Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1858-10-21
Success and Failure in Life.

The lecture last evening before the NIercan-
tile Library Association was by Henry Ward
Beecher. 1t was one of his happiest and most
powerful efforts, and rivited the earnest atten-
ton of one of the largest audiences ever conven-
ed in fremont Temple. His subject was, g Sue
cess and Failure in Life.
In commencing, he said it was remarkable
that no creature in the world was SO apt to miss
and lose his way as man. Nothing else roquir-
ed so much training and yet so often missed its
mark. lion never missed its lionhoOd
Every animal became it's full self and carried it
with him. So in the vegetable world, where,
unlike manhood, growing was all THAT was
needed.
Animals might be ranked with regard to
their susceptibility to education, by which
their relative superiority might best be deter
mined. A babe was at zero at the beginning OF
its life. 1t was the training of faculties that
made manhood Tho man that has not educed
and brought out all the faculties within him,
was no more man than bushel Of seeds was
a garden, or bunch of gratis an orchard.
With no animal beside man was there such
waste and miscarriage. Ncaly half of the hu-
man race die in the cradle. 1t was not strange
that many orchard blossoms fell to the ground,
for they were produced without joy OF pain;
but never was purer joy than when the cradle
commenced rocking, or sadder feeling than
when the cradle stopped.
The industry and ingenuity of society I'M
pressed every observer with the enormous fruit
fulness and activity OF the human hand for So
ciety was like " family whose ancestors had for
many centuries accumulated the wealth OF IN
dustry The old Greek brain and the old He
brew heart were yet at work, and each genera
ton reaps the harvest of the whole world
But they must not Judge of success by exter-
nails Success was not in what one has, but IN
what one is. The occupations of life were out
paths to a final object. That man has succeed
cd whose soul has bossomed, for the fruit and
: the blossoms were the masters OF all the other
members and functions of the tree which NM
, istered to the former. There might &c success
in bankruntcy. When vine takes to an elm,
climbs up its trunk and spreads over the top
it wastes all its strength in leaves and tandriS
but the vine that is trimmed and kept back,
Yields generons fruit 50 with men, Wemust
ask for success that results in the trUo fruits OF
manhood,
4 A prime and underlying element Of success
: in life was health Health should be preached
@ as n necessity and a morality, and the want OF
1t should be stigmatiaed as u sin, L was not
. CHRISTIAN grace lat it uldorssids C3i5tian w
tues. Health gave life and keenne3s to I'LL tn
senses, and through them afforded almost all the
n uxuries needed, There was pure enjoyment III
the very sense Of living. The social affections
t depended very much upon health; when one
t was sick in body, he was seldom well IN soul y
dyspeptc carried more Gagots in his bosom than
It wern ever consumed at Smithfeld. He suffered
more than martyr every day, without having
the privilege Of dying. Nowhere was physical
disease more marked IN its effect than on the
k mind In general, II mans moral condition de-
o pended upon his physical condition. Exceptions
to this rule undoubtedly existed. Mighty as
was truth to the conscience, the sponge to th9
a skin nightly ped it. 1t was easier to keei
both mind and body healthy than either one o
n them separately. A sick minister was not Il III
a leader of Il people. Many of the porniclous er
is rors of life had sprung from imagination an(
understanding diseased. Many Of them ha'
n an origin entirely hillary
/ The relation of health to the Christian grace
were remarkable A man troubled with mdl
u gastion came frequently to talk of his religious
l. difficulties. In such cases it would be well tt
III prescribe a mild and healthy purgatiNe SAtal
V seldom tempted a healthy man, but selecte'
those who drank green tea and kept late hours
~ There was Il great many temptations toisted Oh
III to Satan for which he was not responsible. Ih
Ill speaker would not refer such men to Doddridg
10 or any other religious author, but to horsebac
riding and other outdoor exercises, 1t wa
we'll that the old anchoritcs obscured their peey
p ishness in cells and caves, or they would neye
nc have got into the calandar. If man had th
IL wealth of the world the cholic would desire
ut the whole. lie might have pictures and statue
Ill but the first pang Of the gout would destroy al
he their graces. Sentiment and the toothach
could not survive together.
W The second means of success was the facilit
az to use thelfaculties with which we are endowed
IL We must have the ability to use 'rilh po'oer al
the elements which God has given us. No ma
" could investigate truth unless he let on feeling
ii0 ideaitv and love were Necessary to make the lr
~ tellect work right. Feeling was at the base
"0 the brain, and more important than the core
'n' nal Of the intellect The truth was what a
'el our faculties made it to be, 1t was made SO b
III veneratiun, hope, selfcsteem, love, and heney'
lie
;. lence.
III, Men must learn to use every part oil the mint
'0u and not confne their capacity OF enjoyment
'ed merely sensual qualification. Some lived c'
ere t;rclv in the kitchen, aud when they we
lu- swanped there, they had lost their all
A'0 The pleasure of some consisted exclusively
=, the prosecution Of business. This might
WV more pleasant undcrcir cumstanees different tro
the present, but how was it now? Pride al
love of appreciation should not engross the
la ing. nor mere taste and refinement engross Il
oro whole soul. Another put his whole enjoyme
800, nowey in love and social endearments, and VIII
10 death invaded the circle, all was lost, and t
;sh world n desolation He invested his all in t
hank of love. avd when it broke he lost his a