The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-01-08
Christian Mcckncss.

The preacher of the sensational school
must be, like Yorick, ::a fellow OF infinite fan
s:cv." He must keep himself well acquainted
with the events Of the times. He must
yield as readily to the chanseful public humor
rs the chameleon to the color Of the object
on which it chances to crawl. He must
possess the gift OF sudden surprises, which
ensures the success of the author and actor,
upon quite different stage. And above all,
he must keep in asSiduous exercise a power
of invention equal to that OF novelist, a
Congressman, o Radical historian, or the
editor of Ha,perS Weekly.
In all these particulars Mr.. Beechcr is
richly gifted His discourses are quite as
novel and entertaining in their way as his
story about Norwood He can find any fact 10
suit any subject and can draw any subject
from any text within the lids OF the Bible.
Thus, for example, on the day after Christ
mas he delivered a pulpit enlogium upon the
conduct of the United States Government
during the late war; This served to intro
duce glowing tribute to the memory OF
Mr. Stanton, the most irascibe and despotic
of public minister's And Mr.. Beecher took
for his text the fifth chapter OF Matthews
gospel and the fifth verse: BLESSED are the
meek, for they shall inherit the EARTH"
He claimed that the unselfshness OF the
War Secretary, and the virtue and endurance
of the American people, entit'e them 10 the
benediction pronounced by the great teach
or. The one would rank with the greatest
men of his time; the other would overspread
the Continent, if not the whole earth.
We shall have to revise our dictionaries.
This word meek has been strangely misun-
derstood. At present it is q little odd to
say: Mr. Bcecher meekly armed the roughs
of Brooklyn, and dispatched them with
Christian philippics and Sharpe's rifles to
shoot some of their fellow-countrymen in
Kansas. Mr.. Stanton meckly imprisoned
hundreds OF civilians in the bastiles OF the
government; meekly denied medicine to the
dying prisoners in Andersonvillc; meckly
urged on the execution OF the innocent Mrs.
Surratt, and meckly clustered and bullied for
years at the war-oflice-being touched with
the gracious spirit of the beatitudes. And
'.The American people" meekly overwhclm-
ell the seeding South in fire and blood, and
piously carried of ship-loads of rebel furnl
ture wagon loads of rebel silver, and bush
els upon bushels of rebel watches and rings
and brooches-in obedience to the require
ments of the Sermon on the Mount, which
blesses them because they ars meek, and
freely gives them the Inheritance of the
earth.
We beg Mr. Deecher's pardon for say ing
that these villainoasly virtuous assumptions
remind US Of character Of some notoriety
in fiction, by name Uriah Heep. The con-
fession made by this worthy in Jail is Mr..
Beechers sermon in brief "You knew ME
s'when, in spite of my follies was tumble
'samong them that was proud, and meek
'tamong them that was violent " The paral-
lei is so exact, that one might almost think
that Uriah had escaped from the prison
at Pentonville, clear-starched, and found his
way into the pulpit Of the Plym outh Church.