people, reformers generally. But +this, as being incidental to the formation of every liberal society, was +not objected to. It need not have been; for if there had been no +interruption, no check, everything might have gone smoothly, as in +similar societies since. + + + + +VIII. WAR. + + +Hardly had I got warm in my place when the mutterings of war were in +the air. During the autumn of 1859, on the 16th of October, John Brown +planned his attack on Harper's Ferry. His was a portentous figure. His +position in history--greater than his achievements would warrant--was +due partly to his position as herald of the coming strife, but mainly to +his personal qualities. These were colossal; however much one may +criticise his particular deeds, or the details of his motive, these +qualities can not be exalted too highly. His courage, heroism, patience, +fortitude, were most extraordinary. Even Governor Wise, the man whose +duty it was to see him tried and executed as a felon, said of him; "They +are mistaken who take Brown to be a madman. He is a bundle of the best +nerves I ever saw; cut and thrust and bleeding and in bonds. He is a man +of clear head, of courage, fortitude, and simple ingenuousness. He is +cool, collected, indomitable; and it is but just to him to say that he +was humane to his prisoners, and he inspired me with great trust in his +integrity as a man of truth." Colonel Washington, another Virginia +witness, testified to the extraordinary coolness with which Brown felt +the pulse of his dying son, while he held his own rifle in the other +hand, and cheered on his men. His character made his prison cell a +shrine. On the day of his execution, December 2, 1859, he stood under +the gallows with the noose round his neck for full ten minutes while +military evolutions were performed; he never wavered a moment, and died +with nerves still subject to his iron will. He was a Calvinistic +believer in predestination; a real Covenanter, more like the Scotch +Covenanters of two centuries ago than anything we know of to-day. He was +an Old-Testament man, and like all fanatics was indifferent to death, +either that of other men or his own. His anti-slavery zeal began in his +youth. He early took an oath to make war against slavery, and, it is +said, called his older sons together on one occasion and made them +pledge themselves, kneeling in prayer, to the anti-slavery crusade. This +purpose he always bore in mind, whatever else he was doing; he even +chose the spot for his attempt--the mountains which Washington had +selected as a final retreat should he be defeated by the English. Nearly +nine years before his own death, he exhorted the members of the "League +of Gileadites" to stand by one another and by their friends as long as a +drop of blood remained and be hanged, if they must, but to tell no tales +out of school. + +Then came the war. Though its physical aspect,--the loss of treasure and +of blood--was most affecting, I cannot but think that its mental and +moral aspect has been underrated. Its whole justification lay in its +moral character, and I must believe that full justice has never been +done to those who were obliged to stay at home and uphold this feature. +The preacher of the Gospel of Peace had as much as he could do to +overcome the horrors of war; and the preacher of Righteousness was +engaged all the time in promoting the cause of justice. They who went to +the front had the excitement of battle, the pleasures of camp-life, the +assistance of comradeship, the comfort of sympathy. The preacher had +none of these. Every day rumors were reaching his ears; "extras" were +flying about in the silence; he had to comfort people under defeat, to +humble them in hours of victory; to interpret the conflict in accordance +with the principles of equity; to keep alive the moral issues of the +struggle. This was an incessant weariness and anxiety; to fight foes one +could not see, and to uphold a cause that was discredited, fell to his +portion; it is no wonder that when the war was over he was spent and +aged. + +An illustration of a part of what he had to contend with is found in +the riot of the summer of 1863. This was an anti-abolitionist riot, a +fierce protest against the conscription, and at the same time an +uprising against the government, which was supposed to maintain a war of +the blacks against the whites. The riot was directed against the negroes +and the abolitionists, and was pitiless and ferocious in the extreme. It +was my lot to be in New York in that dreadful week in July. I was +visiting friends in the upper part of the town when the uproar began. As +I walked home down Madison Avenue a group of rough men met me; one of +them snatched at my watch chain, and I should have been maltreated had +not more attractive game in the shape of people in a buggy drawn away +the attention of my assailants. I reached my home in safety. The next +morning, as I walked about the city, there were groups of men standing +idle, or armed with missiles, in almost every street. Had the mob been +organized then it might have done more mischief than it did, for the +inhabitants of the city were unprepared and unprotected. As I stood at +night on my roof, I could see the fires in different parts of the town, +and hear the shots. An arsenal stood on Seventh Avenue, near my house, +full of arms and ammunition which the insurgents wanted. When the United +States troops arrived, they defended this arsenal. Cannons were pointed +up and down the street, guards were posted, officers with their clanking +swords marched up and down before my door. The riot lasted three +days,--from the 13th to the 16th. On the following Sunday a sermon was +preached which gives expression to the better thoughts of the wisest +people, and from which accordingly extracts are made: + + Of all the dreadful and melancholy passages in the history of human + progress, none, to a thoughtful man, are more dreadful or + melancholy than those which tell how men have resisted, pushed + away, reviled, cursed, beaten, mobbed, crucified their benefactors. + It does seem, as we read them, as if the most dreaded thing on + earth had been the personal, the domestic, the social welfare; as + if the deepest anxiety on the part of men of all sorts was an + anxiety to escape from their health and salvation; as if the + profoundest dread was a dread of mending their estates, and their + utmost horror was a horror of heaven! It does seem, as we read, as + if happiness, prosperity, success, were the pet aversion of + mankind; as if the signs that were looked for with the most + agonized apprehension were the signs that the kingdom of heaven was + at hand.... We saw this conspicuously and dismally exemplified in + the events of the past week. The one man who, before and above all + others, was a mark for the rage of the populace, the one man whose + name was loud in the rabble's mouth, and always coupled with a + malediction, the one man who was hunted for his blood as by wolves, + who would have been torn in pieces had the opportunity been + afforded, and on whose account the dwelling of a friend was + literally torn in pieces, was a man who had been the steadfast + friend of these very people who hungered for his blood; their most + constant, uncompromising, and public friend; thinking for them, + speaking for them, writing for them; pleading their cause through + the press, in the legislature, from the platform; excusing their + mistakes and follies, asserting and reasserting their substantial + worth and honesty and rectitude, advocating their claims as working + people, vindicating their rights as men; proposing schemes for the + safety of their persons, the healthfulness of their houses, the + saving and increase of their earnings, the education of their + children, the exemption of their homesteads from seizure in cases + of debt, the enlargement of their sphere of labor, the transferring + of their families from the crowded city, where they could do little + more than keep themselves alive by arduous toil, to the fruitful + lands of the West, where they could become noble and + self-respecting men and women. This was the man whose blood was + hungered for. I need not speak his name,--you know whom I mean, + Horace Greeley,--a man whom some call visionary, but whose visions + are all of the redemption of the people; whom some call "fool," but + who, if he seem a fool, is foolish that the people may be wise; + whom some call "radical," but whose radicalism is simply a + determination that the popular existence shall have a sound, sure, + and deep root in natural law and moral principle; at all events, a + man who has lived for the people and suffered for the people, and + been laughed at when he suffered and because he suffered. _This_ + was the man whose blood was hungered for. And yet the most + moderate, kind, considerate of all the papers, the last week, was + his paper. And I believe he, even had he fallen into the hands of + his enemies, would have said, "Forgive them, they know not what + they do." + + Indulge me in one more personality. I said that the dwelling of a + friend was pillaged by the mob, under the impression that Mr. + Greeley lived there. What was this dwelling? Who was this friend? + The dwelling was one the like of which is rare in any city, a + dwelling of happiness and peace, a home of the tenderest domestic + affections, a house of large friendliness and hospitality, a refuge + and abiding-place for the unfortunate and the outcast. There was no + display of wealth there--there was no wealth to display; yet the + house was full of things which no wealth could buy. It was crowded + with mementos. The pieces of furniture in the rooms had family + histories connected with them; chairs and tables were precious from + association with noble and rare people who had gone. Pictures on + the walls, busts in the parlor, engravings, photographs, books, + spoke of the gratitude or love of some dear giver. One room was + sacred to the memory of a noble boy, an only son, who had died some + years before. There was his bust in marble, there were his books, + there were the prints he liked, the little bits of art he was fond + of, and all the dear things that seemed to bring him back. The + whole house was a shrine and a sanctuary. + + And who were the inmates? The master, a man whose sympathies were + always and completely with the working-people, a man of steady and + boundless humanity; the mistress, a woman whose name is familiar to + all doers of good deeds in the city of New York, and dear to + hundreds of the objects of good deeds. To the orphan and friendless + and poor, a mother; to the unfortunate, a sister; to the wretched, + the depraved, the sinful, more than a friend. In the city prison + her presence was the presence of an angel of pitying love; at + Blackwell's Island she was welcome as a spirit of peace and hope. + The boys at Randall's Island looked into her face as the face of an + angel. Again and again had she rescued from the life of shame the + countrywoman, and possibly the kindred of these very people who + plundered her house. For the better part of a year and more she has + been in camp and city hospitals, nursing their brothers and sons, + performing every menial office. At this moment she is at Point + Lookout, doing that work, amid discomforts and discouragements that + would daunt a less resolute humanity than hers, giving all she has + and is to the _people_, to the wounded, crippled, bleeding, and + broken people; giving it for the sake of the people--giving it that + the people may be raised to a higher social level! And she, + forsooth, must be selected to have her house pillaged! She must be + stabbed to her heart of hearts, stabbed through and through, in + every one of her affections, by these people for whom her life had + been a perpetual process of dying! Why, if they had but known this + that I have been telling you, or but a tenth part of it, those men + would have defended with their bodies every thread of carpet she + trod on. But so it was, and so it must be! Only the best names are + ever taken in vain on human lips, and they are so taken because + they are the best, and best is worst to those who cannot understand + it. Theodore Winthrop was shot by a negro. Did he know what he + did?... In thinking of it one's bosom is torn with distracting + emotions, and between feeling for the persecuted and feeling for + the persecutors, one almost loses the power of feeling. Could + anything be more pitiful? Yes, one thing more pitiful there + was--the savage hunting down and persecution of the negroes, as if + they, too, were the enemies of these working-people. The poor, + inoffensive negroes, most innocent part of the whole population! + Most quiet, harmless, docile people, who could not stand in the way + of the white people if they would, and who never thought of + anything but of keeping out of their way! These the enemies of + white labor! As if they had not, for these very white people, borne + the burden and heat of the tropical day, raising the cotton by + which we are clothed, and the rice by which we are fed! As if to + these and the like of these, the white people did not owe a large + share of the manufacturing towns where they get their bread! As if + the lowest foundation stones of this very New York of ours were not + cemented by their bloody sweat! As if there were too many of them + in the country now for the country's needs, supposing the country + ever to fall into a settled and civilized condition again! As if + all there are might not by and by be _required_ to do the work + which white labor can not for a long time, if it can ever, safely + undertake! Strange complications of things! Strange cross-purposes + of human nature! The Southern people would revive the slave trade, + because they have not black laborers enough, and their allies among + ourselves would banish or kill all the black people, because they + interfere with white labor! A mutual stabbing at each other's + hearts! And on each side a stabbing to its own heart!... It is a + very mysterious thing in history, this alliance between the most + turbulent and the most tyrannical, the most depraved and the most + despotic portions of society. The most undisciplined, barbarous, + savage members of a community are ever in a league with the most + overbearing, insolent, imperious, and domineering members of it. + They who are under the least self-control bow most deferentially + before those who rule others with the most cruel rod. The people + who were proudest of having turned out to a man, in London, for the + maintenance of law and order, on the day of the great Chartist + demonstration there, were the most immoral class in the + city--proved by the criminal returns to be nine times as dishonest, + five times as drunken, and nine times as savage as the rest of the + community. (See Spencer's "Social Statics," p. 424.) + + In Boston, on the occasion of the rendition of Anthony Burns, all + the thieves, burglars, cut-throats, swarmed from their dens and + volunteered with alacrity to enforce the fugitive-slave law. And + now the leaders of the Southern Confederacy count, and count + securely, on the Northern populace. The fiercest allies of the only + absolutely despotic class in the country are the outlaws of + society. The men who are fighting for the privileges of the + extremest tyranny, the privileges not of ruling merely, but + literally of owning the laboring class, these men have the + implicit, unquestioning, fanatical loyalty of the people who are at + the opposite end of the social scale--the people who own nothing + either of fortune, position, influence, or character, and whose + sole relation towards the despots they worship is that of mad, + savage slaves. + + In Europe this alliance between the despotic and the lawless may + be fortunate for the peace of the community. In our Southern States + it is eminently conducive to the tranquillity they desire. But when + the lawless are here and the despotic are there, when the barbarism + is in New York and the tyranny in Richmond, when the elements of + discord and turbulence in our Northern cities fly to support their + iron-handed rulers in the seceded States, there ensues a state of + things, especially in time of war, that is calculated to shake + society to its foundations, and fill every loyal heart with dread. + The unruly, as if they felt instinctively their lack of + self-control, seek a ruler--fly to the strongest to save them from + themselves, worship the sternest, the most high-handed, the + cruellest, and by that natural sympathy with brutality are + maintained in subjection to law. + + Heaven speed the time when these heedless, reckless, licentious + children of humanity may feel sensible of the weight of power + without its brutality, may reverence authority when it is neither + beastly nor cruel, may yield obedience to Order, whose symbol is + not the sword, and to Law, whose badge is not the bayonet. But till + that time comes, we, with thoughtful minds and sad hearts and sober + consciences, and souls full as we can make them of human charity + and good-will, must hold in our hands those terrible symbols, and + in the Christian spirit do the ruler's part. + +The insurrection did not last long. As soon as the United States troops +appeared the trouble was over and order was restored. There was +fighting; there was pillage; but how many lives were lost and how much +property was destroyed was never exactly known. On the whole, the riot +strengthened the hands of the government, increased pity for the victims +of outrage, and excited sympathy for the negroes and the abolitionists. +The priests, as I well remember, helped in the work of pacification. On +the second day of the uprising, as I was visiting a friend in his studio +on Fifth Avenue, the mob came along, shouting, yelling, brandishing +clubs, on their way to the archbishop's palace, to hear an address by +him. The prelate appeared on the balcony dressed in full canonicals, in +order to impress the people, and delivered a most ingenious and +persuasive address. Beginning "Men of New York," he flattered their +self-esteem, paid a tribute to their sense of power and exalted +influence, and advised them against cruelty and anarchy. The effect of +this speech was surprising in soothing and quieting the crowd. They had +come there in a mood of tumult--they separated peacefully and went to +their own homes, satisfied. From that hour the soul of the riot was +broken. + +The incidents of the war cannot be detailed here. The story has been +told too often, and is altogether too long for my space. And after all +the moral issues of the war were the most interesting though not the +most pathetic. The sentiment of union, the establishment of the national +supremacy, the authority of the reign of law, the emancipation of a +degraded race, the new inspiration imparted to a great people, and the +advent of a universal republicanism were most significant. It is quite +likely that the modern uprising of labor and the urgent claims of women +for recognition and civil power were aided, if not suggested, by this +overwhelming triumph of order and enlightenment. It is more than likely +that the position of the United States, as a power among the nations of +the earth, was due mainly to the victory that was achieved by the powers +of liberty. + + + + +IX. THE FREE RELIGIOUS ASSOCIATION. + + +The happy ending of the war stimulated, as has been said, the +sentiment of Unity. The success of the government in putting down the +rebellion filled the air with the spirit of union. The restoration of +political harmony suggested a deeper harmony, when divisions should +cease. At this moment, in April, 1865, the indefatigable Dr. Bellows, +who had been the soul of the Sanitary Commission, summoned all Christian +believers of the liberal persuasions to a convention in his church for a +more complete organization. The invitation was most generously +interpreted, and was hailed by some who could be called Christians only +under the most elastic definition of the term. A prominent layman of the +Unitarian body brought an elaborate creed which he wished the convention +to adopt; and a distinguished minister of the West was of the opinion +that the work of perfect organization could best be done by the adoption +of stringent articles of faith. But the minimum of belief was imposed. +The preamble of the constitution, the work of reconciling minds, reads +thus: "Whereas the great opportunities and demands for Christian labor +and consecration, at this time, increase our sense of the obligations of +all disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ to prove their faith by +self-denial and by the devotion of their lives and possessions to the +service of God, and the building up of the kingdom of his son, +Therefore." Then follow the articles. It was this phrase, "Lord Jesus +Christ," that provoked discussion. The struggle was renewed at Syracuse +on October 8th of the next year, 1866, and an attempt was made to +explain away the force of the declaration by announcing that while the +preamble and articles of the constitution represented the opinions of +the majority, yet they were not to be considered an authoritative test +of Unitarianism, or to exclude from fellowship any who though differing +in belief "are in general sympathy with our purpose and practical aims." +But this was not considered by the radicals as satisfactory. For in the +first place the title of "Lord" seemed to contain by implication a +doctrine which could not be subscribed to, as the "Lordship" of Jesus +was supposed to be supernatural. Here seemed to be a fundamental +difference between those who held to the old world's idea of a spiritual +kingdom, and those who proclaimed the new world's idea of a spiritual +democracy. In fact, one of the leaders--Dr. Bellows--plainly said if +there was to be any change it must be made in the other direction; "we +are to consider not only the few on the one side, who may or may not +care to unite with us, but the great body of Christians of all +denominations, the Universal Church of Christ; I demand liberality to +them, the liberality which acknowledges their Lord and Leader, and +welcomes them to a household whose hearth glows with faith in and +loyalty to the personal Saviour." It was plainly declared by him that +Unitarians assumed the name of liberal Christians, because they allowed +liberality of inquiry and opinion _within the pale of Christian +discipleship_. This of itself was enough to create a palpable division, +but it was felt besides that freedom of interpretation did not imply +freedom of rejection. The phrase _Lordship of Jesus_, although as little +of a creed as could be devised, was hostile to freedom, besides not +being altogether true, as Jesus never claimed to be infallible. The +radicals, under the lead of Francis E. Abbot, attempted to introduce a +substitute for the original preamble, inculcating unity of spirit and of +work as the basis of the "National Conference of Unitarian and +Independent Churches." This substitute was not carried, and a final +breach between the Independents and the Unitarians was thus established. +This was inevitable twenty-five years ago; it could not happen to-day, +when both wings are united in one body. + +For my part I did not go to Syracuse, having foreseen what eventually +occurred, namely, the intended solidification of the Unitarian body by +the strengthening of the bonds of organization. My own personal +experience, which other radicals knew nothing of, led me to this +conclusion. My church edifice on 40th Street was begun in the spring of +1863. The two ministers in New York were present at the informal service +of laying the corner-stone. The walls were going up during the summer; +on the week of the riot the mob called the workmen off, threatening to +destroy what was built if the masons did not leave. The building was +finished in the winter, and dedicated on Christmas Day. To the warm +personal invitation which was sent to all the Unitarian clergy in New +York and Brooklyn--there were but three then--no response was returned; +and when my father and I went to the church there were no ministers on +the platform. We went through the service, my father offering the prayer +and I preaching the sermon. No remark was made at the time beyond an +expression of surprise at the non-appearance of the "brethren." The next +day my father, who had come from Boston on purpose to attend the +dedication, and whose blindness was approaching fast, went to make a +friendly visit on Dr. Bellows. On his return, when asked if any reason +was assigned for the failure to participate in the proceedings of the +day before, he said that the duties of Christmas were alleged as the +cause. I was sure there was another explanation behind; and as soon as I +had put my father in the train for home wrote to Dr. Bellows, taxing him +among the rest with discourtesy. It was evident that such a charge was +anticipated and prepared for; that the ministers had met and had agreed +on a course to be pursued in my case. For at once there came a reply to +my note, accusing me of studiously neglecting all the usual observances +of the denomination. My invitation had not been official; there was no +"church"; there had never been any sacrament; the allegiance to +fundamental doctrines of the sect had been slack. All this was true, and +no attempt at exculpation was made, but it was felt that a breach +existed. The excitements of the war overshadowed everything else at this +period, and nothing more was said. My Society was duly represented at +the first conference; but as soon as our side was argued,--as it was by +D. A. Wasson,--it was plain that the spirit of organization prevailed +and was against us. A division was inevitable. The "Independents" must +form a separate party. + +This virtual exclusion occasioned the formation of the Free Religious +Association. A meeting was held on the 5th of February, 1867, at +Dr. C. A. Bartol's, in Boston, to consider a plan for creating a new +association on the basis of free thought. Very strong words were spoken +on that occasion. One man, I recollect, spoke of all churches, all +ministers, and all religion as being outgrown. But the majority were of +the opinion that religion was an eternal necessity, and the +administration of it an absolute demand. Dr. Bartol himself was always a +warm friend of the Association, appearing on the platform, speaking +always hopefully, one of the most welcome of its supporters. The +Association was formed in the spring of that same year. In the plan of +organization it was distinctly announced that the aim of the Association +was to "promote the interest of pure religion, to encourage the +scientific study of theology, and to increase fellowship in the spirit; +and to this end all persons interested in these objects are cordially +invited to its membership." Thus the object of the Association was +exceedingly broad. It proposed to remove all dividing lines and to unite +all religious men in bonds of pure spirituality, each one being +responsible for his own opinion alone, and in no degree affected in his +relations with other associations. If the movement had been in the hands +of orthodox and well-reputed people, it would have seemed not only large +but noble and beneficent. Being, as it was, in the hands of a few +radical clergymen and laymen, it was supposed to be "infidel" in its +character; and was misrepresented and abused accordingly. + +At first, the dissensions of the sects were rebuked. Afterwards, the +scope of the idea was extended; all the religions of the world being put +on an equality of origin and purpose. The spiritual nature of man was +assumed; the universality of religious feeling; the inherent tendency to +worship, aspiration, prayer, being taken for granted as an element in +the best minds; all churches and confessions of faith being looked upon +as achievements of the soul; Jesus being classed among the leaders of +humanity; the Bible being accepted as a record of spiritual and moral +truth; and the church being regarded as an organization to diffuse +belief. The foundation, therefore, was a pure Theism, and the effort +contemplated the elevation of all mankind to the dignity of children of +the Highest. That this aim was always borne in mind is not pretended. +The negative side was made too conspicuous. Now and then there was a +lurch in the direction of denial. There was too much criticism, and it +was not always just. There was too much speculation, and it was not +always wise. The plan of letting each sect tell its own story was a +little confusing at the start. Still, on the whole, the object was +pretty faithfully kept in view. Lucretia Mott suggested that the word +"religion" should be substituted for the word "theology," but the word +"religion" was too vague to afford ground for discussion, and it was +felt that the phrase "scientific" sufficiently explained, through the +substitution of the scientific for the theological method, the purpose +of the association. Moreover, the purpose was to remove _theological_ +differences, the only differences that existed. + +There were names of distinguished men and women on our list of +officers, members, speakers, and friends--Ralph Waldo Emerson, Amos +Bronson Alcott, Gerrit Smith, George William Curtis, Edward L. Youmans, +Nathaniel Holmes, William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, Rowland G. +Hazard, Lucretia Mott, Lydia Maria Child, Ednah D. Cheney. Thomas W. +Higginson was one of our most effective speakers; John Weiss read on our +platform his most brilliant paper on "Science and Religion"; David +Atwood Wasson lent us the light of his countenance. + +Our greatest want was the want of a leader,--a man not only of competent +learning and spiritual enthusiasm, but of natural impulse and vigor; a +man of the people, a man of rugged speech, a man of vivacity and humor. +If Theodore Parker had been alive he might have taken this position, and +distinguished himself as a leader in this movement; as it was, there was +no one who could take his place, and the enterprise flagged accordingly, +lacking the popular zeal which would give it currency. The speculative +character of the association was always against it and rendered it +somewhat dry; but this under the circumstances was inevitable, because +we were forced to deal with technicalities of credence, and had not +power enough to get beyond them into the universalities of faith. + +There was an expectation in many quarters that the association would +devote itself to beneficent projects; and this was natural, because it +seemed as if those who gave up the bond of belief must adopt the bond of +work. Mr. Emerson seems to have had a similar desire. "I wish," he said, +"that the various beneficent institutions which are springing up like +joyful plants of wholesomeness all over this country, should all be +remembered as within the sphere of this committee,--almost all of them +are represented here,--and that within this little band that has +gathered here to-day should grow friendship." But in the first place, +ours was not a philanthropic institution; its aim was religious +entirely, as it attempted to substitute the universality of religion for +the one faith of Christendom. The chief workers in several forms of +charity presented their schemes for our consideration, and at one time +it looked as if we must be borne away into some philanthropic +enterprise. The current, however, which carried us towards "religious" +unity was too strong. + +And then, at that time there was little scientific philanthropy. The +word _charity_ was more or less associated with patronage and pity, the +very things that we wanted to avoid; they who were bent on wiping out +distinctions could not countenance these, and it was safer not to let +our hearts get the better of our reason. But even if there had been a +scientific treatment of humane questions, we were afraid of the danger +of becoming too much absorbed in this kind of work, and so of losing +sight of our chief end. + +At present the idea of our Association is pretty well domesticated in +Christendom. It was not, after all, entirely new. In 1845 and 1846 +Frederick Denison Maurice, lecturing on the Boyle Foundation in London +on "The Religions of the World and their Relations to Christianity," +attempted to do justice to the ancient faiths of India, Persia, Egypt, +Greece, and Rome. In 1882, in Edinburgh, eminent men discussed the same +problems under the title of "The Faiths of the World." In 1871 James +Freeman Clarke published his "Ten Great Religions." The study of +comparative religion has been going on for many years. When Mozoomdar +came to this country a few years ago, there was such a rush for him +among American orthodox Christians that the Free Religious Association +could not get at him at all, though it had tried in vain to get a real +Brahmin on its platform. True, there were differences of opinion among +the orthodox students of the old-world systems. Some regarded the +ancient religions as effete; some denied that Christianity touched them +at more than one or two points; some treated them simply as preparations +for the crowning faith of Christ. Still, whatever their differences, all +agreed that the religious instinct was universal; that there was a +ground for revelation in the human heart; since Carlyle's famous lecture +in "Heroes," delivered in 1840, it was impossible to regard Mahomet as +an impostor, or to look upon religion as a fabrication of the priests, +as an attempt to practise upon human ignorance and fear. + +Among the Unitarians our conception is familiar. At the convention that +was held in Philadelphia, in October, 1889, both parties, the most +conservative and the most radical, sat side by side. A manager of the +Free Religious Association delivered one of the addresses, and said: "I +never believed one tithe as much as I believe to-night. Never did I have +such faith in God; never did I so believe in man; never did I see such a +glorious outlook for the Church; never did I hold such a glad theory of +human hope for the future." The secretary of the American Unitarian +Association was full of joy. The secretary of the Western Unitarian +Conference quoted the opinion of the Western churches, assembled at +Chicago in May, 1887, and declared "our fellowship to be conditioned on +no doctrinal tests, and welcomes all who wish to join us to help +establish truth and righteousness and love in the world." A prominent +leader of Unitarianism in Illinois uttered himself thus: "Whatever its +traditions, whatever its present positions, or its prospects, this +spiritual commonwealth is extra-Unitarian, extra-American, +extra-Christian; it is human, and on that account it is universal, and +it is divine." Another speaker at this convention declared that "the +hand that shall hold this master key is Christ, as the modern mind +conceives him,--Christ healing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing the +leper, casting out devils from society and business, from politics and +religion; Christ, the friend of Lazarus and of Mary Magdalen; Christ +robed in absolute justice and also in transcendant love, and embracing +the whole world." + +It is not claimed that this extraordinary change in ecclesiastical +fellowship and sympathy is due to the Free Religious Association. That +was one of the signs of the times, and is an effect rather than a cause; +but it is a sign of the grander unity. When the portrait of Theodore +Parker is hanging on the walls of Channing Hall; when a cordial welcome +is extended to all seekers for the light; when the East and West are +ready to embrace in a fellowship of aspiration; when the young men are +all alight with fresh hope and fresh endeavor, we may with confidence +anticipate the time when there shall be but one fold, and the aim of the +Free Religious Association be met. + +The emancipation from denominational trammels was of great service to +the young minister. It is true that he was still in a "church" which +kept him within ecclesiastical associations; but these fetters were not +heavy, and they were soon to be thrown off. For in the spring of 1869, +the church was sold to another congregation. This was done partly +because the acoustic properties of the building were not favorable, and +partly because the place was not suited to the genius of the new +society. "There was no room in the inn," was the subject of the last +sermon preached in that building. Lyric Hall, to which we removed, is +situated on Sixth Avenue, between 40th and 41st streets. It is a large +room fifty by one hundred feet. During the week it was used as a dancing +hall, but on Sundays it was arranged for a religious service. A small +organ was placed there, a platform was built, and seats were brought up +from the cellar below. The first sermon preached there was on "Secular +Religion," and it indicated the whole character of the services. The +most remarkable thing, as regards myself, that happened in Lyric Hall, +was the adoption of the habit of speaking without notes. The light from +the avenue was too far off for reading, and the speaker was therefore +obliged to dispense with a manuscript altogether. A theme was first +chosen that admitted of subdivisions, so that as fast as the speaker +exhausted one he could fall back on another. The habit soon became so +familiar that no difficulty was experienced in handling the most +complicated subject. Here we remained until the spring of 1875, when we +removed to Masonic Temple, on Sixth Avenue and 23d Street. + +This building, which was very large and handsome, had just been erected +by the Masons, who designed it for their own accommodation. The +structure having cost, however, more than was anticipated, the owners +were obliged, reluctantly, to let the large hall, which they did for +literary and religious purposes only. We were the first to occupy it. +The hall was spacious and stately, with fixed seats for about a thousand +people. A fine organ stood at one end of the platform; at the other end +there was a large reception room. The first sermon there was on +"Reasonable Religion." The audience was never large--never more than +eight or nine hundred, usually six or seven hundred. The form of service +much resembled