The homiletic and aphoristic quality of Emerson's work was the result of an accumulation of phrases and quotes by earlier thinkers. He collected volumes of miscellaneous quotes on a variety of topics. He projected an association and familiarity with the very matter of life. Suffering is to be overcome through the reassurances of a strong Puritan background, and in his case, by rigorous positive thought to all that he was in this world, and to all that every person is in this life. He does separate reasoning from the past, except as reasoning is hinged by content to the wisdom of that past, in order to persuade.
Religious context has definite goals.
If semantics sound non-religious, then the congregation's Mind is diverted. His words re-define religious lexicon to observation and understanding, and not to negate. If a man is wise he will say to himself, I am not a member of that or any party. A sect or party is an elegant incognito devised to save a man from the vexation of thinking. Interpretation is a matter of context, where even the most exact definition of thought, of a word can be questioned in a relative sense.