deep for full expression, and we thus note the limitation of his genius at the very point of its most pronounced excellence. He had no language in which to embody his ideals, nor was his genius creative enough to meet the conditions of the highest art. If he had "the vision divine" in occasional and approximate measure, he had no distinctive possession of "the faculty divine," while at times the extreme of his favorite theory of English verse-structure on the technical side became prominent over the poetry itself and reduced his work to the level of the didactic. This conceded, however, not a few of his poems, such as "The Symphony," "The Crystal," and "Sunrise," are the rarest products of what we may call rhythmic genius in the last half century. Hence we note, in the final survey and estimate of his work, that it was at best tentative only. His short life of forty years, saddened as it was by poverty and struggle and the gradual inroads of fatal disease, made it impossible for him to do anything more than form his plans, shape his ideals, and embody in a fragmentary way the most cherished conceptions of his mind. He knew the unspeakable anguish of what Watson has called life without health, "the dire compulsion of infertile days," and he had but fairly adjusted the outlines of his poetic future when the summons of death came. He, however, lived just long enough to give to the world some indications of the spirit that was in him and what he could and would have accomplished had his days been prolonged. Modern criticism must therefore deal leniently with the poetic product of such a bard, and give him at every point the benefit of the doubt. It is thus that Baskerville is bold enough to write that "Sidney Lanier is already generally recognized as the most distinctive figure in our literature since the famous group of New England poets passed away, and that many are almost claiming for him the right to rank among the few genuine poets of America." Mabie, in speaking of his "affluent and plastic imagination," calls him "a great figure in the opening of the national period which followed the Civil War," and he adds: "A century hence, when American literature shall have struck deep into the almost unexplored depths of American life, his significance will be acknowledged." It is further to be noted that his influence has been altogether ennobling, thoroughly appreciated by those who live in the spirit. As one has expressed it, "he was an embodied ideal sent into the world to rebuke its commonplace aims," and rebuke them he did. With a kind of Lutheran protest he lifted up his voice against all forms of sin and wrong; against Zolaism and Byronism in literature; entreating authors to magnify their office. He believed in "the holiness of beauty" as well as in "the beauty of holiness." As he said to the students of Johns Hopkins, "He who has not perceived how artistic beauty and moral beauty are convergent lines which run back into a common ideal origin, he is not yet the great artist," while few poets so aroused his indignation as did Whitman with his coarse theory of the democracy of art and the subordination of the spiritual to the sensuous. "Unless you are suffused with truth, wisdom, goodness, and love," he says, "abandon the hope that the ages will accept you as an artist." It is this temper and ideal that make the personality of Lanier permanently attractive, whatever may or may not be the specific value of his literary work. He wrote to Hayne, a fellow Southerner and poet, that at the close of the day, when wearied with work and suffering, he would hold up in his arms his blue-eyed boy and peer into his face and wonder at the thrilling mystery of his being. Somewhat thus do we look upon the face of Lanier, wondering "at the thrilling mystery of his being," at the possibilities lying latent in his gifted and gracious nature. Conceding all his alleged faults and limitations, we can pay to him the tribute that he lovingly paid to Beethoven as a great master of music: O Psalmist of the weak, the strong, O Troubadour of love and strife, Sole Hymner of the whole of life, So did he speak and write; so did he sing and suffer; so did he live and die-this Keats of American letters. ART. IV. THE FIRST ATTEMPTS AT CHURCH UNION IN AMERICA THE stately volume containing the Proceedings of the InterChurch Conference on Federation held in New York in the month of November, 1905, calls to mind a small pamphlet, or rather a series of seven pamphlets, giving reports of a number of conferences held more than one hundred and fifty years ago. Those conferences, meeting in little log cabins in the colony of Pennsylvania, had the same object in view as had the great assembly that convened in Carnegie Hall, and some questions were discussed then which appeared on the program of the recent New York Conference. I cannot find in the volume of Proceedings of the Inter-Church Federation Conference any reference to those modest precursors, yet the fact is that in the year 1742 there were held seven conferences for the explicit purpose of federating the various denominations existing among the German-speaking population of Pennsylvania. The leader in these first efforts toward church union in America was Count Zinzendorf, the founder of the "Unitas Fratrum," who visited America in the years 1741-43. The minutes of the conferences were printed by Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia and are among the rarest prints in the German language dating from the colonial period. The complete title of the first one is: "Authentische/ Relation/ von dem/ Anlass, Forfgang and Schluss Der am 1ten und 2ten Januarii Anno 1742/ in Germantown gehaltenen/ Versammlung/ Einiger Arbeiter/ Derer meisten Christlichen Religionen/ und/ Vieler vor sich selbst Gott-dienenden Christen-Menschen/ in