The old theology was crumbling. A new church was springing from its
vitals based on freer thought, in which the intellect and heart had
more share in determining righteousness. The fatherhood of God and the
brotherhood of man became the themes of discourse, oftener than those
of the vengeance of an offended Deity; and pity and forgiveness,
oftener than those on everlasting punishment.
In truth, the new departure which had begun, soon attracted to itself
the most cultivated persons of the time, some of whom, Sept. 19, 1836,
formed a club that met at one another's houses and discussed all the
important social and religious topics of the day. They were mostly
young people, college-bred, learned, artistic and thoughtful, and of
high ideals in intellectual acquirement, religion and social life. They
were all agreed that there were many evils to be eradicated from
society; in what way--individualistic, governmental or socialistic, or
by a combination of ways--few were agreed.
The problem was an open one. The theories proposed and the discussions
were extremely interesting, but no record of them is at hand, except a
few essays published in the _Dial_, a quarterly magazine which was
edited by members of the organization, which finally took the name of
"The Transcendental Club.
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