the form common in Unitarian churches, with the exception +that Mr. Conway's "Sacred Anthology" was substituted for the Bible, and +the other exercises were more universal in their character. It had long +ceased to be a Unitarian congregation. There were people of Catholic +training, many of Protestant training, some of no religious training +whatever, materialists, atheists, secularists, positivists--always +thinking people, with their minds uppermost. It was a church of the +unchurched. George Ripley, the journalist, was always there; E. C. +Stedman, the man of letters; Calvert Vaux, the architect; Sanford R. +Gifford, the painter; Henry Peters Gray, the artist, was there until he +died; C. P. Cranch, the poet, was a member of the Society as long as he +was in the city. In the Lyric-Hall days, Judge Geo. C. Barrett had a +seat in the audience. The secular character was always prominent. When +we had a church on 40th Street, the large basement was used for music, +dramatic performances, readings, festivities, social gatherings. In +Lyric Hall, these were continued as far as they could be. + +The "Fraternity Club" was organized in 1869 by a devoted member of the +Society for the entertainment and improvement of its members; and drew +together very brilliant minds both within and without the immediate +fellowship. The meetings were held once in two weeks, when an essay was +read, a debate carried on, and a paper presented; all the performers +being nominated in advance by the President. The work was mainly done by +a few young men, who have since become eminent in various fields--as +teachers, lawyers, literary critics, publishers,--and by witty women not +a few. There were about seventy members, each one standing for some +peculiar accomplishment. The subjects of the essays were such as these, +illustrating the breadth of the intellectual interest: On "Taste"; on +"Expressions"; on "The Coming Man"; on "Wordsworth"; on "The Tree of +Life"; on "Spencer's Britomart as the Type of Woman"; on "Light and +Laughter"; on "Successful People"; on "Culture"; on "The Cultivation of +the Masses." The subjects for debate were equally varied: "Ought the +sexes to be educated apart?"; "Does a house burn up or burn down?"; "Is +the highest musical culture compatible with the highest intellectual +development?"; "Is there a distinctly American literature as contrasted +with that of England?"; "Should matrimonial union be contracted early or +late?"; "Ought we to cultivate most those faculties in which we +naturally excel, or those in which we are naturally deficient?"; "Does +increase of culture involve decrease of amusement?"; "Is the existence +of a 'Mute inglorious Milton' possible?"; "Will giving the franchise to +women exert a beneficial influence on society?"; "Had you rather be more +stupid than you seem, or seem more stupid than you are?" + +The "papers," of which there are some nine volumes existing, were +receptacles for the fancy, imagination, sentiment, and humor of the +editors or their co-editors; there were verses, stories, criticisms, +jokes, illustrations, in them; each had its name: "The Bubble," "The +Venture," "Bric-a-Brac," "Stuff," "The Rag-Bag." The club ceased soon +after the Society disbanded, in 1880. + +The root idea of the Society, apart from its independence, was the +mingling of the spiritual and the natural; the domestication of faith. +With a view of making the idea more prevailing and complete, a +children's service in the afternoon was substituted for the regular +Sunday-school. A book was prepared, "The Child's Book of Religion," by +the pastor, for this express purpose. There were responsive readings, +recitations in unison, songs, and an address, simple and anecdotical, by +the minister. + +The Society was never fashionable, or even popular. At one period--that +of the Richardson-McFarland matter--there was a vast deal of +misrepresentation, criticism, and abuse, but all this had no effect on +the constituency of the parish. There was the same loyalty, the same +interest, the same determination to sustain a thoroughly liberal +ministry, by which every form of conviction was made conducive to a +purely spiritual faith. + +It was never pretended that the Society was anything more than a +beginning. A small and feeble beginning, but of something that was to +grow and spread; the beginning of a faith that is as rational as it is +wide. Its influence was more diffusive than concrete as an instituted +thing. It is the pride and consolation of those who began it that they +removed some of the barriers that divided the great brotherhood of +believing men. + +My ministry in New York ended in the spring of 1879. Its close was due +entirely to my ill-health. A year before the doctors had warned me not +to continue longer than was necessary my rate of speed. They urged me to +go slower, to "take in sail," and to withdraw as far as I could from all +public demonstrations. Measures were taken against every emergency, and +I sailed away in the French steamer, with the hope that in six months I +might regain my nervous power, and return. There was first the +exhilarating sea voyage; then the beautiful city hall of Rouen, the +churches and famous buildings, the square where Joan of Arc suffered; +then came Paris with its enchantments; after that Basel showed its great +Holbeins, and its lovely promenade overlooking the river; this led to +the celebrated baths at Ragatz in Switzerland, the placid waters of +Pfeffers', the gorge, the hotel gardens, and the lovely walks; after +this came the pass of the Spluegen, the Via Mala, the hotel at the summit +of the pass among the snows, the pastures, the wild goats; then came +Lake Como in Italy, Bellagio, the charming Villa Serbeloni, looking down +upon the two lakes, Como and Lecco, the vineyards ripening in the sun, +the terraces, looking across upon the mountains; then Milan opened its +great cathedral, the gallery of the Brera, the ancient church of Saint +Ambrose. Afterwards came Florence and its heavenly environs, its +pictures and statues and public buildings, its groves and stately drives +and lovely villas; Florence was followed by Siena, and there I saw the +great cathedral, walked on the esplanade, enjoyed the public square, the +palaces, the pictures of Sodoma. From there I went to Rome, in December. + +It was all in vain; I became satisfied that the complaint was not of a +temporary nature, not owing to overwork or over-excitement, not easily +cured--if curable at all,--but nervous and hereditary. Thereupon, I +wrote a letter to my trustees absolutely resigning my office and +declining to be a clergyman any longer, as I could not attempt to renew +the same kind of labor. An attempt was made to secure a successor; +several names were mentioned, and among men greatly my superiors in +learning and eloquence, but none, it was thought, represented the +precise form of speculation, the exact view of religion which my friends +desired. The Society therefore was disbanded, and no attempt has been +made since to reorganize it. The members were scattered, some among +other churches, some among other cities, while some never joined any +religious society whatever. Thus a thriving and growing organization is +now simply a memory. + + + + +X. THE PROGRESS OF RELIGIOUS THOUGHT IN AMERICA. + + +An article in the _North American Review_ for April, 1885, on "Free +Thought in America," is chiefly significant as showing how gradual and +tentative the progress of thought in religion was. The comments on +individuals are often wide of the mark, but the general drift is quite +correct. The course was shadowy, but the main point was unmistakable. At +this day, the wholesale abuse of religion is harmless, and can exert no +wide influence. The friends of liberal thought are against it; and those +who seek the old grim conclusion do so in another way, striving to +substitute a new faith in nature for the old faith in divine +inspiration, and to prove the latter to have been a growth rather than +an imposition. The study of comparative religions has put a new face on +the question, and the concern is now to discover the source of faith in +the supernatural and not to make it appear a creation of priestcraft. No +sooner had serious investigations into antiquity become known, than the +method pursued by Voltaire and Dupuis was abandoned, and each generation +since has confirmed the facts of historic development. + +That my own immediate predecessors were Emerson and Parker is most true. +With the writings of the former I was familiar; the latter was my +intimate friend. Perhaps my theological views are due to him more than +to any other man, though the circumstances of his generation were +peculiar, and determined, in a much greater degree than in my own case +was possible, the cast of his thought. The Unitarian controversy, in +which he played so prominent a part, and by stress whereof he was driven +into some of his positions, is over. The anti-slavery struggle, into +which he threw himself and as a result of which his religious +antagonisms were sharpened, was ended many years ago. + +Poe said in the preface to "Eureka," that perfect beauty was a guaranty +of perfect truth; so I felt--felt rather than reasoned--that a great +character was sufficient proof of the truth of doctrine, and I accepted +the teaching on the strength of the nobleness which was before my eyes. +Later researches confirmed my opinions, but while I was under Parker's +influence, his theological views were accepted without much +consideration; his unique style of personality laying my heart as it +were under a spell. + +Emerson was a man of colder temperament, thinner of blood, more spare +in frame; of finer intellectual fibre, of more commanding intellectual +supremacy; not a combatant on any field; a sweet, gracious, shadowy +personality; calm, lucid, imperturbable; pursuing knowledge along the +spiritual path of pure thought, although he was also a student of books; +a regenerator of mind rather than a reformer of customs; a prophet, +distinguished for penetration rather than for will. His ideas were +substantially the same as Parker's, but he did not arrive at them in the +same way, or hold them in the same spirit, or apply them with the same +directness. He carried them out further, not being hindered, as his +contemporary was, by the immediate necessities of the hour. In short, he +was another sort of man entirely. Both were transcendentalists, but +Parker shaped his philosophy to the working exigencies of his +generation, while Emerson let his stream freely in the air. The writer +of the article in question accuses Emerson of want of pathos, and +declares that this was the lack of the transcendentalists, as a school. +But he could hardly charge this on Parker, who was an ardent +transcendentalist, but whose very language was vascular, who affected +multitudes of men and women, and who held audiences by the heartstrings. +Did Hopkins or Bellamy or Edwards melt people? Were the preachers of +Calvinism priests of sorrow? This is a matter of temperament and not of +creed. Extreme rationalists leave their congregations in tears, and +extreme churchmen dismiss theirs unmoved, the humors of the men deciding +the issues of their ministrations. The closer to the ground, the more +abundant the sympathy. The question is whether one is more mundane or +more ethereal by native gift and endowment. + +That transcendentalism was mainly speculative may be doubted, but if it +was so this may be accounted an incidental circumstance to be explained +by the prevailing theological temper of the age, and the duty imposed on +it of transferring the body of doctrine to an ideal realm; a task which +demands an intellectual effort of no common magnitude. And when with +this task was joined the endeavor to sift out the purely spiritual ideas +from the mass of dogmatical and ecclesiastical error, it is no wonder +that it should have been speculative in its tendency. Certainly, Brook +Farm was concrete enough, and the transcendentalists were, as a rule, +interested in social reconstruction, though not in a way to touch +popular emotion. One cannot, even at this distance, think of the +quickening radiance shed by the transcendentalists over the whole region +of religious belief and duty, without gratitude. The hymns, the sermons, +the music, the Sunday-schools, the prayers, the charities, the social +ministrations, breathed forth a fresh spirit. If there were fewer tears +of woe, there was more weeping for joy. There was too much gladness for +crying. Life was made sunny. Human nature was interpreted cheerfully. +There was an unlimited future for misery, ignorance, turpitude. Sin was +remanded to the position of crudity, and was banished from the heavenly +courts. Violence was protested against in laws, customs, manners, +speech. Harsh doctrines were criticised. Austere views were discarded. +Intellectual barriers were removed. Spiritual channels were deepened and +widened. Light was let into dark places. The brightest aspects of +divinity were presented. Immortality was rendered native to the soul. +The life below was regarded as the portal to the life above. + +In my own case, whatever of enthusiasm I may have had, whatever +transports of feeling, whatever glow of hope for mankind, whatever ardor +of anticipation for the future, whatever exhilaration of mind towards +God, whatever elation in the presence of disbelief in the popular +theology, may be fairly ascribed to this form of the ideal philosophy. +It was like a revelation of glory. Every good thought was encouraged. +Every noble impulse was heightened. It was balm and elixir to me. If +transcendentalism did not appear as a sun illuminating the entire mental +universe it was the fault of my exposition alone. Absolute faith in that +form of philosophy grew weak and passed away many years since, and the +assurance it gave was shaken; but the sunset flush continued a long time +after the orb of day had disappeared and lighted up the earth. Gradually +the splendor faded, to be succeeded by a softer and more tranquil gleam, +less stimulating but not less beautiful or glorious. The world looks +larger under the light of stars. I always loved Blanco White's +magnificent sonnet to Night, but never appreciated its full significance +until the scientific view had succeeded to the transcendental, and I +began to walk by knowledge, steadily and surely, but not buoyantly any +more. It would be a mistake to suppose that anything like pain, sadness, +or sterility accompanies the departure of an old faith, when a new one +takes its place and soon opens fresh prospects of good. The universe but +grows larger: other methods are adopted, other hopes are entertained, +other consolations are presented, and soon the mind adjusts itself to +the altered conditions. The downcast mood of George Eliot, of the author +of "Physicus," and of many another less distinguished unbeliever, may be +due in part to temperament, in part to the first feeling of chill that +ensues upon a transitional period, which brings in a different climate; +but the allegation of lasting coldness, gloom, discontent, is wholly +groundless. The old fable says that quails drop from the clouds, that +even rocks quench the traveller's thirst. There is, in short, no +wilderness. + +That the creed was "filmy," the foothold "unsteady," is altogether +likely, for the ancient supports were removed, the pillars that replaced +them were shaking, and tradition alone remained to hold by. But religion +was still the Poetry of Life, and kept its place among the interests +singly represented by art, music, literature, philosophy, those fine +intimations of a higher state, those splendid foreshadowings of the +future, those noble efforts to solve problems that must be forever +insoluble. My creed did not pretend to be final or even definite. It was +simply a study, a preliminary sketch, an essay towards truth. A claim to +completeness, to logical consistency, would have been fatal. Still less, +if possible, did it pretend to meet popular wants. It resolutely turned +in the opposite direction, and took up positions which, it was +understood, the general public could not occupy without abandoning all +its works and retiring to other ground. No effort was made to commend it +to common opinion; on the contrary, everything like concession was +shunned, and the slightest signal of agreement with current beliefs was +regarded as a warning against a compromise of principle. Nothing was +assumed except the validity of the human faculties, including, of +course, the higher reason, the insight of genius, and such feelings as +were parts of the rational constitution, together with perfect liberty +in their exercise. Every theological system was repudiated; even the +doctrines of a conscious Deity and the individual immortality of the +soul were left open to discussion, the atheist and the materialist being +listened to with as much deference as any. These doctrines were +accepted, yet not on the ground of authority or tradition, but simply +considered as faiths, hopes, sentiments of the spiritual being; the +existence of living mind, coupled with the demand for unity, seeming to +guarantee the first, the fact of individual persistency appearing to +demonstrate the second. But all definition was carefully avoided, +conviction being confined to the main idea, and being purely spiritual +in its character, not in the least dogmatical, or exclusive of +knowledge. Of doctrine in the usual sense there was none. There was +merely thought. The very teaching was more of the nature of suggestion +than of final conclusion. For this reason no account of the "credo" can +be given, all fixed expressions of views being discountenanced as +premature, and therefore irrational. This should be distinctly +understood by those interested in coming at the truth on this subject. +The object was to disintegrate, to pulverize, to enable mind to float +freely in the air of intellect, to the end that it might crystallize +about natural centres. All dogmatism, that of the infidel as well as +that of the believer, of the man of science as well as of the +theologian, of the sensualist as well as of the spiritualist, was +obnoxious. There was no sympathy with those who regarded the case as +closed, either as the anti-Christian assailant or as the apologist did; +either with the school of Paine or with the school of Calvin. Hereafter +there may be articles of belief, at present there can be none. This, it +may be said, was a temporary, incidental position, quite indeterminate +and unsatisfactory. No doubt it was. That was all it pretended to be. +The sooner it disappeared and was succeeded by a more stable one, so it +was reasonable, the better, for that would indicate an advance in +rational judgment. + +This task--the complete emancipation of the human mind from every form +of thraldom--will occupy liberal teachers for a long time to come. All +that can be said in defence of instituted religion, and all that can be +urged on the other side, had been put forward again and again, but in a +sectarian--that is, in a partisan--spirit. Now an even temper is +demanded. Unfortunately, impartiality is apt to degenerate into +indifference. Breadth of view is, as a rule, inconsistent with rapidity +of motion. The fact that the Free Religious Association had a small +constituency as compared with many an orthodox society is no evidence +whatever that the orthodox society is nearer the truth. The former was +broad enough to admit all religions, the latter shut out all save the +Christians, thus making them a special community saved by their belief. +The problem is to preserve and, if possible, deepen intellectual +enthusiasm while opposing fanatical adherence to dogmas; to associate +breadth with force, to unite freedom with earnestness, and to render the +love of truth more intense in proportion as the horizon recedes and +ideas multiply. Such ought to be the result of free thinking, and such +it is when _thinking_ goes hand in hand with _freedom_. + +Critical studies must keep an even pace with philosophy, and both must +conspire to push back the lines of credence as far as faith in the +spiritual sentiment will permit. The latest investigations have +substantiated liberal conclusions and carried them into regions which +were inaccessible to the authorities of an early day. A certain amount +of denial was necessary of course, but this was made in view of a larger +affirmation which had to be brought forward, and was, moreover, confined +to matters incidental, not directed at the substance of faith. The +assumption of a spiritual nature in man guaranteed the inherent +genuineness of all aspiration. + +No doubt the assumption of a creative religious nature in man lent aid +to the endeavor to glorify the pagan faiths, and predisposed the mind to +accept criticisms on Christianity; but scientific investigation of the +world's bibles went on quite independently of this assumption. It was +promoted by Catholics and Protestants, by Lutherans and Unitarians, by +Germans, French, English, Americans. Certainly the alleged antiquity of +a system is not in its favor; for ignorance, credulity, superstition, +are much older than this; older than the ancient books, than the ancient +thinkers. The oldest things are errors, delusions, falsities. The +allegiance of great minds simply proves the limitations of intellect. +Sir Thomas More believed in transubstantiation, and Samuel Johnson +believed in ghosts. The wide reverence for the Scriptures is an +impressive fact, until it is seen that no writings have been so guarded, +nor have such pains been taken in regard to any other literature to +create for it a habit of docile veneration. Fidelity is praiseworthy, +but it is no pledge of wisdom. On the contrary it draws attention to the +merits or demerits of the creed to which it is consecrated. Is +witchcraft respectable? Yet it had its martyrs. Is demoniacal possession +credible? Yet saints attested it. The fury of the fighter cannot vouch +for the worthiness of the cause. If it could, the narrowest credence +would be the truest as the world goes, and they who adhere to the +"Christian" tradition would be consigned to the darkest cells of it. The +newest thing is knowledge. This never paralyzes, and never is fanatical. +Its heat is stimulating yet gracious. Its zeal does not scorch or +consume. It awakens every faculty, keeps inquiry on the stretch, excites +the noblest ambition, and at the same time rebukes the partisan temper +in all its manifestations. Its reign is beneficent; its coming is full +of hope. It is ever looking forward with sanguine anticipation, and if +it is at times impatient, petulant, or imperious, it is because it is +fretted by stubborn obstacles that prevent the full realization of its +purpose to discover the truth. For a long time to come there will be +controversy, but its violence will disappear, its acrimony will +gradually cease, the passion for victory will yield to the love of +knowledge, and all genuine seekers will unite in the search after light. + +In the last generation the progress of intelligent examination into +nature's secrets has been exceedingly rapid. During my active ministry I +was hardly aware of it, for though an assailant of the popular religion, +a champion of the freest thought, I was a defender of the current +religious ideas; since leaving the profession, the significance of the +mental revolution that is taking place, has been more fully revealed to +me. The advance has approached very near to the heart of the citadel. +The questions under discussion are fundamental ones, the existence of a +self-conscious deity, the fact of personal continuance beyond the grave, +the line of distinction between "material" and "spiritual" things. The +dispute hangs on invisible threads of logic. The conservatives occupy +positions which radicals of thirty years back could not assume. + +The next step in the development of free thought must be toward the +realization of all the ideal supports of mankind, the spiritualizing of +the secular, the lifting into heavenly places of this world's activity, +the transfiguration of our common life. If by religion is understood the +striving after perfection in intellectual things by the untrammelled +pursuit of knowledge, in social concerns by the exercise of fraternal +kindness, in the spiritual world by aspiration towards a complete +surrender to natural law, every free thinker will encourage that and +will do what he can to promote it. That there is no final truth +discoverable must be admitted, but such a confession need not trouble +those who look manfully forward to a future of new discoveries, and gird +themselves to remove all obstacles to the knowledge of the world they +live in. + +Robert Browning in his "Paracelsus," published in 1835, anticipates the +doctrine of evolution. + + Thus He dwells in all, + From life's minute beginnings, up at last + To man--the consummation of this scheme + Of being--the completion of this sphere + Of life; whose attributes had here and there + Been scattered o'er the visible world before, + Asking to be combined. + +In 1836, Emerson in his "Nature," reiterated this grand prophecy: + + A subtle chain of countless rings, + The next unto the farthest brings, + The eye reads omens where it goes, + And speaks all languages, the rose; + And striving to be man, the worm + Mounts through all the spires of form. + +In 1867, science had gone so far that it could announce the Unity of +Creation; the absolute Order and Law; one continuous Force; Progress as +the end of life. The eternal beauty existed for those who had eyes to +see. On this foundation the human heart, with its qualities of mercy, +pity, peace, and love, its sentiments of justice and equity, its hunger +for advance, its idea of goodness, built up a very noble and benignant +conception of deity and the sure hope of moral perfection. + + + + +XI. THE CLERICAL PROFESSION. + + +It is natural that the clerical profession should be an order by +itself. Every other calling is--the lawyer's, the physician's, the +artist's and the merchant's. There is an absurd notion that the clerical +profession stands alone; that it has a supernatural origin, which takes +it out of the circle of ordinary employments; that it is not to be +compared with other institutions of society. But the real dignity of the +profession consists in its filling its place among human arrangements. A +certain temperament too, seems to belong to all employments. There is +the legal temperament, the artistic, the dramatic, the mercantile. It is +no disadvantage that one prefers solitude, likes abstract thoughts, has +no taste for business enterprise, is fond of books and study. Indeed, +this is an advantage for one whose office it is to amass learning, to +weigh opinions in fine scales, to follow the spiritual laws, and to peer +into the mystery that surrounds human life. The very misunderstandings, +illusions, superstitions that gather around the calling may be +recommendations, inasmuch as they prevent the intrusion of rude minds, +and draw their attention towards subjects they would not otherwise be +interested in. + +A certain amount of positiveness is necessary to ensure the worth of the +profession. The Catholic priest has no doubt whatever of the +providential establishment of the church in which he is a servant. This +must be beyond question or misgiving. This is taken for granted by +clergy and laity. All learning must be made to confirm it, all +observation is compelled to favor it. The laws of society must have +nothing to do with the kingdom of God; for society is to be redeemed, +nature is to be supplanted by grace, secular life must therefore be +excluded. The priest, such is the theory, dwells out of the world, and +is encouraged to do so. He is poor, celibate, homeless, has no +attachments, no affections, no terrestrial occupations. He must be to +all intents and purposes dead to mortal affairs. One may find fault with +earthly institutions; one is bound to find fault with them, but the +church must be beyond criticism and must be accepted as a gift from +heaven. + +The Protestant clergyman holds fast by his doctrine of faith as by +divine appointment. His chief tenets must not be submitted to doubt. +Whatever he may reject, there remains something he is not tempted to +resign--namely, the presence of the Holy Spirit in his creed. Reason may +carry the outworks--ceremonies, ordinances, incidental points of +belief,--but the citadel is removed from assault. The world-spirit may +hover around him, envious, expectant, watchful, applauding his boldness, +cheering his progress towards negations, glad to see the gulf betwixt +him and the age gradually diminishing, and pressing into every vacant +position; society may claim interest in him more and more; but there are +points he must not yield, and which he merely wishes to bring into +prominence in surrendering others which he regards as secondary. So much +may be necessary, but religion must practically take its place among the +ideal pursuits of men and be exposed, as they are, to the full +examination of the mind before any fair account of it can be given. And +this cannot be so long as a region, however small, is shut off from +investigation by supernatural powers. + +Moreover, it is the common impression that the office of the ministry +is detrimental to the best interest of humanity, because it establishes +another caste and thus destroys the unity that is so important in the +integrity of the world. By it the priest is a person set apart, hedged +about by the laws, held in peculiar reverence, habited in special +garments. Some kinds of entertainments, such as dancing, the drama, are +commonly forbidden to him. His presence on festive occasions used to be +regarded as a gracious intrusion. He was not expected to take part in +gayeties or to have any share in frivolities, which were much more +hilarious when he was absent and the restraint of his presence was +removed. He was thought to be somehow at war with nature, and his +looking on at merrymaking was regarded by the polite as a piece of +condescension on his part, an evidence of unusual liberality of +sentiment. It was but the other day that a young physician, belonging to +a Unitarian family, and himself an enthusiastic student of science, +praised a minister for excusing his continual absence from church on the +ground of his being so well employed. This was regarded as a long step +in the direction of indulgence towards natural inclination. Even among +rationalists, a symptom of the old idea appears in an expression of the +face, the manner of address, the walk, or the general bearing. It is +thought a great stretch of charity if he is kind to the atheist, the +materialist, the infidel; and to take in the tempted child of nature, +the drunkard, the victim of lust, avarice, is extreme good-will, +benevolence amounting to saintliness. To abolish from it the pretension +of superiority in the form of pity, as the high look upon the low, the +good upon the bad, the moral upon the immoral, the virtuous upon the +vicious, is, it is presumed, to overlook all recognized distinctions, to +enthrone nature, to accept instinct as a safe guide, to renounce +religion altogether and reject the saying that "the Christian church is +immortal because its fundamental dogma involves a doctrine of God in +nature so ample and clear as to satisfy every profoundest want of the +heart and every urgent demand of the head towards God forever." + +There are distinctions enough among men at any rate, and to obliterate +them as far as possible is the office of true religion and all real +humanity; to increase love, to multiply the bonds of fraternity, to +bring mankind to a social equality, to annihilate all that keeps mortals +apart. Of course the safety of society must be preserved by laws, +customs, prejudices, but care should be taken to make these simply +protective in their function, and in no event should it be assumed that +such distinctions, however radical, have any absolute value or go beyond +the limits of this outward world. Save men, if you can, from +intemperance, violence, covetousness, lasciviousness, cowardice, +gluttony, laziness, from every vice that brutalizes them, renders them +objects of hate, fear, suspicion, or jealousy; make their circumstances +wholesome, their condition in life invigorating, but do it in the name +of enlightenment, do it as members of the human brotherhood, not as +members of a divine organization. Many ministers make great efforts to +exorcise this demon of exclusiveness, but the effort is too severe for +any but the few, and the success of it is of doubtful accomplishment. + +The Christian minister is a representative of humanity, pure and +simple, without recognition of its division into classes. He is neither +rich nor poor, high nor low, in society nor out of it, elevated nor +obscure. He is democratic, the friend of everybody, the servant of all, +on terms of charity and sincerity with all men. Sectarianism, with its +manifold evils of violence, malignity, hatred, misrepresentation, is a +standing evidence of the harm done to society by a priesthood, whether +Catholic or Protestant, and ministers who have labored to overthrow its +influence as being fatal to charity have been obliged to fight against +the spirit of party, and to rely more upon their natural disposition +than upon their professional training. In this respect the laity have +been in advance of their so-called leaders. The people have always been +opposed to dogmatical exclusiveness, and have welcomed every sign of +generosity towards unbelievers. They have followed their instinct of +sympathy, they have read the New Testament by the light of their human +feeling, and setting common-sense against doctrinal narrowness, have +rejoiced at every victory gained over intolerance. They have been +friends of brotherhood; they have adopted the cause of liberty; and I +must own with grief, the foes they have had to contend with have been, +in too many instances, the ministers who would not see that charity was +before faith. + +Everybody must have observed the unanimity and the persistency with +which ministers of all denominations and of all ages have devoted +themselves to the rich. In fact the devotion is so conspicuous that it +is one of the commonplace criticisms on the profession. People in +general assume that this kind of adulation, amounting often to toadyism, +is characteristic of the clerical calling, so inseparable from it indeed +that the majority of men are incredulous as to any departure from it, +and look with unfeigned admiration, when there are no reasons for +distrust, on the minister who knows no distinction of persons or +conditions, but has regard to intellectual or spiritual considerations +alone. Such a man is viewed as a wonder, an exception to all rules, +singularly constituted, either extraordinarily humane or extraordinarily +obtuse, either more or less than a man. The worship of wealth is so +common that some explanation of it must be given. The sufferings, +mishaps, troubles of the rich are reputed to be more serious than they +are in the ordinary run of cases; their disappointments are more +pitiable, their crosses heavier, their losses severer, their sorrows a +graver imputation on Providence. They are looked on as the favorites of +heaven, and the cotton-wool in which they are wrapped is spoken of as +the provision that is made for them expressly by the Lord. + +This may be accounted for on grounds of material convenience. They who +have money are of great importance, and that they should be interested +in church affairs is of immense moment to all concerned, not to the +ministers alone, but to the entire congregation, nay, to the whole +community of believing men. There is always need of money, to build +churches, pay officials, hire singers, furnish ornaments, support +charities, maintain organizations for various ecclesiastical purposes; +and it is much easier to get this in larger sums and with little +trouble, than to obtain it in little driblets, with much pain, great +expenditure of time, and constant vexation of spirit. The minister, from +the nature of the case, is chargeable with this concern, which obliges +him to visit frequently the wealthier members of his sect. To this end +he must keep on good terms with them, must sit at their tables, eat +their dinners, drink their wine, praise their pictures, compliment their +tastes, commend their performances, flatter their self-esteem, admire +their surroundings, take their side in controversy; and all such conduct +is set down by kindly, thoughtful people, to the account of prudence +which is more than pardonable in one situated as he is. + +This is quite true, but it is not the whole truth. By implication +already, the duty of cultivating the rich as donors involves the +qualities of manhood to an indefinite extent. The line of necessary +courtesy is not decisively drawn; cannot be drawn by the rules of +etiquette. This must be the result of a trained experience, of a +delicacy and sensitiveness, of a pride of selfhood, of a loftiness or +dignity of mind that are hardly to be looked for in any large class of +human beings, however free from special temptation or particular +seductions that may be. The influence of luxury, ease, comfort, +elegance, is very insidious, so that even an unusual zeal for truth, an +extraordinary passion for excellence, yields to the power of moral +indifference, of intellectual superficialness, which is characteristic +of those who do not do battle with circumstances. It is so much easier +to do nothing than it is to do something; it is so charming to be +deferred to, to be looked up to, to be flattered, to have one's opinion +sought without being involved in discussion, or vexed by opposition, or +confronted with scepticism; it is so delightful to the natural man to +sit in an easy cushioned chair, and be treated with delicate courtesy +and dainty refinement as an authority on matters theological, +philosophical, literary, instead of being put on the defensive by keen +questioners who submit awkward problems for immediate solution; it is so +gratifying to one's self-esteem to be received as a superior being, that +ordinary human nature generally succumbs to the temptation and finds +ready excuse for acquiescence in the