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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: Transcendentalism in New England + A History + +Author: Octavius Brooks Frothingham + +Release Date: February 17, 2012 [EBook #38907] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRANSCENDENTALISM IN NEW ENGLAND *** + + + + +Produced by Charlene Taylor, Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, +Cathy Maxam, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team +at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<div class="figcenter"><a id="i001" name="i001"></a> +<img src="images/i001.jpg" alt="O. B. Frothingham" +title="signature O. B. Frothingham" /> + + + +<p class="caption"> +<span class="small"><i>Eng<sup>d</sup> by H. B. Hall</i></span><br /> + +G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York. +</p> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<h1> +TRANSCENDENTALISM</h1> +<p class="center small"> +IN</p> +<p class="center bigger"> +NEW ENGLAND</p> + +<p class="center"> +<i>A HISTORY</i></p> + +<p class="center small">BY</p> + +<p class="center pspace">OCTAVIUS BROOKS FROTHINGHAM</p> + +<p class="center small"><i>Author of "Life of Theodore Parker," "Religion of Humanity," &c., &c.</i></p> + +<div class="space"> +<div class="figcenter"><a id="ilogo" name="ilogo"></a> +<img src="images/ilogo.jpg" alt="logo" /> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="center">NEW YORK</p> +<p class="center">G. P. P U T N A M ' S S O N S</p> +<p class="center small">182 <span class="smcap">Fifth Avenue</span></p> +<p class="center small">1876</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p class="center space"> +<span class="smcap smaller">Copyright</span>,<br /> +<span class="small">G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS.</span><br /> +<span class="smaller">1876.</span> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h2> +<p class="bb space"></p> + + + + + + +<table class="small" summary="contents"> + + +<tr> +<td class="tdl" colspan="2"></td> +<td class="tdr"><span style="margin-left: 11.5em;">PAGE</span><br /></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><a href="#CONTENTS"><span class="smcap">Contents</span></a></td> +<td></td> +<td class="tdr">iii</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><a href="#PREFACE"><span class="smcap">Preface</span></a></td> +<td></td> +<td class="tdr">v</td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td></td> +<td class="tdcspace">I.</td> +<td></td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="tdl" colspan="2"><a href="#I"><span class="smcap">Beginnings in Germany</span></a> </td> +<td class="tdr">1</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td></td> +<td class="tdcspace">II.</td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl" colspan="2"><a href="#II"><span class="smcap">Transcendentalism in +Germany—Kant, Jacobi, Fichte</span>, etc. </a></td> +<td class="tdr">14</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td></td> +<td class="tdcspace">III.</td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl" colspan="2"><a href="#III"><span class="smcap">Theology and Literature—Schleiermacher, + Goethe, Richter</span>, etc.</a> </td> +<td class="tdr">47</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td></td> +<td class="tdcspace">IV.</td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl" colspan="2"><a href="#IV"><span class="smcap">Transcendentalism in + France—Cousin, Constant, Jouffroy</span>, etc.</a></td> +<td class="tdr">60</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td></td> +<td class="tdcspace">V.</td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl" colspan="2"><a href="#V"><span class="smcap">Transcendentalism in +England—Coleridge, Carlyle, Wordsworth</span></a> </td> +<td class="tdr">76</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td></td> +<td class="tdcspace">VI.</td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl" colspan="2"><a href="#VI"><span class="smcap">Transcendentalism in New England</span></a></td> +<td class="tdr">105</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td></td> +<td class="tdcspace">VII.</td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl" colspan="2"> +<a href="#VII"><span class="smcap">Practical Tendencies</span></a> </td> +<td class="tdr">142</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td></td> +<td class="tdcspace">VIII.<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl" colspan="2"><a href="#VIII"><span class="smcap">Religious Tendencies</span></a></td> +<td class="tdr">185</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td></td> +<td class="tdcspace">IX.</td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl" colspan="2"><a href="#IX"><span class="smcap">The Seer—Emerson</span></a></td> +<td class="tdr">218</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td></td> +<td class="tdcspace">X.</td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl" colspan="2"><a href="#X"><span class="smcap">The Mystic—Alcott</span></a></td> +<td class="tdr">249</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td></td> +<td class="tdcspace">XI.</td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl" colspan="2"><a href="#XI"><span class="smcap">The Critic—Margaret Fuller</span></a> </td> +<td class="tdr">284</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td></td> +<td class="tdcspace">XII.</td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl" colspan="2"><a href="#XII"><span class="smcap">The Preacher—Theodore Parker</span></a></td> +<td class="tdr">302</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td></td> +<td class="tdcspace">XIII.</td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl" colspan="2"><a href="#XIII"><span class="smcap">The Man of Letters—George Ripley</span></a></td> +<td class="tdr">322</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td></td> +<td class="tdcspace">XIV.</td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl" colspan="2"><a href="#XIV"><span class="smcap">Minor Prophets</span></a></td> +<td class="tdr">335</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td></td> +<td class="tdcspace">XV.</td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl" colspan="2"><a href="#XV"><span class="smcap">Literature</span></a> </td> +<td class="tdr">357</td> +</tr> + + +</table> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE.</h2> +<p class="bb space"></p> + + +<p>While we are gathering up for exhibition before other +nations, the results of a century of American life, with +a purpose to show the issues thus far of our experiment +in free institutions, it is fitting that some report should +be made of the influences that have shaped the national +mind, and determined in any important degree or respect +its intellectual and moral character. A well-considered +account of these influences would be of very +great value to the student of history, the statesman and +philosopher, not merely as throwing light on our own +social problem, but as illustrating the general law of +human progress. This book is offered as a modest contribution +to that knowledge.</p> + +<p>Transcendentalism, as it is called, the transcendental +movement, was an important factor in American life. +Though local in activity, limited in scope, brief in duration, +engaging but a comparatively small number of individuals, +and passing over the upper regions of the +mind, it left a broad and deep trace on ideas and institutions. +It affected thinkers, swayed politicians, guided +moralists, inspired philanthropists, created reformers. +The moral enthusiasm of the last generation, which +broke <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span> +out with such prodigious power in the holy war +against slavery; which uttered such earnest protests +against capital punishment, and the wrongs inflicted on +women; which made such passionate pleading in behalf +of the weak, the injured, the disfranchised of every race +and condition; which exalted humanity above institutions, +and proclaimed the inherent worth of man,—owed, +in larger measure than is suspected, its glow and force +to the Transcendentalists. This, as a fact of history, +must be admitted, as well by those who judge the +movement unfavorably, as by its friends. In the view +of history, which is concerned with causes and effects in +their large human relations, individual opinions on them +are of small moment. It was once the fashion—and still +in some quarters it is the fashion—to laugh at Transcendentalism +as an incomprehensible folly, and to call +Transcendentalists visionaries. To admit that they were, +would not alter the fact that they exerted an influence +on their generation. It is usual with critics of a cold, +unsympathetic, cynical cast, to speak of Transcendentalism +as a form of sentimentality, and of Transcendentalists +as sentimentalists; to decry enthusiasm, and deprecate +the mischievous effects of feeling on the discussion of +social questions. But their disapproval, however just +and wholesome, does not abolish the trace which moral +enthusiasm, under whatever name these judges may +please to put upon it, has left on the social life of the +people. Whether the impression was for evil or for +good, it is there, and equally significant for warning or +for commendation.</p> + +<p>As<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span> + a form of mental philosophy Transcendentalism +may have had its day; at any rate, it is no longer in +the ascendant, and at present is manifestly on the decline, +being suppressed by the philosophy of experience, +which, under different names, is taking possession of +the speculative world. But neither has this consideration +weight in deciding its value as an element in progress. +An unsound system requires as accurate a +description and as severe an analysis as a sound one; +and no speculative prejudice should interfere with the +most candid acknowledgment of its importance. Error +is not disarmed or disenchanted by caricature or +neglect.</p> + +<p>To those who may object that the writer has too +freely indulged his own prejudices in favor of Transcendentalism +and the Transcendentalists, and has transgressed +his own rules by writing a eulogy instead of a +history, he would reply, that in his belief every system +is best understood when studied sympathetically, and is +most fairly interpreted from the inside. We can know +its purposes only from its friends, and we can do justice +to its friends only when we accept their own account of +their beliefs and aims. Rénan somewhere says, that in +order to judge a faith one must have confessed it and +abandoned it. Such a rule supposes sincerity in the +confession and honesty in the withdrawal; but with this +qualification its reasonableness is easily admitted. If +the result of such a verdict prove more favorable than +the polemic would give, and more cordial than the critic +approves, it may not be the less just for that.</p> + +<p>The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span> + writer was once a pure Transcendentalist, a warm +sympathizer with transcendental aspirations, and an ardent +admirer of transcendental teachers. His ardor +may have cooled; his faith may have been modified; +later studies and meditations may have commended to +him other ideas and methods; but he still retains enough +of his former faith to enable him to do it justice. His +purpose has been to write a history; not a critical or +philosophical history, but simply a history; to present +his subject with the smallest possible admixture of discussion, +either in defence or opposition. He has, +therefore, avoided the metaphysics of his theme, by +presenting cardinal ideas in the simplest statement he +could command, and omitting the details that would +only cumber a narrative. Sufficient references are given +for the direction of students who may wish to become +more intimately acquainted with the transcendental +philosophy, but an exhaustive survey of the speculative +field has not been attempted. This book has but one +purpose—to define the fundamental ideas of the philosophy, +to trace them to their historical and speculative +sources, and to show whither they tended. If he has +done this inadequately, it will be disclosed; he has done +it honestly, and as well as he could. In a little while it +will be difficult to do it at all; for the disciples, one by +one, are falling asleep; the literary remains are becoming +few and scarce; the materials are disappearing beneath +the rapid accumulations of thought; the new order +is thrusting the old into the background; and in the +course of a few years, even they who can tell the story +feelingly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span> + will have passed away. The author, whose +task was gladly accepted, though not voluntarily chosen, +ventures to hope, that if it has not been done as well +as another might have done it, it has not been done so +ill that others will wish he had left it untouched.</p> + +<p class="attr"> +O. B. F.</p> +<p class="small ind"> +<span class="smcap">New York</span>, April 12, 1876. +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>TRANSCENDENTALISM.</h2> +<p class="bb space"></p> + + + +<p class="center big"><a name="I" id="I"></a>I.</p> + +<h2>BEGINNINGS IN GERMANY.</h2> + + +<p>To make intelligible the Transcendental Philosophy +of the last generation in New England it is not necessary +to go far back into the history of thought. Ancient +idealism, whether Eastern or Western, may be left undisturbed. +Platonism and neo-Platonism may be excused +from further tortures on the witness stand. The speculations +of the mystics, Romanist or Protestant, need +not be re-examined. The idealism of Gale, More, Pordage, +of Cudworth and the later Berkeley, in England, +do not immediately concern us. We need not even +submit John Locke to fresh cross-examination, or describe +the effect of his writings on the thinkers who +came after him.</p> + +<p>The Transcendental Philosophy, so-called, had a distinct +origin in Immanuel Kant, whose "Critique of +Pure Reason" was published in 1781, and opened a +new epoch in metaphysical thought. By this it is not +meant that Kant started a new movement of the human +mind,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> + proposed original problems, or projected issues +never contemplated before. The questions he discussed +had been discussed from the earliest times, and with an +acumen that had searched out the nicest points of definition. +In the controversy between the Nominalists, who +maintained that the terms used to describe abstract and +universal ideas were mere names, designating no real +objects and corresponding to no actually existing things, +and the Realists, who contended that such terms were +not figments of language, but described realities, solid +though incorporeal, actual existences, not to be confounded +with visible and transient things, but the essential +types of such,—the scholastics of either school discussed +after their manner, with astonishing fulness and +subtlety, the matters which later metaphysicians introduced. +The modern Germans revived in substance the +doctrines held by the Realists. But the scholastic method, +which was borrowed from the Greeks, lost its authority +when the power of Aristotle's name declined, and the +scholastic discussions, turning, as they signally did, on +theological questions, ceased to be interesting when the +spell of theology was broken.</p> + +<p>Between the schools of Sensationalism and Idealism, +since John Locke, the same matters were in debate. +The Scotch as well as the English metaphysicians dealt +with them according to their genius and ability. The +different writers, as they succeeded one another, took +up the points that were presented in their day, exercised +on them such ingenuity as they possessed, and in +good faith made their several contributions to the general +fund<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> + of thought, but neglected to sink their shafts deep +enough below the surface to strike new springs of water.</p> + +<p>Locke's Essay on the Human Understanding was an +event that made an epoch in philosophy, because its +author, not satisfied to take up questions where his +predecessors had left them, undertook an independent +examination of the Human Mind, in order to ascertain +what were the conditions of its knowledge. The ability +with which this attempt was made, the entire sincerity +of it, the patient watch of the mental operations, the +sagacity that followed the trail of lurking thoughts, surprised +them in their retreats, and extracted from them +the secret of their combinations, fairly earned for him the +title of "Father of Modern Psychology." The intellectual +history of the race shows very few such examples of +single-minded fidelity combined with rugged vigor and +unaffected simplicity. With what honest directness he +announced his purpose! His book grew out of a warm +discussion among friends, the fruitlessness whereof +convinced him that both sides had taken a wrong +course; that before men set themselves upon inquiries +into the deep matters of philosophy "it was necessary +to examine our own abilities, and see what objects our +understandings were or were not fitted to deal with." To +do this was his purpose.</p> + +<p>"First," he said, "I shall inquire into the original of +those ideas, notions, or whatever else you please to call +them, which a man observes and is conscious to himself +he has in his mind; and the ways whereby the understanding +comes to be furnished with them.</p> + +<p>"Secondly,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> + I shall endeavor to show what knowledge +the understanding hath by those ideas, and the certainty, +evidence and extent of it.</p> + +<p>"Thirdly, I shall make some inquiry into the nature +and grounds of faith or opinion; whereby I mean that +assent which we give to any proposition as true, of +whose truth we have yet no certain knowledge; and we +shall have occasion to examine the reasons and degrees +of assent."</p> + +<p>Locke did his work well: how well is attested by the +excitement it caused in the intellectual world, the impulse +it gave to speculation in England and on the continent +of Europe, the controversies over the author's +opinions, the struggle of opposing schools to secure for +their doctrines his authority, the appreciation on one +side, the depreciation on the other, the disposition of one +period to exalt him as the greatest discoverer in the philosophic +realm, and the disposition of another period to +challenge his title to the name of philosopher. The "Essay" +is a small book, written in a homely, business-like +style, without affectation of depth or pretence of learning, +but it is charged with original mental force. Exhaustive +it was not; exhaustive it could not have been. The +England of the seventeenth century was not favorable +to original researches in that field. The "Essay" was +planned in 1670, completed after considerable interruptions +in 1687, and published in 1690. To one acquainted +with the phases through which England was passing at +that period, these dates will tell of untoward influences +that might account for graver deficiencies than characterize +Locke's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> + work. The scholastic philosophy, from +which Locke broke contemptuously away at Oxford, seems +to have left no mark on his mind; but the contemptuous +revulsion, and the naked self-reliance in which the sagacious +but not generously cultivated man found refuge, +probably roughened his speculative sensibility, and made +it impossible for him to handle with perfect nicety the +more delicate facts of his science. It can hardly be +claimed that Locke was endowed by nature with philosophical +genius of the highest order. While at Oxford +he abandoned philosophy, in disgust, for medicine, and +distinguished himself there by judgment and penetration. +Subsequently his attention was turned to politics, +another pursuit even less congenial with introspective +genius. These may not be the reasons for the "incompleteness" +which so glowing a eulogist as Mr. George +H. Lewes admits in the "Essay;" but at all events, +whatever the reasons may have been, the incompleteness +was felt; the debate over the author's meaning was an +open proclamation of it; at the close of a century it was +apparent to at least one mind that Locke's attempt must +be repeated, and his work done over again more carefully.</p> + +<p>The man who came to this conclusion and was moved +to act on it was <span class="smcap">Immanuel Kant</span>, born at Königsberg, +in Prussia, April 22d, 1724; died there February 12th, +1804. His was a life rigorously devoted to philosophy. +He inherited from his parents a love of truth, a respect +for moral worth, and an intellectual integrity which his +precursor in England did not more than match. He +was a master in the sciences, a proficient in languages, +a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> + man cultivated in literature, a severe student, of the +German type, whose long, calm, peaceful years were +spent in meditation, lecturing and writing. He was distinguished +as a mathematician before he was heard of as a +philosopher, having predicted the existence of the planet +Uranus before Herschel discovered it. He was forty-five +years old when these trained powers were brought +to bear on the study of the human mind: he was sixty-seven +when the meditation was ended. His book, the +"Critique of Pure Reason," was the result of twelve +years of such thinking as his genius and training made +him capable of. In what spirit and with what hope he +went about his task, appears in the Introduction and the +Prefaces to the editions of 1781 and 1787. In these he +frankly opens his mind in regard to the condition of philosophical +speculation. That condition he describes as +one of saddest indifference. The throne of Metaphysics +was vacant, and its former occupant was a wanderer, +cast off by the meanest of his subjects. Locke had +started a flight of hypotheses, which had frittered his +force away and made his effort barren of definite result. +Theories had been suggested and abandoned; the straw +had been thrashed till only dust remained; and unless a +new method could be hit on, the days of mental philosophy +might be considered as numbered. The physical +sciences would take advantage of the time, enter the deserted +house, secure possession, and set up their idols in +the ancient shrine.</p> + +<p>These sciences, it was admitted, command and deserve +unqualified respect. To discover the secret of their success +Kant<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> + passed in review their different systems, examined +them in respect to their principles and conditions +of progress, with a purpose to know what, if any, +essential difference there might be between them and the +metaphysics which had from of old claimed to be, and +had the name of being, a science. Logic, mathematics, +physics, are sciences: by virtue of what inherent peculiarity +do they claim superior right to that high appellation? +Intellectual philosophy has always been given +over to conflicting parties. Its history is a history of +controversies, and of controversies that resulted in no +triumph for either side, established no doctrine, and reclaimed +no portion of truth. Material philosophy has +made steady advances from the beginning; its disputes +have ended in demonstrations, its contests have resulted +in the establishment of legitimate authority: if its progress +has been slow it has been continuous; it has never +receded; and its variations from a straight course are +insignificant when surveyed from a position that commands +its whole career.</p> + +<p>Since Aristotle, logic has, without serious impediment +or check, matured its rules and methods. Holding +the same cardinal positions as in Aristotle's time, it has +simply made them stronger, the rules being but interpretations +of rational principles, the methods following +precisely the indications of the human mind, which from +the nature of the case remain always the same.</p> + +<p>The mathematics, again, have had their periods of +uncertainty and conjecture. But since the discovery of +the essential properties of the triangle, the career has +been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> + uninterrupted. The persistent study of constant +properties, which were not natural data, but mental conceptions +formed by the elimination of variable quantities, +led to results which had not to be abandoned.</p> + +<p>It was the same with physics. The physics of the ancients +were heaps of conjecture. The predecessors of +Galileo abandoned conjecture, put themselves face to +face with Nature, observed and classified phenomena, but +possessed no method by which their labors could be made +productive of cumulative results. But after Galileo had +experimented with balls of a given weight on an inclined +plane, and Torricelli had pushed upward a weight equal +to a known column of water, and Stahl had reduced metals +to lime and transformed lime back again into metal, +by the addition and subtraction of certain parts, the +naturalists carried a torch that illumined their path. +They perceived that reason lays her own plans, takes +the initiative with her own principles, and must compel +nature to answer her questions, instead of obsequiously +following its leading-string. It was discovered that +scattered observations, made in obedience to no fixed +plan, and associated with no necessary law, could not be +brought into systematic form. The discovery of such a +law is a necessity of reason. Reason presents herself before +nature, holding in one hand the principles which +alone have power to bring into order and harmony the +phenomena of nature; in the other hand grasping the +results of experiment conducted according to those principles. +Reason demands knowledge of nature, not as a +docile pupil who receives implicitly the master's word, +but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> + as a judge who constrains witnesses to reply to questions +put to them by the court. To this attitude are due +the happy achievements in physics; reason seeking—not +fancying—in nature, by conformity with her own +rules, what nature ought to teach, and what of herself she +could not learn. Thus physics became established upon +the solid basis of a science, after centuries of error and +groping.</p> + +<p>Wherefore now, asks Kant, are metaphysics so far behind +logic, mathematics, and physics? Wherefore these +heaps of conjecture, these vain attempts at solution? +Wherefore these futile lives of great men, these abortive +flights of genius? The study of the mind is not an arbitrary +pursuit, suggested by vanity and conducted by +caprice, to be taken up idly and relinquished at a moment's +notice. The human mind cannot acquiesce in a +judgment that condemns it to barrenness and indifference +in respect to such questions as God, the Soul, the +World, the Life to Come; it is perpetually revising and +reversing the decrees pronounced against itself. It +must accept the conditions of its being.</p> + +<p>From a review of the progress of the sciences it +appeared to Kant that their advance was owing to the +elimination of the variable elements, and the steady contemplation +of the elements that are invariable and constant, +the most essential of which is the contribution +made by the human mind. The laws that are the basis +of logic, of the mathematics, and of the higher physics, +and that give certitude to these sciences, are simply the +laws of the human mind itself. Strictly speaking, then, +it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> + is in the constitution of the human mind, irrespective +of outward objects and the application of principles to +them, that we must seek the principle of certitude. +Thus far in the history of philosophy the human mind +had not been fairly considered. Thinkers had concerned +themselves with the objects of knowledge, not with the +mind that knows. They had collected facts; they had +constructed systems; they had traced connections; they +had drawn conclusions. Few had defined the relations +of knowledge to the human mind. Yet to do that +seemed the only way to arrive at certainty, and raise +metaphysics to the established rank of physics, mathematics, +and logic.</p> + +<p>Struck with this idea, Kant undertook to transfer contemplation +from the objects that engaged the mind to the +mind itself, and thus start philosophy on a new career. +He meditated a fresh departure, and proposed to effect +in metaphysics a revolution parallel with that which +Copernicus effected in astronomy. As Copernicus, finding +it impossible to explain the movements of the heavenly +bodies on the supposition of their turning round +the globe as a centre, bethought him to posit the sun +as a centre, round which the earth with other heavenly +bodies turned—so Kant, perceiving the confusion that resulted +from making man a satellite of the external world, +resolved to try the effect of placing him in the position +of central sway. Whether this pretension was justifiable +or not, is not a subject of inquiry here. They may be +right who sneer at it as a fallacy; they may be right who +ridicule it as a conceit. We are historians, not critics. +That<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> + Kant's position was as has been described, admits +of no question. That he built great expectations on his +method is certain. He anticipated from it the overthrow +of hypotheses which, having no legitimate title to authority, +erected themselves to the dignity of dogmas, and +assumed supreme rank in the realm of speculation. That +it would be the destruction of famous demonstrations, and +would reduce renowned arguments to naught, might be +foreseen; but in the place of pretended demonstrations, +he was confident that solid ones would be established, and +arguments that were merely specious would give room +to arguments that were profound. Schools might be +broken up, but the interests of the human race would be +secured. At first it might appear as if cardinal beliefs of +mankind must be menaced with extinction as the ancient +supports one after another fell; but as soon as the new +foundations were disclosed it was anticipated that faith +would revive, and the great convictions would stand +more securely than ever. Whatever of truth the older +systems had contained would receive fresh and trustworthy +authentication; the false would be expelled; and +a method laid down by which new discoveries in the +intellectual sphere might be confidently predicted.</p> + +<p>In this spirit the author of the transcendental philosophy +began, continued, and finished his work.</p> + +<p>The word "transcendental" was not new in philosophy. +The Schoolmen had used it to describe whatever +could not be comprehended in or classified under the so-called +categories of Aristotle, who was the recognized +prince of the intellectual world. These categories were +ten<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> + in number: Quantity, Quality, Relation, Action, Passion, +The Where, The When, Position in Space, Possession, +Substance. Four things were regarded by the +Schoolmen as transcending these mental forms—namely, +Being, Truth, Unity, Goodness. It is hardly necessary +to say that the Transcendentalism of modern times owed +very little to these distinctions, if it owed anything to +them. Its origin was not from thence; its method was +so dissimilar as to seem sharply opposed.</p> + +<p>The word "transcendental" has become domesticated +in science. Transcendental anatomy inquires into the +idea, the original conception or model on which the +organic frame of animals is built, the unity of plan discernible +throughout multitudinous genera and orders. +Transcendental curves are curves that cannot be defined +by algebraic equations. Transcendental equations express +relations between transcendental qualities. Transcendental +physiology treats of the laws of development +and function, which apply, not to particular kinds or +classes of organisms, but to all organisms. In the terminology +of Kant the term "transcendent" was employed +to designate qualities that lie outside of all +"experience," that cannot be brought within the recognized +formularies of thought, cannot be reached either +by observation or reflection, or explained as the consequences +of any discoverable antecedents. The term +"transcendental" designated the fundamental conceptions, +the universal and necessary judgments, which +transcend the sphere of experience, and at the same +time impose the conditions that make experience tributary +to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> + knowledge. The transcendental philosophy +is the philosophy that is built on these necessary and +universal principles, these primary laws of mind, which +are the ground of absolute truth. The supremacy +given to these and the authority given to the truths +that result from them entitle the philosophy to its +name. "I term all cognition transcendental which +concerns itself not so much with objects, as with our +mode of cognition of objects so far as this may be possible +ŕ priori. A system of such conceptions would be +called Transcendental Philosophy."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p> +<p class="center big"><a name="II" id="II"></a>II.</p> + +<h2>TRANSCENDENTALISM IN GERMANY.</h2> + + +<h3>KANT.</h3> + +<p>There is no call to discuss here the system of Kant, +or even to describe it in detail. The means of studying +the system are within easy reach of English readers.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> +Our concern is to know the method which Kant employed, +and the use he made of it, the ground he took +and the positions he held, so far as this can be indicated +within reasonable compass, and without becoming +involved in the complexity of the author's metaphysics. +The Critique of Pure Reason is precisely what the title +imports—a searching analysis of the human mind; an +attempt to get at the ultimate grounds of thought, +to discover the ŕ priori principles. "Reason is the +faculty which furnishes the principles of cognition ŕ +priori. Therefore pure reason is that which contains the +principles of knowing something, absolutely ŕ priori. +An organon of pure reason would be a summary of +these<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> + principles, according to which all pure cognition ŕ +priori can be obtained, and really accomplished. The +extended application of such an organon would furnish +a system of pure reason."</p> + +<p>The problem of modern philosophy may be thus +stated: <i>Have we or have we not ideas that are true +of necessity, and absolutely? Are there ideas that can +fairly be pronounced independent in their origin of experience, +and out of the reach of experience by their +nature?</i> One party contended that all knowledge +was derived from experience; that there was nothing +in the intellect that had not previously been +in the senses: the opposite party maintained that a +portion, at least, of knowledge came from the mind +itself; that the intellect contained powers of its own, +and impressed its forms upon the phenomena of sense. +The extreme doctrine of the two schools was represented, +on the one side by the materialists, on the other +by the mystics. Between these two extremes various +degrees of compromise were offered.</p> + +<p>The doctrine of innate ideas, ascribed to Descartes,—though +he abandoned it as untenable in its crude form,—affirmed +that certain cardinal ideas, such as causality, +infinity, substance, eternity, were native to the mind, +born in it as part of its organic constitution, wholly +independent therefore of experience. Locke claimed +for the mind merely a power of reflection by which it +was able to modify and alter the material given by the +senses, thus exploding the doctrine of innate ideas.</p> + +<p>Leibnitz, anxious to escape the danger into which +Descartes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> + fell, of making the outward world purely +phenomenal, an expression of unalterable thought, and +also to escape the consequences of Locke's position +that all knowledge originates in the senses, suggested +that the understanding itself was independent of experience, +that though it did not contain ideas like a vessel, +it was entitled to be called a power of forming ideas, +which have, as in mathematics, a character of necessary +truths. These necessary laws of the understanding, +which experience had no hand in creating, are, according +to Leibnitz, the primordial conditions of human +knowledge.</p> + +<p>Hume, taking Locke at his word, that all knowledge +came from experience, that the mind was a passive +recipient of impressions, with no independent intellectual +substratum, reasoned that mind was a fiction; and +taking Berkeley at his word that the outward world had +no material existence, and no <i>apparent</i> existence except +to our perception, he reasoned that matter was a fiction. +Mind and matter both being fictions, there could be no +certain knowledge; truth was unattainable; ideas were +illusions. The opposing schools of philosophers annihilated +each other, and the result was scepticism.</p> + +<p>Hume started Kant on his long and severe course of +investigation, the result of which was, that neither of the +antagonist parties could sustain itself: that Descartes +was wrong in asserting that such abstract ideas as causality, +infinity, substance, time, space, are independent of +experience, since without experience they would not +exist, and experience takes from them form only; that +Locke<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> + was wrong in asserting that all ideas originated +in experience, and were resolvable into it, since the +ideas of causality, substance, infinity and others certainly +did not so originate, and were not thus resolvable. +It is idle to dispute whether knowledge comes from one +source or another—from without through sensation, or +from within through intuition; the everlasting battle +between idealism and realism, spiritualism and materialism, +can never result in victory to either side. Mind +and universe, intelligence and experience, suppose each +other; neither alone is operative to produce knowledge. +Knowledge is the product of their mutual co-operation. +Mind does not originate ideas, neither does sensation +impart them. Object and subject, sterile by themselves, +become fruitful by conjunction. There are not two +sources of knowledge, but one only, and that one is +produced by the union of the two apparent opposites. +Truth is the crystallization, so to speak, that results +from the combined elements.</p> + +<p>Let us follow the initial steps of Kant's analysis. +Mind and Universe—Subject and Object—Ego and Non-ego, +stand opposite one another, front to front. Mind +is conscious only of its own operations: the subject +alone considers. The first fact noted is, that the subject +is sensitive to impressions made by outward things, and +is receptive of them. Dwelling on this fact, we discover +that while the impressions are many in number and of +great variety, they all, whatever their character, fall +within certain inflexible and unalterable conditions—those +of space and time—which must, therefore, be regarded +as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> + pre-established forms of sensibility. "Time +is no empirical conception which can be deduced from +experience. Time is a necessary representation which +lies at the foundation of all intuitions. Time is given +ŕ priori. In it alone is any reality of phenomena possible. +These disappear, but it cannot be annihilated." +So of space. "Space is an intuition, met with in us +ŕ priori, antecedent to any perception of objects, a pure, +not an empirical intuition." These two forms of sensibility, +inherent and invariable, to which all experiences +are subject, are primeval facts of consciousness. Kant's +argument on the point whether or no space and time +have an existence apart from the mind, is interesting, +but need not detain us.</p> + +<p>The materials furnished by sensibility are taken up by +the understanding, which classifies, interprets, judges, +compares, reduces to unity, eliminates, converts, and +thus fashions sensations into conceptions, transmutes impressions +into thoughts. Here fresh processes of analysis +are employed in classifying judgments, and determining +their conditions. All judgments, it is found, must +conform to one of four invariable conditions. I. Quantity, +which may be subdivided into unity, plurality, and +totality: the one, the many, the whole. II. Quality, +which is divisible as reality, negation, and limitation: +something, nothing, and the more or less. III. Relation, +which also comprises three heads: substance and accident, +cause and effect, reciprocity, or action and reaction. +IV. Modality, which embraces the possible and +the impossible, the existent and the non-existent, the +necessary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> + and the contingent. These categories, as they +were called, after the terminology of Aristotle, were supposed +to exhaust the forms of conception.</p> + +<p>Having thus arrived at conceptions, thoughts, judgments, +another faculty comes in to classify the conceptions, +link the thoughts together, reduce the judgments +to general laws, draw inferences, fix conclusions, proceed +from the particular to the general, recede from the general +to the particular, mount from the conditioned to the +unconditioned, till it arrives at ultimate principles. This +faculty is reason,—the supreme faculty, above sensibility, +above understanding. Reason gives the final generalization, +the idea of a universe comprehending the +infinitude of details presented by the senses, and the +worlds of knowledge shaped by the understanding; the +idea of a personality embracing the infinite complexities +of feeling, and gathering under one dominion the realms +of consciousness; the idea of a supreme unity combining +in itself both the other ideas; the absolute perfection, +the infinite and eternal One, which men describe +by the word God.</p> + +<p>Here the thinker rested. His search could be carried +no further. He had, as he believed, established the independent +dominion of the mind, had mapped out its +confines, had surveyed its surface; he had confronted +the idealist with the reality of an external world; he had +confronted the sceptic with laws of mind that were +independent of experience; and, having done so much, +he was satisfied, and refused to move an inch beyond +the ground he occupied. To those who applied to him +for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> + a system of positive doctrines, or for ground on +which a system of positive doctrines could be erected, +he declined to give aid. The mind, he said, cannot go +out of itself, cannot transgress its own limits. It has +no faculty by which it can perceive things <i>as they are</i>; +no vision to behold objects corresponding to its ideas; +no power to bridge over the gulf between its own consciousness +and a world of realities existing apart from +it. Whether there be a spiritual universe answering to +our conception, a Being justifying reason's idea of supreme +unity, a soul that can exist in an eternal, supersensible +world, are questions the philosopher declined +to discuss. The contents of his own mind were revealed +to him, no more. Kant laid the foundations, he built no +structure. He would not put one stone upon another; +he declared it to be beyond the power of man to put +one stone upon another. The attempts which his +earnest disciples—Fichte, for example—made to erect +a temple on his foundation he repudiated. As the +existence of an external world, though a necessary +postulate, could not be demonstrated, but only logically +affirmed; so the existence of a spiritual world +of substantial entities corresponding to our conceptions, +though a necessary inference, could only be +logically affirmed, not demonstrated. Our idea of +God is no proof that God exists. That there is a +God may be an irresistible persuasion, but it can be +nothing more; it cannot be knowledge. Of the facts +of consciousness, the reality of the ideas in the mind, +we may be certain; our belief in them is clear and +solid;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> + but from <i>belief</i> in them there is no bridge to +<i>them</i>.</p> + +<p>Kant asserted the veracity of consciousness, and demanded +an absolute acknowledgment of that veracity. +The fidelity of the mind to itself was a first principle +with him. Having these ideas, of the soul, of God, of a +moral law; being certain that they neither originated in +experience, nor depended on experience for their validity; +that they transcended experience altogether—man +was committed to an unswerving and uncompromising +loyalty to himself. His prime duty consisted in deference +to the integrity of his own mind. The laws of his +intellectual and moral nature were inviolable. Whether +there was or was not a God; whether there was or was +not a substantial world of experience where the idea of +rectitude could be realized, the dictate of duty justified, +the soul's affirmation of good ratified by actual +felicity,—rectitude +was none the less incumbent on the rational +mind; the law of duty was none the less imperative; +the vision of good none the less glorious and inspiring. +Virtue had its principle in the constitution of the mind +itself. Every virtue had there its seat. There was no +sweetness of purity, no heroism of faith, that had not an +abiding-place in this impregnable fortress.</p> + +<p>Thus, while on the speculative side Kant came out a +sceptic in regard to the dogmatic beliefs of mankind, on +the practical side he remained the fast friend of intellectual +truth and moral sanctity. Practical ethics never +had a more stanch supporter than Immanuel Kant. If +a man cannot pass beyond the confines of his own +mind,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> + he has, at all events, within his own mind a +temple, a citadel, a home.</p> + +<p>The "Critique of Pure Reason" made no impression +on its first appearance. But no sooner was its significance +apprehended, than a storm of controversy betrayed +the fact that even the friends of the new teacher +were less content than he was to be shut up in their +own minds. The calm, passionless, imperturbable man +smoked his pipe in the peace of meditation; eager +thinkers, desirous of getting more out of the system +than its author did, were impatient at his backwardness, +and made the intellectual world ring with their calls to +improve upon and complete his task.</p> + +<p>The publication of Kant's great work did not put an +end to the wars of philosophy. On the contrary, they +raged about it more furiously than ever. As the two +schools found in Locke fresh occasion for renewing their +strife under the cover of that great name, so here again +the latent elements of discord were discovered and +speedily brought to the surface. The sceptics seized on +the sceptical bearings of the new analysis, and proceeded +to build their castle from the materials it furnished; +the idealists took advantage of the positions gained by +the last champion, and pushed their lines forward in the +direction of transcendental conquest. We are not called +on to follow the sceptics, however legitimate their +course, and we shall but indicate the progress made by +the idealists, giving their cardinal principles, as we have +done those of their master.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p> +<h3>JACOBI.</h3> + +<p>The first important step in the direction of pure +transcendentalism was taken by Frederick Henry Jacobi, +who was born at Düsseldorf, January 25, 1743. He +was a man well educated in philosophy, with a keen +interest in the study of it, though not a philosopher by +profession, or a systematic writer on metaphysical subjects. +His position was that of a civilian who devoted +the larger part of his time to the duties of a public office +under the government. His writings consist mainly of +letters, treatises on special points of metaphysical inquiry, +and articles in the philosophical journals. His official +position gave repute to the productions of his pen, and +the circumstance of his being, not an amateur precisely, +but a devotee of philosophy for the love of it and not as +a professional business, imparted to his speculation the +freshness of personal feeling. His ardent temperament, +averse to scepticism, and touched with a mystical enthusiasm, +rebelled against the formal and deadly precision +of the analytical method, and sought a way out from the +intellectual bleakness of the Kantean metaphysics into +the sunshine and air of a living spiritual world. The +critics busied themselves with mining and sapping the +foundations of consciousness as laid by the philosopher +of Königsberg, who, they complained, had been too easy +in conceding the necessity of an outward world. Jacobi +accepted with gratitude the intellectual basis afforded, +and proceeded to erect thereupon his observatory for +studying the heavens. Though not the originator of the +"Faith<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> + Philosophy," as it was called, he became the +finisher and the best known expositor of it. "Since the +time of Aristotle," he said, "it has been the effort of +philosophical schools to rank direct and immediate +knowledge below mediate and indirect; to subordinate +the capacity for original perception to the capacity for +reflection on abstract ideas; to make intuition secondary +to understanding, the sense of essential things to definitions. +Nothing is accepted that does not admit of being +proved by formal and logical process, so that, at last, +the result is looked for there, and there only. The +validity of intuition is disallowed."</p> + +<p>Jacobi's polemics were directed therefore against the +systems of Spinoza, Leibnitz, Wolf—in a word against all +systems that led to scepticism and dogmatism; and his +positive efforts were employed in constructing a system +of Faith. His key-word was "Faith," by which he +meant intuition, the power of gazing immediately on +essential truth; an intellectual faculty which he finally +called Reason, by which supersensual objects become +visible, as material objects become visible to the physical +eye; an inward sense, a spiritual eye, that "gives evidence +of things not seen and substance to things hoped +for;" a faculty of vision to which truths respecting God, +Providence, Immortality, Freedom, the Moral Law, +are palpably disclosed. Kant had pronounced it impossible +to prove that the transcendental idea had a corresponding +reality as objective being. Jacobi declared that +no such proof was needed; that the reality was necessarily +assumed. Kant had denied the existence of any +faculty<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> + that could guarantee the existence of either a sensual +or a supersensual world. Jacobi was above all else +certain that such a faculty there was, that it was altogether +trustworthy, and that it actually furnished material +for religious hope and spiritual life: the only possible +material, he went on to say; for without this capacity +of intuition, philosophy could be in his judgment nothing +but an insubstantial fabric, a castle in the air, a thing +of definitions and terminologies, a shifting body of hot +and cold vapor.</p> + +<p>This, it will be observed, seemed a legitimate consequence +of Kant's method. Kant had admitted the subjective +reality of sensible impressions, and had claimed a +similar reality for our mental images of supersensible +things. He allowed the validity <i>as conceptions</i>, the practical +validity, of the ideas of God, Duty, Immortality. Jacobi +contended that having gone so far, it was lawful if +not compulsory to go farther; that the subjective reality +implied an objective reality; that the practical inference +was as valid as any logical inference could be; and that +through the intuition of reason the mind was placed +again in a living universe of divine realities.</p> + +<p>Chalybäus says of Jacobi: "With deep penetration +he traced the mystic fountain of desire after the highest +and best, to the point where it discloses itself as an immediate +feeling in consciousness; that this presentiment +was nothing more than Kant said it was—a faint mark +made by the compressing chain of logic, he would not +allow; he described it rather as the special endowment +and secret treasure of the human mind, which he that +would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> + not lose it must guard against the touch of evil-minded +curiosity; for whoever ventures into this sanctuary +with the torch of science, will fare as did the youth +before the veiled image at Sais." And again: "This +point, that a self-subsisting truth must correspond to the +conscious idea, that the subject must have an object +which is personal like itself, is the ore that Jacobi was +intent on extracting from the layers of consciousness: +he disclosed it only in part, but unsatisfactory as his exposition +was to the stern inquisition of science, his purpose +was so strong, his aim so single, we cannot wonder +that, in spite of the outcry and the scorn against his +'Faith or Feeling Philosophy,' his thought survived, +and even entered on a new career in later times. It +must, however, be confessed that instead of following up +his clue, speculative fashion, he laid down his undeveloped +theorem as an essential truth, above speculation, +declaring that speculation must end in absolute idealism, +which was but another name for nihilism and fatalism. +Jacobi made his own private consciousness a measure +for the human mind." At the close of his chapter, +Chalybäus quotes Hegel's verdict, expressed in these +words: "Jacobi resembles a solitary thinker, who, in +his life's morning, finds an ancient riddle hewn in the +primeval rock; he believes that the riddle contains a +truth, but he tries in vain to discover it. The day long +he carries it about with him; entices weighty suggestions +from it; displays it in shapes of teaching and imagery +that fascinate listeners, inspiring noblest wishes and anticipations: +but the interpretation eludes him, and at +evening<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> + he lays him down in the hope that a celestial +dream or the next morning's waking will make articulate +the word he longs for and has believed in."</p> + + +<h3>FICHTE.</h3> + +<p>The transcendental philosophy received from Jacobi +an impulse toward mysticism. From another master it +received an impulse toward heroism. This master was +Johann Gottlieb Fichte, born at Rammenau, in Upper +Lusatia, on the 19th of May, 1762. A short memoir of +him by William Smith, published in 1845, with a translation +of the "Nature of the Scholar," and reprinted in +Boston, excited a deep interest among people who had +neither sympathy with his philosophy nor intelligence +to comprehend it. He was a great mind, and a greater +character—sensitive, proud, brave, determined, enthusiastic, +imperious, aspiring; a mighty soul; "a cold, +colossal, adamantine spirit, standing erect and clear, like +a Cato Major among degenerate men; fit to have been +the teacher of the Stoa, and to have discoursed of beauty +and virtue in the groves of Academe! So robust an intellect, +a soul so calm, so lofty, massive, and immovable, +has not mingled in philosophical discussion since the +time of Luther. For the man rises before us amid contradiction +and debate like a granite mountain amid clouds +and winds. As a man approved by action and suffering, +in his life and in his death, he ranks with a class of +men who were common only in better ages than ours." +Thus<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> + wrote Thomas Carlyle of him more than a generation +ago.</p> + +<p>The direction given to philosophy by such a man could +not but be decided and bold. His short treatises, all +marked by intellectual power, some by glowing eloquence, +carried his thoughts beyond the philosophical +circle and spread his leading principles far beyond the +usual speculative lines. "The Destination of Man," +"The Vocation of the Scholar," "The Nature of the +Scholar," "The Vocation of Man," "The Characteristics +of the Present Age," "The Way towards the +Blessed Life," were translated into English, published +in the "Catholic Series" of John Chapman, and extensively +read. The English reviewers helped to make the +author and his ideas known to many readers.</p> + +<p>The contribution that Fichte made to the transcendental +philosophy may be described without using many +words. He became acquainted with Kant's system in +Leipsic, where he was teaching, in 1790. The effect it +had on him is described in letters to his friends. To +one he wrote: "The last four or five months which +I have passed in Leipsic have been the happiest of +my life; and the most satisfactory part of it is, that I +have to thank no man for the smallest ingredient in its +pleasures. When I came to Leipsic my brain swarmed +with great plans. All were wrecked; and of so many +soap-bubbles there now remains not even the light froth +that composed them. This disturbed a little my peace +of mind, and half in despair I joined a party to which I +should long ere this have belonged. Since I could not +alter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> + my outward condition, I resolved on internal +change. I threw myself into philosophy, and, as you +know, the Kantean. Here I found the remedy for my +ills, and joy enough to boot. The influence of this philosophy, +the moral part of it in particular (which, however, +is unintelligible without previous study of the 'Critique +of Pure Reason'), on the whole spiritual life, and +especially the revolution it has caused in my own mode +of thought, is indescribable." To another he wrote +in similar strain: "I have lived in a new world since +reading the 'Critique of Pure Reason.' Principles I +believed irrefragable are refuted; things I thought +could never be proved—the idea of absolute freedom, of +duty, for example—are demonstrated; and I am so much +the happier. It is indescribable what respect for +humanity, what power this system gives us. What a +blessing to an age in which morality was torn up by the +roots, and the word duty blotted out of the dictionary!" +To Johanna Rahn he expresses himself in still heartier +terms: "My scheming mind has found rest at last, and +I thank Providence that shortly before all my hopes were +frustrated I was placed in a position which enabled me to +bear the disappointment with cheerfulness. A circumstance +that seemed the result of mere chance induced me +to devote myself entirely to the study of the Kantean +philosophy—a philosophy that restrains the imagination, +always too strong with me, gives reason sway, and raises +the soul to an unspeakable height above all earthly +concerns. I have accepted a nobler morality, and instead +of busying myself with outward things, I concern +myself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> + more with my own being. It has given me a +peace such as I never before experienced; amid uncertain +worldly prospects I have passed my happiest days. +It is difficult beyond all conception, and stands greatly +in need of simplification.... The first elements are +hard speculations, that have no direct bearing on human +life, but their conclusions are most important for an age +whose morality is corrupted at the fountain head; and +to set these consequences before the world would, I believe, +be doing it a good service. I am now thoroughly +convinced that the human will is free, and that to be +happy is not the purpose of our being, but to deserve +happiness." So great was Fichte's admiration of Kant's +system, that he became at once an expositor of its principles, +in the hope that he might render it intelligible +and attractive to minds of ordinary culture.</p> + +<p>Fichte considered himself a pure Kantean, perhaps +the only absolutely consistent one there was; and that he +did so is not surprising; for, in mending the master's +positions, he seemed to be strengthening them against +assault. He did not, like Jacobi, draw inferences which +Kant had laboriously, and, as it seemed, effectually cut +off; he merely entrenched himself within the lines the +philosopher of Königsberg had drawn. Kant had, so +his critics charged, taken for granted the reality of our +perceptions of outward things. This was the weak point +in his system, of which his adversaries took advantage. +On this side he allowed empiricism to construct his wall, +and left incautiously an opening which the keen-sighted +foe perceived at once. Fichte bethought him to fortify +that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> + point, and thus make the philosophy unassailable; +to take it, in fact, out of the category of a philosophical +system, and give it the character of a science. To this +end, with infinite pains and incredible labor, he tested +the foundations to discover the fundamental and final +facts which rested on the solid rock. The ultimate facts +of consciousness were in question.</p> + +<p>Fichte accepted without hesitation the confinement +within the limits of consciousness against which Jacobi +rebelled, and proceeded to make the prison worthy +of such an occupant. The facts of consciousness, he admitted, +are all we have. The states and activities of the +mind, perceptions, ideas, judgments, sentiments, or by +whatever other name they may be called, constitute, by +his admission, all our knowledge, and beyond them we +cannot go. They are, however, solid and substantial. +Of the outward world he knew nothing and had nothing +to say; he was not concerned with that. The mind is +the man; the history of the mind is the man's history; +the processes of the mind report the whole of experience; +the phenomena of the external universe are mere phenomena, +reflections, so far as we know, of our thought; +the mountains, woods, stars, are facts of consciousness, +to which we attach these names. To infer that they exist +because we have ideas of them, is illegitimate in philosophy. +The ideas stand by themselves, and are sufficient +of themselves.</p> + +<p>The mind is first, foremost, creative and supreme. It +takes the initiative in all processes. He that assumes +the existence of an external world does so on the authority +of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> + consciousness. If he says that consciousness compels +us to assume the existence of such a world, that it +is so constituted as to imply the realization of its conception, +still we have simply the fact of consciousness; +power to verify the relation between this inner fact and +a corresponding physical representation, there is none. +Analyze the facts of consciousness as much as we may, +revise them, compare them, we are still within their +circle and cannot pass beyond its limit. Is it urged that +the existence of an external world is a <i>necessary</i> postulate? +The same reply avails, namely, that the idea of necessity +is but one of our ideas, a conception of the mind, +an inner notion or impression which legitimates itself +alone. Does the objector further insist, in a tone of exasperation +caused by what seems to him quibbling, that +in this case consciousness plays us false, makes a promise +to the ear which it breaks to the hope—lies, in short? +The imperturbable philosopher sets aside the insinuation +as an impertinence. The fact of consciousness, he +maintains, stands and testifies for itself. It is not answerable +for anything out of its sphere. In saying what +it does it speaks the truth; the whole truth, so far as +we can determine. Whether or no it is absolutely the +whole truth, the truth as it lies in a mind otherwise constituted, +is no concern of ours.</p> + +<p>The reasoning by which Fichte cut off the certainty of +a material world outside of the mind, told with equal +force against the objective existence of a spiritual world. +The mental vision being bounded by the mental sphere, +its objects being there and only there, with them we +must<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> + be content. The soul has its domain, untrodden +forests to explore, silent and trackless ways to follow, +mystery to rest in, light to walk by, fountains and floods +of living water, starry firmaments of thought, continents +of reason, zones of law, and with this domain it +must be satisfied. God is one of its ideas; immortality is +another; that they are anything more than ideas, cannot +be known.</p> + +<p>That the charge of atheism should be brought +against so uncompromising a thinker, is a less grave imputation +upon the discernment of his contemporaries +than ordinarily it is. That he should have been obliged, +in consequence of it, to leave Jena, and seek an asylum +in Prussia, need not excite indignation, at least in those +who remember his unwillingness or inability to modify +his view, or explain the sense in which he called himself +a believer. To "charge" a man with atheism, as if +atheism were guilt, is a folly to be ashamed of; but +to "class" a man among atheists who <i>in no sense</i> accepts +the doctrine of an intelligent, creative Cause, is +just, while language has meaning. And this is Fichte's +position. In his philosophy there was no place for assurance +of a Being corresponding to the mental conception. +The word "God" with him expressed the category +of the Ideal. The world being but the incarnation of +our sense of duty, the reflection of the mind, the creator +of it is the mind. God, being a reflection of the soul in its +own atmosphere, is one of the soul's creations, a shadow +on the surface of a pool. The soul creates; deity is created. +This is not even ideal atheism, like that of Etienne +Vacherot;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> + it may be much nobler and more inspiring +than the recognized forms of theism; it is dogmatic or +speculative atheism only: but that it is, and that it +should confess itself. It was natural that Fichte, being +perfect master of his thought, should disclaim and resent +an imputation which in spirit he felt was undeserved. +It was natural that people who were not masters of his +thought, and would not have appreciated it if they had +been, should judge him by the only definitions they had. +Berkeley and Fichte stood at opposite extremes in their +Idealism. Berkeley, starting from the theological conception +of God, maintained that the outward world had +a real existence in the supreme mind, being phenomenal +only to the human. Fichte, starting from the human +mind, contended that it was <i>altogether</i> phenomenal, the +supreme mind itself being phantasmal.</p> + +<p>How came it, some will naturally ask, that such a man +escaped the deadly consequences of such resolute introspection? +Where was there the indispensable basis for +action and reaction? Life is conditioned by limitation; +the shore gives character to the sea; the outward world +gives character to the man, excites his energy, defines +his aim, trains his perception, educates his will, offers a +horizon to his hope. The outward world being removed, +dissipated, resolved into impalpable thought, what substitute +for it can be devised? Must not the man sink +into a visionary, and waste his life in dream?</p> + +<p>That Fichte was practically no dreamer, has already +been said. The man who closed a severe, stately, and +glowing lecture on duty with the announcement—it +was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> + in 1813, when the French drums were rattling in the +street, at times drowning the speaker's voice—that the +course would be suspended till the close of the campaign, +and would be resumed, if resumed at all, in a free country, +and thereupon, with a German patriot's enthusiasm, +rushed himself into the field—this man was no visionary, +lost in dreams. The internal world was with him a living +world; the mind was a living energy; ideas were +things; principles were verities; the laws of thought +were laws of being. So intense was his feeling of the +substantial nature of these invisible entities, that the obverse +side of them, the negation of them, had all the <i>vis +inertia</i>, all the objective validity of external things. He +spoke of "absolute limitations," "inexplicable limitations," +against which the mind pressed as against palpable +obstacles, and in pressing against which it acquired +tension and vigor. Passing from the realm of speculation +into that of practice, the obstacles assumed the +attributes of powers, the impediments became foes, +to be resisted as strenuously as ever soldier opposed +soldier in battle. From the strength of this conviction +he was enabled to say: "I am well convinced that +this life is not a scene of enjoyment, but of labor and +toil, and that every joy is granted but to strengthen +us for further exertion; that the control of our fate is +not required of us, but only our self-culture. I give +myself no concern about external things; I endeavor to +<i>be</i>, not to <i>seem</i>; I am no man's master, and no man's +slave."</p> + +<p>Fichte was a sublime egoist. In his view, the mind +was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> + sovereign and absolute, capable of spontaneous, +self-determined, originating action, having power to propose +its own end and pursue its own freely-chosen +course; a live intelligence, eagerly striving after self-development, +to fulfil all the possibilities of its nature. +Of one thing he was certain—the reality of the rational +soul, and in that certainty lay the ground of his tremendous +weight of assertion. His professional chair was a +throne; his discourses were prophecies; his tone was +the tone of an oracle. It made the blood burn to hear +him; it makes the blood burn at this distance to read +his printed words. To cite a few sentences from his +writings in illustration of the man's way of dealing with +the great problems of life, is almost a necessity. The +following often-quoted but pregnant passage is from +"The Destination of Man:" "I understand thee now, +spirit sublime! I have found the organ by which to apprehend +this reality, and probably all other. It is not +knowledge, for knowledge can only demonstrate and +establish itself; every kind of knowledge supposes some +higher knowledge upon which it is founded; and of this +ascent there is no end. It is faith, that voluntary repose +in the ideas that naturally come to us, because through +these only we can fulfil our destiny; which sets its seal +on knowledge, and raises to conviction, to certainty, +what, without it, might be sheer delusion. It is not +knowledge, but a resolve to commit one's self to knowledge. +No merely verbal distinction this, but a true and +deep one, charged with momentous consequences to the +whole character. All conviction is of faith, and proceeds +from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> + the heart, not from the understanding. +Knowing this, I will enter into no controversy, for I +foresee that in this way nothing can be gained. I will +not endeavor, by reasoning, to press my conviction on +others, nor will I be discouraged if such an attempt +should fail. My mode of thinking I have adopted for +myself, not for others, and to myself only need I justify +it. Whoever has the same upright intention will also +attain the same or a similar conviction, and without it +that is impossible. Now that I know this, I know also +from what point all culture of myself and others must +proceed; from the will, and not from the understanding. +Let but the first be steadily directed toward the +good, the last will of itself apprehend the true. Should +the last be exercised and developed, while the first remains +neglected, nothing can result but a facility in vain +and endless refinements of sophistry. In faith I possess +the test of all truth and all conviction; truth originates +in the conscience, and what contradicts its authority, or +makes us unwilling or incapable of rendering obedience +to it, is most certainly false, even should I be unable to +discover the fallacies through which it is reached.... What +unity, what completeness and dignity, our human nature receives from this view! Our +thought is not based on itself, independently of our instincts +and inclinations. Man does not consist of two +beings running parallel to each other; he is absolutely +one. Our entire system of thought is founded on intuition; +as is the heart of the individual, so is his knowledge."</p> + +<p>"The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> + everlasting world now rises before me more +brightly, and the fundamental laws of its order are +more clearly revealed to my mental vision. The will +alone, lying hid from mortal eyes in the obscurest depths +of the soul, is the first link in a chain of consequences +that stretches through the invisible realm of spirit, as, +in this terrestrial world, the action itself, a certain movement +communicated to matter, is the first link in a +material chain that encircles the whole system. The +will is the effective cause, the living principle of the +world of spirit, as motion is of the world of sense. +The will is in itself a constituent part of the transcendental +world. By my free determination I change and +set in motion something in this transcendental world, +and my energy gives birth to an effect that is new, permanent, +and imperishable. Let this will find expression +in a practical deed, and this deed belongs to the world +of sense and produces effects according to the virtue it +contains."</p> + +<p>This is the stoical aspect of the doctrine. The softer +side of it appears throughout the book that is entitled +"The Way towards the Blessed Life." We quote a few +passages from the many the eloquence whereof does no +more than justice to the depth of sentiment:</p> + +<p>"Full surely there is a blessedness beyond the grave +for those who have already entered on it here, and in no +other form than that wherein they know it here, at any +moment. By mere burial man arrives not at bliss; and +in the future life, throughout its whole infinite range, +they will seek for happiness as vainly as they sought it +here,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> + who seek it in aught else than that which so closely +surrounds them here—the Infinite."</p> + +<p>"Religion consists herein, that man in his own person, +with his own spiritual eye, immediately beholds and +possesses God. This, however, is possible through pure +independent thought alone; for only through this does +man assume real personality, and this alone is the eye +to which God becomes visible. Pure thought is itself +the divine existence; and conversely, the divine existence, +in its immediate essence, is nothing else than +pure thought."</p> + +<p>"The truly religious man conceives of his world as +action, which, because it is his world, he alone creates, +in which alone he can live and find satisfaction. This +action he does not will for the sake of results in the +world of sense; he is in no respect anxious in regard to +results, for he lives in action simply as action; he wills +it because it is the will of God in him, and his own peculiar +portion in being."</p> + +<p>"As to those in whom the will of God is not inwardly +accomplished,—because there is no inward life in them, +for they are altogether outward,—upon them the will of +God is wrought as alone it can be; appearing at first +sight bitter and ungracious, though in reality merciful +and loving in the highest degree. To those who do not +love God, all things must work together immediately +for pain and torment, until, by means of the tribulation, +they are led to salvation at last."</p> + +<p>Language like this from less earnest lips might be deceptive; +but from the lips of a teacher like Fichte it +tells<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> + of the solid grandeurs that faithful men possess in +the ideal creations of their souls; the habitableness of +air-castles.</p> + + +<h3>SCHELLING.</h3> + +<p>The chief sources from which the transcendental philosophy +came from Germany to America have been indicated. +The traces of Jacobi and Fichte are broad and +distinct on the mind of the New World. Of Schelling little +need be said, for his works were not translated into English, +and the French translation of the "Transcendental +Idealism" was not announced till 1850, when the movement +in New England was subsiding. His system was +too abstract and technical in form to interest any but his +countrymen. Coleridge was fascinated by it, and yielded +to the fascination so far as to allow the thoughts of the +German metaphysician to take possession of his mind; +but for Coleridge, indeed, few English-speaking men +would have known what the system was. Transcendentalism +in New England was rather spiritual and practical +than metaphysical. Jacobi and Fichte were both; +it can scarcely be said that Schelling was either. His +books were hard; his ideas underwent continual changes +in detail; his speculative system was developed gradually +in a long course of years. But for certain grandiose +conceptions which had a charm for the imagination +and fascinated the religious sentiment, his name need not +be mentioned in this little incidental record at all. There +was, however, in Schelling something that recalled the +ideal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> + side of Plato, more that suggested Plotinus, the +neo-Platonists and Alexandrines, a mystical pantheistic +quality that mingled well with the general elements of +Idealism, and gave atmosphere, as it were, to the tender +feeling of Jacobi and the heroic will of Fichte.</p> + +<p>Schelling was Fichte's disciple, filled his vacant chair +in Jena in 1798, and took his philosophical departure +from certain of his positions. Fichte had shut the man +up close in himself, had limited the conception of the +world by the boundaries of consciousness, had reduced +the inner universe to a full-orbed creation, made its facts +substantial and its fancies solid, peopled it with living +forces, and found room in it for the exercise of a complete +moral and spiritual life. In his system the soul was +creator. The outer universe had its being in human +thought. Subject and object were one, and that one +was the subject.</p> + +<p>Schelling restored the external world to its place as an +objective reality, no fiction, no projection from the +human mind. Subject and object, in his view, were one, +but in the <span class="smcap">ABSOLUTE</span>, the universal soul, the infinite and +eternal mind. His original fire mist was the unorganized +intelligence of which the universe was the expression. +Finite minds are but phases of manifestation of the infinite +mind, inlets into which it flows, some deeper, +wider, longer than others. Spirit and matter are reverse +aspects of being. Spirit is invisible nature, nature invisible +spirit. Starting from nature, we may work our +way into intelligence; starting from intelligence, we may +work our way out to nature. Thought and existence +having<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> + the same ground, ideal and real being one, +the work of philosophy is twofold—from nature to arrive +at spirit, from spirit to arrive at nature. They who +wish to know how Schelling did it must consult the +histories of philosophy; the most popular of them will +satisfy all but the experts. It is easy to conjecture into +what mysterious ways the clue might lead, and in what +wilderness of thickets the reader might be lost; how in +mind we are to see nature struggling upward into consciousness, +and in nature mind seeking endless forms of +finite expression. To unfold both processes, in uniform +and balanced movement, avoiding pantheism on one +side, and materialism on the other, was the endeavor we +shall not attempt, even in the most cursory manner, to +describe. God becomes conscious in man, the philosophic +man, the man of reason, in whom the absolute being +recognizes himself. The reason gazes immediately +on the eternal realities, by virtue of what was called +"intellectual intuition," which beholds both subject and +object as united in a single thought. Reason was impersonal, +no attribute of the finite intelligence, no fact +of the individual consciousness, but a faculty, if that be +the word for it, that transcended all finite experience, +commanded a point superior to consciousness, was, in +fact, the all-seeing eye confronting itself. What room here +for intellectual rovers! What mystic groves for ecstatic +souls to lose themselves in! What intricate mazes for +those who are fond of hunting phantoms! Flashes of dim +glory from this tremendous speculation are seen in the +writings of Emerson, Parker, Alcott, and other seers, +probably<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> + caught by reflection, or struck out, as they +were by Schelling himself, by minds moving on the same +level. In Germany the lines of speculation were carried +out in labyrinthine detail, as, fortunately, they were not +elsewhere.</p> + +<p>Of Hegel, the successor in thought of Schelling, there +is no call here to speak at all. His speculation, though +influential in America, as influential as that of either +of his predecessors, was scarcely known thirty-five +years ago, and if it had been, would have possessed +little charm for idealists of the New England stamp. +That system has borne fruits of a very different quality, +being adopted largely by churchmen, whom it has justified +and fortified in their ecclesiastical forms, doctrinal and +sacramental, and by teachers of moderately progressive +tendencies. The duty of unfolding his ideas has devolved +upon students of German, as no other language +has given them anything like adequate expression. +Hegel, too, was more formidable than Schelling; the +latter was brilliant, dashing, imaginative, glowing; his +ideas shone in the air, and were caught with little toil by +enthusiastic minds. To comprehend or even to apprehend +Hegel requires more philosophical culture than +was found in New England half a century ago, more +than is by any means common to-day. Modern speculative +philosophy is, as a rule, Hegelian. Its spirit is +conservative, and it scarcely at all lends countenance to +movements so revolutionary as those that shook New +England.</p> + +<p>Long before the time we are dealing with—as early as +1824—the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> + philosophy of Hegel had struck hands with +church and state in Prussia; Hegel was at once prophet, +priest, and prince. In the fulness of his powers, ripe +in ability and in fame, he sat in the chair that Fichte +had occupied, and gave laws to the intellectual world. +He would "teach philosophy to talk German, as Luther +had taught the Bible to do." A crowd of enthusiasts +thronged about him. The scientific and literary celebrities +of Berlin sat at his feet; state officials attended his +lectures and professed themselves his disciples. The +government provided liberally for his salary, and paid +the travelling expenses of this great ambassador of the +mind. The old story of disciple become master was +told again. The philosopher was the friend of those +that befriended him; the servant, some say, of those +that lavished on him honors. Then the new philosophy +that was to reconstruct the mental world learned +to accept the actual world as it existed, and lent its +powerful aid to the order of things it promised to reconstruct. +Throwing out the aphorism, "The rational +is the actual, the actual is the rational," Hegel declared +that natural right, morality, and even religion +are properly subordinated to authority. The despotic +Prussian system welcomed the great philosopher as +its defender. The Prussian Government was not +tardy in showing appreciation of its advocate's eminent +services.</p> + +<p>The church, taking the hint, put in its claim to patronage. +It needed protection against the rationalism that +was coming up; and such protection the majesty of Hegel +vouchsafed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> + to offer. Faith and philosophy formed a +new alliance. Orthodox professors gave in their loyalty +to the man who taught that "God was in process of +becoming," and the man who taught that "God was in +process of becoming" welcomed the orthodox professors +to the circle of his disciples. He was more orthodox +than the orthodox; he gave the theologians new explanations +of their own dogmas, and supplied them with +arguments against their own foes. Trinity, incarnation, +atonement, redemption, were all interpreted and justified, +to the complete satisfaction of the ecclesiastical +powers.</p> + +<p>This being the influence of the master, and of philosophy +as he explained it, the formation of a new school +by the earnest, liberal men who drew very different conclusions +from the master's first principles, was to be expected. +But the "New Hegelians," as they were called, +became disbelievers in religion and in spiritual things altogether, +and either lapsed, like Strauss, into intellectual +scepticism, or, like Feuerbach, became aggressive materialists. +The ideal elements in Hegel's system were appropriated +by Christianity, and were employed against +liberty and progress. Spiritualists, whether in the old +world or the new, had little interest in a philosophy that +so readily favored two opposite tendencies, both of +which they abhorred. To them the spiritual philosophy +was represented by Hegel's predecessors. The disciples +of sentiment accepted Jacobi; the loyalists of conscience +followed Fichte; the severe metaphysicians, of whom +there were a few, adhered to Kant; the soaring speculators +and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> + imaginative theosophists spread their "sheeny +vans," and soared into the regions of the absolute with +Schelling. The idealists of New England were largest +debtors to Jacobi and Fichte.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p> +<p class="center big"><a name="III" id="III"></a>III.</p> + +<h2>TRANSCENDENTALISM IN THEOLOGY AND +LITERATURE.</h2> + + +<p>One of the earliest students of the German language +in Boston was Dr. N. L. Frothingham, Unitarian minister +of the First Church. Among the professional books +that interested him was one by Herder, "Letters to a +Young Theologian," chapters from which he translated +for the "Christian Disciple," the precursor of the "Christian +Examiner." Of Herder, George Bancroft wrote an +account in the "North American Review," and George +Ripley in the "Christian Examiner." The second +number of "The Dial" contains a letter from Mr. Ripley +to a theological student, in which this particular +book of Herder is warmly commended, as being worth +the trouble of learning German to read. The volume +was remarkable for earnest enlightenment, its discernment +of the spirit beneath the letter, its generous interpretations, +and its suggestions of a better future for the +philosophy of religion. Herder was one of the illuminated +minds; though not professedly a disciple, he had +felt the influence of Kant, and was cordially in sympathy +with the men who were trying to break the spell of +form and tradition. With Lessing more especially, Herder's +"Spirit of Hebrew Poetry," of which a translation +by Dr. James Marsh was published in 1833, found its +way<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> + to New England, and helped to confirm the disposition +to seek the springs of inspiration in the human +mind, whence all poetry proceeded. The writer of the +book, by applying to Hebrew poetry the rules of critical +appreciation by which all poetic creations are judged, +abolished so far the distinction between sacred and secular, +and transferred to the credit of human genius the +products commonly ascribed to divine. In the persons +of the great bards of Israel all bards were glorified; the +soul's creative power was recognized, and with it the +heart of the transcendental faith.</p> + +<p>The influence of Schleiermacher was even more distinct +than that of Herder. One book of his, in particular, +made a deep impression,—the "Reden über Religion," +published in 1799. The book is thus described by Mr. +George Ripley, in a controversial letter to Mr. Andrews +Norton, who had assailed Schleiermacher as an atheist. +"The 'Discourses on Religion' were not intended to +present a system of theology. They are highly rhetorical +in manner, filled with bursts of impassioned eloquence, +always intense, and sometimes extravagant; +addressed to the feelings, not to speculation; and expressly +disclaiming all pretensions to an exposition of +doctrine. They were published at a time when hostility +to religion, and especially to Christianity as a divine revelation, +was deemed a proof of talent and refinement. +The influence of the church was nearly exhausted; the +highest efforts of thought were of a destructive character; +a frivolous spirit pervaded society; religion was +deprived of its supremacy; and a 'starveling theology' +was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> + exalted in place of the living word. Schleiermacher +could not contemplate the wretched meagreness and +degradation of his age without being moved as by 'a +heavenly impulse.' His spirit was stirred within him as +he saw men turning from the true God to base idols. +He felt himself impelled to go forth with the power of a +fresh and youthful enthusiasm, for the restoration of religion; +to present it in its most sublime aspect, free from +its perversions, disentangled from human speculation, as +founded in the essential nature of man, and indispensable +to the complete unfolding of his inward being. In +order to recognize everything which is really religious +among men, and to admit even the lowest degree of it +into the idea of religion, he wishes to make this as broad +and comprehensive in its character as possible." In +illustration of this purpose Mr. Ripley quotes the author +as follows: "I maintain that piety is the necessary and +spontaneous product of the depths of every elevated +nature; that it possesses a rightful claim to a peculiar +province in the soul, over which it may exercise an unlimited +sovereignty; that it is worthy, by its intrinsic +power, to be a source of life to the most noble and exalted +minds; and that from its essential character it +deserves to be known and received by them. These are +the points which I defend, and which I would fain establish."