Gifts of Genius: A Miscellany of Prose and Poetry by American Authors
General
Gifts of Genius: A Miscellany of Prose and Poetry by American Authors
American literature; Gift books
In his personal habits he was temperate and frugal in the extreme; though
not for the sake of accumulation. His income from his books and lectures
must have been considerable; but he gave it nearly all away. Hundreds of
indigent students could testify to his generosity, while amongst the poor
of the city, there were many pensioners upon his bounty.
In regard to his intellectual gifts and powers, their peculiar cast has
already been intimated. The dominant feature of his genius was its deeply
subjective and spiritual character. The accidents of a subject never
detained him for a moment from his search after the essential and the
abiding. Outward circumstances were of little interest to him. And in this
direction lay the main defect of his mind; it was too exclusively
Platonic, subjective and spiritual. Had his profound Germanic
intuitiveness of vision been tempered with a little more of our homely
Anglo-Saxon common sense, the combination would have been well-nigh
perfect.
What has just been said of his intellectual peculiarities will help us to
understand also his religious life. It was preeminently an inward life; a
fire in the very marrow of his being. As it was his own solitary and
independent reflection which first turned his feet toward Nazareth and
Calvary, so was it by deep and steady communion with his own heart that he
advanced in sanctity. The natural and unchanging atmosphere of his life
was that of faith and prayer. His religious experience was rooted in
peculiarly deep and pungent views of sin. Not that he had gross outward
offences to be ashamed of; but he felt the law of evil working within him,
disturbing his peace; and he longed for the serenity of a child of God.
Thus did he learn his need of Christ. His pupils relate with much interest
how, on the evening of one of his birth-day festivals, when they were
gathered at his house, he spoke to them of his own spiritual infirmities,
and with trembling voice confessed himself a poor sinner seeking
forgiveness through atoning blood. Theologically, he was comparatively
indifferent in regard to minor points; but he clung with the tenacity of a
martyr's faith to the great essentials of the Gospel. His religious life
was therefore at once very fervent and very catholic. Loving Christ with
all the ardor of a passion, he loved with a generous latitude of heart all
those of every name in whom he discerned Christ's image. The motto adopted
by him as best describing his own aim and method, was that of St.
Augustine: "Pectus est quod facit theologum." _It is the heart which makes
the theologian._ It was a Divine Form, for which he was ever seeking,
while he walked about amongst men, as he walked up and down the centuries
of our Christian faith, murmuring to himself: "It is the Lord."
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