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rt ^^ :^ JDlSCEQMSr.SEHPES.YlCTUaUS • YI?E- QMSI • CB2S -MOaiTITEirs. VOL. XIX. NOTRE DAME, INDIANA, MAY i, 1886. No. 33. principles and reasonings, Brownson's logic was The Easter Melodies. invincible. As an orator, he forced conviction on unwilling ears, often ending amid thunders of ap­ A year ago I heard the blessed bells plause, whei-e ominous silence, or groans, had Peal jubilantly on the warm Spring air, greeted his first appearance.. Telling anew the tale which ever tells This force of character he could communicate to The glorious joys of Easter and of prayer. his pen, as is manifest in his writings. In the I heard the priest intone the solemn Mass, polemical field he was over-bearing; in argument The mighty organ and the sweet-voiced choir, sometimes rash, impatient of contradiction, and And felt an ecstasy naught can surpass. crushing in his denunciations; always honest in its Which made my soul to heavenly heights aspire. convictions, the mighty intellect that ruled him would endure neither opposition nor restraint. His To-day I hear no blessed Easter bells, admirer's, taking this for "conscious strength," Nor solenni Mass, nor organ's tone, nor song; grew more and more numerous and enthusiastic; •Yet, Avorn with illness, in my heart there dwells his opponents, who suffered under the lash, never Of echoes sweet a dear and wondrous throng. forgave or forgot the sting, and. even to-day re­ Thus, while I lift my grateful prayers on high, mind us that the living- dog- can bite at the dead lion. I hear the melodies which cannot die. Brownson's intellectual activity v/as always won­ —E. P. RYDER, in Ave Maria. derful. He was ever studying or writing; no ef­ fort, however great, seemed to weary him. Pos­ sessing great versatllitj'- of genius, he has written j)Owerfully, and with brilliant originality, upon al­ Orestes A. Brownson. most every literary, political or religious subject; often stirring up storms against himself, but.more EY FRANK J. HAGENBARTH, '87. frequently making hosts of friends and admirers, both at home and abroad. Endowed with one of those deep, broad philo­ A few years ago this greatest of American phi­ sophic minds fit for a Thomas Aquinas or an Al- losophers was laid to rest; but his glorious work bertus Magnus, Brownson was always on the gzd survives him, and, an eternal monument to truth, vive. No subject, however trifling, did he deeni "un­ it shall perpetuate his memory tofutui-e generations. worthy of notice; no phenomenon, however inex­ By the iron hand of death the strong frame was plicable, did he fear to grapple with. He has left sti-icken, the manly voice forever hushed. Never the giant foot-prints of his genius in all the fields again will that hand grasp the all-powerful pen of thought, at one time whiling away an hour with in defense of, innocence and injured truth, nor that phrenology, or spiritualism; at another, striving to voice proclaim the principles of right andliberty. grasp the origin of ideas—the most abstruse and Whilst he lived, like all great men, his enemies difiicult problem in philosophy— were many; now, when he is gone, all unite in sounding the cymbals of praise. It is a fact to be " With too much qxiickness ever to be taught; remembered that it was in the heat of discus,sion With too much thinking to have common thought," where he ci-eated enmities; fov outside of contro­ Brownson hurried far in advance of the leading versy, and under the influences of his home. Dr. Protestant minds of his day in political and relig­ Brownson was universally beloved and respected. ious reform. Born in error, it seemed he could It is true that on the battle-ground of thought and not rest in it; he sought for truth, simple and-pure,, in polemical controvei"sy he could brook no oppo­ and rested not until he found it. sition, but, in the tourney of argument, he bore down Orestes Ausfustus Brownson was born at Stock- all before him. Whilst honestly setting forth his bridge, Vt., Sept. i6,1803. In consequence of his 522 THE NOTRE DAME SCHOLASTIC. parents' poverty, he was, at an earl}?