</p> + +<p>From this it will appear that Schleiermacher gave +countenance to the spiritual aspect of transcendentalism, +and co-operated with the general movement it represented. +His position that religion was not a system of +dogmas,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> + but an inward experience; that it was not a +speculation, but a feeling; that its primal verities rested +not on miracle or tradition, not on the Bible letter or on +ecclesiastical institution, but on the soul's own sense of +things divine; that this sense belonged by nature to the +human race, and gave to all forms of religion such genuineness +as they had; that all affirmation was partial, +and all definition deceptive; proved to be practically +the same with that taken by Jacobi, and was so received +by the disciples of the new philosophy.</p> + +<p>But Schleiermacher was an Evangelical Lutheran, a +believer in supernatural religion, in Christ, in Christianity +as a special dispensation, in the miracles of the +New Testament. So far from being a "rationalist," +he was the most formidable opponent that "rationalism" +had; for his efforts were directed against the +critical and theological method, and in support of the +spiritual method of dealing with religious truths. In +explaining religion as being in its primitive character +a sense of divine things in the soul, and as having its +seat, not in knowledge, nor yet in action, neither +in theology nor in morality, but in feeling, in aspiration, +longing, love, veneration, conscious dependence, +filial trust, he deprived "rationalism" of its strength. +Hence his attraction for liberal orthodox believers in +America. Schleiermacher had as many disciples among +the Congregationalists as among their antagonists of +the opposite school. Professors Edwards and Park +included thoughts of his in their "Selections from +German Literature." The pulpit transcendentalists +acknowledged<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> + their indebtedness to him, and the debt +they acknowledged was sentimental rather than intellectual. +They thanked him for the spirit of fervent piety, +deep, cordial, human, unlimited in generosity, untrammelled +by logical distinctions, rather than for new light +on philosophical problems. His bursts of eloquent enthusiasm +over men whom the church outlawed—Spinoza +for example—made amends with them for the absence +of doctrinal exactness. A warm sympathy with those +who detached religion from dogma, and recognized the +religious sentiment under its most diverse forms, was +characteristic of the new spirit that burned in New +England. Schleiermacher was one of the first and foremost +to encourage such sympathy: he based it on the +idea that man was by nature religious, endowed with +spiritual faculties, and that was welcome tidings; and +though he retained the essence of the evangelical system, +he retained it in a form that could be dropped without +injury to the principle by which it was justified. Thus +Schleiermacher strengthened the very positions he assailed, +and gave aid and comfort to the enemy he would +overthrow. The transcendentalists, it is true, employed +against the "rationalists" the weapons that he put into +their hands. At the same time they left as unimportant +the theological system which his weapons were manufactured +to support.</p> + +<p>But it was through the literature of Germany that the +transcendental philosophy chiefly communicated itself. +Goethe, Richter and Novalis were more persuasive teachers +than Kant, Jacobi or Fichte. To those who could +not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> + read German these authors were interpreted by +Thomas Carlyle, who took up the cause of German philosophy +and literature, and wrote about them with passionate +power in the English reviews; not contenting +himself with giving surface accounts of them, but plunging +boldly into the depths, and carrying his readers with +him through discussions that, but for his persuasive eloquence, +would have had little charm to ordinary minds. +Goethe and Richter were his heroes: their methods and +opinions are of the greatest account with him; and he +leaves nothing unexplained of the intellectual foundations +on which they builded. Consequently in the remarkable +papers that Carlyle wrote about them and their books, +full report is given of the place held by the Kantean philosophy +in their culture. The article on Novalis, in the +"Foreign Review" of 1829, No. 7, presents with a master +hand the peculiarities of the new metaphysics that +were regenerating the German mind. Regenerating +is not too strong a word for the influence that he +ascribes to it. Thus in 1827 he wrote in the "Edinburgh +Review:"</p> + +<p>"The critical philosophy has been regarded by persons +of approved judgment, and nowise directly implicated +in the furthering of it, as distinctly the greatest intellectual +achievement of the century in which it came +to light. August Wilhelm Schlegel has stated in plain +terms his belief that in respect of its probable influence +on the moral culture of Europe, it stands on a line with +the Reformation. We mention Schlegel as a man whose +opinion has a known value among ourselves. But the +worth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> + of Kant's philosophy is not to be gathered from +votes alone. The noble system of morality, the purer +theology, the lofty views of man's nature derived from +it; nay, perhaps the very discussion of such matters, to +which it gave so strong an impetus, have told with +remarkable and beneficial influence on the whole spiritual +character of Germany. No writer of any importance +in that country, be he acquainted or not with the critical +philosophy, but breathes a spirit of devoutness and elevation +more or less directly drawn from it. Such men +as Goethe and Schiller cannot exist without effect in any +literature or any century; but if one circumstance more +than another has contributed to forward their endeavors +and introduce that higher tone into the literature of +Germany, it has been this philosophical system, to +which, in wisely believing its results, or even in wisely +denying them, all that was lofty and pure in the +genius of poetry or the reason of man so readily allied +itself."</p> + +<p>After quoting from "Meister's Apprenticeship" a +noble passage on the spiritual function of art, Carlyle +comments thus: "To adopt such sentiments into his +sober practical persuasion; in any measure to feel and +believe that such was still and must always be, the high +vocation of the poet; on this ground of universal humanity, +of ancient and now almost forgotten nobleness, to +take his stand, even in these trivial, jeering, withered, +unbelieving days, and through all their complex, dispiriting, +mean, yet tumultuous influences, to make his light +shine before men that it might beautify even our rag-gathering +age<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> + with some beams of that mild divine splendor +which had long left us, the very possibility of which +was denied; heartily and in earnest to meditate all this +was no common proceeding; to bring it into practice, +especially in such a life as his has been, was among the +highest and hardest enterprises which any man whatever +could engage in."</p> + +<p>From Schiller's correspondence with Goethe, Carlyle +quotes the following tribute to the Kantean philosophy: +"From the opponents of the new philosophy I expect +not that tolerance which is shown to every other system +no better seen into than this; for Kant's philosophy +itself, in its leading points, practises no tolerance, and +bears much too rigorous a character to leave any room +for accommodation. But in my eyes this does it honor, +proving how little it can endure to have truth tampered +with. Such a philosophy will not be shaken to pieces +by a mere shake of the head. In the open, clear, accessible +field of inquiry it builds up its system, seeks no +shade, makes no reservation, but even as it treats its +neighbors, so it requires to be treated, and may be forgiven +for lightly esteeming everything but proofs. Nor +am I terrified to think that the law of change, from +which no human and no divine work finds grace, will +operate on this philosophy as on every other, and one +day its form will be destroyed, but its foundations will not +have this fate to fear, for ever since mankind has existed, +and any reason among mankind, these same first principles +have been admitted, and on the whole, acted on."</p> + +<p>Of Richter he writes: "Richter's philosophy, a matter +of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> + no ordinary interest, both as it agrees with the +common philosophy of Germany, and disagrees with it, +must not be touched on for the present. One only observation +we shall make: it is not mechanical or sceptical; +it springs not from the forum or the laboratory, +but from the depths of the human spirit, and yields as its +fairest product a noble system of morality, and the firmest +conviction of religion. An intense and continual +faith in man's immortality and native grandeur accompanies +him; from amid the vortices of life he looks up +to a heavenly loadstar; the solution of what is visible +and transient, he finds in what is invisible and eternal. +He has doubted, he denies, yet he believes."</p> + +<p>Of Novalis, scarcely more than a name to Americans, +the same oracle speaks thus: "The aim of Novalis' +whole philosophy is to preach and establish the majesty +of reason, in the strict philosophical sense; to conquer +for it all provinces of human thought, and everywhere +resolve its vassal understanding into fealty, the right and +only useful relation for it. How deeply these and the +like principles (those of the Kantean philosophy) had +impressed themselves on Novalis, we see more and +more the further we study his writings. Naturally a +deep, religious, contemplative spirit, purified also by +harsh affliction, and familiar in the 'Sanctuary of Sorrow,' +he comes before us as the most ideal of all idealists. +For him the material creation is but an appearance, a +typical shadow in which the Deity manifests himself to +man. Not only has the unseen world a reality, but the +only reality; the rest being not metaphorically, but literally +and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> + in scientific strictness, 'a show;' in the words of +the poet:</p> + +<div class="poem small"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Sound and smoke overclouding the splendor of heaven!'<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>The invisible world is near us; or rather, it is here, in us +and about us; were the fleshly coil removed from our +soul, the glories of the unseen were even now around +us, as the ancients fabled of the spheral music. Thus, +not in word only, but in truth and sober belief he feels +himself encompassed by the Godhead; feels in every +thought that 'in Him he lives, moves, and has his +being.'"</p> + +<p>These declarations from a man who was becoming +prominent in the world of literature, and whose papers +were widely and enthusiastically read, had great weight +with people to whom the German was an unknown +tongue. But it was not an unknown tongue to all, and +they who had mastered it were active communicators of +its treasures. Carlyle's efforts at interesting English +readers through his remarkable translation of Wilhelm +Meister, and the "Specimens of German Romance," +which contained pieces by Tieck, Jean Paul, Hoffmann, +and Musćus, published in 1827, were seconded here +by F. H. Hedge, C. T. Brooks, J. S. Dwight, and +others, who made familiar to the American public the +choicest poems of the most famous German bards. +Richter became well known by his "Autobiography," +"Quintus Fixlein," "Flower, Fruit, and Thorn Pieces," +"Hesperus," "Titan," "The Campaner Thal," the +writings and versions of Madame de Staël. The third +volume<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> + of the "Dial," July, 1841, opened with a remarkable +paper on Goethe, by Margaret Fuller. The +pages of the "Dial" abounded in references to Goethe's +ideas and writings. No author occupied the cultivated +New England mind as much as he did. None of these +writers taught formally the doctrines of the transcendental +philosophy, but they reflected one or another aspect +of it. They assumed its cardinal principles in historical +and literary criticism, in dramatic art, in poetry and +romance. They conveyed its spirit of aspiration after +ideal standards of perfection. They caught from it their +judgments on society and religion. They communicated +its aroma, and so imparted the quickening breath of its +soul to people who would have started back in alarm +from its doctrines.</p> + +<p>The influence of the transcendental philosophy on German +literature was fully conceded by Menzel, who, however, +found little trace of it in Goethe. Of the author +of the philosophy he wrote: "Kant was very far from +assenting to French infidelity and its immoral consequences. +He directed man to himself, to the moral law +in his own bosom; and the fresh breath of life of the old +Grecian dignity of man penetrates the whole of his luminous +philosophy." Of Goethe he wrote: "If he ever +acknowledged allegiance to a good spirit, to great ideas, +to virtue, he did it only because they had become +the order of the day, for, on the other hand, he has, +again, served every weakness, vanity and folly, if they +were but looked on with favor at the time; in short, like +a good player, he has gone through all the parts." +Menzel's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> + book was translated by a man who had no sympathy +with Transcendentalism—Prof. C. C. Felton; was +admired by people of his own school, and was sharply +criticised, especially in the portions relating to Goethe, +by the transcendentalists, who accepted Carlyle's view. +He and they put the most generous interpretations on +the masterpieces of the poet, passed by as incidental, did +not see, or in their own mind transfigured, the objectionable +features that Menzel seized on. Too little was +ascribed to the foreign French element that reached the +literature of Germany through Prussia—to Rousseau, +Voltaire, Diderot—whose ideas fell in with the unworthier +sceptical tendencies of the Kantean system, and polluted +the waters of that clear, cold stream; too much was +ascribed to the noble idealism that was credited with +power to glorify all it touched, and redeem even low +things from degradation. If therefore they apologized +for what the sensational moralists blamed, they did it in +good faith, not as excusing the indecency, but as surmounting +it. What they admired was the art, and the +aspiration it expressed. The devotees of the French +spirit, in its frivolity and meretricious beauty, they +turned away from with disdain. There was enough of +the nobler kind to engage them. When they went to +France they went for what France had in common with +Germany—an idealism of the wholesome, ethical and +spiritual type, which, whether German, French or English, +bore always the same characteristics of beauty and +nobleness. Much that was unspiritual, all that was +merely speculative, they passed by. With an appetite +for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> + the generous and inspiring only, they sought the +really earnest teachers, of whom in France there were a +few. The influence of those few was great in proportion +to their fewness probably, quite as much as to their merit +as philosophers.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span></p> +<p class="center big"><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV.</p> + +<h2>TRANSCENDENTALISM IN FRANCE.</h2> + + +<p>From the time of Malebranche, who died in 1715, to +Maine de Biran, Royer-Collard, Ampčre and Cousin, +a period of about a century, philosophy in France had +not borne an honorable name. The French mind was +active; philosophy was a profession; the philosophical +world was larger than in Germany, where it was limited +to the Universities. But France took no lead in speculation, +it waited to receive impulse from other lands; +and even then, instead of taking up the impulse and +carrying it on with original and sympathetic force, it +was content to exhibit and reproduce it. The office of +expositor, made easy by the perspicacity of its intellect +and the flexibility of its language, was accepted and +discharged with a cleverness that was recognized by +all Europe. Its histories of philosophy, translations, +expositions, reproductions, were admirable for neatness +and clearness. The most obscure systems became intelligible +in that limpid and lucid speech, which reported +with faultless dexterity the agile movements of the +Gallic mind, and made popular the most abstruse doctrines +of metaphysics. German philosophy in its original +dress was outlandish, even to practised students in +German. The readers of French were many in England +and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> + the United States, and the readers of French, +without severe labor on their part, were put in possession +of the essential ideas of the deep thinkers of the +race. The best accounts of human speculation are in +French. Barthélemy Saint Hilaire interprets Aristotle, +and throws important light on Indian Philosophy; +Bouillet translates Plotinus; Emil Saisset translates +Spinoza; Tissot and Jules Barni perform the same +service for Kant; Jules Simon and Etienne Vacherot +undertake to make intelligible the School of Alexandria; +Paul Janet explains the dialectics of Plato; +Adolphe Franck deals with the Jewish Kabbala; Charles +de Rémusat with Anselm, Abelard and Bacon; MM. +Hauréau and Rousselot with the philosophy of the +middle age; M. Chauvet with the theories of the +human understanding in antiquity. Cousin published +unedited works of Proclus, analyzed the commentaries +of Olympiodorus on the Platonic dialogues, made a complete +translation of Plato, admirable for clearness and +strength, and proposed to present, not of course with +his own hand, but by the hands of friendly fellow-workers, +and under his own direction, examples of whatever +was best in every philosophical system. The philosophical +work of France is ably summed up in the report on +"Philosophy in France in the nineteenth century," presented +by Felix Ravaisson, member of the Institute, and +published in 1868, under the auspices of the Ministry of +Public Instruction.</p> + +<p>The ideas of Locke were brought from London to +Paris by Voltaire, who became acquainted with them +during<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> + a residence in England, and found them effective +in his warfare against the ecclesiastical institutions of his +country. Through his brilliant interpretations and keen +applications, they gained currency, became fashionable +among the wits, were domesticated with people of culture +and elegance, and worked their way into the +religion and politics of the time. It is needless to say +that in his hands full justice was done to their external +and material aspects.</p> + +<p>The system found a more exact and methodical expounder +in Condillac, who reduced it to greater simplicity +by eliminating from it what in the original marred +its unity, namely reflection, the bent of the mind back +on itself, whereby it took cognizance of impressions +made by the outer world. Taking what remained of +the system, the notion that all knowledge came primarily +through the senses, and drawing the conclusion that +the mind itself was a product of sensation, Condillac +fashioned a doctrine which had the merit, such as it was, +of utter intelligibleness to the least instructed mind; +a system of materialism naked and unadorned. If he +himself forbore to push his principle to its extreme results, +declining to assert that we were absolutely nothing +else than products of sensation, and surmising that beneath +the layers of intelligence and reason there might +lurk a principle that sensation could not account for, +something stable in the midst of the ceaseless instability, +something absolute below everything relative, which +might be called action or will, the popular interpretation +of his philosophy took no account of such subtleties. +In<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> + vain did his disciple Destutt de Tracy declare that +"the principle of movement is the will, and that the will +is the person, the man himself." The fascination of +simplicity proved more than a match for nicety of distinction, +and both were ranked among materialists.</p> + +<p>Cabanis was at no pains to conceal the most repulsive +features of the system. In his work, "The Relations of +the Physical and the Moral in Man," he maintained +bluntly the theory that there was no spiritual being +apart from the body; that mind had no substance, no +separate existence of its own, but was in all its parts and +qualities a product of the nervous system; that sensibility +of every kind, sentimental, intelligent, moral, +spiritual, including the whole domain of conscious and +unconscious vitality, was a nervous manifestation; that +man was capable of sensation because he had nerves; that +he was what he was because of the wondrous character +of the mechanism of sensation; that, in a word, the perfection +of organization was the perfection of humanity. +It was Cabanis who said "the brain secretes thought +as the liver secretes bile." Cabanis modified his philosophy +before his death, but without effect to break +the force of his cardinal positions. The results of such +teaching appeared in a morality of selfishness, tending to +self-indulgence—a morality destitute of nobleness and +sweetness, summing up its lessons in the maxims that +good is good to eat; that the pleasurable thing is right, +the painful thing wrong; that success is the measure of +rectitude; that the aim of life is the attainment of happiness, +and that happiness means physical enjoyment; +that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> + virtue and vice are names for prudence and for +folly,—Virtue being conformity with the ways of the +world, Vice being non-conformity with the ways of the +world; no ideal standard being recognized for the one, +no law of rectitude being confessed for the other. +Conscience was regarded as an artificial habit created +by custom or acquiesced in from tradition; the "categorical +imperative" was pronounced the dogmatism of +the fanatic.</p> + +<p>From such principles atheism naturally proceeded. +Atheism not of opinion merely, but of sentiment and +feeling; for at that time "the potencies" of matter impressed +no such awe upon the mind as they have done +since; the "mystery of matter" was unfelt; physiology +was an unexplored region; the materialist simply denied +spirit, putting a blank where believers in religion had +been used to find a soul; and had no alternative but to +run sensationalism into sensualism, and to give the senses +the flavor of the ground. With us the sensational philosophy +has become refined into a philosophy of experience, +and the materialist finds himself in a region where +to distinguish between matter and spirit is difficult, to say +the least. But a hundred years ago matter was clod, +and the passion it engendered smelt of the charnel-house. +The morbid insanities of the revolution, the orgies in +which blood and wine ran together, the savage glee, the +delirium that ensued when the uncertainty of life acting +on the impulse to enjoy life while it lasted, made men +ferocious in clutching at immediate pleasure, attest the +consequences that ensued from such frank adoption of +the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> + sensational philosophy as was practised among the +French. Locke was a man of piety, which even his +warmest apologists will hardly claim for Voltaire. The +English mind, grave and thoughtful, trained by religious +institutions in religious beliefs, was less inclined than the +French to drive speculative theories to extreme conclusions. +The philosophy of sensationalism culminated, +not in the French Revolution, as has been vulgarly asserted, +but in the unbelief and sensual extravagance that +marked one phase of it.</p> + +<p>In this there was nothing original; there was no originality +in the reaction that followed, and gave to modern +philosophy in France its spiritual character. Laromiguiére, +educated in the school of Condillac, improved on +the suggestion that Condillac had given, and deepened +into a chasm the scratch he had made to indicate a distinction +between the results of sensation and the faculties +of the mind. In his analysis of the mental constitution +he came upon two facts that denoted an original +activity in advance of sensation—namely, <i>attention</i> and +<i>desire</i>: the former the root of the intellectual, the latter +of the moral powers; both at last resolvable into one +principle—attention. This discovery met with wide and +cordial welcome, the popularity of Laromiguiére's lectures, +delivered in 1811, 1812, 1813, revealing the fact +that thoughtful people were prepared for a new metaphysical +departure.</p> + +<p>Maine de Biran, who more than the rest deserves the +name of an original investigator, a severe, solitary, independent +thinker, pupil of no school and founder of none, +brought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> + into strong relief the activity of the intellect. +Thought, he maintained, proceeds from will, which is at +the base of the personality, is, in fact, the essence of +personality. The primary fact is volition. Descartes +said, "I think, therefore I am." Maine de Biran said, "I +will, therefore I am." "In every one of my determinations," +he declared, "I recognize myself as being a +cause anterior to its effect and capable of surviving it. I +behold myself as outside of the movement I produce, +and independent of time; for this reason, strictly speaking, +I do not <i>become</i>, I really and absolutely <i>am</i>." "To +be, to act, to will, are the same thing under different +names." Will as the seat of activity; will as the core of +personality; will as the soul of causation: here is the +corner-stone for a new structure to replace the old one of +the "Cyclopćdists." Important deductions followed from +such a first principle; the dignity of the moral being, +freedom of the moral will, the nobility of existence, the +persistency of the individual as a ground for continuous +effort and far-reaching hope, the spirituality of man and +his destiny. To recover the will from the mass of sensations +that had buried it out of sight, was the achievement +of this philosopher. It was an achievement by +which philosophy was disengaged from physics, and sent +forth on a more cheerful way.</p> + +<p>The next steps were taken by disciples of the Scotch +school—Royer-Collard, Victor Cousin and Theodore +Jouffroy. The last translated Reid and Stewart from +English into French; the two former lectured on them. +The three, being masters of clear and persuasive speech, +made<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> + their ideas popular in France. Cousin's lectures +on the Scotch school, including Reid, were delivered in +1819. The lectures on Kant were given in 1820. Both +courses were full and adequate. Cousin committed himself +to neither, but freely criticised both, laying stress on +the sceptical aspect of the transcendental system as +expounded by Kant.</p> + +<p>Cousin's own system was the once famous, now discarded +eclecticism, under cover of which another phase +of idealism was presented which found favor in America. +The cardinal principle of eclecticism was that truth was +contained in no system or group of systems, but in all +together; that each had its portion and made its contribution; +and that the true philosophy would be reached +by a process of intellectual distillation by which the essential +truth in each would be extracted. A method +like this would have nothing to recommend it but its +generosity, if there were no criterion by which truths +could be tested, no philosophical principle, in short, +to govern the selection of materials. Eclecticism must +have a philosophy before proceeding to make one, must +have arrived at its conclusion before entering on its +process. And this it did. It will be seen by the following +extracts from his writings what the fundamental ideas of +M. Cousin were, and in what respect they aided the +process of rationalism.</p> + +<p>The quotations are from his exposition of eclecticism:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"Facts are the point of departure, if not the limit of +philosophy. Now facts, whatever they may be, exist +for us only as they come to our consciousness. It is +there<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> + alone that observation seizes them and describes +them, before committing them to induction, which +forces them to reveal the consequences which they contain +in their bosom. The field of philosophical observation +is consciousness; there is no other; but in this +nothing is to be neglected; everything is important, for +everything is connected; and if one part be wanting, +complete unity is unattainable. To return within our +consciousness, and scrupulously to study all the phenomena, +their differences and their relations—this is the +primary study of philosophy. Its scientific name is +psychology. Psychology is then the condition and, as +it were, the vestibule of philosophy. The psychological +method consists in completely retiring within the world +of consciousness, in order to become familiar in that +sphere where all is reality, but where the reality is so +various and so delicate; and the psychological talent consists +in placing ourselves at will within this interior world, +in presenting the spectacle there displayed to ourselves, +and in reproducing freely and distinctly all the facts +which are accidentally and confusedly brought to our +notice by the circumstances of life."...</p> + +<p>"The first duty of the psychological method is to retire +within the field of consciousness, where there is +nothing but phenomena, that are all capable of being +perceived and judged by observation. Now as no substantial +existence falls under the eye of consciousness, it +follows that the first effect of a rigid application of method +is to postpone the subject of ontology. It postpones it, +I say, but does not destroy it. It is a fact, indeed, +attested by observation, that in this same consciousness, +in which there is nothing but phenomena, there are found +notions, whose regular development passes the limits of +consciousness and attains the knowledge of actual existences. +Would you stop the development of these +notions? You would then arbitrarily limit the compass +of a fact, you would attack this fact itself, and thus shake +the authority of all other facts. We must either call in +question<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> + the authority of consciousness in itself, or admit +this authority without reserve for all the facts attested by +consciousness. The reason is no less certain and real +than the will or the sensibility; its certainty once admitted +we must follow it wherever it rigorously conducts, though +it be even into the depths of ontology. For example, +it is a rational fact attested by consciousness, that in the +view of intelligence, every phenomenon which is presented +supposes a cause. It is a fact, moreover, that +this principle of causality is marked with the characteristics +of universality and necessity. If it be universal +and necessary, to limit it would be to destroy it. +Now in the phenomenon of sensation, the principle +of causality intervenes universally and necessarily, +and refers this phenomenon to a cause; and our +consciousness testifying that this cause is not the +personal cause which the will represents, it follows that +the principle of causality in its irresistible application +conducts to an impersonal cause, that is to say, to an +external cause, which subsequently, and always irresistibly, +the principle of causality enriches with the characteristics +and laws, of which the aggregate is the Universe. +Here then is an existence; but an existence revealed by +a principle which is itself attested by consciousness. +Here is a primary step in ontology, but by the path of +psychology, that is to say, of observation. We are led +by similar processes to the Cause of all causes, to the +substantial Cause, to God; and not only to a God of +Power, but to a God of Justice, a God of Holiness; so +that this experimental method, which, applied to a +single order of phenomena, incomplete and exclusive, +destroyed ontology and the higher elements of consciousness, +applied with fidelity, firmness and completeness, +to all the phenomena, builds up that which it had +overthrown, and by itself furnishes ontology with a sure +and legitimate instrument. Thus, having commenced +with modesty, we can end with results whose certainty +is equalled by their importance."...</p> + +<p>"What<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> + physical inquirer, since Euler, seeks anything +in nature but forces and laws? Who now speaks of +atoms? And even molecules, the old atoms revived—who +defends them as anything but an hypothesis? If the +fact be incontestable, if modern physics be now employed +only with forces and laws, I draw the rigorous conclusion +from it, that the science of Physics, whether it know it +or not, is no longer material, and that it became spiritual +when it rejected every other method than observation +and induction, which can never lead to aught but forces +and laws. Now what is there material in forces and laws? +The physical sciences, then, themselves have entered into +the broad path of an enlightened spiritualism; and they +have only to march with a firm step, and to gain a more +and more profound knowledge of forces and laws, in +order to arrive at more important generalizations. Let +us go still further. As it is a law already recognized of +the same reason which governs humanity and nature, to +refer every finite cause and every multiple law—that is +to say, every phenomenal cause and every phenomenal +law—to something absolute, which leaves nothing to +be sought beyond it in relation to existence, that is to +say, to a substance; so this law refers the external +world composed of forces and laws to a substance, which +must needs be a cause in order to be the subject of the +causes of this world, which must needs be an intelligence +in order to be the subject of its laws; a substance, in fine, +which must needs be the identity of activity and intelligence. +We have thus arrived accordingly, for the +second time, by observation and induction in the external +sphere, at precisely the same point to which observation +and induction have successively conducted us in the +sphere of personality and in that of reason; consciousness +in its triplicity is therefore one; the physical and +moral world is one, science is one, that is to say, in +other words, God is One."...</p> + +<p>"Having gained these heights, philosophy becomes +more luminous as well as more grand; universal harmony +enters<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> + into human thought, enlarges it, and gives +it peace. The divorce of ontology and psychology, of +speculation and observation, of science and common-sense, +is brought to an end by a method which arrives +at speculation by observation, at ontology by psychology, +in order then to confirm observation by speculation, +psychology by ontology, and which starting from the +immediate facts of consciousness, of which the common-sense +of the human race is composed, derives from them +the science which contains nothing more than common-sense, +but which elevates that to its purest and most rigid +form, and enables it to comprehend itself. But I here +approach a fundamental point.</p> + +<p>"If every fact of consciousness contains all the human +faculties, sensibility, free activity, and reason, the me, +the not-me, and their absolute identity; and if every +fact of consciousness be equal to itself, it follows that +every man who has the consciousness of himself possesses +and cannot but possess all the ideas that are necessarily +contained in consciousness. Thus every man, if he +knows himself, knows all the rest, nature and God at the +same time with himself. Every man believes in his own +existence, every man therefore believes in the existence +of the world and of God; every man thinks, every +man therefore thinks God, if we may so express it; +every human proposition, reflecting the consciousness, +reflects the idea of unity and of being that is essential to +consciousness; every human proposition therefore contains +God; every man who speaks, speaks of God, and +every word is an act of faith and a hymn. Atheism is a +barren formula, a negation without reality, an abstraction +of the mind which cannot assert itself without self-destruction; +for every assertion, even though negative, +is a judgment which contains the idea of being, and, +consequently, God in His fulness. Atheism is the illusion +of a few sophists, who place their liberty in opposition +to their reason, and are unable even to give an account +to themselves of what they think; but the human +race,<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> + which is never false to its consciousness and never +places itself in contradiction to its laws, possesses the +knowledge of God, believes in him, and never ceases to +proclaim Him. In fact, the human race believes in reason +and cannot but believe in it, in that reason which is +manifested in consciousness, in a momentary relation +with the me—the pure though faint reflection of that +primitive light which flows from the bosom of the +eternal substance, which is at once substance, cause, +intelligence. Without the manifestation of reason in our +consciousness, there could be no knowledge—neither +psychological, nor, still less, ontological. Reason is, in +some sort, the bridge between psychology and ontology, +between consciousness and being; it rests at the same +time on both; it descends from God and approaches +man; it makes its appearance in the consciousness, as a +guest who brings intelligence of an unknown world of +which it at once presents the idea and awakens the want. +If reason were personal, it would have no value, no +authority, beyond the limits of the individual subject. +If it remained in the condition of primitive substance, +without manifestation, it would be the same for +the me which would not know itself, as if it were +not. It is necessary therefore that the intelligent substance +should manifest itself; and this manifestation is +the appearance of reason in the consciousness. Reason +then is literally a revelation, a necessary and universal +revelation, which is wanting to no man and which +enlightens every man on his coming into the world: +<i>illuminat omnem hominem venientem in hunc mundum</i>. +Reason is the necessary mediator between God and man, +the <span lang="el" title="Greek: logos">λογος</span> of Pythagoras and Plato, the Word made flesh +which serves as the interpreter of God and the teacher +of man, divine and human at the same time. It is not, +indeed, the absolute God in his majestic individuality, +but his manifestation in spirit and in truth; it is not the +Being of beings, but it is the revealed God of the human +race. As God is never wanting to the human race and +never<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> + abandons it, so the human race believes in God +with an irresistible and unalterable faith, and this unity +of faith is its own highest unity....</p> + +<p>"If these convictions of faith be combined in every +act of consciousness, and if consciousness be one in the +whole human race, whence arises the prodigious diversity +which seems to exist between man and man, and in what +does this diversity consist? In truth, when we perceive +at first view so many apparent differences between one +individual and another, one country and another, one +epoch of humanity and another, we feel a profound +emotion of melancholy, and are tempted to regard an +intellectual development so capricious, and even the +whole of humanity, as a phenomenon without consistency, +without grandeur, and without interest. But it is demonstrated +by a more attentive observation of facts, that no +man is a stranger to either of the three great ideas which +constitute consciousness, namely, personality or the +liberty of man, impersonality or the necessity of nature, +and the providence of God. Every man comprehends +these three ideas immediately, because he found them +at first and constantly finds them again within himself. +The exceptions to this fact, by their small number, by +the absurdities which they involve, by the difficulties +which they create, serve only to exhibit, in a still clearer +light, the universality of faith in the human race, the +treasure of good sense deposited in truth, and the peace +and happiness that there are for a human soul in not discarding +the convictions of its kind. Leave out the exceptions +which appear from time to time in certain +critical periods of history, and you will perceive that the +masses which alone have true existence, always and +everywhere live in the same faith, of which the forms only +vary."</p></blockquote> + +<p>These somewhat too copious extracts have been purposely +taken from the first volume of the "Specimens of +Foreign Standard Literature," edited by George Ripley +in 1838, rather than from the collected writings of +Cousin,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> + because they show what a leading New England +transcendentalist thought most important in the teaching +of the French school. His own estimate of the philosophy +and his expectations from it may be learned from +the closing passages of the introduction to that volume:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"The objects at which Mr. Coleridge aims, it seems to +me, are in a great measure accomplished by the philosophy +of Cousin. This philosophy demolishes, by one of +the most beautiful specimens of scientific analysis that +is anywhere to be met with, the system of sensation, +against which Mr. Coleridge utters such eloquent and +pathetic denunciations. It establishes on a rock the +truth of the everlasting sentiments of the human heart. +It exhibits to the speculative inquirer, in the rigorous +forms of science, the reality of our instinctive faith in +God, in virtue, in the human soul, in the beauty +of holiness, and in the immortality of man.</p> + +<p>"Such a philosophy, I cannot but believe, will ultimately +find a cherished abode in the youthful affections +of this nation, in whose history, from the beginning, the +love of freedom, the love of philosophical inquiry, and +the love of religion have been combined in a thrice holy +bond. We need a philosophy like this to purify and +enlighten our politics, to consecrate our industry, to +cheer and elevate society. We need it for our own use +in the hours of mental misgiving and gloom; when the +mystery of the universe presses heavily upon our souls; +when the fountains of the great deep are broken up, and +the</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i10">"Intellectual power<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Goes sounding on, a dim and perilous way,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>over the troubled waters of the stormy sea. We need it +for the use of our practical men, who, surrounded on +every side with the objects of sense, engrossed with the +competitions of business, the rivalries of public life, or the +cares of professional duty, and accustomed to look at +the immediate and obvious utility of everything which +appeals<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> + to their notice, often acquire a distaste for all +moral and religious inquiries, and as an almost inevitable +consequence, lose their interest, and often their belief, +in the moral and religious faculties of their nature. We +need it for the use of our young men, who are engaged +in the active pursuits of life, or devoted to the cultivation +of literature. How many on the very threshold of +manly responsibility, by the influence of a few unhappy +mistakes, which an acquaintance with their higher +nature, as unfolded by a sound religious philosophy, +would have prevented, have consigned themselves to +disgrace, remorse, and all the evils of a violated conscience! +How many have become the dupes of the +sophists' eloquence, or the victims of the fanatics' terrors, +for whom the spirit of a true philosophy—a philosophy +'baptized in the pure fountain of eternal love,' would +have preserved the charm and beauty of life."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Cousin's "History of Philosophy," translated by H. +G. Linberg, was published in 1832. The "Elements of +Psychology," by C. S. Henry, appeared in 1834. Thus +Cousin was early introduced and recommended, and his +expositions of the German schools were received. The +volume from which passages have been cited had an +important influence on New England thought.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p> +<p class="center big"><a name="V" id="V"></a>V.</p> + +<h2>TRANSCENDENTALISM IN ENGLAND.</h2> + + +<p>The prophet of the new philosophy in England was +Samuel Taylor Coleridge; in the early part of the present +century, perhaps the most conspicuous figure in our +literary world; the object of more admiration, the +centre of more sympathy, the source of more intellectual +life than any individual of his time; the criticism, the +censure, the manifold animadversion he was made the +mark for, better attest his power than the ovations he +received from his worshippers. The believers in his +genius lacked words to express their sense of his greatness. +He was the "eternal youth," the "divine child." +The brilliant men of his period acknowledged his surpassing +brilliancy; the deep men confessed his depth; +the spiritual men went to him for inspiration. His mind, +affluent and profuse, contained within no barriers of +conventional form, poured an abounding flood of +thoughts over the whole literary domain. He was +essayist, journalist, politician, poet, dramatist, metaphysician, +philosopher, theologian, divine, critic, expositor, +dreamer, soliloquizer; in all eloquent, in all intense. +The effect he produced on the minds of his contemporaries +will scarcely be believed now. At present he is +little more than a name: his books are pronounced unreadable; +his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> + opinions are not quoted as authority; his +force is spent. But in 1851, Thomas Carlyle, then past +the years of his enthusiasm, and verging on the scornful +epoch of his intellectual career, spoke of him, in +the "Life of Sterling," as "A sublime man, who, +alone in those dark days, had saved his crown of spiritual +manhood; escaping from the black materialisms and +revolutionary deluges, with God, freedom, immortality +still his; a king of men. The practical intellects of the +world did not much heed him, or carelessly reckoned +him a metaphysical dreamer; but to the rising spirits of +the young generation he had this dusky, sublime character, +and sat there as a kind of <i>Magus</i>, girt in mystery +and enigma, his Dodona oak grove (Mr. Gillman's house +at Highgate) whispering strange things, uncertain +whether oracles or jargon." "To the man himself, +Nature had given in high measure the seeds of a noble +endowment, and to unfold it was forbidden him. A +subtle, lynx-eyed intellect, tremulous, pious sensibility +to all good and all beautiful; truly a ray of empyrean +light,—but imbedded in such weak laxity of character, +in such indolences and esuriences, as made strange work +with it. Once more, the tragic story of a high endowment +with an insufficient will."</p> + +<p>The abatement is painfully just; but while Coleridge +lived, this very indolence and moral imbecility added to +the interest he excited, and gave a mystic splendor as of +a divine inspiration to his mental performances. The +distinction between unhealthiness and inspiration has +never been clearly marked, and the voluble utterances +of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> + the feebly outlined and loosely jointed soul easily +passed for oracles. Thus his moral deficiencies aided +his influence. His wonderful powers of conversation or +rather of effusion in the midst of admiring friends helped +the illusion and the fascination. He really seemed +inspired while he talked; and as his talk ranged through +every domain, the listeners carried away and communicated +the impression of a superhuman wisdom.</p> + +<p>The impression that Coleridge made on minds of a +very different order from Carlyle's, is given in the following +lines by Aubrey de Vere:</p> + +<div class="poem small"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2q">"No loftier, purer soul than his hath ever<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With awe revolved the planetary page<br /></span> +<span class="i4">From infancy to age,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of knowledge, sedulous and proud to give her<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The whole of his great heart, for her own sake;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">For what she is: not what she does, or what can make.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">And mighty voices from afar came to him;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Converse of trumpets held by cloudy forms<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And speech of choral storms.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Spirits of night and noontide bent to woo him;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He stood the while lonely and desolate<br /></span> +<span class="i2">As Adam when he ruled a world, yet found no mate.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">His loftiest thoughts were but as palms uplifted;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Aspiring, yet in supplicating guise—<br /></span> +<span class="i4">His sweetest songs were sighs.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Adown Lethean streams his spirit drifted,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Under Elysian shades from poppied bank,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With amaranths massed in dark luxuriance dank.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"><span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> +<span class="i2">Coleridge, farewell! That great and grave transition</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Which may not king or priest or conqueror spare.<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And yet a babe can bear,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Has come to thee. Through life a goodly vision<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Was thine; and time it was thy rest to take.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Soft be the sound ordained thy sleep to break;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">When thou art waking, wake me, for thy Master's sake."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In May, 1796,—he was then twenty-four years old,—Coleridge +wrote to a friend, "I am studying German, +and in about six weeks shall be able to read that language +with tolerable fluency. Now I have some +thoughts of making a proposal to Robinson, the great +London bookseller, of translating all the works of +Schiller, which would make a portly quarto, on condition +that he should pay my journey and my wife's to +and from Jena, a cheap German University where +Schiller resides, and allow me two guineas each quarto +sheet, which would maintain me. If I could realize this +scheme, I should there study chemistry and anatomy, and +bring over with me all the works of Semler and Michaelis, +the German theologians, and of Kant, the great German +metaphysician." In September, 1798, in company +with Wordsworth and his sister, and at the expense of +his munificent friends Josiah and Thomas Wedgewood, +he went to Germany and spent fourteen months in hard +study. There he attended the lectures of Eichhorn and +Blumenbach, made the acquaintance of Tieck, dipped +quite deeply into philosophy and general literature, and +took by contagion the speculative ideas that filled his +imagination with visions of intellectual discovery. Schelling's +"Transcendental<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> + Idealism," with which Coleridge +was afterwards most in sympathy, was not published till +1800. The "Philosophy of Nature" was published in +1797, the year before Coleridge's visit. In 1817, he tells +the readers of the "Biographia Literaria" that he had +been able to procure only two of Schelling's books—the +first volume of his "Philosophical Writings," and the +"System of Transcendental Idealism;" these and "a +small pamphlet against Fichte, the spirit of which was, +to my feelings, painfully incongruous with the principles, +and which displayed the love of wisdom rather than the +wisdom of love."</p> + +<p>The philosophical ideas of Schelling commended themselves +at once to Coleridge, who was a born idealist, of audacious +genius, speculative, imaginative, original, capable +of any such abstract achievement as the German undertook.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"In Schelling's <i>Natur Philosophie</i> and the <i>System +des Transcendentalen Idealismus</i>, I first found a genial +coincidence with much that I had toiled out for myself, +and a powerful assistance in what I had yet to do. +All the main and fundamental ideas were born and +matured in my mind before I had ever seen a single page +of the German philosopher; and I might indeed affirm +with truth, before the more important works of Schelling +had been written, or at least made public. Nor is this +at all to be wondered at. We had studied in the same +school; been disciplined by the same preparatory +philosophy, namely, the writings of Kant; we had both +equal obligations to the polar logic and dynamic +philosophy of Giordano Bruno; and Schelling has lately, +and, as of recent acquisition, avowed that same affectionate +reverence for the labors of Behmen and other +mystics<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> + which I had formed at a much earlier period. +God forbid that I should be suspected of a wish to enter +into a rivalry with Schelling for the honors so unequivocally +his right, not only as a great original genius, but +as the <i>founder</i> of the Philosophy of Nature, and as the +most successful <i>improver</i> of the Dynamic system, which, +begun by Bruno, was reintroduced (in a more philosophical +form, and freed from all its impurities and visionary +accompaniments) by Kant, in whom it was the native and +necessary growth of his own system. Kant's followers, +however, on whom (for the greater part) their master's +<i>cloak</i> had fallen, without, or with a very scanty portion +of his <i>spirit</i>, had adopted his dynamic ideas, only as a +more refined species of mechanics. With exception of +one or two fundamental ideas which cannot be withheld +from Fichte, to Schelling we owe the completion and +the most important victories of this revolution in +philosophy. To me it will be happiness and honor +enough, should I succeed in rendering the system itself +intelligible to my countrymen, and in the application +of it to the most awful of subjects for the most important +of purposes. Whether a work is the offspring of +a man's own spirit and the product of original thinking, +will be discovered by those who are its sole legitimate +judges, by better tests than the mere reference to dates."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The question of Coleridge's alleged plagiarism from +Schelling does not concern us here. Whether the +philosophy he taught was the product of his own thinking, +or whether he was merely the medium for communicating +the system of Schelling to his countrymen, is of +no moment to us. For us it is sufficient to know that +the English-speaking people on both shores of the +Atlantic received them chiefly through the Englishman. +Those who are interested in the other matter will find +Coleridge's reputation vindicated in a long and elaborate +introduction<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> + to the "Biographia Literaria," edition +of 1847, by the poet's son.</p> + +<p>Coleridge was a pure Transcendentalist, of the Schelling +school. The transcendental phrases came over and +over in book and conversation, "reason" and "understanding," +"intuition," "necessary truths," "consciousness," +and the rest that were used to describe the +supersensual world and the faculties by which it was +made visible. He shall speak for himself. The following +passage from the "Biographia Literaria," Chapter +XII., will be sufficiently intelligible to those who have +read the previous chapters, or enough of them to comprehend +their cardinal ideas:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"The criterion is this: if a man receives as fundamental +facts, and therefore of course indemonstratable +and incapable of further analysis, the general notions of +matter, spirit, soul, body, action, passiveness, time, space, +cause and effect, consciousness, perception, memory and +all these, and is satisfied if only he can analyze all other +notions into some one or more of these supposed elements, +with plausible subordination and apt arrangement; +to such a mind I would as courteously as possible +convey the hint, that for him this chapter was not +written.... For philosophy, in its highest sense, +as the science of ultimate truths, and therefore <i>scientia +scientiarum</i>, this mere analysis of terms is preparative +only, though as a preparative discipline indispensable.</p> + +<p>"Still less dare a favorable perusal be anticipated from +the proselytes of that compendious philosophy which, +talking of mind, but thinking of brick and mortar, or other +images equally abstracted from body, contrives a theory +of spirit by nicknaming matter, and in a few hours can +qualify its dullest disciples to explain the <i>omne scibile</i> by +reducing all things to impressions, ideas, and sensations.</p> + +<p>"But<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> + it is time to tell the truth; though it requires +some courage to avow it in an age and country in which +disquisitions on all subjects not privileged to adopt +technical terms or scientific symbols, must be addressed +to the public. I say, then, that it is neither possible nor +necessary for all men, nor for many, to be philosophers. +There is a philosophic consciousness which lies beneath +or (as it were) behind the spontaneous consciousness +natural to all reflecting beings. As the elder Romans +distinguished their northern provinces into Cis-Alpine +and Trans-Alpine, so may we divide all the objects of +human knowledge into those on this side and those on +the other side of the spontaneous consciousness. The +latter is exclusively the domain of pure philosophy, +which is therefore properly entitled <i>transcendental</i>, in +order to discriminate it at once, both from mere reflection +and <i>re</i>-presentation on the one hand, and on the +other from those flights of lawless speculation which, +abandoned by <i>all</i> distinct consciousness, because transgressing +the bounds and purposes of our intellectual +faculties, are justly condemned as <i>transcendent</i>.</p> + +<p>"The first range of hills that encircles the scanty vale +of human life is the horizon for the majority of its inhabitants. +On its ridges the sun is born and departs. From +them the stars rise, and touching them they vanish. By +the many, even this range, the natural limit and bulwark +of the vale, is but imperfectly known. Its higher ascents +are too often hidden in mists and clouds from +uncultivated swamps which few have courage or curiosity +to penetrate. To the multitude below these vapors +appear, now as the dark haunts of terrific agents, on +which none may intrude with impunity; and now all +aglow, with colors not their own, they are gazed at as the +splendid palaces of happiness and power. But in all +ages there have been a few who, measuring and sounding +the rivers of the vale at the feet of their farthest inaccessible +falls, have learned that the sources must be far +higher and far inward; a few who, even in the level +streams, have detected elements which neither the vale +itself<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> + nor the surrounding mountains contained or could +supply. How and whence to these thoughts, these +strong probabilities, the ascertaining vision, the intuitive +knowledge may finally supervene, can be learned only +by the fact. I might oppose to the question the words +with which Plotinus supposes Nature to answer a similar +difficulty: 'Should any one interrogate her how she +works, if graciously she vouchsafe to listen and speak, +she will reply, it behooves thee not to disquiet me with +interrogatories, but to understand in silence, even as I +am silent, and work without words.'</p> + +<p>"They and they only can acquire the philosophic +imagination, the sacred power of self-intuition, who +within themselves can interpret and understand the +symbol, that the wings of the air-sylph are forming +within the skin of the caterpillar; those only, who feel in +their own spirits the same instinct which impels the +chrysalis of the horned fly to leave room in its <i>involucrum</i> +for <i>antennć</i> yet to come. They know and feel that +the potential works in them, even as the actual works in +them! In short, all the organs of sense are framed for +a corresponding world of sense; and we have it. All +the organs of spirit are framed for a correspondent world +of spirit; though the latter organs are not developed in +all alike. But they exist in all, and their first appearance +discloses itself in the moral being. How else could it be +that even worldlings, not wholly debased, will contemplate +the man of simple and disinterested goodness with +contradictory feelings of pity and respect. 'Poor man, +he is not made for this world.' Oh, herein they utter a +prophecy of universal fulfilment, for man must either +rise or sink.</p> + +<p>"It is the essential mark of the true philosopher to rest +satisfied with no imperfect light, as long as the impossibility +of attaining a fuller knowledge has not been +demonstrated. That the common consciousness itself +will furnish proofs by its own direction that it is connected +with master currents below the surface, I shall +merely assume as a postulate <i>pro tempore</i>.... On the +IMMEDIATE<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> + which dwells in every man, and on the +original intuition or absolute affirmation of it (which is +likewise in every man, but does not in every man rise +into consciousness), all the <i>certainty</i> of our knowledge +depends; and this becomes intelligible to no man by +the ministry of mere words from without. The medium +by which spirits understand each other is not the surrounding +air, but the <i>freedom</i> which they possess in +common, as the common ethereal element of their +being, the tremulous reciprocations of which propagate +themselves even to the inmost of the soul. Where the +spirit of a man is not <i>filled</i> with the consciousness of +freedom (were it only from its restlessness, as of one +struggling in bondage) all spiritual intercourse is interrupted, +not only with others, but even with himself. +No wonder, then, that he remains incomprehensible to +himself as well as to others. No wonder that in the +fearful desert of his consciousness he wearies himself +out with empty words to which no friendly echo answers, +either from his own heart or the heart of a fellow-being; +or bewilders himself in the pursuit of <i>notional</i> phantoms, +the mere refractions from unseen and distant +truths through the distorting medium of his own unenlivened +and stagnant understanding! To remain unintelligible +to such a mind, exclaims Schelling on a like +occasion, is honor and a good name before God and +man.</p> + +<p>"Philosophy is employed on objects of the <i>inner sense</i>, +and cannot, like geometry, appropriate to every construction +a corresponding <i>outward</i> intuition.... Now +the inner sense has its direction determined for the +greater part only by an act of freedom. One man's +consciousness extends only to the pleasant or unpleasant +sensations caused in him by external impressions; another +enlarges his inner sense to a consciousness of forms +and quantity; a third, in addition to the image, is +conscious of the conception or notion of the thing; a +fourth attains to a notion of his notions—he reflects on +his own reflections; and thus we may say without impropriety, +that<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> + the one possesses more or less inner +sense than the other....</p> + +<p>"The postulate of philosophy, and at the same time the +test of philosophical capacity, is no other than the heaven-descended +<span class="smcap">Know Thyself</span>. And this at once practically +and speculatively. For as philosophy is neither a +science of the reason or understanding only, nor merely +a science of morals, but the science of <span class="smcap">Being</span> altogether, +its primary ground can be neither merely speculative nor +merely practical, but both in one. All knowledge rests +upon the coincidence of an object with a subject. For +we can <i>know</i> only that which is true; and the truth is universally +placed in the coincidence of the thought with the +thing, of the representation with the object represented."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Coleridge then puts and argues the two alternatives. +1. Either the Objective is taken as primary, and then +we have to account for the supervention of the Subjective +which coalesces with it, which natural philosophy +supposes. 2. Or the Subjective is taken as primary, +and then we have to account for the supervention of the +objective, which spiritual philosophy supposes. The +Transcendentalist accepts the latter alternative.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"The second position, which not only claims but +necessitates the admission of its immediate certainty, +equally for the scientific reason of the philosopher as for +the common-sense of mankind at large, namely, I <span class="smcap">AM</span>, +cannot properly be entitled a prejudice. It is groundless +indeed; but then in the very idea it precludes all +ground, and, separated from the immediate consciousness, +loses its whole sense and import. It is groundless; +but only because it is itself the ground of all other +certainty. Now the apparent contradiction, that the +first position—namely, that the existence of things without +us, which from its nature cannot be immediately +certain—should be received as blindly and as independently +of all grounds as the existence of our own being, +the<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> + transcendental philosopher can solve only by the +supposition that the former is unconsciously involved in +the latter; that it is not only coherent, but identical, and +one and the same thing with our own immediate self-consciousness. +To demonstrate this identity is the office +and object of his philosophy.</p> + +<p>"If it be said that this is idealism, let it be remembered +that it is only so far idealism, as it is at the same time and +on that very account the truest and most binding realism."</p></blockquote> + +<p>To follow the exposition further is unnecessary for the +present purpose, which is to state the fundamental principles +of the philosophy, not to give the processes of +reasoning by which they are illustrated. Had Coleridge +been merely a philosopher, his influence on his generation, +by this means, would have been insignificant; for +his expositions were fragmentary; his thoughts were +too swift and tumultuous in their flow to be systematically +arranged; his style, forcible and luminous in passages, +is interrupted by too frequent episodes, excursions +and explanatory parentheses, to be enjoyed by the inexpert. +Besides being a philosopher, he was a theologian. +His deepest interest was in the problems of theology. +His mind was perpetually turning over the questions of +trinity, incarnation, Holy Ghost, sin, redemption, salvation. +He meditated endless books on these themes, +and, in special, one "On the Logos," which was to remove +all difficulties and reconcile all contradictions. +"On the whole, those dead churches, this dead English +church especially, must be brought to life again. Why +not? It was not dead; the soul of it, in this parched-up +body, was tragically asleep only. Atheistic philosophy +was, true, on its side; and Hume and Voltaire could, +on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> + their own ground, speak irrefragably for themselves +against any church: but lift the church and them into a +higher sphere of argument, <i>they</i> died into inanition, the +church revivified itself into pristine florid vigor, became +once more a living ship of the desert, and invincibly +bore you over stock and stone."</p> + +<p>The philosophy was accepted as a basis for the theology, +and apparently only so far as it supplied the basis. +Mrs. Coleridge declares, in a note to Chapter IX. of the +"Biographia Literaria," that her husband, soon after the +composition of that work, became dissatisfied with the +system of Schelling, considered as a fundamental and +comprehensive scheme intended to exhibit the relations +of God to the world and man. He objected to it, she +insists, as essentially pantheistic, radically inconsistent +with a belief in God as himself moral and intelligent, +as beyond and above the world, as the supreme mind +to which the human mind owes homage and fealty—inconsistent +with any just view and deep sense of the +moral and spiritual being of man. He was mainly concerned +with the construction of a "philosophical system, +in which Christianity,—based on the triune being of God, +and embracing a primal fall and universal redemption, +(to use Carlyle's words) Christianity, ideal, spiritual, +eternal, but likewise and necessarily historical, realized +and manifested in time,—should be shown forth as +accordant, or rather as one with ideas of reason, and +the demands of the spiritual and of the speculative mind, +of the heart, conscience, reason, which should all be +satisfied and reconciled in one bond of peace."</p> + +<p>This<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> + explains the interest which young and enthusiastic +minds in the English Church took in Coleridge, +the verses just quoted from Aubrey de Vere, one of the +new school of believers, the admiring discipleship of +Frederick Denison Maurice, the hearty allegiance of +the leaders of the spiritual reformation in England. +Coleridge was the real founder of the Broad Church, +which attempted to justify creed and sacrament, by substituting +the ideas of the spiritual philosophy for the +formal authority of traditions which the reason of the age +was discarding.</p> + +<p>The men who sympathized with the same movement +in America felt the same gratitude to their leader. +Already in 1829 "The Aids to Reflection" were republished +by Dr. James Marsh. Caleb Sprague Henry, +professor of philosophy and history in the University of +New York in 1839, and before that a resident of Cambridge, +an enthusiastic thinker and eloquent talker, +loved to dilate on the genius of the English philosopher, +and was better than a book in conveying information +about him, better than many books in awakening interest +in his thought. The name of Coleridge was +spoken with profound reverence, his books were studied +industriously, and the terminology of transcendentalism +was as familiar as commonplace in the circles of divines +and men of letters. At present Hegel is the prophet of +these believers, Schelling is obsolete, and Coleridge, +the English Schelling, has had his day. The change is +marked by an all but entire absence of the passionate +enthusiasm, the imaginative glow and fervor, that characterized +the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> + transcendental phase of the movement. +Coleridge was a vital thinker; his mind was a flame; +his thoughts burned within him, and issued from him in +language that trembled and throbbed with the force of +the ideas committed to it. He was a divine, a preacher +of most wonderful eloquence. At the age of three or +four and forty Serjeant Talfourd heard him talk.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"At first his tones were conversational: he seemed to +dally with the shallows of the subject and with fantastic +images which bordered it; but gradually the thought +grew deeper, and the voice deepened with the thought; +the stream gathering strength seemed to bear along with +it all things which opposed its progress, and blended them +with its current; and stretching away among regions +tinted with ethereal colors, was lost at airy distance in +the horizon of fancy." At five-and-twenty William +Hazlitt heard him preach.</p> + +<p>"It was in January, 1798, that I rose one morning before +daylight, to walk ten miles in the mud, to hear this +celebrated person preach. Never, the longest day I +have to live, shall I have such another walk as this cold, +raw, comfortless one, in the winter of the year 1798. +<i>Il y a des impressions que ni le temps ni les circonstances +peuvent effacer. Dusse je vivre des sičcles entiers, le +doux temps de ma jeunesse ne peut renaître pour moi, ni +s'effacer jamais dans ma memoire.</i> When I got there +the organ was playing the hundredth psalm, and when +it was done Mr. Coleridge rose and gave out his text. +'He departed again into a mountain himself alone.' +As he gave out this text his voice 'rose like a stream of +rich distilled perfumes;' and when he came to the last +two words, which he pronounced loud, deep, and distinct, +it seemed to me, who was then young, as if the +sounds had echoed from the bottom of the human heart, +and as if that prayer might have floated in solemn +silence through the universe. The idea of St. John came +into my mind, of one crying in the wilderness, who had +his<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> + loins girt about, and whose food was locusts and wild +honey. The preacher then launched into his subject, +like an eagle dallying with the wind. The sermon was +upon peace and war, upon church and state, not their +alliance, but their separation; on the spirit of the world +and the spirit of Christianity, not as the same, but as +opposed to one another. He talked of those who had +inscribed the cross of Christ on banners dripping with +human gore. He made a poetical and pastoral excursion, +and to show the effects of war, drew a striking +contrast between the simple shepherd boy, driving his +team afield, or sitting under the hawthorn, piping to his +flock as though he should never be old; and the same +poor country lad, crimped, kidnapped, brought into +town, made drunk at an ale-house, turned into a wretched +drummer-boy, with his hair sticking on end with powder +and pomatum, a long cue at his back, and tricked out +in the finery of the profession of blood.</p></blockquote> + +<div class="poem small"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Such were the notes our once loved poet sung;'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>and for myself I could not have been more delighted if +I had heard the music of the spheres. Poetry and Philosophy +had met together, Truth and Genius had embraced, +under the eye and with the sanction of Religion. +This was even beyond my hopes. I returned home well +satisfied."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The influence of Coleridge was greatly assisted by +contemporary magazines, which helped by their furious +efforts to crush him, and won sympathy for him by their +attempts to laugh and hoot him down. Jeffrey handled +the "Biographia Literaria" in the Edinburgh Review, +August, 1817; "as favorable to the book <i>as could be expected</i>," +the editor quietly says. The numberless varieties +of judgment were represented in the Dublin University +Magazine,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> + British and Foreign Quarterly, Fraser, Blackwood, +Christian Quarterly, Spectator, Monthly Review, +Eclectic, Westminster, most of which contained several +articles on different aspects of the subject. In America, +Geo. B. Cheever wrote in the North American Review, +F. H. Hedge in the Christian Examiner, D. N. Lord in +Lord's Theological Journal, H. T. Tuckerman in the +Southern Literary Messenger, Noah Porter in the Bibliotheca +Sacra. The New York Review, the American +Quarterly, American Whig Review, all made contributions +to the Coleridgian literature,<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> and exhibited the +extensive reaches of his power. The readers of Lamb, +Hazlitt, Wordsworth, Southey and the brilliant essayists +that made so fascinating the English literature of the first +third of our century must perforce be introduced to Coleridge. +The "Ancient Mariner" and "Christabel," +which lay on every table, excited interest in the man from +whom such astonishing pieces proceeded; so that many +who understood little or nothing of his philosophical +ideas, appropriated something of the spirit and tone of +them. He had disciples who never heard him speak +even in print, and followers who never saw his form even +as sketched by critics. His thoughts were in the air; +the mental atmosphere of theological schools was modified +by them. They insensibly transplanted establishments +and creeds from old to new regions.</p> + +<p>In 1851, Thomas Carlyle burlesqued Coleridge, took +off his solemn oracular manner, made fun of his "plaintive +snuffle<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> + and sing-song," his "om-m-ject and sum-m-ject," +his "talk not flowing anywhither like a river, but +spreading everywhither in inextricable currents and +regurgitations like a lake or sea; terribly deficient +in definite goal or aim, nay often in logical intelligibility; +what you were to believe or do, on any earthly +or heavenly thing, obstinately refusing to appear from it, +so that, most times, you felt logically lost; swamped +near to drowning in this tide of ingenious vocables +spreading out boundless as if to submerge the world." +But in his earlier days the "windy harangues" and "dizzying +metaphysics" had their charm for him too; the +philosophy of the Highgate sage was in essence and fruit +his own. He explained at some length and with considerable +frequency, as well as much eloquence, the distinction +between "understanding," the faculty that +observed, generalized, inferred, argued, concluded, and +"reason," the faculty that saw the ideal forms of truth +face to face, and beheld the inmost reality of things. He +dilated with a disciple's enthusiasm on the principles of +the transcendental philosophy, painted in gorgeous colors +the promises it held forth, prophesied earnestly +respecting the better time for literature, art, social ethics +and religious faith it would bring in, preached tempestuously +against shams in church and state, from the +mount of vision that it disclosed. We have already +seen how he could speak of Kant, Fichte, Novalis, of +Goethe and Jean Paul. Thirty-five years ago Carlyle was +the high priest of the new philosophy. Emerson edited +his miscellanies, and the dregs of his ink-bottle were welcomed +as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> + the precious sediment of the fountain of +inspiration. In 1827 he defended the "Kritik of Pure +Reason" against stupid objectors from the sensational +side, as, in the opinion of the most competent judges, +"distinctly the greatest intellectual achievement of the +century in which it came to light," and affirmed as by +authority, that the seeker for pure truth must begin with +intuition and proceed outward by the light of the revelation +thence derived. In 1831 he carried this principle +to the extreme of maintaining that a complete surrender +to the informing genius, a surrender so entire as to +amount to the abandonment of definite purpose and +will, was evidence of perfect wisdom; for such is the +interpretation we give to the paradoxical doctrine of +"unconsciousness" which implied that in order to save +the soul it must be forgotten; that consciousness was a +disease; that in much wisdom was much grief.</p> + +<p>Had Carlyle been more of a philosopher and less of a +preacher, more a thinker and less a character, more a +patient toiler after truth, and less a man of letters, his +first intellectual impulse might have lasted. As it was, +the reaction came precisely in middle life, and the apostle +of transcendental ideas became the champion of Force. +His Transcendentalism seems to have been a thing of +sentiment rather than of conviction. A man of tremendous +strength of feeling, his youth, as is the case with men +of feeling, was romantic, enthusiastic, hopeful, exuberant; +his manhood, as is also the case with men of feeling, +was wilful and overbearing, with sadness deepening into +moroseness and unhopefulness verging towards despair.</p> + +<p>The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> + era of despair had not set in at the period when +the mind of New England was fermenting with the +ideas of the new philosophy. Then all was brave, humane, +aspiring. The denunciations of materialism in +philosophy, formalism in religion and utilitarianism in +personal and social ethics, rang through the land; +the superb vindications of soul against sense, spirit +against letter, faith against rite, heroism and nobleness +against the petty expediencies of the market, kindled all +earnest hearts. The emphatic declarations that "wonder +and reverence are the conditions of insight and the +source of strength; that faith is prior to knowledge and +deeper too; that empirical science can but play on the +surface of unfathomable mysteries; that in the order of +reality the ideal and invisible are the world's true adamant, +and the laws of material appearance only its alluvial +growths; that in the inmost thought of men there is +a thirst to which the springs of nature are a mere mirage, +and which presses on to the waters of eternity," fell +like refreshing gales from the hills on the children of +men imprisoned in custom and suffocated by tradition. +The infinitely varied illustrations of the worth of beauty, +the grandeur of truth, the excellence of simple, devout +sincerity in nature, literature, character; the burning +insistance on the need of fresh inspiration from the region +of serene ideas, seemed to proceed from a soul newly +awakened, if not especially endowed with the seer's +vision. It was better than philosophy; it was philosophy +made vital with sentiment and purpose.</p> + +<p>Carlyle early learned the German language, as Coleridge +did,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> + and drank deep from the fountains of its best literature. +To him it opened a new world of thought, which +the ordinary Englishman had no conception of. Coleridge +found himself at home there by virtue of his natural +genius, and also by the introduction given him by Wm. +Law, John Pordage, Richard Saumarez, and Jacob Behmen, +so that the suddenly discovered continent broke on +him with less surprise; but Carlyle was as one taken +wholly unawares, fascinated, charmed, intoxicated with +the sights and sounds about him. Being unprepared +by previous reflection and overpowered by the gorgeousness +of color, the wealth was too much for him; it palled +at last on his appetite, and he experienced a reaction +similar to that of the sensualist whose delirium first persuades +him that he has found his soul, and then makes +him fear that he has lost it.</p> + +<p>With the reactionary stage of Carlyle's career when, as +a frank critic observes, "he flung away with a shriek the +problems his youth entertained, as the fruit by which +paradise was lost; repented of all knowledge of good and +evil; clapped a bandage round the open eyes of morals, +religion, art, and saw no salvation but in spiritual suicide +by plunging into the currents of instinctive nature +that sweep us we know not whither"—we are not concerned. +His interest for us ceases with his moral enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>A more serene and beneficent influence proceeded from +the poet Wordsworth, whose fame rose along with that +of Coleridge, struggled against the same opposition, and +obtained even a steadier lustre. There was a kindred between +them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> + which Wordsworth did not acknowledge, +but which Coleridge more than suspected and tried to +divulge. One chapter in the first volume of the "Biographia +Literaria" and four chapters in the second volume +are devoted to the consideration of Wordsworth's poetry, +and effort is made, not quite successfully, to bring Wordsworth's +psychological faith into sympathy with his own.</p> + +<p>Wordsworth's genius has furnished critics with materials +for speculation that must be sought in their proper +places. We have no fresh analysis to offer. That the +secret of his power over the ingenuous and believing +minds of his age is to be found in the sentiment with +which he invested homely scenes and characters is a +superficial conjecture. What led him to invest homely +scenes and characters with sentiment, and what made +this circumstance interesting to precisely that class of +minds? What, but the same latent idealism that came to +deliberate and formal expression in Coleridge, and suggested +in the one what was proclaimed by the other? +For Wordsworth was a metaphysician, though he did not +clearly suspect it; at least, if he did, he was careful not +to betray himself by the usual signs. The philosophers +recognized him and paid to him their acknowledgments.</p> + +<p>In the "Dial," Wordsworth is mentioned with honor; +not discussed as Goethe was, but pleasantly talked about +as a well-known friend. The third volume of that magazine, +April, 1843, contains an article on "Europe +and European Books" in which occurs the following tribute +to Wordsworth:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"The capital merit of Wordsworth is that he has +done<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> + more for the sanity of this generation than any +other writer. Early in life, at a crisis, it is said, in his +private affairs, he made his election between assuming +and defending some legal rights with the chances of +wealth and a position in the world—and the inward +promptings of his heavenly genius; he took his part; he +accepted the call to be a poet, and sat down, far from +cities, with coarse clothing and plain fare to obey the +heavenly vision. The choice he had made in his will +manifested itself in every line to be real. We have +poets who write the poetry of society, of the patricians +and conventional Europe, as Scott and Moore; and +others, who, like Byron or Bulwer, write the poetry of +vice and disease. But Wordsworth threw himself into his +place, made no reserves or stipulations; man and writer +were not to be divided. He sat at the foot of Helvellyn +and on the margin of Windermere, and took their lustrous +mornings and their sublime midnights, for his theme, +and not Marlowe nor Massinger, nor Horace, nor Milton +nor Dante. He once for all forsook the styles and +standards and modes of thinking of London and Paris +and the books read there, and the aims pursued, and +wrote Helvellyn and Windermere and the dim spirits +which these haunts harbored. There was not the least attempt +to reconcile these with the spirit of fashion and +selfishness, nor to show, with great deference to the superior +judgment of dukes and earls, that although London +was the home for men of great parts, yet Westmoreland +had these consolations for such as fate had condemned +to the country life; but with a complete satisfaction +he pitied and rebuked their false lives, and celebrated his +own with the religion of a true priest. Hence the antagonism +which was immediately felt between his poetry +and the spirit of the age, that here not only criticism +but conscience and will were parties; the spirit of literature, +and the modes of living, and the conventional theories +of the conduct of life were called in question on +wholly new grounds, not from Platonism, nor from +Christianity,<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> + but from the lessons which the country +muse taught a stout pedestrian climbing a mountain, and +following a river from its parent rill down to the sea. +The Cannings and Jeffreys of the capital, the Court Journals +and Literary Gazettes were not well pleased, and +voted the poet a bore. But that which rose in him so +high as to the lips, rose in many others as high as to the +heart. What he said, they were prepared to hear and +to confirm. The influence was in the air, and was +wafted up and down into lone and populous places, resisting +the popular taste, modifying opinions which it +did not change, and soon came to be felt in poetry, in +criticism, in plans of life, and at last in legislation. In +this country it very early found a stronghold, and its +effect may be traced on all the poetry both of England +and America."</p></blockquote> + +<p>This is truly and well said, though quite inadequate. +The slighting allusion to Platonism might have been +omitted, for possibly Wordsworth had caught something +of the philosophy that was in the air. Mr. Emerson, +in "Thoughts on Modern Literature," in the second +number of the "Dial," Oct. 1840, touched a deeper +chord.