Emerson a Pagan | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · Sep 14, 1882

Emerson a Pagan.

AN absurd claim has been made by a few faint-hearted preachers that he was a Christian. But, unless by a confused jargon of terms we call every man a Christian who does not lead an immoral life, and whose writings are not condemned by the authorities as publications unfit to be sent through the mails, then he was no more a Christian than is any Mongolian disciple of Confucius in this city or in China. It is a fact, that more of gospel truth, and a nearer approach to a system of Christian ethics, can be found in the works of Confucius, or Plato, or Cicero, than in those of the sage of Concord. Emerson was in no sense whatever a Christian, but was in all respects a pagan. As a pagan writer and teacher, his works will meet with the same treatment as that accorded to the productions of the illustrious pagans of the past; the truth will be sifted out of them and cherished, and the errors will be silently condemned and retired into obscurity. After a time, a few choice passages of pure and noble sentiments will find a place in the school readers and in books of selections, and there will live. His published volumes will, however, meet with but little sale, and be found only in public libraries, and occasionally in the libraries of scholars; and as a factor in the world's thought, Emerson will pass away. More brilliant and greater men than he are now known only to the learned, and their fate will certainly be his.—Occident.