GoodReads (
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"Unitarian Christianity: (Forgotten Books)"
"The Wanderer"
"Slavery"
"Self-Culture"
"Discourses on War" and
"Memoir of William Ellery Channing (vol 1-2)"
The Smithsonian Inventory (
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"Artist:
Adams, Herbert, 1858-1945, sculptor.
Griffith, Vincent, designer.
Henry-Bonnard Bronze Company, founder.
Title:
William Ellery Channing, (sculpture).
Dates:
Modeled 1899-1902. Cast 1903. Dedicated June 1, 1903...
Medium:
Sculpture: bronze; Base and steps: pink Milford granite; Niche and canopy: Tennessee marble.
Dimensions:
Sculpture: approx. 8 ft. 5 in. x 45 in. x 46 in.; Base: approx. 25 ft. x 24 ft. x 86 in.
Inscription:
(On sculpture, proper right side of bronze base:) HERBERT ADAMS Sc. 1902 (On sculpture, proper left side of bronze base:) HENRY BONNARD BRONZE Co. FOUNDERS N.Y. 1903 (On front of marble base, below sculpture:) WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING/MDCCLXXX-MDCCXLII (On front of marble base, left side:) HE PREACHED WITH/SPIRITUAL POWER/AND LED A GREAT/ADVANCE TOWARD THE/CHRISTIAN IDEALS (On front of marble base, right side:) HE BREATHED INTO/THEOLOGY A HUMANE/SPIRIT AND PR-/CLAIMED ANEW THE/DIVINITY OF MAN (On rear of marble base:) I SEE THE/MARKS OF GOD IN THE/HEAVENS AND THE EARTH BUT/HOW MUCH MORE IN A LIBERAL/INTELLECT IN MAGNANIMITY IN/UNCONQUERABLE RECTITUTDE/IN A PHILANTHROPY WHICH/FORGIVES EVERY WRONG/AND WHICH NEVER DISPAIRS/OF THE CAUSE OF CHRIST/AND HUMAN VIRTUE I DO/AND I MUST REVERENCE/HUMAN NATURE. I BLESS IT/FOR ITS ACHIEVEMENTS/IN SCIENCE AND IN ART AND/STILL MORE FOR ITS EXAMPLES /OF HEROIC AND SAINTLY VIRTUE/THESE ARE MARKS OF A DIVINE ORIGIN AND PLEDGES OF/A CELESTIAL INHERITANCE/AND I THANK GOD THAT MY/OWN LOT IS BOUND UP WITH/THAT OF THE HUMAN RACE/WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING/THE GIFT OF/JOHN FOSTER signed Founder's mark appears.
Description:
A portrait of William Ellery Channing, standing holding the Bible in his proper left hand and clutching the folds of his ecclesiastical robes to his chest with his proper right hand. The sculpture rests atop a granite base that is installed in a marble niche beneath a marble canopy. The monument is approached by two granite steps."
Wikipedia (
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"William Ellery Channing (April 7, 1780 – October 2, 1842) was the foremost Unitarian preacher in the United States in the early nineteenth century and along with Andrews Norton, (1786-1853), one of Unitarianism's leading theologians. He was known for his articulate and impassioned sermons and public speeches, and as a prominent thinker in the liberal theology of the day. Channing's religion and thought were among the chief influences on the New England Transcendentalists, though he never countenanced their views, which he saw as extreme. The beliefs he espoused, especially within his "Baltimore Sermon" of May 5, 1819, at the ordination of a future famous theologian and educator in his own right, Jared Sparks, (1789-1866), as the first minister (1819-1823) of the newly organized (1817) "First Independent Church of Baltimore" (later the "First Unitarian Church of Baltimore (Unitarian and Universalist)"). Here he espoused his principles and tenets of the developing philosophy and theology of "Unitarianism" resulted in the organization later in 1825 of the first Unitarian denomination in America (American Unitarian Association) and the later developments and mergers between Unitarians and Universalists resulting finally in the Unitarian Universalist Association of America in 1961."