Pennsylvania;/ Aufgesetzt/ in Germantown am Abend des 2ten obligen Monats./ Philadelphia,/ Gedruckt und zu haben bey B. Franklin./"1 Pennsylvania was the haven of refuge for all those who were A complete set is found in the library of the Pennsylvania Historical Society in Philadelphia. Another set is in the possession of Professor Martin G. Brumbaugh of the University of Pennsylvania, to whom the present writer acknowledges his obligation for the courtesy in permitting him to examine the pamphlets. A very good account of the conferences is given in Professor Brumbaugh's History of the German Baptist Brethren. Elgin, Ill., 1899 Count Zinzendorf gives an account in his Naturelle Reflexiones, 1746-49, cf. Also Büdingische Sammlung einiger in die Kirchengeschichte einschlagender sonderlich neuerer Schriften Büdingen, 1742 . persecuted in Europe on account of their religious convictions. A great many Germans driven from their fatherland by the intolerance of the state churches turned their faces to the new world and settled in William Penn's colony, where they were allowed to serve God according to their consciences. Soon Mennonites, Baptists, Schwenkfelders, Moravians, Siebentäger, Separatists, Inspiritists, Hermits, also adherents of the Lutheran and Reformed Churches were clearing the woods and building their cabins and sending their prayers to the Heavenly Father in the untrammeled enjoyment of religious liberty. When Count Zinzendorf came to Pennsylvania in December, 1741, he heard that nearly one hundred and twenty thousand German settlers were living in the colony.1 But the spirit of intolerance and religious strife to which they had been accustomed in their former homes had not been left behind across the sea. It manifested itself even in free Pennsylvania, causing envy, malice, bitter discussions, harsh words and slander. A well-meaning, pious Separatist, Johann Adam Gruber by name, was deeply pained by those needless dissensions and as early as 1736 sent a "Call to those souls in Pennsylvania, who were formerly awakened, and who are dispersed here and there, in connection with existing sects or independent, to a new bond of organic union and fellowship in prayer, issued by a heart that is anxious for the healing of the bruises of Zion." In strong and touching words he described the bruises of Zion, but no definite plans for healing them were offered until the arrival of Count Zinzendorf. He had been for years the apostle of a united Christendom on the basis of personal faith in Christ Jesus, and he was in hopes that the great design of his life, the ideal of "a Church of God in the spirit," might be realized in America, where no political, ecclesiastical or dogmatical prejudices stood in the way. The Count prevailed upon Heinrich Antes, a member of the German Reformed Church who was widely known, and highly respected on account of his sterling Christian character and his social standing, to address, on December 15, 1741, an open letter to the heads of the various denominations inviting them to send representatives to a meeting which was 1D. Cranz, Alte und Neue Brüder-Historie. Barby, 1772. p. 345. to be held, on January 1 of the following year, in Germantown, "not to quarrel, but in love to discuss the most important articles of faith, so as to find out how closely they were united in essential things, and for the rest to bear with each other in love in all opinions that do not undermine the foundations of salvation, in order that all judging and criticising might be lessened and eliminated." The minutes of the first conference contain the following with reference to the origin and purpose of the meeting: Heinrich Antes and several other lovers of liberty in this country had desired many years ago that not so much evil should be spoken and written of their fellow beings without evidence, because by this means the cause is never furthered. The opportunity to do good is always cut off beforehand. They only waited for the favorable time and hour, and now they thought the time had come. Because they not only noticed a desire among various people to know one another more accurately, so as not to need to fear a shadow, but with greater certainty they desired to avoid what is harmful. They were even requested (by some) to take the matter in hand. Therefore Heinrich Antes wrote letters to all and each representative and worker in the various organizations where he and his friends desired greater friendship among one another in respect to matters above stated. The good hand of God was with this little dove. It came like the latter, with an olive leaf, and not one of those invited failed to come. The following denominations were represented at the first Conference or Synod: German Reformed, Lutherans, German Baptists or Tunkers, Mennonites, Moravians, Schwenkfelders, Separatists, Hermits, Siebentäger. According to Count Zinzendorf's account there were above one hundred persons present,1 and more than fifty persons took part in the deliberations.2 Count Zinzendorf was unanimously elected President, or Synodus, and the Moravian brother Johann Jacob Müller was made secretary. It was proposed, since it was impossible to unite all heads, and since this would be of no great service to the Saviour or to the souls of men, that all workers in the various bodies should agree: to worship unitedly the common Saviour, to ask his forgiveness for everything that had passed between them, to drop at once all personal difficulties or animosities, and, although belonging to different denominational families, to unite on one common basis and to build upon that foundation in such a manner that no one who knew Christ or was seeking him with his whole heart, should appear a barbarian in his language to the others. 1 Naturelle Reflexiones, p. 194 'Reichel's History of the Moravians, p. 98 |