The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1857-05-05
GbanshiIls Daily gournal.
Henry Ward Beecher about Laugh.
ing in Church.


ing in Church.
The New York Post of Monday, Goth
ult., says - - --4-
In his sermon yesterday morning. Rev.
Henry Ward Beecher contrasted the
servile. crouching worship of God, with
cheerful, confiding worship. The mind
may be influenced by fear, by emotions,
by venoration, by sense Of infniteness
and beauty; by the sympathies, or bene-
volencs and love. But these are not
alike desirable: although it is better to
be touched by the lowest than not at all.
The earliest feeling towards God was that
Of fear, and this is most universal. The
fear OF God is of two kinds-One belongs
10 generous feelings; the other is a shrink
ing from something that is doubtful or
terrible. The croucting. servile fear OF
God, not only debases God, but degrades
the man who acts under it: for fear, as
general thing. never works upon the
inner nature towards goodness, but only
upon the outer, towards conduct. a man
who thus fears, is like the man who
should 20 towards the Polar sea thinking
TO get to the equator. He is on the
wrong train, with the wrong engineer,
and instead of leading to life. the road
leads to death. There is no gospel in it.
s, There are many who think this servile
fear Is a sign Of grace. They are misera-
BILE without it. This feeling of Interior
ity-this shrinking awe, is popularity I'M
Serstood as worship. To be religious
with persons entertaining it, is to exer-
else this homage-this croucbing as a
slave in the presence of his master. This
is the religion Of the Romish church, and
though Professionalism has abandoned Its
forms, it has not abandoned its spirit.
He did not ridicule this spirit in It's
place, but pronounced it as false as any
thing can be. There are churches which
are built in obedience to tins spirit, with
gloomy walls Of stone and coffin-colored
pews. which. remind one OF his last mar
row resting place; the windows are dark.
ened to shut out the light of heaven; and
those building such churches depend
upon the deep, solemn music. rolling hea-
Willy along the shaded and gloomy aisies.
to impress the mind with sense of awe.
Awe is precisely what it is; 1t IS awe
and nothing more. And the man W 80
yields to these influences, and is impress
ed with tho sepulchral gloom OF the place,
when he goes out Of the church draws
o long breath. breathes freely once more,
and thinks himself as good Christian as
the rest.
Such worship is always narrow. tits
not to see Christ smiling and saying: IL
call you friends, come unto me In every |
time of need" It always sent shlver
over him to enter such church. "There
are thousands" said the speaker, ''who
would be shocked to hear me talk as
do about it, but cannot help it. Your
God is jailor; my God is Father"
One of the greatest obstacles minis
ter had to contend with is this spirit OF
servile fear. Men think that in order to
be converted they must go through the
Inferno. as Dante did: they must snuff
the birthstone. He regretted that men
should be so mean and groyelling in their
thoughts. and not be willing to come to
God IS friend and father. a3
The reverend gentleman said that a
minister who should study to make an
audience laugh by poor pun on joke
was not fit to enter the pulpit. But If
spontaneous sr.ile arose from the au
dience, he was not disturbed. He never
attempted to make them laugh, neither
did he try to stop them. Laughing, he
thought was just as good as crying. and
q good deal better. Cheerlulness is char
acleristic to Christianity.
IF there were present any couscien-
tious liars, in quest of paragraph. he
should expect to see it going the round |
of the conscientious religious press, that
he said people should so to church to
laugh; but he called the audience to wit
ness that it would be lie-he had said
no sirch fhinr