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"The fame of Wordsworth" he says, "is a leading +fact in modern literature, when it is considered +how hostile his genius at first seemed to the reigning +taste, and with what feeble poetic talents his great and +steadily growing dominion has been established. More +than any poet his success has been not his own, but +that of the idea which he shared with his coevals, and +which he has rarely succeeded in adequately expressing. +The Excursion awakened in every lover of nature the +right feeling. We saw the stars shine, we felt the awe +of mountains, we heard the rustle of the wind in the +grass, and knew again the ineffable secret of solitude. +It was a great joy. It was nearer to nature than any +thing<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> + we had before. But the interest of the poem +ended almost with the narrative of the influences of +nature on the mind of the Boy, in the first book. +Obviously for that passage the poem was written, and +with the exception of this and a few strains of like +character in the sequel, the whole poem was dull. Here +was no poem, but here was poetry, and a sure index +where the subtle muse was about to pitch her tent and +find the argument of her song. It was the human soul +in these last ages striving for a just publication of itself. +Add to this, however, the great praise of Wordsworth, +that more than any other contemporary bard he is +pervaded with a reverence of somewhat higher than +(conscious) thought. There is in him that property +common to all great poets—a wisdom of humanity, +which is superior to any talents which they exert. It +is the wisest part of Shakespeare and Milton, for they are +poets by the free course which they allow to the informing +soul, which through their eyes beholdeth again and +blesseth the things which it hath made. The soul is +superior to its knowledge, wiser than any of its works."</p></blockquote> + +<p>In the general Preface to his poems, where Wordsworth +discusses the principles of the poetic art, he +wrote: "The imagination is conscious of an indestructible +dominion; the soul may fall away, from its not +being able to sustain its grandeur, but if once felt +and acknowledged, by no act of any other faculty of the +mind can it be relaxed, impaired or diminished. Fancy is +given to quicken and to beguile the temporal part of our +nature; Imagination to incite and support the eternal." +And in the appendix: "Faith was given to man that his +affections, detached from the treasures of time, might be +inclined to settle on those of eternity: the elevation of his +nature, which this habit produces on earth, being to him +a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> + presumptive evidence of a future state of existence, and +giving him a title to partake of its holiness. The religious +man values what he sees, chiefly as an 'imperfect +shadowing forth' of what he is incapable of seeing." Was +this an echo from the German Jacobi, whose doctrine of +Faith had been some time abroad in the intellectual world?</p> + +<p>The ode "Intimations of Immortality from Recollections +of Early Childhood," was a clear reminiscence of +Platonism. This famous poem was the favorite above +all other effusions of Wordsworth with the Transcendentalists, +who held it to be the highest expression of his +genius, and most characteristic of its bent. Emerson in +his last discourse on Immortality, calls it "the best +modern essay on the subject." Many passages in the +"Excursion" attest the transcendental character of the +author's faith. Coleridge quotes the following lines:</p> + +<div class="poem small"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">"For I have learned<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To look on nature, not as in the hour<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of thoughtless youth, but hearing oftentimes<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The still sad music of humanity,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To chasten and subdue. And I have felt<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A presence that disturbs me with the joy<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of something far more deeply interfused,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And the round ocean and the living air,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And the blue sky, and in the mind of man;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A motion and a spirit that impels<br /></span> +<span class="i2">All thinking things, all objects of all thought,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And rolls through all things."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> + passage quoted next suggests the very language +of Fichte in his Bestimmung des Menschen, "In der +Liebe nur ist das Leben, ohne Sie ist Tod und Vernichtung."</p> + +<div class="poem small"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">This is the genuine course, the aim, the end,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of prescient Reason; all conclusions else<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Are abject, vain, presumptuous and perverse,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The faith partaking of those holy times.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Life, I repeat, is energy of Love,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Divine or human; exercised in pain,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In strife and tribulation; and ordained,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">If so approved and sanctified, to pass<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Through shades and silent rest, to endless joy.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Another extract recalls the "pantheism" of Schelling.</p> + +<div class="poem small"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i3">Thou—who didst wrap the cloud<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of infancy around us, that Thyself<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Therein with our simplicity awhile<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Might'st hold, on earth, communion undisturbed,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Who from the anarchy of dreaming sleep,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or from its death-like void, with punctual care,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And touch as gentle as the morning light,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Restorest us, daily, to the powers of sense<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And reason's steadfast rule,—Thou, thou alone<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Art everlasting, and the blessed Spirits,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Which Thou includest, as the Sea her Waves.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">For adoration Thou endurest; endure<br /></span> +<span class="i2">For consciousness the motions of Thy will;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">For apprehension those transcendent truths<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of the pure Intellect, that stand as laws;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Submission constituting strength and power,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Even to Thy Being's infinite majesty!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Having<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> + before me a copy of Wordsworth's poems, +once the possession of an earnest Transcendentalist, I +find these, and many lines of similar import, underlined; +showing how dear the English poet was to the American +reader.</p> + +<p>There were others who held and enunciated the new +faith that came from Germany, the transfigured protestantism +of the land of Luther. But these three names +will suffice to indicate the wealth of England's contribution +to the spiritual life of the New World—Coleridge, +Carlyle, Wordsworth—the philosopher, the preacher, +the poet; the man of thought, the man of letters, the +man of imagination. These embrace all the methods by +which the fresh enthusiasm for the soul communicated +its power. These three were everywhere read, and +everywhere talked of. They occupied prominent places +in the public eye. They sank into the shadow only +when the faith that glorified them began to decline.</p> + +<p>It is remarkable that Emerson in the paper just quoted, +written in 1840, passes from Wordsworth to Landor; +while the author of the other paper, written in 1843, +passes, and almost with an expression of relief, from +Wordsworth to Tennyson, the new poet whose breaking +glory threatened the morning star with eclipse. By this +time Transcendentalism was on the wane. The "Dial" +marked for one year longer the hours of the great day, +and then was removed from its place, and the scientific +method of measuring progress was introduced. Wordsworth +from year to year had a diminishing proportion of +admirers: from year to year the admirers of Tennyson +increased.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> + As early as 1843 the passion for music, color, +and external polish was manifest. Tennyson's elegance +and subtlety, his rich fancy, his mastery of language, his +metrical skill, his taste for the sumptuous and gorgeous, +were winning their way to popularity. The critic in the +"Dial" has misgivings: "In these boudoirs of damask +and alabaster one is further off from stern nature and +human life than in "Lalla Rookh" and "The Loves of +the Angels." Amid swinging censers and perfumed +lamps, amidst velvet and glory, we long for rain and +frost. Otto of roses is good, but wild air is better." +But the sweets have been tasted, and have spoiled the +relish for the old homeliness. For the man who loved +him the charm of Wordsworth was idyllic; for the few +who bent the head to him it was mystical and prophetic. +The idyllic sentiment palled on the taste. It was a reaction +from artificial forms of sensibility, and having enjoyed +its day, submitted to the law of change that called +it into being. The moral earnestness, the mystic idealism +became unpopular along with the school of philosophy +from which it sprung, and gave place to the realism +of the Victorian bards, who expressed the sensuous +spirit of a more external age. Transcendentalism lurks +in corners of England now. The high places of thought +are occupied by men who approach the great problems +from the side of nature, and through matter feel after +mind; by means of the senses attempt the heights of +spirit.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p> +<p class="center big"><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI.</p> + +<h2>TRANSCENDENTALISM IN NEW ENGLAND.</h2> + + +<p>The title of this Chapter is in a sense misleading. For +with some truth it may be said that there never was +such a thing as Transcendentalism out of New England. +In Germany and France there was a transcendental philosophy, +held by cultivated men, taught in schools, and +professed by many thoughtful and earnest people; but +it never affected society in its organized institutions or +practical interests. In old England, this philosophy +influenced poetry and art, but left the daily existence of +men and women untouched. But in New England, the +ideas entertained by the foreign thinkers took root in +the native soil and blossomed out in every form of social +life. The philosophy assumed full proportions, produced +fruit according to its kind, created a new social order for +itself, or rather showed what sort of social order it would +create under favoring conditions. Its new heavens and +new earth were made visible, if but for a moment, and +in a wintry season. Hence, when we speak of Transcendentalism, +we mean New England Transcendentalism.</p> + +<p>New England furnished the only plot of ground on the +planet, where the transcendental philosophy had a chance +to show what it was and what it proposed. The forms +of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> + life there were, in a measure, plastic. There were no +immovable prejudices, no fixed and unalterable traditions. +Laws and usages were fluent, malleable at all events. The +sentiment of individual freedom was active; the truth +was practically acknowledged, that it takes all sorts of +people to make a world, and the many minds of the +many men were respected. No orders of men, no aristocracies +of intellect, no privileged classes of thought +were established. The old world supplied such literature +as there was, in science, law, philosophy, ethics, +theology; but an astonishing intellectual activity seized +upon it, dealt with it in genuine democratic fashion, +classified it, accepted it, dismissed it, paying no undue +regard to its foreign reputation. Experiments in thought +and life, of even audacious description, were made, not +in defiance of precedent—for precedent was hardly respected +enough to be defied—but in innocent unconsciousness +of precedent. A feeling was abroad that all +things must be new in the new world. There was call +for immediate application of ideas to life. In the old +world, thoughts remained cloistered a generation before +any questioned their bearing on public or private affairs. +In the new world, the thinker was called on to justify himself +on the spot by building an engine, and setting something +in motion. The test of a truth was its availability. +The popular faith in the capacities of men to make states, +laws, religions for themselves, supplied a ground work for +the new philosophy. The philosophy of sensation, making +great account, as it did, of circumstances, arrangements, +customs, usages, rules of education and discipline, was alien +and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> + disagreeable to people who, having just emancipated +themselves from political dependence on the mother +country, were full of confidence in their ability to set up +society for themselves. The philosophy that laid its foundations +in human nature, and placed stress on the organic +capacities and endowments of the mind, was as congenial +as the opposite system was foreign. Every native New +Englander was at heart, whether he suspected it or not, +radically and instinctively a disciple of Fichte or Schelling, +of Cousin or Jouffroy.</p> + +<p>The religion of New England was Protestant and of +the most intellectual type. Romanism had no hold on the +thinking people of Boston. None beside the Irish laboring +and menial classes were Catholics, and their religion was +regarded as the lowest form of ceremonial superstition. +The Congregational system favored individuality of +thought and action. The orthodox theology, in spite of its +arbitrary character and its fixed type of supernaturalism, +exercised its professors severely in speculative questions, +and furnished occasions for discernment and criticism +which made reason all but supreme over faith. This theology +too had its purely spiritual side—nay, it was essentially +spiritual. Its root ran back into Platonism, and its +flower was a mysticism which, on the intellectual side, +bordered closely on Transcendentalism. The charge that +the Trinitarian system, in its distinguishing features, was +of Platonic, and not of Jewish origin, was a confession that +it was born of the noblest idealism of the race. So in truth +it was, and so well-instructed Trinitarians will confess that +it was. The Platonic philosophy being transcendental +in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> + its essence and tendency, communicated this character +to Christian speculation. The skeletons of ancient +polemics were buried deep beneath the soil of +orthodoxy, and were not supposed to be a part of the +structure of modern beliefs, but there nevertheless they +were. The living faith of New England, in its spiritual +aspects, betrayed its ancestry. The speculation had become +Christian, the powers claimed by pagan philosophers +for the mind were ascribed to the influences of the Holy +Spirit and the truths revealed in consciousness were +truths of the Gospel; but the fact of immediate communication +between the soul of the believer and its Christ +was so earnestly insisted on, the sympathy was represented +as being of so kindred and organic a nature, that +in reading the works of the masters of New England +theology, it requires an effort to forget that the speculative +basis of their faith was not the natural basis of the +philosopher, but the supernatural one of the believer. +The spiritual writings of Jonathan Edwards, the +"Treatise on the Religious Affections" especially, +breathe the sweetest spirit of idealism. Indeed, whenever +orthodoxy spread its wings and rose into the +region of faith, it lost itself in the sphere where the +human soul and the divine were in full concurrence. +Transcendentalism simply claimed for all men what +Protestant Christianity claimed for its own elect.</p> + +<p>That adherents of the sensuous philosophy professed +the orthodox doctrines, is a circumstance that throws the +above statement into bolder relief. For these people +gave to the system the hard, external, dogmatical character +which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> + in New England provoked the Unitarian +reaction. The beliefs in scripture inspiration, incarnation, +atonement, election, predestination, depravity, +fall, regeneration, redemption, deprived of their interior +meaning, became ragged heaps of dogmatism, unbeautiful, +incredible, hateful. Assault came against them from +the quarter of common intelligence and the rational +understanding. The sensuous philosophy associated +with the school of Locke,—which Edwards and the like +of him scorned,—fell upon the fallen system and plucked +it unmercifully. Never was easier work than that of +the early Unitarian critics. The body of orthodoxy +having lost its soul, was a very unsightly carcass,—so +evidently, to every sense, a carcass, that they who had +respected it as a celestial creation, and could not be +persuaded that this was all they respected, allowed the +scavengers to take it away, only protesting that the thing +disposed of was not the revealed gospel, or anything +but a poor effigy of it.</p> + +<p>The Unitarians as a class belonged to the school of +Locke, which discarded the doctrine of innate ideas, +and its kindred beliefs. Unitarianism from the beginning +showed affinity with this school, and avowed it more +distinctly than idealists avowed Trinitarianism. Paul of +Samosata, Arius, Pelagius, Socinus, the Swiss, Polish, +English advocates of the same general theology and +christology were, after their several kinds, disciples of +the same philosophical system. Unitarianism, it was +remarked, has rarely, if ever, been taught or held by any +man of eminence in the church who was a Platonist. +The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> + Unitarians of New England, good scholars, careful +reasoners, clear and exact thinkers, accomplished men +of letters, humane in sentiment, sincere in moral intention, +belonged, of course with individual exceptions, to +the class which looked without for knowledge, rather +than within for inspiration. The Unitarian in religion +was a whig in politics, a conservative in literature, +art and social ethics. The Unitarian divine was more +familiar with Tillotson than with Cudworth, and more in +love with William Paley than with Joseph Butler. He +was strong in the "Old English" classics, and though a +confessed devotee to no school in philosophy, was +addicted to the prevailing fashion of intelligent, cultivated +good sense. The Unitarian was disquieted by +mysticism, enthusiasm and rapture. Henry More was +unintelligible to him, and Robert Fludd disgusting. +He had no sympathy with Helvetius, D'Holbach, Diderot +or Voltaire, those fierce disturbers of intellectual +peace; he had as little with William Law and Coleridge, +dreamers and visionaries, who substituted vapor +for solid earth. The Unitarian leaders were distinguished +by practical wisdom, sober judgment, and +balanced thoughtfulness, that weighed opinions in the +scale of evidence and argument. Even Dr. Channing +clung to the philosophical traditions that were his +inheritance from England. The splendid things he said +about the dignity of human nature, the divinity of the +soul, the moral kinship with Christ, the inspiration of the +moral sentiment, the power of moral intuition, habitual +and characteristic as they were, scarcely justify the +ascription<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> + to him of sympathy with philosophical +idealism. His tenacious adherence to the record of +miracle as attesting the mission of the Christ, and his +constant exaltation of the Christ above humanity, +suggest that the first principles of the transcendental +philosophy had not been distinctly accepted, even if +they were distinctly apprehended. The following +extract from a letter written in 1819, expresses Dr. +Channing's feeling toward Christ, a feeling never essentially +altered: "Jesus Christ existed before he came +into the world, and in a state of great honor and felicity. +He was known, esteemed, beloved, revered in the +family of heaven. He was entrusted with the execution +of the most sublime purposes of his Father." About the +same time he wrote: "Jesus ever lives, and is ever +active for mankind. He is Mediator, Intercessor, Lord, +and Saviour; He has a permanent and constant connection +with mankind. He is through all time, now as +well as formerly, the active and efficient friend of the +human race." The writer of such words was certainly +not a Transcendentalist in philosophy. His biographer, +himself a brilliant Transcendentalist, admits as much. +"His soul" he says, "was illuminated with the idea of +the absolute immutable glory of the Moral Good; and +reverence for conscience is the key to his whole +doctrine of human destiny and duty. Many difficult +metaphysical points he passed wholly by, as being out of +the sphere alike of intuition and of experience. He +believed, to be sure, in the possibility of man's gaining +some insight of Universal Order, and respected the lofty +aspiration<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> + which prompts men to seek a perfect knowledge +of the Divine laws; but he considered pretensions +to absolute science as quite premature; saw more +boastfulness than wisdom in ancient and modern +schemes of philosophy, and was not a little amused at +the complacent confidence with which quite evidently +fallible theorists assumed to stand at the centre, and to +scan and depict the panorama of existence." In a letter +of 1840, referring to the doctrines of Mr. Parker and +that school of thinkers, he writes: "I see and feel the +harm done by this crude speculation, whilst I also see +much nobleness to bind me to its advocates. In its +opinions generally I see nothing to give me hope. I am +somewhat disappointed that this new movement is to do +so little for the spiritual regeneration of society." A +year later, he tells James Martineau that the spiritualists +(meaning the Transcendentalists) "in identifying +themselves a good deal with Cousin's crude system, have +lost the life of an original movement. They are anxious +to defend the soul's immediate connection with God, +and are in danger of substituting private inspiration +for Christianity." What he knew of Kant, Schelling +and Fichte, through Mad. de Stael and Coleridge, he +welcomed as falling in with his own conceptions of the +grandeur of the human mind and will; but his acquaintance +with them was never complete, and if it had been, +he would perhaps have been repelled by the intellectual, +as strongly as he was attracted by the moral teaching.</p> + +<p>In this matter the sentiment of Channing went beyond +his philosophy. The following extracts taken at random +from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> + a volume of discourses edited in 1873 by his +nephew, under the title "The Perfect Life," show that +Channing was a Transcendentalist in feeling, whatever he +may have been in thought.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"The religious principle, is, without doubt, the noblest +working of human nature. This principle God implanted +for Himself. Through this the human mind corresponds +to the Supreme Divinity."</p> + +<p>"The idea of God is involved in the primitive and +most universal idea of Reason; and is one of its central +principles."</p> + +<p>"We have, each of us, the spiritual eye to see, the +mind to know, the heart to love, the will to obey God."</p> + +<p>"A spiritual light, brighter than that of noon, pervades +our daily life. The cause of our not seeing is in +ourselves."</p> + +<p>"The great lesson is, that there is in human nature an +element truly Divine, and worthy of all reverence; that +the Infinite which is mirrored in the outward universe, +is yet more brightly imaged in the inward spiritual +world."</p> + +<p>"They who assert the greatness of human nature, see +as much of guilt as the man of worldly wisdom. But +amidst the passions and selfishness of men they see +another element—a Divine element—a spiritual principle."</p> + +<p>"This moral principle—the supreme law in man—is +the Law of the Universe, the very Law to which the +highest beings are subject, and in obeying which they +find their elevation and their joy."</p> + +<p>"The Soul itself,—in its powers and affections, in its +unquenchable thirst and aspiration for unattained good, +gives signs of a Nature made for an interminable progress, +such as cannot be now conceived."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The debt which Transcendentalism owed to Unitarianism +was not speculative; neither was it immediate or direct. +The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> + Unitarians, clergy as well as laity, so far as +the latter comprehended their position, acknowledged +themselves to be friends of free thought in religion. This +was their distinction. They disavowed sympathy with +dogmatism, partly because such dogmatism as there was +existed in the minds of their theological foes, and was +felt in such persecution as society permitted; and partly +because they honestly respected the human mind, and +valued thought for its own sake. They had no creed, +and no system of philosophy on which a creed could be, +by common consent, built. Rather were they open inquirers, +who asked questions and waited for rational answers, +having no definite apprehension of the issue to +which their investigations tended, but with room enough +within the accepted theology to satisfy them; and work +enough on the prevailing doctrines to keep them employed. +Under these circumstances, they honestly but +incautiously professed a principle broader than they +were able to stand by, and avowed the absolute freedom +of the human mind as their characteristic faith; instead +of a creed, the right to judge all creeds; instead of a system, +authority to try every system by rules of evidence. +The intellectual among them were at liberty to entertain +views which an orthodox mind instinctively shrank from; +to read books which an orthodox believer would not +have touched with the ends of his fingers. The literature +on their tables represented a wide mental activity. +Their libraries contained authors never found before on +ministerial shelves. Skepticism throve by what it fed +on; and, before they had become fully aware of the possible +results<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> + of their diligent study, their powers had acquired +a confidence that encouraged ventures beyond +the walls of Zion. This profession of free inquiry, and +the practice of it within the extensive area of Protestant +theology, opened the door to the new speculation which +carried unlooked-for heresies in its bosom; and before +the gates could be closed the insidious enemy had penetrated +to the citadel.</p> + +<p>There was idealism in New England prior to the introduction +of Transcendentalism. Idealism is of no +clime or age. It has its proportion of disciples in every +period and in the apparently most uncongenial countries; +a full proportion might have been looked for in New +England. But when Emerson appeared, the name of +Idealism was legion. He alone was competent to form a +school, and as soon as he rose, the scholars trooped +about him. By sheer force of genius Emerson anticipated +the results of the transcendental philosophy, defined +its axioms and ran out their inferences to the end. +Without help from abroad, or with such help only as +none but he could use, he might have domesticated in +Massachusetts an idealism as heroic as Fichte's, as +beautiful as Schelling's; but it would have lacked the +dialectical basis of the great German systems.</p> + +<p>Transcendentalism, properly so called, was imported +in foreign packages. Few read German, but most +read French. As early as 1804, Degerando lectured on +Kant's philosophy, in Paris; and as early as 1813 Mad. de +Stael gave an account of it. The number of copies of +the original works of either Kant, Fichte, Jacobi or +Schelling,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> + that found their way to the United States, +was inconsiderable. Half a dozen eager students obtained +isolated books of Herder, Schleiermacher, De Wette and +other theological and biblical writers, read them, translated +chapters from them, or sent notices of them to the +Christian Examiner. The works of Coleridge made +familiar the leading ideas of Schelling. The foreign +reviews reported the results and processes of French +and German speculation. In 1827, Thomas Carlyle +wrote, in the Edinburgh Review, his great articles on +Richter and the State of German Literature; in 1828 +appeared his essay on Goethe. Mr. Emerson presented +these and other papers as "Carlyle's Miscellanies" to +the American public. In 1838 George Ripley began the +publication of the "Specimens of Foreign Standard +Literature," a series which extended to fourteen volumes; +the first and second comprising philosophical +miscellanies by Cousin, Jouffroy and Constant, translated +with introductions by Mr. Ripley himself; the third +devoted to Goethe and Schiller, with elaborate and discriminating +prefaces by John S. Dwight; the fourth +giving Eckermann's Conversations with Goethe, done +into English by Margaret Fuller; the three next containing +Menzel's German Literature, by Prof. C. C. Felton; +the eighth and ninth introducing Wm. H. Channing's +version of Jouffroy's Introduction to Ethics; the tenth and +eleventh, DeWette's Theodor, by James Freeman Clarke; +the twelfth and thirteenth, DeWette's Ethics, by Samuel +Osgood; and the last offering samples of German Lyrics, +by Charles T. Brooks. These volumes, which were remarkably +attractive,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> + both in form and contents, brought +many readers into a close acquaintance with the teaching +and the spirit of writers of the new school.</p> + +<p>The Philosophical Miscellanies of Cousin were much +noticed by the press, George Bancroft in especial +sparing no pains to commend them and the views they +presented. The spiritual philosophy had no more +fervent or eloquent champion than he. No reader of his +"History of the United States," has forgotten the +noble tribute paid to it under the name of Quakerism, +or the striking parallel between the two systems represented +in the history by John Locke and Wm. Penn, +both of whom framed constitutions for the new world. +For keenness of apprehension and fullness of statement +the passages deserve to be quoted here. They occur in +the XVI. chapter of the History.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"The elements of humanity are always the same, the +inner light dawns upon every nation, and is the same in +every age; and the French revolution was a result of the +same principles as those of George Fox, gaining dominion +over the mind of Europe. They are expressed in +the burning and often profound eloquence of Rousseau; +they reappear in the masculine philosophy of Kant. +The professor of Königsberg, like Fox and Barclay and +Penn, derived philosophy from the voice in the soul; like +them, he made the oracle within the categorical rule of +practical morality, the motive to disinterested virtue; +like them, he esteemed the Inner Light, which discerns +universal and necessary truths, an element of humanity; +and therefore his philosophy claims for humanity the +right of ever renewed progress and reform. If the +Quakers disguised their doctrine under the form of +theology,<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> + Kant concealed it for a season under the +jargon of a nervous but unusual diction. But Schiller +has reproduced the great idea in beautiful verse; Chateaubriand +avowed himself its advocate; Coleridge has +repeated the doctrine in misty language; it beams +through the poetry of Lamartine and Wordsworth; +while in the country of beautiful prose, the eloquent +Cousin, listening to the same eternal voice which connects +humanity with universal reason, has gained a wide fame +for "the divine principle," and in explaining the harmony +between that light and the light of Christianity, has often +unconsciously borrowed the language, and employed the +arguments of Barclay and Penn."</p></blockquote> + +<p>A few pages later is the brilliant passage describing +the essential difference between this philosophy and that +of Locke:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"Locke, like William Penn, was tolerant; both loved +freedom, both cherished truth in sincerity. But Locke +kindled the torch of liberty at the fires of tradition; Penn +at the living light in the soul. Locke sought truth through +the senses and the outward world; Penn looked inward to +the divine revelations in every mind. Locke compared +the soul to a sheet of white paper, just as Hobbes had +compared it to a slate on which time and chance might +scrawl their experience. To Penn the soul was an organ +which of itself instinctively breathes divine harmonies, +like those musical instruments which are so curiously +and perfectly formed, that when once set in motion, they +of themselves give forth all the melodies designed by +the artist that made them. To Locke, conscience is +nothing else than our own opinion of our own actions; +to Penn, it is the image of God and his oracle in the +soul.... In studying the understanding Locke begins +with the sources of knowledge; Penn with an inventory +of our intellectual treasures.... The system of +Locke<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> + lends itself to contending factions of the most +opposite interests and purposes; the doctrine of Fox and +Penn, being but the common creed of humanity, forbids +division and insures the highest moral unity. To Locke, +happiness is pleasure, and things are good and evil only in +reference to pleasure and pain; and to "inquire after the +highest good is as absurd as to dispute whether the best +relish be in apples, plums or nuts." Penn esteemed happiness +to lie in the subjection of the baser instincts to +the instinct of Deity in the breast; good and evil to be +eternally and always as unlike as truth and falsehood; +and the inquiry after the highest good to involve the +purpose of existence. Locke says plainly that, but for +rewards and punishments beyond the grave, 'it is certainly +right to eat and drink, and enjoy what we delight +in.' Penn, like Plato and Fenelon, maintained the doctrine +so terrible to despots, that God is to be loved for +His own sake, and virtue to be practised for its intrinsic +loveliness. Locke derives the idea of infinity from the +senses, describes it as purely negative, and attributes it to +nothing but space, duration and number; Penn derived +the idea from the soul, and ascribed it to truth and +virtue and God. Locke declares immortality a matter +with which reason has nothing to do; and that revealed +truth must be sustained by outward signs and visible acts +of power; Penn saw truth by its own light and summoned +the soul to bear witness to its own glory."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The justice of the comparison, in the first part of the +above extract, of Quakerism with Transcendentalism, may +be disputed. Some may be of opinion that inasmuch +as Quakerism traces the source of the Inner Light to the +supernatural illumination of the Holy Spirit, while Transcendentalism +regards it as a natural endowment of the +human mind, the two are fundamentally opposed while +superficially in agreement. However this may be, the +practical<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> + issues of the two coincide, and the truth of the +contrast presented between the philosophies, designated +by the name of Locke on the one side, and of Penn on +the other, will not be disputed. Mr. Bancroft's statement, +though dazzling, is exact. It was made in 1837. +The third edition from which the above citation was +made, was published in 1838, the year of Mr. Emerson's +address to the Divinity students at Cambridge.</p> + +<p>Mr. Emerson had shown his hand plainly several +years before. In 1832 he raised the whole issue in the +"epoch making" sermon, in which he advanced the +view of the communion service that led to his resignation +of the Christian ministry. His elder brother, William, +returning from his studies in Germany, was turned from +the profession of the church which he had purposed +entering, to the law, by similar scruples. In 1834, James +Walker printed in the "Christian Examiner" an address, +which was the same year published as a tract, by the +American Unitarian Association, entitled "The Philosophy +of Man's Spiritual Nature in regard to the foundations +of Faith," wherein he took frankly the transcendental +ground, contending:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"That the existence of those spiritual faculties and capacities +which are assumed as the foundation of religion +in the soul of man, is attested, and put beyond controversy +by the revelations of consciousness; that religion in the +soul, consisting as it does, of a manifestation and development +of these spiritual faculties and capacities, is as much +a reality in itself, and enters as essentially into our idea +of a perfect man, as the corresponding manifestation +and development of the reasoning faculties, a sense of +justice,<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> + or the affections of sympathy and benevolence; +and that from the acknowledged existence and reality +of spiritual impressions or perceptions, we may and do +assume the existence and reality of the spiritual world; +just as from the acknowledged existence and reality of +sensible impressions or perceptions, we may and do +assume the existence and realities of the sensible world."</p></blockquote> + +<p>In this discourse, for originally it was a discourse, the +worst species of infidelity is charged to the "Sensational" +philosophy, and at the close, the speaker in impressive +language, said:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"Let us hope that a better philosophy than the +degrading sensualism out of which most forms of +infidelity have grown, will prevail, and that the minds +of the rising generation will be thoroughly imbued with +it. Let it be a philosophy which recognizes the higher +nature of man, and aims, in a chastened and reverential +spirit, to unfold the mysteries of his higher life. Let it be a +philosophy which comprehends the soul, a soul susceptible +of religion, of the sublime principle of faith, of a +faith which 'entereth into that within the veil.' Let it be +a philosophy which continually reminds us of our +intimate relations to the spiritual world; which opens to +us new sources of consolation in trouble, and new +sources of life in death—nay, which teaches us that what +we call <i>death</i> is but the dying of all that is mortal, that +nothing but life may remain."</p></blockquote> + +<p>In 1840, the same powerful advocate of the transcendental +doctrine, in a discourse before the alumni of the +Cambridge Divinity School, declared that the return to +a higher order of ideas, to a living faith in God, in +Christ, and in the church, had been promoted by such +men<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> + as Schleiermacher and De Wette; gave his opinion +that the religious community had reason to look with +distrust and dread on a philosophy which limited the +ideas of the human mind to the information imparted +by the senses, and denied the existence of spiritual +elements in the nature of man; and again welcomed the +philosophy taught in England by Butler, Reid and +Coleridge; in Germany, by Kant, Jacobi and Schleiermacher; +in France, by Cousin, Jouffroy and Degerando. +Such words from James Walker, always a favorite +teacher with young men, a mind of judicial authority +in the liberal community, and at that time Professor of +Moral Philosophy at Harvard College, made a deep +impression. When he said: "Men may put down Transcendentalism +if they can, but they must first deign to +comprehend its principles," the most conservative began +to surmise that there must be something in Transcendentalism.</p> + +<p>But before this the movement was well under way. +In 1836, Emerson's "Nature" broke through the +shell of accepted opinions on a very essential subject: +true, but five hundred copies were sold in twelve years; +critics and philosophers could make nothing of it; but +those who read it recognized signs of a new era, even if +they could not describe them; and many who did not read +it felt in the atmosphere the change it introduced. The +idealism of the little book was uncompromising.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"In the presence of ideas we feel that the outward +circumstance is a dream and a shade. Whilst we wait +in<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> + this Olympus of gods, we think of nature as an +appendix to the soul. We ascend into their region, +and know that these are the thoughts of the Supreme +Being."... "Idealism is an hypothesis to account +for nature by other principles than those of carpentry and +chemistry. It acquaints us with the total disparity +between the evidence of our own being, and the evidence +of the world's being. The world is a divine dream, +from which we may presently awake to the glories and +certainties of day."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The same year, George Ripley reviewed in the +"Christian Examiner," Martineau's "Rationale of +Religious Enquiry." The article was furiously assailed +in the Boston Daily Advertiser. Mr. Ripley replied in +the paper of the next day, vindicating the ideas of the +review and of the book as being strictly in consonance +with the principles of liberal Christianity.</p> + +<p>In 1838 came the wonderful "address" before the +Cambridge Divinity School, which stirred the soul of +aspiring young men, and, wakened the wrath of sedate +old ones. It was idealism in its full blaze, and it made +the germs of Transcendentalism struggle in the sods.</p> + +<p>The next year Andrews Norton attacked the new +philosophy in a discourse before the same audience, on +"The Latest Form of Infidelity." The doctrine of that +discourse was "Sensationalism" in its boldest aspect.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"Christ was commissioned by God to speak to us +in His name, and to make known to us, on His authority, +those truths which it most concerns us to know; and +there can be no greater miracle than this. No proof of +His divine commission could be afforded but through +miraculous displays of God's power. Nothing is left that +can<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> + be called Christianity, if its miraculous character be +denied. Its essence is gone; its evidence is annihilated."... +"To the demand for certainty let it come from +whom it may, I answer that I know of no absolute +certainty beyond the limit of momentary consciousness; +a certainty that vanishes the instant it exists, and is lost +in the region of metaphysical doubt."... "There +can be no intuition, no direct perception of the truth of +Christianity, no metaphysical certainty."... "Of +the facts on which religion is founded, we can pretend +to no assurance except that derived from the testimony +of God from the Christian revelation."</p></blockquote> + +<p>A pamphlet defending the discourse contained passages +like the following: "The doctrine that the mind +possesses a faculty of intuitively discovering the truths of +religion, is not only utterly untenable, but the proposition +is of such a character that it cannot well bear the test +of being distinctly stated. The question respecting the +existence of such a faculty is not difficult to be decided. +We are not conscious of possessing any such faculty; +and there can be no other proof of its existence. Its +defenders shrink from presenting it in broad daylight. +They are disposed to keep it out of view behind a cloud +of words."... "Consciousness or intuition can +inform us of nothing but what exists in our own minds, +including the relations of our own ideas. It is therefore +not an intelligible error, but a mere absurdity to maintain +that we are conscious, or have an intuitive knowledge +of the being of God, of our own immortality, of +the revelation of God through Christ, or of any other fact +of religion."... "The religion of which they +(the Transcendentalists) speak, therefore, exists merely, +if it exist at all, in undefined and unintelligible feelings, +having reference, perhaps, to certain imaginations, the +result of impressions communicated in childhood or +produced by the visible signs of religious belief existing +around us, or awakened by the beautiful and magnificent +spectacles which nature presents."</p> + +<p>Mr.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> + Norton spoke with biting severity of the masters +of German philosophy, criticism, and literature, and +exhausted his sarcasm on the address of Mr. Emerson +delivered the previous year. To Mr. Norton, Mr. +Ripley made prompt and earnest, though temperate, +reply in three long and powerful letters, devoted mainly +to a refutation of his adversary's accusations against +Spinoza, Schleiermacher, De Wette, and the philosophic +theologians of Germany. Not till the end does he take +issue with the fundamental positions of Mr. Norton's +philosophy; then he brands as "revolting" the doctrine +that "there can be no intuition, no direct perception of +the truth of Christianity;" that "the feeling or direct +perception of religious truth" is an "imaginary faculty;" +and affirms his conviction that "the principle that the +soul has no faculty to perceive spiritual truth, is contradicted +by the universal consciousness of man."</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"Does the body see," he asks, "and is the spirit +blind? No, man has the faculty for feeling and perceiving +religious truth. So far from being imaginary, +it is the highest reality of which the pure soul is +conscious. Can I be more certain that I am capable +of looking out and admiring the forms of external +beauty, 'the frail and weary weed in which God dresses +the soul that he has called into time,' than that I can +also look within, and commune with the fairer forms +of truth and holiness which plead for my love, as +visitants from Heaven?"</p></blockquote> + +<p>The controversy was taken up by other pens. In +1840, Theodore Parker, speaking as a plain man under +the name of Levi Blodgett, "moved and handled the +Previous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> + Question" after a fashion that betrayed the +practised thinker and scribe. Mr. Parker occupied substantially +the same ground that was taken by James +Walker in 1834.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"The germs of religion, both the germs of religious +principle and religious sentiment, must be born in man, +or innate, as our preacher says. I reckon that man +is by nature a religious being, <i>i. e.</i> that he was made +to be religious, as much as an ox was made to eat grass. +The existence of God is a fact given in our nature: it is +not something discovered by a process of reasoning, +by a long series of deductions from facts; nor yet is +it the last generalization from phenomena observed in +the universe of mind or matter. But it is a truth fundamental +in our nature; given outright by God; a truth +which comes to light as soon as self-consciousness +begins. Still further, I take a sense of dependence on +God to be a natural and essential sentiment of the soul, +as much as feeling, seeing and hearing are natural +sensations of the body. Here, then, are the religious +instincts which lead man to God and religion, just as +naturally as the intellectual instincts lead him to truth, +and animal instincts to his food. As there is light for +the eye, sound for the ear, food for the palate, friends for +the affections, beauty for the imagination, truth for the +reason, duty for conscience—so there is God for the +religious sentiment or sense of dependence on Him. +Now all these presuppose one another, as a want essential +to the structure of man's mind or body presupposes +something to satisfy it. And as the sensation +of hunger presupposes food to satisfy it, so the sense +of dependence on God presupposes his existence and +character."</p></blockquote> + +<p>From these premises Mr. Parker proceeds to discuss +the questions about miracles, inspiration, revelation, the +character<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> + and functions of Jesus, the Christ, and kindred +matters belonging to the general controversy. The year +following, he preached the sermon on the "Transient +and Permanent in Christianity," which brought out the +issues between the "Sensationalists" and the "Transcendentalists," +and was the occasion of detaching the +latter from the original body.</p> + +<p>The first series of Emerson's "Essays" containing +"Self Reliance," "Compensation," "Spiritual Laws," +"The Over Soul," "Circles," "Intellect," was published +during that year, and was followed almost immediately +by "The Transcendentalist," a lecture read in Masonic +Temple, Boston. In this lecture occurs the following +allusion to Kant:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"The Idealism of the present day acquired the name +of Transcendental from the use of that term by Immanuel +Kant of Königsberg, who replied to the skeptical +philosophy of Locke, which insisted that there was +nothing in the intellect which was not previously in the +experience of the senses, by showing that there was a +very important class of ideas or imperative forms, which +did not come by experience, but through which experience +was acquired; that these were intuitions of the +mind itself; and he denominated them <i>Transcendental</i> +forms. The extraordinary profoundness and precision of +that man's thinking have given vogue to his nomenclature +in Europe and America, to that extent that whatever +belongs to the class of intuitive thought is popularly +called, at the present day, Transcendental."... +"The Transcendentalist adopts the whole connection of +spiritual doctrine. He believes in miracles, in the +perpetual openness of the human mind to new influx of +light and power; he believes in inspiration and ecstasy. +He<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> + wishes that the spiritual principle should be suffered +to demonstrate itself to the end, in all possible applications +to the state of man, without the admission of anything +unspiritual, that is, anything positive, dogmatic, +personal."</p></blockquote> + +<p>From what has been said it may be inferred that +Transcendentalism in New England was a movement +within the limits of "liberal" Christianity or Unitarianism +as it was called, and had none but a religious aspect. +Such an inference would be narrow. In 1838, Orestes +Augustus Brownson started "The Boston Quarterly +Review," instituted for the discussion of questions in +politics, art, literature, science, philosophy and religion. +The editor who was the principal, and almost the sole +writer, frankly declares that "he had no creed, no +distinct doctrines to support whatever;" that he "aimed +to startle, and made it a point to be as paradoxical and +extravagant as he could, without doing violence to his +own reason or conscience." This avowal was made in +1857, after Mr. Brownson had become a Roman +Catholic. The pages of the Review prove the writer to +have been a pronounced Transcendentalist. A foreign +journal called him "the Coryphœus of the sect," a +designation which, at the time, was meekly accepted.</p> + +<p>Mr. Brownson was a remarkable man, remarkable for +intellectual force, and equally for intellectual wilfulness. +His mind was restless, audacious, swift; his self assertion +was immense; his thoughts came in floods; his +literary style was admirable for freshness, terseness +and vigor. Of rational stability of principle he had +nothing,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> + but was completely at the mercy of every +novelty in speculation. That others thought as he did, +was enough to make him think otherwise; that he +thought as he had six months before was a signal that it +was time for him to strike his tent and move on. An +experimenter in systems, a taster of speculations, he +passed rapidly from one phase to another, so that his +friends ascribed his steadfastness to Romanism, to the +fatigue of intellectual travelling. Mr. Brownson was +born in Stockbridge, Vt., Sept. 16, 1803. His education +was scanty; his nurture was neglected; his +discipline, if such it can be called, was to the last degree +unwise. The child had visions, fancied he had received +communications from the Christ, and held spiritual +intercourse with the Virgin Mary, Angels and Saints. +Of a sensitive nature on the moral and spiritual side, +interested from boyhood in religious speculations, he +had, before he reached man's estate, asked and answered, +in his own passionate way, all the deepest questions of +destiny. At the age of 21, he passed from Supernaturalism +to Rationalism; at 22 became a Universalist +minister; at 28 adopted what he called "The Religion +of Humanity;" the year following, joined the Unitarian +ministry. At this time he studied French and German, +and became fervidly addicted to philosophy. Benjamin +Constant's theory of religion fascinated him by its +brilliant generalizations, and its novel readings of +Mythology, and was immediately adopted because it +interested him and fell in with his mood of mind. In +1833, he accepted Cousin's philosophy as he had accepted +Constant's,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> + "attending to those things that I could +appropriate to my purposes." In 1836 he organized the +"Society for Christian Union and Progress" in Boston, +and continued to be its minister till 1843. All this time +he was dallying with Socialism, principally in the form +of St. Simonianism; thought of himself as possibly the +precursor of the Messiah; threw out strange heresies on +the subject of property and the modern industrial system; +and was suspected, he declared afterwards unjustly +suspected, of holding loose opinions on love and +marriage. "New Views of Christianity, Society and +the Church," appeared in 1836, a little book, written in +answer to objections brought against Christianity as +being a system of extravagant spiritualism. This idea +Mr. Brownson combated, by pointing out the true +character of the religion of Jesus as contrasted with the +schemes that had borne his name, exposing the corruptions +it had undergone, during the succeeding ages, +from Protestantism as well as from Romanism, and +indicating the method and the signs of a return to the +primeval faith which reconciled God and man, spirit and +matter, soul and body, heaven and earth, in the establishment +of just relations between man and man, the +institution of a simply human state of society.</p> + +<p>"Charles Elwood, or The Infidel Converted," was +published in 1840. Two or three passages from this +theological discussion, thinly masked in the guise of a +novel, will suffice to class the author with Transcendentalists +of the advanced school.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p> +<blockquote class="small"><p>"They who deny to man all inherent capacity to +know God, all immediate perception of spiritual truth, +place man out of the condition of ever knowing anything +of God."... "There must be a God within +to recognize and vouch for the God who speaks to us +from without."... "I hold that the ideas or conceptions +which man attempts to embody or realize in his +forms of religious faith and worship, are intuitions of +reason." "I understand by inspiration the spontaneous +revelations of the reason; and I call these revelations +divine, because I hold the reason to be divine. Its +voice is the voice of God, and what it reveals without +any aid from human agency, is really and truly a +divine revelation."... "This reason is in all men. +Hence the universal beliefs of mankind, the universality +of the belief in God and religion. Hence, too, the +power of all men to judge of supernatural revelations."... +"All are able to detect the supernatural, because +all have the supernatural in themselves."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The "Boston Quarterly," was maintained five years,—from +1838 to 1842 inclusive,—and consequently covered +this period. It would therefore be safe to assume, what +the volumes themselves attest, that whatever subject +was dealt with,—and all conceivable subjects were dealt +with,—were handled by the transcendental method. +In the "Christian World," a short-lived weekly, published +by a brother of Dr. W. E. Channing, Mr. Brownson +began the publication of a series of articles on the +"Mission of Jesus." Seven were admitted; the eighth +was declined as being "Romanist" in its outlook. In +1844, the writer avowed himself a Roman Catholic, and +was confirmed in Boston, October 20th. The "Convert," +which contains the spiritual biography of this extraordinary +man,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> + and from which the above facts in his mental +history are partly taken, was published in 1857. The +Romanist was at that time essentially a Transcendentalist. +"Truth," he writes, "is the mind's object, and it +seeks and accepts it intuitively, as the new-born +child seeks the mother's breast from which it draws its +nourishment. The office of proof or even demonstration +is negative rather than affirmative." Mr. +Brownson was the most eminent convert to Romanism +of this period, when conversions were frequent in +Boston; and his influence was considerable in turning +uneasy minds to the old faith. He was a powerful +writer and lecturer, an occasional visitor at Brook Farm, +but his mental baselessness perhaps repelled nearly as +many as his ingenuity beguiled.</p> + +<p>The literary achievements of Transcendentalism are +best exhibited in the "Dial," a quarterly "Magazine +for Literature, Philosophy and Religion," begun July, +1840, and ending April, 1844. The editors were Margaret +Fuller and R. W. Emerson; the contributors were +the bright men and women who gave voice in literary +form to the various utterances of the transcendental +genius. Mr. Emerson's bravest lectures and noblest +poems were first printed there. Margaret Fuller, +besides numerous pieces of miscellaneous criticism, +contributed the article on Goethe, alone enough to +establish her fame as a discerner of spirits, and the paper +on "The Great Lawsuit; Man versus Men—Woman +versus Women," which was afterwards expanded into +the book "Woman in the XIXth century." Bronson +Alcott<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> + sent in chapters the "Orphic Sayings," which +were an amazement to the uninitiated and an amusement +to the profane. Charles Emerson, younger brother of +the essayist, whose premature death was bewailed by +the admirers of intellect and the lovers of pure character, +proved by his "Notes from the Journal of a Scholar," +that genius was not confined to a single member of his +family. George Ripley, James Freeman Clarke, +Theodore Parker, Wm. H. Channing, Henry Thoreau, +Eliot Cabot, John S. Dwight the musical critic, C. P. +Cranch the artist-poet, Wm. E. Channing, were liberal +of contributions, all in characteristic ways; and unnamed +men and women did their part to fill the numbers of +this most remarkable magazine. The freshest thoughts +on all subjects were brought to the editors' table; social +tendencies were noticed; books were received; the +newest picture, the last concert, was passed upon; +judicious estimates were made of reforms and reformers +abroad as well as at home; the philosophical discussions +were able and discriminating; the theological papers +were learned, broad and fresh. The four volumes are +exceedingly rich in poetry, and poetry such as seldom +finds a place in popular magazines. The first year's +issue contained sixty-six pieces; the second, thirty-five; +the third, fifty; the fourth, thirty-three; among these +were Emerson's earliest inspirations. The "Problem," +"Wood-notes," "The Sphinx," "Saadi," "Ode to +Beauty," "To Rhea," first appeared in the "Dial." +Harps that had long been silent, unable to make themselves +heard amid the din of the later generation, made +their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> + music here. For Transcendentalism was essentially +poetical and put its thoughts naturally into song. The +poems in the "Dial," even leaving out the famous ones +that have been printed since with their authors' names, +would make an interesting and attractive volume. How +surprised would some of those writers be if they should +now in their prosaic days read what then they wrote +under the spell of that fine frenzy!</p> + +<p>The following mystic poem, which might have come +from an ancient Egyptian, dropped from one who has +since become distinguished for something very different +from mysticism. Has he seen it these many years? +Can he believe that he was ever in the mood to write it? +It is called</p> + +<p class="center">VIA SACRA.</p> + +<div class="poem small"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">Slowly along the crowded street I go,<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Marking with reverent look each passer's face,<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Seeking and not in vain, in each to trace<br /></span> +<span class="i6">That primal soul whereof he is the show.<br /></span> +<span class="i6">For here still move, by many eyes unseen,<br /></span> +<span class="i6">The blessed gods that erst Olympus kept.<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Through every guise these lofty forms serene<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Declare the all-holding life hath never slept,<br /></span> +<span class="i6">But known each thrill that in man's heart hath been,<br /></span> +<span class="i6">And every tear that his sad eyes have wept.<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Alas for us! the heavenly visitants,—<br /></span> +<span class="i6">We greet them still as most unwelcome guests<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Answering their smile with hateful looks askance,<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Their sacred speech with foolish, bitter jests;<br /></span> +<span class="i6">But oh! what is it to imperial Jove<br /></span> +<span class="i6">That this poor world refuses all his love?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>A<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> + remarkable feature of the "Dial" were the chapters +of "Ethnical Scriptures," seven in all, containing texts +from the Veeshnu Sarma, the laws of Menu, Confucius, +the Desatir, the Chinese "Four Books," Hermes Trismegistus, +the Chaldćan Oracles. Thirty-five years +ago, these Scriptures, now so accessible, and in portions +so familiar, were known to the few, and were esteemed +by none but scholars, whose enthusiasm for ancient +literature got the better of their religious faith. To +read such things then, showed an enlightened and +courageous mind; to print them in a magazine under +the sacred title of "Scriptures" argued a most extraordinary +breadth of view. In offering these chapters to +its readers, without apology and on their intrinsic merits, +Transcendentalism exhibited its power to overpass the +limits of all special religions, and do perfect justice to +all expressions of the religious sentiment.</p> + +<p>The creed of Transcendentalism has been sufficiently +indicated. It had a creed, and a definite one. In his +lecture on "The Transcendentalist," read in 1841, Mr. +Emerson seems disposed to consider Transcendentalism +merely as a phase of idealism.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"Shall we say then that Transcendentalism is the +Saturnalia or excess of Faith; the presentiment of a +faith proper to man in his integrity, excessive only when +his imperfect obedience hinders the satisfaction of his +wit. Nature is Transcendental, exists primarily, necessarily, +ever works and advances; yet takes no thought +for the morrow. Man owns the dignity of the life which +throbs around him in chemistry, and tree, and animal, +and in the involuntary functions of his own body; yet +he<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> + is balked when he tries to fling himself into this +enchanted circle, where all is done without degradation. +Yet genius and virtue predict in man the same absence +of private ends, and of condescension to circumstances, +united with every trait and talent of beauty and +power."... "This way of thinking, falling on +Roman times, made stoic philosophers; falling on despotic +times made patriot Catos and Brutuses; falling +on superstitious times, made prophets and apostles; +on popish times, made protestants and ascetic monks; +preachers of Faith against preachers of Works; on +prelatical times, made Puritans and Quakers; and falling +on Unitarian and commercial times, makes the peculiar +shades of Idealism which we know."</p></blockquote> + +<p>It is audacious to criticize Mr. Emerson on a point +like this; but candor compels the remark that the above +description does less than justice to the definiteness of +the transcendental movement. It was something more +than a reaction against formalism and tradition, though +it took that form. It was more than a reaction against +Puritan Orthodoxy, though in part it was that. It was +in a very small degree due to study of the ancient +pantheists, of Plato and the Alexandrians, of Plutarch, +Seneca and Epictetus, though one or two of the leaders +had drunk deeply from these sources. Transcendentalism +was a distinct philosophical system. Practically it was +an assertion of the inalienable worth of man; theoretically +it was an assertion of the immanence of divinity +in instinct, the transference of supernatural attributes to +the natural constitution of mankind.</p> + +<p>Such a faith would necessarily be protean in its aspects. +Philosopher, Critic, Moralist, Poet, would give it voice +according<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> + to cast of genius. It would present in turn +all the phases of idealism, and to the outside spectator +seem a mass of wild opinions; but running through all +was the belief in the Living God in the Soul, faith in +immediate inspiration, in boundless possibility, and in +unimaginable good.</p> + +<p>The editors and reviewers of its day could make +nothing of it. The most entertaining part of the +present writer's task has been the reading of articles on +Transcendentalism in the contemporaneous magazines. +The reviewers were unable to resist the temptation to +make themselves ridiculous. The quarterlies and +monthlies are before me, looking as if they resented the +exposure of their dusty and musty condition, and would +conceal if they could the baldness of their wit. It would +be cruel to exhume those antique judgments, so honest, +yet so imbecile and so mistaken. The doubts and +misgivings, the bitternesses and the horrors, the sinkings +of heart and the revolvings of soul may be estimated by +any who will consult the numbers of the Christian +Examiner, the Biblical Repository, the Princeton Review, +the New Englander, the Whig Review, Knickerbocker, +(Knickerbocker is especially facetious), but we advise +none to do it who would retain their respect for honorable +names. The writers, let us hope, did the best they +knew, and it would be unkind to expose the theological +prejudice, the polemical acrimony, the narrowness +and flippancy they would have been ashamed of had +they been aware of it.</p> + +<p>A good example of the courteous kind of injustice +may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> + be found in the Christian Examiner for January, +1837, in a review of "Nature" from the pen of a +Cambridge Professor, who writes in a kindly spirit and +with an honest intention to be fair to a movement with +which he had no intellectual sympathy:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"The aim of the Transcendentalists is high. They +profess to look not only beyond facts, but, without the +aid of facts, to principles. What is this but Plato's +doctrine of innate, eternal and immutable ideas on the +consideration of which all science is founded? Truly, +the human mind advances but too often in a circle. The +New School has abandoned Bacon, only to go back and +wander in the groves of the Academy, and to bewilder +themselves with the dreams which first arose in the +fervid imagination of the Greeks. Without questioning +the desirableness of this end, of considering general +truths without any previous examination of particulars, +we may well doubt the power of modern philosophers +to attain it. Again, they are busy in the enquiry (to +adopt their own phraseology) after the Real and Absolute, +as distinguished from the Apparent. Not to +repeat the same doubt as to their success, we may at +least request them to beware lest they strip the truth of +its relation to Humanity, and thus deprive it of its +usefulness."</p></blockquote> + +<p>We quote this passage not merely to show how inevitably +the best intentioned critics of Transcendentalism fell +into sarcasm, nor to illustrate the species of error into +which the "Sensational" philosophy betrayed even candid +minds; but to call attention to another point, namely, +the general misconception of the practical aims and +purposes of the new school. It was a common prejudice +that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> + Transcendentalists were visionaries and enthusiasts, +who in pursuit of principles neglected duties, +and while seeking for The Real and The Absolute forgot +the actual and the relative. Macaulay puts the case +strongly in his article on Lord Bacon:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"To sum up the whole; we should say that the aim of +the Platonic philosophy was to exalt man into a God. +The aim of the Baconian philosophy was to provide +man with what he requires while he continues to be man. +The aim of the Platonic philosophy was to raise us far +above vulgar wants. The aim of the Baconian philosophy +was to supply our wants. The former aim was noble; +but the latter was attainable. Plato drew a good bow; +but, like Acestes in Virgil, he aimed at the stars; and +though there was no want of strength and skill, the shot +was thrown away. Bacon fixed his eye on a mark which +was placed on the earth, and within bow shot, and hit +it in the white. The philosophy of Plato began in +words and ended in words—noble words indeed; words +such as were to be expected from the finest of human +intellects exercising boundless control over the finest of +human languages. The philosophy of Bacon began in +observations and ended in arts. The smallest actual +good is better than the most magnificent promises of +impossibilities. The truth is, that in those very matters +for the sake of which they neglected all the vulgar +interests of mankind, the ancient philosophers did nothing +or worse than nothing—they promised what was impracticable; +they despised what was practicable; they filled +the world with long words and long beards; and they left +it as wicked and as ignorant as they found it."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Substitute Idealism for Platonism, and Transcendentalists +for ancient philosophers, and this expresses the +judgment of "sensible men" of the last generation, on +Transcendentalism.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> + It was not perceived that the two +schools of philosophy aimed at producing the same +results, but by different methods; that the "Sensationalist" +worked up from beneath by material processes, +while the "Idealist" worked downward from above by +intellectual ones; that the former tried to push men up +by mechanical appliances, and the latter endeavored to +draw them up by spiritual attraction; that while the +disciples of Bacon operated on man as if he was a +complex animal, a creature of nature and of circumstances, +who was borne along with the material progress +of the planet, but had no independent power of flight, +the disciples of Kant and Fichte assumed that man was +a creative, recreative force, a being who had only to be +conscious of the capacities within him to shape circumstances +according to the pattern shown him on the +Mount. The charge of shooting at stars is puerile. +The only use they would make of stars was to "hitch +wagons" to them. The Transcendentalists of New +England were the most strenuous workers of their day, +and at the problems which the day flung down before +them. The most strenuous, and the most successful +workers too. They achieved more practical benefit for +society, in proportion to their numbers and the +duration of their existence, than any body of Baconians +of whom we ever heard. Men and women are healthier +in their bodies, happier in their domestic and social +relations, more contented in their estate, more ambitious +to enlarge their opportunities, more eager to acquire +knowledge, more kind and humane in their sympathies, +more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> + reasonable in their expectations, than they would +have been if Margaret Fuller and Ralph Waldo Emerson +and Theodore Parker and George Ripley and Bronson +Alcott, and the rest of their fellow believers and fellow +workers had not lived. It is the fashion of our generation +to hold that progress is, and must of necessity be, +exceedingly gradual; and that no safe advance is ever +made except at snail's pace. But ever and anon the +mind of man refutes the notion by starting under the +influence of a thought, and leaping over long reaches of +space at a bound. Transcendentalism gave one of these +demonstrations, sufficient to refute the vulgar prejudice. +Its brief history may have illustrated the truth of +Wordsworth's lines,</p> + +<div class="poem small"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4q">"That 'tis a thing impossible to frame<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Conceptions equal to the Soul's desires;<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And the most difficult of tasks to keep<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Heights which the Soul is competent to gain."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The heights were gained nevertheless, and kept long +enough for a view of the land of promise; and ever since, +though the ascent is a dim recollection, and the great +forms have come to look like images in dreams, and the +mighty voices are but ghostly echoes, men and women +have been happy in laboring for the heaven their fathers +believed they saw.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p> +<p class="center big"><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII.</p> + +<h2>PRACTICAL TENDENCIES.</h2> + + +<p>Mr. Emerson—we find ourselves continually appealing +to him as the finest interpreter of the transcendental +movement—made a confession which its enemies were +quick to seize on and turn to their purpose.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"It is a sign of our times, conspicuous to the coarsest +observer, that many intelligent and religious persons +withdraw themselves from the common labors and competitions +of the market and the caucus, and betake themselves +to a certain solitary and critical way of living, from +which no solid fruit has yet appeared to justify their +separation. They hold themselves aloof; they feel the +disproportion between themselves and the work offered +them, and they prefer to ramble in the country and perish +of ennui, to the degradation of such charities and such +ambitions as the city can propose to them. They are +striking work and crying out for somewhat worthy to +do. They are lonely; the spirit of their writing and +conversation is lonely; they repel influences; they shun +general society; they incline to shut themselves in their +chamber in the house; to live in the country rather than +in the town; and to find their tasks and amusements in +solitude. They are not good citizens; not good members +of society; unwillingly they bear their part of the +public and private burdens; they do not willingly share +in the public charities, in the public religious rites, in +the enterprises of education, of missions, foreign or +domestic, in the abolition of the slave trade, or in the +temperance<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> + society. They do not even like to vote. +The philanthropists inquire whether Transcendentalism +does not mean sloth; they had as lief hear that their +friend is dead as that he is a Transcendentalist; for then +is he paralyzed, and can do nothing for humanity."</p></blockquote> + +<p>This extreme statement must not be taken as either +complete or comprehensive. They who read it in the +lecture on "The Transcendentalist" must be careful to +notice Mr. Emerson's qualifications, that "this retirement +does not proceed from any whim on the part of the +separators;" that "this part is chosen both from temperament +and from principle; with some unwillingness +too, and as a choice of the less of two evils;" "that they +are joyous, susceptible, affectionate;" that "they wish +a just and even fellowship or none;" that "what they +do is done because they are overpowered by the humanities +that speak on all sides;" that "what you call your +fundamental institutions, your great and holy causes, +seem to them great abuses, and, when nearly seen, +paltry matters." But even this apology does not quite +exonerate his friends.</p> + +<p>Transcendentalism certainly did produce its share of +idle, dreamy, useless people—as "Sensationalism" produced +its share of coarse, greedy, low-lived and bestial +ones. But its legitimate fruit was earnestness, aspiration +and enthusiastic energy.</p> + +<p>We must begin with the philosophy of Man. The +Transcendentalist claims for all men as a natural endowment +what "Evangelical" Christianity ascribes to the +few as a special gift of the Spirit. This faith comes to +expression<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> + continually. The numbers of the "Dial" +are alight with it.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"Man is a rudiment and embryon of God: Eternity +shall develop in him the Divine Image."</p> + +<p>"The Soul works from centre to periphery, veiling her +labors from the ken of the senses."</p> + +<p>"The sensible world is spirit in magnitude outspread +before the senses for their analysis, but whose synthesis +is the soul herself, whose prothesis is God."</p> + +<p>"The time may come, in the endless career of the +soul, when the facts of incarnation, birth, death, descent +into matter, and ascension from it, shall comprise no +part of her history; when she herself shall survey this +human life with emotions akin to those of the naturalist +on examining the relics of extinct races of beings."</p> + +<p>"Of the perception now fast becoming a conscious +fact,—that there is one mind, and that also the powers +and privileges which lie in any, lie in all; that I, as a +man, may claim and appropriate whatever of true or fair +or good or strong has anywhere been exhibited; that +Moses and Confucius, Montaigne and Leibnitz are not so +much individuals as they are parts of man and parts of +me, and my intelligence proves them my own,—literature +is far the best expression."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Thus Mr. Alcott and Mr. Emerson. Thomas T. Stone,—a +modest, retiring, deep and interior man, a child of the +spiritual philosophy, which he faithfully lived in and up +to, and preached with singular fulness and richness of +power—makes his statement thus, in an article entitled +"Man in the Ages," contributed to the third number of +the "Dial":</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"Man is man, despite of all the lies which would convince +him he is not, despite of all the thoughts which +would<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> + strive to unman him. There is a spirit in man, an +inspiration from the Almighty. What is, is. The eternal +is eternal; the temporary must pass it by, leaving it +to stand evermore. There is now, there has been always, +power among men to subdue the ages, to dethrone them, +to make them mere outgoings and servitors of man. +It is needed only that we assert our prerogative,—that +man do with hearty faith affirm: 'I am; in me being is. +Ages, ye come and go; appear and disappear; products, +not life; vapors from the surface of the soul, not +living fountain. Ye are of me, for me, not I of you or +for you. Not with you my affinity, but with the Eternal. +I am; I live; spirit I have not; spirit am I.'"</p></blockquote> + +<p>Samuel D. Robbins, another earnest prophet of the +spiritual man, utters the creed again in the way peculiar +to himself.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"There is an infinity in the human soul which few +have yet believed, and after which few have aspired. +There is a lofty power of moral principle in the depths +of our nature which is nearly allied to Omnipotence; +compared with which the whole force of outward nature +is more feeble than an infant's grasp. There is a spiritual +insight to which the pure soul reaches, more clear +and prophetic, more wide and vast than all telescopic +vision can typify. There is a faith in God, and a clear +perception of His will and designs, and providence, and +glory, which gives to its possessor a confidence and +patience and sweet composure, under every varied and +troubling aspect of events, such as no man can realize +who has not felt its influences in his own heart. There +is a communion with God, in which the soul feels the +presence of the unseen One, in the profound depths of its +being, with a vivid distinctness and a holy reverence such +as no word can describe. There is a state of union +with God, I do not say often reached, yet it has been +attained<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> + in this world, in which all the past and present +and future seem reconciled, and eternity is won and +enjoyed: and God and man, earth and heaven, with all +their mysteries are apprehended in truth as they lie in +the mind of the Infinite."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The poet chimes in with the prophet. We marked for +quotation several passages from the "Dial," but a few +detached stanzas must suffice. C. P. Cranch opens his +lines to the ocean thus:</p> + +<div class="poem small"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">Tell me, brothers, what are we?<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Spirits bathing in the sea of Deity.<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Half afloat, and half on land,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Wishing much to leave the strand,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Standing, gazing with devotion,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Yet afraid to trust the ocean,<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Such are we.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And thus he closes lines to the Aurora Borealis:</p> + +<div class="poem small"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">But a better type thou art<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Of the strivings of the heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Reaching upwards from the earth<br /></span> +<span class="i4">To the <i>Soul</i> that gave it birth.<br /></span> +<span class="i4">When the noiseless beck of night<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Summons out the inner light<br /></span> +<span class="i4">That hath hid its purer ray<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Through the lapses of the day,—<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Then like thee, thou Northern Morn,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Instincts which we deemed unborn<br /></span><span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> +<span class="i4">Gushing from their hidden source<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Mount upon their heavenward course,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And the spirit seeks to be<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Filled with God's eternity.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>That a philosophy like this will impel to aspiration +need not be said; aspiration is the soul of it. The +Transcendentalist was constantly on the wing.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"On all hands men's existence is converted into a +preparation for existence. We do not properly live, in +these days; but everywhere with patent inventions and +complex arrangements are getting ready to live. The +end is lost in the means, life is smothered in appliances. +We cannot get to ourselves, there are so many external +comforts to wade through. Consciousness stops half +way. Reflection is dissipated in the circumstances of +our environment. Goodness is exhausted in aids to +goodness, and all the vigor and health of the soul is +expended in quack contrivances to build it up."... +What the age requires is not books, but example, high, +heroic example; not words but deeds; not societies but +men—men who shall have their root in themselves, and +attract and convert the world by the beauty of their +fruits. All truth must be living, before it can be adequately +known or taught. Men are anterior to systems. +Great doctrines are not the origin, but the product of +great lives. The Cynic practice must precede the Stoic +philosophy, and out of Diogenes's tub came forth in the +end the wisdom of Epictetus, the eloquence of Seneca, +and the piety of Antonine."...</p> + +<p>"The religious man lives for one great object; to +perfect himself, to unite himself by purity with God, to +fit himself for heaven by cherishing within him a +heavenly disposition. He has discovered that he has a +soul; that his soul is himself; that he changes not with +the changing things of life, but receives its discipline +from<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> + them; that man does not live by bread alone, but +that the most real of all things, inasmuch as they are +the most enduring, are the things which are not seen; +that faith and love and virtue are the sources of his life, +and that one realises nothing, except he lay fast hold on +them. He extracts a moral lesson, a lesson of endurance +or of perseverance for himself, or a new evidence +of God and of his own immortal destiny, from every +day's hard task."</p></blockquote> + +<p>That last strain came from the man who for many +years has been known as the foremost musical critic of +New England, if not of America, John S. Dwight. +Another writes:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"The soul lies buried in a ruined city, struggling to +be free and calling for aid. The worldly trafficker in +life's caravan hears its cries, and says, it is a prisoned +maniac. But one true man stops and with painful toil +lifts aside the crumbling fragments; till at last he finds +beneath the choking mass a mangled form of exceeding +beauty. Dazzling is the light to eyes long blind; weak +are the limbs long prisoned; faint is the breath long +pent. But oh! that mantling flush, that liquid eye, that +elastic spring of renovated strength. The deliverer is +folded to the breast of an angel."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The duty of self-culture is made primary and is +eloquently preached. The piece from which this extract +is taken, entitled "The Art of Life" is anonymous, but +supposed to be from Emerson's pen:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"The work of life, so far as the individual is concerned, +and that to which the scholar is particularly called, is +<i>Self-Culture</i>,<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> + the perfect unfolding of our individual +nature. To this end above all others, the art of which +I speak directs our attention and points our endeavor. +There is no man, it is presumed, to whom this object +is wholly indifferent, who would not willingly possess +this too, along with other prizes, provided the attainment +of it were compatible with personal ease and +worldly good. But the business of self-culture admits +of no compromise. Either it must be made a distinct +aim or wholly abandoned."</p></blockquote> + +<p>But it is time wasted to speak on this point. It has +been objected to Transcendentalism that it made self-culture +too important, carrying it to the point of selfishness, +sacrificing in its behalf, sympathy, brotherly love, +sentiments of patriotism, personal fidelity and honor, +and rejoicing in the production of a "mountainous Me" +fed at the expense of life's sweetest humanities; and +Goethe is straightway cited as the Transcendental +apostle of the gospel of heartless indifference. But +allowing the charge against Goethe to rest unrefuted, it +must be made against him as a man, not as a Transcendentalist; +and even were it true of him as a Transcendentalist, +it was not true of Kant or Fichte, of +Schleiermacher or Herder; of Jean Paul or Novalis; +of Coleridge, Carlyle or Wordsworth; and who ever +intimated that it was true of Emerson, who has been +one of the most industrious teachers of his generation, +and one of the most earnest worshippers of the genius +of his native land;—of Margaret Fuller, whose life was +a quickening flood of intellectual influence;—of Bronson +Alcott, who, every winter for years, has carried his +seed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> + corn to the far West, seeking only a receptive +furrow for his treasured being;—of Theodore Parker, +who sacrificed precious days of study, his soul's passion +for knowledge, his honorable ambition to achieve a +scholar's fame, in order that his country, in her time of +trial, might not want what he was able to give;—of +Wm. Henry Channing, to whom the thought of humanity +is an inspiration, and "sacrifice an all sufficing joy;"—of +George Ripley, who offered himself, all that he had +and was, that the experiment of an honest friendly society +might be fairly tried? By "self-culture" these and the +rest of their brotherhood meant the culture of that +nobler self which includes heart, and conscience, sympathy +and spirituality, not as incidental ingredients, but +as essential qualities. Self-hood they never identified +with selfishness; nor did they ever confound or associate +its attainment with the acquisition of place, power, +wealth, or eminent repute; the person was more to them +than the individual; they sought no reward except for +service; and the consciousness of serving faithfully was +their best reward.