St. Mary's beacon., 1858-05-13
MISCELLANEOUS
From tie Eccaagr
Life Thoughts By Henry Ward Beecher.


We have rercived from Messrs Gushing &
Bailey u copy Of this work, which we presume
will be extersIVely sought ,;:ter, on account Ci
the reputation of The author which has spread
far beyond The mei.hborEood where his influence
IL widely recognized. We confess 20 have real
the book without much pleasure, and We fcat,
with less OF profit. In peint or literary merit il
rises no way above nIcdocrIty. The Smiles
and metaphors ~hich are most profusely pressed
INTO service arc trite and simple in themselves
and have been here made TO serve no new pur-
pose, wLIle the labor which hats been expended
in their collection - apparent throughout. The
few that may lie esiisd original. or shat at least
are not hackneyed, are not very dr!,cIte or hit-
liant, whatever may be sad of their eppll'abI-
ty.
AS illustrative oF different phases Of rel gjous
life, we have Christians Eat station houses" or
off s:on switches" Christians calling out "Aii
right" 10 the conductor, or left behind by the
departing tram; in fact, under MI tn" cIrcumS;gR-
ces incident to railway travel, as ti.ey Journey
on watching the brakes, and liable to the usual
casualties, SO on every page viii the imagery he
found to be ICED aud only commonplace. Nor,
do we think the matter Gf MIR. Rreaher's '.I.ife
Thoughts" much more s.cIkIn. than the style
in which they have been rh;,seG There is GER
fainlY arude vIgor about them which will make
ihen perhaps, popular with many readers, and
there are some plain practical Views scattered
here and there which deserve commenGaiion: but
by those, who have access TO even limited libra
res, Mr. Beecher's book viii hot be thought a
valuable contribution TO h;eratITe The
..lhoughts'' are sometimes sim;'le in statement
and we think we are justified in adding, absurd
like the following process for rendering law
nugatory: "When laws, customs, or insIiia-
tons cease to be beneficial TO man they cease
10 be obligatory" Others are more
complicated and may possibly contain the es-
sence of truth and wisdom, tLoIgl. each man IL
that case must dIstl it for himself, and we cam
not undertake to say exactly the measure to he
Uotaned from an apothegm like this:
"New Englandism is but another word for
Puritan lsm in the Independent sense aid that
10 but another word for New Tes,anleatism. -
IL, however, we are mistaken in our estimate
OF this intellectual capacity developed in these
"Life Thoughts" we are clear that our iGdg
Menf, upon other Objectionable points, Is well
founded. The tone and temper IN which the
subjects treated of are bundled, neither accord
well with the position of the author, nor with
the subjects themselves. A hIlarIous satisfac-
ton with his own views, and dogmatic con-
teGap. for every body else's find continual ex-
pression.
Mr.. Beecher thinks ''Doctrinc is nothing but
the skin of Truth set up and stufied,'' and is
very little particular about forms; and he claims
vehemenily the liberty of thnk.ng for himself
IN these matters yet when other people pre-
suIpe Ia hold the notions that such things are
not unIm portant, he cannot refrain from denun-
ciaiion Of the ''hundreds of churches which are
nOthing but mutual insurance companies. Be-
cause be fnncies his own uncermoniouS ways,
he must needs hOGt ut the infdelity Of rich aud
orthodox churches.
Nor is this his worst fault. His irreveren,
Familiarity with all that Is most holy and os;
awful, common as this Is IN these latter days,
deserves repro6aion, That tke motive wit
which he speaks Is pure, ready to con-
cede, but that the result of such teachings is
lameniable IN the extreme we have as liitle
doubt We have al says supposed that il was
the main object OF religious instruction to elevate
Taen 3 ideas above their ordinary leysl-tO pur-
~ their hearts and refine their III oughIs be-
yond the common standards by which they
Tsay usually be measured. Bat if they .atc
only to be reached though the medium
oI vulgar language, or can only to be made to
comprehend by means of degrading iIluStra-
AaOns, We have little hope that the knowledge
go attained, can much exait them. flour object
vas SIMPLY TO indulge m a literary crircsa
we should feel thai an apology was needed for
tte introduction Of such things as We hese de-
sire TO quote, but the end we aim at is a
higher and better one, and we Therefore re
quira 10 Justification, The following are exam.
denim: Il 80 Il -~''r ~t=f.
al marves how woman with her need a
love- with her sensitive rysarniIYsr, cssnips
nature san look into the face fof Ihe Lord Je
suss and not Fait her arms about hls neck ant
Tel! him with gushing loye, that sac commit,
hersef body and soul ,inio hIs sacred keep
ng." r
bal God s promises are from ,everlastins
20 everlasting and he always Stands W T.
them. There never wGs Ttn On flcs,ve
; which was not promptly met. No creaIar
IL The world, or in tying audacIcus he'll, sha