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." One of the _Dial_ editors, as well as
one of the founders of the Club, and at whose house it had its first
meeting, was Rev. George Ripley, a Unitarian minister who was born at
Greenfield, Mass., in the beautiful valley of the Connecticut River. He
was of good farmer stock and had a fine physical presence, though of
medium stature. He was a lover of books, a graduate of Harvard college,
and a well trained and religious scholar. He was then settled over a
Unitarian church worshipping on Purchase Street, in Boston, and
faithfully fulfilled his duties. Above all things his head and heart
sought righteousness for all men. He believed in the justice of God and
the divine nature of man His best creation. He believed man to be
involved in an intricate and un-Christian social labyrinth, and with