"Out from the heart of Nature rolled The burdens of the Bible old, The litanies of nations came, The word unto the prophet spoken The heedless world hath never lost." In all that Emerson says of Nature, he is equally devout. He sees God in it all. It is to him full of a divine charm. "In the woods," he says, "is perpetual youth. Within these plantations of God a decorum and sanctity reign, and we return to reason and faith." "The currents of the Universal Being circulate through me. I am part or particle of God." For saying such things as these he was accused of Pantheism. And he was a Pantheist, yet I think only as Paul was a Pantheist when he said, "In Him we live and move, and have our being," "From whom, and through whom, and to whom, are all things," "The fulness of him who filleth all in all." Emerson was, in his view of Nature, at one with Wordsworth, who said, school of science, was like him in this, that he also said what he saw, and no more. He also taught what God showed to him in the outward world of sense, as Emerson taught what God showed in the inward world of spirit. Amid the stormy disputes of their time, each of these men went his own way, -his eye single, and his whole body full of light. The work of Darwin was the easier; for he floated with the current of the time, which sets at present so strongly toward the study of things seen and temporal. But the work of Emerson was more noble; for he stands for things unseen and eternal,- for a larger religion, a higher faith, a nobler worship. This strong and tender soul has done its work, and gone on its way. But he will always fill a niche of the Universal Church, as a New England prophet. He had the purity of the New England air in his moral nature, a touch of the shrewd Yankee wit in his speech, and the long inheritance of ancestral faith incarnate and consolidated in blood and brain. To this were added qualities which were derived from some far-off realm of human life, an Oriental cast of thought, a touch of mediæval mysticism, and a vocabulary derived from books unknown to our New England literature. No commonplaces of language are to be found in his writings; and though he read the older writers, he does not imitate them. He also, like his humblebee, has brought contributions from remotest fields, and enriched our language with a new and picturesque speech, all his own. One word concerning Mr. Emerson's relation to Christ and to Christianity. The distinction which he made between Jesus and other teachers was, no doubt, one of degree and not one of kind. He put no gulf of supernatural powers, origin, or office between Christ and the Ethnic Prophets. But his reverence for Jesus was profound and tender. Nor did he object to the word Christian or to the Christian Church. In recent years, at least, he not unfrequently attended the services of the church in his town; and I have met him at Christian conventions, a benign and revered presence. In the cemetery at Bonn, on the Rhine, is the tomb of Niebuhr the historian, a man of a somewhat like type, as I judge, to our Emerson. At least some texts on his monument would be admirably appropriate for any stone which may be placed over the remains of the American Prophet and Poet in the sweet valley of tombs in Concord. One is from Sirach, xlvii. 14-17: "How wise wast thou in thy youth, and filled with understanding! Thy soul covered the earth, and filled it with dark parables! Thy name went far unto the islands, and for thy peace wast thou beloved! The countries marvelled at thee, for thy songs, and proverbs, and parables, and interpretations!" And equally appropriate would be the Horatian line, also on Niebuhr's monument: "Quis desiderio sit pudor aut modus tam cari capitis." Mr. Emerson died at his home in Concord, April 27, 1882. OCTOBER MEETING, 1885. The Society resumed its meetings, which had been omitted. during the summer, on Thursday, the 9th instant; and in the absence of Dr. Ellis, who had recently met with a personal bereavement, Mr. DEANE, Vice-President, took the chair. He congratulated the Society that during the long vacation no name had been dropped from the Resident or the Honorary and Corresponding roll. He expressed regret at the absence of the President, and read a note which he had received from him referring to the loss of his beloved brother. The record of the last meeting was read by the Secretary. The gifts to the Library were reported by the Librarian; and they included additional volumes from the family of the late George Ticknor. Mr. SALTONSTALL, in behalf of the Committee formed to procure a portrait of Mr. Winthrop, then said: I take great pleasure in calling the attention of the Society to the portrait of our ex-President, Mr. Winthrop, which is before them. Your Committee corresponded at once with Mr. Huntington, the artist who had twice painted so successfully portraits of Mr. Winthrop,- that now in his dining-room, and the noble full-length portrait in the Capitol. The artist most willingly undertook for the third time the work of painting the portrait of the eminent gentleman, and preferred to paint another original rather than to duplicate either of the others. He had, I believe, but one sitting, and produced the admirable portrait which is before you. It is a spirited and true presentment of one who is very dear to this Society, and to whom it is and always will be grateful for his long and valuable services as its President. The Committee, if you remember, was instructed to procure a full-length portrait; but at Mr. Winthrop's earnest request it was painted in the usual size, he being unwilling to have it in form differing from those of his father and the other ex-Presidents. I trust the members will agree with me as to the merit of the portrait. The Committee is under great obligation to Mr. Cobb for his zealous attention to the work of procuring it. The portrait was received with great gratification; and Judge DEVENS expressed the opinion of all present that the Committee had discharged their duty most satisfactorily, and that the thanks of the Society should be given to them. Mr. DEANE read the following paper, which had been written by Dr. Ellis: It is fitting that our Proceedings should bear record of the successful results achieved by patient research in clearing up an obscure subject which has been frequently referred to in the meetings and publications of this Society, — namely, the time and place of birth, and the lineage of the revered man known as "the first founder of Harvard College." The President of the College was privileged to make public announcement of the facts at the Commencement this year. Members of this Society who have united with other contributors in securing the services of Mr. Henry F. Waters in historical and genealogical research in England, in matters of interest in our early New England annals and concerning our early colonists, had already felt themselves abundantly rewarded by the rich discoveries which he had previously made, as noted in our Proceedings. The method, which he was the first to adopt, of a thorough, page-by-page examination of the folios of wills, in the chaos of imperfectly indexed volumes, has been fruitful and rich in its revelations. His latest discovery may well crown his faithful and intelligently directed labors. The mystery which had heretofore enshrouded the personality of John Harvard had become baffling and provocative of the imagination. It is somewhat remarkable that our bards, who sometimes sport with history for the sake of sentimentalizing poetry, had not made him the theme of some romantic fancy. If any of us had idealized the mystery about him, taking the ignotum pro magnifico, we must reconcile ourselves to the revelation which has assigned to him a parentage and kinship with the sterling class of our old English stock, the guilds and mechanics and tradespeople, whose rank was lowly, and whose frugal means were the savings of honest, useful toil. |