</p> + +<p>To Transcendentalism belongs the credit of inaugurating +the theory and practice of dietetics which is +preached so assiduously now by enlightened physiologists. +The people who regarded man as a soul, first +taught the wisdom that is now inculcated by people who +regard man as a body. The doctrine that human beings +live on air and light; that food should be simple and +nutritious; that coarse meats should be discarded and +fiery liquors abolished; that wines should be substituted +for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> + "spirits," light wines for heavy, and pure water for +wines;—has in all ages been taught by mystics and +idealists. The ancient master of it was Pythagoras. +Their idea was, that as the body was, for the time being, +the dwelling-place of the soul, its lodging and home, its +prison or its palace, its organ, its instrument, its box of +tools, the medium of its activity, it must be kept in +perfect condition for these high offices. They honored +the flesh in the nobility of their care of it. No sour +ascetics they, but generous feeders on essences and +elixirs; no mortifiers of matter, but purifiers and +refiners of it; regarding it as too exquisitely mingled +and tempered a substance to be tortured and imbruted. +The materialist prescribes temperance, continence, sobriety, +in order that life may be long, and comfortable, +and free from disease. The idealist prescribes them, in +order that life may be intellectual, serene, pacific, +beneficent.</p> + +<p>The chief mystic of the transcendental band has +been the chief prophet of this innocent word. "The +New Ideas," wrote Mr. Alcott, "bear direct on all the +economies of life. They will revise old methods, and +institute new cultures. I look with special hope to their +effect on the regimen of the land. Our present modes +of agriculture exhaust the soil, and must, while life is +made thus sensual and secular; the narrow covetousness +which prevails in trade, in labor, in exchanges, ends in +depraving the land; it breeds disease, decline, in the +flesh,—debauches and consumes the heart." "The +Soul's Banquet is an art divine. To mould this statue +of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> + flesh from chaste materials, kneading it into comeliness +and strength, this is Promethean; and this we practise, +well or ill, in all our thoughts, acts, desires. I would +abstain from the fruits of oppression and blood, and am +seeking means of entire independence. This, were I +not holden by penury unjustly, would be possible. +One miracle we have wrought nevertheless, and shall +soon work all of them;—our wine is water,—flesh, +bread;—drugs, fruits;—and we defy, meekly, the satyrs +all, and Esculapius."</p> + +<p>"It was the doctrine of the Samian Sage, that whatsoever +food obstructs divination, is prejudicial to purity +and chastity of mind and body, to temperance, health, +sweetness of disposition, suavity of manners, grace of +form and dignity of carriage, should be shunned. +Especially should those who would apprehend the +deepest wisdom, and preserve through life the relish for +elegant studies and pursuits, abstain from flesh, cherishing +the justice which animals claim at men's hands, nor +slaughtering them for food or profit." "A purer civilization +than ours can yet claim to be, is to inspire the +genius of mankind with the skill to deal dutifully with +soils and souls, exalt agriculture and manculture into a +religion of art; the freer interchange of commodities +which the current world-wide intercourse promotes, +spreads a more various, wholesome, classic table, whereby +the race shall be refined of traits reminding too plainly of +barbarism and the beast." Said Timotheus of Plato, +"they who dine with the philosopher have nothing to +complain of the next morning." That the doctrine has +its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> + warm, glowing side, appears in a characteristic poem +in the little volume called "Tablets."</p> + +<p>The anchorite's plea was not always as good as his +practice. Arguing the point once with a sagacious man +of the world, he urged as a reason for abstinence from +animal food that one thereby distanced the animal. +For the eating of beef encouraged the bovine quality, +and the pork diet repeats the trick of Circe, and +changes men into swine. But, rejoined the friend, if +abstinence from animal food leaves the animal out, +does not partaking of vegetable food put the vegetable +in? I presume the potato diet will change man into a +potato. And what if the potatoes be small! The philosopher's +reply is not recorded. But in his case the beast +did disappear, and the leek has never become prominent. +In his case health, strength, agility, sprightliness, cheerfulness, +have been wholly compatible with disuse of +animal food. Few men have preserved the best uses of +body and mind so long unimpaired. Few have lost so +few days; have misused so few; are able to give a +good account of so many. The vegetarian of seventy-six +shames many a cannibal of forty.</p> + +<p>The Transcendentalist was by nature a reformer. He +could not be satisfied with men as they were. His doctrine +of the capacities of men, even in its most moderate +statement, kindled to enthusiasm his hope of change. +However his disgust may have kept him aloof for a +time, his sympathy soon brought him back, and his +faith sent him to the front of the battle. In beginning +his lecture on "Man The Reformer," Mr. Emerson does +not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> + dissemble his hope that each person whom he +addresses has "felt his own call to cast aside all evil +customs, timidities and limitations, and to be in his place +a free and helpful man, a reformer, a benefactor, not +content to slip through the world like a footman or a +spy, escaping by his nimbleness and apologies as many +knocks as he can, but a brave and upright man, who +must find or cut a straight path to everything excellent +in the earth, and not only go honorably himself, but +make it easier for all who follow him, to go in honor and +with benefit." "The power," he declares, "which is at +once spring and regulator in all efforts of reform, is the +conviction that there is an infinite worthiness in man, +which will appear at the call of worth, and that all particular +reforms are the removing of some impediment. +Is it not the highest duty that man should be honored +in us?" "In the history of the world" the same great +teacher remarks, "the doctrine of Reform had never +such scope as at the present hour. Lutherans, Herrnhütters, +Jesuits, Monks, Quakers, Knox, Wesley, +Swedenborg, Bentham, in their accusations of society, +all respected something,—church or state, literature or +history, domestic usages, the market town, the dinner +table, coined money. But now all these and all things +else hear the trumpet and must rush to judgment,—Christianity, +the laws, commerce, schools, the farm, the +laboratory: and not a kingdom, town, statute, rite, +calling, man, or woman but is threatened by the new +spirit." "Let me feel that I am to be a lover. I am to +see to it that the world is the better for me, and to find +my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> + reward in the act. Love would put a new face on this +weary old world in which we dwell as pagans and +enemies too long, and it would warm the heart to see +how fast the vain diplomacy of statesmen, the impotence +of armies, and navies, and lines of defence, would be +superseded by this unarmed child."</p> + +<p>The method of reform followed from the principle. It +was the method of individual awakening and regeneration, +and was to be conducted "through the simplest +ministries of family, neighborhood, fraternity, quite wide +of associations and institutions." "The true reformer," it +was proclaimed, "initiates his labor in the precincts of +private life, and makes it, not a set of measures, not an +utterance, not a pledge merely, but a life; and not an impulse +of a day, but commensurate with human existence: +a tendency towards perfection of being." The Transcendentalist +might easily become an enthusiast from excess +of faith; but a fanatic, with a tinge of melancholy in his +disposition, a drop of malignity in his blood, he could +not be. He was less a reformer of human circumstance +than a regenerator of the human spirit, and he was never +a destroyer except as destruction accompanied the process +of regeneration.</p> + +<p>This fine positive purpose appeared in all he undertook. +With movements that did not start from this primary +assumption of individual dignity, and come back to +that as their goal, he had nothing to do. Was he an +anti-slavery man—and he was certain to be one at heart—the +Transcendentalists were glowing friends of that reform,—he +was so because his philosophy compelled him to see +in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> + the slave the same humanity that appeared in the +master; in the African the same possibilities that were +confessed in the Frank, the Anglo-Saxon, and the Celt. +Did he take up the cause of education, it was as a believer +in the latent capacity of every child, boy or girl; as +an earnest wisher that such capacity might be stimulated +by the best methods, and directed to the best ends. +What he effected, or tried to effect in this way will be +understood by the reader of the record of Mr. Alcott's +school; that bold and original attempt at educating, +leading or drawing out young minds, which showed such +remarkable promise, and would have achieved such +remarkable results had more faithful trial of its method +been possible. Was he a reformer of society, it was as +a vitalizer, not as a machinist.</p> + +<p>In no respect does the Transcendentalist's idea of social +reform stand out more conspicuously than in this. With +an incessant and passionate aspiration after a pure social +state,—deeply convinced of the mistakes, profoundly +sensible of the miseries of the actual condition, he would +not be committed to experiments that did not assume +his first principle—the supreme dignity of the individual +man. The systems of French socialism he distrusted from +the first; for they proceeded on the ground that man is +not a self determined being, but a creature of circumstance. +Mr. Albert Brisbane's attempt to domesticate +Fourierism among us was cordially considered, but not +cordially welcomed. He seemed to have no spiritual +depth of foundation; his proposition to imprison man in +a Phalanx, was rejected; his omission of moral freedom +in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> + the scheme was resented; no sincerity, no keenness of +criticism, no exposure of existing evils or indignation of +protest against them, disarmed the jealousy of endeavors +to reconstruct society, as if human beings were piles +of brick or lumps of mortar.</p> + +<p>In 1841 a community was planned in Massachusetts, +by Liberal Christians of the Universalist sect. Though +never put in operation it did not escape the criticism of +the "Dial." The good points were recognized and commended; +the moral features were praised as showing a +deep insight into the Christian idea, and the articles of +confederation were pronounced admirable in judgment +and form, with a single exception, which however was +fatal. Admittance of members was conditioned on pledges +of non-resistance, abolition, temperance, abstinence from +voting, and such like. Though these conditions were easy +enough in themselves, and were expressed in the most conciliatory +spirit, they were justly regarded as giving to the +community the character of a church or party, much less +than world embracing. "A true community," it was declared, +"can be founded on nothing short of faith in the +universal man, as he comes out of the hands of the +Creator, with no law over his liberty but the eternal ideas +that lie at the foundation of his being." "The final cause +of human society is the unfolding of the individual man, +into every form of perfection, without let or hindrance, +according to the inward nature of each."</p> + +<p>When the Brook Farm experiment was under way +at West Roxbury, its initiators were warned against three +dangers: the first, <i>Organization</i>, which begins by being +an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> + instrument and ends by being a master; the second, +<i>Endowment</i>, which promises to be a swift helper, and is, +ere long, a stifling encumbrance; the third, the spirit of +<i>Coterie</i>, which would in no long time, shrink their rock +of ages to a platform, diminish their brotherhood to a +clique, and reduce their aims to experiences.</p> + +<p>Brook Farm, whereof it is not probable that a history +will ever be written, for the reason that there were in it +slender materials for history,—though there were +abundant materials for thought,—was projected on the +purest transcendental basis. It was neither European nor +English, neither French nor German in its origin. No +doubt, among the supporters and friends of it were some +who had made themselves acquainted with the writings +of St. Simon and Chevalier, of Proudhon and Fourier; +but it does not appear that any of these authors shaped +or prescribed the plan, or influenced the spirit of the +enterprise. The Constitution which is printed herewith +explains sufficiently the project, and expresses the spirit +in which it was undertaken. The jealous regard for +the rights of the individual is not the least characteristic +feature of this remarkable document. The By-Laws, +which want of space excludes from these pages, simply +confirm the provisions that were made to guard the +person against unnecessary infringement of independence.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span></p> +<h3>CONSTITUTION.</h3> + +<blockquote><p class="small">In order more effectually to promote the great purposes +of human culture; to establish the external relations +of life on a basis of wisdom and purity; to apply the +principles of justice and love to our social organization in +accordance with the laws of Divine Providence; to substitute +a system of brotherly coöperation for one of selfish +competition; to secure to our children and those who may +be entrusted to our care, the benefits of the highest physical, +intellectual and moral education, which in the progress +of knowledge the resources at our command will +permit; to institute an attractive, efficient, and productive +system of industry; to prevent the exercise of worldly +anxiety, by the competent supply of our necessary wants; +to diminish the desire of excessive accumulation, by +making the acquisition of individual property subservient +to upright and disinterested uses; to guarantee to each +other forever the means of physical support, and of spiritual +progress; and thus to impart a greater freedom, +simplicity, truthfulness, refinement, and moral dignity, +to our mode of life;—we the undersigned do unite in +a voluntary Association, and adopt and ordain the following +articles of agreement, to wit:</p> + + +<h4>ARTICLE I.</h4> + +<h5>NAME AND MEMBERSHIP.</h5> + +<p class="small"><span class="smcap">Sec. 1.</span> The name of this Association shall be "<span class="smcap">The +Brook-Farm Association for Industry and Education</span>." +All persons who shall hold one or more +shares in its stock, or whose labor and skill shall be considered +an equivalent for capital, may be admitted by +the vote of two-thirds of the Association, as members +thereof.</p> + +<p class="small"><span class="smcap">Sec. 2.</span><span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> + No member of the Association shall ever be +subjected to any religious test; nor shall any authority +be assumed over individual freedom of opinion by the Association, +nor by one member over another; nor shall +any one be held accountable to the Association, except +for such overt acts, or omissions of duty, as violate the +principles of justice, purity, and love, on which it is founded; +and in such cases the relation of any member may be +suspended or discontinued, at the pleasure of the Association.</p> + + +<h4>ARTICLE II.</h4> + +<h5>CAPITAL STOCK.</h5> + +<p class="small"><span class="smcap">Sec. 1.</span> The members of this Association shall own +and manage such real and personal estate in joint stock +proprietorship, divided into shares of one hundred dollars +each, as may from time to time be agreed on.</p> + +<p class="small"><span class="smcap">Sec. 2.</span> No shareholder shall be liable to any assessment +whatever on the shares held by him; nor shall he +be held responsible individually in his private property +on account of the Association; nor shall the Trustees, or +any officer or agent of the Association, have any authority +to do any thing which shall impose personal responsibility +on any shareholder, by making any contracts or +incurring any debts for which the shareholders shall be +individually or personally responsible.</p> + +<p class="small"><span class="smcap">Sec. 3.</span> The Association guarantees to each shareholder +the interest of five per cent. annually on the +amount of stock held by him in the Association, and this +interest may be paid in certificates of stock and credited +on the books of the Association; provided that each +shareholder may draw on the funds of the Association +for the amount of interest due at the third annual settlement +from the time of investment.</p> + +<p class="small"><span class="smcap">Sec. 4.</span> The shareholders on their part, for themselves, +their heirs and assigns, do renounce all claim on +any profits accruing to the Association for the use of +their<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> + capital invested in the stock of the Association, +except five per cent. interest on the amount of stock +held by them, payable in the manner described in the +preceding section.</p> + + +<h4>ARTICLE III.</h4> + +<h5>GUARANTIES.</h5> + +<p class="small"><span class="smcap">Sec. 1.</span> The Association shall provide such employment +for all its members as shall be adapted to their +capacities, habits, and tastes; and each member shall +select and perform such operations of labor, whether +corporal or mental, as shall be deemed best suited to +his own endowments and the benefit of the Association.</p> + +<p class="small"><span class="smcap">Sec. 2.</span> The Association guarantees to all its members, +their children and family dependents, house-rent, +fuel, food, and clothing, and the other necessaries of life, +without charge, not exceeding a certain fixed amount to +be decided annually by the Association; no charge +shall ever be made for support during inability to labor +from sickness or old age, or for medical or nursing +attendance, except in case of shareholders, who shall +be charged therefor, and also for the food and clothing +of children, to an amount not exceeding the interest +due to them on settlement; but no charge shall be made +to any members for education or the use of library and +public rooms.</p> + +<p class="small"><span class="smcap">Sec. 3.</span> Members may withdraw from labor, under the +direction of the Association, and in that case, they shall +not be entitled to the benefit of the above guaranties.</p> + +<p class="small"><span class="smcap">Sec. 4.</span> Children over ten years of age shall be provided +with employment in suitable branches of industry; +they shall be credited for such portions of each annual +dividend, as shall be decided by the Association, and on +the completion of their education in the Association at +the age of twenty, shall be entitled to a certificate of +stock to the amount of credits in their favor, and may +be admitted as members of the Association.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span></p> +<h4>ARTICLE IV.</h4> + +<h5>DISTRIBUTION OF PROFITS.</h5> + +<p class="small"><span class="smcap">Sec. 1.</span> The net profits of the Association, after the +payment of all expenses, shall be divided into a number +of shares corresponding to the number of days' labor; +and every member shall be entitled to one share of +every day's labor performed by him.</p> + +<p class="small"><span class="smcap">Sec. 2.</span> A full settlement shall be made with every +member once a year, and certificates of stock given for +all balances due; but in case of need, to be decided by +himself, every member may be permitted to draw on +the funds in the Treasury to an amount not exceeding +the credits in his favor for labor performed.</p> + + +<h4>ARTICLE V.</h4> + +<h5>GOVERNMENT.</h5> + +<p class="small"><span class="smcap">Sec. 1.</span> The government of the Association shall be +vested in a board of Directors, divided into four departments, +as follows; 1st, General Direction; 2d, Direction +of Education; 3d, Direction of Industry; 4th, Direction +of Finance; consisting of three persons each, +provided that the same person may be elected member +of each Direction.</p> + +<p class="small"><span class="smcap">Sec. 2.</span> The General Direction and Direction of +Education shall be chosen annually, by the vote of a +majority of the members of the Association. The +Direction of Finance shall be chosen annually, by the +vote of a majority of the share-holders and members of +the Association. The direction of Industry shall consist +of the chiefs of the three primary series.</p> + +<p class="small"><span class="smcap">Sec. 3.</span> The chairman of the General Direction shall +be the President of the Association, and together with +the<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> + Direction of Finance, shall constitute a board of +Trustees, by whom the property of the Association shall +be held and managed.</p> + +<p class="small"><span class="smcap">Sec. 4.</span> The General Direction shall oversee and manage +the affairs of the Association, so that every department +shall be carried on in an orderly and efficient +manner.</p> + +<p class="small"><span class="smcap">Sec. 5.</span> The departments of Education and Finance +shall be under the control each of its own Direction, +which shall select, and in concurrence with the General +Direction, shall appoint such teachers, officers, and agents, +as shall be necessary to the complete and systematic organization +of the department. No Directors or other officers +shall be deemed to possess any rank superior to +the other members of the Association, nor shall they receive +any extra remuneration for their official services.</p> + +<p class="small"><span class="smcap">Sec. 6.</span> The department of industry shall be arranged +in groups and series, as far as practicable, and shall consist +of three primary series; to wit, Agricultural, Mechanical, +and Domestic Industry. The chief of each +series shall be elected every two months by the members +thereof, subject to the approval of the general Direction. +The chief of each group shall be chosen weekly by its +members.</p> + + +<h4>ARTICLE VI.</h4> + +<h5>MISCELLANEOUS.</h5> + +<p class="small"><span class="smcap">Sec. 1.</span> The Association may from time to time +adopt such by-laws, not inconsistent with the spirit and +purpose of these articles, as shall be found expedient or +necessary.</p> + +<p class="small"><span class="smcap">Sec. 2.</span> In order to secure to the Association the +benefits of the highest discoveries in social science, and +to preserve its fidelity to the principles of progress and +reform, on which it is founded, any amendment may be +proposed to this Constitution at a meeting called for +the<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> + purpose; and if approved by two-thirds of the members +at a subsequent meeting, at least one month after +the date of the first, shall be adopted.</p></blockquote> + +<p>From this it appears that the association was simply an +attempt to return to first principles, to plant the seeds of a +new social order, founded on respect for the dignity, and +sympathy with the aspirations of man. It was open to all +sects; it admitted, welcomed, nay, demanded all kinds +and degrees of intellectual culture. The most profound +regard for individual opinion, feeling and inclination, was +professed and exhibited. Confidence that surrender to +the spontaneous principle, with no more restriction than +might be necessary to secure its development, was +wisest, lay at the bottom of the scheme.</p> + +<p>It was felt at this time, 1842, that, in order to live a +religious and moral life in sincerity, it was necessary to +leave the world of institutions, and to reconstruct the social +order from new beginnings. A farm was bought in close +vicinity to Boston; agriculture was made the basis of the +life, as bringing man into direct and simple relations with +nature, and restoring labor to honest conditions. To a +certain extent, it will be seen, the principle of community +in property was recognized, community of interest and +coöperation requiring it; but to satisfy the claims and +insure the rights of the individual, members were not +required to impoverish themselves, or to resign the fruit +of their earnings.</p> + +<p>Provisions were either raised on the farm or purchased +at wholesale. Meals were eaten in "commons." It +was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> + the rule that all should labor—choosing their occupations, +and the number of hours, and receiving wages +according to the hours. No labor was hired that could +be supplied within the community; and all labor was +rewarded alike, on the principle that physical labor is +more irksome than mental, more absorbing and exacting, +less improving and delightful. Moreover, to recognize +practically the nobility of labor in and of itself, none +were appointed to special kinds of work. All took their +turn at the several branches of employment. None were +drudges or menials. The intellectual gave a portion of +their time to tasks such as servants and handmaidens +usually discharge. The unintellectual were allowed a +portion of their time for mental cultivation. The benefits +of social intercourse were thrown open to all. The aim +was to secure as many hours as practicable from the +necessary toil of providing for the wants of the body, +that there might be more leisure to provide for the deeper +wants of the soul. The acquisition of wealth was no +object. No more thought was given to this than the +exigencies of existence demanded. To live, expand, +enjoy as rational beings, was the never-forgotten aim.</p> + +<p>The community trafficked by way of exchange and +barter with the outside world; sold its surplus produce; +sold its culture to as many as came or sent children to +be taught. It was hoped that from the accumulated +results of all this labor, the appliances for intellectual and +spiritual health might be obtained; that books might be +bought, works of art, scientific collections and apparatus, +means of decoration and refinement, all of which should +be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> + open on the same terms to every member of the association. +The principle of coöperation was substituted +for the principle of competition; self development for +selfishness. The faith was avowed in every arrangement +that the soul of humanity was in each man and woman.</p> + +<p>The reputation for genius, accomplishment and wit, +which the founders of the Brook Farm enterprise enjoyed +in society, attracted towards it the attention of the public, +and awakened expectation of something much more than +ordinary in the way of literary advantages. The settlement +became a resort for cultivated men and women who +had experience as teachers and wished to employ their +talent to the best effect; and for others who were tired of +the conventionalities, and sighed for honest relations with +their fellow-beings. Some took advantage of the easy +hospitality of the association, and came there to live +mainly at its expense—their unskilled and incidental +labor being no compensation for their entertainment. +The most successful department was the school. Pupils +came thither in considerable numbers and from considerable +distances. Distinguished visitors gave charm and +reputation to the place.</p> + +<p>The members were never numerous; the number +varied considerably from year to year. Seventy was a +fair average; of these, fewer than half were young persons +sent thither to be educated. Several adults came for +intellectual assistance. Of married people there were, in +1844, but four pairs. A great deal was taught and +learned at Brook Farm. Classics, mathematics, general +literature, ćsthetics, occupied the busy hours. The most +productive<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> + work was done in these ideal fields, and the +best result of it was a harvest in the ideal world, a new +sense of life's elasticity and joy, the delight of freedom, +the innocent satisfaction of spontaneous relations.</p> + +<p>The details above given convey no adequate idea of +the Brook Farm fraternity. In one sense it was much +less than they imply; in another sense it was much more. +It was less, because its plan was not materially successful; +the intention was defeated by circumstances; the hope +turned out to be a dream. Yet, from another aspect, the +experiment fully justified itself. Its moral tone was +high; its moral influence sweet and sunny. Had +Brook Farm been a community in the accepted sense, +had it insisted on absolute community of goods, the +resignation of opinions, of personal aims interests or +sympathies; had the principle of renunciation, sacrifice +of the individual to the common weal, been accepted +and maintained, its existence might have been continued +and its pecuniary basis made sure. But asceticism was +no feature of the original scheme. On the contrary, the +projectors of it were believers in the capacities of the +soul, in the safety, wisdom and imperative necessity of +developing those capacities, and in the benign effect of +liberty. Had the spirit of rivalry and antagonism been +called in, the sectarian or party spirit, however generously +interpreted, the result would probably have been different. +But the law of sympathy being accepted as the +law of life, exclusion was out of the question; inquisition +into beliefs was inadmissible; motives even could not be +closely scanned; so while some were enthusiastic friends +of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> + the principle of association, and some were ardent +devotees to liberty, others thought chiefly of their +private education and development; and others still +were attracted by a desire of improving their social condition, +or attaining comfort on easy terms. The idea, +however noble, true, and lovely, was unable to grapple +with elements so discordant. Yet the fact that these +discordant elements did not, even in the brief period +of the fraternity's existence, utterly rend and abolish +the idea; that to the last, no principle was compromised, +no rule broken, no aspiration bedraggled, is a confession +of the purity and vitality of the creative thought. That +a mere aggregation of persons, without written compact, +formal understanding, or unity of purpose, men, women +and children, should have lived together, four or five +years, without scandal or reproach from dissension or +evil whisper, should have separated without rancor or +bitterness, and should have left none but the pleasantest +savor behind them—is a tribute to the Transcendental +Faith.</p> + +<p>In 1844, the Directors of the Association, George Ripley, +Minot Pratt, and Charles Anderson Dana, published +a statement, declaring: that every step had strengthened +the faith with which they set out; that their +belief in a divine order of human society had in their +minds become an absolute certainty; that, in their judgment, +considering the state of humanity and of social +science, the world was much nearer the attainment of +such a condition than was generally supposed. They here +said emphatically that Fourier's doctrine of universal +unity<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> + commanded their unqualified assent, and that their +whole observation had satisfied them of the practical arrangements +which he deduced therefrom, of the correspondence +of the law of groups and series with the law of +human nature. At this time the farm contained two hundred +and eight acres, and could be enlarged to any extent +necessary. The Association held property worth nearly +or quite thirty thousand dollars, of which about twenty-two +thousand was invested, either in the stock of the +company or in permanent loans to it at six per cent., +which could remain as long as the Association might +wish. The organization was pronounced to be in a satisfactory +working condition; the Department of Education, +on which much thought had been bestowed, was flourishing. +With a view to an ultimate expansion into a perfect +Phalanx, it was proposed to organize the three primary +departments of labor, namely, Agriculture, Domestic Industry, +and the Mechanical Arts. Public meetings had +awakened an interest in the community. Appeals for +money had been generously answered. The numbers +had been increased by the accession of many skilful +and enthusiastic laborers in various departments. About +ten thousand dollars had been added by subscription +to the capital. A work-shop sixty feet by twenty-eight +had been erected; a Phalanstery, or unitary dwelling on +a large scale, was in process of erection, to meet the +early needs of the preparatory period, until success +should authorize the building of a Phalanstery "with +the magnificence and permanence proper to such a +structure." The prospect was, or looked, encouraging. +The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> + experiment had been tested by the hard discipline +of more than two years; the severest difficulties had apparently +been conquered; the arrangements had attained +systematic form, as far as the limited numbers permitted; +the idea was respectfully entertained; socialism was +spreading; it embraced persons of every station in life; +and in its extent, and influence on questions of importance, +it seemed, to enthusiastic believers, to be fast assuming +in the United States a national character. This was in +October 1844. At this time the Brook Farm Associationists +connected themselves with the New York Socialists +who accepted the teachings of Fourier; and the efforts +described were put forth in aid of the new and more +systematic plans that had been adopted. But this coalition, +which promised so much, proved disastrous in its +result. The Association was unable to sustain industrial +competition with established trades. The expenses were +more than the receipts. In the spring of 1847 the Phalanstery +was burned down; the summer was occupied in +closing up the affairs; and in the autumn the Association +was broken up. The members betook themselves to the +world again, and engaged in the ordinary pursuits of +life. The farm was bought by the town of West Roxbury, +and afterwards passed into private hands. During +the civil war the government used it for military purposes. +The main building has since been occupied as a +hospital. The leaders of the Association removed to New +York, and for about a year, till February 1849, continued +their labors of propagandism by means of the "Harbinger," +till that expired: then their dream faded away.</p> + +<p>The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> + full history of that movement can be written only +by one who belonged to it, and shared its secret: and it +would doubtless have been written before this, had the +materials for a history been more solid. Aspirations have +no history. It is pleasant to hear the survivors of the +pastoral experiment talk over their experiences, merrily +recall the passages in work or play, revive the impressions +of country rambles, conversations, discussions, +social festivities, recount the comical mishaps, summon +the shadows of friends dead, but unforgotten, and describe +the hours spent in study or recreation, unspoiled +by carefulness. But it is in private alone that these confidences +are imparted. To the public very little has been, +or will be, or can be told.</p> + +<p>Mr. Hawthorne was one of the first to take up the +scheme. He was there a little while at the beginning in +1841, and his note-books contain passages that are of +interest. But Hawthorne's temperament was not congenial +with such an atmosphere, nor was his faith clear or +steadfast enough to rest contented on its idea. His, +however, were observing eyes; and his notes, being soliloquies, +confessions made to himself, convey his honest +impressions:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p><span class="smcap">Brook Farm</span>, April 13th, 1841. "I have not taken +yet my first lesson in agriculture, except that I went +to see our cows foddered, yesterday afternoon. We +have eight of our own; and the number is now increased +by a Transcendental heifer belonging to Miss Margaret +Fuller. She is very fractious, I believe, and apt to kick +over the milk pail.... I intend to convert myself +into<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> + a milk-maid this evening, but I pray Heaven that +Mr. Ripley may be moved to assign me the kindliest +cow in the herd, otherwise I shall perform my duties +with fear and trembling. I like my brethren in affliction +very well, and could you see us sitting round our table +at meal times, before the great kitchen fire, you would +call it a cheerful sight."</p> + +<p>"April 14. I did not milk the cows last night, because +Mr. R. was afraid to trust them to my hands, or me to +their horns, I know not which. But this morning I have +done wonders. Before breakfast I went out to the barn +and began to chop hay for the cattle, and with such +"righteous vehemence," as Mr. R. says, did I labor, +that in the space of ten minutes I broke the machine. +Then I brought wood and replenished the fires; and +finally went down to breakfast, and ate up a huge mound +of buckwheat cakes. After breakfast Mr. R. put a four-pronged +instrument into my hands, which he gave me to +understand was called a pitchfork; and he and Mr. +Farley being armed with similar weapons, we all three +commenced a gallant attack on a heap of manure. This +office being concluded, and I having purified myself, I +sit down to finish this letter. Miss Fuller's cow hooks +other cows, and has made herself ruler of the herd, and +behaves in a very tyrannical manner."</p> + +<p>"April 16th. I have milked a cow!!! The herd has +rebelled against the usurpation of Miss Fuller's heifer; +and whenever they are turned out of the barn, she is +compelled to take refuge under our protection. So +much did she impede my labors by keeping close to me, +that I found it necessary to give her two or three gentle +pats with a shovel. She is not an amiable cow; but she +has a very intelligent face, and seems to be of a reflective +cast of character.</p> + +<p>I have not yet been twenty yards from our house and +barn; but I begin to perceive that this is a beautiful +place. The scenery is of a mild and placid character, +with nothing bold in its aspect; but I think its beauties +will<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> + grow upon us, and make us love it the more the +longer we live here. There is a brook so near the house +that we shall be able to hear its ripple in the summer +evenings,—but for agricultural purposes it has been +made to flow in a straight and rectangular fashion which +does it infinite damage as a picturesque object. Mr. R. +has bought four black pigs."</p> + +<p>"April 22nd. What an abominable hand do I scribble; +but I have been chopping wood and turning a grind-stone +all the forenoon; and such occupations are apt to +disturb the equilibrium of the muscles and sinews. It +is an endless surprise to me how much work there is to +be done in the world; but thank God I am able to do +my share of it, and my ability increases daily. What a +great, broad-shouldered, elephantine personage I shall +become by and by!</p> + +<p>I read no newspapers, and hardly remember who is +President, and feel as if I had no more concern with what +other people trouble themselves about, than if I dwelt in +another planet."</p> + +<p>"May 1st. All the morning I have been at work, +under the clear blue sky, on a hill side. Sometimes it +almost seemed as if I were at work in the sky itself, though +the material in which I wrought was the ore from our +gold-mine. There is nothing so disagreeable or unseemly +in this sort of toil as you could think. It defiles the +hands indeed, but not the soul.</p> + +<p>The farm is growing very beautiful now,—not that we +yet see anything of the peas and potatoes which we have +planted, but the grass blushes green on the slopes and +hollows.</p> + +<p>I do not believe that I should be so patient here if I +were not engaged in a righteous and heaven-blessed way +of life. We had some tableaux last evening. They went +off very well."</p> + +<p>"May 11th. This morning I arose at milking time, +in good trim for work; and we have been employed +partly in an Augean labor of clearing out a wood-shed, +and<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> + partly in carting loads of oak. This afternoon I hope +to have something to do in the field, for these jobs about +the house are not at all suited to my taste."</p> + +<p>"June 1st. I think this present life of mine gives +me an antipathy to pen and ink, even more than my +Custom-house experience did. In the midst of toil, or +after a hard day's work, my soul obstinately refuses to +be poured out on paper. It is my opinion that a man's +soul may be buried and perish under a dung heap, just +as well as under a pile of money."</p> + +<p>"August 15th. Even my Custom-house experience +was not such a thraldom and weariness as this. O, labor +is the curse of the world, and nobody can meddle with +it, without becoming proportionably brutified! Is it a +praiseworthy matter that I have spent five golden months +in providing food for cows and horses? It is not so."</p> + +<p>"Salem, Sept. 3d. Really I should judge it to be +twenty years since I left Brook Farm; and I take this to +be one proof that my life there was an unnatural and unsuitable, +and therefore an unreal one. It already looks +like a dream behind me. The real Me was never an associate +of the community; there had been a spectral Appearance +there, sounding the horn at daybreak, and +milking the cows, and hoeing the potatoes, and raking +hay, toiling in the sun, and doing me the honor to assume +my name. But this spectre was not myself."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Mr. Hawthorne was elected to high offices, to those of +Trustee of the Brook Farm estate, and Chairman of the +Committee of Finance; but he told Mr. Ripley that he +could not spend another winter there. If we could inspect +all the note-books of the community, supposing all to be as +frank as Hawthorne, our picture of Brook Farm life would +be fascinating. But his was, perhaps, the only note-book +kept in the busy brotherhood, and his rather sombre +view must be accepted as the impression of one peculiar +mind.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> + In the "Blithedale Romance," Hawthorne disclaimed +any purpose to describe persons or events at +Brook Farm, and expressed a hope that some one might +yet do justice to a movement so full of earnest aspiration. +But he, himself, declined the task. "The old and +affectionately remembered home at Brook Farm—certainly +the most romantic episode of his own life—essentially +a day dream, and yet a fact—thus offering an available +foothold between fiction and reality," merely supplied +the scenery for the romance. More than twenty +years have passed since Hawthorne's appeal to his associates, +but it has not been answered.</p> + +<p>The characteristic nature of transcendental reform was +exhibited in the temper of its agitation for the enfranchisement +of women, and the enlargement of her sphere +of duty and privilege. More definitely than any other, +this reform can trace its beginnings and the source of its +inspiration to the disciples of the transcendental philosophy. +The transcendentalists gave it their countenance +to some extent, to a man and a woman, conceding the +truth of its idea even when criticising the details of its +application. With almost if not quite equal unanimity, +the other school regarded it with disfavor. The cause of +woman, as entertained by the reformers, was not likely +to commend itself to people who consulted custom, law, +or institution; who accepted the authority of tradition, +took history to be revelation, deferred to the decree of +circumstance, or, under any other open or disguised form, +bowed to the doctrine that might makes right. The +philosophical conservatives and the social conservatives +struck<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> + hands on this; for both, the one party in deference +to established usage, the other party in deference to the +opinion that mind followed organization, defended things +as they were, and hoped for a better state of things, if +they hoped for it at all, as a result of changes in the +social environment. The disciples of the same philosophy +now hold the same view of this particular reform. From +them comes the charge of unsexing women and demoralizing +the sex. In the belief of the transcendentalist, souls +were of no sex. Men and women were alike human +beings, with human capacities, longings, and destinies; +and the condition of society that doomed them to hopelessness +in regard to the complete and perfect justification +of their being, was, in his judgment—not in his feeling, +or sentiment, but in his judgment—unsound.</p> + +<p>The ablest and most judicial statement on the question +was made by Margaret Fuller in the "Dial" of July 1843. +The paper entitled the "Great Law Suit" was afterwards +expanded into the little volume called "Woman in the +XIXth Century," which contains all that is best worth +saying on the subject, has been the storehouse of argument +and illustration from that time to this, and should +be read by all who would understand the cardinal +points in the case. The careful student of that book +will be amazed at the misapprehensions in respect to its +doctrine that are current even in intelligent circles. +Certainly Miss Fuller does claim everything that may +fairly be comprehended under woman's education; everything +that follows, or may be honestly and rationally +held as following in the course of her intellectual development. +But<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> + she claims it by rigorous fidelity to a philosophical +idea; not passionately or hastily. Not as a +demand of sentiment, not as a right under liberty, not +as a conclusion from American institutions, but as the +spiritual prerogative of the spiritual being. Her argument +moves on this high table-land of thought; and +moves with a steadiness, a serenity, an ease that little +resemble the heated debates on later platforms. Miss +Fuller was thoroughly feminine in her intuitions. It +was impossible for her to treat any subject, to say nothing +of a subject so complex and delicate as this, with +any but the finest tempered tools. Her sympathies +were with women; she attracted women by the power +of her intelligence and fellow feeling. Women of +feeling and aspiration—pure feeling and beautiful aspiration,—came +to her. The secrets of the best hearts +were revealed to her, as they could not have been, had +she failed to reach or attract them on their own level. +Her idea of womanly character as displayed in sentiment +and action was as gracious as it was lofty.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"We would have every arbitrary barrier thrown down. +We would have every path laid open to women as freely +as to man. Were this done, and a slight temporary +fermentation allowed to subside, we believe that the +Divine would ascend into nature to a height unknown +in the history of past ages; and nature, thus instructed, +would regulate the spheres, not only so as to avoid collision, +but to bring forth ravishing harmony."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Yet then, and only then, will human beings, in her +judgment, be ripe for this, when inward and outward +freedom<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> + for woman as much as for man, shall be acknowledged +as a right, not yielded as a concession.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"What woman needs is not as a woman to act or rule, +but as a nature to grow, as an intellect to discern, as a +soul to live freely, and unimpeded to unfold such powers +as were given her when we left our common home. If +fewer talents were given her, yet, if allowed the full and +free employment of these, so that she may render back +to the giver his own with usury, she will not complain, +nay, I dare to say, she will bless and rejoice in her +earthly birth-place her earthly lot."</p> + +<p>"Man is not willingly ungenerous. He wants faith +and love because he is not yet himself an elevated being. +He cries with sneering skepticism: Give us a sign! +But if the sign appears, his eyes glisten, and he offers +not merely approval but homage."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The Transcendental idea makes her just to all, to the +Hebrews who "greeted with solemn rapture all great +and holy women as heroines, prophetesses, nay judges +in Israel, and if they made Eve listen to the serpent, +gave Mary to the Holy Ghost;" to the Greeks whose +feminine deities were types of dignity and loveliness; +to the Romans, whose glorious women are "of threadbare +celebrity;" to Asiatics, Russians, English. It +gave her generous interpretations for laws, institutions, +customs, bidding her look on the bright side of history.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"Whatever may have been the domestic manners of +the ancient nations, the idea of woman was nobly manifested +in their mythologies and poems, where she appeared +as Sita in the Ramayana, a form of tender purity; +in the Egyptian Isis, of divine wisdom never yet surpassed. +In<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> + Egypt too, the sphinx, walking the earth +with lion tread, looked out upon its marvels in the calm, +inscrutable beauty of a virgin face, and the Greek could +only add wings to the great emblem." "In Sparta the +women were as much Spartans as the men. Was not +the calm equality they enjoyed well worth the honors of +chivalry? They intelligently shared the ideal life of +their nation." "Is it in vain that the truth has been +recognized that woman is not only a part of man, bone +of his bone, and flesh of his flesh, born that man might +not be lonely, but in themselves possessors of and possessed +by immortal souls? This truth undoubtedly received +a greater outward stability from the belief of the +church that the earthly parent of the Saviour of souls +was a woman."</p> + +<p>"Woman cannot complain that she has not had her +share of power. This in all ranks of society, except the +lowest, has been hers to the extent that vanity could +crave, far beyond what wisdom would accept. It is not +the transient breath of poetic incense that women want; +each can receive that from a lover. It is not life-long +sway; it needs to become a coquette, a shrew, or a good +cook, to be sure of that. It is not money, nor notoriety, +nor the badges of authority that men have appropriated to +themselves. It is for that which includes all these and +precludes them; which would not be forbidden power, +lest there be temptation to steal and misuse it; which +would not have the mind perverted by flattery from a +worthiness of esteem. It is for that which is the birthright +of every being capable to receive it,—the freedom, the +religious, the intelligent freedom of the universe, to use its +means, to learn its secret as far as nature has enabled +them, with God alone for their guide and their judge."</p> + +<p>"The only reason why women ever assume what is +more appropriate to men, is because men prevent them +from finding out what is fit for themselves. Were they +free, were they wise fully to develop the strength and +beauty of woman, they would never wish to be men or +manlike.<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> + The well instructed moon flies not from her +orbit to seize on the glories of her partner."</p> + +<p>"Give the soul free course, let the organization be +freely developed, and the being will be fit for any and +every relation to which it may be called."</p> + +<p>"Civilized Europe is still in a transition state about +marriage, not only in practice but in thought. A great +majority of societies and individuals are still doubtful +whether earthly marriage is to be a union of souls, or +merely a contract of convenience and utility. Were +woman established in the rights of an immortal being, +this could not be." But "those who would reform the +world, must show that they do not speak in the heat of +wild impulse; their lives must be unstained by passionate +error; they must be severe lawgivers to themselves. +As to their transgressions of opinions, it may be observed, +that the resolve of Eloise to be only the mistress of +Abelard, was that of one who saw the contract of marriage +a seal of degradation. Wherever abuses of this +sort are seen, the timid will suffer, the bold will protest; +but society has the right to outlaw them, till she has +revised her law, and she must be taught to do so, by one +who speaks with authority, not in anger or haste."</p> + +<p>"Whether much or little has been or will be done; +whether women will add to the talent of narration, the +power of systematizing; whether they will carve marble +as well as iron, is not important. But that it should be +acknowledged that they have intellect which needs +developing, that they should not be considered complete, +if beings of affection and habit alone, is important. Earth +knows no fairer, holier relation than that of mother. But +a being of infinite scope must not be treated with an +exclusive view to any one relation."</p> + +<p>"In America women are much better situated than +men. Good books are allowed, with more time to read +them. They have time to think, and no traditions chain +them. Their employments are more favorable to the +inward life than those of men. Men are courteous to +them;<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> + praise them often; check them seldom. In this +country, is venerated, wherever seen, the character which +Goethe spoke of as an Ideal: 'The excellent woman is +she, who, if her husband dies, can be a father to the +children.'"</p></blockquote> + +<p>Nothing can be more reasonable than this; and this is +the tone of transcendental feeling and thought on the +subject. The only criticism that can fairly be made on +the Transcendentalist's idea of woman, is that it has more +regard for essential capacities and possibilities, than for +incidental circumstances, more respect for the ideal than +for the actual woman. However grave a sin this may be +against common sense, it is none against purity, nobleness, +or the laws of private or public virtue. The dream, +if it be no more than a dream, is beautiful and inspiring.</p> + +<p>The Transcendentalist believed in man's ability to +apprehend absolute ideas of Truth, Justice, Rectitude, +Goodness; he spoke of The Right, The True, The +Beautiful, as eternal realities which he perceived. The +"Sensational" philosophy was shut up in the relative +and conditioned; knew nothing higher than expediency; +held prudence, caution, practical wisdom in highest rank +among the virtues; consulted the revelations of history; +recognized no law above established usage; went for +guidance to the book, the record, the statute; it could +not speak therefore with power, but could only consider, +surmise, cast probabilities, devise plans and work carefully +towards their execution. The Sensationalist distrusted +the seer, rejected the prophet, and disliked the +reformer. His aim was law; his work within easy distance; +his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> + object, some plainly visible and appreciable +satisfaction. His faith in men and women was small; +his trust in circumstances and conditions was unbounded; +but as this faith had no wings, it could neither raise its +possessor from the ground, nor speed him faster than a +walking pace. He was easily satisfied with the world as +it was; or if dissatisfied, had little hope of its being +made better by anything he could do. His helplessness +and hopelessness will make him in opinion an optimist, +who finds it easier to assume that the order of the world +is perfect and will so appear by and by, than that it is +made imperfect for him to mend. Optimism is perhaps +oftener the creed of the indolent than of the earnest.</p> + +<p>The Transcendentalist was satisfied with nothing so +long as it did not correspond to the ideal in the enlightened +soul; and in the soul recognized the power to make +all things new. Nothing will content him short of the +absolute right, the eternally true, the unconditioned +excellence. He prays for the kingdom of Heaven, lives +in expectation of it; would not be surprised at its +coming any day. For though the distance is immense +between the world as it is and his vision of the world as +it should be—a distance that the Evolutionist despairs +of seeing traversed in thousands of years, if he believes +it will be traversed at all,—still, as the power of regeneration +is supposed to be in the soul itself, which is possessed +of infinite capacities and is open continually to +inspirations from the world of soul, the transformation +may begin when least expected, and may be completed +before preparation for it can be made. Hence his +boundless<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> + enthusiasm and hope; hence the order of +his feeling, the glow of his language. Hence his disposition +to exaggerate the force of tendencies that point +in his direction; to take the brightest view of events, +and put the happiest construction on the signs of the +times. In the anti-slavery period the Transcendentalist +glorified the negro beyond all warrant of fact, seeing in +him an imprisoned soul struggling to be free. The +same soul he sees in woman oppressed by limitations; +the same in the drunkard, the gambler, the libertine. +His eye is ever fixed on the future.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span></p> +<p class="center big"><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII.</p> + +<h2>RELIGION.</h2> + + +<p>It was by no accident that the transcendental philosophy +addressed itself at once to the questions of religion. +It did so at the beginning, in Germany, and later, in +England, and did so from the nature of the case. Its +very name implied that it maintained the existence of +ideas in the mind which transcended sensible experience. +Such ideas fall within the domain of religion; ideas of +the infinite, the eternal, the absolute; and the significance +and import of these ideas exercised the minds of +transcendental thinkers, according to their genius. +Kant felt it necessary to reopen the problem of God +and immortality; Fichte followed, Schelling and Hegel +moved on the same plane.</p> + +<p>Transcendentalism was, in fact, a reaction against the +moral and political skepticism which resulted directly +from the prevailing philosophy of sensation. Since +Bacon's day, religious beliefs had been taking hold on +the enlightened mind of England and Europe. The +drift of speculation was strongly against, not the Christian +system alone, but natural religion, and the ideal +foundation of morality. The writings of Collins, Dodwell, +Mandeville, expressed more skepticism than they +created,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> + and betrayed a deeply-seated and widely-spread +misgiving in regard to the fundamental truths +of theology. Hume's argument against the credibility +of miracles was never answered, and the anxiety to answer +it was a confession of alarm from the heart of the +church. The famous XVIth chapter of Gibbon's "Decline +and Fall of the Roman Empire" was assailed furiously, +but in vain, each assault exposing the weakness of +the assailants; and it was only by adopting his history, +and editing it with judicious notes, that the church silenced +the enemy it could not crush. The deists of the seventeenth +century in no wise balanced their denials by their +affirmations, but left Christianity fearfully shattered by +their blows. The champions of the church fought +skepticism with skepticism, conceding in substance the +points they superficially attacked. Towards the close of +the seventeenth century Cudworth confronted atheism +with idealism, retreating upon Plato when the foe had +carried the other works; early in the century following, +Butler, in the celebrated "Analogy," fought infidelity +with weapons that infidelity might have turned, and since +has turned with deadly effect, against himself. The ablest +representative of Unitarianism was Joseph Priestley, a +materialist of the school of Hartley. The cardinal beliefs +of religion were debated in a way that was quite +unsatisfactory in the light of reason, showing the extent +to which faith had been undermined. Indeed, had it +not been for the power of institutions, customs, respectability, +and tradition, the popular beliefs would +have all but disappeared, so deep into the heart of the +people<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> + unbelief had penetrated. The church stood fast, +because it was allied with power and fashion, not because +it was supported by reason or faith. The whole +tone of feeling on sacred and ethical topics was low; +divine ideas were defended by considerations of expediency; +God was a probability; the immortality of the +soul a possibility, a supplement to skepticism, an appendix +to a philosophy which, finding no God here, presumed +there must be one hereafter. There is no more +soulless reading than the works of the Christian apologists +of the seventeenth century. The infidels had more +ideas, and apparently more sincerity, but in neither was +there any spiritual impulse or fervor.</p> + +<p>In Germany the philosophy of Bacon and Locke did +not strike deep root. The day of Germany was to come +later. Her thoughts were pent up in her own breast. +She was isolated, and almost speechless. Her genius +awoke with the new philosophy. Under the influence +of idealism it bloomed in the richest of modern literatures. +Her very skepticism, the much talked-of rationalism, +had an ideal origin. Strauss was a disciple +of Hegel. Bauer, and the "historical school" of Tübingen +worked out their problem of New Testament criticism +from the Hegelian idea, the constructive force +whereof was so powerful, that the negations lost their +negative character, and showed primarily as affirmations +of reason. By being adopted into the line of intellectual +development of mankind, Christianity, though dethroned +and disenchanted, was dignified as a supreme +moment in the autobiography of God.</p> + +<p>Frederick<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> + the Great, in the middle of the eighteenth +century, attracted literary celebrities to his court, and +gave an impulse, so far, to the German mind; but the +French genius found more encouragement there than the +German, and in his time French genius was speeding fast +in the way of skepticism. Condillac, Cabanis, d'Holbach, +Helvetius, were of that generation. The "Encyclopćdists," +the most brilliant men and women of the generation, +were planning their work of demolition. Voltaire +was the great name in contemporary literature. The +books of Volney were popular towards the end of the +century. Skepticism and materialism had the floor. It +was fashionable to ridicule the belief in personal immortality, +and in enlightened circles to deny the existence of +God. The doctrines of Christianity were abandoned to +priests and women; philosophers deemed them too absurd +to be argued against. Had the assault been less witty and +more scientific, less acrimonious and more reasonable, less +scornful and more consistent, its apparent success might +have been permanent. As it was, a change of mood +occurred; a conservative spirit succeeded the destructive; +order prevailed over anarchy; and the Catholic church, +which had only been temporarily thrust aside—not fatally +wounded, not by any means disposed of—regained its +suspended power.</p> + +<p>But rational or intellectual Christianity—in other words +the system of Protestantism, in whatever form held—received +a severe blow in France from these audacious +hands. Religion took refuge in institutions and ceremonial +forms; and there remained little else except a +kernel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> + of sentiment in a thin shell of tradition. What +beliefs were entertained were accepted on authority; +reason sought other fields of exercise, scientific, philosophical, +literary; and a chill of indifference crept over +the once religious world. From France, opinions adverse +to Christianity were brought to America by travelled or +curious people; they pervaded the creative minds of our +earliest epoch, and penetrated far into the popular intelligence. +The habit of thinking independently of authority +and tradition became confirmed, and as a matter of +course led to doubts and denials; for thinking was done +in a temper of defiance, which constrained the thought +to obey the wish. Such philosophical ideas as there +were, came from France and England. Paley's was the +last word in morals; the "Bridgewater Treatises" were +the received oracles in religion; the rules of practical +judgment had usurped the dominion of faith.</p> + +<p>What pass things had come to in New England, in the +centre of its culture, has been described in a previous +chapter. It was time for a reaction to set in; and it +came in the form of Transcendentalism. The "sensational" +philosophy, it was contended, could not supply +a basis for faith. Its first principle was "<i>Nihil in intellectu +quod non prius in sensu</i>." "There is nothing in +the intellect that was not first in the senses." From this +principle nothing but skepticism could proceed. How, +for instance, asks the Transcendentalist, can the sensational +philosophy of Locke and his disciples give us anything +approaching to a certainty of the existence of God? +The senses furnish no evidence of it. God is not an +object<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> + of sensation. He is not seen, felt, heard, tasted +or smelt. The objects of sense are material, local, incidental; +God is immaterial, universal, eternal. The +objects of sense are finite; but a finite God is no God; for +God is infinite. Is it said that by men of old, bible men, +God was seen, heard, clasped in human arms? The reply +is, that whatever Being was so apparent and tangible, +could not have been God. To the assertion that the +Being announced himself as God,—the infinite, the eternal +God,—the challenge straightway is given: To whom did +he say it? How can it be proved that he said it? Is +the record of his saying it authentic? Might not the +Being have made a false statement? Can we be certain +there was no mental hallucination? Suppose these and +other doubts of a similar character dispelled, still, hearing +is not knowing. All we have is a tradition of God, +a legend, a rumor, a dim reminiscence, that passes like +a shadow across men's minds. The appeal to miracle is +set aside by historical skepticism. The wonder lacks +evidence; and to prove the wonder a miracle, is +beyond achievement. A possibility, or at most, a probability +of God's existence is all that sensationalism, with +every advantage given it, can supply.</p> + +<p>And if this philosophy fails to give an assurance of +God's existence, the failure to throw light on his attributes +is more signal. The senses report things as they +exist in relations, not as they exist in themselves. +Neither absolute power, absolute wisdom nor absolute +goodness is hinted at by the senses. The visible system +of things abounds in contradictions that we cannot +reconcile,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> + puzzles we cannot explain, mysteries we cannot +penetrate, imperfections we cannot account for, +wrongs we cannot palliate, evils we cannot cover up or +justify. That a vein of wisdom, an element of goodness, +an infusion of loving-kindness is in the world is +evident; but to show that, is to go very little way towards +establishing the attributes of a Perfect Being. +A God of limited power, wisdom or goodness, is no +God, and no other does Sensationalism offer. Transcendentalism +points to the fact that under the auspices +of this philosophy atheism has spread; and along with +atheism the intellectual demoralization that accompanies +the disappearance of a cardinal idea.</p> + +<p>From this grave peril the Transcendentalist found an +escape in flight to the spiritual nature of man, in virtue +of which he had an intuitive knowledge of God as a +being, infinite and absolute in power, wisdom and goodness; +a direct perception like that which the senses have +of material objects; a perception that gains in distinctness, +clearness and positiveness as the faculties through +which it is obtained increase in power and delicacy. To +the human mind, by its original constitution, belongs the +firm assurance of God's existence, as a half latent +fact of consciousness, and with it a dim sense of his +moral attributes. To minds capacious and sensitive the +truth was disclosed in lofty ranges that lifted the horizon +line, in every direction, above the cloud land of doubt; +to minds cultivated, earnest, devout, aspiring, the revelation +came in bursts of glory. The experiences of +inspired men and women were repeated. The prophet, +the seer,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> + the saint, was no longer a favored person +whose sayings and doings were recorded in the Bible, +but a living person, making manifest the wealth +of soul in all human beings. Communication with the +ideal world was again opened through conscience; and +communion with God, close and tender as is anywhere +described by devotees and mystics, was promised to the +religious affections.</p> + +<p>The Transcendentalist spoke of God with authority. +His God was not possible, but real; not probable, but +certain. In his high confidence he had small respect for +the labored reasonings of "Natural Religion;" the argument +from design, so carefully elaborated by Paley, +Brougham and the writers of the "Bridgewater Treatises," +was interesting and useful as far as it went, but +was remanded to an inferior place. The demonstration +from miracle was dismissed with feelings bordering on +contempt, as illogical and childish.</p> + +<p>Taking his faith with him into the world of nature +and of human life, the Transcendentalist, sure of the +divine wisdom and love, found everywhere joy for +mourning and beauty for ashes. Passing through the +valley of Baca, he saw springs bubbling up from the +sand, and making pools for thirsty souls. Wherever he +came, garments of heaviness were dropped and robes of +praise put on. Evil was but the prophecy of good, +wrong the servant of right, pain the precursor of peace, +sorrow the minister to joy. He would acknowledge no +exception to the rule of an absolute justice and an inexorable +love. It was certain that all was well, appearances +to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> + the contrary notwithstanding. He was, as we +have said, an optimist—not of the indifferent sort that +make the maxim "Whatever is, is right" an excuse for +idleness—but of the heroic kind who, by refreshing their +minds with thoughts of the absolute goodness, keep alive +their faith, hope, endeavor, and quicken themselves to +efforts at understanding, interpreting and bringing to +the surface the divine attributes. For himself he had +no misgivings, and no alarm at the misgivings of others; +believing them due, either to some misunderstanding that +might be corrected, or to some moral defect that could +be cured. Even Atheism, of the crudest, coarsest, +most stubborn description, had no terrors for him. It +was in his judgment a matter of definition mainly. +Utter atheism was all but inconceivable to him; the +essential faith in divine things under some form of +mental perception being too deeply planted in human +nature to be eradicated or buried.</p> + +<p>Taking his belief with him into the world of history, +the Transcendentalist discovered the faith in God beneath +all errors, delusions, idolatries and superstition. He +read it into unintelligible scriptures; he drew it forth +from obsolete symbols; he dragged it to the light from +the darkness of hateful shrines and the bloody mire of +pagan altars. Mr. Parker meditated a work on the +religious history of mankind, in which the development +of the theistic idea was to be traced from its shadowy +beginnings to its full maturity; and this he meant should +be the crowning work of his life. Sure of his first principle, +he had no hesitation in going into caves and among +the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> + ruins of temples. Had that work been completed, +the Transcendentalist's faith in God would have received +its most eloquent statement.</p> + +<p>The other cardinal doctrine of religion—the immortality +of the soul,—Transcendentalism was proud of having +rescued from death in the same way. The philosophy +of sensation could give no assurance of personal immortality. +Here, too, its fundamental axiom, "<i>Nihil in +intellectu quod non prius in sensu</i>," was discouraging to +belief. For immortality is not demonstrable to the +senses. Experience affords no basis for conviction, and +knowledge cannot on any pretext be claimed. The sensational +school was divided into two parties. The first +party confessed that the immortality of the soul was a +thing not only unprovable, but a thing easily disproved, a +thing improbable, and, to a clear mind, impossible to +believe. The soul being a product of organization, +at all events fatally implicated in organization, conditioned +by it in all respects, must perish with organization, +as the flower perishes with the stem. Of a spirit +distinct from body there is, according to this school, no +evidence, either before death or after. Man's prospect, +therefore, is bounded by this life. Dreamers may have +visions of another; mourners may sigh for another; +ardent natures may hope for another; but to believe in +another is, to the rational mind, according to this philosophy, +impossible. The sentence "dust thou art, and to +dust thou shalt return," may seem a hard one; but as it +cannot be reversed or modified, it must be accepted with +submission; and in default of another life, the honest man +will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> + make the most of the life he has; not necessarily +saying with the sensualist: "Let us eat and drink, for +to-morrow we die;" but with the hero reminding himself +that he must "Work while it is day, for the night cometh +in which no man can work." The modern disciples of +this doctrine of annihilation speak in a tone of lofty +courage of their destiny, and disguise under shining and +many-colored garments of anticipation, the fact of their +personal cessation. The thinkers find refuge in the intellectual +problems of the present; the workers pile up +monuments that shall endure when they are gone; poets +like George Eliot, make grand music on the harp-strings +of the common humanity; but the fact remains that +the philosophy of experience abandons, or did before the +advent of spiritualism—the expectation of an existence +after death.</p> + +<p>The other branch of the Sensational school fell back +on authority, and received on the tradition of history +what could not be verified by science. Immortality was +accepted as a doctrine of instituted religion, taken on +the credit of revelation, and sealed by the resurrection +of Jesus. As an article of faith it was accepted +without comment. If we have not seen the glorified +dead, others have, and their witness is recorded in the +Scriptures. Beyond that believers did not care to go; +beyond that advised no one else to go. To question the +genuineness of the Scriptures, to cast doubt on the resurrection +of Jesus, to intimate that the tradition of the +church is a thin stream that murmurs pleasantly in the +shade of the sacred groves, but would dry up if the +sun-light<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> + were let in, was resented as an offence against +reverence and morality. By such as these the belief +that slipped away from the reason was detained by the +will.</p> + +<p>But beliefs thus appropriated are insecurely held. +The inactivity of the mind cannot be guaranteed; a +slight disturbance of its tamely acquiescent condition +may set its whole scheme of opinions afloat. A sentence +on a printed page, a word let fall in conversation, +a discovered fact, an awakened suspicion, a suggestion +of doubt by a friend, may stir the thought whose +movement will bring the whole structure down. There +being no certainty, only arbitrary content; no personal +conviction, only formal acquiescence; there was nothing +to prevent the belief from disappearing altogether, and +leaving the mind vacant.</p> + +<p>Even when retained, beliefs thus held have no vitality. +They are not living faiths in any intelligent sense. Useful +they may be for pulpit declamation and closet discussion; +serviceable on funeral occasions and in +chambers of sorrow; available for purposes of moral +impression; but inspiring they are not; actively sustaining +and consoling they are not. Their effect on the +conduct of life is almost imperceptible. They are appendages +to the mind, not parts of it; proprieties, not +properties. They are to be reckoned as part of a man's +stock in trade, not as part of his being.</p> + +<p>Transcendentalism, by taking the belief in immortality +out of these incidental and doubtful associations, and +making it a constituent element in the constitution of +the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> + mind itself, thought to rescue it from its precarious +position, and place it beyond the reach of danger. No +belief was, on the whole, so characteristic of Transcendentalism +as this; none was so steadfastly assumed, so +constantly borne in view. Immortality was here a postulate, +a first principle. Theodore Parker called it a fact +of consciousness—the intensity of his conviction rendering +him careless of precision in speech. The writings of +Emerson are redolent of the faith. Even when he +argues in his way against the accepted creed, and casts +doubt on every form in which the doctrine is entertained, +the loftiness of his language about the soul carries the +presage of immortality with it. The "Dial" has no argument +about immortality; no paper in the whole series +is devoted to the subject; the faith was too deep and +essential to be talked about—it was assumed. The +Transcendentalist was an enthusiast on this article. He +spoke, not as one who surmises, conjectures, is on the +whole inclined to think; but as one who knows beyond +cavil or question. We never met a man whose assurance +of immortality was as strong as Theodore Parker's. +The objections of materialists did not in the least disturb +him. In the company of the most absolute of +them he avowed his conviction. What others clung to +as supports—the church tradition, the story of the +raising of Lazarus, the account of the resurrection of +Jesus—were to him stumbling blocks in the way of +spiritual faith, for they drew attention away from the +witness of the soul.</p> + +<p>The preaching of Transcendentalists caused, in all +parts<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> + of the country, a revival of interest and of faith +in personal immortality; spiritualized the idea of it; +enlarged the scope of the belief, and ennobled its character; +established an organic connection between the +present life and the future, making them both one in substance; +disabused people of the coarse notion that the +next life was an incident of their experience, and compelled +them to think of it as a normal extension of their +being; substituted aspiration after spiritual deliverance +and perfection, for hope of happiness and fear of misery; +recalled attention to the nature and capacity of the soul +itself; in a word, announced the natural immortality of +the soul by virtue of its essential quality. The fanciful +reasoning of Plato's "<i>Phćdon</i>" was supplemented by +new readings in psychology, and strengthened by powerful +moral supports; the highest desires, the purest feelings, +the deepest sympathies, were enlisted in its cause; death +was made incidental to life; lower life was made subordinate +to higher; and men who were beginning to +doubt whether the demand for personal immortality was +entirely honorable in one who utterly trusted in God, +thoroughly appreciated the actual world, and fairly respected +his own dignity, were reassured by a faith which +promised felicity on terms that compromised neither +reason nor virtue. The very persons who had let go +the hope of immortality because they could not accept +it at the cost of sacrificing their confidence in God's instant +justice, were glad to recover it as a promise of +fulfilment to their dearest desire for spiritual expansion.</p> + +<p>The Sensational philosophy had done a worse harm +to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> + the belief in immortality, than by rendering the prospect +of it uncertain; it had rendered the character of it +pusillanimous and plebeian; it had demanded it on the +ground that God must explain himself, must correct his +blunders and apologize for his partiality in distributing +sugar plums; it had argued for it from personal, social, +sectarian, and other sympathies and antipathies; it had +expected it on the strength of a rumor that a specially +holy man, a saint of Judea, had appeared after death to +his peculiar friends; it had pleaded for it, as children +beg for dessert after bread and meat. The transcendental +philosophy dismissed these unworthy claims, +made no demand, put up no petition, but simply made +articulate the prophecy of the spiritual nature in man, +and trusted the eternal goodness for its fulfilment. +Other arguments might come to the support of this +anticipation; history might bring its contribution of +recorded facts; suffering and sorrow might add their +pathetic voices, bewailing the oppressive power of circumstance, +and crying for peace out of affliction; the biographies +of Jesus might furnish illustration of the victory +of the greatest souls over death; but considerations of +this kind received their importance from the light they +threw on the immortal attributes of spirit. Apart from +these their significance was gone.</p> + +<p>The pure Transcendentalists saw everywhere evidence +of the greatness of the soul. Christianity they regarded +as its chief manifestation. Imperfect Transcendentalists +there were, who used the fundamental postulates of the +transcendental philosophy to confirm their faith in supernatural +realities.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> + Their Transcendentalism amounted +merely to this, that man had a natural capacity for +<i>receiving</i> supernatural truths, when presented by revelation. +The <i>possession</i> of such truths, even in germ; the +power to unfold them naturally, by process of mental or +spiritual growth; the faculty to seize, define, shape, legitimate +and enthrone them, they denied. The soul, according +to them, was recipient, not originating or creative. +They continued to be Christians of the "Evangelical" +stamp; champions of special intervention of light and +grace; hearty believers in the divinity of the Christ and the +saving influence of the Holy Ghost; holding to the +peculiar inspiration of the Bible, and the personal need +of regeneration. The wisest teachers of orthodoxy +belonged to this school.</p> + +<p>The pure Transcendentalist went much further. According +to him, the seeds of truth, if not the outline +forms of truth, were contained in the soul itself, +all ready to expand in bloom and beauty, as it felt +the light and heat of the upper world. Sir Kenelm +Digby relates that in Padua he visited the laboratory of +a famous physician, and was there shown a small pile of +fine ashes under a glass. On the application of a gentle +heat, it arose, assumed the shape of its original flower, +all its parts being perfectly distinct in form and well +defined in character. During the application of the heat, +the spectral plant preserved its delicate outline; but on +withdrawal of the heat, it became dust again. So, according +to the Transcendentalist, the spiritual being of +man—which apparently is a heap of lifeless ashes on the +surface<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> + of material existence—when graciously shone +upon by knowledge and love, puts on divine attributes, +glows with beauty, palpitates with joy, gives out flashes +of power, distils odors of sanctity, and exhibits the marks +of a celestial grace. The soul, when thus awakened, +utters oracles of wisdom, sings, prophesies, thunders +decalogues, pronounces beatitudes, discourses grandly +of God and divine things, performs wonders of healing +on sick bodies and wandering minds, rises to heights of +heroism and saintliness.</p> + +<p>From this point of vision, it was easy to survey the +history of mankind, and, in the various religions of the +world, see the efforts of the soul to express itself in +scriptures, emblems, doctrines, altar forms, architecture, +painting, moods and demonstrations of piety. The +Transcendentalist rendered full justice to all these, studied +them, admired them, confessed their inspiration. Of +these faiths Christianity was cheerfully acknowledged to +be the queen. The supremacy of Jesus was granted with +enthusiasm. His teachings were accepted as the purest +expressions of religious truth; His miracles were regarded +as the natural achievements of a soul of such +originality and force. In his address to the senior class +in Divinity College, 1838, Mr. Emerson spoke of Christ's +miracles as being "one with the blowing clover and the +falling rain," and urged the young candidates for the +ministry to let his life and dialogues "lie as they befel, +active and warm, part of human life, and of the landscape, +and of the cheerful day." When, in 1840, Theodore +Parker wrote his "Levi Blodgett" letter, he +believed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> + in miracles, the miracles of the New Testament +and many others besides, more than the Christians +about him were willing to accept.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"It may be said these religious teachers (Zoroaster, +Buddha, Fo) pretended to work miracles. I would not +deny that they <i>did</i> work miracles. If a man is obedient +to the law of his mind, conscience and heart, since his +intellect, character and affections are in harmony with +the laws of God, I take it he can do works that are impossible +to others, who have not been so faithful, and +consequently are not "one with God" as he is; and +this is all that is meant by a miracle." "The possession +of this miraculous power, when it can be proved, as I +look at the thing, is only a <i>sign</i>, which may be uncertain, +of the superior genius of a religious teacher, or +a <i>sign</i> that he will utter the truth, and never a <i>proof</i> +thereof."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The Transcendentalist was a cordial believer in marvels, +as being so hearty a believer in the potency of the +spiritual laws. Parker's opposition to the miracles of the +New Testament was provoked by the exclusive claim +that was put forward by their defenders, and by the +position they were thrust into as pillars of doctrine. +His wish to make it appear that truth could stand without +them, impelled him to strain at their overthrow. +Later, his studies in New Testament criticism confirmed +his suspicion that the testimony in their favor was altogether +inadequate to sustain their credibility. The +theory of Bauer and his disciples of the Tübingen school +seemed to him unanswerable, and he abandoned, as a +scholar, much that as a Transcendentalist he might have +been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> + disposed to retain. W. H. Furness, author of +several biographical studies on the life and character of +Jesus—a Transcendentalist of the most impassioned +school, but no adept in historical criticism—maintained +to the last the credibility of the Christian miracles, and +purely on the ground of their perfect naturalness as +performed by a person so spiritually exalted as Jesus +was. The more ardent his admiration of that character, +the more unshrinking his belief in these manifestations +of its superiority. Dr. Furness is prepared to think +that if no miracles had been recorded, nevertheless +miracles must have been wrought, and would, but for +some blindness or skepticism, have been mentioned.