Farewell to the First Congregational Church in Norwalk, Conn. (bound with other addresses)

" Christ in Ineology." [P. 53.1 "It was in this general connection that I spoke of paradox as necessary to the full expression of truth ; and in view of the same general fact, that contrary forms are needed as complemental representations of truth, I also ventured, in my simplicity, to speak of being able to assent, with- out difficulty, to about as many creeds as chance to fall in my way. I supposed that all such, at least, as are endeavoring, in this age, to compose the strifes of the church, would receive my suggestions patiently and thonghtfnlly, if not with a ready assent. But I seem, instead, to have raised no thought beyond the mere outcry of alarm and judgment. I am charged with indifferentism, a wil- lingness to trifle with the serious interests of truth, a want of intellectual integ- rity, and I know not what beside. It seems to be imagined that one's head must be turned by some egregious vanity, or excess of vain philosophy, to utter such licentiousness. Precisely contrary to thisj I only spoke what the simplest dis- ciples and those deepest in love have always been aptest to say, and with great boldness, out of their mere Christian experience." "God in Christ." [P. 9^.1 "I make no disavowal, then, of the iani that there is a mystic element, as there should be, in what I have represented as the source of meaning in language, and also in the views of Christian life and doctrine that fol- low. Man is designed, in his very nature, to be a partially mystic being ; the world to be looked upon as a mystic World. Christ himself revealed a decidedly mys- tic element in his teachings. There is something of a mystic quaUty in almost every writing of the New Testament. In John, it is a character. In 'the dia- lectic ' Paul, there are very many passages quite as mystical as any in John." "Godin Christ." [P. 847.] " I would even go so far as to recommend, especially to Christian ministers and students of theology in New England, that they make a study, to some extent, of the mystic and .quietistie writers ; inquiring, at the same time, how far Christ and Christianity partake in these elements; also, whether it be not a fault of our own piety and character that it partakes of neither," DOGMA, Is an opinion or decision of the natural judgment, made a rule to opinions, faith, and Christian experience. God in, CAm#,'[p. 301.] Propositions in theology are dogmas. God in Christ, [ji. 326.] So are creeds and catechisms. God in Christ, [pp, 79, 80, already quoted.] AH the great bodies of iProtestants are organized by formulas; and we hare reason to suspect that w>Affl« we call our Christicmiti/ is only a pro- duct of the organising force of human dogmd^tism. Christ in Theology, [p. 70.] These formulas are impostures of precision. The maker of such solidifies the smoke he is in, by the con- centrSitive force of his own dullness. Christ in Theology, [pp i 70-1.] "€foi in Christ." [P. 801.] "Two elements then, as I conceive, enter into the notion of dogma ; first, an opinion, which is some decision of natural judgment, or some merely theologic conSusion; seoqndlj, the pro{>iSunding or holding of that opinion as a Me to the opinions, the faith, or the Christian experience, whether 01 ourselves or of othera " God in Ghrist." fP. S26.] It needs, at the present time, to be a leading topic of inquiry among religious teachers, and especially in our schools of theology, what are the capacities of scientific or propositional theology, which, for the sake of brevity, ind inithout amy reference to the matter of authority, we will call dogma ?" / " Christ inweology." [P. "TO.] "And it will be found, as a matter of fact, that all the strons1l)odies of Protestant believers — ^the Lutheran, the Reformed Church, the Scotch, ^e Methodist, and, in fact, the Independent connection — ^have been organized in and by the strong ligaments of formulas, taten as being the very es- sence and literal being of the truth. In their formulas, these bodies or churches have all their distinct characteristics, and, as it would almost seem, a vital force eq uallr di^iiotive and peculiar to themselves. They seem, in fact, to be different organizations, and many wiU even praise the stem; uncomplymg rigor of their doctrinal' for the very reason that it is seen to have an organizing power so effi- cigntlr and broadly characteristic. "S'ow, if there be something agreeable in this, which I will not deny, it does not seem to me to be any thing that is properly Christian. On the contrary, though we love to see organic vigor and lively characteristics, it is not pleasant to see Christian bodies animated by distinct varieties of life. Such appearances awaken the painful suspicion that what we call our Christianity, is a product only of the organizing Wee of human dogmatism." " Christ in Theology." [Pp. 70-1.] "It wfll alsooccurto every thoughtful person, that the constructive energy of formulas, thus evinced, is not caused by their definite hold of the literal truth, for then they could not differ so remarkably from each other ; but by the fact rather that they are impostures of precision, so effective in blinding or limiting the vision both of their authors and their disciples. Indeed, it can be no secret that the eplid, scientific look of dogmatism, by which we are so apt to be impressed, is due simply to the fact that the dog- matizer solidifies the smoke he is m, by the concentrative force of his dullness; becoming the most precise of teachers, because he is so mystified by his own vagueness that he hews it into solid bloeks of knowledge — which, then, others 82 The scriptural texts supposed to commeud