necessity of being on good terms +with one's wealthier parishioners, and so securing their all important +good-will. In short, a fastidious kind of flunkeyism is engendered that +is quite inconsistent with the spiritual life. The rich become a refuge +as well as a resource, and the inner man is weakened while the outer man +is confirmed. A species of lethargy creeps over mind and conscience. +Even the moral purpose faints and languishes, and charity ceases to be +athletic, as elegance of form is substituted for pith of resolution. The +prophet is induced to say smooth things, to announce easy principles, to +gloze over hard interpretations, to keep out of sight unwelcomed truths; +and extraordinary courage is required of those who would resist this +tendency to complaisance. The rich are, from the nature of the case, +easily persuaded of the excellence of existing institutions, ideas, +observances. I had been in the pulpit five years before I saw Henry +James' remarkable lecture on "Property as a Symbol," and learned for the +first time that "Property symbolizes the perfect sovereignty which man +is destined to exercise over nature"; that "Property as an institution +of human society expresses or grows out of this instinct of sovereignty +in man. While this instinct is as yet misunderstood or unrecognized by +the individual, while its full issues are as yet unimagined by him, +society lends all her force to educate it under this form of an +aspiration after property, or a desire to appropriate to one's self, +land, houses, money, precious stones, and whatsoever else evidences +one's power over nature.... Thus the moral law is nothing more or less +than an affirmation of the sacredness of private property. It virtually +asserts an individuality in man superior to that conferred by his +nature.... Such is the temper of mind which God begets in him, to subdue +the whole realm of the outward and finite to himself, to the service of +his proper individuality, and so vindicate the truth of his infinite +origin.... The sole ground of our sovereignty over nature is inward, +consisting in a God-inspired selfhood, instinct with infinite power." + +It would be comforting to believe that a felt consciousness of this +infinitude, however dim, animates the attachment of the clergyman to the +opulent of any congregation; but I, for one, must make the confession +that the fact of property was taken literally, that the ideal, +symbolical character of it was concealed, that the instinct of +sovereignty was unrecognized and unimaginable, and that the divine +intent was unsought for, the institution being held quite sufficient to +itself and needing no authentication beyond its existence. And such, I +apprehend, is the prevailing view among the clergy, whose worship of it +is not identical with the adoration of the Infinite. + +One cannot undertake to speak with knowledge on a subject so complicated +as this is with private motives, personal temperaments, social +circumstances; but, as far as my memory goes, the clergy, as a class, +have been too much engaged with matters ecclesiastical to be deeply +interested in any cause of reform, and too timid to take the initiative +in any matter involving disagreeable relations with controlling powers. + +While towards the rich the attitude of the clergy is one of allegiance, +towards the poor it has been one of patronage. This is a danger. "The +poor ye have always with you, and whenever ye will ye can do them good," +expresses their doctrine of charity. As if the poor were created in +order that others might exercise beneficence; as if poverty was a +providential institution, maintained in the interest of religion! It is +hard in a so-called "Christian" community to get away from this view. +The modern scientific theory and the "Christian" theory are thus at war; +the former being intent on the well-being of society, the latter having +in mind the cultivation of the individual in tenderness of sympathy; the +former educating intelligence, the latter educating feeling. Still there +was charity. + +The Catholic Church, to say nothing here of any ecclesiastical purpose +in keeping masses of men and women out of the world, gathered those who +could not help themselves into great buildings and took care of them. In +the Protestant Church the care of the poor has been held to be a +religious duty, and a large part of the efforts of Christian ministers +is directed to the fostering of pity and generosity in the hearts of the +wealthy. To give to those who had nothing was reckoned the chief of +graces, and "charity"--interpreted as love for those in want--was placed +above "faith" and "hope," even when money alone was given. Not long ago +a Unitarian minister exhorted his congregation to set apart for the uses +of the poor one tenth part of their annual income, and doubtless he had +the consciences of nearly all his hearers with him, for the monstrous +proposition has been so often asserted as to seem by this time a +commonplace. Probably no man living does that or ever did, and the +practice of it on a large scale would pauperize the community. Think of +it! Five thousand dollars a year is not a great income, yet if every one +who had as much bestowed a tenth part of it on charitable objects what a +fund for human demoralization would be raised! And when the income is +ten thousand, fifteen thousand, twenty thousand, the amount of +imbecility created would be indescribable; inertia would be frightfully +increased, and multitudes would sit with folded hands who otherwise +would have lifted them to do some honest work. A moral lethargy would +fall on the toiling masses; wealth-producing labor would shrink to +narrower and narrower limits, and a paralysis of energy would steal over +the will of those whose need of resolution is the sorest. Wealth would +consequently decrease, and the number of the givers get smaller and +smaller until accumulation, which is the life of the modern world as +distinguished from the ancient, would be blighted. The industrial +classes would be reduced to servitude, enormous fortunes would be +gathered by fraud, speculation, cruelty, and progressive society would +relapse into sterility. Fortunately the minister could not persuade +people to adopt this fatal policy. Fortunately, in this particular, +niggardliness went hand in hand with common-sense. + +That the churches, under the lead of the ministers, have done a vast +deal in the direction of charity, so far from being denied or disputed, +is cordially allowed and even maintained. Indeed, this has been their +chief function, and they have discharged it with immense zeal and +astonishing results. + +But that it was an "ideal" profession is, as I said, a recommendation +to the ministry. It is a broad foundation for spiritual-mindedness, for +unworldliness. True, the habit of dealing with abstract topics, of +holding commerce with purely speculative themes, of entertaining mere +theories which cannot be verified, of going back to what are called +"first principles," imparts a curiously vague, dreamy, impersonal, +impalpable character to the minister's intellect, rendering it unfit to +treat concrete questions of life or morals; for this reason he is not +often successful as a man of business, a practical politician, a manager +of affairs, his cast of mind disqualifying him for close consideration +of details. + +The duty of answering unanswerable questions, too, of solving problems +that are insoluble, of replying positively to what, from the nature of +things, he cannot know, gives him a kind of ingenuity which is not +genuine insight, but consists in subtle turnings, windings, in making +fine distinctions and splitting hairs, and inventing ingenious +interpretations, rather than in keen insight or straightforward +analysis. He must seek ways of escape from his pursuers, and, when no +other offers, hide in the thicket of mystery or run up the tree of +faith. He must, if possible, have an explanation ready, and, if he has +none, he must fall back on authority, and be impressive, addressing the +sentiment of awe which is usually alive in every bosom, or, in the last +resort, asseverating the truth of revelation, and thus silencing the +debate he cannot continue. If neither conscience is satisfied, his own +or his interlocutor's, there is no remedy save in submission. He makes +no attempt to clear up his conceptions, or, if he does, ends at last in +vacuity or discontent. His neighbor, unconvinced, concludes that this is +a clerical subterfuge, and so far loses confidence in a profession he +cannot understand. Probably he does not do it justice, but the effect is +the same,--a rooted depreciation such as would not be felt towards a +layman who simply said that he had no answer. + +The minister, also, is generally committed to a conception of the +universe as a product of the Supreme Will which, makes him an apologist. +He is, after a fashion, in the secret of God. He is supposed to deliver +messages and to utter oracles. His is the wisdom of the Eternal. His is +the Bible. His are the testimonies. He must follow the ways of the +Spirit and defend the divine economy in the constitution of the world. +But in each case, every allowance being made for indefiniteness, for +largeness of statement and broadness of exposition, the minister must be +a champion of the Infinite Wisdom and Goodness, pledged to maintain it +against all opponents; and however cordially he may choose that part, +the consciousness of being bound may act as a fretting annoyance, not to +say a galling restraint. + +A singular dogmatism often accompanies this claim to speak in the name +of the Almighty; the minister must enunciate truths, not deliver +opinions. An authoritative tone gets into his voice, pervades his +manner, affects his whole expression of face, is conveyed by his gait +and walk, so that he is known at once from afar. Men hush their voices +in his presence, ventilate thoughts not natural to them, conceal their +actual sentiments, from a feeling that he is to be deferred to, not +argued with like another man. The tone of the pulpit animates his +conversation and works into the very structure of his thought. He is +always a preacher. The atmosphere of Sunday hangs about him. He carries +the New Testament into the parlor; unconsciously to himself he uses the +language of authority, and finds to his mortification that he is angered +by dispute. + +The duty of administering consolation to the afflicted adds to this +visionary frame of mind. Frequent intercourse with the suffering, sad, +and bereaved, intimate commerce with sick-beds and graves, besides +creating ghostly dispositions, deepens his cast of thought. To comfort +people under disappointments, to smooth the rugged path, to quiet the +perturbed heart, is a business to discharge which all the resources of +faith are called into requisition, and any means that will accomplish +the end in view are considered as justifiable. In the effort to find +comfortable things to say, the temptation to say pleasant things, easy +things, amiable things, to present the kindly aspect of Providence, and +to indulge happy fancies in regard to human allotments and destiny, is +exceedingly strong; so that one may come at last to believe himself what +gives so much contentment to others in the severe crises of existence. +The loving heart is in perilous proximity to the thinking head. All the +sweetest feelings of our nature, the wish to console people, to make +them patient, trusting, resigned, cheerful, are brought in to reinforce +the faith in a benignant purpose on the part of the Creator, and an +unquestioning disposition is encouraged in the spiritual physician as +well as in the stricken patient. + +Mr. Henry James says ("Substance and Shadow," p. 214): "Protestant men +and women, those who have any official or social consequence in the +church, are apt to exhibit a high-flown religious pride, a spiritual +flatulence and sourness of stomach which you do not find under the +Catholic administration." This is strong language, but not too strong +considering the author's abhorrence of exclusiveness, separation, +Pharisaism, and his identification of this with official religion. + +If humility is the base of all the virtues, as it is commonly reported, +then a profession that directly favors pride is not productive of the +highest type of character. And if love,--kindness, brotherhood, +fellowship,--is the fulfilment of the law, then a calling that puts +desire in conflict with duty is not conducive to unity or peace, whether +in the private mind or in the collective household. Character, as +_naturally_ interpreted, consists of an innate superiority to one's +fellow-men in the qualities that glorify humanity, purity, +heavenly-mindedness, patience, earnestness, truthfulness, sincerity. +Character, as _spiritually_ interpreted, consists of the cordial +affiliation with one's fellow-men in the qualities that unite the atoms +of humanity in love, compassion, humility, forgiveness, sympathy. But +the higher view has not prevailed in my experience; let me repeat, in +the most emphatic language at my command, my conviction that ministers +as a body do not succumb to the temptations thus apparently incident to +their profession. + +It is commonly supposed that the intellectual part of the minister's +labor--the making of the sermons--is most severe. It is imagined that +the task of addressing the same audience every Sunday must be +exceedingly arduous. This is a mistake. There is a facility of work in +every profession. The mind becomes accustomed to running in certain +grooves, to going through the same process of thinking, to applying the +same rules to many details of practice. The longer one's continuance in +the ministry, the easier this becomes. Experience accumulates. Themes +multiply. Novel suggestions occur. New thoughts arise. Fresh books are +written. Singular questions are proposed. Problems present fresh +aspects. The old interests remain in all their force. Men never tire +hearing about God, Immortality, Destiny. In truth, the intellectual +difficulties become less and less appalling until at last they +disappear. The real effort is to keep alive the feelings of humanity; to +overcome the inclination towards separation into classes; to avoid +distinguishing between persons; to keep love glowing; to maintain the +supremacy of soul; to identify spirituality with custom. The preaching +is subordinate not to the private practice alone, but to the religious +attitude towards mankind, which is conditioned on charity and the +recognition of human worth and sonship. The most beautiful trait in the +pastor is his universality, his simple, unaffected manhood. + +But enough of criticism. It is a privilege to belong to a profession +occupied with things ethereal; to be interested in the grandest themes; +to hold intercourse with the loftiest minds; to live aloof from the +world; to put the happiest constructions on the events of human life; to +interpret Providence beneficently. And it is my firm persuasion that in +proportion as the profession throws off the thraldom of ecclesiasticism +and dogmatism, it increases in power and is sure to recover its ancient +superiority. + + + + +XII. MY TEACHERS. + + +Among Englishmen, I owe the most to James Martineau, at the time of my +ordination (1847), a Unitarian clergyman in Liverpool. His lectures in +the Unitarian controversy (1839) on "Christianity without Priest and +without Ritual," on "The Christian View of Moral Evil," on "The Bible: +What It Is and What It is Not"; his articles on "Distinctive Types of +Christianity," on "Creeds and Heresies of Early Christianity," on "The +Ethics of Christendom," on "The Creed of Christendom," on "St. Paul and +His Modern Students," made a profound impression on my mind. One passage +in particular, at the close of the essay on "The Ethics of Christendom," +still lingers in my memory: + + The old antagonism between the world that now is and any other + that has been or is to come, has been modified, or has entirely + ceased.... _Here_ is the spot, _now_ is the time for the most + devoted service of God. No strains of heaven will wake man into + prayer, if the common music of humanity stirs him not. The + saintly company of spirits will throng around him in vain if he + finds no angels of duty and affection in his children, neighbors, + and friends. If no heavenly voices wander around him in the + present, the future will be but the dumb change of the shadow on + the dial. In short, higher stages of existence are not the refuge + of this, but the complement to it; and it is the proper wisdom of + the affections not to escape the one in order to seek the other, + but to flow forth in purifying copiousness on both. + +Martineau's intellectual fidelity, accurate learning, earnestness of +feeling, were exceedingly fascinating. + +In this country Ralph Waldo Emerson was the great teacher. He gave an +atmosphere rather than a dogma. He was air and light. He is best +described, not as a philosopher, a man of letters, a poet, but as a +seer. His gift was that of insight. This he tried to render +comprehensive, searching, intelligent, accurate, by reading, study, +meditation, the acquaintance of distinguished men; but he was never +beguiled into thinking that learning, eloquence, wit, constituted his +peculiarity. He had a penetrating, eager, questioning look. His head was +thrust out as if in quest of knowledge. His gaze was steady and intense. +His speech was laconic and to the purpose. His direct manner suggested a +wish for closer acquaintance with the mind. His very courtesy, which was +invariable and exquisite in its way, had an air of inquiry about it. +There was no varnish, no studied grace of motion or demeanor, no +manifest desire to please, but a kind of wistfulness as of one who took +you at your best and wanted to draw it out. He accosted the soul, and +with the winning persuasiveness which befits friendliness on human +terms. There was a certain shyness which indicated the modesty which is +born of the spirit. + +But a commanding doer he certainly was not; that is, he was no man of +expedients, of practical resources, of merely executive will. He +appreciated this kind of ability, as his lecture on Napoleon shows, but +he possessed little of it, his Yankee ingenuity being more confined in +its range. The moral courage belonged to him, the earnestness, the +faith, but his ethereal qualities lacked driving force. His principles +made him interested in every movement of reform, for he had a boundless +hope which led him sometimes into extravagant anticipations of truth and +benefit. Every sign of life, intellectual, moral, spiritual, caught his +eye, and so long as it promised new developments of power his eager +sympathy went with it, but when the creative period ceased he turned +away. He early enlisted in the anti-slavery cause, not because he had +entire confidence in the negro, or specially liked the abolitionists, +but because he demanded the utmost liberty for all men in order that +substantial advantages might be widely shared; but he was not prominent +among the workers of that reform. His name stood foremost in the list of +those who claimed the emancipation of woman from social or political +disability, not that he was a worker in the woman's-rights phalanx, not +that he looked for any immediate benefit from that agitation, or felt +any particular interest in the leaders or in the success of that +individual crusade, but that he was in favor of the largest opportunity +for all human beings, and wished every particle of power to be used. +From the first he welcomed the Free Religious Association as giving +promise of original light, greater breadth, fresh vigor, new revelations +of knowledge in that most ideal, but most deplorably limited, of all +spheres; but when in his view that promise was unfulfilled, though his +name still stood with those of its vice-presidents, he ceased to take +any part in its proceedings or to feel any personal concern in its +affairs. There was something theoretical, speculative, in his attitude +as a reformer. His philosophy pledged him to the utmost individualism, +and this called for the utmost liberty, that each might receive all he +could of the divine fulness and be as much as his nature required. Hence +his own limited expectation; hence his enthusiasm in behalf of +individuals like Walt Whitman, John Brown, Henry Thoreau; hence the +light that came into his eyes when he sat in some reform convention +where high thoughts were spoken. His word was given, and it was always +inspiring, emancipating, uplifting, heard in the valleys from the +dizziest heights of vision; but force was not his to give. Such words +were more than "half battles," to be sure, so invigorating were they to +all the champions of good causes, but they were _words_ still, and +seemed to proceed from some upper region of impersonal mind. They +expressed convictions, feelings, desires, but there was lack of blood in +them. They seemed made of air; there was soul behind them, but not as +much body as many wished. In a word, all the ideal elements were +present. He was a man who believed, felt, hoped, had vast resources of +faith, but was a thinker more than an actor. Thinking is indeed doing, +yet not in the same sphere of achievement. + +Emerson recognized the limitations of genius. "Life is a scale of +degrees," he says in the lecture on the "Uses of Great Men." + + Between rank and rank of our great men are wide intervals. Mankind + have in all ages attached themselves to a few persons who, either + by the quality of that idea they embodied, or by the largeness of + their reception, were entitled to the position of leaders and + lawgivers.... With each new mind a new secret of nature transpires; + nor can the Bible be closed until the last great man is born.... We + cloy of the honey of each peculiar greatness. Every hero becomes a + bore at last.... We balance one man with his opposite, and the + health of the state depends on the see-saw. + +Emerson looks forward to the time when all souls shall lie open to the +heavenly influx, and he regards greatness as an earnest of that +possibility. What disappointments he must have felt as he was forced to +turn away from people who should have been saints and heroes, but were +none! What bitter moments he must have known when he stretched out his +arms to welcome a goddess and embraced only a cloud! But his +expectations continued eager; no feature betrayed evidence that these +practical refutations of his theory had effect on his heart. + +Whether Emerson's constant belief in the Over-soul, his stubborn theism, +his persuasion of an immanent God, was an advantage or a disadvantage to +his philosophical view of the universe may be doubted. On the one hand, +we cannot question the fact that he owed to it his enthusiastic faith in +the substantial unity of creation, his optimism, his assurance of future +progress, his confidence in man, his moral earnestness, his elevation of +soul, his buoyancy of spirit, his forwardness in all endeavors after +reform. On the other hand, it can hardly be denied that it led him to +take some things for granted, diverted his mind from the unprejudiced +observation of phenomena, prevented his rendering full justice to the +scientific method, was the cause of wide aberrations in his estimates of +human character, and of a curious onesidedness in his judgments on human +condition. + +Emerson was always profoundly religious, at heart a supernaturalist. The +blood of centuries of pious ancestors was in his veins. His soul was +uppermost, not his intellect nor his heart. He was a closet man, a +minister at the altar. True, he rejected every form of the religious +sentiment, and moved with entire freedom among dogmas however expressed +in word or in rite. Every attempt at giving voice to spiritual emotion +was disagreeable to him. + + I like a church; I like a cowl; + I like a prophet of the soul; + And on my heart monastic aisles + Fall like sweet strains or pensive smiles; + Yet not for all his faith can see + Would I that cowled churchman be. + +Theology had fallen from him like a shroud. He would not venture any +definition of the spiritual laws. Doctrine had become faith; prayer was +changed into aspiration; the speechless utterance was the only one he +cordially listened to. But faith he held fast; aspiration he cherished; +the inarticulate language of the eternal was ever in his ears. + +Ever and anon would come a burst of conviction. "Oh, my brothers, God +exists!" he cries in an ecstasy of emotion. Some years ago Emerson +seemed fascinated by the inductive method, so that some of his admirers +thought he would become a convert to physical science. But the bent of +his nature asserted itself, and he pursued the deductive system as +before. His passion for "First Truths," as they were called, was +irresistible. He could not abandon the philosophy of intuition, and all +his studies--comprehensive, profound, and original as they were,--his +insatiable thirst for knowledge, his inordinate appetite for details of +fact, incidents, anecdotes, gleanings from literature of every kind, +were subservient to this. + +Emerson's serenity is often spoken of as evidence of the power of his +religious faith. It may allow of this construction, but it may be +accounted for on other and different grounds which lie nearer at hand +and proceed immediately from more obvious sources. How far may a long +ancestral experience in devout meditations, practices, longings, worked +into the system and producing a sedate, calm, interior temperament, go +in explaining that almost imperturbable tranquillity? The piety of his +forefathers was so genuine that it drove him from the church of his +adoption, and rendered another calling sacred. Their descendant +exhibited the same saintliness which they possessed but in a different +fashion. And he was probably saintlier than they were, because he was +their child. His brothers had the same characteristic of equanimity by +virtue of the same parentage. His brother William, whom I knew +intimately in New York, showed in his daily life a similar dignity, and +tradition reports the same of Charles. It was the perfect fruitage of +centuries of heavenly-minded men, not the peculiarity of an individual +soul. + +This predisposition to inwardness was favored by the long seclusion of +Concord, which kept Emerson aloof from the world and prevented the +friction which is so damaging to serenity. He saw those only who +respected, loved, honored, and revered him. He came into collision with +none. Men of thought, unambitious men, students, farmers, were his +fellow-townsmen. Several hours in each day he was alone with his books +or his mind. When he visited the city it was for an intellectual or +social purpose, as one who had dropped from a star and was soon to +vanish. His contact was with men of letters, clergymen, publishers, +friends, gentlemen interested in mental pursuits who had left their +business in order to disport themselves in the fields of thought. These +added to his stores of wisdom, and sent him home replenished rather than +drained. The gains of his day were not dissipated either by business +occupation or pleasure. + +Then, whether from disposition or philosophy we cannot tell, this man +avoided everything dark, evil, unwholesome, unpleasant. Sickness of all +kinds, complaint, depression, melancholy, was an abomination to him. He +turned away from ugly sights and sounds, thus evading conflict. He never +argued, never discussed, but said his word as well as he could, and +encouraged others to say theirs, in this way hoping to get at the truth. +By this course he escaped the usual provocations to ill-temper, and was +forced upon an undisturbed equipoise of mind. Nothing helps serenity so +much as avoidance of contest, and when one can thoroughly convince +himself that there is no rooted evil in the world to be fought against, +an even condition of soul is not hard to maintain; optimism is +proverbially cheerful, but an optimism that is grounded in principle +must be unconquerable by any force that circumstances can bring against +it. + +It must be remembered that Emerson was not a man of warm temperament, +not tropical in color or in heat; more like the morning, cool and +breezy, than like the sultry noon-day, or the glowing evening; more like +the dewy spring, than the effulgent summer or the fruit-bearing autumn; +not a child of the sun, rather suggesting the still, white, imaginative +moonlight. There was an air of remoteness about him. His remark to the +inn-keeper,--"heat me red-hot," tells the story. Simple habits kept his +frame wiry, and a New England nurture saved his mind from luxuriant +uncleanness. By nature he was passionless. The beautiful "Threnody" on +the death of his boy, reveals the sorrow of a soaring mind rather than +the grief of a crushed heart. To command one's self enough for such an +effort evinces a rare power of rising above mortal conditions. Such a +constitution finds solitude congenial and is calm by force of +inclination. Friendship seems an emotion better suited than love to that +ethereal soul, which was always radiant but seldom burning, benignant, +seldom craving, always gracious in imparting, seldom hungry for +receiving. One might walk in his illumination, but one could hardly bask +in his heat, or lie on his bosom, or nestle near his heart. They that +knew him at home may speak more warmly of him, but thus he appeared to +people outside; thus he appeared to many who had admired him as I did +and tried to get close to him. + +The love of wild, untrimmed nature, the want of interest in cultivated +gardens, was part of his theory of the universe as the expression of +God; the richer, the less it was interfered with. He would approach as +near to the Creator as possible, listening for the divine voice, which +was most clearly heard in the wilderness. To the same source must be +ascribed his partiality for wild, untrained men,--foresters, hunters, +pioneers, trappers, back-woodsmen. He sought everywhere after +originality, freshness, power, in individuals and in groups. He hailed a +genius, however rough. Unconventionality excited his enthusiasm to such +a degree that he could scarcely contain himself, but said the most +extravagant things in the ecstasy of his hope. Men of polished outside +he did not care for; mechanical men, however successful, politicians, +however popular and adroit, were his aversion. Accomplishments, however +great, scholarship however finished, he did not respect. He wanted the +rough, uncut gem. Genius of whatever description, in whatever class, +whatever its order or grade, was his joy. In him the love of truth +predominated. He submitted to the inconvenience of imperfect opinion, +but respected the highest law of his being. He believed in the eternal +laws of mind, in the self-existence of right, in purity, veracity, +goodness. He was one of the most honest of men, one of the cleanest, and +he did his utmost to bring his life into correspondence with his best +thought. That all created things must be imperfect was part of his +creed; that this imperfection ran through human character he was as much +convinced as any man; and his efforts were unceasing to turn men's eyes +towards the beauty "ancient but ever new," which he in his moments of +insight beheld. No one lives up to his most exalted faith. No one ever +endeavored to do so more sincerely and humbly than Ralph Waldo Emerson. + +In my early ministry, the discourses of Dr. Orville Dewey on "Human +Nature," "Human Life," "The Nature of Religion," seemed all-sufficing. I +read them over and over again with increasing admiration, and his +solutions of spiritual problems were accepted as final. + +Miss Mary Dewey, in the admirable memoir of her father, lays great +stress on his affectionate qualities. These cannot be too emphatically +asserted; yet they probably had more scope than even she suspected. +Indeed, unless I am much mistaken, they formed the basis of his +character. He was a most deep-feeling man. He loved his friends in and +out of the profession, with a loyal, hearty, obliging, warm, and even +tender emotion, expressing itself in word and deed. It was overflowing, +not in any sentimental manner, but in a manly, sincere way. He was a man +of infinite good-will, of a quite boundless kindness. His voice, his +expression of face, his smile, the grasp of his hand,--all gave sign of +it. He felt things keenly; his sensibilities were most acute; even his +thoughts were suffused with emotion. He could not discuss speculative +themes as if they were cold or dry. Nothing was arid to his mind. In +prayer it was not unusual for his audience to discern tears rolling down +his cheeks. One day, in his study, on speaking about the intellectual +implications of the "Philosophie Positive," he dropped his head and +seemed for a moment lost in reverie largely made up of devotion. In him, +heart was uppermost; intellect, conscience, were of subordinate value +when taken alone; in fact, they were incomplete by themselves, and +wanted their proper substance. He said once that his skin was so +delicate that the least soil on his hands was felt all through his +system and prevented him from working. This excessive sensibility, which +could not be understood by the world at large, was at the bottom of his +likes and dislikes, of his personal fears and hopes. Excitement drained +off his strength. He exhausted himself physically, and fell into +ill-health by exertions that would not have taxed an ordinary +constitution. It cost him a great deal to write sermons, to visit the +sick or sorrowing, to conduct public services. At the same time, he was +disqualified, by a certain want of steel in his blood, for any but the +clerical profession, where qualities like his are of inestimable value, +and of the rarest kind. He was a minister from the beginning, always +profoundly interested in questions of the interior life, and though he +early left the orthodox communion and became a preacher of Unitarian +Christianity, making it his work to apply religious ideas to all the +concerns of the natural world and the secular life, he retained all the +fervor of spirit that charaterized the most devout believer. A vein of +passionate feeling ran through all his discourses, and while his themes +were taken from daily existence, his thoughts were fixed on eternity. He +was absorbed in the destiny of the human soul, of the _individual_ soul, +bringing all discussions to that point, and trying to make lasting +impressions on the spiritual natures of men and women. + +When I first knew him he had the reputation of being a self-indulgent +man. This was a great mistake. His way of life was exceedingly simple, +and his habits were almost abstemious. In fact, neither his physical nor +his mental constitution allowed of any indulgence in eating or drinking. +Still the impression was a natural one, for a certain amount of ease, +exemption from care, gayety, was necessary to him. The society of +elegant, accomplished people was indispensable to his recreation and +rest. His motive for seeking such was not the love of luxury so much as +a demand for recreation and a craving for repose. He was not, in any +sense, an earthy man or one who loved sensual delights. On the contrary, +he was always mindful of his calling, always intent on high subjects, +always ready to lead intercourse upwards, always, to the extent of his +power, interested in the moral aspect of current discussions; +over-anxious, if anything, to approach speculative themes. He possessed +an eager, unresting, questioning mind. He was always thinking, and on +great subjects of theology or philosophy, and he put into them an amount +of feeling that is extraordinary with intellectual men. + +That he should have been so sensitive as he was to the words and +suspicions of anti-slavery men who charged him with being an advocate of +a fugitive-slave law, an apologist for slavery, a ready tool of the +inhuman, reactionary party of the country, is not surprising. His dread +of pain, his hatred of falsehood, his horror of injustice, his love of +fair play, will sufficiently account for this; while the impossibility +of explaining himself kept the wound open. That for thirty years the +sore should have bled, shows the delicacy of his temperament and the +shrinking nature of his will. To speak of him as a friend of slavery is +absurd. No one can read his sermon on "The Slavery Question," preached +shortly after the annexation of Texas and at a moment of great +excitement at the North in regard to the advances of the slave-power, +and not perceive that he was deeply moved. + +"_Are these people_ MEN?" he said; "that is the question. If they +are _men_, it will not do to make them instruments for mere +convenience,--for the mere tillage of the soil;--if they are _men_, it +is not enough to say that they have a sort of animal freedom from care, +and joyance of spirits. If they are _men_, they are to be cultivated; +their faculties are to be regarded as precious; they are to be +improved.... If he is a _man_, then he is not only improvable and ought +to be improved, but he _will improve_ in spite of all we can do." And a +great deal more to the same effect. He indignantly protested against +treating "an intelligent creature, a fellow-being, a brother-man, a +being capable of indefinite expansion and immortal progress," as one +would treat a tree, a flower, an ox, or a horse. "Grant that the African +of the present generation cannot be raised to our stature; yet if in the +course of ages he may be, and if it is our policy systematically to +arrest or to retard his growth, does the case materially differ from +what I have supposed?" Namely that of a child. Dr. Dewey visited +slave-States and talked with slave-holders in order to make himself +fully acquainted with the condition of opinion and of feeling about the +case, and he took occasion everywhere to argue the Northern side. This +ought to be enough in the way of vindication of his personal sentiments. + +At the same time, he was a Unionist of the Webster school. His +attachment to the Union was intense. Disunion in his judgment meant +ceaseless discord, the end of republican institutions, the arrest of +civilization, the indefinite postponement of progress, the hopelessness +of education and uplifting