The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-03-18


burn. In political lifs in craftsmanship, in
war, in religion-everywhere, and in all the
different phases which 60 to make up
human society, some men burn aid; some
merely shine. Some are stars of first magni-
tude and some only of eighth or between
these magnitudes. Such were Napoleon, We'll
lington and Washington that burned in
military life; and such also are Grant, Won
Moltke and others still living. Such were
Jefferson, Calhoun, Thad Stevens, Palmerston
and others in political life, and such are Bis
marck, Theirs, Disraeli, Ben Butler, Charles
Sumner and few others beside them still
shining among us. The Church has given
shining lights to the world, all along the
pathway of its history. 1t has had its st.
Patrick, its Huss and Wyckliffs, its Luther
and Melancthon, its Wesley and White
field, its Knox and Edwards, and q
host Of others too numerous to. men,
ton. But how sadly deficient does
the present age seem to be of great men
when compared with the past True, the
circumstances are greatly changed since the
former times, and, as greatness is compara->
tive quality, 1t was much easier for man to-
be great one, two or FIVE hundred years ago
than 1t is to-day. The masses then were SO
small Intellectually that man who rose above
them was so much greater as they were
smaller than the masses Of the present day.
Moderate ability, to stand above the average
crowd in our time, would have been supreme
nobleness and breadth of intellect and soul
century ago and yet the heroes of the past
were great even In comparison with the great
est men of our own age.
But hard as 1t may seem to be for one man
or two men to soar above their fellows so far
that they shall be generally recognized as
great even while they live, in this land and in
this day we have a few such in the Church
among us. Right here in our midst is man
who Is recognized. not only in the United
States, but In Europe also, as one of the
brightest religious intellects and greatest
pulpit orators of the age. He is the esteemed
pastor of Plymouth church, from whose
platform he utters his thunders Sabbath
after Sabbath, which are echoed and re-echoed
through the HERALD week after week. A
man of deep thought and iuexhaustible origi-
nality of illustration and expression, Mr.
Beecher, In some sense, stands alone and I'M
eoualled in the Church of Christ to-day.
There is heroism and boldness in his thought
and utterance which commands the respect
even Of those who most radically differ from
him. He probably breaches not only to the
largest congregations gathered into any reli-
gious place in the land every Sunday, but he
breaches also to the most varied and complex
congregation and to the greatest number OF
strangers Of any minister in the land. His
power for usefulness is, therefore, multiplied
thousand-fold above any one of his brethren
in the ministry, aud his obligation to "preach
the Word" and to declare ''the whole counsel
of God" is correspondingly increased. We
trust he sees and feels the responsibility oil
his position, and aims to speak only the word
which the Spirit of the Lord gives him
to speak; yet we are sometimes inclined
TO believe otherwise. His declarations
of faith appear sometimes SO CONTRA
dictory, and we find 1t so difficult to locate
him that we are at loss what to think Of
him. Now he is on the evangelical side, and
now he is not. Like the ''little JOKER" now
Won see him, and now you don't. But though
we cannot define Mr.. Beecher we are chari-
table enough to believe he is doing his Lords
work in the way and with the implements
which Henry Ward Beecher knows how to
use and which he alone can use.
Ia our own metropolitan city I'VE have
another man in the ministry w,ho is RAPIDLY
rising to the pinnacle Of fame, One of Tia
greatest local religious "sensations" of the
] age was created hy biz, couple Of months