The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1869-11-05
The Rev. Henry Ward Beecher On
as Riches. g - *

On a recent Sunday Mr.. Beecher
preached, in Plymouth Church, sermon
bearing on the late gambling operations in
Wall street. He read his text from Mat
thew, 9th chapter, 10Th and Goth verses:
Lay not up for yourselves treasures
upon earth, where moth and rust doth cor
rupt, and where thieves break through and
steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures
in heaven, where neither moth nor rust
doth corrupt, and where thieves do not
break through and steal"
The desire to lay up property is dis
tinguishing difference between the human
and animal nature. Up to certain point
the pursuit of wealth is made by Provi-
dence means for obtaining happiness and
prosperity. There is general impression
among men that riches can make one per-
fectly happy if they are not misused.
Others think that they alone are not capa-
BILE of making man truly happy. So
they are beginning to think over the way
lin Wall street,. Some of the best men
on this continent are found in New York,
Boston, Philadelphia, and in Washington.
The nearer man lives to hell, if he is
good, the better he is. There are as good
men in Wall street as ever breathed, but
they don't walk in platoons. 1t means
something for avirtueus man to be upright
in the midst of temptation. Many of you
are here while the banks are closed, and
you agree with the gospel that riches are
good while they do not go higher than the
pocket People listen to sermons with
great intrest ON Sunday, but the
next day they ridicule them, and
not unfrequently they say, My minister
told me that riches make men unhappy
well, think that / can bear a great many
troubles for half a million. / know that
the pursuit of wealth is dangerous, but l
like danger" The Lord does not teach
that to seek riches is wicked. but that the
lovers of truth and of happiness cannot
he filled by riches alone. The divine COM
mandment is: First seek the Kingdom of
Heaven, and the rest shall be added.
The treasures spoken of by Christ are not
such treasures as men run after In wall
street They are not left behind when we
leave this world, but they always go with
us Death is a great strainer, and all of
the riches of men are left at the grave
Neither gold nor the appetites can be car
ried through. Men walk as kings down
to the dust, but as beggars thereafter.
Reason is a part of Immortality, and it
will extend beyond the portals OF death.
AS we have trained the mind here, so we
shall begin with it in the other life. No
person who has ever made his higher ma
ture Respondent here will ever lose it in
the world to come 1t is impossible for a
man to hide his good works, even on
earth. He might as well attempt
To put the sun in dark lantern
Aspiration is vital. 1t is that which
tends to make a thought larger, to lead
man higher, and it is eternal. Love,
however, is the great treasure-house of
God and man. 1t fills the universe There
is no hell that can hold love, and
even God himself cannot make love
miserable Wherever love exists there
is heaven. No thieves get there,
and where there are no thieves there is
certainly heaven. Those who seek the
baseness of this earth have no room for
heaven. They give the noblest part IF
their nature to The things which are cor
rupt. You abhor the men who have the
orphans portion in trust and sell it for
their own ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. Yet you do
things Just as bad. When you sell the no
blest part of your nature you are Judas.
When you varnish man with smiles,
that you may enrich yourself at his ex-
pense, you sell yourself for thirty pieces
of silver. What can man gain that ex-
changes the purity of his own soul for
golds Large bells are always poorly cast,
and sooner or later they crack. Our
oyergrown rich men are like these big
bells. full of flaws, and they soon lose all
the sweetness they ever possessed. Death
is Gods bankrupt court, where men are
cleared of their debts and of their riches,
snd when they 60 through the gate open
ing into the other life they have not
enough to pay their ferr!age over. In