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![]() Treatments of God and the American Church
The United States of America has always suffered from a curious juxtaposition. In the attempt to liberate man from repressive governmentally rule and to religious freedom, the American has consequently - perhaps unwittingly - allowed for "liberation" from God's rule under the name of religious freedom. Emily Dickinson's poem number 324, "Some keep the Sabbath going to Church - " (Dickinson 2567) is clearly an anti-puritanical poem, following in the tradition of Walt Whitman's liberated verse and Emerson's ideology. It criticizes the church as she saw it, as well as espousing a more natural religion. The meaning of the poem is summed up best in the first and last lines: "Some keep the Sabbath going to Church - /I keep it, staying at home - " and "So instead of getting to Heaven at last - /I'm going, all along." The comma after "I keep it" makes that one phrase wry, adding a "punch" to the second half of the line. The same holds true for the comma splice in the last line that emphasizes the phrase "all along" in contrast to the seemingly innocuous "at last" from the previous line. The meaning of the poem might be surmised thus: While most people hypocritically go to service, she actually practices her religion - without going to church. This is a celebration of the Protestantism that formed this country, and that, at its extreme, renounces all need for formal or communal worship: liberation from the Catholic Church, which Christ instituted, to the Protestant Church, founded by misinformed but ardent believers, to the beginnings of spiritism, as seen here in "free worship," to today's existential but "liberated" malaise.
Puritanism, particularly Congregationalism-to which her family subscribed (McQuade 2559) -is subtly criticized in her description of natural worship. She does not toll a bell, a funeralistic image, but sings, a Whitmanesque liberality. She also says that "God preaches, a noted Clergyman - /And the sermon is never long," implying that in the Congregational Church God can not preach, or is seen as just an incidental sermonizer, and that the pastors of the church "doth protest too much (Shakespeare, Hamlet III.ii.)" - and too long. Dickinson's view may be contrasted with Phyllis Wheatley's poem "On Being Brought from Africa to America" (Wheatley 505-506). Although separated by a hundred years, these two female poets present interesting and distinct views on the Protestant church in Massachusetts, and on God. While the first sees "liberty" from the Puritan religion as concordant with Liberty from governance, Wheatley sees Christ (in whatever form of worship) as Liberty from Paganism, and to whom God has called her to be. Wheatley writes that "'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land," a direct contradiction to Dickinson's move toward Deism in poem 324. Like Dickinson she believes that "there's a God," but, unlike Dickinson, "there's a Saviour too/Once I redemption neither sought nor knew." Wheatley recognizes and embraces the redemptive power of God's grace and church, which Dickinson seems to ignore or reject (as especially seen in her "death" poems). Wheatley's understanding of God and His church is more traditional than Dickinson's, which Wheatley might label "Pagan," but her criticisms of the members of the congregation are essentially similar. Wheatley speaks of the "some" that "view our sable race with scornful eye" and cautions the "Christians" to act as Christians and remember that "Negroes, black as Cain,/May be refin'd, and join th'angelic train." Like Dickinson's line: "I just wear my Wings," Wheatley is asserting her role in God's creation already. But again, the emphasis lies not on the individual quality, as Dickinson's reclusiveness lends to her poetry, but on the redemptive quality of a people through God and His church. In order to understand this contrast, one must recognize the historical and biographical differences between the two women. Wheatley, a former slave, lived in a time that was less anti-puritanical, a time that still rejoiced in newly found religious freedom. Wheatley, as a female and as a former slave, was also constantly aware of her unusual "freedom" and the bondage of her fellow women and race. Her poem is much more overtly didactic than Emily Dickinson's is, then, precisely because of her sense of community with other women and Africans, whereas Dickinson's poem is highly personal, because of her chosen life as a recluse.
