Authors, American -- 19th century -- Biography; Feminists -- United States -- Biography; Howe, Julia Ward, 1819-1910
Setting this one point aside, I can but speak of the club as a high
congress of souls, in which many noble thoughts were uttered. Nobler
than any special view or presentation was the general sense of the
dignity of human character and of its affinity with things divine, which
always gave the master tone to the discussions.
The first essay read before the Radical Club of which I have any
distinct recollection was by Rev. John Weiss, and had for its title,
"The Immanence of God." It was highly speculative in character, and
appeared to me to suggest many insoluble questions, among others, that
of the origin of the sensible world.
Lord and Lady Amberley, who were present, expressed to me great
admiration of the essay. The occasion was rendered memorable by the
beautiful presence of Lucretia Mott.
Other discourses of John Weiss I remember with greater pleasure, notably
one on the legend of Prometheus, in which his love for Greece had full
scope, while his vivid imagination, like a blazing torch, illuminated
for us the deep significance of that ancient myth.
I remember, at one of these meetings, a rather sharp passage at arms
between Mr. Weiss and James Freeman Clarke. Mr. Weiss had been
declaiming against the insincerity which he recognized in ministers who
continue to use formulas of faith which have ceased to correspond to any
real conviction. The speaker confessed his own shortcoming in this
respect.
"All of us," he said,--"yes, I myself have prayed in the name of Christ,
when my own feeling did not sanction its use."
On hearing this, Mr. Clarke broke in.
"Let Mr. Weiss answer for himself," he said with some vehemence of
manner. "If in his pulpit he prayed in the name of Christ, and did not
believe in what he said, it was John Weiss that lied, and not one of
us." The dear minister afterwards asked me whether he had shown any heat
in what he said. I replied, "Yes, but it was good heat."
Another memorable day at the club was that on which the eminent French
Protestant divine, Athanase Coquerel, spoke of religion and art in their
relation to each other. After a brief but interesting review of classic,
Byzantine, and mediæval art, M. Coquerel expressed his dissent from the
generally received opinion that the Church of Rome had always been
foremost in the promotion and patronage of the fine arts. The greatest
of Italian masters, he averred, while standing in the formal relations
with that church, had often shown opposition to its spirit. Michael
Angelo's sonnets revealed a state of mind intolerant of ecclesiastical
as of other tyranny. Raphael, in the execution of a papal order, had
represented true religion by a portrait figure of Savonarola. Holbein
and Rembrandt were avowed Protestants. He considered the individuality
fostered by Protestantism as most favorable to the development of
originality in art.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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