Emerson states that there are ministers who bring life to public worship. The exceptions, he says, are found not so much in the examples of a few extraordinary preachers as in the rare sincere moments of all. But by and large, preaching is hindered by tradition, by lack of a sense of the essentials of true religion — the soul, and the absolutes toward which the soul strives. By ignoring man's moral nature, historical Christianity destroys the power of preaching, takes the joy out of religion, and invalidates the very reason for the ministry's existence. The results are devastating — "the soul of the community is sick and faithless," man despises himself, and fails to achieve the goodness of which he is capable. People are leaving the church in droves. The loss of worship is the worst of all possible calamities
Emerson then asks what can be done to redeem the church. He calls on the fledgling ministers in his audience to recognize and preach the importance of the soul, thereby restoring man to his place of importance, and to combat the notion that religion is static and must be accepted as received. He asks them not to fear the presentation of Jesus as a man, and he urges them to show what God is, not what God was to other men. Emerson says that true Christianity — a faith like Christ's in the boundless capabilities of man — has been lost through our tendency to trust in established schemes of religion rather than in the power of the individual soul. Only the soul can restore to man a sense of the divine within himself. He exhorts his hearers "to go alone; to refuse the good models, . . . and dare to love God without mediator or veil," and in so doing to inspire their congregations to break from conformity. If ministers "acquaint men at first hand with Deity," their flocks will respond with love and gratitude. Society does not encourage development of the "absolute ability and worth" of every person, but after we form a direct connection with God, "the all-knowing Spirit," we will not care about society's values, which preoccupy us only as much as we allow them to. We must be independent of the opinions of others and draw upon the resources within ourselves, regardless of consequences. Emerson does not recommend establishing new rites and forms, but rather breathing life back into those already in existence. If we are fully alive with soul, the forms of worship that we employ will become "plastic and new." Emerson pays homage to two traditions that Christianity has provided, the Sabbath and the institution of preaching. Both will become meaningful again if life and conscience are restored to religion.
Emerson closes "The Divinity School Address" by looking to the time when the spirit that inspired the prophets of old will move men in the present, and bring forth "the new Teacher" who can see the universe and its laws in totality, the world as "mirror of the soul," and who can show the correspondence of natural laws with spiritual laws and the ultimate oneness of all absolutes.
