, 1870-06-12
LYMAN BEECHER..
1J76-1881.>s

1175-18s3.,s
r, Henry Yard Beecher in the Christian Onion,
Tho go few letters stand upon the end Of q
| arper r ecumbeat slab OF granite. A cross lies
,iat up< n the top Of the block, being raissd By
/ Ia4yinEt he surrounding surface cut away. This
I i.e al I he mAtenal, the eymbol, and the H.
- .ription we'll befit the burial place Of the man
q ere, IN lew Haven, he was born and educa-
r. d. The house still remains in which his
n, her Gyet l. It is not five minutes' walk be-
tyr -cn his q rave and his cradle. Yet it was not
the love q birth place that brought him back
Nath an Tayi or. This was love Of man to
man sorpassi, g the love of Hom1n. II was
Ike ii nj Of D. Nid and Jonathan. After ho had
forgot tan aIua 'st everything else in extreme
old age, hs re1a 'mbered thle one wish, and BY
to be- iai. 4 by tie. side Of " him" For Taysors
pereonahfy ma heart remained clear
u hie memory ia after ,,1,o he haa I'D. ceased 1
through lung lie, was SO loved By such man
AZ Tym, Eee1er: Side by side they lie, be-
tween whom thare. never came cloud, and
that, too, whas1-botl4, Of them we're theoloGians,
md oftGM up ha me to tnsh
men Who believed in what they taught, with
such an aba ndlnment5 or faith, that not the
visible world, nor hama u life: nor household
love was 60 real and 80 aa;nseendens Il TO them
beauty that the farth er away from fact the
thread waa spun, the moro attenunted the phi
losopby became. the mo rel1 1portsnt itscemed.
The globe and the uuIvG1e, to their thinking,
finest film. We Bee ttru1 now, in the old
Litchfield citing rcum, .<cu,r home from some
meeting, aittinG down aIuu7. 1 the fire. and,
sitter little family chat, begln to edge toward
meeting. They laid down their positions eau
tiously, like two knights riding around each
other, in survey, before the reaf struggle be-
gun. Soon they went at: it. The. grew earn
est. They stopped each other; Now one
seemed pushing the other With an: irresistible
ans1ogy-but in little time some lucky turn
gave back the advantage, ard al the Iost
ground was regained and some atcEa besides
some explosion Of wit would set IA em both
the next vrestle. The huurs few on It was
eleven O'Clock, in town where rolks .went to
bed at nine-it WAS nldnight-it IA one
o'clock-and back and fc.th: the argG aents
aeT' S so szoms'lnes, e., while .s.;a they valla up
each others shoulders, n'me-
times Beecher sitting on Taylor's knoe, 60 me-
times sitting face to face, alzns going in s:es-
lures, the fotednger pointing: out tha ltoe Of
the head of the stairs calls onh st Father,
fatherl Do you know what time It is p
well, Isylor, stick pin there, and well
The amount Of truth got out, Il all was true
that each thought to be 80; can Daver be
known, but must have been immense. But it
seemed difficult to reduce to record these sur
prising discoveries. On one occasion the
noon Dr.. Betcher spent considerable time in
making an s' exact statementn On this topic. |
After he left, We looked into his blank book
and saw page with At least twenty paragraphs
begun. and struck out. Then
" In considering the human Will "a pen
was struck through that-And again he started
-" No theory Of the will is vah7-pausing
unsAtisfed-thAt, too, WIS dashed ont, and
ss ssThe Vii / deanition N 81 the xili - -
and, finally, after many notifications and par
tial sentences, the last entry made was, :. The
will is':-. What the will was to have been
shown to be We ehall never know.
But the benefit Of this practice on infinite
themes, and Of this intense conviction Of the
truth ofspeculations, is not to be esti1nAted by
the immediate products, but by its reflex infiu-
ence on the soul ana reason When these
WAS scale Of eubGnity, and an invisible force
to their reasoning, which no one could have
had but they that dwelt much in the higher
moods Of mind and in the great invisible realm
OF faith.
There they lie the grass grows green, vio-
let's and myrtle-yine blooms are shining this
day blue on the grass. Little birds come and
ait on their monuments and drsss their feath-
ers, sing single strain, and fly OF. What do
asleep below them7 And are men on this
earth so different from the birds? We fit |
hlther and thither on this monumental globe,
and hardly dream Of the history that is under
our feet, or of the thoughts OF God, OF which
this earth is but mighty incarn1tionl
Largely engaged during his lifetime in con-
troversy, it was the popular impression that
DR.. DeecheF wAB stern wAl1ior- His personal
heard him in his prime, and in his best moods,
but felt that he Eas a master in discourse.
Yet more simple-ninded aud child-lke n8-
ture never lived. When in hours of trsns-
figuration his heart revealed the tenderness Of |
his love-it was almost like opening q window
in heaven. With his children be was spurtive
to fruliceomeness. Down on bis hands and
knees he las given US many ride-and great
has been our e1uitation, when, after : Pro,
length upon the grass. The faint suspicion
that she let us do it." did not, on tho whole,
dispel the illusion Of victory. II
As We grew up, nothing that ever he said
impressed Us 30 much as Ill that which We
silently SAW. When the winter was severe,
and the storm was high, the unaminkin8
promptness with which he yentured forth,
night or day, to some distant appointment,
inspired IN our young souls contempt OF dAn-
ger, and feeling that resoluta courage was
more than ! match for nature in her scoWls
and threats. Although his name WAS much on
mems tongues, and much printed, hs un-
fcigned modesty was striking. Wenever heard
single boast. Even when yet quite young, |
We were impressed with : certain bashfulness
and timidity, with which he recounted his own
adventures.
We never saw either anger OF fmpahence
under abuse or ohloquy. A1tless and simple
hearted, he had natural insight into men,
and be Was seldom deceived in his Judgment
Looking back upon TINT inside life, when
mems unconscious acts reveal their true na-
ture, we see his example to have been one
whch inspired faith in manhood, in di6iuter-
agfad Attention and rIufeip1fa1 pAtv. H6
seemed to those without, good and true man,
but he was better than he seemed
Sleep on, great heartsl Side by side ye
were in life, aide by side ye are in slumber,
side by side 80 ahAll be in the glory Of imnor-
tality