The sectarian state of theology in this country cannot but be regarded
as eminently unnatural. Its cold and hard ministrations are entirely
alien to the wants of the popular mind, which, except under the
discipline of artificial influences, is always most awake to generous
impressions. Its malignant exclusiveness is a perversion of the natural
veneration of the human heart, which, except where it is interfered with
by narrow and selfish systems, pours itself out, not in hatred towards
anything that lives, but in love to the invisible objects of trust and
hope. Its disputatious trifling is an insult to the sanctity of
conscience, which, except where it is betrayed into oblivion of its
delicate and holy office, supplicates of religion, not a new ferocity of
dogmatism, but an enlargement and refinement of its sense of right. It
is the temper of sectarianism to seize on every deformity of every
creed, and exhibit this caricature to the world's gaze and aversion. It
is the spirit of the soul's natural piety to alight on whatever is
beautiful and touching in every faith, and take there its secret draught
of pure and fresh emotion. It is the passages of poetry and pathos in a
system, which alone can lay a strong hold on the general mind and give
them permanence; and even the wild fictions which have endeared Romanism
to the hearts of so many centuries, possess their elements of tenderness
and magnificence. The fundamental principle of one who would administer
religion to the minds of his fellow-men should be, that all that has
ever been extensively venerated must possess ingredients that are
venerable. If, in the spirit of sectarianism, he sees nothing in it but
absurdity, it only proves that he does not see it all; it must have an
aspect, which he has not yet caught, that awes the imagination, or
touches the affections, or moves the conscience; and those who receive
it neither will nor should abandon it, till something is substituted,
not only more consonant with the reason, but more awakening to these
higher faculties of soul. Hence, a rigid accuracy and logical
penetration of mind, the power of detecting and exposing error, are not
the only qualities needed by the religious reformer; and in a deep and
reverential sympathy with human feelings, a quick perception of the
great and beautiful, a promptitude to cast himself into the minds of
others, and gaze through their eyes at the objects which they love, he
will find the instrument of the sublimest intellectual power. The
precise logician may sit eternally in the centre of his own circle of
correct ideas, and preach demonstrably the folly of the world's
superstitions; yet he will never affect the thoughts of any but
marble-minded beings like himself. He disregards the fine tissue of
emotions that clings round the objects which he so harshly handles; and
has yet to learn the art of preserving its fabric unimpaired, while he
enfolds within it something more worthy for it to foster and adore.
As, then, it is to the moral and imaginative powers of the human mind
that religion chiefly attaches itself, as it is by these that the want
of it is most strongly felt, so is it to these that its ministrations
should be, for the most part, addressed. While theologians are
discussing the evidences of creeds, let teachers be conducting them to
their applications. Let their respective resources of feeling and
conception be unfolded before the soul of mankind; let it be tried
what mental energy they can inspire, what purity of moral perception
infuse, what dignity of principle erect, what toils of philanthropy
sustain. Thus would arise a new criterion of judgment between
differing systems; for that system must possess most truth which
creates the most intelligence and virtue. Thus would the deeper
devotional wants of society be no longer mocked by the privilege of
choice among a few captious, verbal, and precise forms of belief.
Thus, too, would the alienation which repels sect from sect give place
to an incipient and growing sympathy; for when high intellect and
excellence approach and stand in meek homage beneath the cross, how
soon are the jarring voices of disputants hushed in the stillness of
reverence! Who does not feel the refreshment, when some stream of
pure poetry, like Heber's, winds into the desert of theology! when
some flash of genius, like that of Chalmers, darts through its dull
atmosphere! some strains of eloquence, like those of Channing, float
from a distance on its heavy silence!
Such, then, are the objects which should be contemplated by those who,
in the present times, aim at the reformation of religious
sentiment;--first, the elevation of theology as an intellectual
pursuit; secondly, the better application of religion as a moral
influence. Both these objects are directly or indirectly promoted by
the Association whose cause I am privileged to advocate. It aids the
first, by the distribution of many a work, the production of such
minds as must redeem theology from contempt. It advances the second,
by establishing union and sympathy among those whose first principles
are in direct contradiction to all that is sectarian, and who desire
only to emancipate the understanding from all that enfeebles, and the
heart from all that narrows it. The triumph of its doctrines would be,
not the ascendency of one sect, but the harmony of all. Let but the
diversities which separate Christians retire, and the truths which
they all profess to love advance to prominence, and, whatever may
become of party names, our aims are fulfilled, and our satisfaction is
complete. When faith in the paternity of God shall have kindled an
affectionate and lofty devotion; when the vision of immortality,
imparted by Christ's resurrection, shall have created that spirit of
duty which was the holiest inspiration of his life; when the sincere
recognition of human brotherhood shall have supplanted all exclusive
institutions, and banded society together under the vow of mutual aid
and the hope of everlasting progress, our work will be done, our
reward before us, and our little community of reformers lost in the
wide fraternity of enlightened and benevolent men.
The day is yet distant, and can be won only by the toil of earnest and
faithful minds. In the mean while, it is no light solace to see that
the tendencies of Providence are towards its accelerated approach. And
however dispiriting may sometimes be the variety and conflicts of
human sentiment,--however remote the dissonance of controversy from
that harmony of will which would seem essential to perfected society,
it is through this very process that the great ends of improvement are
to be attained. Hereafter it will be seen, much more clearly than we
can see it now, that opinion generates knowledge. Like the ethereal
waves, whose inconceivable rapidity and number are said to impart the
sensation of vision, the undulations of opinion are speeding on to
produce the perception of truth. They are the infinitely complex and
delicate movements of that universal Human Mind, whose quiescence is
darkness,--whose agitation, light.
To the fit and numerous readers whom we trust they will find, these
papers are now submitted, in the earnest hope that the author will at
no distant day follow them with some more systematic and rounded
survey of the same great subject,--the components and developments of
Christianity.