</p> + +<p>The charge that Transcendentalism denied the reality +of supernatural powers and influences shows how imperfectly +it was apprehended. It seemed to deny them +because it transferred them to another sphere. It +regarded man himself as a supernatural being; not the +last product of nature, but the lord of nature; not the +<i>creature</i> of organization, but its creator. In its extreme +form, Transcendentalism was a deification of nature, in +the highest aspects of Beauty. It raised human qualities +to the supreme power; it ascribed to extraordinary +virtue in its exalted states the efficient grace that is commonly +attributed to the Holy Spirit. The pure Transcendentalist +spoke of the experiences and powers of the +illuminated soul with as much extravagance of rapture +as one of the newly redeemed ever expressed. The +profane made sport of his fanaticisms and fervors in the +same way that they made sport of the wild over-gush of +a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> + revival meeting. The demonstrations of feeling were +in fact, precisely similar; only in the one case the excitement +was traced to the Christ in the skies, in the other +to the Christ who was the soul of the man; in the one case +a superhuman being was imagined as operating on the +soul; in the other case the soul was supposed to be +giving expression to itself.</p> + +<p>The Transcendentalist was not careful enough in making +this distinction, and was, therefore, to blame for a portion +of the misapprehension that ensued. He often +found in sacred literature, thoughts which he himself +put there. Parker, discoursing of inspiration, cites Paul +and John as holding the same doctrine with himself; +though it is plain to the single mind that their doctrine +was in no respect the same, but so different as to be in +contradiction. Paul and John, it is hardly too much to +say, set up their doctrine in precise opposition to the +doctrine of the Transcendentalists. Paul declared that +the natural man could <i>not</i> discern divine things; that +they were foolishness to him; that they must be spiritually +discerned; that the Christian was able to discern them +spiritually <i>because he had</i> the "mind of Christ." The +eighth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans contains +sentences that, taken singly, apart from their connection, +comfort the cockles of the transcendental heart; but the +writer is glorifying Christ the inspirer; not the soul he +inspired. He opens the chapter with the affirmation that +"there is no condemnation to them which are in <span class="smcap">Christ +Jesus</span>, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit," +and follows it with the saying that "if any man have not +the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> + <i>Spirit of Christ</i>, he is none of his." This is the spirit +that "quickens mortal bodies," that makes believers to +be "Sons of God," giving them the spirit of adoption +whereby they cry "Abba, Father," bearing witness with +their spirit that they are "the children of God." This is +the spirit that "helpeth our infirmities," and "maketh +intercession with groanings which cannot be uttered." +Transcendentalism deliberately broke with Christianity. +Paul said "other foundation can no man lay than that is +laid, which is Jesus Christ." Transcendentalism responded: +"Jesus Christ built on my foundation, the +soul;" and, for thus answering, was classed with those +who used as building materials "wood, hay, stubble," +which the fire would consume. In the view of Transcendentalism, +Christianity was an illustrious form of +natural religion—Jesus was a noble type of human +nature; revelation was disclosure of the soul's mystery; +inspiration was the filling of the soul's lungs; salvation +was spiritual vitality.</p> + +<p>Transcendentalism carried its appeal to metaphysics. +At present physics have the floor. Our recent studies +have been in the natural history of the soul. Its spiritual +history is discredited. But the human mind ebbs and +flows. The Bains and Spencers and Taines may presently +give place to other prophets; psychology may come to +the front again, and with it will reappear the sages and +seers. In that event, the religion of Transcendentalism +will revive, and will have a long and fair day.</p> + +<p>For it can hardly be supposed that the present movement +in the line of observation is the final one; that +henceforth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> + we are to continue straight on till, by the +path of physiology, we arrive at absolute truth; that +idealism is dead and gone for ever, and materialism of +a refined type holds the future in its hand. The +triumphs of the scientific method in the natural world +are wonderful. The law of evolution has its lap full of +promise. But one who has studied at all the history of +human thought; who has seen philosophies crowned +and discrowned, sceptred and outcast; who has followed +the changing fortunes of opposing schools, and witnessed +the alternate victories and defeats that threatened, each +in its turn, to decide the fate of philosophy, will be slow to +believe that the final conflict has been fought, or is to +be, for hundreds of years to come. The principles of the +"Sensational" philosophy have, within the last half century, +been revived and restated with great power by Mill, +Bain, Spencer, Taine, and other leaders of speculative opinion +both in England and Europe. Recent discoveries +and generalizations in physical science have lent countenance +to them. The investigations in physiology and biology, +the researches in the regions of natural history, the +revelations of chemistry, have all combined to confirm +their truth. Psychology, in the hands of its latest +masters, has worked successfully in their interest. The +thinness, shallowness and dry technicality of the original +school have given place to a rich and varied exposition +of the facts of organic life in its origin, development +and results. The original form of the Sensational +philosophy as it prevailed in Europe is described by +Mill as "the shallowest set of doctrines which perhaps, +were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> + ever passed off upon a cultivated age as a complete +psychological system; a system which affected to +resolve all the phenomena of the human mind into sensation, +by a process which essentially consisted in merely +<i>calling</i> all states of mind, however heterogeneous, by +that name; a philosophy now acknowledged to consist +solely of a set of verbal generalizations, explaining +nothing, distinguishing nothing, leading to nothing." +The "Sensational" philosophy is now presented as the +philosophy of "experience." Its occupation is to +resolve into results of experience and processes of +organic life the <i>ŕ priori</i> conceptions that have been +accepted as simple and primitive data of consciousness, +by the Ideal philosophy. Mill was one of the first to +undertake this from the psychological side, analyzing +the processes of reason, and making account of the contents +of the mind. Lewes, Spencer, Tyndall have +approached the same problem from the side of organization. +In the first edition of the Logic, Mill clearly +indicated the ground he took in the controversy between +the two schools; in the last edition, he defined his +position more clearly, against Whewell, and in agreement +with Bain.</p> + +<p>In the article on Coleridge, published in the <i>London +and Westminister Review</i>, March, 1840, and republished +in the second volume of "Dissertations and Discussions," +Mill declares explicitly, that in his judgment, +the truth on the much-debated question between the +two philosophies lies with the school of Locke and +Bentham:</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span></p> +<blockquote class="small"><p>"The nature of laws and things in themselves, or the +hidden causes of the phenomena which are the objects +of experience, appear to us radically inaccessible to the +human faculties. We see no ground for believing that +any thing can be the object of our knowledge except +our experience, and what can be inferred from our experience +by the analogies of experience itself; nor that +there is any idea, feeling or power in the human mind, +which, in order to account for it, requires that its origin +should be referred to any other source. We are, therefore, +at issue with Coleridge on the central idea of his +philosophy; and we find no need of, and no use for, the +peculiar technical terminology which he and his masters, +the Germans, have introduced into philosophy, for the +double purpose of giving logical precision to doctrines +which we do not admit, and of marking a relation between +those abstract doctrines and many concrete experimental +truths, which this language, in our judgment, serves not +to elucidate, but to disguise and obscure."</p></blockquote> + +<p>In the examination of Sir William Hamilton's Philosophy, +he still more emphatically expressed his dissent +from Schelling, Cousin, and every school of idealism, rejecting +the doctrine of intuitive knowledge; taking the +eternal ground from beneath the ideas of the Infinite +and Absolute; sharply questioning the well-conceded interpretations +of consciousness; resolving the "first principles" +into mental habits; and even going so far as to +doubt whether twice two necessarily made four.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> + +<p>The system of Spencer and other expositors of the +doctrine of evolution is, in its general features and its +ultimate tendency, too familiar to be stated. Its hostility +to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> + the intuitive philosophy must be obvious even to +unpractised minds. The atomic theory of the constitution +of matter, which, in one or another form, is accepted +by the majority of scientific men, gives ominous prediction +of disaster to every scheme that is built on the necessary +truths of pure reason.</p> + +<p>But the philosophers of the experimental school are +by no means in accord among themselves, on a matter +so cardinal as the relation of mind to organization. In +the latest edition of the Logic, Mill repeats the language +used in the first:<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"That every mental state has a nervous state for its +immediate antecedent, though extremely probable, cannot +hitherto be said to be proved, in the conclusive manner +in which this can be proved of sensations; and even +were it certain, yet every one must admit that we are +wholly ignorant of the characteristics of these nervous +states; we know not, and have no means of knowing, +in what respect one of them differs from another.... +The successions, therefore, which obtain among mental +phenomena, do not admit of being deduced from the +physiological laws of our nervous organization." "It +must by no means be forgotten that the laws of mind +may be derivative laws resulting from laws of animal life, +and that their truth, therefore, may ultimately depend +on physical conditions; and the influence of physiological +states or physiological changes in altering or counter-acting +the mental successions, is one of the most important +departments of psychological study. But on the +other hand, to reject the resource of psychological +analysis, and construct the theory of mind solely on such +data as physiology affords at present, seems to me as +great<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> + an error in principle, and an even more serious +one in practice. Imperfect as is the science of mind, I +do not scruple to affirm that it is in a considerably more +advanced state than the portion of physiology which +corresponds with it; and to discard the former for the +latter appears to me to be an infringement of the true +canons of inductive philosophy."</p></blockquote> + +<p>In a previous chapter<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> Mill had said:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"I am far from pretending that it may not be capable +of proof, or that it is not an important addition to our +knowledge, if proved, that certain motions in the particles +of bodies are the <i>conditions</i> of the production of +heat or light; that certain assignable physical modifications +of the nerves may be the conditions, not only of +our sensations and emotions, but even of our thoughts; +that certain mechanical and chemical conditions may, in +the order of nature, be sufficient to determine to action +the physiological laws of life. All I insist upon, in +common with every thinker who entertains any clear +idea of the logic of science, is, that it shall not be supposed +that by proving these things, one step would be +made toward a real explanation of heat, light, or sensation; +or that the generic peculiarity of those phenomena +can be in the least degree evaded by any such discoveries, +however well established. Let it be shown, for +instance, that the most complex series of physical causes +and effects succeed one another in the eye and in the +brain, to produce a sense of color; rays falling on the +eye, refracted, converging, crossing one another, making +an inverted image on the retina; and after this a motion—let +it be a vibration, or a rush of nervous fluid, or +whatever else you are pleased to suppose, along the +optic nerve—a propagation of this motion to the brain +itself, and as many more different motions as you +choose;<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> + still, at the end of these motions there is something +which is not motion, there is a feeling or sensation +of color. The mode in which any one of the motions +produces the next, may possibly be susceptible of explanation +by some general law of motion; but the mode +in which the last motion produces the sensation of color +cannot be explained by any motion; it is the law of +color, which is, and must always remain a peculiar thing. +Where our consciousness recognizes between two +phenomena an inherent distinction; where we are sensible +of a difference, which is not merely of degree; +and feel that no adding one of the phenomena to itself +will produce the other; any theory which attempts to +bring either under the laws of the other must be +false."</p></blockquote> + +<p>To precisely the same effect, DuBois Reymond, in an +address to the Congress of German Naturalists given in +Leipsic:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"It is absolutely and forever inconceivable that a +number of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen atoms, +should be otherwise than indifferent to their own position +and motion, past, present, or future. It is utterly inconceivable +how consciousness should result from their joint +action."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The position of John Tyndall is well understood. It +was avowed in 1860 in the <i>Saturday Review</i>; again in +his address to the Mathematical and Physical Section of +the British Association in 1868, wherein he declared +that</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"The passage from the physics of the brain to the corresponding +facts of consciousness is unthinkable. Granted +that<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> + a thought and a definite molecular action in the +brain occur simultaneously, we do not possess the organ, +nor, apparently, any rudiment of the organ, which would +enable us to pass by a process of reasoning from the one +phenomenon to the other. They appear together, but +we do not know why."</p></blockquote> + +<p>In 1875, reviewing Martineau in the <i>Popular Science +Monthly</i> for December, Tyndall calls attention to these +declarations, and quotes other language of his own to +the same purpose:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"You cannot satisfy the understanding in its demand +for logical continuity between molecular processes and +the phenomena of consciousness. This is a rock on +which materialism must inevitably split whenever it pretends +to be a complete philosophy of the human mind."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Mr. John Fiske, a disciple of Herbert Spencer, and an +exceedingly able expositor of the philosophy of which +Spencer is the acknowledged chief, makes assertions +equally positive:<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"However strict the parallelism may be within the +limits of our experience, between the phenomena of +the mind, and the segment of the circle of motions, the +task of transcending or abolishing the radical antithesis +between the phenomena of mind and the phenomena of +matter, must always remain an impracticable task; for, +in order to transcend or abolish this radical antithesis, +we must be prepared to show how a given quantity of +molecular motion in nerve tissue can be transformed into +a<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> + definable amount of ideation or feeling. But this, it is +quite safe to say, can never be done."</p></blockquote> + +<p>There are of course, distinguished names on the other +side. The work on "Intelligence," by Mr. Taine, which +Mr. Mill warmly commends as the "the first serious +effort (in France) to supply the want of a better than the +official psychology," cannot be wisely overlooked by any +one interested in this problem. Taine objects to Tyndall's +statement of the problem, declares that by +approaching it from another point, it is soluble, and +frankly undertakes to solve it.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"When we consider closely any one of our conceptions—that +of a plant, an animal, a mineral—we find that +the primitive threads of which it is woven, are sensations, +and sensations only. We have proof of this already if +we recollect that our ideas are only reviving sensations, +that our ideas are nothing more than images which have +become signs, and that thus this elementary tissue subsists +in a more or less disguised form at all stages of our +thought." "It is true that we cannot conceive the two +events otherwise than as irreducible to one another; but +that may depend on the way we conceive them, and not +on their actual qualities; their incompatibility is perhaps +rather apparent than real; it arises on our side and not +on theirs."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Mr. George H. Lewes<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> follows closely Taine's line of +argument, but developes it with more system. He too +quotes Tyndall, alludes to DuBois Reymond and makes +reference<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> + to Mill. Lewes holds it to be a severe deduction +from proven facts "that the neural process and the +feeling are one and the same process viewed under different +aspects. Viewed from the physical or objective side, +it is a neural process; viewed from the psychological or +subjective side, it is a sentient process."</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"It is not wonderful that conceptions so dissimilar as +those of Motion and Feeling should seem irreducible to +a common term, while the one is regarded as the symbol +of a process in the object, and the other as the symbol of +a process in the subject. But psychological analysis +leads to the conclusion that the objective process and +the subjective process are simply the twofold aspects of +one and the same fact; in the one aspect it is the Felt, +in the other it is the Feeling."</p></blockquote> + +<p>For the remarkable reasonings by which these assertions +are justified, the readers must consult the works +quoted. Their novelty renders any but an extended +account of them unfair; and an extended account would +be out of place in a general study like this.</p> + +<p>Should the analyses of Taine and Lewes prove successful +at last, and be accepted by the authorities in speculative +philosophy, idealism, as a philosophy, must disappear. +The days of metaphysics in the old sense, will +be numbered; the German schools from Kant to Hegel +will become obsolete; Jacobi's doctrine of faith, Fichte's +doctrine of the absolute Ego, Schelling's doctrine of +intellectual intuition, will be forgotten; Cousin's influence +will be gone; the fundamental ideas of Transcendental +teachers, French, English, American, will be discredited; +and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> + the beliefs founded on them will fade away. There +will, however, be no cause to apprehend the personal, +social, moral or spiritual demoralization which the +"Sensualist" doctrines of the last century were accused +of encouraging. The attitude of the human mind +towards the great problems of destiny has so far altered, +the problems themselves have so far changed their face, +that no shock will be felt in the passage from the philosophy +of intuition to that of experience. Questions +respecting the origin, order and regulation of the world, +the laws of character, the constitution of society, the +conditions of welfare, the prospects and relations of the +individual, are put in new forms, discussed by new arguments, +and answered by new assurances. The words +atheism and materialism have passed through so many +definitions, the conceptions they stand for have become +so completely transformed by the mutations of thought, +that the ancient antipathies are not longer excusable; +the ancient fears are weak. The sanctities that once +were set apart in ideal shrines will be perfectly at home +among the demonstrated facts of common life.</p> + +<p>If, on the other hand, the school to which Spencer, +Fiske and Tyndall belong is right, the science of mind +will recover its old dignity, though under new conditions. +Nobody has spoken more plainly against the intuitive +philosophy, than Mill. No one probably is further from +it than Tyndall, though he responds in sentiment to the +eloquent affirmations of Martineau, and quotes Emerson +enthusiastically, as "a profoundly religious man who is +really and entirely undaunted by the discoveries of +science,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> + past, present or prospective; one by whom +scientific conceptions are continually transmuted into the +finer forms and warmer hues of an ideal world." +Under the influences of the new psychology, dogmatic +idealism will probably be deprived of its sceptre and +sway. The claim to intuitive knowledge of definite +truths of any order whatsoever will be abandoned, as +untenable on scientific or philosophical grounds; but +imagination, which, as Emerson says, "respects the +cause,"—"the vision of an inspired soul reading arguments +and affirmations in all nature of that which it is +driven to say;" emotion, which contains all the possibilities +of feeling and hope; the moral sentiment, which +affirms principles with imperative authority; these +remain, and claim their right to create ideal worlds of +which the natural world is image and symbol. The +Transcendentalism which concedes to all mankind spiritual +faculties by virtue whereof divine entities are seen +in definite shape—the personal God—the city of the +heavenly Jerusalem—will be superseded by the poetic +idealism that is the cheer and inspiration of poetic +minds, animating them with fine visions, and gladdening +them with unfading, though vague, anticipations.</p> + +<p>The Transcendental doctrine has been exposed to most +deadly assault on the ethical side. The theory of moral +intuition, which held that "every man is, according to the +cautious statement of James Walker, born with a moral +faculty, or the elements of a moral faculty, which, on +being developed, creates in him the idea of a right and +a wrong in human conduct; which summons him before +the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> + tribunal of his own soul for judgment on the rectitude +of his purposes; which grows up into an habitual sense +of personal responsibility, and thus prepares him, as his +views are enlarged, to comprehend the moral government +of God, and to feel his own responsibility to God as a +moral governor,"—has fallen into general disrepute; and +in its place a persuasion is abroad, that, in the language +of Grote, "the universal and essential tendencies of the +moral sense, admit of being most satisfactorily deduced +from other elementary principles of our nature." It is +now a widely accepted belief among conservative +thinkers, that "conscience" is not a faculty, or an +element, existing here in germ, there in maturity; but is +the result of social experience. Moderate Transcendentalists +conceded the necessity of <i>educating</i> conscience, +which still implied the existence of a conscience or moral +sense to be educated. It is now contended that conscience +itself is a product of education, a deposit left in +the crucible of experiment, a habit formed by the usage +of mankind. The justification of this view has gone so +far, that it seems likely to become the recognized account +of this matter; but in course of substantiating this doctrine, +a new foundation for ethical feeling and judgment +is laid, which is as immovable as the transcendental +"facts of consciousness." The moral sentiments are +represented as resting on the entire past of the race, on +reefs of fact built up by the lives of millions of men, from +the bottom of the deep of humanity. The finest moral +sensibility caps the peak of the world's effort at self-adjustment, +as the white, unsullied snow rests on the +summit<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> + of the Jungfrau. The intuition is referred to in +another genesis, but it is equally clear and equally +certain. The difference of origin creates no difference +of character. Moral distinctions are precisely the same +for idealists and sensationalists. Here at least, the transcendentalist +and his adversary can dwell in amity +together.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span></p> +<p class="center big"><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX.</p> + +<h2>THE SEER.</h2> + + +<p>A discerning German writer, Herman Grimm, closes +a volume of fifteen essays, with one on Ralph Waldo +Emerson, written in 1861, approved in 1874. The essay +is interesting, apart from its literary merit, as giving the +impression made by Mr. Emerson on a foreigner to +whom his reputation was unknown, and a man of culture +to whom books and opinions rarely brought surprise. +He saw a volume of the "Essays" lying on the table of +an American acquaintance, looked into it, and was surprised +that, being tolerably well practised in reading English, +he understood next to nothing of the contents. He +asked about the author, and, learning that he was highly +esteemed in his own country, he opened the book again, +read further, and was so much struck by passages +here and there, that he borrowed it, carried it home, +took down Webster's dictionary, and began reading in +earnest. The extraordinary construction of the sentences, +the apparent absence of logical continuity, the unexpected +turns of thought, the use of original words, embarrassed +him at first; but soon he discovered the secret and felt +the charms. The man had fresh thoughts, employed a +living speech, was a genuine person. The book was +bought,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> + read and re-read, "and now every time I take it +up, I seem to take it up for the first time."</p> + +<p>The power that the richest genius has in Shakspeare, +Rafael, Goethe, Beethoven, to reconcile the soul to life, +to give joy for heaviness, to dissipate fears, to transfigure +care and toil, to convert lead into gold, and lift the veil +that conceals the forms of hope, Grimm ascribes in the +highest measure to Emerson.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"As I read, all seems old and familiar as if it was my +own well-worn thought; all seems new as if it never +occurred to me before. I found myself depending on +the book and was provoked with myself for it. How +could I be so captured and enthralled; so fascinated and +bewitched? The writer was but a man like any other; +yet, on taking up the volume again, the spell was renewed—I +felt the pure air; the old weather-beaten +motives recovered their tone."</p></blockquote> + +<p>To him Emerson seemed to stand on the ground of +simple fact, which he accepted in all sincerity.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"He regards the world in its immediate aspect, with +fresh vision; the thing done or occurring before him +opens the way to serene heights. The living have precedence +of the dead. Even the living of to-day of the +Greeks of yesterday, nobly as the latter thought, moulded, +chiselled, sang. For me was the breath of life, for me +the rapture of spring, for me love and desire, for me the +secret of wisdom and power."... "Emerson +fills me with courage and confidence. He has read and +observed, but he betrays no sign of toil. He presents +familiar facts, but he places them in new lights and combinations. +From every object the lines run straight +out, connecting it with the central point of life. What +I<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> + had hardly dared to think, it was so bold, he brings +forth as quietly as if it was the most familiar commonplace. +He is a perfect swimmer on the ocean of modern +existence. He dreads no tempest, for he is sure that +calm will follow it; he does not hate, contradict, or dispute, +for he understands men and loves them. I look on +with wonder to see how the hurly-burly of modern life +subsides, and the elements gently betake themselves to +their allotted places. Had I found but a single passage +in his writings that was an exception to this rule, I should +begin to suspect my judgment, and should say no +further word; but long acquaintance confirms my +opinion. As I think of this man, I have understood +the devotion of pupils who would share any fate with +their master, because his genius banished doubt and +imparted life to all things."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Grimm tells us that one day he found Emerson's +Essays in the hands of a lady to whom he had recommended +them without effect. She had made a thousand +excuses; had declared herself quite satisfied with Goethe, +who had all that Emerson could possibly have, and a +great deal more; had expressed doubts whether, even if +Emerson were all that his admirers represented, it was +worth while to make a study of him. Besides, she had +read in the book, and found only commonplace thoughts +which had come to herself, and which she considered not +of sufficient importance to express. So Emerson was +neglected.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"On this occasion she made him the subject of conversation. +She had felt that he was something remarkable. +She had come upon sentences, many times, that +opened the darkest recesses of thought. I listened +quietly, but made no response. Not long afterwards +she<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> + poured out to me her astonished admiration in such +earnest and impassioned strain, that she made me feel as +if I was the novice and she the apostle."</p></blockquote> + +<p>This experience was repeated again and again, and +Grimm had the satisfaction of seeing the indifferent +kindle, the adverse turn, the objectors yield. The praise +was not universal indeed; there were stubborn dissentients +who did not confess the charm, and declared that +the enthusiasm was infatuation. Such remained unconverted. +It was discovered that Emerson came to his +own only, though his own were a large and increasing +company.</p> + +<p>The reasons of Grimm's admiration have been sufficiently +indicated in the above extracts. They are good +reasons, but they are not the best. They do not +touch the deeper secret of power. That secret lies in +the writer's pure and perfect idealism, in his absolute +and perpetual faith in thoughts, his supreme confidence +in the spiritual laws. He lives in the region of serene +ideas; lives there all the day and all the year; not visiting +the mount of vision occasionally, but setting up his +tabernacle there, and passing the night among the stars +that he may be up and dressed for the eternal sunrise. To +such a spirit there is no night: "the darkness shineth as +the day; the darkness and the light are both alike." +There are no cloudy days. Tyndall's expression "in +his case Poetry, with the joy of a bacchanal, takes her +graver brother science by the hand, and cheers him with +immortal laughter"—is singularly infelicitous in phrase, +for it is as easy to associate night orgies with the dawn +as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> + the bacchanalian spirit with Emerson, who never +riots and never laughs, but is radiant with a placid +buoyancy that diffuses itself over his countenance and +person. Mr. Emerson's characteristic trait is serenity. +He is faithful to his own counsel, "Shun the negative +side. Never wrong people with your contritions, +nor with dismal views of politics or society. Never +name sickness; even if you could trust yourself on that +perilous topic, beware of unmuzzling a valetudinarian +who will soon give you your fill of it." He seems to be +perpetually saying "Good Morning."</p> + +<p>This is not wholly a result of philosophy; it is rather +a gift of nature. He is the descendant of eight generations +of Puritan clergymen,—the inheritor of their +thoughtfulness and contemplation, their spirit of inward +and outward communion. The dogmatism fell away; +the peaceful fruits of discipline remained, and flowered +beautifully in his richly favored spirit. An elder +brother William, whom it was a privilege to know, +though lacking the genius of Waldo, was a natural idealist +and wise saint. Charles, another brother, who died +young and greatly lamented had the saintliness and the +genius both. The "Dial" contained contributions from +this young man, entitled "Notes from the Journal of a +Scholar" that strongly suggest the genius of his eminent +brother; a few passages from them may be interesting +as throwing light on the secret of Emerson's inspiration.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"This afternoon we read Shakspeare. The verse so +sank into me, that as I toiled my way home under the +cloud of night, with the gusty music of the storm around +and<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> + overhead, I doubted that it was all a remembered +scene; that humanity was indeed one, a spirit continually +reproduced, accomplishing a vast orbit, whilst +individual men are but the points through which it +passes.</p> + +<p>We each of us furnish to the angel who stands in the +sun, a single observation. The reason why Homer is +to me like dewy morning, is because I too lived while +Troy was, and sailed in the hollow ships of the Grecians +to sack the devoted town. The rosy-fingered dawn as it +crimsoned the tops of Ida, the broad sea shore covered +with tents, the Trojan hosts in their painted armor, and +the rushing chariots of Diomed and Idomeneus,—all +these I too saw: my ghost animated the frame of some +nameless Argive; and Shakspeare, in King John, does +but recall to me myself in the dress of another age, the +sport of new accidents. I who am Charles, was sometime +Romeo. In Hamlet I pondered and doubted. We +forget what we have been, drugged by the sleepy bowl +of the Present. But when a lively chord in the soul is +struck, when the windows for a moment are unbarred, +the long and varied past is recovered. We recognize it +all; we are no more brief, ignoble creatures; we seize +our immortality and bind together the related parts of +our secular being."</p></blockquote> + +<p>From the second record of thoughts a passage may +be taken, so precisely like paragraphs in the essays that +they might have proceeded from the same mind:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"Let us not vail our bonnets to circumstance. If we +act so, because we are so; if we sin from strong bias of +temper and constitution, at least we have in ourselves +the measure and the curb of our aberration. But if +they who are around us sway us; if we think ourselves +incapable of resisting the cords by which fathers and +mothers and a host of unsuitable expectations and +duties,<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> + falsely so called, seek to bind us,—into what helpless +discord shall we not fall."</p> + +<p>"I hate whatever is imitative in states of mind as +well as in action. The moment I say to myself, 'I +ought to feel thus and so,' life loses its sweetness, the +soul her vigor and truth. I can only recover my genuine +self by stopping short, refraining from every effort +to shape my thought after a form, and giving it boundless +freedom and horizon. Then, after oscillation more +or less protracted, as the mind has been more or less +forcibly pushed from its place, I fall again into my orbit +and recognize myself, and find with gratitude that something +there is in the spirit which changes not, neither is +weary, but ever returns into itself, and partakes of the +eternity of God."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Idealism is native to this temperament, the proper expression +of its feeling. Emerson was preordained an +idealist; he is one of the eternal men, bearing about +him the atmosphere of immortal youth. He is now +seventy-three years old, having been born in Boston +May 25th, 1803; but his last volume, "Letters and Social +Aims," shows the freshness of his first essays. The +opening chapter, "Poetry and Imagination," has the +emphasis and soaring confidence of undimmed years; +and the closing one, "Immortality," sustains an unwearied +flight among the agitations of this most hotly-debated +of beliefs. The address before the Phi Beta +Kappa Society at Cambridge, in 1867, equals in moral +grandeur and earnestness of appeal, in faithfulness to +ideas and trust in principles, the addresses that made so +famous the prime of his career. There is absolutely no +abatement of heart or hope; if anything, the tone is +richer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> + and more assured than ever it was. During the +season of his popularity as a lyceum lecturer, the necessity +of making his discourse attractive and entertaining, +brought into the foreground the play of his wit, and +forced the graver qualities of his mind into partial concealment; +but in later years, in the solitude of his +study, the undertone of high purpose is heard again, in +solemn reverberations, reminding us that the unseen +realities are present still; that no opening into the eternal +has ever been closed.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"Shall we study the mathematics of the sphere," +he says to the Cambridge scholars, "and not its causal +essence also? Nature is a fable, whose moral blazes +through it. There is no use in Copernicus, if the robust +periodicity of the solar system does not show its +equal perfection in the mental sphere—the periodicity, +the compensating errors, the grand reactions. I shall +never believe that centrifugence and centripetence balance, +unless mind heats and meliorates, as well as the +surface and soil of the globe."</p> + +<p>"On this power, this all-dissolving unity, the emphasis +of heaven and earth is laid. Nature is brute, but as +this soul quickens it; nature always the effect, mind the +flowing cause. Mind carries the law; history is the +slow and atomic unfolding."</p> + +<p>"All vigor is contagious, and when we see creation, +we also begin to create. Depth of character, height of +genius, can only find nourishment in this soil. The miracles +of genius always rest on profound convictions which +refuse to be analyzed. Enthusiasm is the leaping lightning, +not to be measured by the horse-power of the +understanding. Hope never spreads her golden wings +but on unfathomable seas."</p> + +<p>"We wish to put the ideal rules into practice, to offer +liberty instead of chains, and see whether liberty will +not<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> + disclose its proper checks; believing that a free +press will prove safer than the censorship; to ordain +free trade, and believe that it will not bankrupt us; universal +suffrage, believing that it will not carry us to +mobs or back to kings again."</p> + +<p>"Every inch of the mountains is scarred by unimaginable +convulsions, yet the new day is purple with the +bloom of youth and love. Look out into the July +night, and see the broad belt of silver flame which +flashes up the half of heaven, fresh and delicate as the +bonfires of the meadow flies. Yet the powers of numbers +cannot compute its enormous age—lasting as time +and space—embosomed in time and space. And time +and space, what are they? Our first problems, which +we ponder all our lives through, and leave where we +found them; whose outrunning immensity, the old +Greeks believed, astonished the gods themselves; of +whose dizzy vastitudes, all the worlds of God are a +mere dot on the margin; impossible to deny, impossible +to believe. Yet the moral element in man counterpoises +this dismaying immensity and bereaves it of +terror."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Emerson has been called the prince of Transcendentalists. +It is nearer the truth to call him the prince +of idealists. A Transcendentalist, in the technical +sense of the term, it cannot be clearly affirmed that he +was. Certainly he cannot be reckoned a disciple of +Kant, or Jacobi, or Fichte, or Schelling. He calls no +man master; he receives no teaching on authority. It +is not certain that he ever made a study of the Transcendental +philosophy in the works of its chief exposition. +In his lecture on "The Transcendentalist," delivered +in 1842, he conveys the impression that it is +idealism—active and protesting—an excited reaction +against<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> + formalism, tradition, and conventionalism in +every sphere. As such, he describes it with great vividness +and beauty. But as such merely, it was not +apprehended by metaphysicians like James Walker, +theologians like Parker or preachers like William +Henry Channing.</p> + +<p>Emerson does not claim for the soul a special faculty, +like faith or intuition, by which truths of the spiritual +order are perceived, as objects are perceived by the +senses. He contends for no doctrines, whether of God +or the hereafter, or the moral law, on the credit of such +interior revelation. He neither dogmatizes nor defines. +On the contrary, his chief anxiety seems to be to avoid +committing himself to opinions; to keep all questions +open; to close no avenue in any direction to the free +ingress and egress of the mind. He gives no description +of God that will class him as theist or pantheist; +no definition of immortality that justifies his readers in +imputing to him any form of the popular belief in regard +to it. Does he believe in personal immortality? It is +impertinent to ask. He will not be questioned; not because +he doubts, but because his beliefs are so rich, various +and many-sided, that he is unwilling, by laying +emphasis on any one, to do an apparent injustice to +others. He will be held to no definitions; he will be +reduced to no final statements. The mind must have +free range. Critics complain of the tantalizing fragmentariness +of his writing; it is evidence of the shyness and +modesty of his mind. He dwells in principles, and will +not be cabined in beliefs. He needs the full expanse of +the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> + Eternal Reason. In the chapter on Worship—"Conduct +of Life," p. 288, he writes thus:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"Of immortality, the soul, when well employed, is +incurious; it is so well, that it is sure it will be well; it +asks no questions of the Supreme Power; 'tis a higher +thing to confide, that if it is best we should live, we +shall live—it is higher to have this conviction than to +have the lease of indefinite centuries, and millenniums +and ćons. Higher than the question of our duration, is +the question of our deserving. Immortality will come +to such as are fit for it, and he who would be a great +soul in future, must be a great soul now. It is a doctrine +too great to rest on any legend, that is, on any +man's experience but our own. It must be proved, if +at all, from our own activity and designs, which imply +an interminable future for their play."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The discourse on Immortality, which closes the volume, +"Letters and Social Aims," moves on with steady +power, towards the conclusion of belief. Emerson +really seems about to commit himself; he argues and +affirms, with extraordinary positiveness. Of skepticism, +on the subject, he says:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"I admit that you shall find a good deal of skepticism +in the streets and hotels, and places of coarse +amusement. But that is only to say that the practical +faculties are faster developed than the spiritual. Where +there is depravity there is a slaughter-house style of +thinking. One argument of future life is the recoil of +the mind in such company—our pain at every skeptical +statement."</p></blockquote> + +<p>His enumeration of "the few simple elements of the +natural faith," is as clear and cogent as was ever made. +He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> + urges the delight in permanence and stability, in immense +spaces and reaches of time. "Every thing is +prospective, and man is to live hereafter." He urges +that:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"The implanting of a desire indicates that the gratification +of that desire is in the constitution of the creature +that feels it; the wish for food; the wish for motion; +the wish for sleep, for society, for knowledge, are not +random whims, but grounded in the structure of the +creature, and meant to be satisfied by food; by motion; +by sleep; by society; by knowledge. If there is the +desire to live, and in larger sphere, with more knowledge +and power, it is because life and knowledge and +power are good for us, and we are the natural depositaries +of these gifts."</p></blockquote> + +<p>He ranks as a hint of endless being the novelty which +perpetually attends life:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"The soul does not age with the body." "Every +really able man, in whatever direction he work—a man +of large affairs—an inventor, a statesman, an orator, a +poet, a painter—if you talk sincerely with him, considers +his work, however much admired, as far short of +what it should be. What is this 'Better,' this flying +ideal but the perpetual promise of his Creator?"</p></blockquote> + +<p>The prophecy of the intellect is enunciated in stirring +tones:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"All our intellectual action, not promises but bestows +a feeling of absolute existence. We are taken out of +time, and breathe a purer air. I know not whence we +draw the assurance of prolonged life: of a life which +shoots that gulf we call death, and takes hold of what is +real<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> + and abiding, by so many claims as from our intellectual +history." "As soon as thought is exercised, +this belief is inevitable; as soon as virtue glows, this +belief confirms itself. It is a kind of summary or +completion of man."</p></blockquote> + +<p>This reads very much like encouragement to the popular +persuasion, yet it comes far short of it; indeed, does +not, at any point touch it. The immortality is claimed +for the moral and spiritual by whom thought is exercised, +in whom virtue glows—for none beside—and for these, +the individual conscious existence is not asserted. In +the midst of the high argument occur sentences like +these:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"I confess that everything connected with our personality +fails. Nature never spares the individual. We are +always balked of a complete success. No prosperity is +promised to <i>that</i>. We have our indemnity only in the +success of that to which we belong. <i>That</i> is immortal, +and we only through that." "Future state is an illusion +for the ever present state. It is not length of life, +but depth of life. It is not duration, but a taking of the +soul out of time, as all high action of the mind does; +when we are living in the sentiments we ask no questions +about time. The spiritual world takes place—that which +is always the same."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Goethe is quoted to the same purpose:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"It is to a thinking being quite impossible to think +himself non-existent, ceasing to think and live; so far +does every one carry in himself the proof of immortality, +and quite spontaneously. But so soon as the man will +be objective and go out of himself, so soon as he dogmatically +will grasp a personal duration to bolster up in +cockney<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> + fashion that inward assurance, he is lost in contradiction."</p></blockquote> + +<p>It is thought worth while to dwell so long on this +point, because it furnishes a perfect illustration of +Emerson's intellectual attitude towards beliefs, its entire +sincerity, disinterestedness and modesty. The serenity +of his faith makes it impossible for him to be a controversialist. +He never gave a sweeter or more convincing +proof of this than in the sermon he preached on the +Communion Supper, which terminated his connection +with his Boston parish, and with it his relations to the +Christian ministry, after a short service of less than four +years. The rite in question was held sacred by his sect, +as a personal memorial of Jesus perpetuated according +to his own request. To neglect it was still regarded as +a reproach; to dispute its authority was considered contumacious; +to declare it obsolete and useless, an impediment +to spiritual progress, a hindrance to Christian +growth, was to excite violent animosities, and call down +angry rebuke. Yet this is what Mr. Emerson deliberately +did. That the question of retaining a minister who +declined to bless and distribute the bread and wine, was +debated at all, was proof of the extraordinary hold he +had on his people. Through the crisis he remained unruffled, +calm and gracious as in the sunniest days. On +the evening when the church were considering his final +proposition, with such result as he clearly foresaw, he +sat with a brother clergyman talking pleasantly on literature +and general topics, never letting fall a hint of the +impending<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> + judgment, until, as he rose to leave, he said +gently, "this is probably the last time we shall meet as +brethren in the same calling," added a few words in explanation +of the remark, and passed into the street.</p> + +<p>The sermon alluded to was a model of lucid, orderly +and simple statement, so plain that the young men and +women of the congregation could understand it; so deep +and elevated that experienced believers were fed; +learned enough, without a taint of pedantry; bold, without +a suggestion of audacity; reasonable, without critical +sharpness or affectation of mental superiority; rising +into natural eloquence in passages that contained pure +thought, but for the most part flowing in unartificial sentences +that exactly expressed the speaker's meaning and +no more. By Mr. Emerson's kind permission, the discourse +is printed in the last chapter of this volume. The +farewell letter to the parish is also printed here.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="attr1"> +<span class="smcap">Boston</span>, 22d December, 1832.</p> +<p> +<i>To the Second Church and Society</i>: +</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Christian Friends</span>:—Since the formal resignation of +my official relation to you in my communication to the +proprietors in September, I had waited anxiously for an +opportunity of addressing you once more from the pulpit, +though it were only to say, let us part in peace and +in the love of God. The state of my health has prevented, +and continues to prevent me from so doing. +I am now advised to seek the benefit of a sea voyage. +I cannot go away without a brief parting word to friends +who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> + have shown me so much kindness, and to whom I +have felt myself so dearly bound.</p> + +<p>Our connection has been very short; I had only begun +my work. It is now brought to a sudden close; and I +look back, I own, with a painful sense of weakness, to +the little service I have been able to render, after so +much expectation on my part,—to the checkered space +of time, which domestic affliction and personal infirmities +have made yet shorter and more unprofitable.</p> + +<p>As long as he remains in the same place, every man +flatters himself, however keen may be his sense of his +failures and unworthiness, that he shall yet accomplish +much; that the future shall make amends for the past; +that his very errors shall prove his instructors,—and +what limit is there to hope? But a separation from our +place, the close of a particular career of duty, shuts the +book, bereaves us of this hope, and leaves us only to +lament how little has been done.</p> + +<p>Yet, my friends, our faith in the great truths of the +New Testament makes the change of places and circumstances +of less account to us, by fixing our attention +upon that which is unalterable. I find great consolation +in the thought that the resignation of my present relations +makes so little change to myself. I am no longer +your minister, but am not the less engaged, I hope, to +the love and service of the same eternal cause, the advancement, +namely, of the Kingdom of God in the +hearts of men. The tie that binds each of us to that +cause is not created by our connexion, and cannot be +hurt by our separation. To me, as one disciple, is the +ministry<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> + of truth, as far as I can discern and declare it, +committed; and I desire to live nowhere and no longer +than that grace of God is imparted to me—the liberty +to seek and the liberty to utter it.</p> + +<p>And, more than this, I rejoice to believe that my +ceasing to exercise the pastoral office among you does +not make any real change in our spiritual relation to +each other. Whatever is most desirable and excellent +therein, remains to us. For, truly speaking, whoever +provokes me to a good act or thought, has given +me a pledge of his fidelity to virtue,—he has come +under bonds to adhere to that cause to which we are +jointly attached. And so I say to all you who have +been my counsellors and coöperators in our Christian +walk, that I am wont to see in your faces the seals and +certificates of our mutual obligations. If we have conspired +from week to week in the sympathy and expression +of devout sentiments; if we have received together +the unspeakable gift of God's truth; if we have studied +together the sense of any divine word; or striven together +in any charity; or conferred together for the relief or instruction +of any brother; if together we have laid down +the dead in a pious hope; or held up the babe into the +baptism of Christianity; above all, if we have shared +in any habitual acknowledgment of that benignant God, +whose omnipresence raises and glorifies the meanest +offices and the lowest ability, and opens heaven in every +heart that worships him,—then indeed are we united, +we are mutually debtors to each other of faith and hope, +engaged to persist and confirm each other's hearts in +obedience<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> + to the Gospel. We shall not feel that the +nominal changes and little separations of this world can +release us from the strong cordage of this spiritual bond. +And I entreat you to consider how truly blessed will +have been our connexion, if in this manner, the memory +of it shall serve to bind each one of us more strictly to +the practice of our several duties.</p> + +<p>It remains to thank you for the goodness you have +uniformly extended towards me, for your forgiveness of +many defects, and your patient and even partial acceptance +of every endeavor to serve you; for the liberal +provision you have ever made for my maintenance; and +for a thousand acts of kindness which have comforted +and assisted me.</p> + +<p>To the proprietors I owe a particular acknowledgment, +for their recent generous vote for the continuance +of my salary, and hereby ask their leave to relinquish +this emolument at the end of the present month.</p> + +<p>And now, brethren and friends, having returned into +your hands the trust you have honored me with,—the +charge of public and private instruction in this religious +society—I pray God, that, whatever seed of truth and virtue +we have sown and watered together, may bear fruit unto +eternal life. I commend you to the Divine Providence. +May He grant you, in your ancient sanctuary the service +of able and faithful teachers. May He multiply to your +families and to your persons, every genuine blessing; +and whatever discipline may be appointed to you in this +world, may the blessed hope of the resurrection, which +He has planted in the constitution of the human soul, +and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> + confirmed and manifested by Jesus Christ, be made +good to you beyond the grave. In this faith and hope +I bid you farewell.</p> + +<p class="attr2"> +Your affectionate servant,</p> +<p class="attr1"> +<span class="smcap">Ralph Waldo Emerson</span>. +</p></blockquote> + +<p>Mr. Emerson's place is among poetic, not among philosophic +minds. He belongs to the order of imaginative +men. The imagination is his organ. His reading, which +is very extensive in range, has covered this department +more completely than any. He is at home with the +seers, Swedenborg, Plotinus, Plato, the books of the +Hindus, the Greek mythology, Plutarch, Chaucer, +Shakspeare, Henry More, Hafiz; the books called +sacred by the religious world; "books of natural science, +especially those written by the ancients,—geography, +botany, agriculture, explorations of the sea, of meteors, +of astronomy;" he recommends "the deep books." +Montaigne has been a favorite author on account of his +sincerity. He thinks Hindu books the best gymnastics +for the mind.</p> + +<p>His estimate of the function of the poetic faculty is +given in his latest volume.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"Poetry is the perpetual endeavor to express the spirit +of the thing; to pass the brute body, and search the +life and reason which causes it to exist; to see that the +object is always flowing away, whilst the spirit or necessity +which causes it subsists." "The poet contemplates the +central identity; sees it undulate and roll this way and +that, with divine flowings, through remotest things; and +following<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> + it, can detect essential resemblances in natures +never before compared." "Poetry is faith. To the +poet the world is virgin soil; all is practicable; the men +are ready for virtue; it is always time to do right. He +is the true recommencer, or Adam in the garden again." +"He is the healthy, the wise, the fundamental, the manly +man, seer of the secret; against all the appearance, he +sees and reports the truth, namely, that the soul generates +matter. And poetry is the only verity, the expression +of a sound mind, speaking after the ideal, not after +the apparent." "Whilst common sense looks at things +or visible nature as real and final facts, poetry, or the +imagination which dictates it, is a second sight, looking +through these and using them as types or words for +thoughts which they signify."</p></blockquote> + +<p>By the poet, Emerson is careful to say that he means +the potential or ideal man, not found now in any one +person.</p> + +<p>The upshot of it all is that soul is supreme. Not <i>the</i> +soul, as if that term designated a constituent part of each +man's nature.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"All goes to show that the soul is not an organ, but +animates and exercises all the organs; is not a function, +like the power of memory, of calculation, of comparison, +but uses these as hands and feet; is not a faculty, but a +light; is not the intellect or the will, but the master of +the intellect and the will; is the background of our being, +in which they lie—an immensity not possessed, and that +cannot be possessed. From within or from behind, a light +shines through us upon things, and makes us aware that +we are nothing, but the light is all. A man is the façade +of a temple, wherein all wisdom and all good abide."</p></blockquote> + +<p>We stand now at the centre of Emerson's philosophy. +His thoughts are few and pregnant; capable of infinite +expansion,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> + illustration and application. They crop out +on almost every page of his characteristic writings; are +iterated and reiterated in every form of speech; and put +into gems of expression that may be worn on any part +of the person. His prose and his poetry are aglow with +them. They make his essays oracular, and his verse +prophetic. By virtue of them his best books belong to +the sacred literature of the race; by virtue of them, but +for the lack of artistic finish of rhythm and rhyme, he +would be the chief of American poets.</p> + +<p>The first article in Mr. Emerson's faith is the primacy +of Mind. That Mind is supreme, eternal, absolute, one, +manifold, subtle, living, immanent in all things, permanent, +flowing, self-manifesting; that the universe is the +result of mind, that nature is the symbol of mind; that +finite minds live and act through concurrence with infinite +mind. This idea recurs with such frequency that, but +for Emerson's wealth of observation, reading, wit, mental +variety and buoyancy, his talent for illustration, gift at +describing details, it would weary the reader. As it is, +we delight to follow the guide through the labyrinth of +his expositions, and gaze on the wonderful phantasmagoria +that he exhibits.</p> + +<p>His second article is the connection of the individual +intellect with the primal mind, and its ability to draw +thence wisdom, will, virtue, prudence, heroism, all active +and passive qualities. This belief, as being the +more practical, has even more exuberant expression +than the other:</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p> +<blockquote class="small"><p>"The relations of the soul to the divine spirit are so +pure that it is profane to seek to interpose helps. +Whenever a mind is simple, and receives a divine wisdom, +all things pass away—means, teachers, texts, temples +fall; it lives now, and absorbs past and future into +the present hour."</p> + +<p>"Let man learn the revelation of all nature and all +thought to his heart; this, namely: that the highest +dwells with him; that the sources of nature are in his +own mind, if the sentiment of duty is there."</p> + +<p>"Ineffable is the union of man and God in every act +of the soul; the simplest person who, in his integrity, +worships God, becomes God; yet for ever and ever +the influx of this better and universal self is new and +unsearchable."</p> + +<p>"We are wiser than we know. If we will not interfere +with our thought, but will act entirely, or see how +the thing stands in God, we know the particular thing, +and every thing, and every man. For the Maker of all +things and all persons stands behind us, and casts His +dread omniscience through us over things."</p> + +<p>"The only mode of obtaining an answer to the questions +of the senses, is to forego all low curiosity, and, +accepting the tide of being which floats us into the +secret of nature, work and live, work and live, and all +unawares the advancing soul has built and forged for +itself a new condition, and the question and the answer +are one."</p> + +<p>"We are all discerners of spirits. That diagnosis lies +aloft in our life or unconscious power."</p> + +<p>"We live in succession, in division, in parts, in particles. +Meantime, within man is the soul of the whole; +the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every +part and particle is equally related; the eternal <span class="smcap">One</span>. +And this deep power in which we exist, and whose beatitude +is all accessible to us, is not only self-sufficing +and perfect in every hour, but the act of seeing and the +thing seen, the seer and the spectacle, the subject and +the object, are one."</p></blockquote> + +<div class="poem small"><div class="stanza"><span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> +<span class="i2q">"All the forms are fugitive,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But the substances survive;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Ever fresh the broad creation—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A divine improvisation,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">From the heart of God proceeds,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A single will, a million deeds.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Once slept the world an egg of stone,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And pulse and sound, and light was none;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And God said 'Throb,' and there was motion,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And the vast mass became vast ocean.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Onward and on, the eternal Pan,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Who layeth the world's incessant plan,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Halteth never in one shape,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But forever doth escape,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Like wave or flame, into new forms<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of gem and air, of plants and worms.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I that to-day am a pine,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Yesterday was a bundle of grass.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He is free and libertine,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Pouring of his power, the wine<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To every age—to every race;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Unto every race and age<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He emptieth the beverage;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Unto each and unto all—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Maker and original.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The world is the ring of his spells,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And the play of his miracles.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">As he giveth to all to drink,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Thus or thus they are, and think.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He giveth little, or giveth much,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To make them several, or such.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With one drop sheds form and feature;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With the second a special nature;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The third adds heat's indulgent spark;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The fourth gives light, which eats the dark;<br /></span><span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> +<span class="i2">In the fifth drop himself he flings,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And conscious Law is King of kings.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Pleaseth him, the Eternal Child<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To play his sweet will—glad and wild.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">As the bee through the garden ranges,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">From world to world the godhead changes;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">As the sheep go feeding in the waste,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">From form to form he maketh haste.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">This vault, which glows immense with light,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Is the inn, where he lodges for a night.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">What recks such Traveller, if the bowers<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Which bloom and fade, like meadow flowers—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A bunch of fragrant lilies be,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or the stars of eternity?<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Alike to him, the better, the worse—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The glowing angel, the outcast corse.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Thou meetest him by centuries,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And lo! he passes like the breeze;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Thou seek'st in globe and galaxy,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He hides in pure transparency;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Thou askest in fountains, and in fires,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He is the essence that inquires.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He is the axis of the star;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He is the sparkle of the spar;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He is the heart of every creature;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He is the meaning of each feature;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And his mind is the sky,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Than all it holds, more deep, more high."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Mr. Emerson is never concerned to defend himself +against the charge of pantheism, or the warning to beware +lest he unsettle the foundations of morality, annihilate +the freedom of the will, abolish the distinction +between right and wrong, and reduce personality to a +mask.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> + He makes no apology; he never explains; he +trusts to affirmation, pure and simple. By dint of affirming +all the facts that appear, he makes his contribution +to the problem of solving all, and by laying incessant +emphasis on the cardinal virtues of humility, fidelity, +sincerity, obedience, aspiration, simple acquiescence +in the will of the supreme power, he not only guards +himself against vulgar misconception, but sustains the +mind at an elevation that makes the highest hill-tops of +the accepted morality disappear in the dead level of the +plain.</p> + +<p>The primary thoughts of his philosophy, if such it +may be termed, Emerson takes with him wherever he +goes. Does he study history, history is the autobiography +of the Eternal Mind. The key is in the sentence +that begins the Essay on History:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"There is one mind common to all individual men. +Every man is an inlet to the same, and to all of the same. +He that is once admitted to the right of reason is made +a freeman of the whole estate. What Plato has thought, +he may think; what a saint has felt, he may feel; what +at any time has befallen any man, he can understand. +Who hath access to this universal mind, is a party to all +that is or can be done, for that is the only and sovereign +agent." "This human mind wrote history, and this +must read it. The sphinx must solve her own riddle. +If the whole of history is in one man, it is all to be explained +from individual experience. There is a relation +between the hours of our life and the centuries of time. +Of the universal mind each individual man is one more +incarnation. All its properties consist in him. Each +new fact in his private experience flashes a light on what +great<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> + bodies of men have done, and the crises of his life +refer to national crises." In the "Progress of Culture" +the same sentiment recurs.</p> + +<p>"What is the use of telegraphy? What of newspapers? +To know in each social crisis how men feel in +Kansas, in California, the wise man waits for no mails, +reads no telegrams. He asks his own heart. If they +are made as he is, if they breathe the same air, eat of +the same wheat, have wives and children, he knows that +their joy or resentment rises to the same point as his +own. The inviolate soul is in perpetual telegraphic communication +with the Source of events, has earlier information, +a private despatch, which relieves him of the +terror which presses on the rest of the community."</p> + +<p>"We are always coming up with the emphatic facts of +history in our private experience, and verifying them +here. All history becomes subjective; in other words, +there is properly no history; only biography. Every +mind must know the whole lesson for itself,—must go +over the whole ground. What it does not see, what it +does not live, it does not know."</p></blockquote> + +<p>In the appreciation of scientific facts the same method +avails. Tyndall commends Emerson as "a poet and a +profoundly religious man, who is really and entirely undaunted +by the discoveries of science, past, present, or +prospective." The praise seems to imply some misconception +of Emerson's position. Tyndall intimates that +Emerson is undaunted where others fear. But this is +not so. No man deserves commendation for not dreading +precisely what he desires. Emerson, by his principle, +is delivered from the alarm of the religious man +who has a creed to defend, and from the defiance of the +scientific man who has creeds to assail. To him Nature is +but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> + the symbol of spirit; this the scientific men, by their +discoveries, are continually proving. The faster they +disclose facts, and the more accurately, the more brilliantly +do they illustrate the lessons of the perfect wisdom. +For the scientific <i>method</i> he professes no deep +respect; for the scientific <i>assumptions</i> none whatever. +He begins at the opposite end. They start with matter, +he starts with mind. They feel their way up, he feels +his way down. They observe phenomena, he watches +thoughts. They fancy themselves to be gradually pushing +away as illusions the so-called entities of the soul; he +dwells serenely with those entities, rejoicing to see +men paying jubilant honor to what they mean to +overturn. The facts they bring in, chemical, physiological, +biological, Huxley's facts, Helmholtz's, Darwin's, +Tyndall's, Spencer's, the ugly facts which the theologians +dispute, he accepts with eager hands, and uses +to demonstrate the force and harmony of the spiritual +laws.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"Science," he says, "was false by being unpoetical. +It assumed to explain a reptile or mollusk, and isolated +it,—which is hunting for life in graveyards; reptile or +mollusk, or man or angel, only exists in system, in relation. +The metaphysician, the poet, only sees each +animal form as an inevitable step in the path of the +creating mind." "The savans are chatty and vain; but +hold them hard to principle and definition, and they become +mute and near-sighted. What is motion? What +is beauty? What is matter? What is life? What is +force? Push them hard and they will not be loquacious. +They will come to Plato, Proclus and Swedenborg. +The invisible and imponderable is the sole fact." "The +atomic<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> + theory is only an interior process <i>produced</i>, as +geometers say, or the effect of a foregone metaphysical +theory. Swedenborg saw gravity to be only an external +of the irresistible attractions of affection and faith. +Mountains and oceans we think we understand. Yes, +so long as they are contented to be such, and are safe +with the geologist; but when they are melted in Promethean +alembics and come out men; and then melted again, +come out woods, without any abatement, but with an +exaltation of power!"</p></blockquote> + +<p>Emerson is faithful in applying his principle to social +institutions and laws. His faith in ideal justice and love +never blenches. In every emergency, political, civil, +national, he has been true to his regenerating idea; true +as a recreator from the inside, rather than as a reformer +of the outside world. A profounder, more consistent, +more uncompromising radical does not exist; a less +heated, ruffled or anxious one cannot be thought of. +He scarcely ever suggested measures, rarely joined in +public assemblies, did not feel at home among politicians +or agitators. But his thought never swerved from the +line of perfect rectitude, his sympathies were always +human. His heart was in the anti-slavery movement +from the beginning. He was abroad in its stormy days, +his steadfast bearing and cheerful countenance carrying +hope whenever he appeared. His name stood with that +of his wife in the list of signers to the call for the +first National Woman's Rights Convention, in 1850. +The Massachusetts Historical Society, the American +Society of Arts and Sciences have honored themselves +by electing him a member; the Alumni of Harvard +University<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> + joyfully made him an overseer; he was proposed +as rector of the University of Glasgow. Such +confidence did the great idealist inspire, that he has been +even called to the duty of Examiner at West Point Military +Academy. His name is spoken in no company +with other than respect, and his influence is felt in places +where it is not acknowledged, and would be officially +disavowed.</p> + +<p>Mr. A. B. Alcott, a townsman of Mr. Emerson, and +a close acquaintance, in his "Concord Days" says pleasant +things of his friend, just and discerning things, as +well as pleasant.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"Consider," he says, "how largely our letters have +been enriched by his contributions. Consider, too, the +change his views have wrought in our methods of thinking; +how he has won over the bigot, the unbeliever, at +least to tolerance and moderation, if not acknowledgment, +by his circumspection and candor of statement." +"A poet, speaking to individuals as few others can +speak, and to persons in their privileged moments, he +is heard as none others are. 'Tis every thing to have a +true believer in the world, dealing with men and matters +as if they were divine in idea and real in fact, meeting +persons and events at a glance, directly, not at a +millionth remove, and so passing fair and fresh into life and +literature." "His compositions affect us, not as logic +linked in syllogisms, but as voluntaries rather, as preludes, +in which one is not tied to any design of air, but +may vary his key or not at pleasure, as if improvised +without any particular scope of argument; each period, +paragraph, being a perfect note in itself, however it may +chance chime with its accompaniments in the piece, as a +waltz of wandering stars, a dance of Hesperus with +Orion."</p></blockquote> + +<p>After<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> + this, one is surprised to hear Mr. Alcott say, "I +know of but one subtraction from the pleasure the reading +of his books—shall I say his conversation?—gives +me; his pains to be impersonal or discreet, as if he feared +any the least intrusion of himself were an offence offered +to self-respect, the courtesy due to intercourse and +authorship." To others this exquisite reserve, this delicate +withdrawal behind his thought, has seemed not only +one of Emerson's peculiar charms, but one of his most +subtle powers. Personal magnetism is very delightful +for the moment. The exhibition of attractive personal +traits is interesting in the lecture room; sometimes in the +parlor. The public, large or small, enjoy confidences. +But in an age of personalities, voluntary and involuntary, +the man who keeps his individual affairs in the background, +tells nothing of his private history, holds in his +own breast his petty concerns and opinions, and lets +thoughts flow through him, as light streams through +plate glass, is more than attractive—is noble, is venerable. +To his impersonality in his books and addresses, Emerson +owes perhaps a large measure of his extraordinary +influence. You may search his volumes in vain for a +trace of egotism. In the lecture room, he seems to be +so completely under the spell of his idea, so wholly abstracted +from his audience, that he is as one who waits +for the thoughts to come, and drops them out one by +one, in a species of soliloquy or trance. He is a bodiless +idea. When he speaks or writes, the power is that of +pure mind. The incidental, accidental, occasional, does +not intrude. No abatement on the score of personal +antipathy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> + needs to be made. The thought is allowed to +present and commend itself. Hence, when so many +thoughts are forgotten, buried beneath affectation and +verbiage, his gain in brilliancy and value as time goes +on; and in an age of ephemeral literature his books find +new readers, his mind exerts wider sway. That his +philosophy can be recommended as a sound rule to live +by for ordinary practitioners may be questioned. It is +better as inspiration than as prescription. For maxims it +were wiser to go to Bentham, Mill or Bain. The plodders +had best keep to the beaten road. But for them +who need an atmosphere for wings, who require the impulse +of great motives, the lift of upbearing aspirations—for +the imaginative, the passionate, the susceptible, who +can achieve nothing unless they attempt the impossible—Emerson +is the master. A single thrill sent from his +heart to ours is worth more to the heart that feels it, +than all the schedules of motive the utilitarian can +offer.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span></p> +<p class="center big"><a name="X" id="X"></a>X.</p> + +<h2>THE MYSTIC.</h2> + + +<p>If among the representatives of spiritual philosophy +the first place belongs to Mr. Emerson, the second must +be assigned to Mr. Amos Bronson Alcott,—older than +Mr. Emerson by four years (he was born in 1779), a +contemporary in thought, a companion, for years a +fellow townsman, and, if that were possible, more purely +and exclusively a devotee of spiritual ideas. Mr. +Alcott may justly be called a mystic—one of the very +small class of persons who accept without qualification, +and constantly teach the doctrine of the soul's primacy +and pre-eminence. He is not a learned man, in the ordinary +sense of the term; not a man of versatile mind +or various tastes; not a man of general information in +worldly or even literary affairs; not a man of extensive +commerce with books. Though a reader, and a constant +and faithful one, his reading has been limited to +books of poetry—chiefly of the meditative and interior +sort—and works of spiritual philosophy. Plato, Plotinus, +Proclus, Jamblichus, Pythagoras, Boehme, Swedenborg, +Fludd, Pordage, Henry More, Law, Crashaw, Selden, +are the names oftener than any on his pages and lips. He +early made acquaintance with Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress," +and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> + never ceased to hold it exceedingly precious, +at one period making it a rule to read the volume once +a year. His books are his friends; his regard for them +seems to be personal; he enjoys their society with the +feeling that he gives as well as receives. He loves them +in part because they love him; consequently, in all his +quoting of them, his own mind comes in as introducer +and voucher as it were. His indebtedness to them is +expressed with the cordiality of an intimate, rather +than with the gratitude of a disciple. His own mind is +so wakeful and thoughtful, so quick and ready to take +the initiative, that it is hard to say in what respect even +his favorite and familiar authors have enriched him. +What was not originally his own, is so entirely made his +own by sympathetic absorption, that the contribution +which others have made is not to be distinguished from +his native stores. Few men seem less dependent on +literature than he.</p> + +<p>Mr. Alcott is a thinker, interior, solitary, deeply conversant +with the secrets of his own mind, like thinkers +of his order, clear, earnest, but not otherwise than monotonous +from the reiteration of his primitive ideas. We +have called him a mystic. Bearing in mind the derivations +of the word—<span lang="el" title="Greek: myein"> μυειν</span>—to brood, to meditate, to shut +one's self up in the recesses of consciousness, to sink +into the depths of one's own being for the purpose of +exploring the world which that being contains; of discovering +how deep and boundless it is, of meeting in +its retreats the form of the Infinite Being who walks +there in the evening, and makes his voice audible in +the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> + mysterious whispers that breathe over its plains,—it +well describes him. He is a philosopher of that +school; instead of seeking wisdom by intellectual processes, +using induction and deduction, and creeping +step by step towards his goal,—he appeals at once to +the testimony of consciousness, claims immediate insight, +and instead of hazarding a doctrine which he has +argued, announces a truth which he has seen; he studies +the mystery of being in its inward disclosures, contemplates +ultimate laws and fundamental data in his own +soul.</p> + +<p>While Mr. Emerson's idealism was nourished—so far as +it was supplied with nourishment from foreign sources—by +the genius of India, Mr. Alcott's was fed by the +speculation of Greece. Kant was not his master, neither +was Fichte nor Schelling, but Pythagoras rather; Pythagoras +more than Plato, with whom, notwithstanding +his great admiration, he is less intimately allied. He +talks about Plato, he talks Pythagoras. Of the latter +he says:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"Of the great educators of antiquity, I esteem +Pythagoras the most eminent and successful; everything +of his doctrine and discipline comes commended by its +elegance and humanity, and justifies the name he bore +of the golden-souled Samian, and founder of Greek culture. +He seems to have stood in providential nearness +to human sensibility, as if his were a maternal relation +as well, and he owned the minds whom he nurtured and +educated. The first of philosophers, taking the name +for its modesty of pretension, he justified his claim to +it in the attainments and services of his followers; his +school having given us Socrates, Plato, Pericles, Plutarch, +Plotinus<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> +, and others of almost equal fame, founders +of states and cultures.... He was reverenced +by the multitude as one under the influence of +divine inspiration. He abstained from all intoxicating +drinks, and from animal food, confining himself to a +chaste nutriment; hence his sleep was short and undisturbed; +his soul vigilant and pure; his body in +state of perfect and invariable health. He was free +from the superstitions of his time, and pervaded with a +deep sense of duty towards God, and veneration for his +divine attributes and immanency in things. He fixed +his mind so intently on the attainment of wisdom, +that systems and mysteries inaccessible to others were +opened to him by his magic genius and sincerity of +purpose. The great principle with which he started, +that of being a seeker rather than a possessor of truth, +seemed ever to urge him forward with a diligence and +activity unprecedented in the history of the past, and +perhaps unequalled since. He visited every man who +could claim any degree of fame for wisdom or learning; +whilst the rules of antiquity and the simplest operations +of nature seemed to yield to his researches; and we +moderns are using his eyes in many departments of activity +into which pure thought enters, being indebted to +him for important discoveries alike in science and metaphysics."</p></blockquote> + +<p>It is evident that the New England sage made the +Greek philosopher his model in other respects than the +adoption of his philosophical method implied. The +rules of personal conduct and behavior, of social intercourse, +and civil association, were studiously practised +on by the American disciple, who seemed never to forget +the dignified and gracious figure whose fame charmed +him.</p> + +<p>Mr.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> + Alcott's philosophical ideas are not many, but +they are profound and significant.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"The Dialectic, or Method of the Mind,"—he says in +"Concord Days," under the head of Ideal Culture,—"constitutes +the basis of all culture. Without a thorough +discipline in this, our schools and universities give but a +showy and superficial training. The knowledge of mind +is the beginning of all knowledge; without this, a theology +is baseless, the knowledge of God impossible. Modern +education has not dealt with these deeper questions of +life and being. It has the future in which to prove its +power of conducting a cultus answering to the discipline +of the Greek thinkers, Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle."</p> + +<p>"As yet we deal with mind with far less certainty than +with matter; the realm of intellect having been less explored +than the world of the senses, and both are treated +conjecturally rather than absolutely. When we come to +perceive that intuition is the primary postulate of all +intelligence, most questions now perplexing and obscure +will become transparent; the lower imperfect methods +then take rank where they belong, and are available. +The soul leads the senses; the reason the understanding; +imagination the memory; instinct and intuition include +and prompt the Personality entire."</p> + +<p>"The categories of imagination are the poet's tools; +those of the reason, the implements of the naturalist. +The dialectic philosopher is master of them both. The +tools to those only who can handle them skilfully. All +others but gash themselves and their subject at best. +Ask not a man of understanding to solve a problem in +metaphysics. He has neither wit, weight, nor scales for +the task. But a man of reason or of imagination solves +readily the problems of understanding, the moment these +are fairly stated. Ideas are solvents of all mysteries, +whether in matter or in mind."