^ age, adopted Presbj'terian minister of Ballston, New York, bj' an old couple of Royaltown, distant relatives where he had been pursuing his academic studies, of the family. By them he was reared with as he was persuaded by hira to enter the Presbyterian much kindness as the rigor of the New England fold. This happened in Octobei-,iS23. Shortly after, orthodoxy of that period would permit. Every becoming dissatisfied with Presbyterianism, he sev­ influence of his childhood was chilling to the last ered his connection with that sect. But his theo­ degree, and he ever afterwards used to say, when logical knowledge being ver}' slight, and his mind referring to this rigorous earlj"^ training, "I ^vas easil}' confused, he soon drifted to the other ex­ long a man before 1 ever was a child." treme of Protestant liberalism, and became a Uni- His adopted parents, being strictly religious, in­ versalist, after a severe mental struggle, during culcated in him, at a ver}'^ early age, all the odd- which he passed through various phases of what fashioned Puritan doctrines and beliefs then so is termed " Liberal Christianity," and launched prevalent. Though naturall}!^ " generous, buoyant boldl}' into a sea of rationalistic belief bordering on and light-hearted," young Brownson's deeply re­ atheism. ligious nature manifested itself from the first, and it But a man of Brownson's natural intellect and is the religious experience, the struggles, the defeats understanding could not long be satisfied with such and the triumphs of fifty years of a giant intellect on surroundings. He the battle-grounds of truth and error that make " Spurred boldly on, and dashed through thick and thin," his life the more remarkable, interesting and glori­ ous. till he had satisfied himself where to stop. Through When about fourteen years of age, he left the all these wanderings there ever linsrered in his kind old couple who had sheltered him in his boy­ heart the craving for an unfailing guide," commis­ hood, and entered upon that path in life destined for sioned by God to lead us heavenward. This recog­ many to be one of sin and death. Brownson's clouds nition of divine authoiity remarks, in substance, were lined with silver, and the lowering storm of one of his biographers, was the good seed which, an &?i\\y life was destined to burst foith with the hidden though it was in the dark soil of error and grandeur of an AjDril sun shower. He took up his doubt, never lost its vitality; but,striking out deep residence at Saratoga, New York, not to " carve roots through his entire nature, developed into his name in the temples of fame," but, simple and that foliage of truth which the winds of revelation honest as he was, to gain a simple and honest liveli­ and inspiration hugged on till they landed him se­ hood. cure in a haven of safety and rest. He soon found himself in the midst of new and Brownson soon became a preacher in his new. sti'ange scenes, where he was surrounded by sinful creed. Entering boldly into schemes of political and corrupting influences. Happening to fall in and religious reform, he wrote much, and edited with a set of deists, atheists, and bad men gener­ papers and periodicals in defense of his views. ally', who, professing no religion, willingly bowed However, being still in a state of unrest, he was their heads to the rule of passion, his 3'oung mind attracted b}' the writings of Dr. Channing. These, soon became confused b\' the manj' contradictory for a time, totally changed the drift of his ideas. opinions he heard advanced, till at last he became Accordingly, in 1835, we find him a Unitarian almost persuaded that all religion was a farce, and preacher. delusion; a snare, and a trap for the unwaiy. • For It was now that Dr. Brownson began, for the awhile- his intellect was darkened, and he wan­ first time, the systematic stud}' of theology and dered in a labyrinth of doubt with no helping hand philosoph}': Being thenceforward thrown into pointing to the saving exit. For the space of five society more or less literary, he began the study of years he was utterly miserable, knowing not which the French and German languages. To such way to turn for relief. prominence had he attained that, in 1S36, several One da}', when about nineteen years of age, he distinguished persons invited him to Boston as a happened to be passing a Pi-esbyterian Church. lecturer. Having acceded to their request, he, in It was a Sundaj', the people were gathering for a first lecture, made so many converts that he was divine worship. Brownson lingered ai"ound till enabled to organize the " Society for Christian the last worshipper had entered his pew, and with Union and Progress," the directorship of which bowed head communed with his God. The sight he retained till 1843, when he ceased preaching. edifies the quasi-atheist, and, acting on the impulse He established the Boston ^uartei-ly Revlexv in of the moment, he enters. The thought strikes 1838, of which he was sole proprietor and almost him that it has been a long, long time since last he the only writer for five years, when it was merged was in the house of God.

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