for the slave, the withdrawal of Northern +influence, the final overthrow of government by moral powers. A long +reign of anarchy, in the course of which the lovers of the race must see +their visions of good disappear, would supervene, and this he could not +contemplate with equanimity. + +Then he was an old-fashioned enemy of war, especially of civil war. He +was a sincere lover of peace, and a believer in the arts of peace, in +industry, education, the diffusion of intelligence, the weaving of the +ties of fraternity; and though he acknowledged the heroic mission of +strife, he recoiled instinctively from it. War, in his estimation, was +an inevitable necessity in the order of the world, but it was an awful +element in the "world problem"; "a fearful scourge," a condition to be +outgrown along with vice, passion, injustice, selfishness, ambition, a +sign that is destined to disappear as intelligence and Christianity come +in. It must be submitted to as an ordination of Providence, but it +should never be precipitated by men, least of all should it be brought +on hastily, by unreasonableness, malignity, or hate. The evils of war +were precisely such as appealed most directly to his imagination; they +were so personal, they were so domestic, they were so pitiable, they +were so full of tears. He shrank from violence, from rage, from party +ambition, from curses and cries. He loved his countrymen, and, so long +as any reason remained, he could not bear to think of fighting. So long +as any oil was left in the can, the troubled waters were not to be +abandoned by the peace-makers. It was much for him to have patience with +those who used angry words, even in a cause of righteousness. He, for +his part, could not scold or overstate, or do anything in a harsh +temper. + +Dr. Dewey believed in colonization; not necessarily in Africa, but in a +separation between the white and black races, in the civilization of the +negro. In the tenth lecture of the course on "The Problem of Human +Destiny" (1864), he takes occasion to welcome "the great hope" that thus +was opened "for purging our American soil from the stain of slavery. +Many of us have long been asking how this is to be done. Look at Africa, +surrounded by a wall of darkness, and filled with cruelty and blood, +with no civilizing influence in herself, as the story of ages has +proved; what now do we see? Britain sends to her borders the +man-stealer, to tear her children from her bosom and transport them to +the American colonies. It was a deed of unmingled atrocity, compared +with which capture in war was generous and honorable; the African King +of Dahomey grows white by the side of the Saxon slave-trader. But what +follows? The African people in this country improve, and are now far +advanced beyond their kindred at home. And now they begin to return; +they are building a state on their native borders which promises to stop +the slave trade with Africa and to spread light and civilization through +her dark solitudes." At the close of his discourse on the slavery +question, he said: + + If I were to propose a plan to meet the duties and perils of this + tremendous emergency that presses upon us, I would engage the whole + power of this nation, the willing co-operation of the North and the + South, if it were possible, to prepare this people for freedom; and + then I would give them a country beyond the mountains,--say the + Californias,--where they might be a nation by themselves. Ah! if + the millions upon millions spent upon a Mexican war could be + devoted to this purpose,--if all the energies of this country could + be employed for such an end,--what a noble spectacle were it for + all the world to behold, of help and redemption to an enslaved + people! What a purifying and ennobling ministration for ourselves! + +The intimacy with Dr. Charming re-inforced the conclusions which were +native to Dr. Dewey's temperament. The moderate view, the dread of +overstatement, the fear of fanaticism, the faith in reason, the love of +tranquillity, the desire after truth, were rooted in his mind. His +constitutional conservatism was confirmed. Then he was a Unitarian, and +therefore rational in his methods, inclined to judge by arguments, to +sift opinions by the understanding. The abolitionists were, for the most +part, either Calvinists or transcendentalists, people who followed an +inward voice, who placed interior conviction before ratiocination, and +encouraged moral sentiment to take the lead in action, blowing coals +into a flame, and not content unless they saw a blaze. The Unitarians, +as a class, were not ardent disciples of any moral cause, and took pride +in being reasoners, believers in education, and in general social +influence, in the progress of knowledge, and the uplifting of humanity +by means of ideas. The habit of discountenancing passion may have been +fostered in a school like this. Perhaps if young Dewey had continued in +his old belief he would have been a more vehement reformer than he was. +His natural glow was softened down into a mild effulgence, communicating +warmth to his convictions, but not producing a burning zeal for any +substance of doctrine. + +His power of emotion made him a powerful preacher but prevented his +being a great philosopher. Dr. Bellows, who was his close friend for +many years, described him as a man of "massive intellectual power," and +then went on to impute to him the gifts that belong to the pulpit +orator: "poetic imagination," a "rare dramatic faculty of +representation." Perhaps by "massive" Dr. Bellows meant the power to +throw thoughts in a mass, with cumulative effect. This power Dr. Dewey +certainly possessed in an extraordinary degree. But of philosophical +talent he had little. Indeed, he seemed to be conscious of this himself. +At the end of his first lecture before the Lowell Institute he said: + + I am not sorry that the place and occasion require me to make this + a popular theme. I am not to speak for philosophers, but for the + people. I wish to meet the questions which arise in all minds that + have awaked to any degree of reflection upon their nature and + being, and upon the collective being of their race. I have hoped + that I should escape the charge of presumption by the humbleness of + my attempt--the attempt, that is to say, to popularize a theme + which has hitherto been the domain of scholars. + +The lecture assumes the existence of a Personal God, the reality of a +conscious soul, the freedom of the human will, the fact of a moral +purpose in creation, the perfectibility of man, the idea of progress, +the evidence of design in the universe attesting a divine intelligence. +The treatment nowhere shows metaphysical acumen or speculative insight. +On every page is brilliancy, eloquence, skilful manipulation of +arguments, fervent appeal to conscience. Nowhere is subtilty or depth of +intuition. Take for example the discourse on "The Problem of Evil," the +most intellectually exacting of all subjects. It ends thus after a +series of pictures: + + Give me freedom, give me knowledge, give me breadth of experience; + I would have it all. No memory is so hallowed, no memory is so + dear, as that of temptation nobly withstood, or of suffering nobly + endured. What is it that we gather and garner up from the solemn + story of the world, like its struggles, its sorrows, its + martyrdoms? Come to the great battle, thou wrestling, glorious, + marred nature! strong nature! weak nature! Come to the great + battle, and in this mortal strife strike for immortal victory! The + highest Son of God, the best beloved of Heaven that ever stood upon + earth, was "made perfect through suffering." And sweeter shall be + the cup of immortal joy, for that it once was dashed with bitter + drops of pain and sorrow; and brighter shall roll the everlasting + ages, for the dark shadows that clouded the birth-time of our + being. + +This is not argument, but preaching--- very fine, stimulating, powerful +preaching, but preaching nevertheless; quite different from James +Martineau's treatment of the same theme, in the course of the Liverpool +lectures (delivered in 1839). Mr. Martineau, too, addressed a popular +assembly, and closed his discourse in a strain of exhortation. Still, +the grave tone of the previous discussion sobered the rhetoric, and the +background of the ancient debate made the moral lessons solemn. +Philosophy yielded to the necessities of ethics, much as the "Kritik der +Reinen Vernunft" gave place to the "Kritik der Practischen Vernunft" of +Kant--the preacher and the reasoner standing indeed on different ground, +but the moral instruction being tempered by the philosophical. + +Orville Dewey was a great preacher, perhaps the greatest that the +Unitarian communion has produced; greater as a preacher than Dr. +Channing, because more various and more sympathetic, nearer to the +popular heart, less inspired by grand ideas, and for that reason more +moving. He was imbued with Channing's fundamental thought--the "Dignity +of Human Nature,"--and illustrated it with a wealth of imagination, +enforced it by an urgency of appeal, quickened it by an affluence of +dramatic representation all his own. His function was to apply this +doctrine to every incident of life, to politics, business, art, +literature, society, amusement, and he did this with a boldness, a +freedom, a frankness unusual at any time, but without example when he +was in the ministry. I shall never forget, in one of his sermons, an +allusion to a symphony of Beethoven which gave me a new conception of +the essential humanity of the pulpit's office, of the close association +that there was between religion and art. His conversational style, +impassioned but not stilted and never turgid, was exceedingly +impressive, while his constant employment of the forms of reasoning +added weight to his sentences. The discourse was plain, and yet from its +copiousness it was ornate; and the affectionate tone assumed an air of +grave remonstrance which was deepened in effect by the appearance of +formal logic. The hearer seemed to be admitted to the secrets of a +living, earnest mind, and to be listening to something more than the +usual enunciations of ethical principle. At the same time his own will +was consulted, he was taken into partnership with the orator and +introduced to the processes of conviction. His state of feeling was +considered, his objections were met, his scruples answered, his +arguments confronted. He was, in short, treated like a rational being, +to be reasoned with, not to be looked down upon. + +Dr. Dewey was always a friend of liberal thought. There are no more +significant pages in his daughter's memoir of him than those which +contain his correspondence with Mr. Chadwick, one of the most radical of +Unitarian divines. He was himself a student of divinity at Andover, +early converted to Unitarianism, became an assistant and warm friend of +Dr. Channing, but instead of remaining stationary in dogmatic faith, +took a rational view of all religious questions, favored the largest +liberality, and welcomed every effort to adapt spiritual ideas to actual +knowledge. He had no dogmatic prepossessions, and no professional fears. +What he asked for was sincerity coupled with earnestness. This being +given, conclusions, within certain limits, of course, were of little +moment. Theodore Parker used to sadden and irritate him, but less on +account of his opinions than on account of his pugnacious manner in +expressing them. Parker rather despised him for what he regarded as his +time-serving disposition, and could not understand his mental delicacy; +but men who thought as Parker did were even then on the best terms with +Dr. Dewey, whose mellowness, on the whole, increased instead of +diminishing with age, and was greatest in his declining years. + +He was a man fond of personalities; even in his addresses on the +greatest themes, he would if possible narrow the subject down to the +measure of individual application. Thus when lecturing on "The Problem +of Evil," after submitting various considerations, he adds: + + Broad and vast and immense as that problem may appear, it is after + all, in actual experience, purely individual.... The truth is, + nobody has experienced more of it than you or I have, or might + have, experienced. With regard to all the intrinsic difficulties of + the case, it is as if one life had been lived in the world; and + since no man has lived another's life, or any life but his own, + there _has been_ to actual individual consciousness _but one life_ + of thirty, seventy, or a hundred years lived on earth. The problem + really comes within that compass.... If I can solve the problem of + existence for myself, I have solved it for everybody; I have solved + it for the human race.... Do you and I find anything in this our + life that makes us prize it, anything that makes us feel that we + had rather have it than have it not? Doubtless we do and other men + do; all men do. + +This passage illustrates well the tendency to personal reference that +distinguished the man. In a discourse on war delivered before the Peace +Society he resolves its miseries into those of the individual, as if +mass--affecting, as it does, nations, civilizations, humanity +itself--counted for nothing. This tendency explains his fondness for his +friends, his strength of sympathy, his tenacity of attachment, his love +for people. It does not betoken a broad, deep, philosophic mind, but it +does betoken a warm, clinging, affectionate nature. + +It made him too a charming feature in society, a delightful talker, an +easy, graceful, delectable companion, an interested adviser and +counsellor, a beloved person in his family, an excellent townsman. + +We should be grateful for this, that one has lived to irradiate a +somewhat sad profession, to warm the bleak spaces of mortal existence, +to throw a gleam of gladness upon the sunless problems of human destiny. +It is a great deal to be assured that a living heart has walked with us, +and that a living voice has proclaimed the heart-side of man's lot. + + + + +XIII. MY COMPANIONS. + + +These were many, but most of them are living and cannot, therefore, be +spoken of. There is an advantage in writing about the dead, for they +cannot protest against the handsome things you say, and they cannot +remonstrate against the unhandsome things. I shall on this account +choose but two, with whom I was very intimate, and who are very near to +my heart. I shall give sketches of John Weiss and Samuel Johnson, and +first of John Weiss.[*] + + [*] Reprinted from the _Unitarian Review_ of May, 1888. + +This man was a flame of fire. He was genius unalloyed by terrestrial +considerations; a spirit lamp always burning. He had an overflow of +nervous vitality, an excess of spiritual life that could not find vents +enough for its discharge. As his figure comes before me it seems that of +one who is more than half transfigured. His large head; his ample brow; +his great, dark eyes; his "sable-silvered" beard and full moustache; his +gray hair, thick and close on top, with the strange line of black +beneath it, like a fillet of jet; his thin, piping, penetrating, tenuous +voice, that trembled as it conveyed the torrent of thought; the rapid, +sudden manner, suggesting sometimes the lark and sometimes the eagle; +the small but sinewy body; the delicate hands and feet; the sensitive +touch, feeling impalpable vibrations and detecting movements of +intelligence within the folds of organization (they say he could tell +the character of a great writer by holding a sealed letter from his +hand),--all indicated a half-disembodied soul. His spoken addresses and +written discourses confirm the impression. + +I first met him at the meetings of the "Hook-and-Ladder,"[*] a +ministerial club of which we both were members. At the house of Thomas +Starr King, in Boston, he read a sermon on the supremacy of the +spiritual element in character, which impressed me as few pulpit +utterances ever did, so fine was it, so subtle, yet so massive in +conviction. Illustrations that he used stay by me now, after the lapse +of more than forty years. I next heard him in New Bedford, at the +installation of Charles Lowe, when, in ill-health and feeble, he gave, +in substance, the discourse on Materialism, afterwards published in the +volume on "Immortal Life." It struck me then as exceedingly able; and it +derived force from the intense earnestness of its delivery, as by one +who could look into the invisible world, and could speak no light word +or consult transient effects. Many years later, I listened, in New York, +to his lectures on Greek ideas, the keenest interpretation of the +ancient myths, the most profound, luminous, sympathetic, I have met +with. He had the faculty of reading between the lines, of apprehending +the hidden meaning, of setting the old stories in the light of universal +ideas, of lighting up allusions. The lecture on Prometheus I remember as +especially radiant and inspiring; but they were all remarkable for +positive suggestions of a very noble kind. + + [*] We copy from a private letter the following account of the + origin of this club and of its grotesque name, which has lost, alas! + its significance to the younger generation. "In the year 1844 (I + think it was) a few of us young ministers formed a club, including + Charles Brigham, Edward Hale, John Weiss, with one or two elders, as + Dr. Hedge and, later, O. B. Frothingham, Starr King, W. R. Alger, + William B. Greene, and others. We went long without a name, in spite + of my urgent appeals as Secretary, till one fine day, at George R. + Russell's house in West Roxbury, in an after-dinner frolic, Weiss + turned the garden-engine hose upon a fellow-member and drenched him + from head to foot; upon which escapade it was unanimously agreed to + call ourselves the 'Hook-and-Ladder,' by which name the memory of it + is fondly kept among us to this day. A similar older fraternity had + gone by the name of the 'Railroad Association,' and, in imitation, + when it was proposed to borrow a title from some like line of + industry we, on this sudden whim, chose the fire-department." + +His genius was eminently religious. Not, indeed, in any customary +fashion, nor after any usual way. He belonged to the Rationalists, was a +Protestant of an extreme type, an avowed adherent of the most "advanced" +views, a speaker on the Free Religious platform, a writer for the +_Massachusetts Quarterly_, and for the _Radical_. His was a purely +natural, scientific, spiritual faith, unorthodox to the last +degree,--logically, historically, critically, sentimentally so,--so on +principle and with fixed purpose. The accepted theory of religion +excited his indignation, his scorn, his amazement, and his mirth. He +could brook no dogmatic limitations, even of the most liberal sect, but +went on and on, past all barriers, facing all adversaries, confronting +every difficulty, and resting only when there was nothing more to +discover. He had an agonized impatience to know whatever was to be +known, to get at the ultimate data of assurance. Nothing less would +satisfy him. His cup of joy was not full till he could touch the bottom. +Then it overflowed, and there was glee as of a strong swimmer who is +sure of his tide. His exultation is almost painful, as he welcomes fact +after fact, feeling more and more positive, with each new demonstration +of science, that the advent of certainty was by so much nearer. Evidence +that to most minds seemed fatal to belief was, in his sight, +confirmatory of it, as rendering its need more clear and more imperious. +"We need be afraid of nothing in heaven or earth, whether dreamt of or +not in our philosophy." "The position of theistic naturalism entitles it +not to be afraid of all the scientific facts that can be produced." +"There is dignity in dust that reaches any form, because it eventually +betrays a forming power, and ceases to be dust by sharing it." "It is a +wonder to me that scholars and clergymen are so skittish about +scientific facts." "We owe a debt to the scientific man who can show how +many moral customs result from local and ethnic experiences, and how the +conscience is everywhere capable of inheritance and education. He cannot +bring us too many facts of this description, because we have one fact +too much for him; namely, a latent tendency of conscience to repudiate +inheritance and every experience of utility, to fly in its face with a +forecast of a transcendental utility that supplies the world with its +redeemers, and continually drags it out of the snug and accurate +adjustment of selfishness to which it arrives." There is a great deal to +the same purpose. In fact, Mr. Weiss cannot say enough on this head. He +accepts the doctrine of evolution in its whole length and breadth. "Of +what consequence is it whence the living matter is derived? We are not +appalled at the possibility that organic matter may be made out of +non-living, or, more properly, inorganic matter. We are nerved for such +a result, whether it occur in the laboratory or in nature, by the +conviction that the spiritual functions are no more imperilled by using +matter in any way, than that the Creator hazarded his existence by +originating matter in some way to be used by himself and by us." +"Science does me this inestimable benefit of providing a universe to +support my personal identity, my moral sense, and my feeling that these +two functions of mind cannot be killed. Its denials, no less than its +affirmations, set free all the facts I need to make my body an +expression of mental independence. Hand-in-hand with science I go, by +the steps of development back to the dawn of creation; and, when there, +we review all the forces and their combinations that have helped us to +arrive, and both of us together break into a confession of a force of +forces." + +This cordial sympathy with science, this absence of all savor of a +polemical spirit, this hearty welcoming of every fact of anatomy and +chemistry, is very noble and inspiring. It is very wise, too, though the +noble, hearty side was alone attractive to him. He had in view no other, +being a single-minded lover of truth. But, nevertheless, he could not +have adopted a more politic course. For thus he propitiated the +scepticism of the age, struck in with the prevailing current, disarmed +opposition, and erected his own principles on the eminence which +scientific men have raised and which they cannot build too high for his +purposes. He doubles on his pursuers, and fairly flanks his foes. This +throws the labor of refuting him on the idealists, who may not care to +become responsible for his positions, and may demur to conclusions he +arrives at, while they cannot but applaud his general aims, and wish +they could give positive assent to all his specific doctrines. There was +always this discrepancy between his sentiment and his logic; but it came +out most conspicuously in his elaborate arguments. + +The burden of his exposition was the existence of an ideal sphere, +quite distinct from visible phenomena; facts of consciousness attesting +personality, a moral law, an intelligent cause, an active conscience, a +living heart; order, beauty, harmony, humanity, self-forgetfulness, +self-denial. As he states it: + + I claim, against a strictly logical empirical method, three classes + of facts: first, the authentic facts of the Moral Sense, whenever + it appears as the transcender of the ripest average utility; + second, the facts of the Imagination, as the anticipator of mental + methods by pervading everything with personalty, by imputing life + to objects, or by occasional direct suggestion; third, the facts of + the Harmonic Sense, as the reconciler of discrete and apparently + sundered objects, as the prophet and artist of number and + mathematical ratio, as the unifier of all the contents of the soul + into the acclaim which rises when the law of unity fills the scene. + Upon these facts, I chiefly sustain myself against the theory + which, when it is consistently explained, derives all possible + mental functions from the impacts of objectivity. + +If Mr. Weiss had stopped with this general thesis, he would +probably have carried most Rationalists, certainly the mass of +Transcendentalists, with him. They would have been only too glad to +welcome so clear and brilliant a champion. But he insisted on gathering +up these conceptions into two points of doctrine--God and Immortality. +On these points his arguments become strained, and too subtle for +ordinary minds. Indeed, many will be inclined to suspect his whole +exposition, which would be a misfortune of a very grave character. Mr. +Emerson avoided all definite assertion of personality carried beyond the +limits of individuality in the present state of existence. Mr. Weiss is +more daring, and proclaims a God who arranges creation _as it is_, and +an immortality that drops what to most people constitutes their highly +valued possessions--namely, their "animalities" of various kinds. What +will most men think of a God who "takes his chances," who "in +planet-scenery and animal life is at his play," who puts up in his +divine laboratory "curare and strychnine," and cannot "recognize the +word _disaster_," though he makes the thing? To how many will an +immortality be conceivable that can "belong only to immutable ideas," +that only "springs from the vital necessity of their own souls," that is +a clinging "to the breast of everlasting law"? + +To tell the truth, the arguments themselves for this rather questionable +result of idealism are somewhat unconvincing, not to say fanciful. They +are chiefly of a dogmatic kind, that may be met with counter +affirmations, equally valid. Many of them are stated in a symbolical or +poetical or illustrative manner, the most dangerous of all methods. +Examples of this might be multiplied indefinitely. I had marked several +for confirmation, but they were too long for quotation. One instance of +his mode of reasoning may be given[*]: + + It is objected that no thought and feeling have ever yet been + displayed independently of cerebral condition; they must have + brain, either to originate or to announce them. If brain be source + or instrument of human consciousness, what preserves it when the + brain is dead? But there would have been no universe on such terms + as that. What supplied infinite mind with its preliminary _sine qua + non_ of brain matter? + + [*] It occurs in "American Religion," p. 149. + +But, surely, if this is an argument at all, if it does not beg the very +question in debate--namely, whether there is an infinite mind,--is it +not an argument for atheism? For either the existing universe fully +expresses Deity, in which case Deity is something less than infinite; or +Deity must be conceived as very imperfect, and a progressive, tentative +Divinity is no better than none. + +To be sure, he says: "We attribute Personality to the divine Being, +because we cannot otherwise refer to any source the phenomena that show +Will and Intellect." That is to say, we yield to a logical necessity. To +argue that materialism "reeks with immortality" because "the baldest +negation is not merely a verbal contradiction of an affirmation, but a +contribution to its probability,--for it testifies that there was +something previously taken for granted,"--is really a play upon words, +inasmuch as the denial is simply an affirmation of certain facts, and by +no means a categorical declaration involving all the facts at issue. By +claiming none but relative knowledge, the antithesis is removed. + +One is conscious of a suspicion that the author's tremendous overflow +of nervous vitality had much to do with the vehemence of his +persuasions. He himself countenances such a suspicion. "I confess," he +declares, "to an all-pervading instinct of personal continuance, coupled +with a latent, haunting feeling that there is a point somewhere in human +existence, as there has been in the past, where animality controls the +fate of men. Where is that point? We recoil from every effort to draw +the line." He had a very strong sense of personality, with its +inevitable reference of persistency. "To us, perhaps," he cries, in a +kind of anguish, "no thought could be so dreadful, no surmise so +harrowing, as that we might slip into nonentity. We impetuously repel +the haunting doubt. We shut the eyes, and cower before the goblin in +abject dread until it is gone. With the beauty-loving and full-blooded +Claudio, we cry,-- + + Oh, but to die, and go we know not where." + +and he quotes the rest of the famous passage in "Measure for Measure," +adding for himself: "Put us anywhere, but only let us live; and we could +feel with Lear, when he says to Cordelia,-- + + Come, let's away to prison. + We two alone will sing like birds i' the cage." + + Then, too, there come to us the tender and overpowering moments + when we can no longer put up with being separated from beloved + objects, who tore at the grain of our life when they went away + elsewhere, with portions of it clinging to them. We must have them + again. Shall life be stabbed and no justice compensate these + sickening drippings of the soul in her secret faintness? The old + familiar faces have registered in our hearts a contempt for graves + and burials. Not so cheaply can we be taken in, when the lost life + lies quick in memory still, and cries against the insults which + mortality wreaks on love. + +Is not this an exclamation of temperament? + +John Weiss was essentially a poet. His pages are saturated with poetry. +His very arguments are expressed in poetic imagery. To take two or three +examples: + + One who rides from South-west Harbor to Bar Harbor in Mt. Desert + will see a grove in which the pines stand so close that all the + branches have withered two-thirds of the way up the trunks, and are + nothing but dead sticks, broken and dangling. But every tree bears + close, each to each, its evergreen crown; and they seem to make a + floor for the day to walk on. This pavement for the feet of heaven, + more precious than the fancied one of the New Jerusalem, stretches + all round the world, above the thickets of our spiny egotism, where + people run up into the only coherence upon which it is safe for + Deity to tread. + +Or this about the poet's inspired hour: + + Through flat and unprofitable moments, a poet is waiting for the + next consent of his imagination. The bed of every gift, that lately + sparkled or thundered as the freshet of the hills sent its + surprises down, lies empty, waiting for the master passion to open + the sluice when it hears the steps of coming waves. The poet's + nature strains against the dumb gates of his body and his mood. + With power and longing he hears them open, and is brim full again + with the rhythm that collects from the whole face of Nature,--the + hillside, the ravine, the drifting cloud, the vapors just arrived + from the ocean, the drops that flowers nod with to flavor the + stream, the human smiles that colonize both banks of it. All + passions, all delights hurry to possess his thought, crowd into the + precincts of his person, pain him with the tumult in which they + offer him obedience, remind him of his last joy in their + companionship, and will not let him go till he ennobles them by + bursting into expression. Relief flows down with every perfect + word; the congested soul bleeds into the lyric and the canto; the + poet's burden becomes light-hearted, and the supreme moment of his + travail, when it breaks in showers of his emotion, cools and + comforts him; he must die or express himself. All the blood in the + earth's arteries is running through his heart; all the stars in the + sky are set in his brain's dome. This light and life must be + discharged into a word, and the poet restored to health and peace + again. + +Or the following rhapsody about health: + + What a religious ecstasy is health! Its free step claims every + meadow that is glad with flowers; its bubbling spirits fill the cup + of wide horizons and drip down their brims; its thankfulness is the + prayer that takes possession of the sun by day and the stars by + night. Every dancing member of the body whirls off the soul to + tread the measures of great feelings, and God hears people saying: + "How precious also are thy thoughts, how great is the sum of them! + When I awake, I am still with thee." Yes,--when I awake, but not + before; not while the brain is saturated with nervous blood, till + it falls into comatose doctrines, and goes maundering with its + attack of mediatorial piety and grace; not while a stomach depraved + by fried food, apothecary's drugs, and iron-clad pastry (that + target impenetrable by digestion) supplies the constitution with + its vale of tears, ruin of mankind, and better luck hereafter. When + all my veins flow unobstructed, and lift to the level of my eyes + the daily gladness that finds a gate at every pore; when the + roaming gifts come home from Nature to turn the brain into a hive + of cells full of yellow sunshine, the spoil of all the chalices of + the earth beneath and the heavens above,--then I am the subject of + a Revival of Religion. + +Or these passages about music, of which he was always a devoted lover, +a passionate admirer, an excellent critic. My first extract is used to +illustrate the doctrine of evolution, and suggests Browning's poem of +"Abt Vogler." It should be said, by the way, that Weiss was a great +student of Browning, whose lines in "Paracelsus," prophetic of the +evolution doctrine, was often on his lips. He even understood +"Sordello." + + The divine composer, summoning instrument after instrument into his + harmony, climbed with his theme from those which offered but a + single note to those that exhaust the complexity of thought and + feeling, to combine them into expression, kindling through hints, + phrases, sudden concords, mustering consents of many wills, + releases of each one's felicity into comradeship, till the sweet + tumult becomes his champion, and bursts into an acclaim of a whole + world. "I ought--so then I will." The toppling instruments concur, + become the wave that touches that high moment, lifts the whole + deep, and holds it there. + + When perfect music drives its golden scythe-chariot up the fine + nerves, across the bridge of association, through the stern + portcullis of care, and alights in the heart of man, there is + adoration, whether he faints with excess of recognition of one long + absent, and lies prostrate in the arms of rhythm, feeling that he + is not worthy it should come under his roof, or whether he mounts + the seat and grasps the thrilling reins; God's unity is riding + through his distraction, brought by that team of all the + instruments which shake their manes across the pavement of his + bosom, and strike out the sparks of longing. + +In calling Mr. Weiss essentially a poet, I am far from implying that +he was not a thinker. Perhaps he was more subtle and more brilliant a +thinker for being also a poet--that is, for seeing truth through the +medium of the imagination, for following the path of analogy. At any +rate, his being a poet did not in the least interfere with the acuteness +or the precision of his thinking, as any one can see who reads his +chapters--those, for example, which compose the volume entitled +"American Religion." I had marked for citation so many passages that it +would be necessary to quote half the book to illustrate my thesis. When +I first knew him, he was a strict Transcendentalist. Dr. Orestes +Brownson, no mean judge on such matters, spoke of him as the most +promising philosophical mind in the country. To a native talent for +metaphysics, his early studies at Heidelberg probably contributed +congenial training. His knowledge of German philosophy may well have +been stimulated and matured by his residence in that centre of active +thought; while his intimacy, on his return, with the keenest intellects +in this country may well have sharpened his original predilection for +abstract speculation. However this may have been, the tendency of his +genius was decidedly toward metaphysical problems and the interpretation +of the human consciousness. This he erected as a barrier against +materialism; and this he probed with a depth and a fearlessness which +were truly extraordinary, and would have been remarkable in any disciple +of the school to which he belonged. No one that I can think of was so +fine, so profound, so analytical. His volume on "American Religion" was +full of nice discriminations; so was his volume on the "Immortal Life"; +so were his articles and lectures. His "Life of Theodore Parker" +abounded in curious learning as well as in vigorous thinking. He could +follow, step by step, the great leader of reformatory ideas, and went +far beyond him in subtlety and accuracy of mental delineation. He could +not rest in sentiment, must have demonstration, and never stopped till +he reached the ultimate ground of truth as he regarded it. Ideas, when +he found them, were usually, not always, expressed in symbolical forms. +His alert fancy detected likenesses that would have been concealed from +common eyes; and often the splendor of the exposition hid the keenness +of the logical temper, as a sword wreathed with roses lies unperceived. +But the tempered steel was there and they who examined closely felt its +edge. + +He was a man of undaunted courage, being an idealist who lived out of +the world, and a living soul animated by overwhelming convictions, which +he was anxious to convey to others as of immense importance. He +believed, with all his heart, in the doctrines he had arrived at, and, +like a soldier in battle, was unconscious of the danger he incurred or +of the wounds he received, being unaware of his own daring or fortitude. +He was an anti-slavery man from the beginning. At a large meeting held +in Waltham in 1845, to protest against the admission of Texas as a slave +State, Mr. Weiss, then a minister at Watertown, Mass., delivered a +speech in which he said: "Our Northern apathy heated the iron, forged +the manacles, and built the pillory," declared that man was more than +constitutions (borrowing a phrase from James Russell Lowell), and that +Christ was greater than Hancock and Adams. To his unflinching devotion +to free thought in religion, he owed something of his unpopularity with +the masses of the people, who were orthodox in opinion, though his +failure to touch the general mind was probably due to other causes. The +class of disbelievers was pretty large in his day and very +self-asserting. Boldness never fails to attract; and brilliancy, if it +be on the plane of ordinary vision, draws the eyes of the multitude, who +are on the watch for a sensation. + +The chief trouble was that his brilliancy was not on the plane of +ordinary vision, but was recondite, ingenious, fanciful. He was too +learned, too fond of allusions--literary, scientific, historical,--too +swift in his mental processes. His addresses were delivered to an +audience of his friends, not to a miscellaneous company. They were of +the nature of soliloquies spoken out of his own mind, instead of being +speeches intended to meet the needs of others. His lectures and sermons +were not easy to follow, even if the listener was more than usually +cultivated. Shall it be added that his sincerity of speech, running into +brusqueness, startled a good many? He was theological and philosophical, +and he could not keep his hands off when what he considered as errors in +theology or philosophy came into view. His wit was sharper than he +thought, while the laugh it raised was frequently overbalanced by the +sting it left behind in some breasts. It was too often a "wicked wit," +barbed and poisoned, which one must be in league with to enjoy. They who +were in sympathy with the speaker were delighted with it, but they who +were not went off aggrieved. No doubt this attested the earnestness of +the man, who scorned to cloak his convictions; but it wounded the +self-love of such as were in search of pleasure or instruction, and +interfered with his general acceptableness. A broad, genial, +good-natured, truculent style of ventilating even heresies may not be +repulsive to people of a conventional, believing turn; in fact, it is +not, as we know. But the thrusts of a rapier, especially when +unexpected, are not forgiven. Mr. Weiss drew larger audiences as a +preacher on religious themes than he did as a lecturer on secular +subjects, where one hardly knew what to look for, because he was known +to be outspoken and capable of introducing heresies on the platform. + +Then he was in all respects unconventional. His spontaneous exuberance +of animal spirits, which led him to roll on the grass, join in +frolicsome games, play all sorts of antics, indulge in jokes, mimicry, +boisterous mirthfulness, was inconsistent with the staid, proper +demeanor required by social usage. How he kept himself within limits as +he did was a surprise to his friends. Ordinary natures can form no +conception of the weight such a man must have put upon his temperament +to press it down to the level of common experience. Temptations to which +he was liable every day do not visit average minds in their whole +lifetime, and cannot by such minds be comprehended. The stiff, upright, +careful old man cannot understand the jocund pliability of the boy, who, +nevertheless, simply expends the superfluity of his natural vigor, and +relieves his excess of nervous excitability. On thinking it all over, +remembering his appetite for life, his joy in existence, his nervous +exhilaration, his love of beauty, his passionate ardor of temperament, I +am surprised that he preserved, as he did, so much dignity and soberness +of character. I have seen him in his wildest mood, yet I never saw him +thrown off his balance. With as much brilliancy as Sydney Smith, he had, +as Sydney Smith had not, a breadth of knowledge, a depth of feeling, a +soaring energy of soul that kept him above vulgar seductions, and did +for him, in a nobler way, what ambition, love of place, conventional +associations did for the famous Englishman. + +The difficulty was that he was too far removed from the common ground +of sympathy. He could not endure routine, or behave as other people +behaved, and as it was generally fancied he should. If Sydney Smith's +jocularity interfered with his promotion, how much more did he have to +contend with who to the jocularity added an enthusiastic devotion to +heresy, a partiality for metaphysical speculation, and a poetic glow +that removed him from ordinary comprehension! With an unworldliness +worthy of all praise, but fatal to the provision of daily bread, he left +the ministry, a fixed income, a confirmed social position, ample leisure +for study and for literary pursuits, and launched forth on the uncertain +career of lecturer. He was not the first who failed in attempting to +harness Pegasus to a cart, in the hope of making him useful in mundane +ways. Neither discharged his full function. The cart would not run +smoothly, and the steed was not happy. The old profession has this +advantage: that to all practical purposes, the wagon goes over the +celestial pavement where there is no mud nor clangor, and Pegasus can +seem to be harnessed to a chariot of the sun. + +Weiss simply disappeared from view. His books were scattered; his +lectures and sermons were worked over and over, the best of them being +published in his several volumes. A few relics of the author remain in +the hands of his widow, who is grateful for any recognition of his +genius, any help to diffuse his writings, and tribute to his memory. +They who knew him can never forget him. Perhaps the very vividness of +their recollection makes them indifferent to the possession of visible +memorials of their friend. + +Samuel Johnson should be known as the apostle of individualism. The +apostle I say, for this with him was a religion, and the preaching of +individualism was a gospel message. He would not belong to any church, +or subscribe to any creed, or connect himself with any sect, or be a +member of any organization whatever, however wide or elastic, however +consonant with convictions that he held, with beliefs that he +entertained, with purposes that he cherished, with plans that were dear +to him. He never joined the "Anti-Slavery Society," though he was an +Abolitionist; or the "Free Religious Association," though its aims were +essentially his own, and he spoke on its platform. He made it a +principle to act alone, herein being a true disciple of Emerson, whose +mission was to individual minds. He wrote a long letter to me on the +occasion of establishing the "Free Religious Association," of which I +wished him to become a member, that recalls the letter written by Mr. +Emerson in reply to George Ripley when asked to join the community of +Brook Farm, and whereof the following is an extract: + + My feeling is that the community is not good for me, that it has + little to offer me which with resolution I cannot procure for + myself.... It seems to me a circuitous and operose way of relieving + myself to put upon your community the emancipation which I ought to + take on myself. I must assume my own vows.... I ought to say that I + do not put much trust in any arrangements or combinations, only in + the spirit which dictates them. Is that benevolent and divine, they + will answer their end. Is there any alloy in that, it will + certainly appear in the result.... Nor can I insist with any heat + on new methods when I am at work in my study on any literary + composition.... The result of our secretest attempts will certainly + have as much renown as shall be due to it. + +Johnson ended by discarding the church entirely. In 1881 he wrote: + + For my part, every day I live the name _Christian_ seems less and + less to express my thought and tendency. I suspect it will be so + with the Free-thinking world generally. + +In a sermon, "Living by Faith," he says: + + There is no irony so great as to call this "flight out of nature" + and the creeds that come of it, "faith." The purity of heart that + really sees God will have a mighty idealization of humanity at the + very basis of its creed, and act on it in all its treatment of the + vicious, the morally incapable and diseased. It is time Christendom + was on the search for it. + +In the paper on "Transcendentalism," he says: + + Christianity inherited the monarchical idea of a God separate from + man, and a contempt for natural law and human faculty which + crippled its faith in the spiritual and moral ideal. It became more + and more a materialism of miracle, Bible, church. Even its essay to + realize immanent Deity yielded a more or less exclusive, + mediatorial God-man; and it treated personality as the mere + consequence of one prescriptive, historical force, just as + philosophical materialism treats it as mere product of sensations. + +Mr. Johnson abhorred the monarchical principle. It was his endeavor to +track it from its origin, through all its forms of institution, +ceremonial, dogma, symbol, from the earliest times to the latest, +through the whole East to the farthest West. This was the burden of his +studies in Oriental religions, the sum of his criticism, the aim of his +public teaching. He was profoundly, intensely, absorbingly religious, +but the form of his religion was not "Christian" in any recognized +sense, Romanist, Protestant, or Unitarian. The most radical thought did +not altogether please him. His was a worship of Law, Order, Cause, +Harmony, impersonal, living, natural; a recognition of mind as the +supreme power in the universe; a cosmic, eternal, absolute faith in +intellectual principles as the substance and soul of the world. God was, +to him, a spiritual being, alive, vital, flowing in every mode. + + All power of growth and service depends, know it or not as we may, + on an ideal faith in somewhat all-sufficient, unerring, infinitely + wise and tender, inseparable from the inmost of life, bent on our + good as we are not, set against our failures as we cannot be. It + means that there can in fact be no philosophy of life, no law of + good, no belief in duty, no aspiration, but must have such + in-dwelling perfection, as being alone reliable to guarantee its + word. This only is my God; infinite ground of all finite being; + essence of reason and good.... When you see a function of memory, + or a law of perfection, let your natural piety recognize it as wise + and just and good and fair. Be loyal to the moral authority that + affirms it ought to be, and somehow must be. Let your _soul_ bring + in the leap of your mind to grasp it. Then, if you cannot see God + in perfect, absolute essence, you will know the Infinite and + Eternal in their relation to real and positive existence; feel + their freedom in your own; know their inseparableness from every + movement of your spiritual being.... The love we feel, the truth we + pursue, the honor we cherish, the moral beauty we revere, blend in + with the eternity of the principles they flow from, and then, glad + as in the baptism of a harvest morning, expanding towards human + need and the universal life of man, our souls walk free, breathing + immortal air. That is God,--not an object but an experience. Words + are but symbols, they do not define. We say "Him," "It" were as + well, if thereby we mean life, wisdom, love.... Must we bind our + communion with the just, the good, the true, the humanly adequate + and becoming to some personal life, some special body of social + circumstances, some individual's work in human progress and upon + human idealism? How should that be, when the principles into which + the moral sense flowers out in its maturity as spiritual liberty, + essentially involve a freely advancing ideal at every new stage + revealing more of God, whom nothing but such universal energy can + adequately reveal?... If then, we cannot see the eternal substance + and life of the universe, it is not because Deity is too far, but + because it is too near. We can measure a statue or a star, and look + round and beyond it; but the Life, Light, Liberty, Love, Peace, + whereby we live and know, and are helpful and calm and free, which + measures and surrounds and even animates us, is itself the very + mystery of our being, and known only as felt and lived. God stands + in all ideal thought, conviction, aim, which ever reach into the + infinite; and thence, as if an angel should stand in the sun, come + attractions that draw forth the divine capabilities within us, as + the sun the life and beauty of the earth. God is the inmost motive, + the common path, the infinite import of all work we respect, honor, + purely rejoice in, and fulfil; of art, science, philosophy, + intercourse,--whatsoever function befits the soul and the day. + +These quotations, which might be multiplied indefinitely, in fact, +which it is difficult not to multiply, are probably enough to satisfy +any who really wish to know that here was a truly religious man, a +really devout man, the possessor of a living faith; one who held fast to +more Deity than the multitude cherished, and welcomed him in a much more +cordial, comprehensive, natural manner; one who fairly drenched the +world and man with a divine spirit, but who was all the more spiritual +on this account, as a man attests his vigor by his ability to lay aside +his crutches, and put the medicine-chest, bottles, and boxes on the +shelf, to walk in cold weather without an overcoat, or lie naked on the +ice and melt it through. + +Of course, the only justification of a pretension of this kind is the +actual vitality necessary for such a feat, the sanity demanded by one +who would stand or go alone. In Samuel Johnson's case there was no +question of this. Spiritually, he was a whole man, self-poised, +self-contained, strong, clear, alert, a hero and a saint. His +conversation, his bearing, conduct, entire attitude and manner indicated +the most jubilant faith. He never faltered in his confidence, never +wavered in his conviction, never abated a jot of hope that in the order +of Providence all good things would come. There was something staggering +to the ordinary mind, in his assurance of the divine wisdom and love. +There was something altogether admirable in the elevation of his +character above the trials and vexations that are incident to the human +lot, and that seemed heaped upon him. For his own was not a smooth or +fortunate life, as men estimate felicity. His health was far from +satisfactory. He was not rich or famous or popular or sought after. He +lived a life of labor, in some respects, of denial and sacrifice. Not +until after his death was the full amount of his renunciation apparent +even to those who thought they knew him well. + +He was a Transcendentalist--that is to say, he believed in the intuitive +powers of the mind; he was sure that all primary truths, such ideas as +those of unity, universe, law, cause, substance, will, duty, obligation, +permanence, were perceived directly, and are not to be accounted for by +any data of observation or inference, but must be ascribed at once to an +organic or constitutional relation of the mind with truth. + + That the name "Transcendentalism" was given, a century ago, to a + method in philosophy opposed to the theory of Locke--that all + knowledge comes from the senses,--is more widely known than the + fact that what this method affirmed or involved is of profound + import for all generations. It emphasized Mind as a formative force + behind all definable contents or acts of consciousness--as that + which makes it possible to speak of anything as _known_. It + recognized, as primal condition of knowing, the transmutation of + sense-impressions by original laws of mind, whose constructive + power is not to be explained or measured by the data of sensation; + just as they use the eye or ear to transform unknown spatial + notions into the obviously human conceptions which we call color + and sound. All this the Lockian system overlooked--a very serious + omission, as regards both science and common-sense. + +And again, in the same article--that on "Transcendentalism," first +printed in the _Radical Review_ for November, 1877, and afterwards +included in the volume of "Lectures, Sermons, and Essays": + + What we conceive these schools to have misprized is the living + substance and function of mind itself, conscious of its own energy, + productive of its own processes, active even in receiving, giving + its own construction to its incomes from the unknown through sense, + thus involved in those very contents of time and space which, as + historical antecedents, _appear_ to create it; mind is obviously + the exponent of forces more spontaneous and original than any + special product of its own experience. Behind all these products + must be that substance in and through which they are produced. + +And again, for we cannot be too explicit on this point: + + It is certain that knowledge involves not only a sense of union + with the nature of that which we know, but a real participation of + the knowing faculty therein. When, therefore, I have learned to + conceive truths, principles, ideas, or aims which transcend + life-times and own no physical limits to their endurance, the + aforesaid law of mind associates me with their immortal nature. And + this is the indubitable perception or intuition of permanent mind + which no experience of impermanence can nullify and no Nirvana + excludes. + +It will be observed that Mr. Johnson does not make himself answerable +for specific articles of belief on God or immortality, but confines his +faith to the persuasion of indwelling mind, sovereign, eternal, +imperial. "Immortality," he says, "is immeasurable chance for all. In +its light, all strong, blameless, heroic lives--divine plants by the +wayside--tell for the nature they express. God has made no blunder in +our spiritual constitution. Power is in faith." This intense belief in +the soul, in all the native capacities of our spiritual constitution, in +the supremacy of organic feelings, ideas, expectations over merely +private desires, this burning confidence in divinely implanted +instincts, this absolute certainty that every promise made by God will +be fulfilled, explains the tone of exulting hope in which he writes to +bereaved friends. + + I wish I could tell you how firmly I believe that feelings like + these (that the absent one cannot be dead), so often treated as + illusion, are _true_, are of God's own tender giving; that in them + is the very heart of his teaching through the mystery that we call + death. Our affections are _forbidden by their maker_ to doubt their + own immortality.... Immortal years, beside which our little lives + are but an hour--what possibilities of full satisfaction they open! + And we sit in patience, knowing that they must bring us back our + holiest possessions--those which have ever stood under the shield + of our noblest love and conscience and so are under God's blessing + forever. + +How far such a declaration as this comports with the demand for general +immortality made in behalf of those who are conscious of no noble love, +who have attained to no conscience, and have no holy possessions, we are +not told. Perhaps Mr. Johnson would seize on the faintest intimations of +mind as evidencing the presence of moral being, as Mr. Weiss does. But +he did not dwell on that side of the problem. Plainly he ascribed little +value to mere personality, viewed abstractly and apart from its +spiritual development. He wrote to those whom he knew and loved, to +remarkable people. + +Yet it would not be fair to conclude that immortality was denied to the +basest. If immortality is "opportunity," a "chance for all," it is for +those who can profit by it or enjoy it. If any are debarred, the cause +must be their own incompetence. They simply decease. There is no torment +in store for them; no hell is possible. + +Samuel Johnson was an enthusiastic evolutionist, but of mind itself, not +of matter as ripening into mind. The ordinary conception of +evolution,--that the higher came from the lower,--was exceedingly +repugnant to him. Every kind of materialism he abhorred as illogical and +irrational. The theories of Comte,--that "mind is cerebration;" of +Haeckel,--that it is a "function of brain and nerve;" of Strauss,--that +"one's self is his body;" of Taine,--that a man is "a series of +sensations," were to him as absurd, in science or philosophy, as they +were fatal to aspiration and progress. + + The crude definition of evolution as production of the highest by + inherent force of the lowest is here supplanted by one which + recognizes material parentage as itself involving, even in its + lowest stages, the entire cosmic _consensus_, of whose unknown + force mind is the highest known exponent. + +He is alluding to Tyndall's statement that mind is evolved from the +universe as a whole, not from inorganic matter. For himself, he says: + + Ideas were not demonstrated, are not demonstrable. No data of + observation can express their universal meaning.... What else can + we say of ideas than that they are wondrous intimacies of the soul + with the Infinite and Eternal, its contacts with universal forces, + its prophetic ventures and master steps beyond any past!... The + grand words, "I ought" refuse to be explained by dissolving the + notion of right into individual calculation of consequences, or by + expounding the sense of duty as the cumulative product of observed + relation of succession.... How explain as a "greater happiness + principle," or an inherited product of observed consequences, that + sovereign and eternal law of mind whose imperial edict lifts all + calculations and measures into functions of an infinite meaning? + And how vain to accredit or ascribe to revelation, institution, or + redemption, this necessary allegiance to the law of our being, + which is liberty and loyalty in one? + +This is absolute enough. It is plain that to this writer the notion of +extracting intellect from form is ridiculous. + +At the same time the method of evolution is the one adopted by the +supreme Mind in its endeavor to awaken in man religious ideas. The +exposition of the original faiths--Indian, Chinese, Persian--is a long +and eloquent argument for this thesis. All criticism, all thinking, all +analysis, all study of history, all investigation of phenomena, point in +this direction. This is the rule of creation; this is the solution of +the problem of the universe. The successive degrees of this divine +ascent, he maintains, are distinctly traceable in the records left for +our reading. The threads are fine, of course, but what have we eyes for? +It is not necessary that everybody should see them, and the few who can +are amply rewarded for the trouble they take in putting their fingers +upon the very lines of the heavenly procedure. His peculiar strain of +genius admirably qualified him for this delicate task. It was serious, +critical, earnest, and aspiring. At one period of his life he was a +mystic, wholly absorbed in God, and he always had that tendency towards +the more passionate forms of idealism which led him to mystical +speculations. The search for God was ever the animating purpose of his +endeavor. The law of the blessed life was never absent from his thought. +He, all the time, lived by faith, and was naturally disposed to see the +gain in all losses. His mind had that penetrating quality which loved to +follow hidden trails, and appreciated the subtlest kinds of influence. +In a striking passage he speaks of the + + great mystery in these influences which thoughtless people little + dream of, and which common-sense, so called, cares nothing about. + In the wonderful manner in which, through books, the spirits of + other men, long since dead, enter into and inspire ours; in the + eloquent language of eye and lip which without words, merely by + expression, conveys deepest feelings; in the presence in our souls + of strange presentiments, intuitions of higher knowledge than + science or learning can give, voices which seem the presence of + other spirits in ours, which make us feel often that death, so far + from removing our dear friends from us, brings them nearer to our + souls so that they _cannot_ be lost;--in all these wonderful ways + we see dimly the unveiling of holy mysteries which the future is to + fully open to us, mysteries which we can even now, in our sublimer + and holier secret moments, feel trying to disclose themselves to + us. + +This was written in a letter to his sister, on the occasion of a visit +to the menagerie to see Herr Driesbach, the horse-tamer. A man who could +spring into the empyrean from such ground may be trusted to behold Deity +where others behold nothing but dirt; and they who submit to his +guidance are pretty certain to come out full believers in the spiritual +powers. + +Johnson absolutely subordinated dogma to practice, holding fast to the +idea involved in the declaration that he who doeth the will shall know +the doctrine. He began with the ethics of the individual, the family, +the social circle, seeing every principle incarnated there. How faithful +he was in all domestic relations the world will never know, for there +are details that cannot be divulged. But in all public affairs his +constancy was perfect. Dr. Furness of Philadelphia used to say that the +anti-slavery struggle in this country taught him more about the +essential nature of the Gospel than he had learned in any other way. +Samuel Johnson had the same conviction. In a private letter written in +1857 he says: + + Everything in this crisis of American growth centres in the great + conflict about this gigantic sin of slavery. That is the + battle-field on which the questions are all to be fought out, of + moral and spiritual and intellectual Freedom against the Absolutism + of sect and party; of Love against Mammon; of Conscience against + the State; of Man against Majorities; of Truth against Policy; of + God against the Devil. It is really astonishing how everything that + happens with us works directly into this fermenting conflict. + +They who remember his addresses during the war will not need any +confirmation of this announcement, and they who heard or have read his +sermon on the character and services of Charles Sumner will have the +fullest assurance of the cordial appreciation with which every phase of +the struggle was entered into. + +But though so ardent a follower of the doctrine that ideas lead the +world, Johnson was not induced to go all lengths with the +sentimentalists. While warmly espousing the cause of the workingman his +papers on "Labor Reform" show how keenly critical he could be of +measures proposed for his benefit. No one will accuse him of +indifference to the claims of woman, but he spoke of "Woman's +Opportunity" rather than of "Woman's Rights"; is inclined to think that +it is not true that she is left out of political life from the present +wish to do her injustice; that "on the whole, the feeling, if it were +analyzed, would be found to be rather that of defending her right of +exemption, relieving her from tasks she does not desire.... Among +intelligent men at least, actual delay to wipe out the anomaly of the +voting rule is not so much owing to a spirit of domination or contempt +as is too apt to be assumed, as it is to a respect for what woman has +made of the functions she has hitherto filled, and the belief that she +holds herself entitled to be left free to work through them alone." He +has nothing to say regarding the superiority of woman's nature; ventures +no definition of her sphere; is not unconscious of feminine infirmities; +doubts the efficacy of the ballot; confesses that the level of womanhood +would be, at least temporarily, depressed by the larger area of +practical diffusion; is by no means certain that women would necessarily +act for their own good, and is deeply persuaded of the inferiority of +outward to inward influence. This is the one thing he is sure of; this +and the principle that "liberty knows--like faith and charity--neither +male nor female." In the war between Russia and Turkey he took the part +of Turkey, not only because he respected the rights of individual genius +and resented invasion, but for the reason that he distrusted the +civilizing tendencies of Russia, and thought the interests of Europe +might be trusted to the Ottoman as confidently as to the Russian. In a +discourse entitled "A Ministry in Free Religion," delivered on the +occasion of his resigning the relation of pastor to the "Free Church at +Lynn," June 26, 1870, he said: + + The pulpit has no function more essential than an independent + criticism of well-meaning people in the light of larger justice and + remoter consequences than most popular measures recognize. The + truest service is, perhaps, to help correct the blunders and the + intolerances of blind good-will and narrow zeal for a good cause; + to speak in the interest of an idea where popular or organized + impulse threatens to swamp its higher morality in passionate + instincts and absolute masterships, to maintain that freedom of + private judgment which cannot be outraged, even in the best moral + intent, without mischievous reaction on the good cause itself. + +In this connection he speaks of temperance, the amelioration of the +condition of the "perishing" or "dangerous" classes, the various schemes +for benefiting the laboring men, plans for adjusting the relations of +labor and capital, arrangements for diffusing the profits of +production,--causes which he had at heart, but which should be discussed +in view of the principle of individual freedom, which must be upheld at +all hazards. He was a close reasoner as well as a warm feeler, and would +not allow his sympathies to get the upper hand of his ideas. He hoped +for the best; he had faith in the highest; he anticipated the brightest; +but he tried to see things as they were. He was a student, not a +sentimentalist, and while he was ready to follow the most advanced in +the direction of spiritual progress, he was not prepared to take for +granted issues that still hung in the balance of debate, or to prejudge +questions that had not been answered, and could not be as yet. + +Such moderation and patience are not common with reformers, and few are +independent enough to confess misgivings which are more familiar to +their opponents than to their friends. Candor like this shows a genuine +unconsciousness of fear, a sincere love of truth, an earnest +postponement of personal tastes, ambitions, and connections to the +axioms of universal wisdom and goodness; a loyalty to conviction that is +very rare, that never can exist among the indifferent, because they do +not care, and which is usually put aside by those who _do_ care as an +impediment if not as a snare. In courage of this noble kind, Johnson +excelled all men I ever knew, for they who had it, as some did, had not +his genius, and were spared the necessity of curbing ardor by so much as +their temperament was more passive and their eagerness less importunate. +Of course of the lower sort,--the courage to bear pain, loss, the +misunderstanding of the vulgar, to face danger, to encounter peril, none +who knew him can question his possession. In fact, he did not seem to +suffer at all, so jocund was he, so much in the habit of keeping his +deprivations from the outside world; even his intimates could but +suspect his sorrows of heart. + +Samuel Johnson was an extraordinary person to look at. He had large +dark eyes; black, straight, long hair; an Oriental complexion, sallow, +olive-colored; an impetuous manner; a beaming expression. His voice was +rich, deep, musical; his gait eager, rapid, swinging; his style of +address glowing; his aspect in public speech that of one inspired. He +was fond of natural beauty, of art, literature, music; full of fun, +witty, mirthful, social. He was attractive to young people, delightful +in conversation, ready to enter into innocent amusements. His eye for +scenery was fine and quick, his interest in practical science sincere +and hearty, his concern for whatever advanced humanity cordial, and his +freshness of spirit increased if anything with years. + + + + +XIV. MY FRIENDS. + + +It is impossible to mention them all, and to single out a few from a +multitude must not be done. I should like to commemorate those who came +nearest to me by their earnest work and faithful allegiance, but these +cannot be spoken of, and I prefer to enumerate some of those with whom I +was less intimate. + +Alice and Ph[oe]be Cary came to New York in 1852, and were prominent +when I was there; their famous Sunday evenings, which were frequented by +the brightest minds and were sought by a large class of people, being +then well established. These were altogether informal and gave but +little satisfaction to the merely fashionable folks who now and then +attended them. The sisters were in striking contrast. Ph[oe]be, the +younger, was a jocund, hearty, vivacious, witty, merry young woman, +short and round; her older sister, Alice, was taller and more slender, +with large, dark eyes; she was meditative, thoughtful, pensive, and +rather grave in temperament; but the two were most heartily in sympathy +in every opinion and in all their literary and social aims. Horace +Greeley, one of their earliest and warmest friends, was a frequent +visitor at their house. There I met Robert Dale Owen, Oliver Johnson, +Dr. E. H. Chapin, Rev. Charles F. Deems, Justin McCarthy and his wife, +Mrs. Mary E. Dodge, Madame Le Vert, and several others. + +Among my friends was President Barnard, of Columbia College, the only +man I ever knew whose long ear-trumpet was never an annoyance; Ogden N. +Rood, the Professor of Physics at Columbia, a man of real genius, whose +studies in light and color were a great assistance to artists, himself +an artist of no mean order and an ardent student of photography; Charles +Joy, Professor of Chemistry, a most active-minded man, who received +honors at Goettingen and at Paris, and contributed largely to the +scientific journals; a man greatly interested in the union of charitable +societies in New York; Robert Carter, then a co-worker in the making of +Appleton's Cyclopedia; Bayard Taylor, novelist, poet, translator of +Goethe, traveller; Richard Grant White, the Shakesperian scholar; +Charles L. Brace, the philanthropist; E. L. Youmans a man fairly +tingling with ideas, and peculiarly gifted in making popular, as a +lecturer, the most abstruse scientific discoveries. The breadth of my +range of acquaintances is illustrated by such men as Roswell D. +Hitchcock, of Union Seminary, the learned student, the impressive +speaker; Isaac T. Hecker, the founder of the Congregation of the +Paulists; Dr. Washburn, the model churchman of "Calvary"; Henry M. +Field, editor of the _Evangelist_, a most warm-hearted man, so large in +his sympathies that he could say to Robert G. Ingersoll, "I am glad that +I know you, even though some of my brethren look upon you as a monster +because of your unbelief," and welcomed as an example of "constructive +thought," Dr. Charles A. Briggs' Inaugural Address as Professor of +Biblical Theology at Union College; John G. Holland (Timothy Titcomb), a +copious author. The _Tribune_ company was most distinguished: There was, +first of all, the founder, Horace Greeley, a unique personality, simple, +unaffected, earnest, an immense believer in American institutions, a +stanch friend of the working-man, and a brave lover of impartial +justice; Whitelaw Reid, who was, according to George Ripley, the ablest +newspaper manager he ever saw; and Mrs. Lucia Calhoun (afterward Mrs. +Runkle), one of the most brilliant contributors to the _Tribune_. Of +George Ripley I may speak more at length, as he was my parishioner and +close friend. In my biography of him, written for the "American Men of +Letters" series, I spoke of him as a "remarkable" man. One of my critics +found fault with the appellation, and said it was not justified by +anything in the book, as perhaps it was not, though intellectual vigor, +range, and taste like his must be called "remarkable"; such industry is +"remarkable"; no common man could have instituted "Brook Farm" and +administered it for six or seven years; could have maintained its +dignity through ridicule, misunderstanding, and fanaticism; could have +cleared off its liabilities; could have turned his face away from it on +its failure, with such patience, or in his later age, could have alluded +to it so sweetly; no ordinary person could have adopted a new and +despised career so bravely as he did. No journalist has raised +literature to so high a distinction, or derived such large rewards for +that mental labor. He deserves to be called "remarkable," who can do all +this or but a part of it, and, all the time, preserve the sunny serenity +of his disposition. If the biography failed to present these traits it +was, indeed, unsuccessful. Yes, Mr. Ripley was an extraordinary man. It +is seldom that one carries such qualities to such a degree of +perfection, and it may be worth while to look more closely at his +character. + +George Ripley had a passion for literary excellence. From his boyhood +he possessed a singularly bright intelligence, a clear appreciation of +the rational aspect of questions. He was not an ardent, passionate, +enthusiastic man, of warm convictions, vehement emotions, burning ideas. +His feelings, though amiable and correct, were of an intellectual cast. +They sprang from a naturally affectionate heart, rather than from a +deeply stirred conscience, or an enchanted soul. If he had been less +healthy, eupeptic, he would scarcely have been so gay; a vehement +reformer he was not; a leader of men he could not be. He had not the +stuff in him for either. The element of giving was not strong in him. He +was not an originator in the sphere of thought; not a discoverer of +theories or facts; not an innovator on established customs. But mentally +he was so quick, eager, receptive, that he seemed a pioneer, an +enthusiast, a saint; his quickness passing for insight, his eagerness +for a passionate love of progress, his receptivity for charitableness. +He appeared to be more of an image-breaker than he really was. In fact, +the propensity to iconoclasm was not part of his constitution. But his +mind was wonderfully alert. He had his antipathies, and they were strong +ones, his likes and dislikes, his tastes and distastes, but these were +instinctive rather than the expression of rational principle or a +deliberate conclusion of his judgment. In one instance that I know of, +he threw off a man with whom he had been associated for many