</p> + +<p>"Having drank of immortality all night, the genius +enters<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> + eagerly upon the day's task, impatient of any impertinences +jogging the full glass.... Sleep and +see; wake, and report the nocturnal spectacle. Sleep, +like travel, enriches, refreshes, by varying the day's +perspective, showing us the night side of the globe +we traverse day by day. We make transits too swift for +our wakeful senses to follow; pass from solar to lunar +consciousness in a twinkling; lapse from forehead and face +to occupy our lower parts, and recover, as far as permitted, +the keys of genesis and of the fore worlds. 'All +truth,' says Porphyry, 'is latent;' but this the soul +sometimes beholds, when she is a little liberated by +sleep from the employments of the body, and sometimes +she extends her sight, but never perfectly reaches the +objects of her vision."</p> + +<p>"The good alone dream divinely. Our dreams are +characteristic of our waking thoughts and states; we +are never out of character; never quite another, even +when fancy seeks to metamorphose us entirely. The +Person is One in all the manifold phases of the Many, +through which we transmigrate, and we find ourself +perpetually, because we cannot lose ourself personally +in the mazes of the many. 'Tis the one soul in manifold +shapes. Ever the old friend of the mirror in other face, +old and new, yet one in endless revolution and metamorphosis, +suggesting a common relationship of forms at +their base, with divergent types as these range wider and +farther from their central archetype, including all concrete +forms in nature, each returning into other, and +departing therefrom in endless revolution."</p> + +<p>"What is the bad but lapse from good,—the good +blindfolded?"</p> + +<p>"One's foes are of his own household. If his house +is haunted, it is by himself only. Our choices are our +Saviors or Satans."</p> + +<p>"The celestial man is composed more largely of light +and ether. The demoniac man of fire and vapor. The +animal man of embers and dust."</p> + +<p>"The<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> + sacraments, symbolically considered, are</p> + +<p class="ind"> +Baptism, or purification by water;<br /> +Continence, or chastity in personal indulgences;<br /> +Fasting, or temperance in outward delights;<br /> +Prayer, or aspiring aims;<br /> +Labor, or prayer in act or pursuits.<br /> +</p> + +<p>These are the regimen of inspiration and thought."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The following, from the chapter entitled "Genesis and +Lapse," in "Concord Days," extends Mr. Alcott's principle +to a deep problem in speculative truth. He quotes +Coleridge thus:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"The great maxim in legislation, intellectual or physical, +is <i>subordinate</i>, not <i>exclude</i>. Nature, in her ascent, +leaves nothing behind; but at each step subordinates +and glorifies,—mass, crystal, organ, sensation, sentience, +reflection."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Then he proceeds:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"Taken in reverse order of descent, spirit puts itself +before; at each step protrudes faculty in feature, function, +organ, limb, subordinating to glorify also,—person, volition, +thought, sensibility, sense, body,—animating thus +and rounding creation to soul and sense alike. The +naturalist cannot urge too strongly the claims of physical, +nor the plea of the idealist be too vigorously pressed for +metaphysical studies. One body in one soul. Nature +and spirit are inseparable, and are best studied as a unit. +Nature ends where spirit begins. The idealist's point +of view is the obverse of the naturalist's, and each must +accost his side with a first love before use has worn off +the bloom, and seduced their vision....</p> + +<p>"Whether man be the successor or predecessor of his +inferiors in nature, is to be determined by exploring +faithfully<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> + the realms of matter and of spirit alike, and +complementing the former in the latter. Whether surveyed +in order, descending or ascending, in genesis or +process, from the side of the idealist or of the materialist, +the keystone of the arch in either case is an ideal, under-propped +by nature or upheld by mind."</p> + +<p>"Man, the sum total of animals, transcends all in +being a Person, a responsible creature. Man is man, in +virtue of being a Person, a self-determining will, held accountable +to a spiritual Ideal. To affirm that brute +creatures are endowed with freedom and choice, the sense +of responsibility, were to exalt them into a spiritual existence +and personality; whereas, it is plain enough that +they are not above deliberation and choice, but below it, +under the sway of Fate, as men are when running counter +to reason and conscience. The will bridges the +chasm between man and brute, and frees the fated creature +he were else. Solitary, not himself, the victim of +appetite, inmate of the den, is man, till freed from individualism, +and delivered into his free Personality."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The next extract is from the Chapter on Ideals:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"Enthusiasm is essential to the successful attainment +of any high endeavor; without which incentive, one is +not sure of his equality to the humblest undertakings +even. And he attempts little worth living for, if he expects +completing his task in an ordinary lifetime. This +translation is for the continuance of his work here +begun; but for whose completion, time and opportunity +were all too narrow and brief. Himself is the success +or failure. Step by step one climbs the pinnacles of excellence; +life itself is but the stretch for that mountain +of holiness. Opening here with humanity, 'tis the aiming +at divinity in ever-ascending circles of aspiration and +endeavor. Who ceases to aspire, dies. Our pursuits +are our prayers, our ideals our gods."</p></blockquote> + +<p>In<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> + the journals of Theodore Parker, Mr. Alcott is represented +as taking an active part in the thinking and +talking of the period immediately preceding the establishment +of the "Dial," and as expressing audacious +opinions; among others, this—which suggests Hegel, +though it might have reached Mr. Alcott from a different +quarter—that the Almighty progressively unfolds himself +towards His own perfection; and this, that the +hideous things in nature are reflections of man's animalism; +that the world being the product of all men, man +is responsible for its evil condition; a doctrine similar to +the Augustinian doctrine of the Fall, hinted at also in +the Book of Genesis. It was the doctrine of Jacob +Boehme, one of Mr. Alcott's seers, that as the inevitable +consequence of sin, the operation of the Seven Qualities +in Lucifer's dominion became perverted and corrupted. +The fiery principle, instead of creating the heavenly +glory, produced wrath and torment. The astringent +quality, that should give stability and coherence, +became hard and stubborn. The sweet was changed +to bitter; the bitter to raging fury. This earth—once +a province of the heavenly world—was broken +up into a chaos of wrath and darkness, roaring with +the din of conflicting elements. Eden became a waste; +its innocence departed, its friendly creatures began +to bite and tear one another, and man became an +exile and a bondsman to the elements he once controlled.</p> + +<p>In 1837 Mr. Alcott—not Mr. Emerson—was the reputed +leader of the Transcendentalists, none being more +active<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> + than he in diffusing the ideas of the Spiritual +Philosophy, and none being so uncompromising in his +interpretations of them. He was generally present at +the meetings of the informal Club which, under different +names, held meetings at the private houses of members, +from 1836 to 1850. Mr. Ripley had consultations with +him in regard to the proposed community which was later +established at Brook Farm. When Mr. Garrison founded +the American Anti-Slavery Society, Mr. Alcott joined +that cause, and was faithful to it till the end. With the +movement for the emancipation and elevation of women, +he was a sympathizer. He was one of the reformers +who met at Chardon Street Chapel, in 1840, to discuss +plans of universal reform—Garrison, Edmund Quincy, +Henry C. Wright, Theodore Parker, William H. Channing, +Christopher Greene, Maria Chapman and Abby +Kelly being of the number. In those days he was intimate +with Emerson, Ripley, Hedge, Brownson, Clarke, +Bartol, Stetson, and well known as a leader in speculative +thought. His period of Pythagorean discipline had +already begun. In 1835 he put away the use of animal +food. Declining to join either the Brook Farm community, +or that of Adin Ballou, at Milford, he undertook to +do his part towards the solution of the "labor and culture +problem," by supporting himself by manual labor +in Concord, working during the summer in field and +garden, and in winter chopping wood in the village +woodlands, all the time keeping his mind intent on high +thoughts. To conventional people he was an object of +ridicule, not unmingled with contempt, as an improvident +visionary.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> + But Dr. Channing held him in admiration.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"Mr. Alcott," he wrote to a friend, "little suspects +how my heart goes out to him. One of my dearest +ideas and hopes is the union of <i>labor</i> and <i>culture</i>. I +wish to see labor honored and united with the free +development of the intellect and heart. Mr. Alcott, +hiring himself out for day labor, and at the same time +living in a region of high thought, is perhaps the most +interesting object in our commonwealth. I do not care +much for Orpheus, in "The Dial," but Orpheus at the +plough is after my own heart. There he teaches a grand +lesson, more than most of us teach by the pen."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The Orpheus in "The Dial" perplexed others beside +Dr. Channing, and amused nearly all he perplexed—all +whom he did not exasperate and enrage. The "Orphic +Sayings"—Mr. Alcott's contribution to the magazine—attracted +the attention of the critics, who made them +an excuse for assailing with ridicule, the entire transcendental +party. "Identity halts in diversity." "The +poles of things are not integrated." "Love globes, +wisdom orbs, all things." "Love is the Genius of +Spirit." "Alway are the divine Gemini intertwined,"—the +very school-boys repeated these dark sayings, with +a tone that consigned the "Dial" and its oracles to the +insane asylum. Yet the thought was intelligible, and +even simple. In ordinary prose it would have sounded +like common-place. It was the mystic phrase, and the +perpetual reiteration of absolute principles that made +the propositions seem obscure. The extracts from these +"Sayings," given in a previous chapter, are remarkable +for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> + crystalline clearness of conception, as well as of expression. +The writer's aim evidently was to deliver +what he had to utter, in language of exact outline, and +with the utmost economy of words. A singular sincerity +characterized his mind and his life; he formed +his beliefs on ideal laws, and based his conduct on them. +In conduct and bearing, as in thought, he was a disciple +of the philosopher of Samos. Fascinated by his vision +of an ideal society, and determined to commence with +a scheme of his own, he resolutely began by withdrawing +from civil society as constituted, declined to pay the +tax imposed by the authorities, and was lodged in Concord +jail, where he would have stayed, had not his friend, +Samuel Hoar, father of Judge Hoar, paid the tax for +him, against his wish, and procured his immediate release. +This was in 1843. The next spring found him +inspecting lands suitable for a community. The next +summer saw him, with some English friends, domesticated +on the "Wyman Farm," at Harvard, a piece of +ninety acres, bordering the Nashua river, with an old +house on it. "Fruitlands"—for so the community was +named—did not justify its name. A single summer and +autumn dissipated the hopes planted there, and with +them the faith that the world could be refashioned by +artificial arrangements of circumstances.</p> + +<p>The surprising thing was, that such a man should ever +have fallen into the notion that it could; he was an +idealist; his faith was in the soul—not in organization +of any sort; he was a regenerator, not a reformer. All +the good work he had done was of the regenerative +kind,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> + through an awakening of the spiritual powers of +individuals. His mission was to educate—to draw out +souls, whether of children or adults. Faith in the soul +was his inspiration and his guide. He early accepted +the office of teacher, made it the calling of his life, +and in the exercise of it, kept in mind this faith in the +soul as the highest of qualifications. To understand his +enthusiasm, it is only necessary to apprehend his idea. +In the chapter on Childhood, in "Concord Days," that +idea is thus conveyed:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"To conceive a child's acquirements as originating in +nature, dating from his birth into his body, seems an +atheism that only a shallow metaphysical theology could +entertain in a time of such marvellous natural knowledge +as ours. 'I shall never persuade myself,' says Synesius, +'to believe my soul to be of like age with my body.' +And yet we are wont to date our birth, as that of the +babes we christen, from the body's advent, so duteously +inscribed in our family registers, as if time and space +could chronicle the periods of the immortal mind, and +mark its longevity by our chronometers. Only a God +could inspire a child with the intimations seen in its first +pulse-plays; the sprightly attainments of a single day's +doings afford the liveliest proofs of an omniscient Deity, +revealing His attributes in the motions of the little one!... +Were the skill for touching its tender sensibilities, +calling forth its budding gifts, equal to the +charms the child has for us, what noble characters would +graduate from our families—the community receiving +its members accomplished in the personal graces, the +state its patriots, the church its saints, all glorifying the +race."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The process of education was spiritual, therefore, to +entice the indwelling deity forth by sympathy. The +first<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> + experiment made with set purpose, with definite +idea and calculated method, was tried in Cheshire, Connecticut, +in 1825. So original was it in design and execution, +and so remarkable in results, that the fame of it +went abroad. Rev. Samuel J. May, minister in Brooklyn, +Conn., a zealous friend of common-school education, +being, along with the school committee, convinced +that the schools throughout the State needed improvement, +prepared a printed circular calling attention to the +subject, and propounding questions so framed as to +draw out full and precise information from every town. +Among the letters received in answer to the circular +was one from Dr. Wm. A. Alcott, a "philosopher and +philanthropist," author of the "House I Live In," and +other books on physical and moral training, calling particular +attention to this remarkable school, kept on a +very original plan, by his kinsman:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"His account," says Mr. May, "excited so much +my curiosity to know more of the American Pestalozzi, +as he has since been called, that I wrote immediately to +Mr. A. B. Alcott, begging him to send me a detailed +statement of his principles and methods of teaching and +of training children. In due time came to me a full account +of the school of Cheshire, which revealed such a +depth of insight into the nature of man; such a true +sympathy with children; such profound appreciation of +the work of education; and withal, so philosophically +arranged and exquisitely written, that I at once felt assured +the man must be a genius, and that I must know +him more intimately; so I wrote, inviting him urgently, +to visit me. I also sent the account of his school to +Mr. William Russell, in Boston, then editing the first +Journal of Education ever published in our country. +Mr.<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> + Russell thought as highly of the article as I did, +and gave it to the public in his next October number."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Alcott accepted my invitation; he came and +passed a week with me before the close of the summer. +I have never, but in one other instance, been so immediately +taken possession of by any man I have ever met +in life. He seemed to me like a born sage and saint. +He was radical in all matters of reform; went to the +root of all things, especially the subjects of education, +mental and moral culture. If his biography shall ever +be written by one who can appreciate him, and especially +if his voluminous writings shall be properly +published, it will be known how unique he was in +wisdom and purity."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The chief peculiarity of the Cheshire School was the +effort made there to rouse and elevate individual minds. +Single desks were substituted for the long forms in +common use; blackboards were introduced, and slates +which put the pupils on their mettle; a library was +instituted of carefully selected books, the reading whereof +was diligently supervised and directed; hopes were +appealed to instead of fears; gentleness took the place +of severity; the affections and moral sentiments were +addressed, to give full action to the heart and conscience, +the physical being replaced by the spiritual scourge; +light gymnastic exercises were introduced; evening +entertainments gladdened the school room after working +hours; even the youngest scholars were encouraged to +clear their minds by keeping diaries. In these and other +ways, especially by the enthusiasm and dignity of the +master, knowledge was made attractive, and the teacher's +office was made venerable.</p> + +<p>The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> + plan, albeit nearly the same with that practised by +Pestalozzi in Switzerland, was original with Mr. Alcott, +the product of his peculiar philosophical ideas. Had +those ideas been less deep and lofty, the method might +have commended itself to all as it did to Mr. May; but, +had they been less deep and lofty, it would not have been +tried at all. A profound faith in the soul suggested it, and +certainly a profound faith was required to sustain it. But +faith in the soul was no more popular then than it is +now, implying, as it did, radical convictions on all +sorts of questions, and familiar assumption of the +truth of the opinions. Such a teacher is not permitted +to be conventional. Mr. Alcott showed himself +the disciple of Pythagoras in that he was the worshipper +of ideal truth and purity, the uncompromising +servant of the spiritual laws. When this was fairly +understood, as it was in two years, the experiment was +terminated.</p> + +<p>The idea, which made the teacher suspected by the +school committee boards, was recognized and applauded +by the finest spirits in New England, New York and +Pennsylvania. The reformers hailed the reformer; the +spiritualists welcomed the spiritualist. In Hartford, +Drs. Gallaudet and Barnard; in Boston, Dr. Channing +and Mr. Garrison, the Mays, Quincys, Phillipses, and +other families of character and courage; in Philadelphia, +Dr. Furness, Matthew Cary, Robert Vaux, and the +radical Friends took him up. Mr. Emerson saluted him +with high expectation, in the words addressed by Burke +to John Howard:</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span></p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"Your plan is original, and as full of genius as of +humanity; so do not let it sleep or stop a day."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The project of a school on the new plan was started +in Boston; Margaret Fuller, Elizabeth Peabody, Miss +Hoar, Mrs. Nath'l Hawthorne being among the most +deeply interested. It was kept in the Masonic Temple +during the year 1834. The account of this experiment +has been so fully given by Miss Peabody, the original +scribe, in a volume entitled "Record of a School," +placed within easy reach by a Boston publisher, only two +years ago, and largely read, that to describe it here +would be impertinent. In her new preface, Miss Peabody, +who of late years has become an enthusiastic +advocate of Frœbel's method, which approaches the mind +from the outside, while Mr. Alcott approaches it from +the inside, frankly declares that she has</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"Come to doubt the details of his method of procedure, +and to believe that Frœbel's method of cultivating +children through artistic production in the childish sphere +of affection and fancy is a healthier and more effective way +than self inspection, for at least those years of a child's +life before the age of seven."</p></blockquote> + +<p>While thus honestly declaring her abandonment of +Mr. Alcott's plan, she affirms her belief</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"That his school was a marked benefit to every child +with whom he came into communication...."</p> + +<p>"What I witnessed in his school room threw for me a +new light into the profoundest mysteries that have been +consecrated by the Christian symbols; and the study of +childhood<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> + made there I would not exchange for anything +else I have experienced in life."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The Boston school was made more closely conformable +to the spiritual idea than any previous ones. The +intellectual tone of the society he frequented, the sympathy +of his transcendental friends, the standing of +his pupils, the expectation of exacting lookers on, +encouraged the philosopher to give free rein to his +theory. The principle of vicarious punishment—the +innocent bearing pain for the guilty—the master for +the pupil—was adopted as likely to enlist the sentiment +of honor and noble shame in the cause of good +behavior. A portion of the time was set apart for direct +address by way of question and answer, to the higher +faculties of the scholars. Mr. Alcott gave a series of +"Conversations on the Gospels," with most interesting +and surprising results. These too were reported, and are +very suggestive and astonishing reading.</p> + +<p>But even in Boston, the teacher's faith in the soul +found an unresponsive public. The "Conversations on +the Gospels" were furiously attacked in the newspapers. +The conservative spirit was aroused; the sectarian feeling +was shocked; and the school, which began with +thirty pupils, and rose to forty, fell away to ten; the +receipts, which in the first year were $1,794, in the +fourth (1837), were but $549, and at last only $343. In +April, 1839, the furniture, library and apparatus of the +school were sold to pay debts. The culture, refinement, +liberality, philosophic aspiration of Boston, led by such +men<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> + as James Freeman Clarke, Frederick H. Hedge, +Chandler Robbins, George Russell, and by such women +as Margaret Fuller, Miss Peabody, Miss Martineau, and +the mothers of boys who have since done credit to their +names, were not sufficient to protect the institution from +failure, or the teacher from insult and obloquy. Prejudice, +and prejudice alone, defeated the scheme.</p> + +<p>But the idea and the apostle survived. Miss Harriet +Martineau, who knew Mr. Alcott well in 1837, +spoke of him on her return home to James Pierrepont +Greaves, an ardent English disciple of Pestalozzi. Mr. +Greaves gave the name "Alcott House," to a school +near London, which he had founded on the Pestalozzian +method; he even meditated a visit to America, for the +express purpose of making the acquaintance of the New +England sage, and would have done so but for illness, +which terminated in death. A long letter from him to +Mr. Alcott, was printed in the "Dial" of April, 1843, +a portion whereof it is interesting to read, because it +throws light on the cardinal ideas of this school of thinkers. +Mr. Alcott's reply to the letter is not before us, +but it was probably, in the main, sympathetic. The +letter is dated London, 16th December, 1837:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p><span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>,—Believing the Spirit has so far established +its nature in you, as to make you willing to co-operate +with itself in Love operations, I am induced, without +apology, to address you as a friend and companion in +the hidden path of Love's most powerful revelations. +"The Record of a School" having fallen into my hands, +through Miss Harriet Martineau, I have perused it with +deep interest; and the object of my present address to +you<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> + (occasioned by this work) is to obtain a more intimate +acquaintance with one, in our Sister Land, who is so +divinely and universally developed. Permit me, therefore, +dear sir, in simple affection, to put a few questions +to you, which, if answered, will give me possession of that +information respecting you and your work, which I think +will be useful to present and to future generations of men. +Also a mutual service may be rendered to ourselves, +by assisting to evolve our own being more completely, +thereby making us more efficient instruments for Love's +use, in carrying forward the work which it has begun +within us. The Unity himself must have his divine +purpose to accomplish in and by us, or he would not +have prepared us as far as he has. I am, therefore, +willing to withhold nothing, but to receive and transmit +all he is pleased to make me <i>be</i>, and thus, at length, to +become an harmonious being. This he can readily work +in the accomplishment of his primitive purposes. Should +you think that a personal intercourse of a few weeks +would facilitate the universal work, I would willingly undertake +the voyage to America for that purpose. There +is so decided and general a similarity in the sentiments +and natures addressed in the account of your teaching, +that a contact of spirits so alike developed would, no +doubt, prove productive of still further development. +Your school appears to work deeper than any we have +in England, and its inner essential character interests me. +If an American bookseller will send over any of your +books to his correspondents here, I shall be happy to +receive and pay for them.</p> + +<p>In the year 1817 some strong interior visitations came +over me, which withdrew me from the world in a considerable +degree, and I was enabled to yield myself up to Love's +own manner of acting, regardless of all consequences. +Soon after this time, I met with an account of the Spirit's +work in and by the late venerable Pestalozzi, which so +interested me that I proceeded at once to visit him in +Switzerland, and remained with him in holy fellowship +four<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> + years. After that I was working with considerable +success amongst the various students in that country, +when the prejudices of the self-made wise and powerful +men became jealous of my influence, and I was advised +to return to England, which I did; and have been working +in various ways of usefulness ever since, from the deep +centre to the circumference; and am now engaged in +writing my conscientious experiences as well as I can +represent them in words, and in teaching all such as +come within my sphere of action. Receptive beings, +however, have as yet been but limited, and those who +permanently <i>retain</i>, have been still less; yet, at present, +there appears a greater degree of awakening to the central +love-sensibility than before. I see many more +symptoms of the harvest-time approaching in this country. +There is, at present, no obvious appearance of the +Love-seed beginning to germinate.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The child has two orders of faculties which are to be +educated, essential and semi-essential; or in other words, +roots and branches.</p> + +<p>Radical faculties belong to the interior world, and the +branchial to the exterior.</p> + +<p>To <i>produce</i> a central effect on the child, the radical +faculties must be first developed; to <i>represent</i> this effect, +the branchial faculties must be developed.</p> + +<p>The radical faculties belong entirely to Love; the +branchial to knowledge and industry.</p> + +<p>It is imperative upon us to follow the determination +of the radical faculties, and to modify the branchial +always in obedience to the radical.</p> + +<p>It is the child, or the Love-Spirit in the child, that we +must<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> + obey, and not suffer the Parents or any one else to +divert us from it.</p> + +<p>Good is not to be determined by man's wishes, but +Good must originate and determine the wish.</p> + +<p>The Preceptor must watch attentively for every new +exhibition of the child's radical faculties, and obey them +as divine laws.</p> + +<p>We must in every movement consider that it is the +Infinite perfecting the finite.</p> + +<p>All that is unnecessary in the external must be kept +from the child.</p> + +<p>The Preceptor's duty is, as far as possible, to remove +every hindrance out of the child's way.</p> + +<p>The closer he keeps the child to the Spirit, the less it +will want of us, or anyone else.</p> + +<p>The child has an inward, sacred, and unchangeable +nature; which nature is the Temple of Love. This nature +only demands what it will give, if properly attended +to, viz.: Unfettered Liberty.</p> + +<p>The Love Germs can alone germinate with Love. +Light and Life are but conditions of Love. Divine +capacities are made by love alone.</p> + +<p>Love education is primarily a passive one; and, secondarily, +an active one. To educate the radical faculties +is altogether a new idea with Teachers at present.</p> + +<p>The parental end must be made much more prominent +than it has been.</p> + +<p>The conceptive powers want much more purification +than the perceptive; and it is only as we purify the conceptive +that we shall get the perceptive clear.</p> + +<p>It<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> + is the essential conceptive powers that tinge all the +consequences of the exterior conceptive powers.</p> + +<p>We have double conceptions, and double perceptions; +we are throughout double beings; and claim the universal +morality, as well as the personal.</p> + +<p>We must now educate the universal moral faculties, as +before we have only educated the personal moral +faculties.</p> + +<p>It is in the universal moral faculties that the laws reside; +until these laws are developed, we remain lawless +beings.</p> + +<p>The personal moral faculties cannot stand without the +aid of the universal moral faculties, any more than the +branches can grow without the roots.</p> + +<p>Education, to be decidedly religious, should reach +man's universal faculties, those faculties which contain +the laws that connect man with his maker.</p> + +<p>These reflections seem to me to be worthy of consideration. +Should any of them strike you as worth while +to make an observation upon, I shall be happy to hear +it. Suggestions are always valuable, as they offer to +the mind the liberty of free activity. The work we are +engaged in is too extensive and important, to lose any +opportunity of gaining information.</p> + +<p>The earlier I receive your reply, the better.</p> + +<p class="attr1">I am, dear Sir, yours faithfully,</p> + +<p class="attr"> +J. P. GREAVES. +</p></blockquote> + +<p>In 1842, Mr. Alcott visited England with the aim to +confer with the philanthropists and educators there, to +exchange<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> + views, collect information, and gather hints on +the subject of literary and social methods. Mr. Greaves +was dead; but the living friends of the "First Philosophy" +received him with hearty respect and joy, introduced +him to men of literary and philanthropic eminence, +and made his arrival the occasion of meetings for conversation +on the religious, social and ethical questions of +the day. The meetings were held mostly at an institution +managed on his own methods and called by his own +name, the school of Mr. Wright at Alcott House, Ham, +Surrey. Strange people were some of those he met, +Communists, Alists (deriving their name from Alah—the +Hebrew name for God), Syncretic Associationists, +Pestalozzians, friends and advocates of self-supporting +institutions, experimental Normal Schools, Hydropathic +and Philosophical Associations, Health Unions, Philansteries, +Utopias of every description, new social arrangements +between the sexes, new devices for making +marriage what it should be.</p> + +<p>The London <i>Morning Chronicle</i>, of July 5th, contained +the following advertisement:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"Public Invitation.—An open meeting of the friends +to human progress will be held to-morrow, July 6th, at +Mr. Wright's, Alcott House School, Ham Common, +near Richmond, Surrey, for the purpose of considering +and adopting means for the promotion of the great end, +when all who are interested in human destiny are earnestly +urged to attend. The chair taken at three o'clock, +and again at seven, by A. Bronson Alcott, Esq., now +on a visit from America. Omnibuses travel to and fro, +and the Richmond steamboat reaches at a convenient +hour."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> + call brought together some sixteen or twenty +persons, from various distances; one a hundred miles; +another a hundred and fifty. "We did not find it easy +to propose a question sufficiently comprehensive to unfold +the whole of the fact with which our bosoms labored," +writes a private correspondent of the "Dial."</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"We aimed at nothing less than to speak of the instauration +of spirit, and its incarnation in a beautiful +form. When a word failed in extent of meaning, we +loaded the word with new meaning. The word did not +confine our experience, but from our own being we gave +significance to the word. Into one body we infused +many lives, and it shone as the image of divine or angelic, +or human thought. For a word is a Proteus, that +means to a man what the man is."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The "Dial" of October, 1842, prints an abstract of +the proceedings, which are interesting, as illustrations of +the phases that the Spiritual Philosophy assumed, but +would occupy more space here than their significance +warrants. Three papers were presented, on Formation, +Transition, Reformation. The views, it is needless to +say, were of the extreme school. The essayist on the +first theme advanced the doctrine that evil commenced +in birth; that the unpardonable sin was an unholy birth; +that birth "must be surrendered to the spirit." The +second essayist maintained that property was held on +the tenure of might and immemorial custom; that +"pure love, which is ever communicative, never yet +conceded to any being the right of appropriation." +"We ignore human governments, creeds and institutions; +we deny the right of any man to dictate laws for +our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> + regulation, or duties for our performance; and declare +our allegiance only to Universal Love, the all-embracing +Justice."</p> + +<p>The reader of the paper on Reformation pursued the +same train of thought; he demanded amendment of +monetary arrangements, the penal code, education, the +church, the law of primogeniture, and divorce; challenged +reliance on commercial prosperity and popular +representation; denied the right of man to inflict pain +on man; asserted that the question of generation preceded +that of education; that the reign of love was +supreme over that of opinion; insisted on "the restoration +of all things to their primitive Owner, and hence +the abrogation of property—either individual or collective;" +and on "the divine sanction, instead of the civil +and ecclesiastical authority, for marriage." It was his +idea, that "aspirations are the pledge of their own fulfilment,"—that +"beneath the actual which a man is, +there is always covered a possible to tempt him forward"—that +"beneath sense lie reason and understanding; +beneath them both, humility; and beneath all, God"—that +"to be God-like we must pass through the grades +of progress." "Even now the God-life is enfolded in +us; even now the streams of eternity course freely in +our central heart; if impelled by the spirit to intermingle +with the arrangements of polities of the world, in +order to improve them, we shall discover the high point +from which we begin, by the God-thought in our interference; +our act must be divine; we seem to do, God +does; God empowers legislators, and ennobles them for +their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> + fidelity; let them, however, be apostles, not apostles' +representatives; men of God, not men of men; +personal elevation is our credentials; personal reform is +that which is practicable, and without it our efforts on +behalf of others are dreams only."</p> + +<p>No remarks from Mr. Alcott are recorded. That +the meetings satisfied and cheered him may be inferred +from the circumstance that, immediately after +his return from England, he undertook to inaugurate +the ideal social state at Fruitlands—with what success +we know.</p> + +<p>In 1859, Mr. Alcott had another and larger opportunity +to exercise his wisdom as an educator of youth. +He was chosen superintendent of the schools of Concord; +a position that called out the finest qualities of his mind, +and put to immediate use the results of his long experience, +but relieved him from the business arrangements for which +he had never displayed an aptitude. The three brief +but remarkable reports that he made on the condition +and needs of the schools, increase one's respect for the +workings of the spiritual philosophy in this field of effort. +If the suggestions offered in those reports were to any +considerable extent adopted, if the noble and gracious +spirit of them was felt, the schools of Concord should be +model schools of their class.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"The school is the primary interest of the community. +Every parent naturally desires a better education for his +children than he received himself, and spends liberally +of his substance for this pleasure; wisely hoping to +make up his deficiencies in that way, and to complement +himself<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> + in their better attainments; esteeming these the +richest estate he can leave, and the fairest ornaments of +his family name."</p> + +<p>"Especially have I wished to introduce the young to +the study of their minds, the love of thinking; often +giving examples of lessons in analysis and classification +of their faculties. I think I may say that these exercises +have given much pleasure, and have been found profitable +alike to the teacher and the children. In most instances, +I have closed my visits by reading some interesting +story or parable. These have never failed of gaining +attention, and in most cases, prompt responses. I consider +these readings and colloquies as among the most +profitable and instructive of the superintendent's labors."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Pilgrim's Progress, Krummacher's Parables, Ćsop's +Fables, Faery Queen, the stories of Plutarch and Shakspeare, +were his favorites.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"The graceful exercise of singing has been introduced +into some of the schools. It should prevail in all of +them. It softens the manners, cultivates the voice, and +purifies the taste of the children. It promotes harmony +and good feelings. The old masters thought much of it +as a discipline. 'Let us sing' has the welcome sound of +'Let us play,'—and is perhaps the child's prettiest translation +of 'Let us pray,'—admitting him soonest to the +intimacy he seeks."</p> + +<p>"Conversations on words, paraphrases and translations +of sentences, are the natural methods of opening the +study of language. A child should never be suffered to +lose sight of the prime fact that he is studying the realities +of nature and of the mind through the picture books +of language. Any teaching falling short of this is hollow +and a wrong done to the mind."</p> + +<p>"For composition, let a boy keep his diary, write his +letters, try his hand at defining from a dictionary and +paraphrasing, and he will find ways of expressing himself +simply<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> + as boys and men did before grammars were +invented."</p> + +<p>"Teaching is a personal influence for the most part, +and operating as a spirit unsuspected at the moment. I +have wished to divine the secret source of success +attained by any, and do justice to this; it seemed most +becoming to regard any blemishes as of secondary +account in the light of the acknowledged deserts. We +require of each what she has to give, no more. Does +the teacher awaken thought, strengthen the mind, kindle +the affections, call the conscience, the common sense +into lively and controlling activity, so promoting the love +of study, the practice of the virtues; habits that shall +accompany the children outwards into life? The memory +is thus best cared for, the end of study answered; the debt +of teacher to parents, of parents to teacher discharged, +and so the State's bounty best bestowed."</p> + +<p>"A little gymnasticon, a system of gestures for the +body might be organized skilfully and become part of +the daily exercises in our schools. Graceful steps, pretty +musical airs, in accompaniment of songs—suiting the +sentiment to the motions, the emotions, ideas of the +child—would be conducive to health of body and mind +alike. We shall adopt dancing presently as a natural +training for the manners and morals of the young."</p> + +<p>"Conversation is the mind's mouth-piece, its best +spokesman; the leader elect and prompter in teaching; +practised daily, it should be added to the list of school +studies; an art in itself, let it be used as such, and ranked +as an accomplishment second to none that nature +or culture can give. Certainly the best we can do is to +teach ourselves and children how to talk. Let conversation +displace much that passes current under the name +of recitation; mostly sound and parrotry, a repeating by +rote not by heart, unmeaning sounds from the memory +and no more. 'Take my mind a moment,' says the +teacher, 'and see how things look through that prism,' +and the pupil sees prospects never seen before or surmised +by him in that lively perspective. So taught the +masters;<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> + Plato, Plutarch, Pythagoras, Pestalozzi; so +Christianity was first published from lovely lips; so +every one teaches deserving the name of teacher or interpreter. +Illustration always and apt; life calling forth +life; the giving of life and a partaking. Nothing should +be interposed between the mind and its subject matter—cold +sense is impertinent; learning is insufficient—only +life alone; life like a torch lighting the head at the +heart."</p> + +<p>"Next to thinking for themselves, the best service any +teacher can render his scholars is to show them how to +use books. The wise teacher is the key for opening the +mind to the books he places before it."</p> + +<p>"Stories are the idyls of childhood. They cast about +it the romance it loves and lives in, rendering the commonest +circumstances and things inviting and beautiful. +Parables, poems, histories, anecdotes, are prime aids in +teaching; the readiest means of influence and inspiration; +the liveliest substitutes for flagging spirits, fatigued +wits."</p> + +<p>"A little atlas of the body mythologically shown from +the artist's points of view, the plates displaying the +person to the eye, in a set of draped figures, is a book +much wanted for first lines in drawing. A child's piety +is seen in its regards for its body and the concern it +shows in its carriage and keeping. Of all forms the +human form is most marvellous; and the modest reverence +for its shadings intimates the proper mode of studying +it rightly and religiously as a pantheon of powers. +The prime training best opens here as an idealism, the +soul fashioning her image in the form she animates, and +so scrutinizing piously without plucking the forbidden +fruits."</p> + +<p>"There is a want of suitable aids to the studies of +these mysteries. The best books I know are poor +enough. In the want of a better, we name for the study +of matter in its connection with the mind, including the +proper considerations regarding health and temperance, +Graham's 'Laws of Life,' a rather dull but earnest book; +and<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> + for smaller classes and beginners Dr. Alcott's 'House +I Live In.' Miss Catherine Beecher's book for studies in +Physiology and Calisthenics, is a practical treatise, and +should be in all schools. Sir John Sinclair's 'Code of +Health' contains a republication of the Wisdom of the +Ancients, on these subjects, and is a book for all persons +and times."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps we are correcting the old affection for flogging +at some risk of spoiling the boys of this generation. +Girls have always known how to cover with shame any +insult of that sort, but the power of persuasion comes +slow as a promptitude to supersede its necessity. Who +deals with a child, deals with a piece of divinity obeying +laws as innate as those he transgresses; and which he +must treat tenderly, lest he put spiritual interests in +jeopardy. Punishment must be just, else it cannot be +accepted as good, and least of all by the wicked and +weak."</p> + +<p>"The accomplished teacher combines in himself the +art of teaching and of ruling; power over the intellect +and the will, inspiration and persuasiveness. And this +implies a double consciousness in its possessor that carries +forward the teaching and ruling together; noting +what transpires in motive as in act; the gift that in seeing +controls. It is the sway of presence and of mien; a +conversion of the will to his wishes, without which other +gifts are of little avail."</p> + +<p>"Be sure the liveliest dispensations, the holiest, are his +(the unruly boy's)—his as cordially as ours, and sought +for as kindly. We must meet him where he is. Best to +follow his bent if bent beautifully; else bending him +gently, not fractiously, lest we snap or stiffen a stubbornness +too stiff already. Gentleness now; the fair eye, +the conquering glances straight and sure; the strong +hand, if you must, till he fall penitent at the feet of Persuasion; +the stroke of grace before the smiting of the +birch; for only so is the conquest complete, and the +victory the Lord's. If she is good enough she may +strike strong and frequent, till thanks come for it; but +who<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> + is she, much less he, that dares do it more than +once, nor repents in sorrow and shame for the strokes +given? Only 'the shining ones' may do it for good."</p> + +<p>"Our teachers open their schools with readings from +the New Testament, and this reading is in some of the +schools, and would, but for a diffident piety, be followed +in all, by devotions and the singing of some suitable +morning hymn. The spoken prayers and praises are +not enjoined by our rules; and we think we show therein +that tender courtesy to the faiths of the heart that true +piety loves and cannot overstep. An earnest and sweet +disposition is the spring from which children love to +taste, and best always if insinuated softly in mild persuasions, +and so leading to the practice of the loves and +graces that soften and save. A course of readings from +the Picture Testament might favor the best ends of spiritual +culture. A child should be approached with reverence, +as a recipient of the spirit from above. The best +of books claims the best of persons and the gracious moments +to make its meanings clear; else the reading and +listening are but a sound, a pretence, and of no account. +I have wished these books were opened with the awe +belonging to the eminent Personalities portrayed therein, +thinking them best read when the glow of sentiment +kindles the meaning into life in the morning hour—the +teacher opening her school by opening their leaves."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The following earnest words respecting the duties of +the State in regard to the education of its children, may +fitly close these fragmentary extracts, which give but +the scantiest notions of the richness of suggestion in +these reports:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"It is difficult to reach the sources of ignorance and +consequent crime in a community like ours, calling itself +free, and boasting of its right to do what it will. But +freedom is a social not less than an individual concern, and +the<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> + end of the State is to protect it. The first object of +a free people is the preservation of their liberties. It +becomes, then, their first duty to assume the training of +all the children in the principles of right knowledge and +virtue, as the only safeguard of their liberties. We cannot +afford to wait at such hazards. The simplest humanities +are also the least costly, and the nearest home. +We should begin there. The State is stabbed at the +hearth-side and here liberty and honor are first sold. It +is injured by family neglect, and should protect itself in +securing its children's virtue against their parents' vices; +for, by so doing, can it alone redeem its pledges to +humanity and its citizens' liberties. A virtuous education +is the greatest alms it can bestow on any of its children."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Meetings for conversation with the parents of the +scholars were a device of Mr. Alcott for bringing the +subject of education home to those whose concern in it +should be the deepest.</p> + +<p>His faith was from the first in conversation, rather than +in lecturing or in preaching. Preaching assumed too +much in the single mind, paid less than due respect to +the minds of the hearers, and gave no opportunity for +the instant exchange of thoughts. Lecturing was intellectual +and even less sympathetic. By conversation +the best was drawn out and the best imparted. All +were put on an equality; all were encouraged, none oppressed.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"Truth," Mr. Alcott declares "is spherical, and seen +differently according to the culture, temperament and +disposition of those who survey it from their individual +standpoint. Of two or more sides, none can be absolutely +right, and conversation fails if it find not the +central truth from which all radiate; debate is angular, +conversation<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> + circular and radiant of the underlying unity. +Who speaks, deeply excludes all possibility of controversy. +His affirmation is self-sufficient; his assumption +final, absolute. Thus holding himself above the +arena of dispute he gracefully settles a question by +speaking so home to the core of the matter as to undermine +the premise upon which an issue had been taken. +For whoso speaks to the personality dives beneath the +grounds of difference, and deals face to face with principles +and ideas."</p> + +<p>"Good discourse sinks differences and seeks agreements. +It avoids argument, by finding a common +basis of agreement; and thus escapes controversy by +rendering it superfluous. Pertinent to the platform, +debate is out of place in the parlor. Persuasion is the +better weapon in this glittering game."</p> + +<p>"Conversation presupposes a common sympathy in +the subject, a great equality in the speakers; absence of +egotism, a tender criticism of what is spoken. Good +discourse wins from the bashful and discreet what they +have to speak, but would not, without this provocation. +The forbidding faces are Fates to overbear and blemish +true fellowship. We give what we are, not necessarily +what we know; nothing more, nothing less, and only to +our kind; those playing best their parts who have the +nimblest wits, taking out the egotism, the nonsense, +putting wisdom, information in their place."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Mr. Alcott therefore forsook the platform, seldom +entered the pulpit, adopted the parlor, and made it what +its name imports, the talking place. Collecting a company +of ladies and gentlemen, larger or smaller, as +nearly as possible of similar tastes and culture, he started a +topic of general interest and broad scope—usually one of +social concern with deep roots and wide branches,—and +began his soliloquy in a calm and easy strain, throwing +out<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> + suggestions as he went on, and enticing thoughts +from the various minds present. If none responded or +accompanied, the discourse proceeded evenly till the +measure of an hour was filled. If the company was +awake, and sympathetic, the soliloquy became conversation +and an evening full of instruction and entertainment +followed. When circumstances favored—the room, +decorations, atmosphere, mingling of elements—the season +was delightful. The unfailing serenity of the leader, +his wealth of mental resource, his hospitality of thought, +his wit, his extraordinary felicity of language, his delicacy +of touch, ready appreciation of different views, and +singular grace in turning opinions towards the light, +made it clear to all present that to this especial calling +he was chosen. For years Mr. Alcott's conversations +have been a recognized institution in Eastern and Western +cities. Every winter he takes the field, and goes through +the Northern and North Western States, with his scheme +of topics. The best minds collect about him, and centres +of influence are established that act as permanent +distributors of culture. The noble idealism never pales +or falters. Neither politics, science, financial convulsion, +or civil war, disturb the calm serenity of the soul +that is sure that mind is its own place, and that infinite +and absolute mind is supreme above all.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span></p> +<p class="center big"><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>XI.</p> + +<h2>THE CRITIC.</h2> + + +<p>Margaret Fuller—she was called Ossoli long after +the time we are concerned with, in a foreign land and +amid foreign associations—Margaret Fuller died July +16th, 1850. In 1852 her Memoirs were published in +Boston, written by Ralph Waldo Emerson, James Freeman +Clarke, and William Henry Channing: each giving +an individual and personal account of her. These three +gentlemen—all remarkable for intellectual capacity, +sympathetic appreciation, and literary skill—undertook +their task in the spirit of loving admiration, and executed +it with extraordinary frankness, courage and delicacy. +No more unique or satisfactory book of biography +was ever made. They had known Margaret personally +and well; were intimately acquainted with her +mind, and deeply interested in her character. They +had access to all the necessary materials. The whole +life—inward and outward—was open to them, and they +described it with no more reserve than good taste imposed. +Those who are interested to know what sort +of a person she was, are referred to that book, from +which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> + the biographical materials for this little sketch +have, in the main, been taken. Her place here is due +to her association with the leaders of the Transcendental +movement, and to the peculiar part she played +in it.</p> + +<p>Strictly speaking, she was not a Transcendentalist, +though Mr. Channing declares her to have been "in +spirit and thought pre-eminently a transcendentalist;" +and Mr. Alcott wrote that she adopted "the spiritual +philosophy, and had the subtlest perception of its bearings." +She was enthusiastic rather than philosophical, +and poetic more than systematic. Emerson's judgment +is that—</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"Left to herself, and in her correspondence, she was +much the victim of Lord Bacon's <i>idols of the cave</i>, or +self-deceived by her own phantasms.... Her +letters are tainted with a mysticism which, to me, appears +so much an affair of constitution, that it claims no +more respect than the charity or patriotism of a man +who has dined well and feels better for it. In our noble +Margaret, her personal feeling colors all her judgment +of persons, of books, of pictures, and even of the +laws of the world.... Whole sheets of warm, +florid writing are here, in which the eye is caught by +'sapphire,' 'heliotrope,' 'dragon,' 'aloes,' 'Magna Dea,' +'limboes,' 'stars,' and 'purgatory'—but one can connect +all this or any part of it with no universal experience.</p> + +<p>"In short, Margaret often loses herself in sentimentalism; +that dangerous vertigo nature, in her case, adopted, +and was to make respectable.... Her integrity +was perfect, and she was led and followed by +love; and was really bent on truth, but too indulgent to +the meteors of her fancy."</p></blockquote> + +<p>She<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> + said of herself:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"When I was in Cambridge I got Fichte and Jacobi; +I was much interrupted, but some time and earnest +thought I devoted; Fichte I could not understand at +all, though the treatise which I read was one intended +to be popular, and which he says must compel to conviction. +Jacobi I could understand in details, but not +in system. It seemed to me that his mind must have +been moulded by some other mind, with which I ought +to be acquainted, in order to know him well—perhaps +Spinoza's. Since I came home I have been consulting +Buhle's and Tennemann's histories of philosophy, and +dipping into Brown, Stewart, and that class of books."</p></blockquote> + +<p>This was in 1832, before the transcendental movement +began. At the same period, writing to a friend on the +subject of religious faith—a subject intimately allied with +philosophy—she said:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"I have not formed an opinion; I have determined +not to form settled opinions at present; loving or feeble +natures need a positive religion—a visible refuge, a protection—as +much in the passionate season of youth as +in those stages nearer to the grave. But mine is not +such. My pride is superior to any feelings I have yet +experienced; my affection is strong admiration, not the +necessity of giving or receiving assistance or sympathy. +When disappointed, I do not ask or wish consolation; +I wish to know and feel my pain, to investigate its nature +and its source; I will not have my thoughts diverted +or my feelings soothed; 'tis therefore that my +young life is so singularly barren of illusions. I know I +feel the time must come when this proud and impatient +heart shall be stilled, and turn from the ardors of search +and action to lean on something above. But shall I say +it?—the thought of that calmer era is to me a thought +of deepest sadness; so remote from my present being +is<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> + that future existence, which still the mind may conceive; +I believe in eternal progression; I believe in a +God, a beauty and perfection, to which I am to strive +all my life for assimilation. From these two articles of +belief I draw the rules by which I strive to regulate my +life; but though I reverence all religions as necessary to +the happiness of man, I am yet ignorant of the religion +of revelation. Tangible promises, well-defined hopes, +are things of which I do not <i>now</i> feel the need. At +present, my soul is intent on this life, and I think of religion +as its rule; and in my opinion this is the natural +and proper course from youth to age."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The tone of this extract is negatively transcendental; +that is, it implies that the writer did not belong to the +opposite school, in any sense; and that her mind was in +condition to accept the cardinal truths of a philosophy, +the special doctrines whereof she did not apprehend or +feel interested in. Had she entertained a philosophical +creed, it would have been the creed of Schelling, more +likely than any other.</p> + +<p>Margaret Fuller was a critic, and a critic rather from +natural gift than from trained perception. Her genius +was her guide. Persons and things came to her for +judgment, and judgment they received. Searching and +frank, but hearty and loving, she judged from the inside. +To her, so her biographers tell, with unanimous +voice, "the secrets of all hearts were revealed." In private +intercourse, in letters, in parlor conversations on +books, pictures, statues, architecture, she was ever the +judge. The most unlike minds and characters receive +their dues with entire impartiality; Goethe, Lessing, +Novalis, Jean Paul, were each in kind honored. The +last<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> + is "infinitely variegated, and certainly most exquisitely +colored, but fatigues attention; his philosophy +and religion seem to be of the sighing sort." +She is steeped to the lips in enjoyment by Southey, +whom she was inclined to place next to Wordsworth. +Coleridge, Heine, Carlyle, Herschel, attract +her mind. She ponders before Michael Angelo's sibyls; +displays a singular penetration in her analysis of them, +and makes them all interpreters of the genius of +woman. The soul of Greek art, as contrasted with +Christian, is disclosed to her with a clear perception; +the Greek mythology gave up to her its secret; emblems, +symbols, dark parables, enigmas, mysteries, laid +aside their vails. A friend said of her: "She proceeds +in her search after the unity of things, the divine harmony, +not by exclusion but by comprehension; and so +no poorest, saddest spirit but she will lead to hope and +faith. I have thought, sometimes, that her acceptance +of evil was <i>too</i> great; that her theory of the good to be +educed proved too much; but I understand her now +better than I did." Atkinson, the "mesmeric atheist," +struck her as "a fine instinctive nature, with a head for +Leonardo to paint," who "seems bound by no tie, yet +looks as if he had relatives in every place." Mazzini +impressed her as one "in whom holiness has purified, +but somewhat dwarfed the man." Carlyle "is arrogant +and overbearing; but in his arrogance there is no bitterness, +no self-love. It is the heroic arrogance of some +old Scandinavian conqueror; it is his nature, and the untamable +energy that has given him power to crush the +dragon."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> + Dr. Wilkinson, the Swedenborgian, is "a +sane, strong, well-exercised mind; but in the last degree +unpoetical in its structure; very simple, natural, and +good; excellent to see, though one cannot go far with +him." Rachel, Fourier, Rousseau—she has a piercing +glance for them all; a word of warm admiration, all the +more weighty for being qualified by criticism.</p> + +<p>It was probably this keen penetration, this capacity to +appreciate all kinds, this inclusiveness of sympathy, that +prompted the selection of Margaret Fuller as chief editor +of the "Dial," the organ of transcendental thought. +Thus she regarded the enterprise:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"What others can do—whether all that has been said +is the mere restlessness of discontent, or there are +thoughts really struggling for utterance,—will be tested +now. A perfectly free organ is to be offered for the expression +of individual thought and character. There +are no party measures to be carried, no particular standards +to be set up; a fair, calm tone, a recognition of +universal principles, will, I hope, pervade the essays in +every form. I trust there will be a spirit neither of dogmatism +nor compromise, and that this journal will aim, +not at leading public opinion, but at stimulating each +man to judge for himself, and to think more deeply and +more nobly, by letting him see how some minds are +kept alive by a wise self-trust. We must not be sanguine +at the amount of talent which will be brought to +bear on this publication. All concerned are rather indifferent, +and there is no great promise for the present. +We cannot show high culture, and I doubt about vigorous +thought. But we shall manifest free action as far +as it goes, and a high aim. It were much if a periodical +could be kept open, not to accomplish any outward object, +but merely to afford an avenue for what of liberal +and<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> + calm thought might be originated among us, by the +wants of individual minds."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Emerson best knows what he wants; but he +has already said it in various ways. Yet this experiment +is well worth trying; hearts beat so high, they must be +full of something, and here is a way to breathe it out +quite freely. It is for dear New England that I want +this review. For myself, if I had wished to write a few +pages now and then, there were ways and means enough +of disposing of them. But in truth I have not much to +say; for since I have had leisure to look at myself, I +find that, so far from being an original genius, I have +not yet learned to think to any depth, and that the utmost +I have done in life has been to form my character to a certain +consistency, cultivate my tastes, and learn to tell +the truth with a little better grace than I did at first. +For this the world will not care much, so I shall hazard +a few critical remarks only, or an unpretending chalk +sketch now and then till I have learned to do something. +There will be beautiful poesies; about prose we know +not yet so well. We shall be the means of publishing +the little Charles Emerson left as a mark of his noble +course, and, though it lies in fragments, all who read +will be gainers."</p></blockquote> + +<p>That these modest anticipations were justified and +more, need not be said. The "beautiful poesies" came, +and so did the various, eloquent, well-considered prose. +The people who expected the whole gospel of Transcendentalism +may have been disappointed; for the +editor gave the magazine more of a literary than philosophical +or reformatory tone. That she looked for from +others, and was more than willing to welcome. She had +a discerning eye for the evils of the time, and a sincere +respect for the men and women who were disposed to +counteract<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> + them. Another extract from her correspondence +at this time—1840—taken, like the former, from +the second volume of the memoirs, leaves no doubt on +this point. After speaking of "the tendency of circumstances," +since the separation from England, "to +make our people superficial, irreverent, and more anxious +to get a living than to live mentally and morally," +she continues:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"New England is now old enough, some there have +leisure enough to look at all this, and the consequence +is a violent reaction, in a small minority, against a mode +of culture that rears such fruits. They see that political +freedom does not necessarily produce liberality of +mind, nor freedom in church institutions, vital religion; +and, seeing that these changes cannot be wrought from +without inwards, they are trying to quicken the soul, +that they may work from within outwards. Disgusted with +the vulgarity of a commercial aristocracy, they become +radicals; disgusted with the materialistic working of +"rational" religion they become mystics. They quarrel +with all that is because it is not spiritual enough. They +would, perhaps, be patient, if they thought this the +mere sensuality of childhood in our nation, which it +might outgrow; but they think that they see the evil +widening, deepening, not only debasing the life, but +corrupting the thought of our people; and they feel that +if they know not well what should be done, yet that the +duty of every good man is to utter a protest against +what is done amiss. Is this protest undiscriminating? +Are these opinions crude? Do these proceedings threaten +to sap the bulwarks on which men at present depend? +I confess it all, yet I see in these men promise of a better +wisdom than in their opponents. Their hope for +man is grounded on his destiny as an immortal soul, and +not as a mere comfort-loving inhabitant of earth, or as a +subscriber<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> + to the social contract. It was not meant that +the soul should cultivate the earth, but that the earth +should educate and maintain the soul. Man is not made +for society, but society is made for man. No institution +can be good which does not tend to improve the individual. +In these principles I have confidence so profound, +that I am not afraid to trust those who hold them, +despite their partial views, imperfectly developed characters, +and frequent want of practical sagacity. I believe, +if they have opportunity to state and discuss +their opinions, they will gradually sift them, ascertain +their grounds and aims with clearness, and do the +work this country needs. I hope for them as for +the 'leaven that is hidden in the bushel of meal till all +be leavened.' The leaven is not good by itself, neither +is the meal; let them combine, and we shall yet have +bread."</p> + +<p>"Utopia it is impossible to build up; at least, my +hopes for the race on this one planet are more limited +than those of most of my friends; I accept the limitations +of human nature, and believe a wise acknowledgment +of them one of the best conditions of progress; +yet every noble scheme, every poetic manifestation, +prophesies to man his eventual destiny; and were not +man ever more sanguine than facts at the moment justify, +he would remain torpid, or be sunk in sensuality. +It is on this ground that I sympathize with what is +called the 'Transcendental Party,' and that I feel their +aim to be the true one. They acknowledge in the nature +of man an arbiter for his deeds—a standard transcending +sense and time—and are, in my view, the true +utilitarians. They are but at the beginning of their +course, and will, I hope, learn to make use of the past, +as well as to aspire for the future, and to be true in the +present moment."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Margaret Fuller's power lay in her faith in this +spiritual capacity. The confidence began with herself, +and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> + was extended to all others, without exception. Mr. +Channing says:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"Margaret cherished a trust in her powers, a confidence +in her destiny, and an ideal of her being, place +and influence, so lofty as to be extravagant. In the +morning hour and mountain air of aspiration, her +shadow moved before her, of gigantic size, upon the +snow-white vapor."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Mr. Clarke says:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"Margaret's life <i>had an aim</i>, and she was, therefore, +essentially a moral person, and not merely an overflowing +genius, in whom impulse gives birth to impulse, +deed to deed. This aim was distinctly apprehended +and steadily pursued by her from first to last. It was a +high, noble one, wholly religious, almost Christian. It +gave dignity to her whole career, and made it heroic.</p> + +<p>"This aim, from first to last, was <span class="smcap">SELF-CULTURE</span>. If +she was ever ambitious of knowledge and talent, as a +means of excelling others, and gaining fame, position, +admiration—this vanity had passed before I knew her, +and was replaced by the profound desire for a full +development of her whole nature, by means of a full +experience of life."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Speaking of her demands on others, her three biographers +agree that they were based on the expectation +in them of spiritual excellence:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"One thing only she demanded of all her friends—that +they should have some 'extraordinary generous +seeking;' that they should not be satisfied with the +common routine of life—that they should aspire to something +higher, better, holier, than they had now attained. +Where this element of aspiration existed, she demanded +no<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> + originality of intellect, no greatness of soul. If these +were found, well; but she could love, tenderly and +truly, where they were not.</p> + +<p>"She never formed a friendship until she had seen +and known this germ of good, and afterwards judged +conduct by this. To this germ of good, to this highest +law of each individual, she held them true.</p> + +<p>"Some of her friends were young, gay, and beautiful; +some old, sick, or studious; some were children of +the world, others pale scholars; some were witty, others +slightly dull; but all, in order to be Margaret's friends, +must be capable of seeking something—capable of some +aspiration for the better. And how did she glorify life +to all! All that was tame and common vanishing away +in the picturesque light thrown over the most familiar +things by her rapid fancy, her brilliant wit, her sharp +insight, her creative imagination, by the inexhaustible +resources of her knowledge, and the copious rhetoric, +which found words and images always apt and always +ready."</p> + +<p>"Margaret saw in each of her friends the secret interior +capability, which might be hereafter developed into +some special beauty or power. By means of this penetrating, +this prophetic insight, she gave each to himself, +acted on each to draw out his best nature; gave him an +ideal, out of which he could draw strength and liberty, +hour by hour. Thus her influence was ever ennobling, +and each felt that in her society he was truer, wiser, +better, and yet more free and happy than elsewhere. +The 'dry light,' which Lord Bacon loved, she never +knew: her light was life, was love, was warm with sympathy +and a boundless energy of affection and hope. +Though her love flattered and charmed her friends, it +did not spoil them, for they knew her perfect truth; +they knew that she loved them, not for what she imagined, +but for what she saw, though she saw it only in +the germ. But as the Greeks beheld a Persephone and +Athene in the passing stranger, and ennobled humanity +into ideal beauty, Margaret saw all her friends thus +idealized;<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span> + she was a balloon of sufficient power to take +us all up with her into the serene depth of heaven, +where she loved to float, far above the low details of +earthly life; earth lay beneath us as a lovely picture—its +sounds came up mellowed into music."</p> + +<p>"Margaret was, to persons younger than herself, a +Makaria and Natalia. She was wisdom and intellectual +beauty, filling life with a charm and glory 'known to +neither sea nor land.' To those of her own age, she was +sibyl and seer,—a prophetess, revealing the future, +pointing the path, opening their eyes to the great aims +only worthy of pursuit in life. To those older than herself, +she was like the Euphorion in Goethe's drama, +child of Faust and Helen,—a wonderful union of exuberance +and judgment, born of romantic fulness and classic +limitation. They saw with surprise her clear good sense, +balancing her flow of sentiment and ardent courage. +They saw her comprehension of both sides of every +question, and gave her their confidence, as to one of +equal age, because of so ripe a judgment."</p> + +<p>"An interview with her was a joyous event; worthy +men and women who had conversed with her, could not +forget her, but worked bravely on in the remembrance that +this heroic approver had recognized their aims. She +spoke so earnestly, that the depth of the sentiment prevailed, +and not the accidental expression, which might +chance to be common. Thus I learned the other day, +that in a copy of Mrs. Jameson's 'Italian Painters,' +against a passage describing Coreggio as a true servant +of God in his art, above sordid ambition, devoted to +truth, 'one of those superior beings of whom there are +so few;' Margaret wrote on the margin: 'And yet all +might be such.' The book lay long on the table of the +owner, in Florence, and chanced to be read there by an +artist of much talent. 'These words' said he, months +afterwards, 'struck out a new strength in me. They revived +resolutions long fallen away, and made me set my +face like a flint.'"</p> + +<p>"'Yes, my life is strange;' she said, 'thine is strange. +We<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> + are, we shall be, in this life, mutilated beings, but +there is in my bosom a faith, that I shall see the reason; a +glory, that I can endure to be so imperfect; and a feeling, +ever elastic, that fate and time shall have the shame and +the blame, if I am mutilated. I will do all I can,—and +if one cannot succeed, there is a beauty in martyrdom.'"</p> + +<p>"'Would not genius be common as light if men trusted +their higher selves?'"</p> + +<p>"She won the confidence and affection of those who +attracted her, by unbounded sympathy and trust. She +probably knew the cherished secrets of more hearts than +any one else, because she freely imparted her own. +With a full share both of intellectual and of family pride, +she preëminently recognized and responded to the essential +brotherhood of all human kind, and needed but to +know that a fellow being required her counsel or assistance, +to render her not merely willing, but eager to impart +it. Loving ease, luxury, and the world's good +opinion, she stood ready to renounce them all, at the +call of pity or of duty. I think no one, not radically +averse to the whole system of domestic servitude, would +have treated servants, of whatever class, with such uniform +and thoughtful consideration—a regard which +wholly merged their factitious condition in their antecedent +and permanent humanity. I think few servants +ever lived weeks with her, who were not dignified and +lastingly benefited by her influence and her counsels. +They might be at first repelled, by what seemed her too +stately manner and exacting disposition, but they soon +learned to esteem and love her.</p> + +<p>"I have known few women, and scarcely another +maiden, who had the heart and the courage to speak with +such frank compassion, in mixed circles, of the most +degraded and outcast portion of the sex. The contemplation +of their treatment, especially by the guilty authors +of their ruin, moved her to a calm and mournful +indignation, which she did not attempt to suppress +nor control. Others were willing to pity and deplore; +Margaret<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> + was more inclined to vindicate and to +redeem.</p> + +<p>"'In the chamber of death,' she wrote, 'I prayed in +very early years: "Give me truth; cheat me by no illusion." +O, the granting of this prayer is sometimes terrible +to me! I walk over burning ploughshares, and +they sear my feet; yet nothing but truth will do; no +love will serve that is not eternal, and as large as the +universe; no philanthropy, in executing whose behests I +myself become unhealthy; no creative genius which +bursts asunder my life, to leave it a poor black chrysalid +behind; and yet this last is too true of me.'"</p></blockquote> + +<p>Margaret Fuller did justice to the character of +Fourier, admired his enthusiasm, honored his devotion, +acknowledged the terrible nature of the evils he gave +the study of a life-time to correct, and paid an unstinting +tribute to the disinterested motives that impelled +him; but with his scheme for refashioning society she +had no sympathy. William H. Channing was an intimate +friend, whose sincerity had her deepest respect, +whose enthusiasm won her cordial admiration; she listened +to his brilliant expositions of socialism, but was not +persuaded. Practical difficulties always appeared, and +she never could believe that any rearrangement of circumstances +would effect the regeneration of mankind. +She was acquainted from the first with the experiment +of Brook Farm; knew the founders of it; watched +with genuine solicitude the inauguration of the scheme +and its fortunes; talked over the principles and details +of it with the leading spirits; visited the community; +examined for herself the working of the plan; gave her +talent to the entertainment and edification of the associates; +discerned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> + with clear eye the distinctions between +this experiment and those of European origin; but still +questioned the practical wisdom of the institution, and +declined to join the fraternity, even on the most flattering +terms, for the reason that, interested as she was in +the experiment, it was, in her judgment, too purely an +experiment to be personally and practically sanctioned +by one who had no more faith in its fundamental principles +than she.</p> + +<p>She was not to be thrown off from her essential position, +the primacy and all sufficiency of the soul. No +misery or guilt daunted her, no impatience at slowness +tempted her to resort to artificial methods of cure. Her +visit to Sing Sing, and her intercourse with the abandoned +women there was exceedingly interesting in this +view.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"'They listened with earnest attention, and many were +moved to tears. I never felt such sympathy with an audience +as when, at the words "Men and Brethren," that +sea of faces, marked with the scars of every ill, were up-turned, +and the shell of brutality burst apart at the +touch of love. I knew that at least heavenly truth would +not be kept out by self complacence and dependence on +good appearances.... These women were among +the so-called worst, and all from the lowest haunts of vice. +Yet nothing could have been more decorous than their +conduct, while it was also frank; and they showed a +sensibility and sense of propriety which would not have +disgraced any society.'"</p> + +<p>"She did not hesitate to avow that, on meeting some +of these abused, unhappy sisters, she had been surprised +to find them scarcely fallen morally below the ordinary +standard of womanhood,—realizing and loathing their +debasement;<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> + anxious to escape it; and only repelled by +the sad consciousness that for them sympathy and +society remained only so long as they should persist in +the ways of pollution."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Margaret Fuller's loyalty to principles was proof +against bad taste; which is saying a good deal, for many +a reformer is of opinion that blunders are worse than +crimes, and that vulgarity is more offensive than wickedness. +She found the Fourierites in Europe terribly wearisome, +and yet did not forget that they served the great +future which neither they nor she would live to see. At +home she could not endure the Abolitionists—"they +were so tedious, often so narrow, always so rabid and +exaggerated in their tone. But, after all, they had a +high motive, something eternal in their desire and life; +and if it was not the only thing worth thinking of, it +was really something worth living and dying for, to free +a great nation from such a blot, such a plague." In +Europe she was disgusted at hearing Americans urging +the same arguments against the freedom of the Italians +that they urged at home against the emancipation of +the blacks; the same arguments in favor of the spoliation +of Poland that they used at home in favor of the +conquest of Mexico. With her, principles were independent +of time and place. She always believed in liberty +as a condition of enlightenment, and in enlightenment as +a condition of progress. This practical faith in the intellectual +and moral nature is the key to all her work. +Every chamber that opened she entered and occupied, +fearless of ghosts and goblins. The chambers that +opened<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> + not she was content to leave unopened altogether.</p> + +<p>On the table where the writer pens this poor tribute +to a most remarkable woman, are the bulky volumes of +her unpublished letters and diaries, revealing some things +too personal for the public eye, but nothing in the least +incongruous with the best things recorded by her biographers +and suggested here; and how much they tell +that illustrates and confirms the moral nobleness and +sweetness of her nature. They contain a psychometric +examination from two letters, given after the manner +familiar to those interested in such things, by one of the +chief of these spiritual vaticinators. We shall not transcribe +it, for it is long and indistinct. The indistinctness +is the one interesting feature of the sketch. The sensitive +reporter confessed herself put out by the singular +commingling of moods and dispositions, and seemed to +be describing several persons in one. But through them +all the same general impression was clear; the impression +of a fascinating, lovable, earnest and lofty spirit, +which, whether sad or gay, intellectual or sentimental, +bore itself like a queenly woman.</p> + +<p>When the news of her death reached Boston, one of +Boston's eminent men in letters and public affairs quietly +remarked: "it is just as well so." He was thinking of +the agitation she might cause by her brilliant conversations +and her lightning pen, if she brought back from +her Italian heroisms the high spirit of liberty. The +times were growing dark in America. The Slave Power +was drawing its lines closer about the citadel of freedom. +The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> + brave voices were few and fewer; the conservatives +were glad when one was hushed by death. The movement +she had encouraged was waning. The high enthusiasm +was smouldering in breasts that anticipated the +battle which came ten years later. The period of poetic +aspiration and joy was ended, and the priestess, had +she survived, would have found a deserted shrine.</p> + +<p>No accessible portrait of Margaret Fuller exists, that +worthily presents her. Thomas Hicks painted a likeness, +of cabinet size, in Rome, which her friends approved. +The daguerreotype was too painfully literal to +be just; the sun having no sentiment or imagination in his +eye. She was not beautiful in youth, nor was she one +of those who gain beauty with years. Her physical attractions +were of the kind that time impairs soon, and +though she died at forty, her personal charm was gone. +Intellect gave her what beauty she had, and they saw it +who saw her intellect at play. Her image, therefore, is +best preserved in the memory of her friends. They +cannot put it on exhibition.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span></p> +<p class="center big"><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>XII.</p> + +<h2>THE PREACHER.</h2> + + +<p>Transcendentalism is usually spoken of as a philosophy. +It is more justly regarded as a gospel. As a +philosophy it is abstract and difficult—purely metaphysical +in character, resting on no basis of observed +and scientifically-proven fact, but on the so-called data +of consciousness, which cannot be accurately defined, +distinctly verified, or generally recommended. It must +be, therefore, inexact and inconclusive; so far from uniform +in its structure, that it may rather be considered +several systems than one. As a gospel, it possesses all +the qualities desirable for effect. It is worth remarking +that its chief disciples have been clergymen. In Germany, +Schleiermacher—if we may count him a Transcendentalist; +he was the author of the doctrine, that the +essence of religion consisted in the <i>sense of dependence</i>, +which figured largely in the sermons of New England +divines—was a clergyman; Fichte assumed the prophetic +tone; the German professors associated religious +teaching with the duties of their chairs. In England, +Coleridge was a preacher by practice, and, part of his +life, by profession; Carlyle was never anything else, his +essays and even his histories being sermons in disguise, +and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> + disguise of the most transparent sort. In New +England, Emerson began his career as a Unitarian minister; +so did Walker; so did Ripley; so did W. H. +Channing; so did J. S. Dwight; so did C. P. Cranch. +Dr. Channing, a Transcendentalist without knowing it, +was the greatest preacher of his generation. Brownson +was a preacher of all orders in succession; Bartol +preaches still; Clarke preaches still. Of the younger +men, Johnson, Longfellow, Wasson, Higginson, are, or +were, Unitarian clergymen. Alcott is a preacher without +a pulpit. The order of mind that was attracted to +the ministry was attracted to the Transcendental ideas.