New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-11-04
AZ DISCIPLE or EMERSON-WHf AND
HOW HE LEFT THE CHURCH OF ENG
I'M rROI-pE AND NEWMAN
FRorDE AND HIS FATHER

rondon October %.
,r,srs are. two facts in connection with frond's
ro,ir.p,eut from the Church which nave never
bean stated in print. nor ever th"A' p'''
yrown 10 many II those who kie" HI" "eS''
I learned them from him. nor shall soon Io's.'
en-. circumstances in w<ich they were tolA II
was som. three years ago ! hai pee" '"'''' 49,
and AZ grew better Froude came TO s'r NJ ii9
-, mas AZ balm. for h. brought into the
-, ,h gentle Influences Of kindly friendship
-, -, ,hat rare sweetness Of nature ana charm
which h. possessed in a very hlsh u's'''' "
brought sunlight with him. sympathy ana 'e""''
ness Ill. sat long and talked 81 many S"oJ0''9'
.a ena,,v ah,ut himself and his earlier NE
Presently he asked me- II had KNOWN r''''
,.,,,u,a,e,,. and whether | could tell him inuch
about Emerson the man. lie hs''"'N ~
ra,o,riscences az | had Of my visits to him In
Concord many years before. ana OF H"e'S'.
,.,s;,s London with his daughter. Then he said:
81 do not ask YOU about Emerson "''""sS'
They are known to me better than YOU think. II
= t,o,ors,r more Than any other one influence
u,bo convinced me that inside the Church "i
england there was no place for me lie broke
,h. f.,ters | owe my freedom 10 him
asked whether he had ever told Emerson.
"No" answered Fr6ude. in his soft way, why
shou,d ne care?" | protested. but he went on
.you know very we'll that Emerson never
wished 70 make proselytes. His was no mission
airy spirit do not think the Idea OF convert
ing ANYBODY ever came To INN. W ha' ne Sa'u
and wrote he did like Luther, because ne cou'd
not otherwise. Nature spoke through MIN he
WAS her servant. And his freedom from All oe-
sire 10 influence others directly was one secret OF
his influence on others;-at any rate. on me.
had grown distrustful of preachers ana zealo's.
Tho truth which most easily reached my mind
WAC the truth which came like the dew from
heaven OF course. | had thought nuch ana
douh, had got possession Of my soul before l
turned 10 Emerson, but Il left me doubling. EN-
erson taught me to decide; perhaps because NJ did
not care to decide for me. or for anybody But
7 felt after reading him. and after his spirit had
as II were passed into mine that the reign or dog
matte theology over me had came to an end l
ous. be free TO think and feel for myself. No
bondapa was any longer tolerable And saw
tba, Emerson had just firm "A hold on morals
90 onvhodv had Without that. he would have
had little ON me- For me as for him, the moral
law Of the universe is the one which remains
binding But what has ecclesasticism TO DO with
moral laws? 1t puts them all aside and puts lts
own creed and catechism in their place
Whoever has read Froude 10 any purpose knows
well that to the last. this faith In morals never
forsook him His books are full of 1t. az his life
was 1t was the dividing line between him and
Newman Each OF these two remarkable men.
each perhaps spiritually minded in an equal de-
gree made his choice To Newman the choice
was between Rome and unbelef. He had begun
nv leaning on reason. He had mind 80 subtle
and a perception so clear that in him the free
use of the reason led. as he practically admitted.
straight To scepticism. From that he shrunk.
but his sole refuge from scepticism lay in re-
nouncng the reason and accepting the principle
Of authority And no doubt he logically and
historically right in his conviction that OF au-
thority Rome had a monopoly. both historical
and dogmatic. And never | suppose. was a more
signal example Of the profound truth OF the much
questioned SAYING OF Pascal that faith Is an act
of will: 10 which there Is a corOllary I'm Emer-
sons-"the will. that is the man." Newman
solved 10 believe what Rome told him to believe
and the act just clearly Of will as
when a man resolves 10 turn to the left rather
than to the right. He closed his mind TO all
other influences he suspended the very processes
of thought by which he had so long guided his
life: he determined to for the future the full
force of his intellect up 10 fixed point and never
again beyond that point
| Froude did the exact contrary. 1t may well
! enough be said that he cannot be fully understood
| without Newman. nor Newman without Froude.