The Indianapolis journal., 1903-08-30
EMERSON'S LIMITATIONS.
Address Delivered by Judge ID. r..
Baldwin at Chautauqua.


Chautauqua Assembly Herald.
Since the 25th of last May, his one hun
dredth birthday, we have done nothing
but sing the praises Of our greatest Amerf-
can author Perhaps it will be well
enough to consider that he was human and
had his limitations.
While one. half of Emersons poetry and
prose borders upon perfection. the other
half is a jargon as incomprehensible as
portions of Browning the mystics OF
the middle ages. 1t is easy TO say that the
fault is in the reader and put him on the
writing lies in its simplicity and its ease
of comprehension by dull people. IL Is
precisely this quality which gives to the
other half OF Emerson's writings their celeb
rity. OF course, we must not forget that
this is fault common to all great writers.
Of Shakspeare's thirty-seven plays, not
over twenty-five are ever read. Words
worth is at times so silly that we write
Miss Nancy" for his first name.
Emerson was the leader Of the transcend
entalists, short-lived sect Of his day:
Trsnscendentalism is a pompous word and
so awe inspiring that the general public
takes IL for something very grand and does
not stop 30 consider that it embodies some
fundamental errors. Shortly stated IL means
the claim that the man is the ultimate
Judge Of all truth. AS Emerson puts IL
(and you will observe that there is MOTH
II am the owner OF the sphere.
OF the seven stars and solar year,
OF Caesars hand and Plato's brain,
OF Lord Christ's heart and Shakspeare's
strain"
With the transcendentalist there is no
such thing as revelation as we understand
1t. The Bible is collection OF myths
mingled with a great dea! of wisdom
and Jesus Christ was only a very great
ings we are at liberty to reject IL they do
not suit us. Emerson Is example OF
what Barrett Wendell calls serene impu-
dence." When pastor Of one OF the Boston
churches and only about thirty-two years
of age he shocked even the Unitarians
by announcing that the Lords Supper no
longer interested him: that Ii was without
meaning to him and that he would no
longer administer 1t. He accordingly re-
signed. Soon after that, I'm 1888. he de-
livered an address in which he pronounced
miracles monsters" and declared
rent belief I'm the divinity OF Christ a mis-
take. He. by one swoop of the pen, re-
pudated historical Christianity the pro-
duct of misticraft aud error.
From that day to his death he never
changed his position. He announced that
man was and is the highest source of truth.
He for forty years so confidently and
sereneIy asserted that his Concord mole
hill was higher than the highest Himalaya
that a careless or overwhelming and too
good-natured American public took him at
his word and mistook shibboleth for the
voice of God
According to Emerson. every age and
race makes its own God not In the sense
Of denying the ultimate reality everywhere
around us Emerson was far from that
but of each one interpreting it for him.
self
According to him our Bible is only one
of many sacred books and one which any
one is at liberty TO accept or reject i'm
whole or in part. There are and have
been half dozen Bibles. according 10
Emerson the God concept OF the Brahmin
is as valid divinity to him as our Jehovah
is to us, for the soul Is the final judge. The
Asiatic has just the same right TO form
his conclusion as the European or Ameri-
can. All religions are chapters from the
same book and flowers from the same
stalk.
1t would. however. be gross error to
suppose that Emerson was not a pas
sionate believer I'm God and I'm spirituality.
But ii was not the God of our Bible. The
accent of all his beautiful poems and es-
letters-GOD-to make his truth all the
more emphatic. No author more universal
| ly and persistently taught for a lifetime the
nearness Of diety. But IL was not the
deity of Jesus Christ. He said:
The word unto the prophet spoken
Was not tables yet unbroken,
The word by seers or sybyls told
In groves OF oak or fanes OF gold.
Still floats upon the morning wind.
Still whispers to tie willing mind
Emerson treats historical Christianity.
| the atonement of Jesus Christ and the ulti-
| mate authority of the Bible as so many
myths created by an ignorant and inter-
| ested church. All these he sets aside
| without the least hesitation and substi-
| tutes in their place what he called the
| inner Ight-the "Over Soul and the in
| spiration of the voice OF nature. Nothing.
| according TO him. is true unless the indi-
! vidual and collective judgment of the
man or mankind approve of IL. This Is
| the substance Of transcendentaism. But
| he carried his views so far that in his
day the Unitarians discarded his teach
| ings. Since 1893, however that enterpris-
ing denomination has so advanced that to-
| day Emerson would be a welcome member
of that church, so true II is that the hereto
OF last year Is the orthodox brother and
| sister OF the next
For all of Emerson's eccentricities OF
| doctrine and limitations OF philosophy.
| he is easily our most stimulating American
author. I count IL the greatest good
| fortune of my life that in early youth 1
| so absorbed his poems and essays that they
became part OF my intellectual life lie.
as other author, teaches the strenuous
/ life, that in the long run We get what and
j only what we deserve: that IN we would
get more we rnust give more. that can
| only be injured by our own acts and that
/ of all sins seIfshness il the most foolish
and short sighted. When Frances y Will
| lard announced her new beatitude. Bless
| ed are the inclusive, for they shall be i'm
| cluded," she only announced "A well-knovn
| truism of the Concord sage. IN word no
| one can follow the teachings OF Emerson.
| IL he or she san clearly his liInita-
| tions. without living brave and noble
| life.