The Portland daily press., 1873-11-18
TERMS $500 PER ANNUM IN ADVANCE
Vale Lectures ON Prcaching. BY Henry



issued in elegant form by ]. B. Ford & Co.
confirms the impression made by the first
that Mr.. Beecher haa won his remarkable DO
sition, not alone by the accident of native
endowment. but by the serious thought
and patient study which have made him
master of his own genius. For he shows
here that he can not only preach, buf,what is
quite another thing, he can show how 1t Is
done. He takes you behind the scenes; he
shows you that his oraiory is nct the free
play of power dispOrting itself in careless
abandonment, superintendent energy work.
ing itself off; it is power working by rule,an
he knows the rules This discovery OF Pc
gasus in harness may not be wholly welcome
to the reader, but he will hardly suppress
feeling of admiration, upon finding that the
renowned orator is also wise philosopher,
and that in both fields he is equally great.
In this volume he is both orator and pniloso-
pher; he throws out results of prof und
thinking, which it would be easy to state in
terms repulsively dry and heavy, but he
throws around them such coruscations Of
wit, and buoys them so with aDecdote and
illustration that his book becomes light read
ing. in a double sense.
Mr.. Beecher considers in th,s present series
'the auxiliary influences which are requisite
to the preachers life; those institutions and
various instruments in the church and out of
the church by which he will prepare himself
asa preacher. or reap and secure the fruit Of
his preaching" Some of the special topics
are Choosing the Field, Prayer, Prayer-meet-
ings, Church Music, Social-meetings, Bible
Classes, Revivals, and Bringing men to Christ.
These subj ,cts are considered, of course, from
the Beecher standpoint. In goins through
the book you go where there are no ruts, or,
II there are any, you become aware Of them
only by the jolt which takes you over them.
The whole road is yours though you must
zigzag somewhat and touch both sides in al
formation; which is bewllder There Is so
much heterodoxy IN the book that the occa-
sional phrases of Orthodoxy seem ilcongru
Gus and confusing, until you remembe, that
Mr. Beecher wears both garments, the one
Gu tomari;y, at his daily work, the other
flung loosely about him when he goes cut of
doors. He defines religion ~ believe, you
know, that religion is tight liv NJ, according
to the nature that God has given u.s." he
defines Chrisiianity:-it sis not the technc
| of theol )gy; it is not the organ or the ordi-
| nances of The church it is the development Of
Divine power, truth, equity, and love il. the
most noble of all conceivable FORMS" '.It Is
the type OF the Divine n ature made manifest
by Christ, and, by the Apostles afterwards,
brought AS an active force into lie and ap-
piled to men, He says of the ordinances ~
believe, too, that ordinances are channels
through which Divine grace comes. One
THINKS that baptism is one OF the channels,
and anoth ,r thinks that the sacrament of the
Lords Supper is another of the channels.
believe that there are these side channels.
but the main conduit is the soul of man that
loves God and loves his neighbor. That Is
the ole compendious ordinance OF God, and
that is the artery through which God MN
| giles his grace and bis power, to be felt
among men, He holds that ordination Is
not needed to qualify one to administer the
ordinances; "auy man Who has iaith in
Christ and love to God. and who sees there
is an opportunity of doing good by it, has a
right to distribute emblems, bread and wine,
TO anybody who needs them" He breaches
the religion of nature; mature Is all heaven,
and all earth, and all the universe of God"
''To reduce things to the level of nature is
to ,educe them to the Level Of Gedo d.. or s ia.
is divine when am act ng in the line Of law
believe myself to be under the inspir ton
| of God at all times" "This BODY is diviner
God took spark of himself and put it in
me, and called it Beecher. There may be an
irreyerent way to tade that, yet there Is
another-the afectionate and the real
way"
The book abound, in these large liberal
views of the religious ile It makes one
stumble, therefore, to strike row and then q
passage like this, 'The earth is the Lords
and the funass thereof; and am Gods be-
loved. He died for me by his son Jesus
Christ"
We had marked several passages IN which
the peculiar humor OF the author appears.
but they are mostly too long for citation here !;
and in these transitional times more persons
will be interested in his theology than in his
fun. There are however some brief sayings
that will ear quoting. ''There Is no heresy
| on earth Ike lethargy." 'Let men not be per-
secuted. let them not he questioned. let them
pot be nettled and irritated, for getting mad,
ii not the father, is the grandfather, OF all
fthe hsresy in the world" Theology is oste-
.olpgy, and a skeleton is a poor thing to live
!, with. But that which makes a man hand
.someis, ppt being without bones" "Prayers
are Cf such Kind that do not wonder
praypr-meetings are the umber-rooms of the
church, that all The things that are good for
nothing else are slowed away there" He
says, however, elsewhere that he regards the
! prayer-meeting ''as the very center and heart
| of church life." The question was asked
Awbat would you say about the long prayer,
so called, before the sermon? Old DR.. Ely, Of
Munson, used to pray thirty and forty min
utes. Is such a prayer a means OF grace? ?'
Mr.. Beecher replied:-''I should scv it was.
man brought up under such circumstances,
who was not patient, might think his was :
hopeless case"
These lectures to theological students will
be of almost equal interest to other persons,
especially is this true Of the present volume
for this deals largely with parish life, and par
ishes consist of "tolks." to use Beecherism
Whoever takes any share in the prosperity o.
a church will not fail to be interested and in
structed by Mr.. Beecher's counsels.
III IMgECUNIoUs RoYALTY.-A lady was re
centIy seen shopping at the Vienna Exhibi