sound doctrine, are scholastic misapplications and mistranslations. Christ in Theology^ [p. 74]. Christian theology is the speculative or logical exposition (npt of the word of God) but of Christian consciousness, considered as containing the Divine. Id., [p. 84]. It, therefore, fluctuates with the temperament of each ex- pounder, and never can obtain a fixed authoritative statement. Id., [pp. 86-6]. The head is not to regulate the heart, nor opinions, faith. God v)i Christ, [p. 328]. The Gospel is a work of art which must be interpreted, not by reason or logic, but by the heart, a right sensibility, an aesthetic talent. Id., [p. 302.] accept it, in the certainty that they must be solid, because of the exactness of their shapes." " Christ in Theology." [P. 74.] " The texti constantly cited in commendation of ' sound doctrine,' and supposed to be injunttions that maintain the necessity of being grounded in theologio articles, are fomd, when narrowly inspected, to be only scholastic misapplications or mistranslaVions — ^tokens of the universal imposture regarding this matter of doctrine that, long ages ago, had gotten pos- BCEsion of the Christian mind." " Christ in Theology," [P. 84.] "The ablest, exposition I have seen of this sub- ject is that of Dr. Rothe, translated in the Postoript to Mr. Morell's 'Philosophy of Religion.' His object is to find a place, or show atrue ground, for speculative theology. And, Uiou^h he does not intimate, what I belieye to be just, that the true line of direction in all fruitful study is that which proposes rather divinity than theology, he yet lays down the distinction under other terms, and makes it the center of his exposition. And he brings his exposition thus to the true con- clusion, that Christian .theology is the speculative or logical ea^osition of the Christian consciousness, considered as containing the Divine." " Christ in Theology." [P. 85^6.] "Is it probable that theology, being one in its method with philosophy, and under the same speculative conditiong, however distinct in the matter of it and the Scripture ground of fact in which it is based, can ever become a science, or attain to a fixed and properly authoritative state- ment! "That the Christian, or Divine consciousness, of which speculative theology is to be the expounder, differs from the natural consciousness in the fact, that it is no constant quantity ; that it fluctuates with the fidelity of the man and the spiritual temperament of his life ; that it is always a mixed and never a pure state, mixed with lies, sensualities, and all manner of undivinities, and these so cunningly inserted as not to reveal their presence ; that sometimes the investi- gator comes under the power of the world, stolen away from himself, and then, as the Divine can not be held in the memory a moment after it is gone from the heart, he swings to a new center of motion, according to the balance of matter left in his consciousness. This being the true state, out of which a science or theory is to come, and which it is to represent^ what is that science like to be ?" " CM in Christ." [P. 328.] "We seem also to imagine, which is worse than all, that the head is to take care of the heart, the opinions to regulate the faith — that we are first to fill the head or natural understanding with articles and dogmas, and then that the head is to shape the experience of the life, and even to be a Jaw to the working of the Spirit. Exactly this, indeed, when baldly stated, is the theory of Christian education held by many parents. True Christianity holds a very different opinion." " Ood in Christ." [P. 302.] "And the whole Gospel of Christ is subjectj in a 83 SucH system as has prevaile4 in theology gives only petty for- mulas, minima, segments, specks of truth. Christ in Theology, [pp. 32-3], a dead body of abstractions, the mere exuviae of reason. Oodin Christ, [p. 106]. We may look for the time when no creeds will be wanted to preserve i}xQ purity of the Chv/rck. Id., [p. 342]. The Ohiirch may probably be kept pure, 1st. by the volun- tary withdrawment of hypocrites from its pale ; and 2d, by the intuitive discerning of spirits. Id., [pp. 342-3]. The views of Inspiration, the Personality of the Spirit, "Regeneration, Atone- ment, Justification, heretofore prevalent, are destructive of spiritual religion. Id., [pp. 350, 349-50, 344-5]- Unitarian- reat degree, to the same conditions. It requires a heart, a good, right-feeling heart, to receive so much of heart as God here opens to us. Indeed, the Gospel is, in one view, a magnificent work of art, a manifestation of God, which is to find the world, and move it, and change it^ through the medium of expression. Hence, it requires for an inlet, not reason, or logic, or a scientific power, so much as a right sensibility. The true and only suflSoient interpreter of it is an sesthetic talent, viz., the talent of love, or a sensibility exalted and purified by love." " Christ in Theology." [P. 82-3.] "I supposed that, if we can but quit our over theoretic and abstractive wisdom, make- a great deal less of the plausible' in- genuities of system, be simplfe enoUgh to think more of receiving and less of con- structing, and to ofi^er a living ingenious heart to what God expresses to us, we should be no longer drawn off into petty formulas, to fight for the mere ininima of truth, arrayed as in starvation against each other, but should receive so much more of God's fullness, and spread ourselves in such a breadth of comprehension as to find the unity whose loss we deplore, in simply receiving truths whose loss was unknown, — ^hidden from us, by the party zeal we had for systems that con- tained only a few small segments or specks of truth:"