years, and +in connection with whom he labored daily for a time, a very accomplished +and agreeable person to whom he was indebted for some services, because +he thought that the individual in question had been unjust to some of +his friends; but that this was not entirely a matter of conscience would +seem to be indicated by the fact that he sent a message of affection to +this man, as he neared the grave. In the main, so far as he was under +control, intellectual considerations determined his course. He was +prevailingly under the influence of mind; he acted in view, a large +view, of all the circumstances; as one who takes in the whole situation, +and has himself under command. This is not said in the least tone of +disparagement, but entirely in his praise, for the supremacy of reason +is more steady, even, reliable than the supremacy of feeling however +exalted in its mood. He that is under the control of mind is at all +times _under control_, which cannot be said of one who is borne along by +the sway of even devout emotion. I have in memory cases where passion +might have betrayed Mr. Ripley into conduct he would have regretted, had +it not been for the restraining power of purely rational considerations. +His early religious training may have produced some effect on his +character, but this is more likely to have operated at first than at the +later stages of his career. The love of old hymns, the habit of +attending sacred services, the fondness for Watts' poems, a copy of +whose holy songs always lay on his table, showed a lingering attachment +to this kind of sentiment up to the end of his life; but it existed in +an attenuated form, and at no period after his youth exerted much sway +over him. His predominating bent was intellectual, and this caused a +certain delicacy, fastidiousness, aloofness, which kept him in the +atmosphere of love as well as of light. + +From his youth this was his leading characteristic. As a boy he was +ambitious of making a dictionary, a sign of his carefulness in the use +of words, and an omen of the value he was to set on definitions and on +exactness in the employment of language. At school he was an excellent +scholar, at college he stood second, but was graduated first owing to +the "suspension" of a brilliant classmate who might have excelled him +but for the mishap of a college "riot" in which he took part. In the +languages and in literature he was unusually proficient, while in +mathematics,--that most abstract, severe, precise of pursuits,--his +success was distinguished. In later-life his devotion to philosophy +marked the man of speculative tastes. His early letters to his father, +mother, sister, reveal a consciousness of his own peculiarities. Here +are extracts: + + The course of studies adopted here [Cambridge], in the opinion of + competent judges, is singularly calculated to form scholars, and + moreover, correct and accurate scholars; to inure the mind to + profound thought and habits of investigation and reasoning. + + The prospect of devoting my days to the acquisition and + communication of knowledge is bright and cheering. This employment + I would not exchange for the most elevated situation of wealth or + power. One of the happiest steps, I think, that I have ever taken + was the commencement of a course of study, and it is my wish and + effort that my future progress may give substantial evidence of it. + + I know that my peculiar habits of mind, imperfect as they are, + strongly impel me to the path of active intellectual effort; and if + I am to be at any time of any use to society, or a satisfaction to + myself or my friends, it will be in the way of some retired + literary situation, where a fondness for study and a knowledge of + books will be more requisite than the busy, calculating mind of a + man in the business part of the community. I do not mean by this + that any profession is desired but the one to which I have been + long looking. My wish is only to enter that profession with all the + enlargement of mind and extent of information which the best + institutions can afford. + +These quotations are enough to show what was the prevailing impulse of +the man. An intellectual nature like this, calm, studious, accomplished, +eager, is subject to few surprises and experiences rarely, if ever, +marked by crises, cataclysms, eruptions, in passing from one condition +of thought to another at the opposite extreme of the spiritual universe. +A process of growth, gradual, easy, motionless, takes the place of +commotion and violent uproar such as passionate temperaments are exposed +to. In 1821 he writes to his sister from Harvard College: "We are now +studying Locke, an author who has done more to form the mind to habits +of accurate reasoning and sound thought than almost any other." On the +19th of September, 1836, the first meeting of the Transcendental Club +was held at his house in Boston. In 1838 he replied to Andrews Norton's +criticism of Mr. Emerson's Address before the Alumni of the Cambridge +Divinity School. In 1840 he said to his congregation in Purchase Street: + + There is a faculty in all--the most degraded, the most ignorant, + the most obscure--to perceive spiritual truth when distinctly + presented; and the ultimate appeal on all moral questions is not to + a jury of scholars, a conclave of divines, or the prescriptions of + a creed, but to the common-sense of the human race. + +But this substitution of the intuitive for the sensational philosophy--a +change which affected all the processes of his thought and actually +caused a revolution in his mind--was made silently, quietly, without +agitation, without triumph, in a sober, conservative manner, very +different from that of his friend Theodore Parker, who carried the same +doctrines a good deal further, and advocated them with more heat like +the burly reformer he was. + +In religion, Mr. Ripley's position was the same that it was in +philosophy. In fact the intellectual side of religion interested him +more than the spiritual or experimental side. It was mainly a +speculative matter, where it was not speculative it was practical; in +each event it concerned the head rather than the heart, as being an +opinion rather than a feeling. He was instructed in the school of +orthodoxy, and, as a youth, was strict in his allegiance to the old +system of belief; but he became a disciple of Dr. Channing, and later a +rationalist of the order of Theodore Parker, a friend of Emerson, an +adherent of what was newest in theology. Yet, in this extreme departure +from the views of his early years, he betrayed no sign of agitation, no +trace of internal suffering. He wished to go to Yale instead of Harvard, +because "the temptations incident to a college, we have reason to think, +are less at Yale than at Cambridge." He preferred Andover to Cambridge, +being "convinced that the opportunities for close investigation of the +Scriptures are superior to those at Cambridge, and the spirit of the +place, much relaxed from its former severe and gloomy bigotry is more +favorable to a tone of decided piety." Still, he goes to Cambridge, is +"much disappointed in what he had learned of the religious character of +the school," and, on more intimate acquaintance is impressed by "the +depth and purity of their religious feeling and the holy simplicity of +their lives"; "enough to humble and shame those who had been long +professors of Christianity, and had pretended to superior sanctity." In +1824 a bold article in the _Christian Disciple_, a Unitarian journal, +the precursor of the _Christian Examiner_, excited a good deal of +comment, not to say apprehension. He writes to his sister about it as +follows: + + You asked me to say something about the article in the _Disciple_. + For myself, I freely confess that I think it a useful thing and + correct. The vigor of my orthodoxy, which is commonly pretty + susceptible, was not offended. Now, if you have any objections + which you can accurately and definitely state, no doubt there is + something in it which had escaped my notice. If your dislike is + only a misty, uncertain feeling about something, you know not what, + it were well to get fairly rid of it by the best means. + +The same year he writes to his mother: + + I am no partisan of any sect, but I must rejoice in seeing any + progress towards the conviction that Christianity is indeed "_glad + tidings of great joy_," and that in its original purity it was a + very different thing from the system that is popularly preached, + and which is still received as reasonable and scriptural by men and + women, who in other respects are sensible and correct in their + judgments. When shall we learn that without the spirit of Christ we + are none of us His? I trust I am not becoming a partisan or a + bigot. I have suffered enough, and too much, in sustaining those + characters, in earlier, more inexperienced, and more ignorant + years; but I have no prospects of earthly happiness more inviting + than that of preaching the truth, with the humble hope of + impressing it on the mind with greater force, purity, and effect + than I could do with any other than my present conviction. + +In 1840 the ministry was abandoned forever, for more secular pursuits. +After 1849 his activities were wholly literary; he had no connection +with theology, and none who did not know his past suspected that he had +once been a clergyman. + +The same cast of thought, not "pale" in his case, suffused his action +at Brook Farm and made a Utopia quiet, calm, dignified, pervaded by the +radiance of mind, the gentle enthusiasm of the intellect. The heat came +in the main from other sources. He was receptive rather than original, +inflammable rather than fiery, brilliant rather than warm. The heat was +supplied by those near him, by those he trusted, and by those he loved. +Not that he was deficient in concern for society; far from it; but his +interest was more philosophical than philanthropic. The subject of an +association that should combine intellectual and mechanical labor and +should diminish the distance between the tiller of the ground and the +educator was agitated among the thinkers he was intimate with. Dr. +Channing had such a project at heart. Mrs. Ripley burned with humane +anticipations. Plans for social regeneration were in the air. It was +impossible for one who lived in the midst of ardent spirits, or was +sensitive to fine impressions, or was cultivated in an ideal wisdom that +was not of this world, to escape the contagion of this kind of optimism; +Emerson was saved by his belief in individual growth; Parker by his +steady common-sense; others were protected by their conservatism of +temperament or of association, by their want of courage, or their want +of faith; but men and women of ideal propensities, like Nathaniel +Hawthorne, W. H. Channing, J. S. Dwight, joined the community, which +promised a new era for Humanity. Mr. Ripley would probably have left the +ministry at any rate, for it had become distasteful to him, but it is +not likely that he would have undertaken the management of Brook Farm +unless he had been assured of its success; for he was a New England +youth by birth and by disposition, prudent, careful, thrifty; his very +enthusiasm was of the New England type, the product of theological +ideas, a creation of the gospels, a desire to introduce the "Kingdom of +Heaven," a continuance of the prophetic calling. New England is as noted +for its fanaticism as it is for its theology. Its fanaticism is the +offspring of its theology, and in proportion as its theology disappears +its fanaticism decreases. In Mr. Ripley's case the theology had reached +very near to its last attenuation and the fanaticism had tapered off +into a gentle enthusiasm. He undertook to establish a kingdom of heaven +on earth because he had given up the expectation of a kingdom of heaven +in the skies; and he undertook to establish a kingdom of heaven on earth +by rational, economic means, not by religious interventions. He was +subject to that peculiar kind of excitement that comes to a few people +in connection with the keen exercise of their intellectual powers, when +they have laid hold of what seems to them a principle--an excitement +that is easily mistaken for moral earnestness even by one who is under +its influence, which, indeed, lies so close to moral earnestness as to +feel quickly the effect of moral earnestness in others, notwithstanding +the checks applied by practical wisdom. Mr. Ripley had struck on a +theory of society, which at that time was passing from the phase of +feeling into the phase of philosophy. The theory was in the air; the +most susceptible spirits were full of it; all noble impulses were in its +favor, it belonged to the order of thought he had attained; it was +native to the aspirations that inflamed the men and women with whom he +was most intimate; their feelings awoke his intellect, and he was +carried away by a stream whereof he appeared to himself to be a +tributary and whereof he appeared to others as the main current, on +account of his impetuosity, and the vigor with which he proceeded to put +the idea into practice. In his own mind he was realizing the dream of +the New Testament, but, in fact, he was testing a principle of which the +New Testament was quite unconscious, the modern principle of the equal +destinies of all men. He had abandoned the New Testament ground of +allegiance to Jehovah, and had adopted the human ground of fidelity to +social law. He was still under the spell of religious emotions, but they +had become merged in the abstractions of rationalism and merely lent an +added glow to his ideas, so that he could readily imagine that he was +actuated by spiritual convictions when, in fact, he was doing duty as a +disciple of socialist philosophers. His own interest in Brook Farm was +in the main speculative, though through his personal sympathies he was +moved toward an enterprise that had moral ends in view. + +Once embarked in it, he gave his whole mind to its +accomplishment,--all his industry, all his organizing talent, all his +high sense of duty. He worked day and night; he wrote letters; he +answered inquiries; he mastered the science of agriculture; he did the +labor of a practical farmer; he maintained the supervision of the +strange family that gathered about him. Very remarkable was his success +in keeping the intellectual side uppermost, in keeping clear of the +temptations to give way to instinctive leanings. His associations were +with books and study and bright people. He brought the most brilliant +men and women of the day to the place. He awakened the interest of the +general community. He diffused an atmosphere of cheerful hope around the +experiment. It is easy to make sport of Brook Farm; to laugh at the odd +folks who came there; to ridicule their motives and actions; to repeat +stories of extravagant conduct; to tell of the eccentric behavior of men +and maidens who were right-minded but impulsive; to follow +spontaneousness to its results; to trace the course of unrestricted +liberty. But it is not fair to remember these things as peculiarities of +Brook Farm, as incidents of its conception, or as incidents that were +agreeable to Mr. Ripley. He exerted the whole weight of his character +against them. He watched and guarded. We do not hear of him in +connection with the scandals, the laxities, or the frolics. His efforts +were directed to the supremacy of ideas over instinct, the idea of a +regenerated society, something very different from joyousness, or +merriment, or the fun of having a good time. He, too, was gay; he felt +the delight of freedom; but his gayety was born of happy confidence in +the principle at stake, his delight was connected with the advent of a +new method of intercourse among men. I remember hearing him once deliver +a speech in Boston. In it he spoke of the "foolishness of preaching," +and avowed his willingness to be a pioneer in the task of breaking out a +new future for humanity, a ditcher and delver in the work of +constructing the new building of God. He had the coming time continually +in view. Others might enjoy themselves, others might grow tired of +waiting, but he held smiling on his way, determined to carry out the +idea to the end. There was something grand in the steady intellectual +force with which he did his best to carry through a principle that +commanded more and more the assent of his reason. When the demonstration +of Charles Fourier was laid before him, no argument was required to +persuade him to adopt it. He took it up with all his energy; his +enthusiasm rose to a higher pitch than ever; the rationale of the +movement was revealed to him, and apparently he saw for the first time +the full significance of the scheme he had been conducting. The +impelling power of an intellectual conviction was never more splendidly +illustrated. Nobody discerned so clearly as he did the financial +hopelessness of the experiment. Nobody felt the burden of responsibility +as he felt it. Yet he did not flinch for a moment, and his patient +assumption of the indebtedness at last had the stamp of real heroism +upon it. His renewal of the most painful traditions of "Grub Street" +until the liabilities of Brook Farm were cleared off is one of the noble +histories, a history that cannot be told in detail because of the +modesty which has left no record of toil undergone or duty done. The old +simile of the sun struggling with clouds, and gradually clearing itself +as the day wears on, best illustrates my view of this man's +accomplishment. There were the clouds of orthodoxy which were burned +away at Cambridge. Then came the clouds of Unitarian divinity, which +were dispelled by the transcendental philosophy. These were succeeded by +the dark vapors of the ministry, and these by the sentimental +philanthropy of New England rationalism. At length his intellect broke +through these obscurations and showed what it truly was. + +On the failure of Brook Farm and the final dismissal of all plans for +creating society anew, Mr. Ripley's faculties emerged in their full +strength. The New England element was withdrawn. There was no longer +thought for theology or reform, but solely for knowledge and literature. +In Boston he had taken on himself every opprobrious epithet. In his +final letter to his congregation he avows his interest in temperance, +anti-slavery, peace, the projects for breaking down social distinctions; +simply, it would seem, because his philosophy, falling in with popular +sentiment, pointed that way; for he was never publicly identified with +any of these causes, or ranked by reformers in the order of innovators. +Indeed, one of the old Abolitionists told me that she had never +associated him with the anti-slavery people, though her family went to +his church. In New York there was no pretence of this kind. The devotion +to literature absorbed his attention. His democratic concern for the +workingmen continued, but in a theoretical manner, if we may judge from +the fact that he took no part in domestic or foreign demonstrations, +that he made no speech, attended no meeting, consorted with no social +reformers, did not even keep up his intimacy with the original leaders +of socialism in this country. When the sadness of his first wife's death +was over, and the drudgery of toil was ended, he was happier than he had +ever been. No time was wasted; no talent was misused. Mental labor was +incessant, but in performing it there was pure delight. It is usual to +think of his early life as his best, and there were some who regarded +him as an extinct volcano; but I am of the opinion that his latter years +were his most characteristic, and that he was most entirely himself when +his intellectual nature came to its full play. In proportion as the +"olden thoughts, the spirit's pall," fell off, he became peaceful and +sweet; his view backward and forward became clear, his purpose steady, +his will serene. The past was distasteful to him and he seldom alluded +to it; but as one puts his childhood and his age together, a steady +development is seen to run through both. His could not be a cloudless +day, but he went on from glory to glory. His age more than justified the +promise of his youth. In his latter years he befriended aspiring young +men; he made literature a power in America; he threw a dignity around +toil; he associated knowledge with happiness, and rendered light and +love harmonious. His favorite author was Goethe, the apostle of culture. +His familiarity with Sainte-Beuve, the master of literary criticism, was +so great, that on occasion of that writer's decease, he sat down and +wrote an account of him without recourse to books. Though without +knowledge of art, destitute of taste for music, and deficient in +aesthetic appreciation, his sympathy was so large and true that these +deficiencies were not felt. The intellectual sunshine was shed over the +entire nature, and the book was so universal that it seemed to embrace +everything. + +This is the property of pure mind, rarely seen in such perfection of +lucidity. Such a mind is at once conservative and radical; conservative +as treasuring the past, radical as anticipating improvement in the +future. There is nothing like fanaticism, but a bright look in every +direction, a place for all sorts of accomplishments, hospitality to each +new invention, a radiant acceptance of all temperaments. The mind cannot +be superstitious, for it cannot believe that divine powers are +identified with material objects or occasional accidents; it cannot be +ever sanguine as those are who indulge in abstract visions of good, for +it knows that progress is very slow and gradual, and that the welfare of +mankind is advanced by the process of civilization, by cultivation, +acquirement, refinement, the gains of wealth, elegance, and delicacy of +taste. It judges by rational standards, not by sentimental feelings, +accepting imperfection as the inevitable condition of human affairs and +bounded characters. It is not exposed to the convulsions that accompany +even the most exalted moods, but calmly labors and quietly hopes for the +future. + +I do not say that George Ripley was such a mind, merely that his +tendency was in that direction. He was limited by traditions; he had too +many prejudices. The axioms of the transcendental philosophy clung to +him. The shreds of religion hung about him. He could not divest himself +of the ancient clerical memories and ways, nor wholly throw off the +mantle of personal sympathy he had so long worn. He was not completely +secular. + +That he was a perfect man is less evident still. His sunny quality was +due in some degree to a happy temperament, and was subject to the +eclipses that darken the blandest natures, and render sombre the most +hilarious spirits. He lacked the steadfast courage of conviction, was +somewhat over-prudent and timid, afraid of pain, of popular disapproval, +of criticism and opposition. This may have been due in part to his +frequent disappointments and the carefulness they forced upon him, to +the distrust in his own judgment which he had occasion to learn, and the +necessity of confining his action to the point immediately before him. +But I am inclined to think that this apprehensiveness was +constitutional. If it is suggested by way of objection that the bold +experiment of Brook Farm, made in the face of obloquy and derision, +indicated moral courage of a high stamp, I would remind the critic of +the warm approbation of his friends, and the confident expectation of +success on the part of those he was intimate with. His wife not merely +gave him her countenance but stimulated his zeal, and surrounded him +every day with an atmosphere of faith. He had the applause of Dr. +Channing, and the support of his brilliant nephew. Men like Hawthorne, +Ellis Gray Loring, George Stearns, not to mention others, urged him on. +His own well-beloved sister was one of his ardent coadjutors. He had +hopes of Emerson. In short, so far from being alone, he stood in an +influential company, and instead of his being altogether unpopular was +encompassed by the good-will of those he prized most. It would have +required courage to resist such influences. Besides, he was inflated by +a momentary enthusiasm which carried him along in spite of himself and +would not allow his judgment to work. A sudden storm struck him, lifted +unusual waves, caused unexampled spurts of foam, made the ordinarily +quiet water boisterous and dangerous, and threw long lines of breakers +on the coast, so that what was a still lake became of a sudden a +tempestuous sea. One must not hastily imagine that the water had become +an ocean, or that it was really an Atlantic formerly supposed to be a +pool. + +Then it must be said he loved money too well. This infirmity was not +native to him, but must probably be imputed to early poverty, the +necessity of working hard in order to pay debts not altogether of his +own contracting, thus pledging the meagre income of the first sixty +years of his life. His final income was large, but it was earned by +incessant literary toil, which naturally rendered him avaricious of the +rewards that might come to him. His generosity did not have a fair +chance to show itself outside of his family. There it was lavish, but +there it was too much mixed up with affection, duty, and pride to be +credited to his manhood. He did not live long enough, either, to attain +complete superiority over his accidents. He was already an old man +before he had money for his wants. I remember meeting him on Broadway in +1861, the year of his wife's death, and he said: "My grief is embittered +by the thought that she died just as I was getting able to obtain for +her what she needed." He was then fifty-nine years of age. It cannot be +expected that any impulse of generosity will overcome the habits of a +life-time at so advanced a period as this. That they showed themselves +at all is remarkable, and establishes as well their power as their +existence. + +In a word, this man was too heavily weighted by circumstances to do his +genius full justice. He seemed to be two individuals, with little in +common between them. As one looked at his past or at his present, his +real character was differently judged. The most plausible account of him +was that which supposed the experiences to be buried in a deep grave, +which was seldom uncovered even by the man himself, who lived in the day +before him, and rarely glanced back save to mourn over or to make sport +of his former career. The only way of establishing a unity in his +history is to concede the supremacy of the intellectual quality over the +moral in his first endeavors. The prejudice in favor of the moral was +and is so strong that to maintain this supremacy will seem like a +condemnation of him, though meant in his praise. He probably would so +have considered it, especially when carried away by the flood of +memories. It was easy for him to be mistaken. His merit consists in the +energy of the reason which made headway against a host of disadvantages +and achieved something resembling a victory in the end. Some time hence, +when the homage paid to sentiment shall have yielded to the worship of +knowledge, George Ripley will be regarded as one of the earliest +apostles of the light. + +All these greatly enriched my life in New York, opened new spheres of +activity, and enlarged my whole horizon, both intellectually and +socially. Their variety, elasticity, and vigor in many fields of +intellectual force added much to the extension of my view, and acted, +not merely as a refreshment, but also as a stimulus. + + + + +XV. THE PRESENT SITUATION. + + +The progress of mind is continuous. Strictly speaking, there are no +periods of transition, no crises in thought. The history of ideas +presents no gap. Every stage begins and ends an epoch. One is often +reminded of the common notion that the year begins and ends at a +particular moment. Every day begins and ends a year; every hour is +equally sacred. Yet solemn thought, worship, self-examination, are +precious, and these can be secured only by the observance of times and +seasons; so that we fall on our knees and pray when the old year ends +and the new one begins. + +So, as a point of time must be fixed upon, we will begin with Thomas +Paine. It is not easy to speak fully and justly of Paine, because in so +doing we must speak of the misapprehensions and mis-statements of which +he has been the victim; and even if we refute these, the bare mention of +them leaves a stain on his fame. No doubt his method--application of +common-sense to religion--was essentially vicious. Common-sense is an +admirable quality in practical affairs, quite indispensable in the +management of business of all kinds, but it has no place in the +discussion of works of the higher imagination--of poetry, art, music, or +faith. But such was the man's genius, such was the demand of his age. It +is easy to speak of his ignorance, his coarseness, his impudence, his +vanity; but it must be remembered that his education was very imperfect, +for he was utterly ignorant of any language but his own, and he did not, +apparently, read even the English deists; that he was a man of the +people; that he lived in an age of revolutions; that he stood for the +rights of common humanity. It must be remembered also that, in the first +place, he brought the human mind face to face with problems which had +been appropriated by a special class that considered itself exempt from +criticism. In the next place he was in dead earnest; not attacking the +Bible or religion out of flippancy or brutality, but because he really +hated the interpretations that were usually given of sacred things; his +attack was against orthodoxy, not against faith. "His blasphemy," says +Leslie Stephen, "was not against the Supreme God, but against Jehovah. +He was vindicating the ruler of the universe from the imputations which +believers in literal inspiration and dogmatical theology had heaped upon +him under the disguise of homage. He was denying that the God before +whom reasonable creatures should bow in reverence could be the +supernatural tyrant of priestly imagination, who was responsible for +Jewish massacres, who favored a petty clan at the expense of his other +creatures, who punished the innocent for the guilty, who lighted the +fires of everlasting torment for the masses of mankind, and who gave a +monopoly of his favor to priests or a few favored enthusiasts. Paine, in +short, with all his brutality, had the conscience of his hearers on his +side, and we must prefer his rough exposure of popular errors to the +unconscious blasphemy of his supporters." Then Paine _did love his +kind;_ he abhorred cruelty, and desired, after his fashion, to elevate +his race. + +Examples of this are numerous. At the time when the "Common Sense" and +"Crisis" were having an enormous sale, the demand for the former +reaching not less than one hundred thousand copies, and both together +offering to the author profits that would have made him rich, Paine +freely gave the copyright to every State in the Union. In his period of +public favor and of intimate friendship with the founders of the +government, Paine declined to accept any place or office of emolument, +saying: "I must be in everything, as I have ever been, a disinterested +volunteer. My proper sphere of action is on the common floor of +citizenship, and to honest men I give my hand and heart freely." The +State of Virginia made a large claim on the general government for +lands. Thomas Paine opposed the claim as unreasonable and unjust, though +at that very time there was a resolution before the legislature of +Virginia to appropriate to him a handsome sum of money for services +rendered. In 1797, Paine was the chief promoter of the society of +"Theophilanthropists," whose object was the extinction of religious +prejudices, the maintenance of morality, and the diffusion of faith in +one God. "It is want of feeling," says this _heartless blasphemer_, "to +talk of priests and bells, while infants are perishing in hospitals, and +the aged and infirm poor are dying in the streets." In 1774, Paine +published in the _Pennsylvania Journal_, a strong, anti-slavery essay. +While clerk in the Pennsylvania Legislature he made an appeal in behalf +of the army, then in extreme distress, and subscribed his entire salary +for the year to the fund that was raised. Towards the close of his life, +he devised a plan for imposing a special tax on all deceased persons' +estates, to create a fund from which all, on reaching twenty-one years, +should receive a sum to establish them in business, and in order that +all who were in the decline of life should be saved from destitution. It +is not generally known that Paine often preached on Sunday afternoons at +New Rochelle. In England he spoke in early life from Dissenting pulpits, +and to him we owe this exquisite definition of religion: "It is man +bringing to his Maker the fruits of his heart." All this is evidence +that honorable considerations were at the bottom of his own belief. He +was, according to his view, the friend of man, and in this interest +wrote his books. He introduced kindness into religion. + +He certainly repeated the ideas of Collins and Toland, and the +conceptions that were floating in the air, breathed by Voltaire and +Diderot; but he did give them voice. The English deists were dead, and +would have continued so but for him. He was essentially a pamphleteer, +the master of a very rich, simple style that went directly to the hearts +of the people. His best performances were unquestionably political, but +all his works were marked by the same peculiarities. His mistake was in +supposing that the power that could animate an army could pull down a +church. + +Paine was no saint, but he was no sinner above all that dwelt in +Jerusalem. He drank too much; he took too much snuff; he was vulgar; he +was a vehement man in a vehement age; he went to dinner in his +dressing-gown; and he certainly did not bring his best convictions to +bear on his private character; but he did wake up minds that had been +dumb or oppressed before. The "Age of Reason" went everywhere, into +holes and corners, among back-woodsmen and pioneers, and did more +execution among plain moral men than many a book that was more worthy of +acceptance. It is a pity that his disciples should be content with +repeating his denials, instead of building on the rational foundations +which he laid. For instance, they might, while adding to his criticism +of the Scriptures, have shown their high moral bearing and their +spiritual glow. They might have carried out further his "enthusiasm for +humanity," showing that man had more in him than Paine suspected. They +might have justified by more scientific reasons his belief in God and in +immortality. They might have been truly rationalists as he wanted to be, +but could not be at that period. But they were satisfied with saying +over and over again what he said as well as he could, but not as well as +they can. He was simply a precursor, but he was a precursor of such men +as Colenso and Robertson Smith, and a large host of scholars beside. + +Paine's best exponent in America is perhaps Robert G. Ingersoll. He is a +sort of transfigured Paine. He has all Paine's power over the masses, +being perhaps the most eloquent man in America; more than Paine's wit; +more than Paine's earnestness; more than Paine's love of humanity; more +than Paine's scorn of deceit and harshness,--for he extends his +abhorrence of cruelty even to dumb beasts. He has great power of +sympathy, a tender feeling for misery of all kinds. He is a poet, as is +evident from these words: + + We do not know whether the grave is the end of this life or the + door of another, or whether the night here is somewhere else a + dawn. The idea of Immortality, that like a sea has ebbed and flowed + into the human heart with its countless waves beating against the + shores and rocks of time and faith, was not born of any book or of + any creed or of any religion. It was born of human affection, and + it will continue to ebb and flow beneath the mists and clouds of + doubt and darkness as long as love kisses the lips of death. It is + the rainbow, Hope, shining upon the tears of grief. + +Paine's simple childlike belief in God and Immortality, Ingersoll +remands to the cloudy sphere of agnosticism, as Paine probably would +now; but it is my opinion that if evidence which he regarded as +satisfactory--that is, legal evidence--could be given, he, too, would +accept these articles; for he has none of the elements of the bigot +about him. His detestation is simply of hell and a priesthood; for pure, +spiritual religion, he has only respect. Like Paine, he attacks the +ecclesiasticism and theology of the day, and is satisfied with doing +that; and, like Paine, he has convictions instead of opinions, and his +character is all aflame with his ideas. + +In his private life, in his family relations, in his public career, +there is no reproach on his name--nothing that he need be ashamed of. + +Mr. Ingersoll does not worship the Infinite under any recognized form or +name, but that he adores the _substance of deity_ is beyond all doubt; +he worships truth and purity and sincerity and love,--everything that is +highest and noblest in human life. One word more I must say,--that his +motive is essentially religious. It is his aim to lift off the burden of +superstition and priestcraft; to elevate the soul of manhood and +womanhood; to promote rational progress in goodness; to emancipate every +possibility of power in the race; and this is the aim of every pure +religion,--to open new spheres of hope and accomplishment. + +The disintegration of the popular orthodoxy goes on very fast, and +always under the influence of the moral sentiment. This is very prettily +put by Miss Jewett, in one of her short stories, entitled "The Town +Poor." Two ladies, jogging along a country road, fall to talking about +an old meeting-house which is being _improved_ after the modern fashion. +One of them laments the loss of the ancient pews and pulpit, and the +substitution of a modern platform and slips. The other says: + + When I think of them old sermons that used to be preached in that + old meeting-house, I am glad it is altered over so as not to remind + folks. Them old