FRANCES POWER COBBE.
FRANCES POWER COBBE.
MISS COBBE, the friend and disciple of Theodore Parker, has placed herself, by her “Intuitive Morals“ and “Darwinism in Morals,“ so completely outside of churches and creeds, that I could not feel as though justice had been done to a brave, true woman if she were not here given the recognition she deserves—a place among those of her sex who stand on the same plane of advanced thought as herself, although some of these are doubtless far more radical in their views than she has yet professed herself to be: her position, as I understand it, being that of the most liberal phase of Unitarianism; or, perhaps, more correctly, that of a Free Religionist; for Miss Cobbe, in spite of her advanced Liberalism, is a most reverent Theist.
It is so recently that her name has become conspicuous in literature, that the press has not yet given that publicity to all the minor details of her previous life which it will probably yet give, and which is necessary to make even a condensed biographical sketch of any interest to the general public; but in this, I shall be only able to embody the odds and ends which have heretofore floated into various newspaper and magazine notices concerning her.
From these I have gleaned that she is a finely-educated, large-hearted, genial-natured Irish gentlewoman. What the influences were, outside of her own good sense and discriminating intellect, which led her to discard sectarianism in religion, I have had no means of finding out. The writings of Theodore Parker seem to have first produced a deep effect upon her mind by their broad, large-hearted views concerning God and humanity. From them she learned to look upon the Christ as an Exemplar, rather than as a Mediator, and to dare to believe in God as all-powerful, and to see that Devil and Hell were words only, having no basis in reality.
For this teacher of morals, whom she had never seen, Miss Cobbe conceived a deep and worshipful reverence and tender regard. She sought by correspondence with him to understand and define more fully his broad, liberal, loving views, concerning the relations between God and man. This correspondence was continued at intervals for several years, and was only broken by the death of Mr. Parker.
Although a meeting with Theodore Parker was greatly desired by Miss Cobbe, and she was traveling through Europe about the same time that he was, yet circumstances constantly thwarted this desire until he was on his deathbed. Miss Cobbe arrived in Florence, Italy, just a few days previous to his death. She, however, ventured to call on him. Their meeting was, under the circumstances, deeply affecting. The disciple, however, thus gained a glorious opportunity of seeing for herself how sincere the teacher's faith was in that which he had taught. Much conversation was impossible, from Parker’s weakness, but she found him calm, serene, peacefully happy — not desirous of death, but resigned to the inevitable. She remembered his well known passion for flowers, and brought him a lovely bouquet of fresh tea-roses and lilies, with which he was very much pleased. He presented her in return with a beautiful bronze inkstand, from whose depths the inspiration which guided her "Intuitive Morals" may possibly have arisen.
I think she had only that one interview with him; he failed rapidly, and, within a few days, the active mind, the large heart, of the earnest teacher were at rest forever. Miss Cobbe was among those who followed him — sincere mourners, all — to his grave in the Protestant burial-ground at Florence. She afterward evidenced her great esteem for him by editing his Life and Letters.
In these letters he mentions Miss Cobbe often and favorably, seeming to appreciate her intellectual and moral qualities highly, as they deserved. In a letter addressed to George Ripley, he speaks thus enthusiastically concerning her:
“Thank you for the kind and just things you say about Miss Cobbe. My friends the Hunts and Apthorps almost worship the maiden. I keep her birthday as one of my domestic holidays, and honor the fourth of December with unusual libations.”
Indeed, Miss Cobbe seems to have the faculty of inspiring and keeping friendship in an extraordinary degree. Her own cordial warm-heartedness and sunny disposition is probably largely the cause of this.
Moncure D, Conway, in a letter to the Round Table, thus describes her personal appearance;
"The first impression she makes is that of a great mass of merry flesh and blood, weighing nearly three hundred and fifty pounds. She too often has to walk on crutches, which gives one a sad feeling that this enormous size is far from being the result of, or accompanied by, health. But when one converses with Miss Cobbe, he finds that the chief characteristic of her face and expression is delicacy. There is a lambent humor about her mouth, a subtle perceptiveness blended with sweetness about the eye, a sensitiveness and sensibility in her manner, under which-—as conversation and acquaintance go on — the corpulency seems to shrink and the most charming physiognomy to be unsheathed. Miss Cobbe has an extraordinary power of conversation, is one of the wittiest of mortals, and where-ever she appears has about her a group of fascinated young people—particularly of her own sex — by whose bursts of merriment one may know on entering a company where the authoress of ‘Intuitive Morals’ is seated.”
Kate Field says of her: “Miss Cobbe is the embodiment of genial philanthropy; as delightful a companion as she is heroic in her great work of social reform.”
I hope that she may live to do yet more effective work in liberalizing public sentiment than she has done even by her “Intuitive Morals,” though I am far from underestimating the value of this excellent work. It has done, and is destined to do, a great work in awakening thought in that great multitude who, though loving the light better than darkness, have yet been content to accept their faith second-handed from those who have set themselves up as their teachers, without inquiry from the taught as to the validity of such self-asserted claims. It does not lead entirely out of the darkness of Biblical theology and religious prejudice, but it is a long step toward the light. It needed a large amount of moral courage in any one professing to be a believer in Christianity, much more in a woman belonging to refined and cultivated Christian circles, to make the daring avowals contained in this book. The intellect which has reasoned itself so far out of the intricacies and bewilderments of the Christian faith has certainly within it the force to probe much deeper than even this book goes into the reason of things. We confidently expect Miss Cobbe, if she lives, to take a yet more daring and advanced stand as a liberal thinker than even “Darwinism in Morals” shows, of which hope that title is suggestive, as indicative of development in thought as in all things else.
From ‘‘Intuitive Morals” we extract the following thoughts, as demonstrating Miss Cobbe's ability as a writer, and the pure, true humanitarianism of her religious conclusions:
"Like the clown, who believes that cold and darkness are something positive, and not merely the negations of caloric and light, we give to evil an affirmative existence — nay, a personified one. We believe that the universe contains not only one absolutely good, but also one absolutely evil; not only a God, but a Devil. But these are visions of the night. The universe has indeed a sun of light and heat, but it has no sun with rays of darkness and frost.”
“Let us do justice to humanity. The removal of all fear for the future destiny of our fellow-creatures is the removal of a nightmare. It was not only while the thunder-cloud hung over our own heads that it darkened our sky. Some natures are so hopeful and loving that they never know fear of hell for themselves. But it is when the lurid gloom has rolled utterly away from our horizon that we know how it blackened the Universe; and then only can we see the true splendor of the sun, throned, not in ‘clouds and darkness,’ but in a heaven of unshadowed light.”
“Morality may exist in an Atheist without any religion, and in a Theist with a religion quite unspiritual.”
“Were the boasted logic of Calvin really carried out to its practical consequences, his disciples could recognize no law; for to the Elect, obedience is involuntary, and to the Reprobate impossible. They could adore no God, for the character they ascribe to the Creator is one which the nature the true God has given them forces them to abhor.”
“What! Shall we despise a man who acts justly or benevolently, merely for the sake of admiration, and shall we dare to attribute such a motive to the infinitely Pure? Shall we contemn a man (a man who has equals for admirers) if he build an almshouse for the sake of applause? and shall we venture to affirm that He, whose ineffable happiness could not be increased by the united hallelujahs of the created Universe, has yet designed and built the starry heavens for no more noble a purpose?”