A History of American LiteratureBoynton, Percy Holmes
History
A History of American Literature
Boynton, Percy Holmes
American literature -- History and criticism
We will walk on our own feet; we will work with our own hands; we
will speak our own minds. The study of letters shall be no longer
a name for pity, for doubt, and for sensual indulgence. The dread
of man and the love of man shall be a wall of defence and a wreath
of joy around all. A nation of men will for the first time exist,
because each believes himself inspired by the divine soul which also
inspires all men.
This address was inspiring to all who heard it. The young scholars went
out with a new feeling for the dignity of learning as an equipment
toward leadership, and the older Harvard professors felt in Emerson's
words some reward for a college that had helped to produce such a man
as he. An immediate consequence of the address was a further invitation
to speak the next year before the students of the Divinity School;
and in 1838 he talked in a similar vein to the budding clergymen.
This address in a way rounded out his "philosophy" by applying the
rule of self-reliance to the third aspect of man's life; after beauty
in "Nature" and truth in "The American Scholar" came the moral sense
in "The Divinity School Address." He started, as in the former two,
with a kind of prose poem on the wonder of life. He went on to speak
of the need of religion that was fresh, vivid, and personal. Then he
referred to the defects of "historical Christianity," which was his
name for the church embodiment of Christ's teaching. These, in his
opinion, were two: that modern Christianity was a system of belief very
different from the simple teachings of Jesus and that this system was
dangerous because it had become fixed. "Men have come to speak of the
revelation as somewhat long ago given and done, as if God were dead."
The remedy for these defects was the same as for the deadened attitude
toward Nature and Truth--that man should be self-reliant. To the
young divinity student he declared, "Yourself a newborn bard of the
Holy Ghost, cast behind you all conformity, and acquaint men at first
hand with Deity." Christianity has given mankind two great gifts: the
Sabbath and the institution of preaching.
What hinders that now, everywhere, in pulpits, in lecture-rooms,
in houses, in fields, wherever the invitation of men or your own
occasions lead you, you speak the very truth, as your life and
conscience teach it, and cheer the waiting, fainting hearts of men
with new hope and revelation?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account