brimstone discourses! you know preachers is far + more reasonable now-a-days. Why, I sat an' thought last Sabbath as + I listened, that if old Mr. Longbrother and Deacon Bray could hear + the difference, they'd crack the ground over 'em like pole beans, + and come right up 'long side their headstones. + +In Chicago, some years ago, orthodox preachers begged a pronounced +radical to stay and help them fight the matter out on the inside; and a +minister of one of the principal churches there distinctly said that he +did not believe in the infallibility of the Bible or an everlasting +punishment. A Congregational minister in Connecticut expressed himself +as thoroughly in sympathy with the advanced party in theology. An +orthodox clergyman in New England declared that he did not know of an +orthodox minister in the whole range of his acquaintance who believed in +the old doctrine. A minister in Rhode Island, who occupied a high +position in the orthodox church, while declining to make an open +statement on account of social and political reasons, avowed his +willingness to write a private letter disclaiming all belief in the +accepted views. The Rev. Howard MacQueary, the Episcopal rector of +Canton, Ohio, who has recently published a book, entitled the "Evolution +of Man and Christianity," has been convicted of heresy against his own +protest and the popular sentiment. The successor of Henry Ward Beecher, +in Brooklyn, N. Y., recently published the essentials of his creed. +There is no fall in it, no trinity, no miracle in the old sense, no +eternal punishment. He declares, frankly, that there is no difference +_in kind_ between man, Jesus, and God, but only a difference _in +degree_. The same man recently preached in King's Chapel, and lectured +in Channing Hall. The Andover controversy distinctly reveals the decay +of the ancient theology. In England dissent has gone very far, as is +evident from a book called "The Kernel and the Husk," written by the +Rev. Dr. E. A. Abbott, the author of the article on "The Gospels," in +the last edition of the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." In this article the +fall is repudiated, the trinity, miracles, the virgin birth, the +physical resurrection of Jesus, and eternal punishment; yet even his +bishop has not rebuked him. Yes, the moral sentiment is certainly coming +to its rights. + +Of Unitarianism, after what has been said, it is unnecessary to speak. +That there should be a difference between the East and the West is +natural. The East holds fast, in large sense, to the ancient theological +traditions. The West never had them, and can therefore declare that its +fellowship is conditioned on no doctrinal tests, and can welcome all who +wish to establish truth and righteousness and love in the world. The +West will ultimately prevail; the temper of the East is rapidly wasting +away, and the breach will soon be closed up. The new Unitarian churches +will be founded on a practical basis, the only requirement being that +the minister should be deeply in earnest about religious things. The +characteristic of all churches, of whatever name, is an urgent interest +in social reform, a deep concern for the disfranchised and oppressed, +and a warm feeling towards the elevation of mankind. The universal +prayer is, to borrow the pithy language of Dr. F. H. Hedge: "May Thy +kingdom come on earth!" not "May we come into Thy kingdom." + +If it was hard to do full justice to Thomas Paine, it is harder to do +full justice to the Broad Churchman. There is no authoritative account +of his position to which appeal can be made, and the great variety of +opinion on incidental points makes it difficult to frame any description +which the leaders would accept. A great deal depends on the change of +circumstances, the ruling spirit of the time, the prevailing tendencies +of thought in the period,--whether scientific, critical, or social,--and +a great deal depends, too, on the peculiarities of individual +temperament, but the fundamental doctrines are the same. The ordinary +observer can see the largeness, sympathy, inclusiveness, devotion to +actual needs. But the ordinary observer cannot see the real basis of +faith in human nature; the manifestation of the Divine Being in the +highest possibilities of man; the trust in a living, active, +communicating God. + +These are cardinal points, and must be insisted on. The inherent +depravity of man; his essential corruption; his absolute inability to +receive any portion of the divine life, is naturally repudiated. But his +feebleness, crudeness, imperfection, his dearth and deficiency, his +sensuality, hardness, love of material things, is insisted on, and +cannot be exaggerated. Still there is a germ of the divine nature in +him, a spark of the divine flame which can be kindled. The familiar +language of Longfellow expresses this idea exactly: + + "Ye whose hearts are fresh and simple, + Who have faith in God and Nature, + Who believe that in all ages + Every human heart is human, + That in even savage bosoms + There are longings, yearnings, strivings + For the good they comprehend not, + That the feeble hands and helpless, + Groping blindly in the darkness, + Touch God's right hand in that darkness + And are lifted up and strengthened:-- + Listen to this simple story." + +To this nature, thus receptive, God addresses Himself. He is the +Father, the absolute Love, and his desire is to lead men upward towards +the height of divine perfection. In all ages, in every way, he has been +trying to do this; and all nature, all art, all literature is full of +this affection for his child. Even the Pagan myths express this striving +of God with man. The existence of what we call evil is assumed, but +there is no attempt to explain it or theorize about it or reconcile it +with any mode of philosophy. To us it may be simply the divine effort to +startle the soul into a consciousness of itself. Even the worst forms of +doubt, of denial, of atheism may be parts of this divine effort; even +men like Strauss and Feuerbach may be witnesses for truth, because they +drive men back in horror from the pit of disbelief, and compel them to +take refuge through tears and prayers in the supreme love. Of absolute +evil we cannot be sure that there is any; so many ways must the infinite +spirit have to awaken men to a sense of their own destiny. + +I cannot better convey my thought than by recounting the essence of two +sermons that I heard some years ago from eminent preachers in different +American cities; the first was on the death of Charles Darwin. After a +very ornate service, the minister dwelt enthusiastically on the merits +of Darwin as a philosopher, described his system, and declared that his +own belief in the Deity of Christ, was confirmed in large measure by +Darwin's theory of the Selection of the Fittest. The statement was +startling at first, for the two doctrines seemed to point in opposite +directions, but the speaker probably meant that the Christ expressed all +the potentialities of human nature; that he was the Fittest; not a +miracle, not an exception to humanity, but the perfection of man; in +other words, a divine person. The other sermon turned on the murder of +Sisera (Judges iv, 18), as contrasted with a statement in the first +epistle of John (iv, 8), "God is love." The rector spoke of the +assassination of Sisera in terms of extreme abhorrence; called it +treacherous, cruel, base, and then said: "See what progress the human +mind has made from this period to that when John was written." The +common impression is that the _human_ mind had nothing to do with it, it +being the _divine_ mind that was alone in question. But what the +preacher meant was evidently this,--either that the divine mind dropped +thoughts into the human mind as fast as they could be appreciated, or +that the human mind, imperfect in development, apprehended all that it +could of the perfect mind. Whichever case we assume, the integrity of +the divine mind is secured, and at the same time the growth of the +human. + +At this point, the conception of the Broad Churchman's idea of the +inspiration of the Scripture must be dwelt upon, for the doctrine is +very remarkable, and throws a flood of light upon his whole conception +of the aim and purpose of Christianity. According to the common notion, +the Bible is literally the word of God, and men have nothing to do but +to submit themselves to its authority. They must suppress all natural +desires, all dictates of their moral sense, to this supreme standard of +truth and rectitude. According to this notion, the whole of man, as a +thoroughly corrupted being, is _subject_, in obedience to this law. The +second theory, adopted by the American Broad Churchman, holds that the +Bible _contains_ the word of God; and this implies that there may be a +part of the Bible that is not the word of God, and opens the way to an +indefinite amount of criticism, speculation, and doubt. The English +Broad Churchman holds, as I understand it, the common doctrine, but with +this immense difference. That whereas, according to the common notion, +the Bible is the word of God, he maintains that the whole object of the +Bible is to educate and uplift man. The word is a minister to human +needs. Through it, God is trying in various ways, by history, biography, +tale, and song, to warn, persuade, teach, inspire the human soul. +Sometimes he can do nothing but startle, shame, provoke; and the very +things we find fault with may be designed for moral education. The +Bible, itself, encourages this idea. Does not Paul preach +reconciliation? Does not John speak of God as love? God hardened the +heart of Pharaoh in order that he might show that He was stronger than +Pharaoh. Jacob was not altogether a lovely character, but the Lord +wrestled with him and lamed him, thus showing his own disapproval of the +patriarch's temper. David was a seducer, adulterer, and murderer, but he +_repented_, was ashamed, was sorrowful, and this repentance made him a +man after God's own heart. It was not that God _approved_ of his +conduct, but that he wanted to make us _disapprove_ of it. In like +manner Luther based his faith on the Bible, because it convicted him of +sin, and drove him to seek refuge for himself in Christ. The Church as +an organization has always this one purpose in view--to minister to the +soul of man. The "Articles" fairly throbbed with this conception. The +outrage committed by the "Evangelicals," men who insist upon everlasting +punishment and talk of doom, consists in their overlooking this divine +purpose towards humanity. + +The _doctrines_ of the Church--the Deity of Christ, the Incarnation, the +Resurrection, the Ascension--bear this testimony, and are inexplicable +without it. But these doctrines simply convey one thought. The Christ +must be God, otherwise he could not exemplify the perfect love; he must +be Incarnate, otherwise he could not mingle with men. His Resurrection +teaches his absolute triumph over death; his Ascension is a pledge of +his union with God and his perpetual intercourse with God's children. + +The two _rites_, Baptism and Communion, give the same idea. Baptism +imports a recognition of the duty to lead a Christian life; and +Communion imports a wish, on the part of all who partake of it, to enter +into the privilege of a perfect harmony with Christ. None of these +points are reached by criticism, or any array of texts, though passages +may be cited in confirmation of them. But the proof is derived from +experience, from the felt need of enlightenment and inspiration, from +prayer and the yearning after eternal life. No doubt it is taken for +granted that neither the Bible nor the Church expresses the _whole_ word +of God. The word is as large as the divine love, and this is infinite. +The complete word of God includes all nature, all history, and all life. + +It will be understood that the Broad Church notion is only a theory and +rests entirely on its reasonableness. It is simply a modification of +Episcopalianism, and none but an Episcopalian would be likely to adopt +it. Its interest for us consists in its _human_ character, in its +earnestness for social reform, in its passionate desire to make +conscience and justice and freedom of the Spirit supreme in all human +affairs. It is essentially an ethical system with an ecclesiastical +addition and a heavenly purpose. + +There is certainly a great difference between the Broad Church in +America and the Broad Church in England; there are no Thirty-Nine +Articles in this country; there is no National Church. The Broad +Churchman here is still a Churchman, but the system is much more elastic +and much more intellectual. The Church is to him also a divine +institution, but not a final establishment; and it becomes divine by +virtue of its helpfulness in imparting the divine life and its power of +human service. The sacraments have become symbols, venerable from their +antiquity, but more venerable from their use. The Broad Churchman is an +orthodox believer, but he accepts only the simplest creeds, and he +interprets them in accordance with the rational principles of thought, +and with his fundamental conception of Christianity, holding not to the +written letter, but to the real meaning of the Confession. This meaning +is, he maintains, easily reconcilable with the idea that all revelation +is made to a living mind,--whether that of a race or an individual,--and +that the Bible is merely the record of it. No _book_, in his estimation, +can be inspired. This, coupled with a belief in the unlimited progress +of the natural conscience, brings the system within the category of +modern arrangements. + +The idea that man is _developed_ into the divine life, not _converted_ +to it, seems to be the heart of the system. The writings of F. D. +Maurice are full of it. He said that he did not know what the Broad +Church was, and disclaimed any position in it; yet he is its reputed +father, and certainly held its cardinal doctrine. This was the soul of +his teaching; this dictated his likes and his dislikes; this animated +his dissent from the Evangelicals on the one hand and the Rationalists +on the other; this made him cling to the "Articles"; this made him love +the Church. I cannot better convey my notion of the Broad Churchman's +credence than by quoting some passages from Maurice: + + I think that the _ground-work of this thought_ and this humanity + _is laid bare_ in the Thirty-nine Articles; _that for that + ground-work_ [namely, the living God, the living Word] all our + different schools are trying to produce feeble and crumbling + substitutes; that we must recur to it if we would pass the narrow + dimensions of Calvinism, Anglicanism, Romanism; if we would learn + what a message we have for Jews, Mahometans, Brahmins, Buddhists, + for all the nations of the earth, as well as our poor people at + home. + + I cannot doubt that this belief [the confession of a God, who was, + and is, and is to come] is latent in every man now; that we are all + living, moving, having our being in this God, and that He does + reveal Himself to His creatures gradually, before He is revealed in + His fulness of glory. + + I do perceive that if I have any work in the world, it is to bear + witness of this name [the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy + Ghost], not as expressing certain relations, however profound, in + the divine nature, but as the underground of all fellowship among + men and angels, as that which will at last bind all into one, + satisfying all the craving of the reason as well as of the heart, + meeting the desires and intuitions that are scattered through all + the religions of the world. + + The Church must either fulfil its witness of the redemption for + mankind or be cut off. And I cannot help thinking that a time is at + hand when we shall awaken to this conviction, and when we shall + perceive that what we call our individual salvation means nothing, + and that our faith in it becomes untenable when we separate it from + the salvation which Christ wrought out for the world by His + incarnation and sacrifice, resurrection and ascension. + + He has been pleased to reveal to me in His Son the brightness of + His glory, His absolute love. On that point I have a right to be + certain; he who says I have not, rejects the Bible and disbelieves + the incarnation of the Lord. I will not give up an inch of this + ground; it is a matter of life and death. + + By baptism we claim the position which Christ has claimed for all + mankind.... More and more I am led to ask myself what a Gospel to + mankind must be, whether it must not have some other ground than + the fall of Adam and the sinful nature of man.... No doctrine can + be so at variance as this, with the notion that it is a Gospel + which men have need of, and in their inmost hearts are craving for. + +Why is not this system sufficient? Simply because the claim that Christ +is God, does not seem made out to severely critical minds. Such as these +must hold even the Broad Church to be a mythology, beautiful and +innocent, but still a mythology. The word "mythology" implies no +disparagement. A mythology is simply the poetical form of an idea, and +takes its character from the nature of the ideas it represents. The +pagan mythology is on this account very different from the Christian, +and a mythology that has universal love as its basis may well be called +innocent and beautiful. To the doctrine of trinity, philosophically +considered, even Unitarian scholars make no objection. What they cannot +accept is the deity of Jesus as an historical person. The Christ is not, +in their opinion, an historical person, but a doctrine, not identical +with the man of the New Testament. The Divine Being has never, in their +estimation, appeared on earth. They only who can put aside criticism, +can suppress it, can regard it but as one of many manifestations of +mind, can fix their eyes on a church for society at large and not for +individuals, will be likely to accept it, and they will on the ground +that it is altogether human, a church for mankind. + +The last phase in the development of the moral sentiment is represented +by the "Ethical Societies." It is natural that the origin of these +should be Jewish, for the Jews are unencumbered by the mysteries of the +Christian theology; their genius is for social organization, and the +moral element is very large in their religion. It is natural, too, that +the system should be purer here than in England. Some of the members of +the "Cambridge Ethical Society" are members of the Church of England, +and have to be warned not to set themselves needlessly in opposition to +the work of the Christian churches. The "Edinburgh Ethical Club" is +mainly a debating society. In America it is usual to have a lecturer, +and stated services on Sunday. But these services are very simple, nay, +even bare; there is no prayer, and no scripture, no architecture or art +or poetry; but there is an intense earnestness, nay, enthusiasm, for +social reform. There are kindergartens for the poor children of the +streets, there are classes for the untaught, libraries for the +workingmen, plans for better lodging and employment for the families of +artisans. There is no fixed doctrine in regard to the origin of the +moral sentiments, lest any should be alienated; the object being to +combine all who have at heart the moral interests of mankind. The +peculiarity of these societies is not so much that they lay emphasis on +the moral as distinct from the spiritual interests, or aim to break down +the dividing line between Religion and Ethics, as it is that they rest +upon conscience as the supreme authority, that they assume its practical +function, build upon it as the one and only thing absolutely known. +There is no pretence of following, even at a distance, the charities of +the old churches with their vast funds, their immense organizations, +their heaps of tracts, their legions of missionaries, all employed in +calling unbelievers into the fold. The object is to elevate all mankind +by appealing to their moral instincts, on the ground of their inherent +ability to rise in the scale of being. + +To make their position clear let me quote the words of the founder of +these societies, contained in an article entitled "The Freedom of +Ethical Fellowship," in the first number of the _International Journal +of Ethics_: + + It is the aim of the Ethical Societies to extend the area of moral + co-operation so as to include a part, at least, of the inner moral + life; to unite men of divers opinions and beliefs in the common + endeavor to explore the field of duty; to gain clearer perceptions + of right and wrong; to study with thoroughgoing zeal the practical + problems of social, political, and individual ethics, and to embody + the new insight in manners and institutions.... + + It would be a wrong and a hindrance to the further extension of + truth to raise above our opinions the superstructure of a social + institution. For institutions in their nature are conservative; + they dare not, without imperilling their stability, permit a too + frequent inspection or alteration of their foundations.... The + subject part of mankind, in most places, might, with Egyptian + bondage expect Egyptian darkness, were not the candle of the Lord + set up by himself in men's minds, which it is impossible for the + breath or power of man wholly to extinguish. It is to this "candle + of the Lord set up in men's minds" that we look for illumination. + It is in the light which it sheds that we would read the problems + of conduct and teach others to read them. We appeal directly to the + conscience of the present age, and of the civilized portion of + mankind. There remains as a residue a common deposit of moral + truth, a common stock of moral judgments, which we may call the + common conscience. It is upon this common conscience that we + build.... The contents of the common conscience we would clarify + and classify, to the end that they may become the conscious + possession of all classes; and in order to enrich and enlarge the + conscience, the method we would follow is to begin with cases in + which the moral judgment is already clear, the moral rule already + accepted; and to show that the same rule, the same judgment, + applies to other cases, which, because of their greater complexity, + are less transparent to the mental eye.... + + And here it may be appropriate to introduce a few reflections on + the relations of moral practice to ethical theory in religious + belief. To many it will appear that the logic of our position must + lead us to underestimate the value of philosophical and religious + doctrines in connection with morality, and that, having excluded + this from our basis of fellowship, we shall inevitably drift into a + crude empiricism. I may be permitted to say that precisely the + opposite is at least our aim, and that among the objects we propose + to ourselves, none are dearer than the advancement of ethical + theory and the upbuilding of religious conviction. The Ethical + Society is a society of persons who are bent on being taught + clearer perceptions of right and wrong, and being shown how to + improve conduct. At least, let us hasten to add, the ideal of the + society is that of a body of men who shall have this bent. Is it + vain to hope that there will in time arise those who will render + them the service they require.... + + It is safe to say that every step forward in religion was due to a + quickening of the moral impulses; that moral progress is the + condition of religious progress; that the good life is the soil out + of which the religious life grows. The truths of religion are + chiefly two,--that there is a reality other than that of the + senses, and that the ultimate reality in things is, in a sense + transcending our comprehension, akin to the moral nature of men. + But how shall we acquaint ourselves with this super-sensible? The + ladder of science does not reach so far. And the utmost stretch of + the speculative reason cannot attain to more than the abstract + postulate of an infinite, which, however, is void of the essential + attributes of divinity. Only the testimony of the moral life can + support a vital conviction of this sort.... + + The Ethical Society is friendly to genuine religion anywhere and + everywhere, because it vitalizes religious doctrines by pouring + into them the contents of spiritual meaning.... A new moral + earnestness must precede the rise of larger religious ideals; for + the new religious synthesis which many long for, will not be a + fabrication, but a growth. It will not steal upon us as a thief in + the night, or burst upon us as lightning from the sky, but will + come in time as a result of the gradual, moral evolution of modern + society, as the expression of higher moral aspirations, and a + response to deeper moral needs. + +In his famous essay on "Worship," Emerson says: + + There will be a new church founded on moral science, at first cold + and naked, a babe in a manger again, the algebra and mathematics of + ethical law, the church of men to come, without shawm or psaltery + or sackbut; but it will have heaven and earth for its beams and + rafters; science for symbol and illustration; it will fast enough + gather beauty, music, picture, poetry. + +Is this the church that Emerson predicted? It looks like it. Already we +seem to hear the shawms and sackbuts. Already there are desires after a +more rich and melodious administration. + +The last number of the _International Journal of Ethics_ contains two +articles: one on "The Inner Life in Relation to Morality," the other on +"The Ethics of Doubt," which suggest a transcendental ground for moral +beliefs; and they who dissent from this position surround _action_ with +an ideal solemnity. At all events it is something to see, even at a +distance, a city that hath foundations. + + + + +XVI. THE RELIGIOUS FUTURE OF AMERICA. + + +In the _Revue des Deux Mondes_ of October 15, 1860, M. Renan wrote a +remarkable article on the "Future of Religion in Modern Society." This +paper of course dealt largely with questions that were interesting at +that time, but it also contains very acute observations on the whole +subject, which are of universal concern. His conclusions are that +neither Judaism nor Romanism nor the established forms of Protestantism +will constitute the coming faith, which must be spiritual (that is, free +of space and time), undogmatical, and enfranchised. "The religious +question," he says, "finds its solution in liberty.... The liberal +principle pre-eminently is that man has a soul, that he is to be reached +only through the soul, that nothing is of value save as it effects a +change in the soul. An inflexible justice, granting with inexorable +firmness liberty to all, even to those who, were they masters, would +refuse it to their adversaries, is the only issue that reason discovers +for the grave problems raised in our time." This essay, along with that +of Emile de Laveleye of Liege in Belgium, on the "Religious Future of +Civilized Communities," written in 1876, sums up the whole question. It +only remains to apply their principles to America. + +Many dread the prevalence of Roman Catholicism. I confess I never could +share in that apprehension. For if there is anything certain it is the +unchangeableness of the lines of division that separate the three great +regions of the earth, each having its own faith. There is the Greek +Church, which rules in Asia; the Latin Church, which is confined to the +Latin races, and is strongest in Southern Italy, where the people are +most ignorant and supine; and the Protestant Church, which prevails in +Northern Europe among the Germanic nations. As Renan says: + + Nothing will come of the mutual struggle of the three Christian + families; their equilibrium is as well assured as that of the three + great races which share between them the world; their separation + will secure the future against the excessive predominance of a + single religious power, just as the division of Europe must forever + prevent the return of that _orbis romanus_, that closed circle, + which allowed no possible escape from the tyranny that unity has + engendered. + +Moreover, the Roman Catholic faith is essentially _Italian_, and as +such can have no permanent influence in Germany, England, or America. +The great popes of the Middle Ages, whose genius raised the papacy to +power and splendor, were Italians. Italy, until a few years ago, was +isolated; not a great political power, as it is now, among other powers +of Europe, nor drawn by political affiliations into the schemes of other +dominions. Besides, the Catholic Church had the advantages of the +Italian genius for organization, command, wisdom in practical affairs. +Then, too, it had the immense benefit of the old Roman treasures of art, +which gave a glory to the system. These considerations alone would make +it impossible that Romanism, in its foreign form, should ever become the +religion of the United States. There may be another kind of +ecclesiasticism, but without the ancient authority; an ecclesiasticism +which stands for pomp, ornament, display, beauty, but not for anything +more. There is evidence that every form of religion here is disposed to +take on elements of decoration,--architecture, music, stained glass, +drapery, pictures, and monuments; but this is only a sign of increasing +wealth, not of increasing subjection. + +In addition to all this, the _genius_ of the American people is +strongly against anything like submission to authority. The love of +liberty is exceedingly powerful. It is claimed that Romanism is not +committed to any form of government, that it is as favorable to +republican institutions as to monarchical; but this is not the opinion +of Renan, who was born and trained in the church, and who is therefore +entitled to speak with knowledge; nor is it the opinion of other +scholars, Martineau for instance, who says in his article on the "Battle +of the Churches" (_Westminster Review_, January, 1851): + + We are convinced it cannot occupy the scope which English + traditions and English usage have secured; that every step it may + make is an encroachment upon wholesome liberty; that it is innocent + only where it is insignificant, and where it is ascendant will + neither part with power nor use it well, and that it must needs + raise to the highest pitch the common vice of tyranny and + democracy,--the relentless crushing of minorities. + +But whether this charge of absolutism be just or not, Romanism has been +so long associated as a polity with monarchical governments that it has +contracted a habit of domineering, and the people can never be persuaded +that the papacy is democratic in its constitution. + +Americans are very suspicious, too, of any interference on the part of +the government. If a system demands an army, a palace, lands, it must +pay for them out of its own private means. A generation or more ago it +was possible for an administration to give for a merely nominal sum, in +the very heart of a large city, great estates to one denomination. This +is possible no longer. Every sect must vindicate itself, and stand on +its own feet; this alone would make it impossible for a church so poor +as the Catholic to establish itself in this country on any terms of +supremacy. + +The desire for change which is inherent in the American mind must also +prove fatal in the end to any claim of absolute stability. Protestantism +is therefore better for Americans than Romanism is, because it is more +portable, more various, more accommodating to popular tastes and +inclinations. + +There is no disposition to undervalue the work of the Catholic Church. +Its great saints, its heroic martyrs, its stupendous missions, its +enormous philanthropy, its influence in educating and controlling masses +of people, cannot be exaggerated; and still it is destined to wield an +immense influence as a spiritual power over the human race; but it never +again can be the absolute system it once was. However it may commend +itself to certain classes in our population, it must always be simply +one department in the universal church. + +But it will be said that the Catholic Church may _accommodate_ itself to +republican institutions. M. Renan doubts whether any radical change can +be made. He says: + + Catholicism, persuaded that it works for the truth, will always + endeavor to enlist the state in its defence or its spread.... + Catholicism is, in fact, the believer's country, far more than is + the land of his birth. The stronger a religion is, the more + effective it is in this way.... More and more have Catholics been + brought to think that they derive life and salvation from Rome. It + is especially worth remarking that the new Catholic conquests + exhibit the most sensitiveness on this point. The old provincial + Catholic, whose faith belonged to the soil, has less need of the + Pope, and is much less alarmed at the storms that menace him, than + the new Catholics, who are coming fresh to Catholicism, and regard + the Pope, after the new system, as the author and defender of their + faith.... Catholicism has been seduced into becoming a religion + essentially political. The Pope becomes the actual sovereign of the + church. + +But supposing that such an alteration is possible, that the church can +abase its pretensions to supremacy over all other sects, that Romanism +simply melts into our society,--in this case, the papacy, as usually +understood, becomes simply a form of church government like +Presbyterianism or Congregationalism or Episcopacy; Catholicism becomes +a purely spiritual faith, and, as such, is not only harmless but +beneficent. + +The religion, therefore, of America cannot be ecclesiastical; neither +can it be dogmatic. I was on the point of saying _theological_; but +there is a great difference between theological and dogmatical. +Dogmatism is theology raised to power. Theology there always must be; +some account of the Supreme Power in the world; some report of the +contents of the Divine Mind. The present indifference to theology is +hardly a good sign, unless it be an indifference to theology as usually +regarded--that is, to the old systems of theology. The future religion, +for this reason, cannot be Protestantism. For Protestantism is +essentially dogmatical. It claims superiority to Romanism on the one +hand and to infidelity on the other. Furthermore, it is identified with +the Bible. Now, modern scientific criticism has so riddled the Bible, +that it no longer can serve as a foundation. And this foundation being +taken away, Protestantism must lose its corner-stone, and rest entirely +on a rational basis. Likewise, Protestantism encourages sectarianism. It +exists, in fact, only in numerous parties, each jealous of the rest and +seeking to build up its own establishment without regard to the +well-being of opposing bodies. There is a dream of unity amid all this +diversity. But such unity can be gained only by the sacrifice of the +very peculiarity of division, and the admission of certain things which +all have in common; and such a reconciliation, besides the tyranny it +engenders, cannot be desired, as it would be fatal to all activity. +Sectarianism itself, apart from the "hatred, malice, and +uncharitableness" which accompany it, may not of necessity be an evil; +but sectarianism as it exists now is an evil of very great moment, and +yet, without something of this alienation between sects Protestantism +would decline. + +Is Unitarianism then to be the coming religion? I cannot think so. +Unitarianism is but a form of Protestantism; the most attenuated form. +It is committed to the Bible; held to it indeed by a very fine thread, +but still held to it. No doubt it has gained greatly in the last years. +The annual circulation of its tracts has risen in twenty-five or thirty +years from fifteen thousand to three hundred thousand copies. A quarter +of a century ago there was but one Unitarian church on the Pacific +coast, now there are eighteen. A generation since it had, in the whole +region from the Alleghanies to the Rocky Mountains, only fourteen +churches, now there are ninety; and in the same period, sixty-three new +societies have come into being in the New England and Middle States. +Still, as compared with the great sects, it is very small, and never can +be their rival. And this because, however interesting and precious it +may be to some people, it lacks, and must ever lack, owing to its +critical character, the elements of a great religion, the passionateness +that charms the people, and the moral enthusiasm that catches up the few +men of genius. The period of "pale negations" is past; but in proportion +as the system becomes positive it tends more and more towards the +principle that animates the ethical societies, namely, its supreme +devotion to the moral law. Thus it stands at the beginning, not at the +end, of the line of advance, and has all the work of building up to do, +before it can grow in general influence. + +No, the religion of the future in America must be of the spirit; not +merely as being independent of form and dogma, but as cherishing a great +hope for the soul, and a great aspiration after perfection. No doubt +every spirit must have a form of some kind, but it need not be a fixed, +established, dominant imposition. M. Renan touched the matter exactly +when commenting on the interview of Jesus with the woman of Samaria: +"Woman, the hour is coming and now is, when men shall worship neither on +this mountain nor at Jerusalem, but when the true worshippers shall +worship the Father in spirit and in truth." Renan says: + + When the Christ pronounced this word, he became really a Son of + God, and for the first time spoke the word upon which eternal + religion shall repose. He founded the worship without date, without + country, which shall endure to the end of time. He created a heaven + of pure souls, where one finds what one asks in vain for on the + earth, the perfect nobleness of the children of God, absolute + purity, total abstraction from the impurities of the world, the + liberty which has its complete amplitude only in the world of + thought.... The love of God conceived as the type of all + perfection, the love of man, charity, his whole doctrine is reduced + to