The New York herald., 1875-08-23

by negecting them; not so much by changing their
philosophy as by putting the emphasis Of aher preach
ing on other point in the scheme Of Christian doc
trne And when the shit made the point selected
was that Of the new birth, aud the New England
preachers from early day have made the emphatic
point IN this scheme TO be the necessity OF being born
again. This is the pivotal doctrine having implications
In every direction and giving emphasis and color 10 al
most every side of Christian theology. So then sup
pose, in your youth you have heard many sermons
on the subject OF regeneration as upon any other topic
ofrcligous doctrine Regeneration Is Of transccndent
Importance 1t truth not less true and not less es
scnta than the most vigorous preachers have repre-
scnted il 10 be- II may be that il has been stated with
out skill; IL may be that il has been encumbered by
misconceptions II may be that IL has assumed such
place in the scheme OF Christian doctrine that it has
crowded out some other collateral truths which should
have been preached more. No matter what the inleic
Ivy may have BEEN aud no matter what obqutes have
adhered TO it, it is still true that there is not in the
whole range Of Christianity point, fact doctrine
more important than this; "Ye must be born
again. That which Is born OF the flesh
Is csh and that which Is born Of the Spirit is spirit
Unless ye are born OF water and OF the Spirit ye shall
not see the Kingdom of heaven. y
A TEsT-''wlLL wAsH?n
Mr. Beechcr said he proposed to make some familiar
remarks upon this great theme, the BIRTH
be profitable those who had nevers made a pro
fession Of personal faith in Christ but that they would
search and try the hearts of those who had long sup
posed themselves to be living in Christs spirit 'forn
said he there be many who Christs name but
who wear nothing else that belonged to Christ" He
then proceeded to inquire whether il was necessary
that men should he born again, whether there any
reality that ever took place which led to The supposton
]
new plrIh was instantaneous, and whether men
could live thirty, forty, Gfty, sixty years, or
more, and thcn, by a fash of the Divine power
be transformed in moment, so that though
yesterday they were sinners black, to-day they were
saints Is that which passes for conversion gcnuncY
Will II wearY VIII II washl He said these all
questions of practical kind and that he shared them
lie did not desire to repel men from inquirng into hem
any questions that the active and searching in
teec could dictate, but he invited them, and that the
Scripture teaching would bear any amount of inquis
ton on this point
TOTAL DEPRAvIrY-Ax EXPLANATION
As to the need of new birth, the question may be
resolved INTO another form. Are men good enough
Are they on the whole goodY Could they not be inn
proved good deal? Is it safe TO leave ones money
guarded and onc's doors unockcdY Is not man that
is good, just, truth speaking upright much
ception as seepes are exceptions in VILLAGE Are not
men depravedy Whether they are totally dopraved or
not depends upon The meaning which is put
stood sgnifyng absolute quality and
quantity, men are not totally dcpraved; but if II is
dersood to imply that men are not educated and are
morally nlrm and liable to sin in the exercise of every
particular faculty of their minds then they totally
dcpraved Considering man as an individual as a Rob
nson Crusoe alone island is he competent take
care of his own bodyY As go they capable Of
thatY Do they know how to take caro- of their
brains, their lungs their stomach their structure that
God has given themY II an engineer running locomotive
were MS ignorant of as men of the machine which they
are running the track of life he would be discharged
More than half of the race die in infancy and the life Of
the race is on an average less than thrtyhve years.
though man was evidently made to last at least hun
dred years. TwOthirds of human life is squandered
the world over because men do not know enough
to take care of their bodies Then how much do men
know about their dispositions? Consider them in
the family, which the best place in human society, and
which the nearest representation that have of the
heavenly state How many households are there that
may be considered as an organ every pipe of which Is
musical and in tune with every other pipe that all
the time the experience of the various parts that Of
sweetness and chcerfuness and hepfulness and SYM
pathy and gladness In how many households is that
the case before breakfast well after breakfast and
when they are tired as well as when they rested?
HoNEsT-A PLoUGHMAN AS GOOD AS MINISTER.
The preacher went on to consider the character of
men in the larger relations of business in all depart
ments OF industry and asked whether 1t was found that
the best heads carried the best hearts, and that tho
strongest men were the most humane In this con
because they belonged to any particular class
in the community. Said he, ''rhe who
follows the plough is no better than the hat
ter, and the halter is no better than the man who
pursues any of the various mechanical trades and the
mechanic is no better than the merchant and the
chant is better than the DOCTOR and the doctor is
Deer han the lawyer ana the lawyer is no better than
the minister We all live in glass houses and all in
debted to the Apostle Paul. who said, We have like
passions with you, and that which was true of the
apostles has descended through straight and
unbrokcn line to all the ministers of our
day. In other words, when you come to test men by
their competency to take care of themselves they break
down under the examination Further on he spoke of
the still higher relations which men sustain to the state
and to the laws of the land and represented
10 come far short of perfection, and asked If il not
fatally true that the popular spirit of our people
was TO large extent tainted with the ideas
that each man had right TO pluck much
as he could from the commonwealth, and whether
credulous thatY The next relation which he consd
cred was that of the Church. and he inquired whether
the Church life the pattern life, and said while
there were great many members OF churches who
excellent people and might in limited be
regarded models he sorry to be obliged to say
that religion had been about bad any institu-
tons that the world had seen True Christians had
been the best of all the earth possessions but the
ganized Christianity of the globe had been than
imperial Rome and worse than savage life. In cOnsd-
ering, particularly the end of his sermon,
the nature of the new birth Mr. Beecher characterized
IL as gradual development and said that had
made the great mistake of supposng that IL in
stantancous or rather, that they had misunderstood
the meaning of instananeousncss. This point was
explained at length and clearly and happily illustrated
by comparing the development of the soul from the
moment of its new birth to the unfolding of child
from the moment Of its entrance into life. A child, he
said not fully born until he year, ive years.
ten years or fifteen years of age. The law did not
recognize a man completely born and fit to be in
trusted with anything like civil liberty and responsible
ity until he twenty one years old In closing he
earnestly cXhorted his hearers not to ignore this inn
portan truth of the birth and their great IT,
Mr.. Becchcr seems as hale and vigorous at any
period Of his life, and to-day he spoke with great appa
rent ease and in voice strong to make himself
plainly heard at the remotest parts of the vast
After the prayer and singing which followed a coec-
ton was taken toward paying for the tent, which, it
stated would cost about 5000; Sl20 raised.