It is May, the gladdest season of the year. Life is in the breezes, life
in the vernal glory of the fields, life in the earth and in the skies.
Of old, men were wont to go forth at this time into the forest, to
wreath the fountains with garlands, to cover their houses with green
branches, with songs and dances to celebrate the triumph of the Spring.
Happy festivals, happy omens.
A year has now passed since we began our work, and for many months we
have met in this hall week after week. We have reached the first resting
place upon our journey, and it behooves us to look back once more upon
the path we have travelled, and forward into the yet untried future that
awaits us.
What was it that induced us to enter upon so perilous and for many
reasons so uncertain an enterprise?
We felt a great need. Religion which ought to stand for the highest
truth, had ceased to be true to us. We saw it at war with the highest
intelligence of the day; religion and conscience also seemed no longer
inseparably connected, as they should be. We saw that millions are
annually lavished upon the mere luxuries of religion, gorgeous temples,
churches and on the elaborate apparatus of salvation; we could not but
reflect that if one tithe of the sums thus set apart were judiciously
expended upon the wants of the many who are famishing, distress might
often be relieved, sickness averted, and crime confined within more
narrow boundaries. We saw around us many who had lapsed from their
ancient faith but still preserved the outward show of conformance,
encouraged in so equivocal a course, by the advice and example of noted
leaders in the churches themselves. We saw that the great tides of being
are everywhere sweeping mankind on to larger achievements than were
known to the past; only within the churches all is still and motionless;
only within the churches the obsolete forms of centuries ago are
retained, or if concessions to the present are made, they are tardy,
ungracious and insufficient. We beheld that the essentials of religion
are neglected, even while its accessories are observed with greater
punctiliousness than ever.
We were passing moreover through a period of momentous import in our
country's history. The nation had just entered upon the second century
of its existence, and the great recollections of what the fathers had
done and designed for the republic, were fresh in our minds. We recalled
the memorable words of Washington in his first inaugural address: "That
the national policy would be laid in the pure and immutable principles
of private morality." But we were startled to observe how greatly recent
events had falsified these hopes and felt it our duty, within our own
limited sphere, to restore something of that noble simplicity, something
of that high fidelity to righteousness which it is said adorned the
earlier days, and on which alone the fortunes of the state can rest
securely hereafter.
Then also the question, how best to educate the children to a worthy
life, confronted us. The doctrines of religion as commonly interpreted,
we could no longer impart to them; did we attempt to do so, they would
be likely to discard them in later years, and would in the mean time be
seriously injured in their moral estate by the struggle and its probable
issue. On the other hand we were aware that the temptations which
surround the young in this complex and highly wrought civilization of
ours, are peculiarly dangerous and alluring, and by all the holiest
instincts of humanity, we conceived ourselves bound to provide more
effectively for their moral welfare. A few of us therefore took counsel
how these objects might be attained, and we determined to take a step in
a new direction. We did not conceal from ourselves the difficulties that
would attend what we were about to undertake. We might expect honest
opposition. There would be no need to shrink from that. We might expect
misconstruction, unintentioned or with malice aforethought; we might
expect also cold comfort from those illiberal liberals, who are eager
enough to assert the principles of freedom for themselves, but relax
alike their principles and their tempers when the limits are transcended
which they have themselves reached, and which, on this account, they
arbitrarily set up as the barriers of future progress. There were other
obstacles inherent in the nature of the work itself. But all these
weighed lightly in the scales, when opposed to the stern conviction,
that there are certain hideous shams allowed to flourish in our public
life; that there are certain great truths which ought to be brought home
with new energy to the conscience of the people.
Upon what platform could we unite. To formulate a new creed was out of
the question. However comprehensive in its statements it might be, nay
though it had been the creed of absolute negation, from which indeed we
are far removed, it would never have combined our efforts in permanent
union. And yet it was plain that to be strong and to exert influence,
we must effect a firm, cordial, enthusiastic agreement upon some great
principle. The weakness of the Liberal Party had hitherto been, as we
knew, its dread of organization. It ensured thereby for its members a
greater measure of freedom than is elsewhere known, but it purchased
this advantage at an immense expense of practical influence and
coherency. Its forces are scattered, and in every emergency, it finds
itself paralyzed for want of unity in its own ranks. The Catholic Church
has pursued the opposite policy, and presents the most notable instance
of its successful prosecution. It is so formidable, mainly because of
its splendid scheme of organization, and the high executive ability
of its leaders. But its power is maintained at a complete sacrifice of
freedom. Could we not secure both? Could we not be free and strong? This
was the problem before us, and it seemed to us we could.