this; nothing can be less theological, less sacerdotal, nothing + more philosophical, more profound, or more simple. + +The coming religion must also be humane and social. Intellectual it must +certainly be, but it must, too, be emotional and adoring. There are +three implications in it--a spiritual nature in man, a living power in +the universe, an eternal life of progress and attainment, and these are +assured only by reason. + +The coming religion, we may add, must be Christian in name, because +Christianity as an ideal faith has worked itself into our common life. +It is the soul of our laws, of our customs, of our institutions. All +assume its authority; all respect its sanction. The great thinkers of +the world conspire in thinking so. Thus Goethe says: + + Let intellectual culture progress; let natural science extend our + knowledge; let the human mind grow; it will never outstrip the + grandeur of Christianity, nor its moral culture. + +Strauss, in his essay on "The Transient and Permanent in Christianity," +declares that humanity never will be without religion; and Laveleye +says: + + It is Christianity which has shed abroad in the world the idea of + fellowship, from which issue the aspirations after equality which + threaten the actual social order; it is also the influence of + Christianity which arrests the explosion of this subversive force, + and its principles, better comprised and better applied, will bring + back by degrees peace in society. + +Ours is a scientific age. There is a general demand for knowledge, a +desire for demonstrated truth. Many will believe nothing that they +cannot see with their eyes. In this sense, and in this sense alone, it +is true that facts count for nothing in the domain of religion. But +there are facts of the inner world that are quite as important as any +facts in the outer world,--facts of the imagination; facts of love; +facts of faith. Nothing is truer than that we are saved by hope. Science +has enlarged the world; has beautified it; has made it look orderly, +harmonious, poetic; but the realm of the known is very small indeed as +compared with the realm of the unknown, and the more we discover, the +more we find that there is to discover. The realm of the inner world is +immensely large; and thousands of years must elapse before we discover +its contents, if we ever do. The language of James Martineau is as true +to-day as it was when the words were spoken, more than fifty years ago: + + Until we touch upon the mysterious, we are not in contact with + religion; nor are any objects reverently regarded by us, except + such as, from their nature or their vastness, are felt to transcend + our comprehension.... The station which the soul occupies when its + devout affections are awakened, is always this; on the twilight + between immeasurable darkness and refreshing light; on the confines + between the seen and the unseen; where a little is discerned and an + infinitude concealed; where a few distinct conceptions stand in + confessed inadequacy, as symbols of ineffable realities.... And if + this be true, the sense of what we do not know is as essential to + our religion as the impression of what we do know: the thought of + the boundless, the incomprehensible, must blend in our mind with + the perception of the clear and true: the little knowledge we have + must be clung to as the margin of an invisible immensity; and all + our positive ideas be regarded as the mere float to show the + surface of the infinite deep. + +Shall I say that some form of theism will be the religion of America in +the future? Not the literal theism of a generation or more ago, with its +individual God, its contriving Providence, its supplicatory prayer, its +future of retribution; nor yet the theism of Theodore Parker, of an +infinite God revealed in consciousness, "the Being, infinitely powerful, +infinitely wise, infinitely just, infinitely loving, and infinitely +holy." It well may resemble the system described by Francis W. Newman in +his book called "Theism," published in London in 1858. In this work he +describes a religion based on conscience, without regard to any form of +professed faith, yet covering in its theory and practice the whole +region of ideal ethics. Different minds approach the problem from +different directions. Mr. F. E. Abbot ("Scientific Theism," 1885) +appeals to science; Josiah Royce printed a volume in 1885 entitled "The +Religious Aspect of Philosophy," wherein he pursues the line of +sympathetic thought; James Martineau in his "Study of Religion" (1888), +bases his system on the moral sense; but all three arrive at the same +point--a supreme mind in creation. + +We must be careful not to confound Theism with Deism, for though both +are the same word--one Greek and one Latin--and mean the same thing, yet +they stand for entirely different conceptions. Deism is a purely +negative system, weighed down with denials. It is content when it has +rejected what it calls all supernatural adjuncts--miracles, revelations, +an inspired Scripture. Its face is set towards the past, not toward the +future, and it is simply what is left of the old systems of belief, +having no positive philosophy of its own. But Theism is a positive, +fresh, original faith. It gazes forward, and builds on the natural +consciousness of man, making no criticism on previous modes of belief. +It is full of hope and enthusiasm, looking towards something that is +before it, not scorning but believing. All that it needs in order to +become a popular faith is a poetical element, something imaginative, +symbolical, picturesque. The intellectual requirements it already +possesses. It is affirmative; it is universal. + +Neither must this kind of theism be identified with natural religion, +unless natural religion be made to comprehend facts of the inner as well +as the outer world--facts of psychology as well as of physiology; facts +of mind as well as of body. Such a theism is not a mere reminiscence, +either, of an ancient faith; for every form of mediatorial religion, +however modified, simplified, "enlightened," as it is called, leaves +something of its temper behind it. The intellect is haunted by old modes +of truth; the heart lingers around the ancient places of reverence; the +conscience refers to some antique authority; the soul cannot pray except +in the language of a pater-noster or a psalm. A scent as of roses may +hang round the human mind; but the roses will be grown in some garden of +the East, not in ours. Such a theism as I am thinking of will be +grounded in Ethical Law. You may call it "Christian," if you will, +because the word _Christian_ expresses the highest form of the moral +sentiment, and carries a supreme authority to the human conscience; but +on the _human conscience_ it must rest. It will be a noble, pure faith, +giving a welcome to all knowledge, bright with anticipation, warm with +enthusiasm. As John Weiss has said so much better than I can what I +mean, I will quote a passage from him. It occurs in "American Religion" +(page 67): + + Cannot the power which sustains, without budging from the spot, my + personal vitality, sustain and nourish the immediate conscience of + which that vitality makes me aware? I cannot hurt my health, nor + tell a lie, nor commit a fraud, nor strike my brother, nor leave + the beggar in the ditch, nor parade my superiorities, without + knowing it by direct intimation. My pains are its rebukes, my + delights its sympathies, my hopes its suggestions, my sacrifices + its impost, my heavenly longings its apology for haunting me + forever. There is a power in which I live and move and have my + being, in which I eat, drink, breathe, sleep, wake, love and hate, + marry, and protect a home. Is it incapable of sustaining all my + functions of true religion on the spot as well as these? Do I have + these without a mediator, and must I travel for the rest? When I + undertake to breathe by tradition it will be time for me to get a + sense of God in the same way. + +The Dignity of Human Nature must be our watchword; of human _nature_, +not of human _character_. For human _nature_ denotes the _capacities_ of +man, what he _ought_ to be and _shall_ be, not what he _is_. Human +character expresses only the undeveloped condition of man, and is +therefore not to be taken as a final stand. This doctrine does not +belong to a sect or a church, but to all mankind. It assumes an entirely +new conception of the basis of religious faith; it makes a new +beginning; it starts a new system; it exactly reverses the ancient order +of thought, and builds up from a completely original foundation. + +The weightiest objections proceed from the undeveloped character of +man. For example, the common saying that conscience is crude, confused, +either does not exist at all, or erects inconsistent standards of right +and wrong. But if a high criterion of morality is established, as it is, +it has an educating and sustaining power. Every saint attests it; all +the bibles of the world voice it; revelation owes to it its authority. +Great souls do but raise the common level on which common souls tread; +as the discovery of the ancient pavements in the Forum at Rome opens to +ordinary feet the way that statesmen and heroes went. When I was in +Salem, a young man who was very much addicted to drink, being +remonstrated with, urged that he could not help it, that he was born so, +just as another was born to praise and pray. His appetite for ardent +spirits was just as natural to him as the preacher's appetite for +spiritual things. His argument could not be refuted, but I always +thought that in his hours of reflection, if he had any, he must have +despised himself. At all events, the outside observer would class him +with a lower order of humanity; the fixed rule of conscience being a +universal judge. + +Again, the slowness of moral advance is flung in our teeth; the +stubbornness of vice and evil. But we must give time for improvement and +cultivation. All good things must wait--coal, petroleum, gas, +electricity; the fertilizing qualities of guano were known and announced +a full generation before the industrial world acted on the discovery; +now millions of dollars are made by its importation. We are so used to +thinking of the globe as round, and of men as living at the antipodes +just as we live here, that we cannot believe that once it was deemed +impossible for human creatures to live with their heads downward and +their feet upward, and to walk like flies upon a ceiling. None but +hopelessly crazy or foolish people were supposed to entertain such a +notion. So the time will come when it shall be as natural for men to do +right as to breathe; when all kinds of injustice, cruelty, and tyranny +will be instinctively abandoned. When that time does come, men will be +unable to believe that the ages ever were when men could make brutes of +themselves or brutally treat each other. An eminent divine, commenting +on a passage in Matthew, xviii., 15--"Moreover, if thy brother shall +trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between him and thee +alone; if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he +will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the +mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he +shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect +to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a +publican,"--said: "This is equivalent to saying, 'You must begin all +over again; must start fresh from the beginning.'" This was very bad +exegesis, but it was excellent morality; even the "heathen man and the +publican" holds in his bosom all the possibilities of human nature; and +we are bound to believe that in time the like of him may be saintly. + +The decline of faith in religion, the passion for material +things--money, fame, luxury,--is often cited as a proof that man is +going downward; but may not this be a simple return to honesty and a +rudimental integrity; a disposition to depend on one's self, and not on +any mediator or redeemer? Let us build then in hope and faith, for, +after all, these are the great architects. A listener to an eminent +divine once said that when he got up to speak a radiance seemed to grow +round his head; the great walls of a temple seemed to rise above him; +the audience was composed of all nations, all sorts and conditions of +men, and a choir of seraphs made the music; and yet this man spoke in a +small, low-browed hall to a scanty audience, and the hymns were badly +sung by a voluntary company. Such power has a great conviction; and when +a deep conviction like that is extended and confirmed, the visible +church will match the invisible, and shepherds will again hear the songs +of angels. + + + + +XVII. CONFESSIONS. + + +The course of spiritual advance is traced with difficulty and +hesitation. It is the most obscure phase of the general problem of +progress, which is almost insoluble. There are so many currents and +counter-currents; so many tributaries; so many swift torrents and still +bays; so many times the stream seems moving in the opposite +direction--it is not surprising if some have concluded that there was no +progress at all, that we only moved in a circle, went over the same +ground again and again, and even marched backwards; what some counted +gain others counted loss. A keen examination suggests that on the whole +advance has been made, allowance being conceded for many a turn and +variation. + +The law of evolution may be considered established, but the method of +evolution is hidden. The law of hereditary descent may be admitted, and +yet the lines of hereditary descent are by no means obvious. Tendencies +may even run in parallel lines, may aid each other, may confuse each +other, may neutralize each other, may go very far or lie close at hand, +and in any individual instance it is almost impossible to find how they +work. + +In my own case the inferences of temperament followed each other. During +the first fifty years of my life I was mainly under the influence of my +father's temperament. I sang, wrote hymns and poems, sent pieces to the +papers, was sanguine, inclined to take a happy view of all experiences; +but at the same time I was conscious of another train of thought which +struggled fitfully with the first, acquiring more and more power until +at last it gained the ascendency, and I found myself more inclined to +conservatism, as it is called, to a grave, sober, serious regard for +existing institutions and modes of opinion. It is said that this might +have been the effect of years, inasmuch as after middle life one is very +apt to experience a change of sentiment. But in my own case time will +hardly explain the phenomenon, for long before I came to middle age I +was aware of this less hopeful tendency in my constitution. It was my +mother's influence succeeding my father's. And though it never entirely +prevailed, I can see how it may have shadowed my visions of the future. +And it makes me somewhat distrustful of the entire sanity of my +criticism. I am afraid of not being hopeful enough. + +I have sometimes suspected myself of a too critical disposition, a +propensity to discover defects in men and opinion, to look at the dark +side of systems that were repudiated; and in the effort to correct the +aberrations of a literal estimate I may have gone too far in the +opposite direction, rendering more than justice to antagonistic +doctrines. But this, if it was an error, was certainly not an error to +be ashamed of. For say what we will, the partial man is not the whole +man, nor is cold perception true perception. There must be sympathy in +every act of judgment, as Dr. Diman wisely wrote ("The Theistic +Argument," p. 32): "In the pursuit of the highest truth not one faculty +but all faculties need to be enlisted." Every system, however formal or +dogmatical it may have become, had in the beginning its spiritual +aspect; it was piously, if not humanely, meant; and in order to be +rightly comprehended, should be surveyed from the inside. The most +repulsive doctrine has something to urge in its favor, and it is the +duty of the true rationalist to find out what it may be. + +If the inclination to take a common-sense view of opinions was derived +from my mother's side, a strong democratic bent was primarily due to +her. My grandfather was a poor boy who earned his fortune by the simple +qualities of industry, integrity, perseverance, independence, +faithfulness, honesty,--virtues which he bequeathed to his children. +These inherited dispositions were encouraged by the social influences of +the public school, which, in spite of its laborious method of imparting +a knowledge of Latin and Greek, threw the lads together, thus breaking +down artificial distinctions; and also by my experience at Harvard +College, where scholarship was associated with mere manhood, and was +cultivated by youth of all conditions. The anti-slavery agitation was a +practical instructor in humanity, indicating as it did the widest +sympathy of race. An assumption of the essential identity of all sorts +of mind was a cardinal principle of transcendentalism, while my later +experiences confirmed these early tendencies. My societies in Jersey +City and New York were popular in their composition. The "Free Religious +Association" was based on universal sentiments. The clerical profession +was, in my day, broadly human, so that aristocratic proclivities had +small hope of prevailing. In fact, the lessons which I learned from +R. W. Emerson and Wendell Phillips sank deeply in, and became clearer as +years went on. + +One can hardly say that learning is retrogressive when one thinks of Dr. +Doellinger, of Germany; Ernest Renan, of France; Benjamin Jowett, Arthur +P. Stanley, James Martineau, of England; but erudition must, as a rule, +be conservative; for it associates the mind directly with the past, +binds one down to facts of history, and lays great stress on the +testimony of evidence. It still is true that abundance of luggage is a +sign that one is far from home. And they who can move quickly with all +this weight upon them must have extraordinary genius. + +An indifference to dogma is also characteristic of a speculative +reformer; and I cannot recollect the time when I cared much for +doctrinal differences. All questions were to me open questions. I had +doubts about everything, and never suffered acute pain from such doubts. +The influence of Jesus, the immortality of the soul, the existence of +God, were always exposed to misgivings. Everything active was +interesting to me, whether it looked toward "radicalism" or not. This +was an advantage, not merely because it saved me from suffering, but +because it enabled me to face all emergencies. + +But some one will say: Does not the love of truth count for anything? +Yes, undoubtedly it does. But lovers of truth do not by any means belong +to the same school, or look for light from the same quarter; some are +Romanists, some Protestants; some have no religion at all. Lovers of +truth are found in all denominations, from Calvinist to Unitarian, from +Christian to Buddhist. Truth exists for us in layers. There are truths +of the letter and truths of the spirit; there is truth to fact, and +truth to fancy; there is truth to the individual soul, and truth to the +public conscience; there is truth to the heart, to the moral sense, to +the spiritual intuition: but it will not do to charge lack of +truthfulness upon anybody simply because he does not hold the same +opinion with ourselves. M. Renan somewhere says that in order to judge a +system one must have been in it as a disciple, and outside of it as a +critic. But then only a very extraordinary person can do this. As a +disciple he must be earnest, intelligent, devoted; as a critic he must +be without prejudice, without animosity, and without guile. Thus the +point of view must of necessity be individual. There can be no general +or absolute standard of judgment. One thing only is certain: the fact of +spiritual progress; but what constitutes this progress nobody can tell. +Since 1822 till now the change in _Unitarianism_ has been immense, and +it has consisted in the gradual supremacy of reason over tradition, but +it has been almost too sudden and too swift. Progress had better be +slow, in order that it may be sure. One step at a time, for the reason +that only one step at a time can be taken safely. We must not jump at +conclusions. There must be unbounded catholicity of thought, but it must +not be made up of indifference, concession, and idle compliance. + +Experience has taught me many things--this among others, that there is +no final criterion of truth, not criticism, or "science," or philosophy, +or liberty. There is no question any more of "destructive" and +"constructive." The Supreme Power is always constructive, and the +Supreme Power is sure at last to prevail. There is an old Greek fable, +that Apollo once challenged Jupiter to shoot. The sun-god shot an arrow +to the very confines of the earth; then Jupiter, at one stride, reached +the limits of creation, and said, "Where shall I shoot?" We are not +Jupiters; we are not Apollos; but we can take our stand and shoot our +arrows a little way into the dark. The utmost we can do is to be +steadfast in our own places; be faithful to our own calling; draw our +own shaft to the head. Father Hecker said a brave thing to me when, on +declining my request that he would speak before the Free Religious +Association, he took the ground that in a few weeks Catholicism would +enter Boston in triumph. I honored the Broad Churchman, who said to me +once that he always preached Christ as an historical person, and wished +he had a church big enough to hold all humanity; and I admired the +Presbyterian clergyman who commended the sincerity of Dr. Briggs, whom +some regarded as a heretic. Fidelity to one's own word and gift is the +one thing needful here. + +Whether it be the tendency of modern thought, or whether it be not, to +abandon the Christian religion and cast discredit on every kind of faith +held by the churches and professors throughout the world, cannot, in +this generation, be decided. In any event, we shall not be left +desolate. For nature will remain, with its unfathomable resources of use +and beauty. The mind will remain, with its infinite faculties of reason +and imagination. The heart will remain, with its insatiable affections +and desires. Conscience will remain, with its sense of duty. The +sentiments of awe, wonder, admiration, worship, will not expire. The +reconstructive powers will still be active, and every creative quality +will continue in full operation. Knowledge, literature, art, will live +and flourish in new manifestations; and no original capacity will lie +unemployed. + +We should have learned by this time that nothing dies before its hour +has come; that processes of recuperation keep even pace with processes +of decay; that forms alone perish while principles endure; that living +things become more mighty and glorious as they throw off encumbrances; +that strength always in the end accompanies simplicity. + +The idea of God has passed through several phases, and each new phase +has been a gain. The deity who was an individual has become a person; +the attributes of personality, as commonly understood, have disappeared, +so that pantheism has succeeded to a mechanical theism; God has become a +name for our most exalted feelings, so that instead of saying "God is +Spirit," some read "Spirit is God"; yet the ancient reverence more than +persists, is on the increase. And if the course of disintegration of the +old clumsy conception should go on, there need be no apprehension that +loving veneration will decline. + +The future life is no longer associated with retribution, and +immortality means opportunity instead of doom. Should the doctrine of +moral influence follow upon the doctrine of spiritual progression, the +essential significance of the tenet would be preserved, for that is +ethical not individual. + +Prayer, too, is no more a begging for favors, or an act of +intercession. Supplication for outward benefits has given place to +petition for spiritual gifts, and this to pure aspiration, the desire +for excellence; still the soul's passion is as deep as ever, perhaps +deeper. + +If Mr. Tyndall's prophecy should be fulfilled, and we should come to +"discover in that matter which we, in our ignorance, and notwithstanding +our professed reverence for its Creator, have hitherto covered with +opprobrium, the promise and potency of every form and quality of life," +then what we call matter would simply assume new properties commensurate +with novel tasks. The properties themselves will remain as they were, +and will in nowise change their peculiarity. The ancient attributes of +mind will persist, whatever theory of their origin be adopted. The old +sanctities will endure, and the burden of responsibility will fall upon +another pair of shoulders. + +Thus every virtue will be maintained in complete vigor,--reverence, +aspiration, trust, submission, confidence, serenity, patience, +fortitude,--and nothing will be lost. + +Then there is the social world, in which we "live and move and have our +being." This "encompasses us behind and before, and lays its hand upon +us." There is not an hour in the day, hardly a moment of the hour, when +the call of duty is not made upon us. None but the rarest spirits +discharge the claims of mercy and brotherhood; people generally do not +know what they are; repudiate them when presented. The preachers have +more than they can do to induce practice of even the commonest virtues +of good will. Humanity, in its grand aspects, is left to the writers of +Utopias. Not a day passes that conscience is not over-worked, even when +it is not perplexed by misgivings in regard to the amount or the kind of +service it ought to render. Some have sought an escape in the immortal +life from the demands of this; and some have denied the doctrine of +another world because it drew attention away from this, and made the +ills of the present seem light in view of some coming beatitude. In +truth, the friends of that great hope will do well to remember that it +is identical with moral attainment; that it is for great souls; that + + The life of heaven above, + Springs from the life below. + +It is, to say the least, doubtful whether any future life can do more +than ripen seeds that are sowed here, or whether spiritual perfection +will owe anything essential to other events of time, while it is certain +that nothing is sure to abide but what is born of love. + +Unless the doctrine of a future life can be used to reinforce the +doctrine of moral attainment in the present state of existence, its +power must depart. The cords of personal affection are not strong enough +to hold the belief. The true inference from disbelief is not expressed +in the words, "Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die"; but in these, +"I must work while it is day." This idea is a very old one. The air was +full of it when I was a youth. It was the soul of all liberal faith. The +_Westminster Review_, which was in full force in my early manhood, +having begun in 1824, two years after my birth, was animated by it. The +_Prospective Review_, the organ of the spiritual Unitarians, and edited +by such men as James Martineau, John James Taylor, John Hamilton Thom, +and Charles Wicksteed, a magazine aiming to "interpret and represent +Spiritual Christianity in its character of the Universal Religion," was +started about 1845. In its pages "spirituality" was intimately +associated with "humanity." The books of F. W. Newman, "The Soul" +(1849); "Phases of Faith" (1850); "Catholic Union" (1854), teemed with +this conception. The charming verses of William Blake, published in his +"Songs of Innocence," had somehow came to my knowledge. + + To mercy, pity, peace, and love, + All pray in their distress; + And to these virtues of delight + Return their thankfulness. + + For mercy, pity, peace, and love + Is God, our Father dear; + And mercy, pity, peace, and love + Is man, His child and care. + + For mercy has a human heart; + Pity, a human face; + And love, the human form divine + And peace, the human dress. + + Then every man of every clime + That prays, in his distress, + Prays to the human form divine + Love, Mercy, Pity, Peace. + + And all must love the human form + In Heathen, Turk, or Jew; + Where mercy, love, and pity dwell, + There God is dwelling too. + +In this country the same idea prevailed in the early period of +transcendentalism, and gradually worked its way into the common heart. +Channing lent it an impulse. His brilliant nephew, William Henry +Channing, exemplified it. The transcendental preachers all insisted on +it. The "Dial" was charged with it. The most kindling literature of my +growing days drew inspiration from it. Brook Farm, Fruitlands, and every +other attempt at association was built upon it. Modern socialism owes to +it the fascination it has for the heart; and we cannot listen to a +sermon now that does not throb with the emotion it excites. + +For myself I must confess that I have no interest in another life, save +as it encourages the endeavor after this human excellence. My mental +constitution makes me insensible to sentimental considerations, to +arguments addressed to private affections. As my first sermon was about +the brotherhood of man, so my present hope is that love may increase, +and that the reign of theology may be succeeded by that of charity. + +This was the dream of Abbot Joachim, in the twelfth century, the +Cistercian monk, founder of the monastery of Floris, author of "The +Everlasting Gospel." It was his notion that the existing era of +Christianity was passing away. According to him, there were three +dispensations, corresponding to the three persons in the Trinity--that +of the Father, that of the Son, that of the Spirit,--the dispensation of +Awe, the dispensation of Wisdom, and the dispensation of Love. The first +was represented by Peter, the organizer, the patron saint of Romanism; +the second, by Paul, the preacher of the Word, the bulwark of +Protestantism; the third by John, the seer, the beloved disciple, the +apostle of love. How much the pious man meant by this we cannot tell. +His own contemporaries were divided in opinion; but a pretty fair +commentary is furnished, in the fact that his writing was condemned by +two Councils--that of the Lateran in 1215, and of Arles in 1260,--and +that he has ever since been classed among the mystics--that is, the +unintelligible and the unbalanced in mind. + +True the prophecy has not been literally fulfilled, inasmuch as the +first two dispositions are still in force, and are likely to be for many +a day, but the essence of it has come to pass. Romanism has been +deprived of its temporal authority, and is reduced to a picturesque form +of faith; its disciples easily throw off its bondage, while its new +professors never put it on. Protestantism is decomposing under the +influence of doubt and criticism. The thought of brotherhood is +extending. I have small faith that the time will ever come when all +people will worship under one form, or will accept the same mode of +believing. I cannot think that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, +or that every tongue will make confession of his Lordship; but I do +believe that the reign of justice and good-will shall be established. It +is a great deal to hope for a time when the many will submit to the law +of reason, becoming strong enough to withstand the force of authority in +church or creed, and content with charity. + +We have gained much since Joachim's day. We have acquired knowledge, +industry, civilization, freedom, enterprise, intelligence, the sense of +mutual dependence. The bars of prejudice are being taken down. Class +distinctions are being abolished. Newly discovered arts are bringing men +nearer together, and weaving the ties of fraternity. All this is +opportunity--opportunity that immediately precedes performance. When we +see the road prepared for the Spirit, we may be sure that the Spirit +itself is not far off. + + + + +INDEX. + + + A + + Abbot, F. E., 117, 282 + Abbott, E. A., 256 + Abolitionists, 45, 183 + Adler, Felix, quoted, 268 + Alcott, A. B., 52 + Anti-slavery, 44, 46, 49 + Arminians, 1 + Arnold, M., 13 + + + B + + Barnard, F. A. P., 226 + Barnard, T., 43 + Bartol, C. A., 119 + Baur, F. C., 57 + Beecher, H. W., 256 + Bellows, H. W., 63, 74, 76, 115, 116, 118, 184 + Blake, Wm., quoted, 299 + Boston, 17 + Brace, C. L., 226 + Brazer, John, 43 + Broad Church, 71, 257, etc. + Brook Farm, 136, 227, 235, 236, 239, 240, 241, 244 + Brown, John, 104 + Browning, R., 4, 16, 145, 201 + Brownson, Orestes, 203 + + + C + + Calvinism, 1 + Carlyle, 7, 124 + Carter, R., 226 + Cary, Alice, 225 + Cary, Phoebe, 225 + Chadwick, J. W., 187 + Channing, W. E., 47, 183, 186, 235, 300 + Channing, W. H., 236, 300 + Clarke, J. F., 44, 124 + Clerical Profession, The, 146, etc. + Colonization, 181 + Communion Service, 66, etc. + Comte, A., 217 + Conference, Unitarian, 115-117 + Curtis, G. W., 42 + + + D + + Darwin, C., 259 + Deists, 61, 62 + Dewey, Mary, 176 + Dewey, Orville, 176, etc. + Dillaway, C. K., 20 + Diman, J. L., quoted, 291 + Divinity Hall, 26 + Divinity School, 25-34 + Dixwell, E. S., 20 + Dwight, J. S., 236 + + + E + + Eliot, George, 138 + Emerson, R. W., 21, 34, 42, 48, 68, 75, 122, 134, 135, 145, 166, etc., + 196, 209, 245, 270, 292 + Endicott, John, 36 + Ethical Religion, 267, etc. + Europe, 131 + Evolution, 145, 194, 217 + + + F + + Field, H. M., 227 + Fourier, C., 240 + Francis, Convers, 27 + Fraternity Club, 128, 129 + Free Religious Association, 119, etc., 124-126, 209, 292 + Free Thought in America, 133, etc. + Frothingham, Ann G., 14-17 + Frothingham, N. L., 2-14 + + + G + + Gardner, F., 20 + Garrison, W. L., 44 + Greeley, H., 109, 226, 227 + Goethe, J. W. von, quoted, 280 + + + H + + Haeckel, E., 217 + Harvard College, 21 + Hawthorne, N., 42, 236, 246 + Heath, 131 + Hecker, I. T., 226, 295 + Hedge, F. H., 257 + Higginson, T. W., 35, 122 + Hillard, G. S., 21 + Hitchcock, R. D., 226 + Holland, J. G., 227 + + + I + + Independent Society, 126-131, 132, 138, 139 + Ingersoll, R. G., 227, 253, etc. + + + J + + James, H., quoted, 155 + Jersey City, 63, 65 + Jewett, Sarah O., quoted, 255 + Joachim (Abbot), 301 + Johnson, S., 50, 210, etc. + Joy, Charles, 226 + + + K + + King, T. S., 42, 191, note. + Kirwan, R., 38 + + + L + + Latin School, 19 + Laveleye, E. de, quoted, 272, 281 + Leverett, F. P., 20 + Longfellow, H. W., 51, 258, quoted + Loring, E. G., 245 + Lyric Hall, 125, 128 + + + M + + Mahomet, 124 + Martineau, J., 58, 165, 185, quoted, 275, 281, 282 + Masonic Temple, 127 + Maurice, F. D., 123, 264 + McQueary, Rev. H., 256 + Minister, Office of, in War Time, 106 + Ministry in New York, 131 + Mott, Lucretia, 121 + + + N + + National Conference, 85 + Negroes, 111, 179 + Newman, F. W., 282, 299 + New York, 76 + "North Church," 42 + Noyes, G. R., 26 + + + O + + Osgood, S., 92, etc. + + + P + + Paine, T., 248, etc. + Parker, T., 44, 54, etc., 70, 122, 134, 135, 203, 233, 282 + Phillips, W., 9, 44, 292 + Poe, E. A., quoted, 134 + Prescott, W. H., 6, 21 + Priests in the Riot, 113 + _Prospective Review_, 299 + Protestantism, 275, 277 + Putnam, Eleanor, 36 + + + R + + Reid, Whitelaw, 227 + Renan, J. Ernest, 58, 272-274, 276, 279, 293 + Riot in New York, 107, etc. + Ripley, George, 227 + Romanism, 273, etc. + Rood, O. N., 226 + Royce, J., 282 + Runkle, Mrs. Lucia, 227 + + + S + + Salem, 35, etc., 51 + Sanitary Commission, 83 + Scherb, E. V., 51 + Schwegler, A., 57 + Slavery, 47 + Smith, S., 207 + Stearns, G., 245 + Stephen, Leslie, quoted, 249 + Strauss, D. F., 217, 280 + Sumner, C., 21, 221 + + + T + + Taine, H. A., 217 + Taylor, Bayard, 226 + Thackeray, W. M., 8 + Ticknor, G., 6, 21 + Torrey, H. W., 20 + Transcendentalism, 47, 135-137, 214 + Tuebingen School, 57 + Tyndall, J., 217, 297 + + + U + + Unitarianism, 256, 278 + Unitarians, 47, 69, 102, 115, 117, 124, 183, 266 + + + V + + Voltaire, 62 + + + W + + War, Civil, The, 114 + Washburn, E. A., 227 + Washington, George (Gen.), 105 + Washington, L. W., (Col.), 105 + Wasson, D. A., 60, 119, 122 + Webster, D., 21, 180 + Webster, J. W., 22 + Weiss, J., 122, 190, etc., 284, quoted + _Westminster Review_, 299 + White, R. G. 226 + Williams, R., 36 + Winthrop, T., 110 + Wise, H. A. (Gov.), 104 + Woman, Rights of, 221 + + + Y + + Youmans, E. L., 226 + + + Z + + Zeller, E., 58 + + + + + +WORKS BY OCTAVIUS BROOKS FROTHINGHAM. + + +THE RELIGION OF HUMANITY. 4th edition, 12mo, pp. 338. $1.50 + + "A profoundly sincere book, the work of one who has read largely, + studied thoroughly, reflected patiently."--_Boston Globe._ + +STORIES FROM THE LIPS OF THE TEACHER. Retold by a Disciple. Sixth +edition, 16mo, pp. 193. $1.00 + + "It is in style and thought a superior book, that will interest young + and old."--_Zion Herald_ (Methodist). + +STORIES OF THE PATRIARCHS. 3d edition. 16mo, pp. 232. $1.00 + + "The sublimest lessons of manhood in the simple language of a + child."--_Springfield Republican._ + +THE CHILD'S BOOK OF RELIGION. For Sunday-Schools and Homes. New edition, +revised. 16mo, pp. xii. 273. $1.00 + +TRANSCENDENTALISM IN NEW ENGLAND. A History. Second edition. 8vo, pp. +iv. + 394. $1.75 + + "The book is masterly and satisfying."--_Appleton's Journal._ + +THE CRADLE OF THE CHRIST. A Study in Primitive Christianity. 8vo, pp. +x. + 234. $1.50 + + "Scholarly, acute, and vigorous."--_N. Y. Tribune._ + +THEODORE PARKER. A Biography. 8vo, pp. viii. + 588. $2.00 + +GERRIT SMITH. A Biography. 8vo, pp. 371. $2.00 + + "A good biography, it is faithful, sufficiently full, written with + vigor, grace, and good taste."--_N. Y. Evening Post._ + +BELIEF OF THE UNBELIEVERS. 12mo, sewed $0.25 + + Speaking of Mr. Frothingham's Sermons, the _Springfield Republican_ + says: "No one of serious intellectual character can fail to be + interested and taught by these most thoughtful discourses." + +BOSTON UNITARIANISM. 1820-1840. A Study of the Life and Work of +Nathaniel Langdon Frothingham. 8vo, pp. 272. $1.75 + + "The book, to a thoughtful reader, cannot fail to be elevating and + suggestive of high ideals, high thinking, and noble living."--_Newark + Advertiser._ + +RECOLLECTIONS AND IMPRESSIONS. 1822-1890. 8vo. $1.50 + + +G. P. 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