New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-11-27
SERMON BY THE REV. HENRY WARD
BEECHER.

BEECHER.
The Rev. Mr.. Beecher had crowded house, as
usual, and preached appropriate no. only TO
the day, but to the times. His text was from RO-
mans, W, d.
The srt of being happy, he said is less cultivated
this land than almost any other. We make extrava-
CANT preparations FOR it, give no bounds to our en-
terprise we hesp up material; we 90 through an i'm
mense experience preparatory to be ng happy But in
the main the very thing which forget to extract
fom an abundant preparation. Conentmeut is quail
ity which few know how to reconcile with asprs alton,
and stl less with enterprise Satisfaction, therefore,
is the bright ideal Of the futQe. II never blossoms
to-day. IL is always to morrow. Men never come up
with their hope. The short and intense exciteuents
which nispsme enjoyment are peroxyms not STEADY
pusations. At length II comes TO pass that men DO
not epoy life 10 he midst of heaped up prosperity.
And amid reyerses they oemOau themselves when the
tepmost leaves Of the Banyan tree are pucked by the
wind and ause TO shelter themselves beneath the vast
&zS-SssA6f what tesnains "
The whole land stands In surprise aud complaint at
sudden and violent revolution. Our a'sasters are In
every mouth. The change OF circumstances u the
fertile theme. little while ago aud we could see
nothing but brightness, and now, nothing but dark
ness TLsn il WIS nooo all the while; now il Ia mid
night. In neither case was there bslanee and Jdst
Judgment The light wastoo bright then, and the dark
ness is too denst 1t becomes US to estimate 10
cit down anp put one thing over against another and
to frame judgment upon a view of all the sides OF
our case. He thought il was tit day for come such
COnSQerhDOn, tOf ne was pSrbuduou tudt, On seO
whole the community hsd reason fer Thanksgiving
He referred to the evidence which our age affords
Of the ADVANCE of the world 10 true olviiiz stion
Within the last ten years the most extraordinary wars
and civil revolutions have taken place on the 4 DOE
Once such combination and movement as We have
but lately beheld would have affected the whole gooe
with terror. Since the French Emperor put his
bloody foot upon the steps OF the throne there nave
been set on foot the most widespread combinations OF
governments the most prOdgious armies, and navies
such as turn the historic Armads into mere affa OF
yachts. Once the globe would have trembled to the
footsteps Of such an unparalleled war 50 much did
the spirit Of the past dwell 10 military thugs,
That, hundred or two hundred years ago, such
history would have drawn with il the worlds nsrve
and blood and vitality. But now all Western Europe
rose up and the world did not temble. All Russia
gathered together and the Orient did not feel it Add
Ne pounding of war in that gigantic conflict disturbed
the world little threshers fail upon the barn
floor disturbs the firm earth beneath it, Not even the
nations that carried such battle 10 thor hands thought
il heavy Great Britain took but her left baud. Not
wheel stopped in her manufactures. Not 40 acre
tie less titled 10 France; aud the world upon this
sideresd the account simply ss aecs. IL produced no
more effect than the last serial story that drsgs its long
and tedious tall through the cheap and stupid maya
zines.
Close upon the termination of that, outsprung the
Chinese trouble, ard the terrific lndisn mutiny.
Yet these, too, were passing away. But nov, upon
these Western shores, overeager capitalists aud opera
tors have pushed their trade too far and built their
plans too fast. bank expodes in Ohio; then line
DbDks give way Ia HennByiNdnl9. SHOOK COO-
tinent more than ell the cannonade OF Sevastopo
Next, the banks of New. York suspended. All bust
ness stopped. Society was tremueus from top to bot
tom The tidngs are borne across the ocean. That
wonderful leland, whose top Is narrow, out whose
base broad az the whole earth began TO culver and
that silent panic brought her down quicker than an
az brings the OK War could no! make her plumss
TO culver. But Commerce, by look. cast her upon
world, by the grandest demonstration that Commerce
has sapplsnted War and is Its master The Generals
sword, the Marshals trunchson, the Kings crown
are not the strongest things The worlds strength lies
10 the million hands Of producers and exchangars.
Power has shifted. No matter who reisns-the Mer
chant reigns. No matter what the form OF Govern
ment u.s. the power of the world is 10 tho hands OF the
people The Kings hand is weaker than the Bankers
War cannot cotvulse the world-but Capital can
This Is not mentioned if il were an upmxed good.
1t has its own mschies, for every event grows in =
husk which at frst preserves and then cumbers tae
grain; and Commerce has its dangers and tyrsnniss;
but II marks the direction the world is pursuing aud
the progress of the march.
Its away from dynssfies, from imperious govern
ments, and toward the great masses Of men, msu
that vas rich yesterday, but is bankrupt to-day may
not Ind consolation in being told that his facie de-
suucnon was one Of the straws which show which
way the wind blows; but Notwithstanding it does
Show ana though we are sorry for the immediate
alienation.
The conditions of growth 10 our age and nation are
unlike those oil past tmes ana not 10 be measured
by them
Germany, France, Great Britain, began in q bar
bsIous state and through centuries developed their
civilization. Their growth xss slow; their wants Ola
not require any ingenuity or skin for supply. Slow
ness gives nations chance to be steady
Our nation had no interior infancy. Our fathers
were ripe men, for their age. Society in Americs IS
begun at the beginning, with all the wants which,
abroad came gradually through centuries.
The inevitable result of such condition was twofod:
nrst 70 give extraordinary impulse TO people In
industrial directions; and second, 10 obgs them TO
devise every possible means Of operating With no ac
samslsted capital, with no Past behind u.s. that had
buiided towns roads and structures for Us; we yet