isa-normaladvance-1903-00178

Description:	178THE NOEMAL ADVANCE.Sanctus Radulphus Concordensis.A CHAPEL TALK.On a certain, day, now many years ago, I readfor the first time, Emersons Nature.Then felt I like some watcher of the skiesWhen a new planet swims into his ken.For me, that planet has never ceased to shineamong the most brilliant of the starry host. Irecognize in Emerson one of the greatest of Americans, the interpreter of the common people, theglorifier of common things, the ennobler of common life, fn his love of liberty, his demand forpersonal freedom, his insistence upon the value ofevery individual, he is the incarnate spirit of democracy at its best. I recognize in him the masterof an English style which for conciseness, grace,and lucidity, stands unrivaled, an essayist whosesanity, suggestiveness and spiritual insight hasnever been surpassed. I recognize in him a poetwhose best verses produce in me the same exaltation as the finest strains of a violin, and I knownot how to give them higher praise than that.Much of his prose is as highly poetical as his verse.He is always a poet. Yet more than writer of literature, essayist or poet, I recognize in him agreat ethical and religious teacher. Every line heever wrote has some bearing upon conduct, uponcharacter, upon the health of the soul, upon ourrelations to our fellow men and to God, and thesethings I call the essentials of religion. No writer,ancient or modern, makes upon me so strongly theimpression of being divinely inspired. His message finds me as something which comes straightfrom the elemental universe and from the authorof physical, moral and spiritual law. The message seems to come through a transparent mediumand to be as impersonal as starlight, Emersonwas always a seer, always a poet, always a moralist, always a religionist in the broadest sense, andhe was each of these wholly. Some of his criticsfind in him a certain aridity or dryness to me heis as rich and luxuriant as a tropical forest. Iam aware that in this audience there are manywho do not share these opinions. His essays andpoems are unto the Jews a stumbling block andunto the Greeks foolishness. That does not inthe least disturb me. I am content to claim onlymy own, to leave others to the use and enjoymentof what belongs to them, and to wish for everyman the greatest possible possessions. I wouldgive to every man and woman, especially to thosewho are young in spirit, the opportunity to knowEmerson but with the certain knowledge that forsome he has no more message than Mohammed hasfor me. I say to every student, look into thosetreasures which he has poured out so profusely yon may find there the pearl of great price, whichyou would sell all that you have to buy. But ifthey seem to you only common pebbles, I doubtwhether any study or teaching, any education orexperience, will ever convert them into preciousstones. In philosophy there is no Emersonianschool, in religion there is no Emersonian sect, buttransfused through all schools, sects and ranks ofsociety there is an unorganized, and generally unrecognized, brotherhood of men and women whocall him master, and in the calendar of the saintswould mark with red the 25th of May as sacredto Radulphus Concordensis.To the Divinity student at Cambridge he said:I look for the new teacher that shall follow so farthose shining laws, that he shall see them comefull circle shall see their rounding, completegrace shall see the world to be the mirror of thesoul shall see the identity of the law of gravitation with purity of heart, and I shall show thatthe Ought, that Duty is one thing with Science,with Beauty, and with Joy.This prophecy of his youth found its best fulfillment in his own life and teaching.Founder of no sect or school,Teacher without book or rule,
Source:	http://indstate.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/isuarchive/id/33992
Collection:	Indiana State University Archives

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