New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-03-12
fire reveals one of the main reasons Tor us OK
cllsion from every city street.


Tho ,;fo 90 tho Rev. DIR. A. p. Peabody syn
chronized momentous era in the development
II Now England religious thought IL WAS I"
,;mo vibrant with vague expectations OF gre''
things 70 come The pitiless conclusions Oh INC
old orthodoxy. worked out by Jonathan Eu-
,,ords had nrcduccd widespread reaction Oh
thought. which gave tremendous IMPETUS "
the Unitarian movement. The time 1or iea>o"
ing out the old scheme OF theology hao HUI
vet arrived but thinking men were leu ~ q"
impuIsc they could not control u q'ieS''oii ~.
authority. if not it's truth. 1t was perIod Oh
sb,,n antagonism. of fard and relentless war
faro between two radically different concep
films of God and man, in which there was
none of that sweetness and light which AFTER
ward came to characterize the new Unitarian
ism. Men on both sides used harsh language
The conservatives explained the crisis IN clear
and Scriptural phrase The bOttOmlcss pit was
opcncd Satan was unbound, and Apollyon was
striving against the saints of God. Nor were
tho liberals without an answer to all thiS' aS
the pamphlet and periodical literature OF inc
rcriod will show. They had intellectual giants
for their leaders, who made Titanic war Oh
what they deemed the absurdlties OF the o'u
faith. But beyond the immediate issues OF the
conflict there was the thought. often uncon-
scious that new epoch was dawnlng when
truth. absolute truth. should reign, and
visible millennium should come. Neither party
in the contest dreamed that the issues then 50
paromount would lose themselves, as they nave
done long ago, in the far greater questions
that to-day occupy the attention OF the ChfiS-
tian world.
Nor is this strange; for when Peabody en-
tered the Harvard Divinity School none Oh inc
great leaders of Diem Ncw-England though'
had vet risen Emerson had just been APP
probatcd t. preach - in the Second ni'aiiah
Church of Boston. but had given ~ evidence
Of his coming sceshp. Alcott was KNOWN
simply a. achcr of children, who had gainod
sine reputation as beautiful but misty taikcr.
Margaret Fuller was also known as teacher
with reputation for daring originality among
the unco good Lcngfcllow was young pro-
fcs,or in Bowdoin. Lowell was only scho l.
boy and Wendell Phillips was still learning
{; rcck roots in Harvard. Hawthorne. who WIZ
living with his mother, had just published an
unsuccessful rename George Ripley was
BOSTON pastor: and the Brook Farm expert
mcnt had not We; been tried. II was into this
naSccnt intellectual epoch that Andrew Pres
Ton pcabod, WAS u>hcrcd and il was to the
orderly development If II that he gave his ripe
intellect and wide culture. lie was not pre-
cmincniIy great man. compared WIN some "i
the other actors on the sccnc and even IN his
own domain ~ a religious teacher he fiiled
fully 10 grasp the larger conception OF rclIsion
that j. finding expression to-day. with nm
the contest was largely between New England
orthodoxy and New England niiaranSm. But
hi, genius though limited cannot be queS-
toned Ills influence On his generation was
deep and ating and he wrought well ana
wisely in freeing Ncw-EngIand thought from
the lab, ninth Of speculation in which it once
babe fair 10 he lost.
With him passes away almost the last OF
the old worthless. Acott. the transct ndcntai-
isl Emerson the seer Longfcllow, the poet
Margaret Fuller Wendell Phillips. Whittier
and all the Others If the noble company OF
rcformcrs have taken their place IN history.
Now Peabody The same gentle and lovab!c
preacher Of the movement. has joined them in
the temple of d'athe>S fame.