What the exigencies of the modern age demand, more than aught else, is a
new movement for the moral elevation of the race. Now the basic facts of
man's moral nature, though insufficiently illustrated in practice, are
universally admitted among civilized human beings. Concerning them there
is and can be no dispute. Here then appeared the solid principle of our
union. The moral ideal would point the way of safety, the moral ideal
would permit us to preserve the sacred right of individual differences
intact, and yet to combine with our fellow-men for the loftiest and
purest ends. Taking the term creed therefore in its widest application,
we started out with the watchword, Diversity in the Creed, Unanimity in
the Deed. This feature, if any at all, lends character to our movement,
and by it would we be judged. We claim to be thereby distinguished, as
well from those religious corporations that base their organization upon
definite theological dogmas, as also from the great majority of Liberals
who meet for purposes of contemplation and poetical aspiration, in that
we put the moral element prominently forward and behold in it the bond
of our union, the pledge of our vitality.
But at the very threshold of our enterprise, we were met by the
objection that our main premise is false; that morality is impossible
without dogma, and that in neglecting the one we were virtually
neutralizing our efforts toward the other. It became our first and most
serious task therefore to show the futility of this objection, and to
make clear by an appeal to philosophy and history that the claims of
dogma are conditional, while the dictates of morality are imperative.
Then, having established the priority and supremacy of the moral law,
to examine what manner of substitute the ethical ideal can offer us to
replace the offices of the doctrinal religions; what are the hopes it
holds out, what its consolations, what it can give us for the priesthood
and the church. With this task we have been occupied during the year
that has gone by, and now, at the close, we propose to review once more,
the chief steps which we have taken in the course of our enquiry.
We discussed in the first place the doctrine of immortality, and some of
the main arguments upon which it is commonly founded.
We next proceeded to take up the study of the Hebrew Bible; for it is
evident that so long as this book is clothed with infallible authority,
arguments based on fact and logic avail nothing, and reason is helpless
before any random scriptural quotation. We examined the composition of
the work: we learned that many of those portions that are esteemed most
ancient, are of comparatively recent origin; that the text is studded
with discrepancies, and that the marks of savage and cruel customs such
as the offering of human sacrifices to the Deity, are still clearly
indented on the sacred volume. The conclusion followed that a book
so full of contradiction, so deeply tinged with the evidence of human
fallibility, could not have been the work of a divine author. The
inspiration theory being thus divested of its support, we considered how
baneful *had been its influence on the course of human history; how it
had retarded the progress of the Jews among whom it arose; how it had
checked the intellectual development of Europe, how it had hampered
the advancement of science; how it had offered a specious plea for the
despotism of kings, and of the holy Inquisition; how in our own days it
had become in the hands of the Southern slaveholders a most formidable
means of perpetuating their infamous scheme of oppression. We concluded
that whatever is false and worthless in the book we should feel at
liberty to reject, while what is great and holy would not therefore
become less great or less holy to us, because it was proven to be man's
work, man's testimony to the divine possibilities inherent in the human
soul.
We went on striving to penetrate more deeply the origin of that
mysterious power which we call religion. To us it appeared that the
feeling of the sublime is the root of the religious sentiment in man.
That the Vedahs, Avesta, Koran, Bible are the songs of the nations on
the theme of the infinite; and that the moral ideal, whether we endow
it with personality or not, presents to us the highest type of sublimity
and is the sole object worthy of religious reverence.
"Who dare express him And who profess him
Saying, 'I believe in him?'
Who feeling, seeing, deny his being
Saying I believe him not?
"Call it then what thou wilt
Call it bliss, heart, love,
God; I have no name to give it.
Feeling is all in all,
The name is sound and smoke."
We maintained lastly, that the entrance of the moral into the sphere
of religion has endowed the latter with whatever excellence it now
possesses.