</p> + +<p>The explanation is easy; Transcendentalism possessed +all the chief qualifications for a gospel. Its cardinal +"facts" were few and manageable. Its data were secluded +in the recesses of consciousness, out of the reach +of scientific investigation, remote from the gaze of vulgar +skepticism; esoteric, having about them the charm +of a sacred privacy, on which common sense and the +critical understanding might not intrude. Its oracles +proceeded from a shrine, and were delivered by a priest +or priestess, who came forth from an interior holy of +holies to utter them, and thus were invested with the air +of authority which belongs to exclusive and privileged +truths, that revealed themselves to minds of a contemplative +cast. It dealt entirely with "divine things," +"eternal realities;" supersensible forms of thought; +problems that lay out of the reach of observation, such +as the essential cause, spiritual laws, the life after death, +the essence of the good, the beautiful, the true; the +ideal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> + possibilities of the soul; its organ was intuition; +its method was introspection: its brightness was inspiration. +It possessed the character of indefiniteness and +mystery, full of sentiment and suggestion, that fascinates +the imagination, and lends itself so easily to acts of contemplation +and worship. The German Mystics were in +spirit Transcendentalists. The analogies are close between +Boehme and Schelling; between Eckardt and +Fichte; Frederick Schlegel had much in common with +Boehme; Coleridge acknowledged his debt to him and +to other Mystics; even Hegel ran in line with them on +some of his high roads. Minds as opposite as Alcott +and Parker met in communion here—Alcott going to +the Mystics for inspiration; Parker resorting to them +for rest. The Mystics were men of feeling; the Transcendentalists +were men of thought: but thought and +feeling sought the same object in the same region. +Piety was a feature of Transcendentalism; it loved devout +hymns, music, the glowing language of aspiration, +the moods of awe and humility, emblems, symbols, expressions +of inarticulate emotion, silence, contemplation, +breathings after communion with the Infinite. The +poetry of Transcendentalism is religious, with scarcely +an exception; the most beautiful hymns in our sacred +collections, the only deeply impressive hymns, are by +transcendental writers.</p> + +<p>This was the aspect of Transcendentalism that fascinated +Theodore Parker. His intellect was constructed +on the English model. His acute observation; his passion +for external facts; his faith in statistics; his hunger +for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> + information on all external topics of history and +politics; his capacity for retaining details of miscellaneous +knowledge; his logical method of reasoning; his +ability to handle masses of raw mental material, to distribute +and classify;—all indicate intellectual power of the +English rather than of the German type. It was his custom +to speak slightingly of the "Bridgewater Treatises" +and works of a similar class, in which the processes of +inductive argument are employed to establish truths of +the "Pure Reason;" but he easily fell into the same +habit, and pushed the inductive method as far as it +would go. His discourses on Providence, the Economy +of Pain and Misery, Atheism, Theism, in the volume +entitled "Theism, Atheism, and The Popular Theology," +are quite in the style of the "Bridgewater Treatises." +Parker was, in many respects, the opposite of a Mystic; +he was a realist of the most concrete description, entirely +at home among sensible things, a good administrator, a +safe investor of moneys, a wise counsellor in practical +affairs. But along with this intellectual quality which +he inherited from his father, was an interior, sentimental, +devotional quality, derived from his mother. The +two were never wholly blended; often they were wide +apart, occupying different spheres, and engaged in different +offices; sometimes they were in apparent opposition. +Neither could subdue or overshadow the other; +neither could keep the other long in abeyance. As a +rule, the dominion was divided between them: the practical +understanding assumed control of all matters pertaining +to this world; the higher reason claimed supremacy +in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> + all matters of faith. But for the tendency +to poetic idealism, which came to him from his mother, +Parker might, from the constitution of his mind, have +belonged to an opposite school. A passage in the letter +from Santa Cruz, entitled "Theodore Parker's Experience +as a Minister," is curious, as showing how the two +tendencies of his mind overlapped; he is speaking of +the two methods of developing the contents "of the instinctive +intuitions of the divine, the just, and the immortal,"—the +inductive and the deductive. After a few +words respecting the inductive method of gathering +facts from the history of mankind, he speaks thus of the +deductive: "Next, from the primitive facts of consciousness +given by the power of instinctive intuition, I +endeavored to deduce the true notion of God, of justice, +and futurity." Then, forgetting that the power of instinctive +intuition must be self-authenticating—cannot, +at any rate, be authenticated by miscellaneous facts in +the religious history of mankind—he continues:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"To learn what I could about the spiritual faculties +of man, I not only studied the sacred books of various +nations, the poets and philosophers who professedly +treat thereof, but also such as deal with sleep-walking, +dreams, visions, prophecies, second-sight, oracles, ecstasies, +witchcraft, magic-wonders, the appearance of +devils, ghosts, and the like. Besides, I studied other +works which lie out from the regular highway of theology; +the spurious books attributed to famous Jews and +Christians; Pseudepigraphy of the Old Testament, +and the Apocrypha of the New; with the strange fantasies +of the Neoplatonists and Gnostics."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Very important reading all this for one who studied +to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> + qualify himself to instruct his fellow men in the natural +history of the world's religions; but not so valuable as +illustrating the "instinctive intuitions of human nature." +Kant, Fichte, Schelling, Hegel, Boehme, Eckardt, never +worked by that method, which may properly be called +the method of Sensationalism applied to Transcendentalism. +Parker, on the religious side, was a pure Transcendentalist +without guile, accepting the transcendental +ideas with no shadow of qualification; stating them with +the concrete sharpness of scientific propositions, and +applying them with the exactness of mathematical principles. +He took them as he found them in the writings +of the great German thinkers; shaped them as he, better +than any body else, could shape thought in form of +words,—as he shaped the formula of republican government—"government +of the people, by the people, for +the people"—from the looser statement of Daniel Webster,—and +laid them down as corner-stones of a new +theological structure. The materials were furnished by +Schleiermacher, Spinoza, Jacobi, Schelling; the architectural +skill was his own. Consciousness he did not +undertake to analyze; the "facts of consciousness" he +took on others' verification; their spiritual import he +perceived, developed and applied. Transcendentalism +put into his hands the implements he was in special +need of.</p> + +<p>It is not easy to determine the precise period at which +Parker fully accepted, with all its consequences, the +transcendental philosophy. He was not a Transcendentalist—not +distinctly and avowedly one—at the time of +his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span> + ordination, in 1837; he clearly was in 1840, the date +of the Levi Blodgett letter, which contains the most +thorough-going statement of the transcendental idea to +be found in any single tractate. The probability is, that +he always was one in sentiment, and became more and +more consciously one in thought, as he found it necessary +to shift his position in order to save his faith. So +long as the beliefs he cherished seemed to be satisfactorily +supported on the old grounds, he was content; +but as the old grounds, one after another, gave way, the +beliefs were transferred to the keeping of new principles. +Then the sentiments of his youth hardened into +ideas; the delicate creatures that lived and gleamed beneath +the waters of faith's tropical ocean, became reefs +of white stone, that lifted their broad surface above the +level of the sea, and offered immovable support to human +habitations.</p> + +<p>Parker was, more than anything, a preacher;—preacher +more than theologian, philosopher or scholar. Whatever +else he was, contributed to his greatness in this. +He had a profuse gift of language; expression was a +necessity to him; his thoughts came swiftly, and clothed +in attractive garments; he had wit, and he had humor; +laughter and tears were equally at his command. His +resources of illustration, drawn from history, literature, +biography, nature, were simply inexhaustible; the fruits +of enormous reading were at the immediate disposal of a +memory that never lost a trifle of the stores committed +to it. The religious emotions were as genuine with him +as they were quick, and as deep as they were glowing: +the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span> + human sympathies were wide as the widest, and +tender as the tenderest. He had the power of persuasion +and of rebuke, a withering sarcasm, a winning compassion. +His indignation at wrong was not so qualified +by sentimental regard for the wrong doer that invective +was wasted on lifeless abstractions, nor was his judgment +of evil doers so austere that wickedness escaped by +being made incredible. It cannot be said of anybody that +he has been able to discriminate nicely, in hours of +moral feeling, between wrong doers and wrong deeds; +that cannot be done in the present state of psychological +science. We simply do not know what the limits of +personal responsibility are; how much power is entrusted +to the will; how much allowance is to be made for temperament +and circumstance; at what point the individual +is detached from the mass of mankind, and constituted +an accountable person. Parker was guilty, as others are, +of personal injustice in holding individuals answerable +for sins of their generation, and for vices transmitted +with their blood; conscience and charity were occasionally +at issue with him; but if righteousness was betrayed +into intemperance of zeal, peace made haste to +offer its kiss of sorrow, and unaffected tears damped +down the flames of wrath when they threatened to consume +the innocent. This two-fold power of blasting +and of blessing, was vastly effective both on large audiences +and on small. The personal integrity which no +one ever doubted, the courage which was evident to +even hasty observers, the mental independence which +justified the boldness of its position by an indefatigable +purpose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span> + to discover truth, were prime qualifications for +the office he filled. The very disadvantages,—an unheroic +presence, an uninspired countenance, an unmelodious +and unpliable voice, the necessity of interposing +glasses between his clear blue eyes and his audience, +and thus veiling the heavens that lay behind them,—helped +him by putting out of mind all thought of meretricious +attempts at influence, and compelling recognition +of the intellectual and moral force which could so easily +dispense with what most orators consider invaluable +aids.</p> + +<p>All that Parker had went into his preaching; the +wealth of his library, the treasures of his heart, the +sweetness of his closet meditations, the solemnity of his +lonely musings. But it was not this that gave him his +great power as a preacher. That, we are persuaded, was +due in chief part to the earnestness of his faith in the +transcendental philosophy. How cordially he entertained +that faith, what to him it signified in politics, +ethics, religion, may be learned by any who will take +pains to read a lecture by him on Transcendentalism, +recently published by the Free Religious Association. +That he ascribed the popular interest in his preaching +to his philosophical ideas will not perhaps be +accepted as evidence on the point, for men are apt +to be mistaken in regard to the sources of their +power; but it is interesting as a testimony to his own +belief, to know that he did so. In a sermon preached +on November 14th, 1852, the occasion being his leaving +the Melodeon for the Music Hall, he presents first the +current<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span> + modes of accounting for his success, and then +his own.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"The first reason assigned for the audience coming together +was this: they came from vain curiosity, having +itching ears to hear 'what this babbler sayeth.'</p> + +<p>"Then it was said, men came here because I taught +utter irreligion, blank immorality; that I had no love +of God, no fear of God, no love of man; and that you +thought, if you could get rid of your conscience and +soul, and trample immortality under foot, and were +satisfied there was no God, you should have a very nice +time of it here and hereafter.</p> + +<p>"Then it was declared that I was a shrewd, practical +man, perfectly well 'posted up' in every thing that +took place; knew how to make investments and get +very large returns,—unluckily it has not been for myself +that this has been true. And it was said that I collected +large headed, practical men to hear me, and that +you were a 'boisterous assembly.'</p> + +<p>"Then, that I was a learned man and gave learned discourses +on ecclesiastical history or political history,—things +which have not been found very attractive in the +churches hitherto.</p> + +<p>"Again, that I was a philosopher, with a wise head, +and taught men theological metaphysics; and so a large +company of men seemed all at once smitten with a +panic for metaphysics and abstract preaching. It was +never so before.</p> + +<p>"Next it was reported that I was a witty man, and shot +nicely feathered arrows very deftly into the mark; and +that men came to attend the sharp shooting of a wit.</p> + +<p>"Then there was a seventh thing,—that I was an eloquent +man; and I remember certain diatribes against the +folly of filling churches with eloquence.</p> + +<p>"Then again, it was charged against me that I was a +philanthropist, and taught the love of men, but did not +teach at all the love of God; and that men really loved +to love one another, and so came.</p> + +<p>"Then<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span> + it was thought that I was a sentimentalist, and +tickled the ears of 'weak women,' who came to delight +themselves and be filled full of poetry and love.</p> + +<p>"The real thing they did not seem to hit; that I +preached an idea of God, of man and of religion, which +commended itself to the nature of mankind."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The great preacher is always an idealist, and according +to the fervor of his idealism is he great. This was +the source of Channing's power; it was the charm of +Emerson's. In reply to a friend who questioned her as +to the nature of the benefits conferred on her by Mr. +Emerson's preaching, Margaret Fuller wrote:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"His influence has been more beneficial to me than +that of any American, and from him I first learned what +is meant by an inward life. Many other springs have +since fed the stream of living waters, but he first opened +the fountain. That the 'mind is its own place' was a +dead phrase to me till he cast light upon my mind. +Several of his sermons stand apart in memory, like +landmarks of my spiritual history. It would take a +volume to tell what this one influence did for me."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Mr. Parker's ministry had three periods, in each of +which the ideal element was the attraction. The first +was the period of quiet influence in West Roxbury, +where the stream of his spiritual life flowed peacefully +through green pastures, and enriched simple hearts with +its unintermitted current. Accounts agree that at this +time there was a soul of sweetness in his preaching, that +was a good deal more than the body of its thought. +The second was the period at the Boston Melodeon, the +first of his experience before the crowd of a metropolis. +This<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span> + was the controversial epoch, and, from the nature +of the case, was largely polemical and negative as towards +the popular theology. But even then the strain +of spiritual faith was heard above the din of battle, and +souls that were averse to polemics were fed by the enthusiasm +that came from the inner heights of aspiration. +The last period was that of the Music Hall—the famous +period. Then the faith was defined and formulated; +the corner-stones were hewn and set; the fundamental +positions were announced with the fidelity of iteration +that was customary with the "painful preachers of the +Word" in churches where people were duly stretched +upon the Five Points of Calvin. The three cardinal attestations +of the universal human consciousness—</p> + +<p class="ind"> +The Absolute God,<br /> +The Moral Law,<br /> +The Immortal Life,<br /> +</p> + +<p>were asseverated with all the earnestness of the man, +and declared to be the constituent elements of the Rock +of Ages.</p> + +<p>Standing on this tripod, Parker spoke as one having +authority; he judged other creeds—Orthodox, Unitarian, +Scientific—with the confidence of one who felt +that he had inspiration on his side. It was difficult for +him to understand how, without his faith, others could +be happy. The believers in tradition seemed to him +people who walked near precipices, leaning on broken +reeds; the unbelievers were people who walked near +the same precipices, with bandaged eyes.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span></p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"If to-morrow I am to perish utterly, then I shall +only take counsel for to-day, and ask for qualities which +last no longer. My fathers will be to me only as the +ground out of which my bread-corn is grown; dead, +they are like the rotten mould of earth, their memory +of small concern to me. Posterity—I shall care nothing +for the future generations of mankind. I am one atom +in the trunk of a tree, and care nothing for the roots +below or the branches above; I shall sow such seed as +will bear harvest to-day; I shall know no higher law; +passion enacts my statutes to-day; to-morrow ambition +revises the statutes, and these are my sole legislators; +morality will vanish, expediency take its place; heroism +will be gone, and instead of it there will be the brute +valor of the he-wolf, the brute-cunning of the she-fox, +the rapacity of the vulture, and the headlong daring of +the wild bull; but the cool, calm courage which, for +truth's sake, and for love's sake, looks death firmly in +the face, and then wheels into line, ready to be slain—that +will be a thing no longer heard of."</p> + +<p>"The atheist sits down beside the coffin of his only +child—a rose-bud daughter, whose heart death slowly +ate away; the pale lilies of the valley which droop with +fragrance above that lifeless heart, are flowers of mockery +to him, their beauty is a cheat; they give not back +his child, for whom the sepulchral monster opens his remorseless +jaws. The hopeless father looks down on the +face of his girl, silent—not sleeping, cold—dead.... +He looks beyond—the poor sad man—it is only solid +darkness he looks on; no rainbow beautifies that cloud; +there is thunder in it, not light; night is behind—without +a star."</p></blockquote> + +<p>This is the way the Protestant Christians spoke of +him; the "Evangelicals" spoke thus of the Unitarians; +the believers in miraculous revelations spoke thus of the +rationalists. They that are sure always speak so of +those<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span> + who, in their judgment, have no right to be sure +at all.</p> + +<p>Yet Parker had a hospitable mind, and his hospitality +was due also to his faith. The spiritual philosophy +which maintained the identity in all men of consciousness, +and the eternal validity of its promises, which no +error or petulance could discredit, was indulgent to the +unfortunates who had not the satisfaction of its assurance. +It pitied, but did not reproach them. They +were children of God no less for being ignorant of their +dignity. It was impossible for Parker to believe that +rational beings could be utterly insensible to the essential +facts of their own nature. Their error, misconception, +misconstruction, to whatever cause due, could be +no more than incidental. Skepticism might make wild +work of definitions, but ultimate facts it could never +disturb; these would thrust themselves up at last, as inevitably +as the rocky substratum of the globe presents +itself in the green field. In a thanksgiving sermon he +thanked God that atheism could freely deliver its creed +and prove that it was folly. He was persuaded that the +disbelievers believed better than they knew; in their +paroxysms of denial, he saw the blind struggles of faith; +he gave the enemies of religion credit for qualities that +made their hostility look like a heroic protest against +the outrages inflicted in the name of religion upon religion +itself.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"It is a fact of history, that in old time, from Epicurus +to Seneca, some of the ablest heads and best +hearts of Greece and Rome sought to destroy the idea +of<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span> + immortality. This was the reason: they saw it +was a torment to mankind; that the popular notion of +immortality was too bad to be true; and so they took +pains to break down the Heathen Mythology, though +with it they destroyed the notion of immortal life. They +did a great service to mankind in ridding us from this +yoke of fear.</p> + +<p>"Many a philosopher has seemed without religion, +even to a careful observer—sometimes has passed for an +atheist. Some of them have to themselves seemed +without any religion, and have denied that there was +any God; but all the while their nature was truer than +their will; their instinct kept their personal wholeness +better than they were aware. These men loved absolute +truth, not for its uses, but for itself; they laid down +their lives for it, rather than violate the integrity of their +intellect. They had the intellectual love of God, though +they knew it not, though they denied it.</p> + +<p>"I have known philanthropists who undervalued +piety; they liked it not—they said it was moonshine, +not broad day; it gave flashes of lightning, all of which +would not make light.... Yet underneath their +philanthropy there lay the absolute and disinterested +love of other men. They knew only the special form, +not the universal substance thereof.</p> + +<p>"Men of science, as a class, do not war on the truths, +the goodness and the piety that are taught as religion, +only on the errors, the evil, the impiety which bear its +name. Science is the natural ally of religion. Shall +we try and separate what God has joined? We injure +both by the attempt. The philosophers of this age +have a profound love of truth, and show great industry +and boldness in search thereof. In the name of truth +they pluck down the strongholds of error—venerable +and old.</p> + +<p>"All the attacks made on religion itself by men of +science, from Celsus to Feuerbach, have not done so +much to bring religion into contempt as a single persecution +for<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> + witchcraft, or a Bartholomew massacre made +in the name of God."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Parker had human sympathies strong and deep, and +could never have been indifferent to the pains and misery +of his fellow creatures; yet these sympathies owed their +persistency, their endurance, and their indomitable +sweetness, to the spiritual faith which he professed. He +had a passionate head-strong nature; he knew the +charm of pleasant looks, congenial companions, elegant +and luxurious circumstances. His love of leisure was +keen; it was the desire of his life to enjoy the scholar's +privilege of uninterrupted hours, in the delicious seclusion +of the library. With a different philosophy he +would have been a very different man. The creed he +held made self-indulgence impossible.</p> + +<p>"I have always taught," he said—in a sermon before +quoted, the last he preached in the Melodeon—"that +the religious faculty is the natural ruler in all the commonwealth +of man; the importance of religion, and its +commanding power in every relation of life. This is +what I have continually preached, and some of you will +remember that the first sermon I addressed to you was on +this theme:—The absolute necessity of religion for safely +conducting the life of the individual, and the life of the +State. You knew very well I did not begin too soon; +yet I did not then foresee that it would soon be denied in +America, in Boston, that there was any law higher +than an Act of Congress." The allusion is to the Fugitive +Slave Bill then recently enacted, which brought +to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> + a close issue the controversy between the Abolitionists +and the Government, and imposed on Mr. Parker +and the rest who felt as he did, duties of watchfulness +and self-denial, that for years put to flight all thoughts +of personal ease.</p> + +<p>He continues:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"Woman I have always regarded as the equal of man—more +nicely speaking, the equivalent of man; superior +in some things, inferior in some others; inferior in +the lower qualities, in bulk of body and bulk of brain; +superior in the higher and nicer qualities—in the moral +power of conscience, the loving power of affection, the +religious power of the soul; equal on the whole, and of +course entitled to just the same rights as man; the same +rights of mind, body and estate; the same domestic, social, +ecclesiastical, and political rights as man, and only +kept from the enjoyment of these by might, not right; +yet herself destined one day to acquire them all."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The belief in the spiritual eminence of woman was +part of the creed of the Transcendentalist; it was intimately +connected with his reverence for interior, poetic, +emotional natures; with his preference for feeling above +thought, of spontaneity above will. In the order of +rank, Parker assigned the first place to the "religious +faculty," as he termed it, which gave immediate vision of +spiritual truth; the second place was given to the affections; +conscience he ranked below these; and lowest of +all stood the intellect. The rational powers were held +subordinate to the instinctive, or rather the rational and +the instinctive were held to be coincident. The feminine +characteristic being affection, which is spontaneous, +and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> + the masculine being intellect, which is not, the +feminine was set above the masculine—love above light, +pity above justice, sympathy above rectitude, compassion +above equity. Parker had feminine attributes, and +was slightly enamored of them; thought, or tried to +think them the glory of his manhood; but the masculine +greatly predominated in him. To people in general +he seemed to reverse his own order, in practice. Weak, +dependent, dreamy men he had no patience with; sentimentalism +was his aversion; the moral element alone +commanded his absolute respect. Masculine women +were equally distasteful; while he admired the genius +of Margaret Fuller, his personal attraction toward her +seldom brought him into her society. That a man constituted +as he was, self-reliant to aggressiveness, inclined +to be arbitrary, dogmatical, and imperious, of prodigious +force of will and masterly power of conscience, +entered as he did into advocacy of the rights of the +African and the prerogatives of woman, is evidence of +the whole-heartedness with which he adopted the transcendental +philosophy. It was, indeed, a faith to him, +that ruled his life and appointed his career. It gave +him his commission as prophet, reformer, philanthropist. +It was the consecrating oil that sanctified him, from the +crown of his head to the soles of his feet.</p> + +<p>Parker believed in the gospel of Transcendentalism, +and was fully persuaded that it was to be the gospel of +the future. "The religion I preach," he was accustomed +to say, "will be the religion of enlightened men for the +next thousand years." He anticipated an earthly immortality +for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> + his thought, an extensive circulation of his +books, a swift course for his word, among the people. +The expectation seemed not unreasonable twenty years +ago.</p> + +<p>The prediction has not thus far been justified. Parker +died in 1860, on the eve of the civil war, which he prognosticated, +sixteen years ago. The war fairly ended, +efforts were made to revive the prophet's memory and +carry out the cherished purpose of his heart. But their +ill success has gone far to prove—what needed no evidence—that +prophecies may fail, and tongues cease and +knowledge pass away. The philosophy that Parker combated +and ridiculed and cast scorn at, declared to be self-refuted +and self-condemned, has revived under a new +name, as the "philosophy of experience," is professed +by the ablest thinkers of the day, taught in high places, +in the name of science, set forth as the hope of man; the +creeds he pronounced irrational, and fancied to be obsolete +still hold nominal sway over the minds of men; the +Christianity of the letter and the form is the only Christianity +that is officially acknowledged; the gospel is an institution +still, not a faith; revivalism has the monopoly of +religious enthusiasm; preaching is giving place to +lecturing; the pulpit has been taken down; science +alone is permitted to speak with authority;—literature, +journalism, politics, trade, attract the young men that +once sought the ministry; the noble preachers of a +noble gospel are the few remaining idealists, who have +kept the faith of their youth; they are growing old; +one by one they leave their place, and there are none +like<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span> + them to fill it. Parker was one of the last of the +grand preachers who spoke with power, bearing commission +from the soul. The commissions which the soul +issues are, for the time being, discredited, and discredited +they will be, so long as the ideal philosophy is an outcast +among men. Should that philosophy revive, the +days of great preaching will return with it. Bibles will +be read and hymns sung, and sermons delivered to +crowds from pulpits. The lyceum and the newspaper +will occupy a subordinate position as means of social +and moral influence, and the prophets will recover their +waning reputation. Until then, the work they did +when living must attest their greatness with such as can +estimate it at its worth.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span></p> +<p class="center big"><a name="XIII" id="XIII"></a>XIII.</p> + +<h2>THE MAN OF LETTERS.</h2> + + +<p>The man who was as influential as any in planting the +seeds of the transcendental philosophy in good soil, and +in showing whither its principles tended, is known now, +and has from the first been known, chiefly as a man of +letters, a thoughtful observer, a careful student and a +serious inquirer after knowledge. George Ripley, one +year older than Emerson, was one of the forerunners and +prophets of the new dispensation. He was by temperament +as well as by training, a scholar, a reader of books, +a discerner of opinions, a devotee of ideas. A mind of +such clearness and serenity, accurate judgment, fine +taste, and rare skill in the use of language, written and +spoken, was of great value in introducing, defining and +interpreting the vast, vague thoughts that were burning +in the minds of speculative men. He was one of the +first in America to master the German language; and, +his bent of mind being philosophical and theological, he +became a medium through which the French and German +thought found its way to New England. He was +an importer, reader and lender of the new books of the +living Continental thinkers. His library contained a +rich + collection of works in philosophy, theology, hermeneutics, +criticism<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span> + of the Old and New Testaments, and +divinity in its different branches of dogmatics and sentiment. +He was intimate with N. L. Frothingham and +Convers Francis, the admirable scholar, the hospitable +and independent thinker, the enthusiastic and humane +believer, the centre and generous distributor of copious +intellectual gifts to all who came within his reach. Theodore +Parker was the intellectual product of these two +men, Convers Francis and George Ripley. The former +fed his passion for knowledge; the latter, at the period +of his life in the divinity school, gave direction to his +thought. The books that did most to determine the set +of Parker's mind were taken from Mr. Ripley's library. +For a considerable time, in Parker's early ministry, they +were close and thoroughly congenial friends. They +walked and talked together; made long excursions; +attended conventions; were members of the same club +or coterie; joined in the discussions at which Emerson, +Channing, Hedge, Clark, Alcott took part; and, though +parted, in after life, by circumstances which appointed +them to different spheres of labor,—one in Boston, the +other in New York,—they continued to the end, constant +and hearty well wishers. At the close of his life, Parker +expressed a hope that Ripley might be his biographer.</p> + +<p>Mr. Ripley prepared for the ministry at the Cambridge +divinity school; in 1826 accepted a call to be +pastor and preacher of the church, organized but eighteen +months before, and within two months worshipping +in their new meeting-house on Purchase street, Boston. +The ordination took place on Wednesday, Nov. 8th, of +the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span> + same year. "Under his charge," said his successor, +Rev. J. I. T. Coolidge, in 1848, "the society grew from +very small beginnings to strength and prosperity. As a +preacher, he awakened the deepest interest, and as a +devoted pastor, the warmest affection, which still survives, +deep and strong, in the hearts of those who were +the objects of his counsel and pastoral care. After the +lapse of almost fifteen years, the connection was dissolved, +for reasons which affected not the least the relations +of friendship and mutual respect between the parties. +It has been a great satisfaction to me, as I have +passed in and out among you, to hear again and again +the expressions of love and interest with which you remember +the ministry of your first servant in this church." +That this was not merely the formal tribute which the +courtesies of the profession exacted, is proved, as well +as such a thing can be proved, by the published correspondence +between the pastor and his people, by the +frank declarations of the pastor in his farewell address, +and by a remarkable letter, which discussed in full the +causes that led to the separation of the pastor and his +flock. In this long and candid letter to the church, +Mr. Ripley declared himself a Transcendentalist, and +avowed his sympathy with movements larger than the +Christian Church represented.</p> + +<p>The declaration was hardly necessary. Mr. Ripley +was known to be the writer of the review of Martineau's +"Rationale of Religious Enquiry," which +raised such heated controversy; his translation of +Cousin's "Philosophical Miscellanies," with its important +Introduction,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> + had attracted the attention of literary +circles; a volume of discourses, entitled "Discourses +on the Philosophy of Religion," comprising seven sermons +delivered in the regular course of his ministry, left +no doubt in any mind respecting his position. The controversy +with Andrews Norton on "The Latest Form +of Infidelity," was carried on in 1840, the year before +Mr. Ripley's ministry ended. The calmness of tone +that characterized all these writings, the clearness and +serenity of statement, the seemingly easy avoidance of +extremes, the absence of passion, showed the supremacy +of intellect over feeling. Yet of feeling there must +have been a good deal. There was a great deal in the +community; there was a great deal among the clergy of +his denomination; that it had found expression within +his own society, is betrayed in the farewell sermon; +that his own heart was deeply touched, was confessed +by the fact that on the very day after his parting words +to his congregation were spoken—on March 29th, 1841—Mr. +Ripley took up his new ministry at Brook Farm.</p> + +<p>The character of that Association has been described +in a previous chapter, with as much minuteness of detail +as is necessary, and the purposes of its inaugurators +have been sufficiently indicated. The founder of it was +not a "doctrinaire," but a philanthropist on ideal principles. +With the systems of socialism current in Paris, +he was at that period wholly unacquainted. The name +of Charles Fourier was unfamiliar to him. He had faith +in the soul, and in the soul's prophecy of good; he saw +that the prophecy was unheeded, that society rested on +principles<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> + which the soul abhorred; that between the +visions of the spiritual philosophy and the bitter realities +of vice, misery, sin, in human life, there was an unappeasable +conflict; and he was resolved to do what one +man might to create a new earth in preparation for a +new heaven. He took the Gospel at its word, and went +forth to demonstrate the power of its principles, by +showing the Beatitudes to be something more substantial +than dreams. His costly library, with all its beloved +books, was offered for sale at public auction, and the +price thereof, with whatever else he possessed, was consecrated +to the cause of humanity that he had at heart. +He had no children, and few ties of kindred; but the +social position of the clergy was above any secular position +in New England at that time; the prejudices and +antipathies of the clerical order were stubborn; the +leaders of opinion in state and church were conservative, +to a degree it is difficult for us to believe; the path of +the reformer was strewn with thorns and beset with difficulties +most formidable to sensitive spirits. Mr. Emerson +had resigned his ministry nine years before, and +for the reason too that he was a Transcendentalist, but +had retired to the peaceful walks of literature, and had +made no actual assault on social institutions. Mr. Ripley +associated himself at once with people of no worldly +consideration, avowed principles that were voted vulgar +in refined circles, and identified himself with an enterprise +which the amiable called visionary, and the unamiable +wild and revolutionary. But his conviction was +clear, and his will was fixed. Sustained by the entire +sympathy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span> + of a very noble woman, his wife—who was +one with him in aspiration, purpose, and endeavor, till +the undertaking ended—he put "the world" behind him, +sold all, and followed the Master.</p> + +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Ripley were the life of the Brook Farm +Association. Their unfaltering energy, unfailing cheer, +inexhaustible sweetness and gayety, availed to keep up +the tone of the institution, to prevent its becoming common-place, +and to retain there the persons on whose +character the moral and intellectual standard depended. +It was due to them that the experiment was tried as long +as it was—six years;—that while it went on, it avoided, +as it did, the usual scandal and reproach that bring ruin +on schemes of that description; and that, when finally it +ended in disaster, it commanded sympathy rather than +contempt, and left a sweet memory behind. The originator +was the last to leave the place of his toil and vain +endeavor; he left it, having made all necessary provision +for the discharge of debts, which only through +arduous labors in journalism he was able afterwards +to pay.</p> + +<p>In Mr. Ripley's mind the Idea was supreme. In 1844 +he, with Mr. Dana and Mr. Channing, lectured and spoke +on the principles of Association,—the foreign literature +on the subject being more familiar to him then,—commended +the doctrine of Fourier, and was prepared for +a more sympathetic propagandism than he had meditated +hitherto. In 1845, the "Harbinger" was started,—a +weekly journal, devoted to Social and Political Progress; +published by the Brook Farm Phalanx. The Prospectus, +written<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span> + by Mr. Ripley, made this announcement: "The +principles of universal unity taught by Charles Fourier +in their application to society, we believe are at the +foundation of all genuine social progress; and it will ever +be our aim to discuss and defend those principles without +any sectarian bigotry, and in the catholic and comprehensive +spirit of their great discoverer." An introductory +notice by the same pen, among other things +pertaining to the aims and intentions of the paper, contained +this passage:</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"The interests of Social Reform will be considered as +paramount to all others in whatever is admitted into +the pages of the "Harbinger." We shall suffer no attachment +to literature, no taste for abstract discussion, no +love of purely intellectual theories, to seduce us from our +devotion to the cause of the oppressed, the down trodden, +the insulted and injured masses of our fellow men. +Every pulsation of our being vibrates in sympathy with +the wrongs of the toiling millions; and every wise effort +for their speedy enfranchisement will find in us resolute +and indomitable advocates. If any imagine from the +literary tone of the preceding remarks that we are indifferent +to the radical movement for the benefit of the +masses which is the crowning glory of the nineteenth century, +they will soon discover their egregious mistake. To +that movement, consecrated by religious principle, sustained +by an awful sense of justice, and cheered by the +brightest hopes of future good, all our powers, talents, +and attainments are devoted. We look for an audience +among the refined and educated circles, to which the +character of our paper will win its way; but we shall +also be read by the swart and sweaty artisan; the laborer +will find in us another champion; and many hearts struggling +with the secret hope which no weight of care and +toil<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span> + can entirely suppress, will pour on us their benedictions, +as we labor for the equal rights of all."</p></blockquote> + +<p>In the four years of its existence, the paper was faithful +to this grand and high sounding promise. A powerful +company of writers contributed their labor to help +forward the plan. The Journal was affluent and sparkling. +The literary criticism was the work of able pens; +the musical and art criticism was in the hands of the most +competent judges in the country; the ćsthetics were not +neglected; the verse was excellent; but the social questions +were of first consideration. These were never +treated slightingly, and the treatment of them never deviated +from the high standard proposed by the editors. +The list of its contributors contained the names of +Stephen Pearl Andrews, Albert Brisbane, W. H. Channing, +W. E. Channing, Walter Channing, James Freeman +Clarke, Geo. H. Calvert, J. J. Cooke, A. J. H. +Duganne, C. P. Cranch, Geo. W. Curtis, Charles A. +Dana, J. S. Dwight, Horace Greeley, Parke Godwin, +F. H. Hedge, T. W. Higginson, M. E. Lazarus, J. R. +Lowell, Osborn Macdaniel, Geo. Ripley, S. D. Robbins, +L. W. Ryckman, F. G. Shaw, W. W. Story, Henry +James, John G. Whittier, J. J. G. Wilkinson—a most +remarkable collection of powerful names.</p> + +<p>The departments seem not to have been systematically +arranged, but the writers sent what they had, the same +writer furnishing articles on a variety of topics. Mr. +F. G. Shaw published, in successive numbers, an admirable +translation of George Sand's "Consuelo," and wrote +against the iniquities of the principle of competition in +trade.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span> + C. A. Dana noticed books, reported movements, +criticized men and measures, translated poetry from the +German, and sent verses of a mystical and sentimental +character of his own. C. P. Cranch contributed poems +and criticisms on art and music. J. S. Dwight paid attention +to the musical department, but also wrote book +reviews and articles on the social problem. W. H. +Channing poured out his burning soul in denunciation of +social wrong and painted in glowing colors the promise +of the future. G. W. Curtis sent poetry and notes on +literature and music in New York. T. W. Higginson +printed there his "Hymn of Humanity." Messrs. Brisbane, +Godwin and Greeley confined themselves to social +problems, doing a large part of the heavy work. Mr. +Ripley, the Managing Editor, supervised the whole; +wrote much himself on the different aspects of Association; +reported the progress of the cause at home and +abroad; answered the objections that were current in the +popular prejudice, and gave to the paper the encouraging +tone of his cheery, earnest spirit.</p> + +<p>As interpreted by the "Harbinger," the cause of Association +was hospitable and humane. The technicalities of +special systems were avoided; dry discussions of theory +and method were put aside; generous sympathy +was shown towards philanthropic workers in other fields; +the tone of wailing was never heard, and the anticipations +of the future were steadily bright and bold. When +reformers of a pronounced type, like the abolitionists, +spoke of it slightingly as a "kid glove" journal that +was afraid of soiling its fingers with ugly matters like +slavery,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> + the Associationists explained that their plan +was the more comprehensive; that they struck at the +root of every kind of slavery; and that the worst evils +would disappear when their beneficent principle should +be recognized. That the "Harbinger" should have lived +no longer than it did, with such a corps of writers +and so great a cause,—the last number is dated February +10, 1849,—may be accounted for by the feeble hold that +Socialism had in this country. In Europe the hearts of +the working people were in it. It originated among +them, expressed their actual sorrows, answered their +living questions, promised satisfaction to their wants, +and predicted the only future they could imagine as in +any way possible. Here it was an imported speculation; +the working people were not driven to it for refuge from +their misery; they did not ask the questions it proposed +to answer, nor did it hold out prospects that gladdened +their eyes. The advocates of it were cultivated men, +literary and ćsthetical, who represented the best the old +world had to give, rather than the worst the New World +had experienced; and their words met with no response +from the multitudes in whose behoof they were spoken. +America was exercised then by questions of awful moment. +The agitation against slavery had taken hold of +the whole country; it was in politics, in journalism, in +literature, in the public hall and the parlor. Its issues +were immediate and urgent. People had neither heads +nor hearts for schemes of comprehensive scope that +must be patiently meditated and matured for generations. +No talents, no brilliancy, no earnestness even, would engage +interest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span> + in what seemed visionary, however glorious +the vision. The socialistic enterprises in America were +all short lived. Brook Farm was an idyl; and in the +days of epics, the idyl is easily forgotten.</p> + +<p>The decease of the "Harbinger" was the end of that +phase of Transcendentalism. The dream of the kingdom +of heaven faded. The apostles were dispersed. +Some kept their faith and showed their fidelity in other +places and other work. Three or four went into the +Roman Church, and found rest on its ancient bosom. +Others found a field for their talents in literature, which +they beautified with their genius, and ennobled by their +ideas. Others devoted themselves to journalism. Of +the last was George Ripley. <i>The New York Tribune</i> +offered him the post of literary critic on its editorial staff. +That position he has occupied for twenty-five years, +in a way honorable to himself and to good letters. It +has been in his power to aid the development of literature +in America, in many ways, by encouraging young +writers; by giving direction to ambitious but immature +gifts; by erecting a standard of judgment, high, without +being unreasonable, and strict, without being austere. +A large acquaintance with books, a cultivated taste, a +hospitable appreciation, a hearty love of good literary +work, a cordial dislike of bad, a just estimation of the +rights and duties of literary men, and the office they +should fill in a republican community, have marked his +administration of the department assigned to him. He +has held it to be his duty to make intelligent reports of +current literature, with enough of criticism to convey +his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> + own opinion of its character, without dictating +opinions to others. Worthless books received their due, +and worthy books received theirs in full measure. The +books in which worth and worthlessness were united +were discriminatingly handled, the emphasis being laid +on the better qualities. Many of the reviews were essays, +full of discernment. All showed that respect for +mind which might be expected from one so carefully +trained.</p> + +<p>Mr. Ripley has been true to the ideas with which he +set out in his early life. His period of philosophical +propagandism being over; his young enthusiasm having +spent itself in experiments which trial proved to be +premature, to say the least, if not essentially impracticable; +his dreams having faded, when his efforts ended in +disappointment, he retired from public view neither dispirited, +nor morose. His interest in philosophy continues +undiminished; his hope of man, though more subdued, +is clear; his faith in the spiritual basis of religion +is serene. Disappointment has not made him bitter, +reckless or frivolous. His power of moral indignation +at wrong and turpitude is unimpaired, though it no longer +breaks out with the former vehemence. A cheerful +wisdom gained by thought and experience of sorrow, +tempers his judgment of men and measures. His confidence +is in culture, in literature, generously interpreted +and fostered, in ideas honestly entertained and freely +expressed.</p> + +<p>The Transcendentalist keeps his essential faith. Generally +the Transcendentalists have done this. It was a +faith<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span> + too deeply planted, too nobly illustrated, too fervent +and beautiful in youth, to be laid aside in age. +James Walker died in the ripeness of it; Parker died in +the strength of it; others—old and grave men now—live +in the joy of it. The few who have relapsed, have done +so, some under pressure of worldly seduction—they +having no depth of root—and some under the influence +of scientific teaching, which has shaken the foundation +of their psychology. The original disciples, undismayed +by the signs of death, still believe in the Master, +and live in the hope of his resurrection.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span></p> +<p class="center big"><a name="XIV" id="XIV"></a>XIV.</p> + +<h2>MINOR PROPHETS.</h2> + + +<p>The so-called Minor Prophets of the Old Testament +owed that designation to the brevity, rather than to the +insignificance of their utterances. They were among +the most glowing and exalted of the Hebrew bards, less +sustained in their flight than their great fellows, but +with as much of the ancient fire as any of them. It is +proper to say as much as this to justify the application +of the title to the men who claim mention now as +prominent in the transcendental movement.</p> + +<p>William Henry Channing is not quite fairly ranked +among minor prophets, even on this explanation, for he +has been copious as well as intense. A nephew of the +great Doctor Channing—a favorite nephew, on account +of his moral earnestness, and the close sympathy he felt +with views that did honor to human nature and glorified +the existence of man,—he grew up in the purest atmosphere +that New England supplied—the most intellectual, +the most quickening. He was born in the same +year with Theodore Parker, and but three months earlier, +and was native to the same spiritual climate. He +was educated at Harvard, and prepared for the ministry +at Cambridge Divinity School, where the new ideas +were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span> + fermenting. He was graduated the year before +Parker entered. His name was conspicuous among the +agitators of the new faith. He was a contributor to the +"Dial." In 1848 he published the Memoirs of his uncle, +in three volumes, proving his fitness for the task by +the sincerity in which he discharged it. In 1840 he +translated Jouffroy's Ethics, in two volumes, for Ripley's +"Specimens of Foreign Standard Literature." In 1852 +he took part in writing the Memoirs of Margaret Fuller, +the second volume being chiefly his work. "The Life +and Writings of James H. Perkins," of Cincinnati, a +pioneer of rationalism at the West, came more fitly from +his pen than from any other. In the "Western Messenger," +which he edited for one year; the "Present," +and the "Spirit of the Age," short-lived journals, of +which he was the soul; in the "Harbinger," to which +he was a generous and sympathetic contributor—he exhibited +a fine quality of genius. The intensity of his +nature, his open-mindedness, frankness, and spiritual +sensitiveness, his fervency of aspiration and his outspokenness, +made the office of settled pastor and steady +routine preacher distasteful to him. He was a prophet +who went from place to place, with a message of joy +and hope. Meadville, Cincinnati, Nashua, Rochester, +Boston, and New York, were scenes of his pastoral +service. His preaching was every where attended +by the clearest heads and the deepest hearts. In +New York his society was composed of free elements +altogether, come-outers, reformers, radicals of every +description. His command of language, his free delivery, +his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span> + musical voice, his expressive countenance, his +noble air, his extraordinary power of kindling enthusiasm, +his affluence and boldness of thought, his high +standard of character, made him in his prime an enchanting +speaker.</p> + +<p>Very early in his career Mr. Channing committed +himself to the transcendental philosophy as interpreted +by the French School, for he possessed the swiftness +of perception, the felicity of exposition, the sensibility +to effects, the passion for clean statement and plausible +generalization that distinguish the French genius from +the German and the English. The introduction to +Jouffroy's Ethics contained the principles of the French +school of philosophy, which, to judge from his approving +tone, he had himself accepted:</p> + +<p>That Psychology is the basis of Philosophy.</p> + +<p>That the highest problems of Ontology may be solved +by inductions from the facts which Psychology ascertains.</p> + +<p>That Psychology and the History of Philosophy reciprocally +explain each other.</p> + +<p>With these ideas firmly fixed in his mind he went +forth on a prophetic mission, to which he remained unfalteringly +true.</p> + +<p>We saw him first at a convention in Boston called by +the reformers who demanded the abolition of the gallows. +There were several speakers—Edwin H. Chapin, +then in the days of his moral enthusiasm, Wendell +Phillips, already known as an agitator and an orator—all +spoke well from their different grounds, but the +image of Channing is the most distinct in mind to-day. +His<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span> + manner, attitude, speech, are all recalled. The arguments +he used abide in memory. He wasted words +on no incidental points of detail, but at once took his +stand on the principle of the idealist that man is a sacred +being, and life a sacred gift, and love the rule of the +divine law. Chapin thundered; Phillips criticized and +stung; Channing burned with a pure enthusiasm that +lifted souls into a celestial air and made all possibilities of +justice seem practicable. He did not argue or denounce; +he prophesied. There was not a word of scorn or detestation; +but there were passages of touching power, +describing the influence of gentleness and the response +that the hardest hearts would give to it, that shamed +the listeners out of their vindictiveness. On the +anti-slavery platform his attitude was the same. There +was no more persuasive speaker.</p> + +<p>In the controversy between the Unitarians of the +transcendental and those of the opposite school, Mr. +Channing's sympathies were with the former, but he +took no very prominent public part in it. He was +averse to controversy; questions of sectarian opinion +and organization had little interest for him. His mind +lived in broad principles and positive ideas; the method +he believed in was that of winning minds to the truth by +generous appeals, and so planting out error. Against +everything like injustice or illiberality, his protest was +eager, but he was willing to leave polemics to others; +what he said was in the strain of faith in larger and +more inclusive beliefs. He had a passion for catholicity, +which came partly from his temperament, and partly +from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span> + the eclecticism he professed. His word was reconciling, +like his influence, which was never associated +with partisanship.</p> + +<p>Mr. Channing was early attracted to the bearings of +the spiritual philosophy on the problems of society, the +elevation of the working classes, the rescue of humanity +from pauperism and crime. As an interpreter of Christian +socialism his activity was incessant. He took part in +the discussions that led to the experiment of Brook +Farm, and was acquainted intimately with the projecting +of it, having himself entire faith in the reorganization of +society on principles of equity. Had circumstances permitted—he +was then minister to a church in Cincinnati, +and much occupied with professional duties—he would +have connected himself with the Brook Farm Association. +As it was, he visited it whenever he could, spending several +days at a time. In 1844, when the union was formed +with the New York Socialists and the leaders went out to +enlighten and stimulate public sentiment on the subject, +Mr. Channing did faithful work as a lecturer. He +was president of the Boston Union of Associationists, +and wrote a book on the Christian Church and Moral +Reform. From the first, being of a speculative, philosophical +and experimental turn of mind, he entertained +more systematic views than were common among New +England socialists, but the principle of love was always +more to him than opinions or schemes. His views coincided +with Fourier, but his heart was Christian. On the +failure of the associated plans of his friends, and the cessation +of interest in Socialism on this side of the Atlantic, +his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span> + thoughts turned towards the Christian Church as the +providentially appointed means of obtaining what the +Utopians had failed of reaching. He was never a +Churchman; never abandoned the views that made him +an independent preacher; but he never lost faith in the +ministry; his hopes turned toward the institutions of religion +as having in them the ideal potencies he trusted; +he looked for faith and love in the Gospel, and sought +to draw out the lessons of charity that were inculcated +by Jesus; to deliver these from the hands of the formalists +and sectarians; to make peace between parties and +churches; to discover common ground for all believers to +stand and labor on—was his aim. Had his faith not been +inclusive of all forms of the religious sentiment, he might, +in England, where he resided so long, have been a broad-churchman. +But Christianity, in his view, was but one +of many religions, all essentially divine, and he could +not belong to any church less wide than the church +universal.</p> + +<p>During a portion of the civil war, Mr. Channing was +in Washington preaching the gospel of liberty and loyalty, +and laboring in the hospitals with unflagging devotion, +thankful for an opportunity to put into work the enthusiasm +of his passionate soul. Later, he revisited his +native country, and showed his interest in the cause of +religious freedom and unity.</p> + +<p>The name of Channing is conspicuous in the history of +American idealism. Another nephew of Dr. Channing, +William Ellery Channing,—a man of original force of +mind and character, a bold adventurer in literature and +life,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span> + of independent ideas, principles and deeds, an +abolitionist, a friend of Garrison and Parker, reformer +and philosopher, author of many volumes—wrote poetry +and prose for the "Dial" and, in 1873, a life of Henry +Thoreau.</p> + +<p>In the list of the Transcendentalists Cyrus Augustus +Bartol must not be forgotten, a soaring mind enamored +of thoughts on divine things, inextricably caught in the +toils of speculation. Acute and brilliant, but wayward; +with a quick eye for analogies, fanciful and eccentric, of +clear intuitions, glimpses, perceptions astonishingly +luminous; but without fixed allegiance to system, and +therefore difficult to classify under any school. In the +Unitarian controversy, which was a tryer of spirits, it +was not always plain to observers in which camp he belonged; +not that his fundamental principle was unsteady, +but because his curious and critical mind was detained +by considerations that others did not see; and his absolute +sincerity gave expression to the moods of feeling +as they passed over him. Some words in Parker's farewell +letter to him seem to imply that at critical junctures they +had been on opposite sides, but the difference could +scarcely have touched fundamental truths. No man +was further from the school of Locke, Paley or Bentham +than C. A. Bartol. His Transcendentalism had a +cast of its own; it was not made after any pattern; it +took its color from an original genius illuminated by +various reading of books, and by deep meditation in +the privacy of the closet, and the companionship of +nature of which he is a child-like worshipper. No +wealth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span> + of human sympathy prevents his being a solitary. +His song is lyrical; his prophecy drops like a voice from +the clouds. In the agitations of his time he has had +small share; organized and associated effort did not +attract him. To many he represents the model Transcendentalist, +for he seems a man who lives above the +clouds,—not always <i>above</i> them, either.</p> + +<p>His faith in the soul has never known eclipse. It +waxes strong by its wrestling, and becomes jubilant in +proportion as nature and life try to stare it out of countenance. +Ballast is wings to him.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"Transcendentalism relies on those ideas in the mind +which are laws in the life. Pantheism is said to sink man +and nature in God; Materialism to sink God and man in +nature, and Transcendentalism to sink God and nature +in man. But the Transcendentalist at least is belied and +put in jail by the definition which is so neat at the expense +of truth. He made consciousness, not sense, the +ground of truth; and in the present devotion to physical +science, and turn of philosophy to build the universe on +foundations of matter, we need to vindicate and reassert +his promise. Is the soul reared on the primitive rock? +or is no rock primitive, but the deposit of spirit—therefore +in its lowest form alive, and ever rising into organism +to reach the top of the eternal circle again, as in the +well one bucket goes down empty and the other rises full? +The mistake is to make the everlasting things subjects of +argument instead of sight."</p> + +<p>"Our soul is older than our organism. It precedes its +clothing. It is the cause, not the consequence, of its +material elements; else, as materialists understand, it +does not exist."</p> + +<p>"What is it that accepts misery from the Most High, +defends the Providence that inflicts its woes, espouses +its chastiser's cause, purges itself in the pit of its misery +of<span class="pagenums"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span> + all contempt of His commands, and makes its agonies +the beams and rafters of the triumph it builds? It is +an immortal principle. It is an indestructible essence. +It is part and parcel of the Divinity it adores. It can +no more die than he can. It needs no more insurance +of life than its author does. Prove its title? It is proof +itself of all things else. It is substantive, and everything +adjective beside. It is the kingdom all things will +be added to."</p></blockquote> + +<p>This was published in 1872, and proves that one +Transcendentalist has kept his faith.</p> + +<p>James Freeman Clarke as little deserves to be ranked +among the Minor Prophets as any, for he was one of the +earliest Transcendentalists, a contemporary and intimate +ally of Parker, a co-worker with Channing, a close +friend and correspondent of Miss Fuller, a sympathizer +with Alcott in his attempts to spiritualize education, a +frequent contributor to the "Dial," the intellectual +fellow of the brilliant minds that made the epoch what it +was. But his interest was not confined to the school, +nor did the technicalities or details of the transcendental +movement embarrass him; his catholic mind took in +opinions of all shades, and men of all communions. +His place is among theologians and divines rather than +among philosophers. But, though churchly tastes led +him away from the company of thinkers where he intellectually +belonged, and an unfailing common sense +saved him from the extravagances into which some of +them fell, a Transcendentalist he was, and an uncompromising +one. The intuitive philosophy was his +guide. It gave him his assurance of spiritual truths; +it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span> + interpreted for him the gospels and Jesus; it inspired +his endeavors to reconcile beliefs, to promote unity +among the discordant sects, to enlighten and redeem +mankind. His mission has been that of a spiritual peace-maker. +But while doing this, he has worked faithfully +at particular causes; was an avowed and earnest abolitionist +in the anti-slavery days; was ever a disbeliever in +war, an enemy of vindictive and violent legislation, a +hearty friend and laborer in the field of woman's election +to the full privileges of culture and citizenship; a +man in whom faith, hope and charity abounded and +abound; a man of intellectual convictions which made +a groundwork for his life.</p> + +<p>Mr. Clarke is a conspicuous example of the way in +which the intuitive philosophy leavened the whole mind. +It associated him closely both with radicals and conservatives; +with the former, because his principle involved +faith in progress; with the latter, because it implied +respect for the progress of past times which institutions +preserved. His conservatism attested the fidelity +of his radicalism, and both avouched the loyalty of +his idealism. The conservative aspect of Transcendentalism +which was exhibited in the case of Mr. Channing, +who never left the Christian Church, was yet more +strikingly illustrated by Mr. Clarke. All his books, but +particularly the "Ten Great Religions," show the +power of the transcendental idea to render justice to all +forms of faith, and give positive interpretations to doctrines +obscure and revolting. It detects the truth in +things erroneous, the good in things evil.</p> + +<p>A<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span> + more remarkable instance of this tendency is Samuel +Johnson's volume on the religions of India. None +save a Transcendentalist could have succeeded in extracting +so much deep spiritual meaning from the symbols +and practices of those ancient faiths. The intuitive +idea takes its position at the centre, and at once all +blazes with glory.</p> + +<blockquote class="small"><p>"Man is divinely prescient of his infinity of mind as +soon as he begins to meditate and respire."</p> + +<p>"That a profound theistic instinct, the intuition of +a divine and living whole, is involved in the primitive +mental processes we are here studying, I hold to be +beyond all question."</p> + +<p>"From the first stages of its growth onwards, the +spirit weaves its own environment; nature is forever +the reflex of its life, and what but an unquenchable +aspiration to truth could have made it choose Light as +its first and dearest symbol, reaching out a child's hand +to touch and clasp it, with the joyous cry, 'Tis mine, +mine to create, mine to adore!'"</p> + +<p>"Man could not forget that pregnant dawn of revelation, +the discovery of his own power to rekindle the life +of the universe."</p> + +<p>"Man is here dimly aware of the truth that he +makes and remakes his own conception of the divine; +that the revealing of duty must come in the natural +activity of his human powers."</p> + +<p>"As far back as we can trace the life of man, we find +the river of prayer and praise flowing as naturally as it +is flowing now; we cannot find its beginning, because +we cannot find the beginning of the soul."</p></blockquote> + +<p>These passages give the key to Mr. Johnson's explanation +of the oriental religions, and to his little monograph +on "The Worship of Jesus," and to the +printed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span> + lectures, addresses, essays, sermons, in which +subjects of religion, philosophy, political and social reform +have been profoundly treated.</p> + +<p>Mr. Johnson came forward when the excitement of +transcendentalism was passing by; the "Dial" no longer +marked the intellectual hours; the Unitarian controversy +had spent its violence. It was in part owing to this, but +more to the spiritual character of his genius, that his +Transcendentalism was free from polemic and dogmatic +elements; but it was none the less positive and definite +for that—if anything, it was more so. In the divinity +school he was an ardent disciple of the intuitive +philosophy. On leaving Cambridge he became an independent +minister of the most pronounced views, but of +most reverent spirit; a "fideist" or faith man, he loved +to call himself; his aim and effort was to awaken the +spiritual nature, to interpret the spiritual philosophy, +and to apply the spiritual laws to all personal, domestic +and social concerns. Like all the Transcendentalists, he +was a reformer, and an enthusiastic one; interested in +liberty and progress, but primarily in intellectual emancipation +and the increase of rational ideas. The alteration +of the lot was incidental to the regeneration of the +person. So absolute is his faith in the soul that he +renders poetic justice to its manifestations, seeing indications +of its presence where others see none, and +glorifying where others are inclined to pity. The ideal +side is never turned away from him. He discerned the +angel in the native African, the saint in the slave, the +devotee in the idolater. During the civil war, his faith +in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span> + the triumph of justice and the establishment of a pure +republic, converted every defeat into a victory; as in the +vision of Ezekiel, the Son of Man was ever visible riding +on the monstrous beasts. If at any time his sympathy +has seemed withdrawn from any class of social reformers, +it has been because the phase of reform they presented +held forth no promise of intellectual or moral benefit.</p> + +<p>Mr. Johnson illustrates the individualism of the Transcendentalist. +While Mr. Channing trusted in social +combinations, and Mr. Clarke put his faith in organized +religion, he had a clear eye to the integrity of the separate +soul. He attended no conventions, joined no societies, +worked with no associations, had confidence in +no parties, sects, schemes, or combinations, but nursed +his solitary thought, delivered his personal message, +bore his private witness, and there rested.</p> + +<p>Were Mr. Johnson more known, were his thoughts +less interior, his genius less retiring, his method less +private, his form of statement less close and severe, he +would be one of the acknowledged and conspicuous leaders +of the ideal philosophy in the United States, as he is +one of the most discerning, penetrating, sinewy, and +heroic minds of his generation.</p> + +<p>A contemporary and intimate friend of Johnson, a +Transcendentalist equally positive, but of more mystical +type, is Samuel Longfellow. The two are interestingly +contrasted, and by contrast, blended. Between them +they collected and published a book of hymns—"Hymns +of the Spirit"—to which both contributed original +pieces, remarkably rich in sentiment, and of singular +poetical<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span> + merit. Johnson's were the more intellectual, +Longfellow's the more tender; Johnson's the more aspiring, +Longfellow's the more devout; Johnson's the +more heroic and passionate, Longfellow's the more +mystical and reflective. Like his friend, Longfellow is +quiet and retiring—not so scholarly, not so learned, but +meditative. His sermons are lyrics; his writings are +serene contemplations, not white and cold, but glowing +with interior and suppressed radiance. A recluse and +solitary he is, too, though sunny and cheerful; a thinker, +but not a dry one; of intellectual sympathies, warm +and generous; of feeble intellectual antipathies, being +rather unconscious of systems that are foreign to him +than hostile to them. He enjoys his own intellectual +world so much, it is so large, rich, beautiful, and satisfying, +that he is content to stay in it, to wander up and +down in it, and hold intercourse with its inhabitants; +yet he understands his own system well, is master of its +ideas, and abundantly competent to defend them, as his +essays published in the "Radical" during its short existence, +testify. He has published little; ill health has +prevented his taking a forward place among reformers +and teachers; but where he has ministered, his influence +has been deep and pure. Not few are the men and +women who ascribe to him their best impulses, and owe +him a debt of lasting gratitude for the moral faith and +intellectual enthusiasm he awakened in them.</p> + +<p>Another remarkable man, of the same school, but of still +different temper—a man who would have been greatly +distinguished but for the disabilities of sickness—is +David<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span> + A. Wasson. Though contemporary, he came forward +later; but when he came, it was with a power that +gave promise of the finest things. As his latent faith in +the intuitive philosophy acquired strength, he broke +away from the Orthodoxy in which he had been reared, +with an impulse that carried him beyond the lines of +every organized body in Christendom, and bore him +into the regions of an intellectual faith, where he found +satisfaction. He has been a diligent writer, chiefly on +Ethical and Philosophical themes, on the border land of +theology. His published pamphlets and sermons on religious +questions, even the best of them, give scarcely +more than an indication of his extraordinary powers. +He is a poet too, of fine quality; not a singer of sentimental +songs, nor a spinner of elegant fancies, but a +discerner of the spirit of beauty. "All's Well," +"Ideals," "The Plover," "At Sea," are worthy of a +place in the best collections.</p> + +<p>It has been the appointed task of Mr. Wasson to be +on the alert against assaults on the intuitive philosophy +from the side of material science. Like Transcendentalists +generally, he has accepted the principles of his philosophy +on the testimony of consciousness and as self-evidencing; +but more than most, he has regarded them +as essential to the maintenance of truths of the spiritual +order; and as a believer in those truths, he has been +holily jealous of the influence of men like Herbert +Spencer, Mill, Bain, and the latest school of experimental +psychologists. His doctrine, in its own essence, and +as related to the objective or material system, is closely +stated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span> + in the essay on the "Nature of Religion," contained +in the volume, entitled "Freedom and Fellowship +in Religion," recently published by the Free Religious +Association. It is not easily quotable, but must +be read through and attentively. Whoever will take +pains to do that, may understand, not merely what Mr. +Wasson's position is, but what fine analysis the intuitive +philosophy can bring to its defence. A volume of Mr. +Wasson's prose essays and poems would be a valuable +contribution to the literature of Transcendentalism; for +he is, on the whole, the most capable critic on its side. +Unfortunately for the breadth of his fame and the reach +of his power, he writes for thinkers, and the multitude +will never follow in his train.</p> + +<p>The names of the disciples and prophets of Transcendentalism +multiply as they are told off. There is T. W. +Higginson, the man of letters—whom every body knows—a +born Transcendentalist, and an enthusiastic one, +from the depth of his moral nature, the quickness of +his poetic sensibility, his love of the higher culture. +His sympathies early led him to the schools of the ideal +philosophy. He edited the works of Epictetus; speaks +glowingly on the "Sympathy of Religions;" is interested +in the pacification of the sects and churches on +the basis of spiritual fellowship in truths of universal +import; lectures appreciatingly on Mohammed and +Buddha; holds Spencer in light esteem by the side of +Emerson. In the controversial period—which was not +ended when he left the Divinity School—he was entirely +committed to the party of progress. Hennell's "Christian +Theism"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span> + lay on his table at Divinity Hall. He was +an ally of Parker; an abolitionist; the colonel of a +black regiment in the civil war; and from the first has +been a champion of woman's claim to fulness of culture +and the largest political rights. A clear and powerful +mind, that in controversy would make its mark, if controversy +were to its taste, as it is not.</p> + +<p>Earlier mention should have been made of John +Weiss, who wrote philosophical articles thirty years ago, +that won encomiums from the most competent judges—a +student at Heidelberg, a scholar of Kant, and an admirer +of his system. He too has a paper on "Religion +and Science," in the volume of "Freedom and Fellowship," +which will convince the most skeptical that the +days of Transcendentalism are not numbered; a man of +insight; poetical, according to Emerson's definition; supremely +intellectual, capable of treading, with steady +step, the hair lines of thought; a poet too, as verses in +the "Radical" bear witness. The Philosophical and +Ćsthetic Letters and Essays of Schiller were presented +to the American public by his hand. He wrote the +preface to the American edition of Smith's Memoir of +Fichte. The "Boston Quarterly," the "Massachusetts +Quarterly," the "Christian Examiner," the "Radical," +were illuminated by his brilliant thoughts on subjects of +religious philosophy. The volume entitled "American +Religion," published in 1871, shows the power of the +spiritual philosophy to extract noble meanings from the +circumstances of the New World. Weiss treads the +border-land between religion and science, recognizing +the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span> + claims of both, and bringing to their adjustment +as fine intellectual scales as any of his contemporaries. +His method is peculiar to himself; his is not the exulting +mood of Emerson, or the defiant mood of Wasson; +it is purely poetic, imaginative. The doctrine of the +divine immanence is glorious in his eyes; the faith in +personal immortality is taken into the inner citadel of +metaphysics, where Parker seldom penetrated.</p> + +<p>These men, Weiss and Wasson and Higginson, nursed +in the transcendental school, thoroughly imbued with its +principles, committed to them, wedded to them by the +conflicts they waged in their defence when they were +assailed by literalists, dogmatists, and formalists, look +out now upon the advancing ranks of the new materialism +as the holders of a royal fortress looked out on a host of +insurgents; as the king and queen of France looked out +on the revolution from the palace at Versailles: the +onset of the new era they instinctively dread, feeling that +dignity, princeliness, and spiritual worth are at stake. +They will fight admirably to the last; but should they +be defeated, it is yet possible that the revolution may +bring compensations to humanity, which will make +good the overthrow of their "diademed towers."</p> + +<p>In these sketches of transcendental leaders—as in +this study of the transcendental movement,—few have +been included but those whom the intuitive philosophy +drew away from their former church connections +and gathered into a party by themselves—a party of +protestants against literalism and formalism. The transcendental +philosophy in its main ideas, was held by +eminent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span> + orthodox divines who accepted it as entirely in +accordance with the Christian scheme, and used it in fact +as an efficient support for the doctrines of the church. +The most eminent divines of New England did this, and +were considered entirely orthodox in doing it, their +Christian faith gaining warmth and color from the intuitive +system. As has already been said, the Trinitarian scheme +has close affinities with Platonism. But none of these +men called themselves or were called Transcendentalists. +The Transcendentalist substituted the principles of his +Philosophy and the inferences therefrom for the creed of +the church, and became a separatist. With him the +soul superseded the church; the revelations of the soul +took the place of bible, creed and priesthood. The men +that have been named all did this, with the exception of +James Freeman Clarke, who adhered to the ministry +and the church. But his intimacy with the transcendental +leaders, and his cooperation with them in +some of their most important works, to say nothing of +the unique position his transcendental ideas compelled +him to assume, as well in ecclesiastical matters as in social +reform, entitle him to mention. Convers Francis—parish +minister at Watertown from 1819 till 1842, and Parkman, +professor of Pulpit Eloquence and the Pastoral +Care at Cambridge from 1842 till 1863—though never +conspicuous either as preacher or minister, and never +recognized as a representative apostle, was influential as +a believer in the spiritual philosophy, among young men. +To him Theodore Parker acknowledged his debt; to +him successive classes of divinity students owed the +stimulus<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span> + and direction that carried them into the transcendental +ranks; Johnson, Longfellow, Higginson were +his pupils at Cambridge, and carried thence ideas which +he had shaped if not originated. In many things conservative, +disagreeing on some points with Emerson, +whom he revered and loved as a man, regretting much +that seemed sarcastic, arrogant, derisive in Parker's +"Discourse of Religion," he gave his full assent to the +principles of the intuitive philosophy, and used them as +the pillars of Christianity. Had he been as electric and +penetrating as he was truthful and obedient, high-minded +and sincere, hearty and simple, he would have +been a force as well as an influence. In 1836 he foresaw +the rupture between "the Old or English school belonging +to the sensual and empiric philosophy,—and the New or +German school, belonging to the spiritual philosophy," +and gave all his sympathy to the latter as having the +most of truth. He was the senior member of the +"Transcendental Club," composed of the liberal thinkers +who met to discuss literary and spiritual subjects on +the ground of reason and the soul's intuitive perceptions. +With deep interest he followed the course of speculative +and practical reform to the close of his life. Some, of +whom he was not one, engaged in the discussions for a +little while, attended the meetings, and set forth bold +opinions, but retired within their close fellowships as +soon as plans for propagandism or schemes of organization +were proposed. Their sympathies were literary +and within the recognized limits of literature; but they +had either too little courage of conviction, or too little +conviction,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span> + to depart from accustomed ways or break +with existing associations. The number of professed +transcendentalists in the restricted sense, was never +large, and, after the first excitement, did not greatly +increase. There was but one generation of them. The +genuine transcendentalists became so in their youth, +ripened into full conviction in middle life, and, as a rule, +continued so to old age. The desertions from the faith +were not many. Half a dozen perhaps became catholics; +as many became episcopalians; but by far the greater +part maintained their principles and remained serene +dissenters, "in the world, but not of it."</p> + +<p>Transcendentalism was an episode in the intellectual +life of New England; an enthusiasm, a wave of sentiment, +a breath of mind that caught up such as were +prepared to receive it, elated them, transported them, +and passed on,—no man knowing whither it went. Its +influence on thought and life was immediate and powerful. +Religion felt it, literature, laws, institutions. To the +social agitations of forty years ago it was invaluable as +an inspiration. The various reforms owed everything +to it. New England character received from it an impetus +that never will be spent. It made young men see +visions and old men dream dreams. There were +mounts of Transfiguration in those days, upon which +multitudes thought they communed visibly with lawgivers +and prophets. They could not stay there always, +but the memory will never cease to be glorious. Transcendentalism +as a special phase of thought and feeling +was of necessity transient—having done its work it +terminated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span> + its existence. But it did its work, and its +work was glorious. Even its failures were necessary as +showing what could not be accomplished, and its extravagances +as defining the boundaries of wise experiment. +Its successes amply redeemed them all, and +would have redeemed them had they been more glaring +and grotesque. Had it bequeathed nothing more than +the literature that sprung from it, and the lives of the +men and women who had their intellectual roots in it, +it would have conferred a lasting benefit on America.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span></p> +<p class="center big"><a name="XV" id="XV"></a>XV.</p> + +<h2>LITERATURE.</h2> + + +<p>A few words on the literary fruits of Transcendentalism +will fitly close this history. To gather them all +would be exceedingly difficult, but that is not necessary, +and will not be required. The chief results have +already been indicated. The indirect influence may be +left unestimated in detail. Transcendentalism has more +than justified itself in literature. The ten volumes of +Emerson's writings, including the two volumes of +poetry, are a literature by themselves; a classic literature +that loses no charm by age, and which years prepare +new multitudes of readers to enjoy.</p> + +<p>The writings of Theodore Parker contain much that +entitles them to a permanent place in letters. Could +they be sifted, compressed, strained, the incidental and +personal portion discarded, and the human alone preserved, +the remainder would interest, for many years yet, +a numerous class of men. In their present condition they +are too diffuse, as well as too voluminous and miscellaneous +to be manageable. The sermon style is unsuited to +literature, and Parker's sermon style was especially so, +from its excessive redundancy. He paid little heed to +the literary laws in his compositions, which were all designed +for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span> + immediate effect. Aside from the fatal injury +that the process must do to the intellectual harmony of +the work, there is an objection to abbreviating and +abstracting when an author does not perform the task +for himself, for no other is credited with ability or +judgment to do it for him. In Parker's case the difficulty +would be more than commonly great, for the reason +that it is not a question of omitting volumes, or even +chapters, but of straining the contents of pages,—"boiling +down" masses of material, till the spiritual +residue alone is left. There is no likelihood that such a +task will ever be performed, and therefore his writings +must be placed in the rank of occasional literature, valuable +for many days, but not precious for generations.</p> + +<p>Brownson's writings were astonishingly able, particularly +his discussions in the Boston "Quarterly Review;" +but their interest ceased with their occasion. His philosophical +pieces have no value. They served polemically +an incidental purpose, but having no merit of idea +or construction, they perished.</p> + +<p>The papers of Mr. Alcott in "Tablets" and "Concord +Days," are thoughtful and quaint, written with a +lucid simplicity that will always possess a charm for a +small class of people; but they have not the breadth of +humanity that commends writings to the general acceptance; +nor have they the raciness that makes books of +their class spicy and aromatic to the literary epicures +who never tire of Selden or Sir Thomas Browne.