Holmes and Puritanism
Bill Long 10/21/05
Another Reflection on his Speeches
Before continuing my thoughts on Holmes' felicitous turns of phrase and his humility and gratitude for people, I want to say a word about Holmes and Puritanism. The Puritans, as we know, found their origin at the very end of the 16th century in England, desiring to sanctify the Church of England through the pure preaching of the Word of God. 'Forget vestments and mitres and splendiferous ceremony. Give me the pure milk of the Word and I live.' That is the spirit of the original Puritans. But as they left England and sailed to the MA Bay Colony in the 17th century, their type took on a sort of piety (also reflected in England) of instrumental joy and cool devotion to duty as they saw it. By instrumental joy I mean the sense that the Puritans felt that they were part of a movement larger than themselves, that they were privileged actually to be used by God (i.e., "instruments") in effecting His larger plans for creation. By cool devotion to duty I mean that they believed that time was precious, that life was to be lived with earnestness and straightforward honesty and that the joys of doing a job well were heavenly rather than earthly.
Holmes' father had thrown off the "official" identification of the self with this Puritan past by leaving the Trinitarian Congregationalists and becoming a Unitarian, and Holmes Jr. followed in the wide footsteps of his father. But Holmes' grandfather had been the staunchly orthodox Abiel Holmes, pastor of the First Church of Cambridge during the Unitarian controversy, and his ancestors before Abiel had likewise been orthodox. Holmes had the grace and maturity to recognize that once the dye of Puritanism has worked its way into the soul, its stain is well-nigh ineradicable. And, he gloried in that ineffaceability. On two occasions he mentioned it, and those occasions call for mention today.
The Yale Address
He received a degree of Doctor of Laws from Yale on June 30, 1886 (Commencements had been in July earlier in the 19th century, but by 1886 they were at the end of June. Within the next few decades they would move, at the elite schools, to the middle of June. By 1970 they were near the beginning of June. Now they are closer to mid-May. Soon we won't have an academic year.). He spoke of the honor that was bestowed on him. Then he went on, "I know, Mr. President, that there is a motive above even honor which may govern men's lives." What is it?
"I am enough of a Puritan, I think, to conceive the exalted joy of those who look upon themselves only as instruments in the hands of a higher power to work out its designs."
Though Holmes would frequently end his speeches or remarks with flourishes that are seemingly inspired by Transcendentalism, here in the middle he notes his Puritan heritage. His life is not his own; he is bought with a price; he takes joy in the fact that his life is an instrument of powers beyond. The thought is freeing as it is directive.
First Church Address
Another occasion where his Puritan heritage provides the basis for his reflection is an address at the 250th anniversary of First Church (Congregational) in Cambridge, also in 1886. He contrasts two "types" of people in the speech: the Crusader and the Puritan. The Crusader, whose type is captured in alabaster on a Eurpoean Cathedral or Abbey, has passed away into our tradition, and he teaches us the value of high aspiration. Perhaps the type of the Puritan may pass away too, as the "lichened slates" in "yonder churchyard" gather the mosses after years of listening to those who occupied the old manses. But not so fast. The Puritans, who planted this church, were people who also planted democratic institutions. But, "whether they knew it or not, they planted the democratic spirit in the heart of man." It is from the Puritans that we derive
"that instinct, that spark that makes the American unable to meet his fellow man otherwise than simply as a man, eye to eye, hand to hand, and foot to foot..."
This memory and bond is a sacred one, and if the College is no longer dedicated to the truth and the Church to the democratic spirit, then the Puritan will have lived in vain.
And so Holmes proudly takes his position as one of the sons of Thomas Shepard, first minister at the Church. Other streams have now fed our shores, and Holmes looks forward to the day when the Puritan stream is simply one in a vast series of rivulets issuing into the great river of America and humanity. But, as he concludes:
"We New Englanders are still leavened with the Puritan ferment. Our doctrines may have changed, but the cold Puritan passion is here."
Cold passion? Indeed. We normally think of passion as "hot" in our day, but the Puritan devotion to duty, the "daily conversation as a trembling walk with God," the realization that hot burning leads to a quick "burn out," makes the reference to cold passion appropriate. For, as the Puritans knew, it is only s/he who endures to the end who will be saved.
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