New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1873-07-06
From the New York Sun.
MIR. BEECHER ON CALVINlSM.


MIR, BEECHER ON CALvINlSN1.
Despite the fierce heat of yesterday morn.
ing. Plymouth Church was filed with an
eager throng long before the time for
service. Mr.. Beecher sat down in the big
chair between two huge bouquets and
glanced from side to side as though he did
not know which to admire most He looked
well. His eye was clear and his face ruddy.
The organ gave forth voluntary, and the
choir sang How beautiful upon the
mountains Then Mr.. Beecher invoked the
divine blessing and read part of the hun
bred and nineteenth Psalm. The fortieth
hvrun was sung and a SIX minutes prayer
followed. After the payer hymn 4.S was
announced.
Mr.. Beecher said that they were to take
up a collection for the Congregational
Union. He explained that, among the Con
gregationalists, every congregation was a
perfect church. with whose internal Organi-
cation and discipline no other church had a
right to interfere. For instance, If his be-
loved brother Hall. OF the Episcopal Church,
were to separate from that church--which he
did not know he had any intention OF doing
Just yet--and became independent. he might
retain the prayer books and the thirty
nine articles and all the other parapherna-
Ia and yet be admitted into the COngrega-
tional Union. The union was not for the
purpose OF assuming authority over
churches but OF exercising influence. The
collection was to help needy churches. anu
to supply pastors with libraries.
After the collection had been made. MIR.
Beecher announced tina: as it was very hot
there would be no service in the evening.
He would give bis labor in the afternoon to
the Sunday school instead. He further an
nounced that as Friday next was the fourth
of July there would be no prayer meeting.
The other meetings il the street outside
would interfere with 1t too much.
TLaughter.]
MIR. BEECHER'S SERMON.
The HYMN was then sung. and Mr..
Beecher gave out his text as follows:
The earth, o Lord is fl! o. Thy mercy; teach ME
Thy statutes.-Psaln cxix., o.
The statutes here spoken of and so often
referred to in this Psalm meant. Mr.. Beecher
said. the sacred Scriptures then existing.
We might observe all through this Psalm,
and in fact all the Psalms. the relation that
was established between the natural world
and the Scriptures IL some sense the Old
Testament might. be called the book of in.
tense naturalism. twas Significantly called
a light The student did not sit and
play with his lamp. dissecting it, unscrew-
ing and rescrewing it. tumbling with the
wick, and defending 1t from the miller.
There the boys and girls looked at each
other and laughed heartily He used 1t
to study something else with that was not
a iamp. So, by the Word of God, David
Judged of the present world outside He
carried the Bible with him like lamp to
see what was in the world. In those times
they did not shut God up as they did now
His Word was the interpreter OF science. OF
nature, and OF a mans daily life.
Mr. Beecher had selected the text FOX the
sake of that word. mercy" The earth. as
interpreted by the Word of God. was full
of mercy Gods statutes taught David
that truth You might hear some people
now talk that way about the Bible, put
their number was rapidly diminishing. let
that was the right way to use 1t. There
was great deal more tShting about !. Ina.
using il. They were more ANXIOUS apoul
the inspiration OF tie Bible than the spirit
OF il.
The Bible was the one book the world
could not afford to lose. Many so-called
Christians read it-not because they liked
1T but because it was the regulation prac-
Tee 20 Go so. # had been more used tor
destructive purposes than anything else
Men had torn out text here and another
there. and used them in polemlcal warfare.
1t was Ike tsrest-grand ana oeautliui 90
look at; but men Went into 1t with axes anu
cut down trees here and there. and punt
houses and forts. aud it was no longer
forest. Its grace. beauty ard freedom were
gone.
Let them look at the ,rercifulness OF the
Bible. 1t was an ar,llocy o. mercy it was
o magazine of kindness. The mercl1ulness
of its eminent secularitv united with Its
tendencies toward eminent spirituality.
O.Eer books usually pitched ON higher
moods of !nind, laying before men higher
almost Il supernatural plane. But not SO
he r n nc hr1s
beginning 10 eud. Though its pinnacles
touched the New jerusalem. its foun-
dations We're IN rhe earta. 1t talked about
a mans temptations and lis trou ples and
his occupations day by day. 1t was a book
of farming. 1t was q book OF political
economy. 1t was book OF household re-
cipes. 1t turned OF prosperity and adj
versity. combining the whole with godli-
ness. Natural duties were ineulcated on
the ground of the natural advantage. The
Bible as its foundation had world OF lie.
The book Of Proverbs was without a rival.
A man might carry II in his waistcoat
pocket and find more wisdom in II tor daily
life in the family. abroad. IN business. in
pleasure in politics than in any other
treatise.
The New Testament. without losing sight
of worldly advantage, added something
else-be courteous. be careful. be manly Y.
holding up eodliness as "having promise
both of the life that now is and of that
which is TO come" Men were tempted to
saw that the Old Testament inculcated vir.
tue with view TO profit. And Vet out OF
The Old Testament had sprung some of the
groo test natures. such as David and the
,,r,,,',e cts -sI,;-h had been he les zen % tue
Nor, ire OF the world. iAS this time the
heat was so intense that s'ery fsr IN the
ouildio. VS. II vigorous motion, d some,
what neeuliar noise being thus produced. !
By and by. Mr.. Beecher said, when
science shall have showed that man had de-
yeIoned-nbt from higher. but lower
form; developed rot f-ol- an INFERIOR e'oa