The Newtown bee. (Newtown, Conn.) 1877-current, 1906-04-06
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THE HOME CIRCLE.
THE THEOLOGY OF EMERSON.
BY REV G. L. FORTE.
A visitor In Concord during the last
years of EmersOn's life asked him con-
corning his religious opinions-if they
replied, as he placed bis hand on Set
of his own books, my views are to be
found In what I have written" To
know EmersOn's theology necessitates
acquaintance with his philosophy, fo1
to q large extent, with Emerson, phil
osopby and theology were Identical. 1t
may be said with much truth that
Emerson's theology was his philosophy,
or his philosophy his theology. We
are assured that the genesis of his rad
ical positions lay In his conceptions
tty and bis popularity In both philos-
Ophy and theology attracted the criti.
ctsm and opposition of friend and foe
alike. At the very outset he was de.
serted by his Unitarian brothers; and
of course II too radical for the re.
actiOnists the conservatives had never
followed.
In the opinion of Matthew Arnold:
Emerson Is not one of the great poets,
the great writer's. Emerson cannot be
classed with justice among the great
critic who was prompted to attempt
to raise himself by lowering his coun-
trymen wrote that Emerson "had the
Juvenile pedantry Of renascent New
England: limited by national inexperi-
ence." Martineau, the analytic, the
systematic, was opposed to lack of
system In Emerson, yet he was In SYM
pathy with him. He writes, "The
failure of coherent thought In Emer-
son leaves his fine material in an un-
organized and fathomless condition.
Much as I love the man, seek in vain
to learn from him. The fault is prob.
ably In me-" The remark that Father
Taylor made to Governor Andrew is
porary estimate of Emerson on the
part of all Protestants better than any
thing else that may be written in SO
short length:
EMERSON Is ONE OF THE SWEETEST
CREATURES THAT GOD EVER MADE.
He must 20 to heaven when he dies,
for, II he went to hell, the devil would
not know what to do with him. But
he knows no more of the religion Of
the New Testament than Balaam's ass
did Of the principles Of Hebrew gram
mar"
These are some of the milder criti-
cisms of Emerson. We shall pass over
to the bitter controversy among con-
temporaries and partisans. Our aim
is not an extended delineation OF
''local color" sectarianism or the
special theological problems and dis
cusstons OF Emerson's day. We seek
In Emerson's writings that which is
essential essentially perverse or es-
sentially true.
Emerson was the eighth In line Of a
generation of Puritan minister's: he
blossoms like rose on the bleak side
of mountain fastness. 1t was time
that reaction set in against an extreme
which savored only OF austerity. God
was awful to the early settlers of New
England but Emerson saw him to be,
still better, sublimely awful. Calvin.
ism, basis for early COngregationalism,
was like the rock Of Swiss mountain
peaks, exalted, stable, grand yet cold
Emerson was not the child of Puri-
tanism; neither physically nor intel
lectually. ''Out Of the strong come
forth sweetness" AS Emerson's an
cestor rebelled against corruption in
the church Of England and came to
America In 1884 to be a leader in
founding Congregationalism in New
England; 80 Emerson rebelled against
the ancestral letters which limited his
intellect and his soul and he has come
to be In this age leader In philosophy
and an influence In religion.
1t Is not for any man to say In what
0Yt}nv11oR Nhonno nht0ncnvhu oh
run. Because Emerson was not q d.
electrician Is no evidence that he did
not reason and reason we'll. Genius Is
not subservient to precedent and rules
PHILOSOPHY MAY BE FOUND IN POETRY
as we'll as in prose; in drama, in SER
mon az we'll as in works labeled "Phil-
osophy." Does intuition or an exalta-
ton Of 1t prevent reasoning? II we
rule Emerson out from the ranks of
those who have added to our knowledge
fails to lit into the category of q So
called philosopher, we must needs also
debar from merited places our greatest
men: greatest by reason of that same
power or principle of which Emerson
Is the exponent.
Surely Emerson was a master think
er, q philosopher of indisputable ex-
cellence. He stands higher than any
American in the metaphysical realm
He was a great philosopher because he
was a great theologian. His poems
ligious truth. The breadth and the
profundity of Emerson's thought is
markedly prominent where, under like
conditions, others reach superficial
conclusions. We often see the form
only,or the time and place, and method
OF activity; Emerson looked into and
through to the cause, to the ultimate.
One passage from his essay on "Na-
ture" Is evidence of this: "Man is
conscious of q universal soul within or
behind his individual life, whence as
In armament, the natures Of Justice,
Truth, Love, Freedom arise and shine.
This universal soul he calls reason. 1t
Is not mine or thine but we are it's;
blue sky with its eternal calm, and full
of everlasting orbs Is the type of
Reason. That which intellectually
considered we call reason, considered
In relation to nature we call spirit.
Spirit is the creator. Spirit hath life
In itself. And man In all ages and
countries embodies it in his language
as Father"
Emerson was Transcendentalis |
He objected, however, to be called such
because he thought most people did
not have a correct idea Of what that
term means. In Emerson's day Tran
scendentalism was another word for
Idealism. Emerson stated his own
position we'll: 1.-THE Idealism Of the
present day acquired the name of
Transcendentalism from the use of
that term by Emmanuel Kant who