The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1860-11-22
Moral Significance of the Times
SERMON BY THE REV. n. w. BErcHER.

Mr.. Beecher preached sermon one even.
ing recently, toa very large audience, from
the following text:
"To the children of rssachar. which were men that
have understanding Of the times, and know what
israel ought to do l. Chronicles chap 12 part Of
the 23d verse.
He said: Saul was man Of courage, and
ofmany good and kind sympathies; vet
proud, jealous and deSpctic man, who spent
much of his time in chasing David. 1t would
be difficult to say what David had done he
was peaceful. loving, loyal, and in the per-
formance of duty a man of scrupulous fidel.
ity; yet Saul kept the kingdom IN turmoil
with his envy and anger. At last Saul came
to an end and slew himself It was natur.
al, ther. that David should be chosen King;
and the men Of Issachar were the men who
knew what ought to be done, and they did it.
The event justified their course; never was
reign more glorious than that of David
To De sure he had his troubles; he had a
comely son, with foul heart, who contrived
to get power into his hands. But he was
very soon overthrown, and died dangling
from al oak. If every oak would bear such
fruit the people of this land could afford to
plant ok trees from one side of the CONT
nent to the other Our savior in his day re-
buked the hypocrteS whu did not under
stand the signs of the times, an 4 the man
who did NEEDLE in, and refused to do either.
these things, the Master Of all religion laid it
n nc ~,
about our Savior were stupid, and saw no
moral signifcancein in the events of the dav
they shut up their religion in the church
Let US not resemble them. Now, if ever.
men should understand the moral rneaninr
ofevents. In history the grayest events
dawn with no more noise than the morning
star; great developments complete them
selves silently. We must be sensitive and
sensible if we would see the beginning and
ending of great things. Now, another lis.
t'ric date is reached in the history of the
world. The landing of the pilgrims gave us
one date; the Fourth OF July is renowned as
another great date; but the 9Th Of Novem-
Der, 1889, will hereafter take rank with the
landing Of the Pilgrims and the declaration
of Independence. They are links in the
great chain of gold BY which God is measur-
ing time ana fix ng eras and moral develop
ments in this world. We have entered up
on new day; the wheel is turned COM
pletely around-it has made an entire revo-
luton. tits fit then that we should consid-
er the moral value Of things. He proposed
first to give his Interpretation Of things God
has shown by the voice of events during the
past half century. Second, to consider the
relations of these results and events to the
future. Third, what things further Christ
ian men ought to do. First, we have new
proof the ruinnus nature of despotisms.-
What is de>potism Any government
which employs its powers for its own bene
fiat the expense Of the governed, is a des-
potism. We have had the lesson before our
eyes, that the despotism Of the plantation
differs from others only in being bolder,
more irresponsible, and more entirely sub
ject to avaricc, lust, and arbitrary
power. Such a system carries inevitable
weakness with it. Meanwhile, every argu
ment for oppression since the days of Nimrod
and Pharaoh is reproduced in our times all
the old clothes ofpast despotisms are vamped
up for modern uses. The virus of infamous
ages has been collected to inoculate the
young blood Of the new State; but, thank
God, it would not take Nothing is ever so
much agrieved as despotism, and in our day
nothing suffers so much aggression as Slave
ry,ifyou will believe the words ofits defense
Yet il is undeniable that Slavery has con-
trolled this Government for more than SO
years. 1t was its destiny, for Slavery must
either muzzle our free institutions, or it must
die itself. But there arose, in Gods proyi-
dence, spirit ofinvestigation and again in
our time Christ came to the grave and called
Lazarus forth, and he came. The Jew said,
stop the life Of Lazarus, for he is living
evidence Of the miracles of Christ. SO Slave
ry cannot live if free speech is allowed to
live. To be sure there is free discussion
that is allowed in the Slave States they who
believe in Slavery have right to talk, and
nobody else This is what they call free
discussion. When John Quincy Adams and
other men began to speak in Congress, the
whole power Of Southern feeling rose up and
demanded silence IN the whole land and
there were not wanting men at the North,
who must have been born white by mistake,
who declared there ought to be punishment
for free speech. The next great step was the
Texas history. Next the war with Mexico.
It was but one step more to the repeal the
Missouri Compromise and the Drei Scot de.
cision. Thesscams togetherwith their bolts
forged on the Smthy of injustice, ready to
be launched against Freedom. The mana
Gle was on the wrist Of Liberty, the lock was
hooked, the key was fitted, the hand stretch
ed forth to turn the key; when Godlaunch-
ed an omnipotent bolt that dashe both fet
ter and lock, key, shackle and hand, to the
ground. You will never get that shackle on
again. 1t was the last time. With al this
there has been constant outcry on the part
sf Slavery. OF what ? Why, that they have