The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1871-03-09
BEECHER,s RELIGION.
Brotherly Love the Test of Christian
ity.

In or0er to fully understand me DEAL
| ing of God with humanity, we must en-
tirely abondon the heather idea of pain.
and the idea that, until lately, found
utterance from christian pulpits, that
God had the right to impose pain for his
own pleasure. Now you cannot, by cal
ling being by another name, make him
love suffering, without representing him
as malignant. No being, be he subject
or sovereign, can produce misery for its
own sake without being himself internal.
| Many man has offered prayers to the
devil when he thought he was kneeling
at the throne of God. The christian
idea of suffering is, that it is a means to
an end that the end is so desirable as
to justify the means used to bring it
about. The conception of God sitting,
enjoying the suffering Of the damned, is
Internal, and enough to make men re-
nounce their faith in Eternal goodness.
1t is an atrocious SANDER upon the gran
| deur and love of the Ruler of the uni
1
ture for it? There is Scripture for anythins
a man wants. There is Scripture for it
just as much as there is assassins knives
In the ore in the mountain. Scripture
is like great forest, into which you may
enter and select good wood which you
may pervert to the basest purpose on
earth. Scripture is the most malleable
| thing In the universe. 1t is a part of
the education Of man to learn to make
he right use of it. At this point Mr..
Beecher referred to the fact that
the preaching of the . present. day
! S not so much defective in its logical
statements of doctrine, as in the empha-
sis it lays on certain dogmas. the ten
dency of which is TO produce wrong
impression concerning the character of
the Deity. God, said he, loves the
world not because Christ coaxed him
into it, but because it would be foreign
to his nature to do anything else. Out
of infinite depths of kindness came
forth this expression of love. AS your
mother would in childhood, take you
upon her knee, and unravel your diff
culties and help you out of your faults,
so does the heart of God with humanity.
God takes every human soul, not to love
it when they are worth loving, but to
mould them into bencvoence. Now
even while your heart is far from love,
while yet there may be the whirl of
passion in your veins, you are beloved
by God. Look up, and see His smiling
face IF [ could have had this ex-
planned to me in youth, it would have
done more to make me a christian than the
countless representations that constantly
greeted me. Not until [ was twenty five
years of age did GENE fully to appre-
ciate the beauty of this doctrine. Be-
fore that [ felt myself as it were.1 out
side Of 4 garden, assaulted by the storms
and tempest, while inside [ was assured
all was sunshine. Yet such, [ was
informed was the condition of things,
that until my heart was changed God
could not love me, and consequently
could not enter. The side of justice and
law was presented to me. These [ un-
derstood had to be encountered first;
then the smiles of love were to be en-
ioyed. But could not see how justice
was to be met until love itself was moved
in my interest. Love was moved, and is
always moved, and is the great comprom-
User with law and justice. Mr.. Reecher
| then referred to the difficulties existing
between the different churches, and said
| that though they were undoubtedly of
great service, he could not be persuaded
to reject any man as brother Christian
who had the law of love written upon his
heart, merely because he had not got it
in the way specified by this or that church.
Colleges are useful, they are meant to
instruct men, but if man gets instruc-
| ton without going there, has the end
been achieved, and what is there left to
grumble about? I don't think, said he,
| that when | meet man who shows bv
his daily walk in life, by his general good
ness Of heart, that the principles of
Christianity are in his heart, [ have any
| right to ask him how he came by them.
lie may be Universalist, or even Uni
tarian-that has nothing to do with the
matter, if he is in meaning Of our text
Christian, [ take him by the hand
Should Universalist, or Swedenbor
gian come to the church and seek admis-
sion as members, as such [ should on
pose them, but as Christians, dogma
apart, | should be happy to welcome
them, and the more of them the better.
As the Sabbath was made for man 50
was the church, and so were theological
dogmas, and not man for them. Benev-
olence is that for which orthodoxy works.
and when that is achieved, the end is
wrought. But you say, can man be
Christian who does not believe in Christ?
That is puzzler. He cannot. But
think man may believe in Christ who
does not believe in Christ's aane. Using
that name in its superficial meaning
means nothing. The name stands for
certain qualities-love, purity, truth,
faith, and obedience to God. The man
who believes in these and has, them in
his heart, is Christian, no matter what
he thinks about the name. There is
many man who believes in Christ, only
he DOM call it by that name and there
are many orthodox persons who are re-
markably free from Christianity. The