Melville's Moby Dick takes a different approach to this question that has afflicted America ever since the Puritans first stepped foot on this soil. In Chapter 65, Stubb's Supper (Melville 251-254), a very unusual sermon is delivered by a Negro to Nature, which may be seen as a sort of link between Wheatley and Dickinson. In the sermon, the African cook is told by Stubb to tell the sharks to stop eating so "woraciously." Cook's first attempt at such a "sermon" is peppered with swears at the noisy sharks. Stubb reprimands Cook, and Cook continues in a more "gentlemanly" fashion. Cook then expounds, forgiving the sharks for their fallen nature, but cautioning them to "gobern de shark in you" in order to become an "angel." He also mentions that some of the sharks have bigger mouths but smaller stomachs, and their job is to cut off the blubber from the whale for the smaller sharks to eat. Finally he reminds the sharks that "dat whale belong to some one else." This sermon can be viewed in a number of ways. On the face, the irony of anyone preaching to sharks is amusing and provides comic relief in such a novel, but Melville is the master of symbolism and one must look beyond the face value. As Cook reflects: "I'm bressed if he ain't more of shark dan Massa Shark hisself." If the sharks are then seen as the average man, or further (taking into account the "sermon" aspect of Cook's speech) as the average churchgoer, and the whale as God's church, the speech takes on greater significance. The "sharks" are fallen who must "gobern the shark" in order to become an angel, "wear…Wings" and "join th'angelic train." Like Wheatley, this African questions these churchgoers: "Is not one shark dood right as toder to dat whale?" meaning, is not one man as good as another within the church? Further, there are those poets and saints who have a larger capacity ("mouths") for understanding the church, but stomachs of just the same size as any other, whose duty it is to not become a recluse, but to feed the others of the congregation. Cook addresses the sharks as "fellow-critters" and "bred'ren," again bringing in the communal aspect of the church, while criticizing the movements of individuals. His statement that the whale belongs to someone else may seem to imply that the whale belongs to Stubb, but in the subcontext and the context eventually apparent through the novel, indicates that the whale is God's creation - in this case, the church. The connection with Wheatley is apparent in the didactic element of Cook, as well as the Cook's nationality and sense of community. Like both Wheatley and Dickinson, there is an emphasis on the "angelic" - the limited Protestant answer to sainthood, in accordance with Paul's epistolary greetings (cf. 1 Cor 1:2, etc.). And in conjunction with Dickinson, Cook preaches not to men, but to animals, as Dickinson's sexton was a bird. But even Melville seems to see the dilemma that Dickinson's simple poem poses. Man preaching to animals is useless, and even more, comical. Man preaching to fellow man may seem likewise problematical if every man has more of the shark in him than "Massa Shark hisself." Deism sounds pleasant, but is a dead-end. Cook is sermonizing to the animal sharks, when he should have been sermonizing to Stubb. Melville may also be chastising Dickinson and those like her who would tear off a piece of the whale, of the church, for herself, but not share her findings with others. Melville would encourage the Dickinsons of the world to remain in the world and help their churches rather than leaving them or turning a deaf ear to the preacher. This congressional deafness is repeated in chapter 9, "The Sermon" (Melville 44-51) when Father Mapple delivers his sermon on Job and the necessity of obeying God. After his final exhortation, however, he covers his face with his hands and kneels in a posture that would seem to indicate woe or grief - possibly for his "deaf sharks." Father Mapple is also a former seaman who gave up the life to tend to these sharks, to feed them the blubber of the whale that he bit off.
The tragedy of America is her apparent "freedom." In her progression towards "liberty," as seen in Wheatley and Melville, she has won Liberalism, as Dickinson presents, and has now entered the age of the Libertine. In the Puritan's initial and honorable attempt to win the right to worship, we their descendents have progressed to the right not to worship. To paraphrase Dickinson, "we're going, all along" - and it will only be through "mercy" that we shall be brought out of our own "Pagan land" to treat the God, and that which He founds and ordains, with the respect He deserves.
Some keep the Sabbath going to Church -
Some keep the Sabbath in Surplice -
God preaches, a noted Clergyman -
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