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        _New England Reformers_

 

        _A Lecture read before the Society in Amory Hall;_

        _on Sunday; 3 March; 1844_



        Whoever has had opportunity of acquaintance with society in New

England; during the last twenty…five years; with those middle and

with those leading sections that may constitute any just

representation of the character and aim of the community; will have

been struck with the great activity of thought and experimenting。

His attention must be commanded by the signs that the Church; or

religious party; is falling from the church nominal; and is appearing

in temperance and non…resistance societies; in movements of

abolitionists and of socialists; and in very significant assemblies;

called Sabbath and Bible Conventions;  composed of ultraists; of

seekers; of all the soul of the soldiery of dissent; and meeting to

call in question the authority of the Sabbath; of the priesthood; and

of the church。  In these movements; nothing was more remarkable than

the discontent they begot in the movers。  The spirit of protest and

of detachment; drove the members of these Conventions to bear

testimony against the church; and immediately afterward; to declare

their discontent with these Conventions; their independence of their

colleagues; and their impatience of the methods whereby they were

working。  They defied each other; like a congress of kings; each of

whom had a realm to rule; and a way of his own that made concert

unprofitable。  What a fertility of projects for the salvation of the

world! One apostle thought all men should go to farming; and another;

that no man should buy or sell: that the use of money was the

cardinal evil; another; that the mischief was in our diet; that we

eat and drink damnation。  These made unleavened bread; and were foes

to the death to fermentation。  It was in vain urged by the housewife;

that God made yeast; as well as dough; and loves fermentation just as

dearly as he loves vegetation; that fermentation develops the

saccharine element in the grain; and makes it more palatable and more

digestible。  No; they wish the pure wheat; and will die but it shall

not ferment。  Stop; dear nature; these incessant advances of thine;

let us scotch these ever…rolling wheels! Others attacked the system

of agriculture; the use of animal manures in farming; and the tyranny

of man over brute nature; these abuses polluted his food。  The ox

must be taken from the plough; and the horse from the cart; the

hundred acres of the farm must be spaded; and the man must walk

wherever boats and locomotives will not carry him。  Even the insect

world was to be defended;  that had been too long neglected; and a

society for the protection of ground…worms; slugs; and mosquitos was

to be incorporated without delay。  With these appeared the adepts of

homoeopathy; of hydropathy; of mesmerism; of phrenology; and their

wonderful theories of the Christian miracles! Others assailed

particular vocations; as that of the lawyer; that of the merchant; of

the manufacturer; of the clergyman; of the scholar。  Others attacked

the institution of marriage; as the fountain of social evils。  Others

devoted themselves to the worrying of churches and meetings for

public worship; and the fertile forms of antinomianism among the

elder puritans; seemed to have their match in the plenty of the new

harvest of reform。  With this din of opinion and debate; there was a

keener scrutiny of institutions and domestic life than any we had

known; there was sincere protesting against existing evils; and there

were changes of employment dictated by conscience。  No doubt; there

was plentiful vaporing; and cases of backsliding might occur。  But in

each of these movements emerged a good result; a tendency to the

adoption of simpler methods; and an assertion of the sufficiency of

the private man。  Thus it was directly in the spirit and genius of

the age; what happened in one instance; when a church censured and

threatened to excommunicate one of its members; on account of the

somewhat hostile part to the church; which his conscience led him to

take in the anti…slavery business; the threatened individual

immediately excommunicated the church in a public and formal process。

This has been several times repeated: it was excellent when it was

done the first time; but; of course; loses all value when it is

copied。  Every project in the history of reform; no matter how

violent and surprising; is good; when it is the dictate of a man's

genius and constitution; but very dull and suspicious when adopted

from another。  It is right and beautiful in any man to say; ‘I will

take this coat; or this book; or this measure of corn of yours;' 

in whom we see the act to be original; and to flow from the whole

spirit and faith of him; for then that taking will have a giving as

free and divine: but we are very easily disposed to resist the same

generosity of speech; when we miss originality and truth to character

in it。  There was in all the practical activities of New England; for

the last quarter of a century; a gradual withdrawal of tender

consciences from the social organizations。  There is observable

throughout; the contest between mechanical and spiritual methods; but

with a steady tendency of the thoughtful and virtuous to a deeper

belief and reliance on spiritual facts。  In politics; for example; it

is easy to see the progress of dissent。  The country is full of

rebellion; the country is full of kings。  Hands off! let there be no

control and no interference in the administration of the affairs of

this kingdom of me。  Hence the growth of the doctrine and of the

party of Free Trade; and the willingness to try that experiment; in

the face of what appear incontestable facts。  I confess; the motto of

the Globe newspaper is so attractive to me; that I can seldom find

much appetite to read what is below it in its columns; 〃The world is

governed too much。〃 So the country is frequently affording solitary

examples of resistance to the government; solitary nullifiers; who

throw themselves on their reserved rights; nay; who have reserved all

their rights; who reply to the assessor; and to the clerk of court;

that they do not know the State; and embarrass the courts of law; by

non…juring; and the commander…in…chief of the militia; by

non…resistance。  The same disposition to scrutiny and dissent

appeared in civil; festive; neighborly; and domestic society。  A

restless; prying; conscientious criticism broke out in unexpected

quarters。  Who gave me the money with which I bought my coat?  Why

should professional labor and that of the counting…house be paid so

disproportionately to the labor of the porter; and woodsawyer?  This

whole business of Trade gives me to pause and think; as it

constitutes false relations between men; inasmuch as I am prone to

count myself relieved of any responsibility to behave well and nobly

to that person whom I pay with money; whereas if I had not that

commodity; I should be put on my good behavior in all companies; and

man would be a benefactor to man; as being himself his only

certificate that he had a right to those aids and services which each

asked of the other。  Am I not too protected a person? is there not a

wide disparity between the lot of me and the lot of thee; my poor

brother; my poor sister?  Am I not defrauded of my best culture in

the loss of those gymnastics which manual labor and the emergencies

of poverty constitute?  I find nothing healthful or exalting in the

smooth conventions of society; I do not like the close air of

saloons。  I begin to suspect myself to be a prisoner; though treated

with all this courtesy and luxury。  I pay a destructive tax in my

conformity。  The same insatiable criticism may be traced in the

efforts for the reform of Education。  The popular education has been

taxed with a want of truth and nature。  It was complained that an

education to things was not 

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