We showed in another course of lectures, that every great religious
movement has been in the essence, a protest against the formalism and
mock holiness of its time, and derived its vital impulses from the
moral elements with which it was suffused. We instanced the case of
monotheism, which, as we believe, arose in the struggle of the prophets
against the immoral rites of Baal: We mentioned Buddha, the reformer of
the Hindoos, whose sermon of unselfishness won for him the affections
of the people. We referred on frequent occasions to the fact that
Christianity likewise triumphed because of the humanity of Jesus:
because he was the Master of meekness; because his gospel was a gospel
for the poor. The result of all which was to confirm the priority
of morality, and to show that it is indeed the source of whatever is
durable and valuable in the Creeds.
Toward the end of February the two hundredth anniversary of the death
of Benedict Spinoza, afforded us a welcome opportunity to dwell upon the
life and philosophy of that illustrious thinker.
Later on, we endeavored to comprehend the causes which have produced
that remarkable change the religious opinions of modern men, that is
daily becoming more widely apparent. We found them to be the critical
investigation of the Bible, the progress of the natural sciences, and
indirectly, the influence of commerce and of industry. We attempted
to set forth how the introduction of machinery became the means of
fostering the growth of scepticism even among those classes to whom the
arguments of scholars and men of science do not appeal. We spoke of the
enlightenment of the masses, and considered the theory of those who
hold that a religion, even when it is found to be false, should still
be maintained as a salutary curb upon the passions of the multitude. We
insisted that this view of religion is as unsound as it is degrading;
that while all men may not be capable of the highest order of
intellectual action, all men are capable of heart goodness, and goodness
is the better part of religion; that a generous confidence is the
highest principle of education, and that to trust men is the surest
means of leading them to respond to our confidence; that we should cease
therefore to preach the depravity of human nature and preach rather the
grandeur which is possible to human nature; that in freedom alone can we
become worthy of being free.
And again in a distinct group of lectures we sought to unfold our
conception of the New Ideal, and to point out that which distinguishes
it from what has gone before. We spoke of its appeal to the higher
nature, of its teachings concerning the Infinite within ourselves. We
spoke of the priests that shall do its service; of the solace it affords
us by its summons to larger duties; of the ethical schools that shall be
erected for its culture; of the manner in which women may be prepared
to aid in its propaganda; lastly of the form which it may assume in the
future, in our discourse on the Order of the Ideal. Thus far have we
proceeded. We issued our appeal, at first, as men uncertain what the
fortunes of their enterprise might be. But while we avowed it to be an
experiment, we were deeply convinced that it was an experiment which
deserved to be tried. And more and more as week followed week, the
response from your side came back full and cordial; and more and more
as the scope and the ultimate tendencies of our work were developed, new
friends came to us whom we had not known, and it became apparent that
there is a deep, downright purpose in your midst which will form a bond
of union for us that shall not easily be snapped asunder. Until at
last after a period had gone by, you thought it time to exchange your
temporary organization for one more stable, and you declared to all who
might be interested in learning it, that it is your intention and your
hope to become a permanent institution in this community.
We have made a beginning only. If we look ahead, dangers and
difficulties still lie thickly on our path. The larger work is still
before us. But we will confide in the goodness of our cause, and believe
that if it be good indeed, in the end it must succeed.
The country in which we live is most favorable for such experiments as
ours. There are lands of older culture, and men' there of wider vision
and maturer wisdom, but nowhere, as in America, is a truth once seen,
so readily applied, nowhere do even the common order of men so feel
the responsibility for what transpires, and the impulse to see the best
accomplished. Here no heavy hand of rulers crushes the incipient good.
When the Pilgrims set out on their voyage across the unknown Atlantic,
Robinson, their pastor, their leader, addressed them once more before
they embarked, and in that solemn hour of parting, warned them against
the self-sufficiency of a false conservatism, and dedicated them and the
new states they might found, to the increase and the service of larger
truths. To larger truths America is dedicated.
O, if it were thine, America, America that hast given political liberty
to the world, to give that spiritual liberty for which we pant, to break
also those spiritual fetters that load thy sons and daughters! All over
this land thousands are searching and struggling for the better, they
know not what. Oh that we might aid them in the struggle, and they us;
and the hearts of many be knit together once more in a common purpose
that would lift them above their sordid, weary cares, and ennoble their
lives and make them glorious! The crops are waiting; may the reapers
come!