</p> + +<p>The writings of Margaret Fuller possess a lasting +value, and will continue to be read for their wit and wisdom, +when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span> + those of her more ambitious companions +are forgotten. For she treated ever-recurring themes +in a living way—vigorous and original, but human. +Her taste was educated by study of the Greek classics, +and she had the appreciation of form that belongs to +the literary order of mind. Her writings are not for +those who read as they run, but for those who read for +instruction and suggestion. As the number of such increases, +it is not unreasonable to expect an increase in +her audience. With her, thinking and talking were serious +matters. She discussed nothing in a spirit of +frivolity; her thoughts came from a penetrating, and +not from a merely acute mind; the trains of reflection +that she started are still in motion, from the momentum +she gave, and the goal she aimed at is not yet discerned +by professed disciples of her own ideas.</p> + +<p>The "Dial" is a treasury of literary wealth. There +are pieces in it of prose and verse that should not and +will not be lost. The character for oddity and extravagance +which Transcendentalism bore in its day, and has +borne on the strength of tradition ever since, would +have to be borne no longer, if the contents of that remarkable +magazine could be submitted to the calmer +judgment of to-day. Not that the sixteen rich numbers +contain a great deal that would be pleasing to the hasty +mental habit of this generation, but to the lovers of +earnest thinking and eloquent writing they have the +flavor of a choice intellectual vintage. It is the misfortune +of periodical literature to be ephemeral. The +magazine sows, but does not harvest. It brings thoughts +suddenly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span> + to the light, but buries them in season for the +next issue, which must have its turn to live. Volumes +that are compiled from magazines have lost their bloom. +The chapters have already discharged their virtue, and +spent their perfume on the air; the smell of the "old +numbers" clings to the pages, which are not of to-day, +but of the day before yesterday. We call for living +mind, and fancy that butterflies, because we see them +fluttering in the garden, are more alive than the phœnix +that has risen unscathed from the ashes of consuming fires.</p> + +<p>The thoughts of William Henry Channing, though +keen, brilliant, of great potency in their time, and admirable +in expression, were addressed to the exigencies +of the hour, and absorbed by them. Such as were +committed to paper in the "Harbinger," the "Spirit of +the Age," and other periodicals, will never be heard of +again; and such as were printed in books passed from +memory with the themes he dealt with. His biographical +works deserve a place with the prominent contributions +of that department.</p> + +<p>The poetry of William Ellery Channing has a recognized +place in American literature, though much of it +has disappeared. Dana's "Household Book of Poetry" +contains a single piece of his on "Death," that is characterized +by a depth of sentiment and a richness of +expression, which his more distinguished contemporary, +Mr. Bryant, does not surpass. Mr. Emerson's +"Parnassus" contains eight, the last of which, entitled +"A Poet's Hope," closes with the wonderful line—</p> + +<div class="poem small"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">"If my bark sink, 'tis to another sea."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span> + Cranch's poems, several have been adopted by +collectors,—notably the lines—</p> + +<div class="poem small"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2q">"Thought is deeper than all speech—<br /></span> +<span class="i3">Feeling deeper than all thought;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Soul to soul can never teach<br /></span> +<span class="i3">What unto itself was taught."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Weiss, Wasson, and Higginson are true artists in +letters. The essays of the last named of the three are +the best known, partly by reason of their greater popularity +of theme; but Mr. Wasson's discussions on ethical +and philosophical subjects are distinguished by their +luminous quality. Except for the vein of unhopefulness—partly +due to ill health—that pervades them, the chill +communicated by the regions he sails by, three or four +of them would, without hesitation, be classed among +the gems of speculative literature. The best work of +Weiss, his lectures on the Greek Ideas for example, +stands apart by itself, perhaps unrivalled as an attempt +to unveil the glory of the ancient mythology. +The interpretation of religious symbols is his province, +where, by the power of "sympathetic perception,"—to +use Mr. Wasson's fine phrase—he penetrates the secret +of mysteries, and brings the soul of dark enigmas to +the light; and his beauty of expression more than +restores to the imagination the splendors which the unpoetic +interpreter reduces to meretricious fancy.</p> + +<p>The influence of Transcendentalism on pulpit literature—if +there be such a thing—has probably been sufficiently +indicated; but the privilege of printing a sermon +of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span> + Mr. Emerson's—the only one ever published, the +famous one, that was the occasion of his leaving the +ministry and adopting the profession of literature—affords +opportunity for a special illustration. The sermon—which +is interesting in itself, from the subject, the +occasion that called it forth, the insight it gives into Mr. +Emerson's mind and character—is interesting as an example +of the method and spirit which Transcendentalism +introduced into discussions that are usually dry and +often angry.</p> + +<p class="space"></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span></p> +<blockquote class="small"><p>The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and +peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.—<span class="smcap">Romans XIV.</span> 17.</p></blockquote> + +<p class="bb"></p> + +<p>In the history of the Church no subject has been more +fruitful of controversy than the Lord's Supper. There +never has been any unanimity in the understanding of +its nature, nor any uniformity in the mode of celebrating +it. Without considering the frivolous questions which have +been lately debated as to the posture in which men +should partake of it; whether mixed or unmixed wine +should be served; whether leavened or unleavened +bread should be broken; the questions have been settled +differently in every church, who should be admitted to +the feast, and how often it should be prepared. In the +Catholic Church, infants were at one time permitted +and then forbidden to partake; and, since the +ninth century, the laity receive the bread only, the cup +being reserved to the priesthood. So, as to the time +of the solemnity. In the fourth Lateran Council, it was +decreed that any believer should communicate at least +once in a year—at Easter. Afterwards it was determined +that this Sacrament should be received three times in the +year—at Easter, Whitsuntide, and Christmas. But more +important controversies have arisen respecting its nature. +The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span> + famous question of the Real Presence was +the main controversy between the Church of England and +the Church of Rome. The doctrine of the Consubstantiation +taught by Luther was denied by Calvin. In +the Church of England, Archbishops Laud and Wake +maintained that the elements were an Eucharist or sacrifice +of Thanksgiving to God; Cudworth and Warburton, +that this was not a sacrifice, but a sacrificial feast; +and Bishop Hoadley, that it was neither a sacrifice nor +a feast after sacrifice, but a simple commemoration. +And finally, it is now near two hundred years since the +Society of Quakers denied the authority of the rite +altogether, and gave good reasons for disusing it.</p> + +<p>I allude to these facts only to show that, so far from +the supper being a tradition in which men are fully +agreed, there has always been the widest room for +difference of opinion upon this particular.</p> + +<p>Having recently given particular attention to this subject, +I was led to the conclusion that Jesus did not intend +to establish an institution for perpetual observance +when he ate the Passover with his disciples; and, further, +to the opinion, that it is not expedient to celebrate +it as we do. I shall now endeavor to state distinctly +my reasons for these two opinions.</p> + +<p>I. The authority of the rite.</p> + +<p>An account of the last supper of Christ with his disciples +is given by the four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, +Luke, and John.</p> + +<p>In St. Matthew's Gospel (Matt. <span class="smcap">xxvi.</span> 26-30) are recorded +the words of Jesus in giving bread and wine on +that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span> + occasion to his disciples, but no expression occurs +intimating that this feast was hereafter to be commemorated.</p> + +<p>In St. Mark (Mark <span class="smcap">xiv.</span> 23) the same words are recorded, +and still with no intimation that the occasion +was to be remembered.</p> + +<p>St. Luke (Luke <span class="smcap">xxii.</span> 15), after relating the breaking +of the bread, has these words: This do in remembrance +of me.</p> + +<p>In St. John, although other occurrences of the same +evening are related, this whole transaction is passed +over without notice.</p> + +<p>Now observe the facts. Two of the Evangelists, +namely, Matthew and John, were of the twelve disciples, +and were present on that occasion. Neither of them +drops the slightest intimation of any intention on the +part of Jesus to set up anything permanent. John, +especially, the beloved disciple, who has recorded with +minuteness the conversation and the transactions of +that memorable evening, has quite omitted such a notice. +Neither does it appear to have come to the knowledge +of Mark who, though not an eye-witness, relates the +other facts. This material fact, that the occasion was +to be remembered, is found in Luke alone, who was not +present. There is no reason, however, that we know, +for rejecting the account of Luke. I doubt not, the +expression was used by Jesus. I shall presently consider +its meaning. I have only brought these accounts +together, that you may judge whether it is likely that +a solemn institution, to be continued to the end of time +by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span> + all mankind, as they should come, nation after +nation, within the influence of the Christian religion, +would have been established in this slight manner in a +manner so slight, that the intention of commemorating +it should not appear, from their narrative, to have +caught the ear or dwelt in the mind of the only two +among the twelve who wrote down what happened.</p> + +<p>Still we must suppose that the expression, "<i>This do +in remembrance of me</i>," had come to the ear of Luke +from some disciple who was present. What did it really +signify? It is a prophetic and an affectionate expression. +Jesus is a Jew, sitting with his countrymen, celebrating +their national feast. He thinks of his own impending +death, and wishes the minds of his disciples to be prepared +for it. "When hereafter," he says to them, "you +shall keep the Passover, it will have an altered aspect to +your eyes. It is now a historical covenant of God with +the Jewish nation. Hereafter, it will remind you of a +new covenant sealed with my blood. In years to come, +as long as your people shall come up to Jerusalem to +keep this feast, the connection which has subsisted between +us will give a new meaning in your eyes to the +national festival, as the anniversary of my death." I see +natural feeling and beauty in the use of such language +from Jesus, a friend to his friends; I can readily imagine +that he was willing and desirous, when his disciples met, +his memory should hallow their intercourse; but I cannot +bring myself to believe that in the use of such an +expression he looked beyond the living generation, beyond +the abolition of the festival he was celebrating, +and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span> + the scattering of the nation, and meant to impose a +memorial feast upon the whole world.</p> + +<p>Without presuming to fix precisely the purpose in the +mind of Jesus, you will see that many opinions may be +entertained of his intention, all consistent with the opinion +that he did not design a perpetual ordinance. He +may have foreseen that his disciples would meet to remember +him, and that with good effect. It may have +crossed his mind that this would be easily continued a +hundred or a thousand years—as men more easily transmit +a form than a virtue—and yet have been altogether +out of his purpose to fasten it upon men in all times and +all countries.</p> + +<p>But though the words, <i>Do this in remembrance of me</i>, +do not occur in Matthew, Mark, or John, and although it +should be granted us that, taken alone, they do not +necessarily import so much as is usually thought, yet +many persons are apt to imagine that the very striking +and personal manner in which this eating and drinking +is described, indicates a striking and formal purpose to +found a festival. And I admit that this impression might +probably be left upon the mind of one who read only +the passages under consideration in the New Testament. +But this impression is removed by reading any +narrative of the mode in which the ancient or the modern +Jews have kept the Passover. It is then perceived that +the leading circumstances in the Gospels are only a +faithful account of that ceremony. Jesus did not celebrate +the Passover, and afterwards the Supper, but the +Supper <i>was</i> the Passover. He did with his disciples +exactly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span> + what every master of a family in Jerusalem was +doing at the same hour with his household. It appears +that the Jews ate the lamb and the unleavened bread, +and drank wine after a prescribed manner. It was the +custom for the master of the feast to break the bread +and to bless it, using this formula, which the Talmudists +have preserved to us, "Blessed be Thou, O Lord our +God, the King of the world, who hast produced this food +from the earth,"—and to give it to every one at the +table. It was the custom of the master of the family to +take the cup which contained the wine, and to bless it, +saying, "Blessed be Thou, O Lord, who givest us the +fruit of the vine,"—and then to give the cup to all. +Among the modern Jews who in their dispersion retain +the Passover, a hymn is also sung after this ceremony, +specifying the twelve great works done by God for the +deliverance of their fathers out of Egypt.</p> + +<p>But still it may be asked, why did Jesus make expressions +so extraordinary and emphatic as these—"This is +my body which is broken for you. Take; eat. This +is my blood which is shed for you. Drink it."—I reply +they are not extraordinary expressions from him. +They were familiar in his mouth. He always taught by +parables and symbols. It was the national way of +teaching and was largely used by him. Remember the +readiness which he always showed to spiritualize every +occurrence. He stooped and wrote on the sand. He +admonished his disciples respecting the leaven of the +Pharisees. He instructed the woman of Samaria respecting +living water. He permitted himself to be +anointed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span> + declaring that it was for his interment. He +washed the feet of his disciples. These are admitted +to be symbolical actions and expressions. Here, in +like manner, he calls the bread his body, and bids the +disciples eat. He had used the same expression repeatedly +before. The reason why St. John does not +repeat his words on this occasion, seems to be that he +had reported a similar discourse of Jesus to the people +of Capernaum more at length already (John <span class="smcap">vi.</span> 27). +He there tells the Jews, "Except ye eat the flesh of the +Son of Man and drink His blood, ye have no life in +you." And when the Jews on that occasion complained +that they did not comprehend what he meant, he added +for their better understanding, and as if for our understanding, +that we might not think his body was to be +actually eaten, that he only meant, <i>we should live by his +commandment</i>. He closed his discourse with these explanatory +expressions: "The flesh profiteth nothing; +the <i>words</i> that I speak to you, they are spirit and they +are life."</p> + +<p>Whilst I am upon this topic, I cannot help remarking +that it is not a little singular that we should have preserved +this rite and insisted upon perpetuating one symbolical +act of Christ whilst we have totally neglected all +others—particularly one other which had at least an +equal claim to our observance. Jesus washed the feet +of his disciples and told them that, as he had washed +their feet, they ought to wash one another's feet; for he +had given them an example, that they should do as he +had done to them. I ask any person who believes the +Supper<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span> + to have been designed by Jesus to be commemorated +forever, to go and read the account of it in the +other Gospels, and then compare with it the account of +this transaction in St. John, and tell me if this be not +much more explicitly authorized than the Supper. It +only differs in this, that we have found the Supper used +in New England and the washing of the feet not. But +if we had found it an established rite in our churches, +on grounds of mere authority, it would have been +impossible to have argued against it. That rite is used +by the Church of Rome, and by the Sandemanians. +It has been very properly dropped by other Christians. +Why? For two reasons: (1) because it was a local custom, +and unsuitable in western countries; and (2) because +it was typical, and all understand that humility is +the thing signified. But the Passover was local too, and +does not concern us, and its bread and wine were typical, +and do not help us to understand the redemption +which they signified.</p> + +<p>These views of the original account of the Lord's +Supper lead me to esteem it an occasion full of solemn +and prophetic interest, but never intended by Jesus +to be the foundation of a perpetual institution.</p> + +<p>It appears however in Christian history that the disciples +had very early taken advantage of these impressive +words of Christ to hold religious meetings, where they +broke bread and drank wine as symbols.</p> + +<p>I look upon this fact as very natural in the circumstances +of the church. The disciples lived together; +they threw all their property into a common stock; +they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span> + were bound together by the memory of Christ, and +nothing could be more natural than that this eventful +evening should be affectionately remembered by them; +that they, Jews like Jesus, should adopt his expressions +and his types, and furthermore, that what was done with +peculiar propriety by them, his personal friends, with +less propriety should come to be extended to their companions +also. In this way religious feasts grew up +among the early Christians. They were readily adopted +by the Jewish converts who were familiar with religious +feasts, and also by the Pagan converts whose idolatrous +worship had been made up of sacred festivals, and who +very readily abused these to gross riot, as appears from +the censures of St. Paul. Many persons consider this +fact, the observance of such a memorial feast by the +early disciples, decisive of the question whether it ought +to be observed by us. For my part I see nothing to +wonder at in its originating with them; all that is +surprising is that it should exist among us. There +was good reason for his personal friends to remember +their friend and repeat his words. It was only +too probable that among the half converted Pagans +and Jews, any rite, any form, would find favor, +whilst yet unable to comprehend the spiritual character +of Christianity.</p> + +<p>The circumstance, however, that St. Paul adopts +these views, has seemed to many persons conclusive in +favor of the institution. I am of opinion that it is +wholly upon the epistle to the Corinthians, and not +upon the Gospels, that the ordinance stands. Upon this +matter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span> + of St. Paul's view of the Supper, a few important +considerations must be stated.</p> + +<p>The end which he has in view, in the eleventh chapter +of the first epistle is, not to enjoin upon his friends +to observe the Supper, but to censure their abuse of it. +<i>We</i> quote the passage now-a-days as if it enjoined +attendance upon the Supper; but he wrote it merely to +chide them for drunkenness. To make their enormity +plainer he goes back to the origin of this religious feast +to show what sort of feast that was, out of which this +riot of theirs came, and so relates the transactions of +the Last Supper. "<i>I have received of the Lord</i>," he +says, "<i>that which I delivered to you</i>." By this expression +it is often thought that a miraculous communication is implied; +but certainly without good reason, if it is remembered +that St. Paul was living in the lifetime of all the +apostles who could give him an account of the transaction; +and it is contrary to all reason to suppose that +God should work a miracle to convey information that +could so easily be got by natural means. So that the +import of the expression is that he had received the +story of an eye-witness such as we also possess.</p> + +<p>But there is a material circumstance which diminishes +our confidence in the correctness of the Apostle's view; +and that is, the observation that his mind had not +escaped the prevalent error of the primitive church, the +belief, namely, that the second coming of Christ would +shortly occur, until which time, he tells them, this feast +was to be kept. Elsewhere he tells them, that, at that +time the world would be burnt up with fire, and a new +government<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span> + established, in which the Saints would sit +on thrones; so slow were the disciples during the life, +and after the ascension of Christ, to receive the idea +which we receive, that his second coming was a spiritual +kingdom, the dominion of his religion in the hearts +of men, to be extended gradually over the whole world.</p> + +<p>In this manner we may see clearly enough how this +ancient ordinance got its footing among the early Christians, +and this single expectation of a speedy reappearance +of a temporal Messiah, which kept its influence +even over so spiritual a man as St. Paul, would naturally +tend to preserve the use of the rite when once +established.</p> + +<p>We arrive then at this conclusion, <i>first</i>, that it does +not appear, from a careful examination of the account +of the Last Supper in the Evangelists, that it was +designed by Jesus to be perpetual; <i>secondly</i>, that it does +not appear that the opinion of St. Paul, all things considered, +ought to alter our opinion derived from the +evangelists.</p> + +<p>One general remark before quitting this branch of the +subject. We ought to be cautious in taking even the +best ascertained opinions and practices of the primitive +church, for our own. If it could be satisfactorily shown +that they esteemed it authorized and to be transmitted +forever, that does not settle the question for us. We +know how inveterately they were attached to their Jewish +prejudices, and how often even the influence of Christ +failed to enlarge their views. On every other subject +succeeding times have learned to form a judgment more +in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span> + accordance with the spirit of Christianity than was the +practice of the early ages.</p> + +<p>But it is said: "Admit that the rite was not designed +to be perpetual. What harm doth it? Here it stands, +generally accepted, under some form, by the Christian +world, the undoubted occasion of much good; is it not +better it should remain?"</p> + +<p>II. This is the question of expediency.</p> + +<p>I proceed to state a few objections that in my judgment +lie against its use in its present form.</p> + +<p>1. If the view which I have taken of the history of +the institution be correct, then the claim of authority +should be dropped in administering it. You say, every +time you celebrate the rite, that Jesus enjoined it; and +the whole language you use conveys that impression. +But if you read the New Testament as I do, you do not +believe he did.</p> + +<p>2. It has seemed to me that the use of this ordinance +tends to produce confusion in our views of the relation +of the soul to God. It is the old objection to the doctrine +of the Trinity,—that the true worship was transferred +from God to Christ, or that such confusion was +introduced into the soul, that an undivided worship was +given nowhere. Is not that the effect of the Lord's +Supper? I appeal now to the convictions of communicants—and +ask such persons whether they have not been +occasionally conscious of a painful confusion of thought +between the worship due to God and the commemoration +due to Christ. For, the service does not stand +upon the basis of a voluntary act, but is imposed by +authority.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span> + It is an expression of gratitude to Christ, +enjoined by Christ. There is an endeavor to keep Jesus +in mind, whilst yet the prayers are addressed to God. +I fear it is the effect of this ordinance to clothe Jesus +with an authority which he never claimed and which +distracts the mind of the worshipper. I know our +opinions differ much respecting the nature and offices +of Christ, and the degree of veneration to which he is +entitled. I am so much a Unitarian as this: that I +believe the human mind cannot admit but one God, and +that every effort to pay religious homage to more than +one being, goes to take away all right ideas. I appeal, +brethren, to your individual experience. In the +moment when you make the least petition to God, +though it be but a silent wish that he may approve you, +or add one moment to your life,—do you not, in the +very act, necessarily exclude all other beings from your +thought? In that act, the soul stands alone with God, +and Jesus is no more present to the mind than your +brother or your child.</p> + +<p>But is not Jesus called in Scripture the Mediator? +He is the mediator in that only sense in which possibly +any being can mediate between God and man—that is an +Instructor of man. He teaches us how to become like +God. And a true disciple of Jesus will receive the light +he gives most thankfully; but the thanks he offers, +and which an exalted being will accept, are not +<i>compliments</i>—commemorations,—but +the use of that instruction.</p> + +<p>3. Passing other objections, I come to this, that the +<i>use of the elements</i>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span> + however suitable to the people and +the modes of thought in the East, where it originated, +is foreign and unsuited to affect us. Whatever +long usage and strong association may have done in +some individuals to deaden this repulsion, I apprehend +that their use is rather tolerated than loved by any of +us. We are not accustomed to express our thoughts +or emotions by symbolical actions. Most men find the +bread and wine no aid to devotion and to some, it is a +painful impediment. To eat bread is one thing; to love +the precepts of Christ and resolve to obey them is quite +another.</p> + +<p>The statement of this objection leads me to say that I +think this difficulty, wherever it is felt, to be entitled to +the greatest weight. It is alone a sufficient objection to +the ordinance. It is my own objection. This mode of +commemorating Christ is not suitable to me. That is +reason enough why I should abandon it. If I believed +that it was enjoined by Jesus on his disciples, and 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. I should choose other ways which, +as more effectual upon me, he would approve more. +For I choose that my remembrances of him should be +pleasing, affecting, religious. I will love him as a glorified +friend, after the free way of friendship, and not pay +him a stiff sign of respect, as men do to those whom they +fear. A passage read from his discourses, a moving +provocation to works like his, any act or meeting which +tends<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span> + to awaken a pure thought, a flow of love, an +original design of virtue, I call a worthy, a true commemoration.</p> + +<p>4. Fourthly, the importance ascribed to this particular +ordinance is not consistent with the spirit of Christianity. +The general object and effect of this ordinance +is unexceptionable. It has been, and is, I doubt not, +the occasion of indefinite good; but an importance is +given by Christians to it which never can belong to any +form. My friends, the apostle well assures us that "the +kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness +and peace and joy, in the Holy Ghost." I am not +so foolish as to declaim against forms. Forms are as +essential as bodies; but to exalt particular forms, to +adhere to one form a moment after it is out-grown, is +unreasonable, and it is alien to the spirit of Christ. If +I understand the distinction of Christianity, the reason +why it is to be preferred over all other systems and is +divine is this, that it is a moral system; that it presents +men with truths which are their own reason, and enjoins +practices that are their own justification; that if miracles +may be said to have been its evidence to the first Christians, +they are not its evidence to us, but the doctrines +themselves; that every practice is Christian which +praises itself, and every practice unchristian which condemns +itself. I am not engaged to Christianity by decent +forms, or saving ordinances; it is not usage, it is not +what I do not understand, that binds me to it—let these +be the sandy foundations of falsehoods. What I revere +and obey in it is its reality, its boundless charity, its +deep<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span> + interior life, the rest it gives to my mind, the echo +it returns to my thoughts, the perfect accord it makes +with my reason through all its representation of God +and His Providence; and the persuasion and courage +that come out thence to lead me upward and onward. +Freedom is the essence of this faith. It has for its +object simply to make men good and wise. Its institutions, +then, should be as flexible as the wants of men. +That form out of which the life and suitableness have +departed, should be as worthless in its eyes as the dead +leaves that are falling around us.</p> + +<p>And therefore, although for the satisfaction of others, +I have labored to show by the history that this rite was +not intended to be perpetual; although I have gone +back to weigh the expressions of Paul, I feel that here +is the true point of view. In the midst of considerations +as to what Paul thought, and why he so thought, +I cannot help feeling that it is time misspent to argue +to or from his convictions, or those of Luke and John, +respecting any form. I seem to lose the substance in +seeking the shadow. That for which Paul lived and +died so gloriously; that for which Jesus gave himself +to be crucified; the end that animated the thousand +martyrs and heroes who have followed his steps, was to +redeem us from a formal religion, and teach us to seek +our well-being in the formation of the soul. The whole +world was full of idols and ordinances. The Jewish was +a religion of forms. The Pagan was a religion of forms; +it was all body—it had no life—and the Almighty God +was pleased to qualify and send forth a man to teach +men<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span> + that they must serve him with the heart; that only +that life was religious which was thoroughly good; that +sacrifice was smoke, and forms were shadows. This +man lived and died true to this purpose; and now, with +his blessed word and life before us, Christians must contend +that it is a matter of vital importance—really a +duty, to commemorate him by a certain form, whether +that form be agreeable to their understandings or not.</p> + +<p>Is not this to make vain the gift of God? Is not this +to turn back the hand on the dial? Is not this to make +men—to make ourselves—forget that not forms, but duties; +not names, but righteousness and love are enjoined; +and that in the eye of God there is no other measure of +the value of any one form than the measure of its use?</p> + +<p>There remain some practical objections to the ordinance +into which I shall not now enter. There is one +on which I had intended to say a few words; I mean +the unfavorable relation in which it places that numerous +class of persons who abstain from it merely from disinclination +to the rite.</p> + +<p>Influenced by these considerations, I have proposed +to the brethren of the Church to drop the use of the +elements and the claim of authority in the administration +of this ordinance, and have suggested a mode in which +a meeting for the same purpose might be held free of +objection.</p> + +<p>My brethren have considered my views with patience +and candor, and have recommended unanimously an +adherence to the present form. I have, therefore, been +compelled to consider whether it becomes me to administer +it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span> + I am clearly of opinion I ought not. This discourse +has already been so far extended, that I can only +say that the reason of my determination is shortly this:—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. I have no hostility +to this institution; I am only stating my want of sympathy +with it. Neither should I ever have obtruded +this opinion upon other people, had I not been called by +my office to administer it. That is the end of my opposition, +that I am not interested in it. I am content that +it stand to the end of the world, if it please men and +please heaven, and I shall rejoice in all the good it +produces.</p> + +<p>As it is the prevailing opinion and feeling in our religious +community, that it is an indispensable part of +the pastoral office to administer this ordinance, I am +about to resign into your hands that office which you +have confided to me. It has many duties for which I +am feebly qualified. It has some which it will always +be my delight to discharge, according to my ability, +wherever I exist. And whilst the recollection of its +claims oppresses me with a sense of my unworthiness, I +am consoled by the hope that no time and no change +can deprive me of the satisfaction of pursuing and exercising +its highest functions.</p> + +<p>September 9, 1832.</p> + +<p class="bb"></p> + + + +<p>The influence of Transcendentalism on general literature +can be only indicated in loose terms. Its current +was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span> + so strong, that like the Orinoco rushing down between +the South American continent and the island of +Trinidad, it made a bright green trail upon the dark sea +into which it poured, but the vehemence of the flood +forbade its diffusion. The influence was chiefly felt on +the departments of philosophy and ethics. It created the +turbulent literature of reform, the literature born of the +"Enthusiasm of Humanity," the waves whereof are still +rolling, though not with their original force. The literature +of politics was profoundly affected by it; the political +radicals, philosophical democrats, anti-slavery +whigs or republicans, enthusiasts for American ideas, +prophets of America's destiny, being, more or less wittingly, +controlled by its ideas. In this department Parker +made himself felt, not on the popular mind alone, +but on the recognized leaders of opinion East and West. +The writings of Sumner and his school owe their vigor +to these ideas. In history Bancroft was its great representative, +his earliest volumes especially revealing in +the richness, depth, and hopefulness of their interpretations +of men and measures, the faith in humanity +so strongly characteristic of the philosophy he professed.</p> + +<p>In poetry the influence is distinctly traceable, though +here also it was confined within somewhat narrow limits. +Bryant betrays scarcely perceptible marks of it, though +he ascribed to Wordsworth a fresh inspiration of love +for nature. It is hardly perceptible in Longfellow, +whose verse, bubbling from the heart, gently meanders +over the meadows and through the villages, gladdening +daily<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span> + existence with its music. Neither Bryant nor +Longfellow had the intellectual passion that Transcendentalism +roused. The earlier pieces of Lowell, the anti-slavery +lyrics and poems of sentiment, were inspired by +it. Whittier was wholly under its sway. The delicious +sonnets of Jones Very were oozings from its spring. +Julia Ward Howe's "Passion Flowers," though published +as late as 1854, burn and throb with feeling that +had its source in these heights.</p> + +<p>The writers of elegant literature, essays, romances, +tales, owed to Transcendentalism but a trifling debt, not +worth acknowledging. They were out of range. It +was their task to entertain people of leisure, and they +derived their impulse from the pleasure their writings +gave them or others. It was not to be expected that +authors like Irving, Paulding, Cooper, would feel an +interest in ideas so grave and earnest, or would catch a +suggestion from them. But Lydia Maria Child, whose +"Letters from New York"—1841, 1843—were models +in their kind; whose stories for young people have not +been surpassed by those of any writer, except Andersen; +whose more labored works have a quality that entitles +them to a high place among the products of mind, is a +devotee of the transcendental faith. A very remarkable +book in the department of fiction was Sylvester +Judd's "Margaret; a tale of the Real and the Ideal; +Blight and Bloom." It contained the material for half a +dozen ordinary novels; was full of imagination, aromatic, +poetical, picturesque, tender, and in the dress of +fiction set forth the whole gospel of Transcendentalism +in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span> + religion, politics, reform, social ethics, personal character, +professional and private life.</p> + +<p>As has been already remarked, the transcendental +faith found expression in magazines and newspapers, +which it called into existence, and which no longer survive. +Its elaborate compositions were, from the nature +of the case, few; its intellectual occupancy was too +brief for the creation of a permanent literature. Had +Transcendentalism been chiefly remarkable as a literary +curiosity, the neglect of the smallest scrap of paper it +caused to be marked with ink would be culpable. As +it was, primarily and to the end, an intellectual episode, +turning on a few cardinal ideas, it is best studied in the +writings and lives of its disciples. They knew better +than any body what they wanted; they were best acquainted +with their own ideas, and should be permitted +to speak for themselves. Earnest men and women no +doubt they were; better educated men and women did +not live in America; they were well born, well nurtured, +well endowed. Their generation produced no warmer +hearts, no purer spirits, no more ardent consciences, no +more devoted wills. Their philosophy may be unsound, +but it produced noble characters and humane lives. +The philosophy that takes its place may rest on more +scientific foundations; it will not more completely justify +its existence or honor its day.</p> + + +<p class="center">THE END.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[Pg 385]</a></span></p> +<h2>INDEX.</h2> + +<p class="bb"></p> + +<p class="pspace"> +A.</p> +<p class="hang2"> +Alcott, Bronson, contributes to "The Dial," <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;<br /> +on the transcendental philosophy, tribute to Emerson quoted, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>;<br /> +the mystic, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>;<br /> +a follower of Pythagoras, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>;<br /> +"<i>Concord Days</i>" quoted, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;<br /> +a leader of the transcendentalists, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>;<br /> +school in Cheshire, Conn., <a href="#Page_262">262</a>;<br /> +school in England named for, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>;<br /> +presides at reform meetings in England, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>;<br /> +superintendent of schools, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>;<br /> +his conversations, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>;<br /> +writings of, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>.<br /> +</p> +<p>Alcott, Wm. A., writes on physical training, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>.</p> + +<p>Alexandria, school of, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</p> + +<p>American Unitarian Association, tract published by, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>.</p> + +<p>Aristotle, categories of, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>.</p> + +<p>Arius, advocate of Unitarian philosophy, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</p> + + +<p class="pspace">B.</p> +<p> +Bacon, Lord Francis, Macaulay on his philosophy, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.</p> + +<p>Bain, principles of the sensational philosophy stated by, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Bancroft, George, his account of Herder, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;<br /> +History of the United States quoted, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;<br /> +champion of the spiritual philosophy, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;<br /> +traces of transcendentalism in his historical writings, <a href="#Page_381">381</a>.<br /> +</p> + +<p>Barni, Jules, translates Kant into French, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</p> + +<p>Bartol, C. A., belongs to the transcendental school, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>.</p> + +<p>Baur, follower of the Hegelian ideas, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.</p> + +<p>Biblical repository, articles on transcendentalism in, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</p> + +<p>Bibliotheca Sacra, article on transcendentalism in, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Biographia Literaria, of Coleridge, quoted, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;<br /> +criticised by Edinburgh Review, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;<br /> +Wordsworth's poetry considered in, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</p> + +<p>"Blithedale Romance," published by Hawthorne, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.</p> + +<p>Blodgett, Levi, nom de plume of Theodore Parker, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.</p> + +<p>Boehme, Jacob, doctrine of, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>.</p> + +<p>Boston Quarterly Review started by O. A. Brownson, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.</p> + +<p>Bouillet translates Plotinus, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</p> + +<p>Brisbane, Albert, disciple of Fourier, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Brook Farm, the experiment at, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>;<br /> +constitution quoted, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;<br /> +mode of life there, <a href="#Page_164">164-169</a>;<br /> +breaking up of the society, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Brooks,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[Pg 386]</a></span> + C. T., makes translations from German authors, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;<br /> +German lyrics translated by, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Brownson, Orestes A., description of, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>;<br /> +converted to Romanism, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;<br /> +writings, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>.</p> + +<p>Bruno, Giordano, founder of the Dynamic System, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</p> + +<p>Bryant, Wm. C., transcendental spirit not found in his writings, <a href="#Page_381">381</a>.</p> + +<p>Butler fights against infidelity in his <i>Analogy</i>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.</p> + + +<p class="pspace">C.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Cabanis, philosophy of, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;<br /> +skeptic of the 18th century, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.</p> + +<p>Cabot, Eliot, contributes to "The Dial," <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</p> + +<p>Calvin, denies doctrine of consubstantiation, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>.</p> + +<p>Cambridge Divinity School, address before, by James Walker, <a href="#Page_121">121-123</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Carlyle, Thomas, interprets the German thinkers, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;<br /> +quoted, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;<br /> +translates Wilhelm Meister, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;<br /> +opinion of Coleridge quoted, <a href="#Page_77">77-92</a>;<br /> +change in his mode of thought, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;<br /> +the preacher of transcendentalism, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;<br /> +articles on Richter and German literature, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.</p> + +<p>Chalybäus, his verdict on Jacobi quoted, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Channing, Dr. William, not a transcendentalist in theory, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;<br /> +feeling toward Christ, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;<br /> +letters of, quoted, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>;<br /> +transcendentalist in sentiment, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>;<br /> +quoted, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>;<br /> +contributes to "The Dial," <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;<br /> +tribute to Alcott, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>;<br /> +judgment of Margaret Fuller, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>;<br /> +writings of, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>.</p> + +<p>Channing, William Ellery, writings of, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Channing, Wm. H., version of Jouffroy published, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;<br /> +contributes to "The Dial," <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;<br /> +writes on social topics, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>;<br /> +works of, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>;<br /> +as an orator, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>;<br /> +writings of, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>.</p> + +<p>Chapin, E. H., speaks against capital punishment, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>.</p> + +<p>Chauvet, on philosophy of the ancients, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</p> + +<p>Cheever, Geo. B., article in N. A. Review, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</p> + +<p>Cheshire, Conn., school at, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>.</p> + +<p>Child, Lydia Maria, a writer of the transcendental school, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Christian Examiner, account of Herder in, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;<br /> +article by F. D. Hedge in, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;<br /> +article by James Walker in, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>;<br /> +articles on transcendentalism in, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>;<br /> +review on Emerson in, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Clarke, James Freeman, edits De Wette, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;<br /> +contributes to "The Dial," <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;<br /> +judgment of Margaret Fuller, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>;<br /> +an early transcendentalist, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, influence of Schelling on, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;<br /> +the prophet of transcendentalism in England, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;<br /> +his studies in Germany, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;<br /> +on Schelling's works, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;<br /> +alleged plagiarism from Schelling, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Coleridge,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[Pg 387]</a></span> + Biographia Literaria, quoted, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;<br /> +the true founder of the Broad church, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;<br /> +described by Talfourd and Hazlitt, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Coleridge, Carlyle's verdict on, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;<br /> +his sympathy with German literature, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;<br /> +the philosopher of transcendentalism, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;<br /> +makes Lessing's works familiar, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;<br /> +article on by Mill, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</p> + +<p>Coleridge, Sarah, note by, in Biographia Literaria, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>.</p> + +<p>Communism in Massachusetts, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Concord Days</i>, by A. B. Alcott, quoted, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Condillac, doctrine of, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;<br /> +skeptic of the 18th century, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.</p> + +<p>Congregationalists, followers of Schleiermacher among, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>.</p> + +<p>Constant, English translations from, by Geo. Ripley, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Consubstantiation taught by Luther, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>;<br /> +denied by Calvin, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Consuelo</i> translated by F. G. Shaw, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>.</p> + +<p>Copernicus revolutionizes astronomy, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Cousin, Victor, philosophical works of, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;<br /> +French follower of the Scotch school, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;<br /> +his system of philosophy, <a href="#Page_67">67-75</a>;<br /> +English translations from, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;<br /> +philosophical miscellanies noticed by the press, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Cranch, C. P., contributes to "The Dial," <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;<br /> +lines from, quoted, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>;<br /> +writes for "The Harbinger," <a href="#Page_330">330</a>.</p> + +<p>Curtis, Geo. Wm., writes for "The Harbinger," <a href="#Page_330">330</a>.</p> + + +<p class="pspace">D.</p> + +<p>Dana, Chas. A., writes for "The Harbinger," <a href="#Page_330">330</a>.</p> + +<p>Degerando, lectures on Kant's philosophy, in Paris, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</p> + +<p>Descartes, doctrine of innate ideas ascribed to, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">De Wette, students of, in the United States, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;<br /> +Theodor and Ethics, English edition of, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;<br /> +living faith in God aided by, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>.</p> + +<p>D'Holbach, skeptic of the 18th century, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Dial, the, publisher's letter on Herder, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;<br /> +Tribute to Wordsworth in, quoted, <a href="#Page_97">97-99</a>;<br /> +articles in, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>;<br /> +writes for, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;<br /> +ancient scriptures printed in, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;<br /> +article on Margaret Fuller in, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;<br /> +contains account of English reform meetings, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>.</p> + +<p>Digby, Sir Kenelm, story related by, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.</p> + +<p>Dietetics, theory and practice of, introduced by transcendentalists, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Discourses on Religion</i>, work by Schleiermacher, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Dwight, J. S., makes translations from German authors, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;<br /> +edits selections from Goethe and Schiller, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;<br /> +contributes to "The Dial," <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;<br /> +quoted, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;<br /> +writes musical articles for "The Harbinger," <a href="#Page_330">330</a>. + +</p> +<p>Dynamic system, the, begun by Giordano Bruno, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</p> + + +<p class="pspace">E.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[Pg 388]</a></span></p> + +<p>Eckermann's conversations with Goethe translated into English, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Edinburgh Review contains article by Carlyle, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;<br /> +criticises Biographia Literaria, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</p> + +<p>Edwards, Jonathan, spirit of his writings, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Elements of Psychology</i>, work by C. S. Henry, published, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Emerson, Charles, contributes to "The Dial," <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;<br /> +articles quoted, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Emerson, R. W., edits Carlyle's Miscellanies, <a href="#Page_93">93-116</a>;<br /> +on Wordsworth, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;<br /> +an idealist, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;<br /> +retires from the ministry, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>;<br /> +publication of "Nature," <a href="#Page_122">122</a>;<br /> +essays published, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;<br /> +quoted, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;<br /> +edits "The Dial," <a href="#Page_132">132</a>;<br /> +lecture on transcendentalism quoted, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;<br /> +lecture on "The Reformer" quoted, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;<br /> +address before Divinity College, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;<br /> +tribute paid by Tyndall to, <a href="#Page_214">214-243</a>;<br /> +appreciation of by German readers, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>;<br /> +published works, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;<br /> +works quoted from, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;<br /> +letter to his church, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>;<br /> +judgment of Margaret Fuller, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>;<br /> +sermon of, reprinted, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>.</p> + +<p>Encyclopćdists, influence of, in France, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">England, idealists of, <a href="#I">1</a>;<br /> +metaphysical schools in, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;<br /> +transcendentalism in, <a href="#Page_78">78-105</a>.</p> + +<p>Epictetus, works of, edited by Higginson, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>.</p> + +<p>Excursion, Wordsworth's, quoted, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.</p> + + +<p class="pspace">F.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Felton, Prof. C. C., translates Menzel, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;<br /> +edits Menzel's German literature, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Fichte, Johann Gotlieb, treatises of, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;<br /> +effect of Kant's system upon, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;<br /> +outline of his system of reasoning, <a href="#Page_31">31-40</a>;<br /> +the idealists of New England his followers, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;<br /> +few copies of his works found in the United States, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.</p> + +<p>Fiske, John, cosmic philosophy quoted, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>.</p> + +<p>Foreign Review, contains article on Novalis, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.</p> + +<p>Fourierism not welcomed by transcendentalists, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">France, philosophy in, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;<br /> +transcendentalism in, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>;<br /> +skepticism in, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</p> + +<p>Francis, Convers; apostle of transcendentalism, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>.</p> + +<p>Franck, Adolphe, explains the Jewish Kabbala, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.</p> + +<p>Frederick the Great, court of, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.</p> + +<p>Frothingham, Dr. N. L., student of German literature, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Fuller, Margaret, article on Goethe, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;<br /> +translates from the German, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;<br /> +edits "The Dial," <a href="#Page_132">132</a>;<br /> +<i>Women in the 19th Century</i> quoted, <a href="#Page_177">177-181</a>;<br /> +memoirs of, published, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>;<br /> +judgment of, by Emerson, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>;<br /> + +on metaphysics<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[Pg 389]</a></span> + and religion, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>;<br /> +as a critic, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>;<br /> +edits "The Dial," <a href="#Page_289">289</a>;<br /> +biographical account of, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>;<br /> +writings of, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>.</p> + +<p>Furness, W. H., maintains belief in the miracles, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>.</p> + + +<p class="pspace">G.</p> + +<p>Galileo, experiments of, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Greaves, James Pierrepont, founds the Alcott School near London, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>;<br /> +letter of, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>.</p> + +<p>Grimm, Herman, essay on R. W. Emerson, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>.</p> + +<p>Grote, opinion on moral intuition, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</p> + +<p>German Lyrics, translation by Chas. Brooks, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Germany, transcendentalism in, <a href="#Page_14">14-105</a>;<br /> +philosophy of, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;<br /> +under the influence of idealism, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.</p> + +<p>Gibbon, his history assailed by the church, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.</p> + +<p>Goethe, appreciation of, in New England, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.</p> + + +<p class="pspace">H.</p> + +<p>Hamilton, Sir William, Mill's criticism of, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Harbinger, The, started in 1845, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>;<br /> +list of contributors to, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>.</p> + +<p>Hauréau writes on philosophy of the middle ages, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Hawthorne, Nathaniel, notes on Brook Farm quoted, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;<br /> +<i>Blithedale Romance</i>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.</p> + +<p>Hazlitt, William, account of Coleridge's preaching, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Hedge, F. K., German translations made by, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;<br /> +writes articles in "Christian Examiner," <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Hegel, the successor of Schelling, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;<br /> +verdict on Jacobi quoted, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;<br /> +system of philosophy, <a href="#Page_43">43-45</a>.</p> + +<p>Helvetius, skeptic of the 18th century, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Henry, C. L., publishes elements of psychology, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;<br /> +his admiration for Coleridge, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Herder, translations of, into English, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;<br /> +works of, read in the United States, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.</p> + +<p>Higginson, T. W., a disciple of transcendentalism, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>.</p> + +<p>History of Philosophy, by Cousin, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</p> + +<p>Hume, his system of reasoning, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.</p> + + +<p class="pspace">I.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Idealism in England, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>;<br /> +in New England, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;<br /> +in Germany, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.</p> + + +<p class="pspace">J.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Jacobi, Frederick, his system of faith, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;<br /> +idealists of New England his followers, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;<br /> + +his works in the United States, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.</p> + +<p>Janet,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[Pg 390]</a></span> + Paul, explains Plato, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</p> + +<p>Jeffrey criticised Coleridge's Biographia Literaria, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Johnson, Samuel, work on the "Religions of India," quoted, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>;<br /> +belongs to the transcendental school, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Jouffroy, Theodore, French follower of the Scotch school, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;<br /> +<i>Introduction to Ethics</i>, English edition of, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.</p> + +<p>Judd, Sylvester, a novelist of the transcendental school, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>.</p> + + +<p class="pspace">K.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Kant, Immanuel, publishes "Critique of Pure Reason" (1781), <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;<br /> +Character of his work, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;<br /> +starting-point of his philosophy, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;<br /> +<i>Critique of Pure Reason</i> quoted, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;<br /> +Outline of his system of reasoning, <a href="#Page_16">16-21</a>;<br /> +Carlyle on his philosophy, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;<br /> +Menzel on his philosophy, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;<br /> +translated into French, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;<br /> +reintroduces the Dynamic system, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;<br /> +lectures on his philosophy in Paris, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;<br /> +few copies of his works in the United States, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Knickerbocker Magazine</i>, articles on transcendentalism in, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</p> + + +<p class="pspace">L.</p> + +<p>Laromiguičre, disciple of Condillac, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.</p> + +<p>Leibnitz, theory of, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>.</p> + +<p>Letters to a Young Theologian, by Herder, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Lewes, George H., criticism on John Locke cited, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>;<br /> +<i>Problems of Life and Mind</i>, quoted <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.</p> + +<p>Linberg, H. G., translator of Cousin, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Locke, John, <i>Essay on the Human Understanding</i>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;<br /> +called "Father of Modern Psychology," <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;<br /> +character of his work, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;<br /> +opposes the doctrine of innate ideas, his ideas introduced into France, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;<br /> +piety of, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;<br /> +framed a constitution for the New World, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;<br /> +Bancroft on, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.</p> + +<p>Longfellow, H. W., the transcendental spirit not in his writings, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Longfellow, Samuel, transcendentalist of the mystical type, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>;<br /> +hymns by, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>.</p> + +<p>Lord, D. N., writer in Lord's <i>Theological Journal</i>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</p> + +<p>Lord's Supper, the, sermon on, by Emerson, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>.</p> + +<p>Lord's Theological Journal, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</p> + +<p>Lowell, J. R., his early poems breathe the transcendental spirit, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>.</p> + +<p>Luther, Martin, teaches doctrine of consubstantiation, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>.</p> + + +<p class="pspace">M.</p> + +<p>Macaulay, T. B., article on Lord Bacon, quoted, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.</p> + +<p> +Maine de Biran, philosophy of, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Margaret</i>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[Pg 391]</a></span> + novel setting forth the gospel of transcendentalism, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>.</p> + +<p>Marsh, Dr. James, translates Herder's Spirit of Hebrew Poetry, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.</p> + +<p>Martineau, Harriet, calls Alcott the American Pestalozzi, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>.</p> + +<p>Martineau, James, letter of Channing to, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</p> + +<p>Mathematics, progress in, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>.</p> + +<p>Maurice, Frederick Denison, admirer of Coleridge, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.</p> + +<p>May, Rev. S. J., account of Alcott's school, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Menzel, opinion of Goethe quoted, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;<br /> +German Literature, English edition of, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Mill, principles of sensational philosophy stated by, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;<br /> +article on Coleridge, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>;<br /> +work on logic quoted, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;<br /> +commends Taine's work, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.</p> + + +<p class="pspace">N.</p> + +<p><i>Nature</i>, by R. W. Emerson, quoted, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>.</p> + +<p>New England Maga., articles on transcendentalism in, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">New England, transcendentalism in, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>;<br /> +religion of, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;<br /> +idealism in, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</p> + +<p>New Hegelians, the, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</p> + +<p>New York Review, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</p> + +<p>Nominalists, the, tenets maintained by, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>.</p> + +<p>North American Review, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Norton, Andrews, assails Schleiermacher, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;<br /> +attacks transcendentalism, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;<br /> +controversy with George Ripley, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Novalis, article on, by Carlyle, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;<br /> +his philosophy defined by Carlyle, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>.</p> + + +<p class="pspace">O.</p> + +<p><i>Orphic Sayings</i> of Alcott quoted, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>.</p> + +<p>Osgood, Samuel, edits DeWette, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.</p> + + +<p class="pspace">P.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Parker, Theodore, referred to by Channing, enters into the transcendental controversy, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>;<br /> +contributes to "The Dial," <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;<br /> +work meditated by, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>;<br /> +strong faith in immortality, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>;<br /> +"Levi Blodgett" letter quoted, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;<br /> +blending of realism and transcendentalism in, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>;<br /> +as a preacher of transcendental views, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>;<br /> +writings of, <a href="#Page_357">357</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Passover, the feast of, celebrated by Jesus, <a href="#Page_364">364-366</a>;<br /> +as kept by Jews, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>.</p> + +<p>Paul of Samosata, advocate of Unitarian theology, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</p> + +<p>Peabody, Elizabeth, writes record of a school, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>.</p> + +<p>Pelagius, advocate of Unitarian theology, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Penn, Wm., framed constitution for the New World, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;<br /> + +Bancroft on, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.</p> + +<p>Perfect Life,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[Pg 392]</a></span> + the work by Dr. Channing, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.</p> + +<p>Phillips, Wendell, speaks against capital punishment, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>.</p> + +<p>Physics established as a science, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>.</p> + +<p>Platonism, transcendental in its essence, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>.</p> + +<p>Plotinus translated by Bouillet, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</p> + +<p>Porter, Noah, writes article in Bibliotheca Sacra, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</p> + +<p>Princeton Review, articles on transcendentalism in, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</p> + +<p>Priestley, Joseph, able representative of Unitarianism, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Pythagoras, the ancient teacher of dietetics, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>;<br /> +H. B. Alcott on, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>.</p> + + +<p class="pspace">Q.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Quakerism, tribute to, by George Bancroft, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;<br /> +compared with transcendentalism, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>.</p> + + +<p class="pspace">R.</p> + +<p>Rahn, Johanna, letter of Fichte to, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Rationale of Religious Inquiry</i>, by Martineau, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.</p> + +<p>Ravaisson, Felix, writes reports on French philosophy, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</p> + +<p>Realists, the, tenets maintained by, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>.</p> + +<p>Religious affections, the, treatise on, by Jonathan Edwards, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>.</p> + +<p>Rémusat, Charles de, writer on French philosophy, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</p> + +<p>Review, North American, account of Herder in, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.</p> + +<p>Reymond, Dubois, address to German naturalists quoted, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Richter, Carlyle on his philosophy, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>;<br /> +works of, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Ripley, George, his account of Herder, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;<br /> +account of Schleiermacher, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;<br /> +estimate of Cousin's philosophy, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>;<br /> +edits specimens of foreign standard literature, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;<br /> +review of James Martineau, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;<br /> +reply to Andrews Norton, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>;<br /> +contributes to "The Dial," <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;<br /> +his influence in spreading transcendentalism, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>;<br /> +published works of, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>;<br /> +controversy with Andrews Norton, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>;<br /> +at Brook Farm, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Ripley, George, edits "The Harbinger," <a href="#Page_328">328</a>;<br /> +literary critic of "The Tribune," <a href="#Page_332">332</a>.</p> + +<p>Robbins, Samuel D., quoted, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</p> + +<p>Romanism not at home in New England, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.</p> + +<p>Rousseau, J. J., the ideas of the new philosophy expressed by, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</p> + +<p>Rousselot writes on philosophy of the middle age, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</p> + +<p>Royer-Collard, French followers of the Scotch school, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.</p> + +<p> +Russell edits first journal of education, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>.</p> + + +<p class="pspace">S.</p> + +<p>Saint<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[Pg 393]</a></span> + Hilaire, Barthelemy, French philosopher, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</p> + +<p>Saisset, Emil, translates Spinoza, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Schelling, system of philosophy, <a href="#Page_40">40-43</a>;<br /> +<i>Transcendental Idealism</i> published, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;<br /> +few copies of his works found in the United States, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Schiller, letter on Kant's philosophy quoted, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;<br /> +on Richter, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Schleiermacher, influence of, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;<br /> +quoted, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;<br /> +philosophy of, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;<br /> +students of, in the United States, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;<br /> +faith in God promoted by, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.</p> + +<p>Schoolmen, the, their use of the word transcendental, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Sensationalism in England, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;<br /> +reaction against, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>;<br /> +the God of, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>;<br /> +ideas of immortality, <a href="#Page_193">193-197</a>;<br /> +its philosophy revived by Mill and others, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</p> + +<p>Shaw, Francis G., translates Consuelo for "The Harbinger," <a href="#Page_329">329</a>.</p> + +<p>Simon, Jules, explains the Alexandrian school, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Skepticism in France, 18th century, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;<br /> +brought to America, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</p> + +<p>Smith, William, publishes memoirs of Fichte (1845), <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.</p> + +<p>Socialists, New York union of, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>.</p> + +<p>Socinius, advocate of Unitarian theology, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</p> + +<p>Southern Literary Messenger, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</p> + +<p><i>Specimens of Foreign Standard Literature</i>, edited by George Ripley, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Spencer, principles of the sensational philosophy stated by, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;<br /> +system of, hostile to intuitive philosophy, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>.</p> + +<p>Spinoza, translated by Saisset, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</p> + +<p>Spirit of Hebrew poetry, by Herder, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.</p> + +<p>Staël, Madame de, gives an account of Kant's philosophy, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</p> + +<p>Stahl, experiments of, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>.</p> + +<p>Stone, Thomas T., article in "The Dial" quoted, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.</p> + +<p>St. Paul, his view of the Lord's Supper, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>.</p> + +<p>Strauss a disciple of Hegel, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.</p> + + +<p class="pspace">T.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Taine, principles of the sensational philosophy stated by, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;<br /> +work on Intelligence quoted, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>;<br /> +criticism of Tyndall, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.</p> + +<p>Talfourd, Sergeant, his account of Coleridge, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</p> + +<p>Tennyson, Alfred, rising glory of, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.</p> + +<p>Thoreau, Henry D., contributes to "The Dial," <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</p> + +<p>Tissot translates Kant into French, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</p> + +<p> +Torricelli, experiments of, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Transcendentalism,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[Pg 394]</a></span> + chiefly communicated through German literature, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +influence on German literature, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br /> +its apostles in the New World, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;<br /> +in New England, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>;<br /> +borders on Platonism, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;<br /> +an enlarged orthodoxy, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>;<br /> +imported in foreign packages, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;<br /> +Quakerism compared with, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;<br /> +advocated by James Walker, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>;<br /> +attacked by Andrews Norton, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;<br /> +legitimate fruits of, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;<br /> +defined by Emerson, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;<br /> +literary achievements of, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>;<br /> +essentially poetic, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;<br /> +a distinct system of philosophy, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;<br /> +misconceptions of, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;<br /> +practical usefulness of the disciples of, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>;<br /> +objections to, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>;<br /> +inaugurated the practice of dietetics, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;<br /> +favorable to all reform movements, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;<br /> +ideas of women, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>;<br /> +relation to questions of religion, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>;<br /> +reaction against sensationalism, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;<br /> +the faith of, <a href="#Page_190">190-192</a>;<br /> +asserts immortality of the soul, <a href="#Page_193">193-196</a>;<br /> +accepts the miracles, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;<br /> +its view of Christianity, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;<br /> +superseded by idealism, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>;<br /> +as a gospel, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>;<br /> +end of one phase of, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>;<br /> +defined by Bartol, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>;<br /> +minor followers of, <a href="#Page_355">355-356</a>;<br /> +literature of, <a href="#Page_357">357-372</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Trinitarianism of Platonic origin, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;<br /> +avowed by idealists, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;<br /> +its debt to Unitarianism, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.</p> + +<p>Tuckerman, H. T., writes for Southern Literary Messenger, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</p> + +<p>Tübingen, follower of the Hegelian idea, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Tyndall, John, address of, quoted, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;<br /> +objections to, by Taine, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.</p> + + +<p class="pspace">U.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Unitarians, the, belong to the school of Locke, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;<br /> +of New England, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;<br /> +friends to free thought, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.</p> + +<p>Unitarianism represented in England by Priestley, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</p> + + +<p class="pspace">V.</p> + +<p>Vacherot, Etienne, explains the Alexandrian school, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</p> + +<p>Vere, Aubrey de, lines on Coleridge, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>.</p> + +<p>Volney popular in the eighteenth century, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Voltaire introduces Locke's ideas into France, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;<br /> +the great name among eighteenth century skeptics, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.</p> + + +<p class="pspace">W.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Walker, James, avows transcendental views, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>;<br /> +quoted, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;<br /> +his theory of moral intuition, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</p> + +<p>Wasson, D. A., sermons and poems of, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>.</p> + +<p>Wedgewood, Josiah and Thomas, send Coleridge to Germany, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.</p> + +<p> +Weiss, John, philosophical writings and translations, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>.</p> + +<p>Westminster<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[Pg 395]</a></span> + Review contains article by Mill, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</p> + +<p>Whig Review, articles on transcendentalism in, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</p> + +<p>Whittier, John G., under the sway of transcendental ideas, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>.</p> + +<p class="hang2">Wordsworth, Wm., in Germany with Coleridge, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;<br /> +kinship between Coleridge and, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;<br /> +his poetry discussed in <i>Biographia Literaria</i>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;<br /> +preface to his poems quoted, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;<br /> +<i>Ode to Immortality and Excursion</i> quoted, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;<br /> +the poets of the transcendentalists, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;<br /> +lines from, quoted, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p class="center big bb2">BOOKS BY OCTAVIUS B. FROTHINGHAM.</p> + + +<p class="pspace2 hang2">THE RELIGION OF HUMANITY. <span class="smcap">An Essay.</span><br /> + +Third Edition—Revised. Price, $1.50.</p> + +<p class="small">"Nobody can peruse this book without respect for the learning, mental honesty and +skill in the statement of his convictions, possessed by the author, and for the essential +integrity and philanthropic tendency of his spirit."—<i>Springfield Republican.</i></p> + +<p class="small">"A profoundly sincere book, the work of one who has read largely, studied thoroughly, +reflected patiently.... It is a model of scholarly culture and of finished +and vigorous style."—<i>Boston Globe.</i></p> + +<p class="small">"A marked book, forming a most important contribution to our religious literature."—<i>Boston +Register.</i></p> + +<p class="pspace2 hang2">THE CHILD'S BOOK OF RELIGION.<br /> + +For Sunday-Schools and Homes. 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Hammond</span>, M.D.,<br /> +Professor of Diseases of the Mind and Nervous System in the University +of the City of New York. 8vo, Cloth, with cuts.</p> + +<p class="hang2 pspace2">RELIGION AS AFFECTED BY MODERN MATERIALISM.<br /> + +By <span class="smcap">James Martineau</span>, LL.D. 12mo, Cloth, 75 cents.</p> + +<p class="hang2 pspace2">MODERN MATERIALISM. By <span class="smcap">James Martineau</span>, LL.D.<br /> + +12mo, Cloth, $1.00.</p> + +<p class="small">"The ablest analyses of Tyndall and his school of thought that have yet appeared."—<i>London +Spectator.</i></p> + +<p class="pspace2 hang2">OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY.<br /> +By <span class="smcap">J. J. Elmendorf</span>, Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy in +Racine College. 12mo, Cloth, (in press.)</p> + + +<p class="pspace"> +G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS,<br /> +<span class="smcap">182 Fifth Avenue, New York</span>. +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="notes"> +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> See Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, London, 1838; Morell's History +of Modern Philosophy; Chalybäus' Historical Development of Speculative +Philosophy from Kant to Hegel; Lewes' Biographical History of +Philosophy; Cousin's Leçons, Œuvres, I<sup>ere</sup> série, vol. 5, give a clear account +of Kant's philosophy.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> See for references. Poole's Index to Periodical Literature.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Vol. 1, page 89, 90.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Logic, p. 591. Amer. Edition.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Logic, p. 548. Amer. Edition.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy, Vol. II., p. 442.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> On Intelligence, Book III., chap. I.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Problems of Life and Mind II. pp. 410, 415.</p></div> + +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="notes"> +<p>TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:</p> + +<p>Obvious typographical and printer errors have been corrected without +comment.</p> + +<p>Page numbers have added for two items in the index which did not have page +references:</p> + +<p class="ind">Plotinus.... page 61<br /> +Lord's Supper.... page 363</p> + +<p>Inconsistencies in use of spelling, punctuation and accent marks have +been retained as in the original version.</p> + +<p>Quotation marks around quoted verses of poetry are used inconsistently. +When only a closing quotation mark was present in the original, an +opening quote has been added. 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