The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-02-15
Address by Rev. Adelbert L. Hud-
son Yesterday forming.
A GROUP OF GREAT SINGERS
BRYANT, EMERSON, LOWELL,
LoNGFELLoW, HOLMES.
Whitman and Whittier, Says Mr..
Hudson. Are Also Essentially
Unitarian In Their Theology-An
Interesting Review.

Rev. Adelbert l.. HUDSON spoke dt
Unity hall yesterday upon Our Uni
tartan Poets" He said that Unfair
ians are apt to quote with no little
complacency the fact that, of the seven
great American poets, five were Uni
tarians, namely, Bryant, Emerson,
Lowell, Longfellow and Holmes, while
the other two, Whitman and Whittier,
were essentially Unitarian in their
theology. Whitman stood outside OF
all the churches in the freedom OF his
thought Whittier remained nominally
a member of the Society of Friends or
Quakers, and in private conversation
preserved their quaint and simple Ian
guage. But in thought he was as dis
tinctiVely Unitarian as any OF the nVe
great brother poets who bore the Uni
tartan name. Many expressions run
ming through his poems show ms nd
eral theology, notably in The Meet
ing THE Minister'S Daughter ana
The Eternal Goodness" His personal
affiliation in the work of Unitarians
gave evidence of his sympathy with
their general aims, and, what IS even
more conclusive, he often expressed
himself in private conversation as IN
substantial accord with the religious
view and standpoint of Unitarian lead
ers Shortly before his death, in a
conversation with Rev. C. Z. Hussey
of Billerica, Mass, in which both had
expressed their opinions in opposition
to evangelical creeds, Mr.. Whittier re-
marked: They would call thee ana
me Unitarians.
All this is very gratifying to the
members of that religious body whose
thinking has been enriched by the
thought of these master minds. More
over the practical value of their op1n-
ions is enhanced by the scope of their
relations to the world. Bryant was
prominent editor, political writer of
recognized strength and influence.
Emerson was one of the best known
philosophical writers of the century.
Longfellow was a man of cosmopolitan
culture and worldwide reputation as
a linguist. Holmes was distinguished
as a scientist as we'll as a man of let
ters Lowell was not only ripe
scholar but also a profound statesman,
and was the foremost representative
of our country among the ministers or
foreign nations. Whittier will be even
better known in history as the cham
pion of freedom than as the Quaker
poet, while Whitman will be recognized
as a fitting type of manly American
ism.
But the more important fact about
these great poets is not so much their
utilization with any particular church
as that they have been the prophets
of the new and larger thought which
forms q basis for the religion of the
coming time They were in closest
sympathy with the scientific progress
of their time. They drank from the
same fountains which inspired the re-
searches of Darwin, Huxley, Tyndan,
Spencer and Wallace, and their writ
ings were the product of this scientific
spirit, touched with religious feeling.
They were evolutionists by instinct.
Emerson struck the key note of evo-
luton long before this great world
theory had been suggested to the pop
ular mind. In 1S49, ten years before
Darwin had published the Origin Of
Species and 20 years before the ap
pearance of 1.-The Descent of Man"
Emerson had written the noted coup
let:
And, striving to be man. the worm
Mounts through all the spires of FORM
The old theory of the fail of man.
an angry Deity and an atoning sacri-
flee had no significance for these new
poets, seers and prophets. With true
prophetic vision they grasped the new
conception of the worth of man, the
freedom of the human mind. Their
liberalism in religion was not due to
the accident of birth or association.
Old creeds and narrow cults could find
no standing room in their philosophy.
1t is a significant fact that the two
great contemporary English poets.
Tennyson and Browning, were in full
accord with the liberal standpoint of
our Unitarian poets. Browning states
very definitely his opposition to the
domination of creeds in his little poem
replying to the question, why am 1 a
liberal?"
But little can or do the best of US:
That little is achieved through liberty,
" no then dares hold. emancipated thus.
His fellow shall continue bound? Not I.
Who live, love. labor freely nor discuss
a brothers right to freedom. That is
why"
Tennyson gives frequent expression
to his liberal thought. Man for him is
not fallen being, but the heir of all
the ages the summit Of the ascend
ing scale in natures evolution. He
recognizes the right of each individual
mind TO formulate its own beliefs. I'M
trammeled by fixed creeds. He de-
clares without reserve
There lives more faith. in honest doubt,
Believe me. than in half the creeds."
He has no sympathy with dogmatic
certainty, but family trusts the larg-
err hope
The great poets of the century both
in England and America have been
evolutionists. In fact they were eVo-
lutionists before the theory of evolution
had been stated to the popular mind.
Side by side with the great scientists
of the century they helped to usher in
the new era in human thought. 1t is
a significant fact that the noblest po-
etry of our time has gone hand in hand
with its wonderful scientific progress.
And that the time of greatest activity
in scientific discovery was also the
great creative period among the poets.
The popular impression is that poetry
and science have little or nothing in
common. And this is unquestionably
true in the details of science. The poet
would find little inspiration in chemi-
cal formulas or mechanical contriv-
ances, in the composition of ether or
the calculation of volts and ohms.
(Though Dr. Holmes in that matchless
bit of humor called The Broomstick
Train" has immortaliZed in verse the
starting of electric cars.) But the char
acteristic feature of the science of our
period does not consist in its devotion
to detail as painstaking and as thor
ough as this has been. 1t lies rather
in the fact that it has grappled fear
lessly with the deeper problems of life,
the origin and destiny of man, our re-
lation to the universe about us and to
the supreme power in that universe.
Just here is found a clue to the secret
how the poets could find inspiration
in an age of SCIENCE. In this border
land OF spiritual truth these two life
forces met, scientific inquiry and po-
etc insight. Long separated by bar
riers built by creeds and dogmas, they
came together and knew each other