The New York herald., 1875-12-20
PLYMOUTH CHURCH.


PLYMOUTH CHURCH
MR.. BEECHER ON THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
THE FATHERHooD OF GOD.
Mr. Boecher yesterday made powerful appeal to his
people attend the concert to be given on Tuesday
evening for the benefit OF the volunteer choir OF the
church. He spoke in the highest terms of the choir
and the music furnished by it, which not he said,
of the "rigmarole fantastic kind that peases musi-
clans in European lands but such was adapted to
religious feeling For the text Of his sermon MI
Beecher took the 20th doth and 47th verses OF the
nth chapter of Matthew :-'For say unto you that
except your righteousness shall exceed the righteous
ness OF the scribos and Pharsecs ye shall in no case
enter into the kingdom OF heaven For If We love them
which love YOU what reward have yer Do not even
the publicans do soP And il ye salute yo- brethren
\ only what do ye moro than others? Do not even the
! publicans do so 20
The kingdom which the Saviour came to establish,
the preacher said, not outward, visible and
I secular Kingdom. II a condition, a state and 1t
might appear under any form Of outward government
\ or ecclesiastical government II presented
MANHOOD
/ II was the showing OF men the way to higher
thought life, and emotional life, and character life
Whether it was collective not lett to circum-
stances Whether it developed Itself under the Jewish
4 Church and within IL or under subsequent Christian
organization, and if any Of these, whether in
J or in another whether it developed itself in men
out OF all Of Christianity ITSELF Among
philosophers wherever IN the whole world that IDEAL
manhood which Christ came to make known and to in
eiie should be experienced, that IN the king
dom OF heaven, which Is Kingdom OF character and
Of place nor OF organization Aud, therefore, he
says those that stsn4ns round about hial and
who iookc1 up 10 the Scrbes and Pharisees
the best teachers, and az, In the main, the
best specimens Of what mon could be under
the ordinary Jewish institutions at that time, he
gavs:-"H you expect to belong to my kingdom-that
is my kingdom Of heaven this and higher devel-
opment-your righteousness your idea OF right and OF
conduct must be higher Than that OF the Scrbes and
higher than that Of the Pharlsecsn The technical
question, according TO our way Of thinking in time
WHETHER the PHARrsERs WERE SAVED
not, did not enter, think, INTO the mind Of the Sa-
viour at all He had before Him the new departure
and the condition to which lie meant to bring the mind
of in the individual and ultimately Of the whole
race IL gift which taught man so to use him
self that harmony and happiness should be possible to
all and under ali circumstances. There have
there are many yet being taught that
\ religion IN this world IS sort penalty suffered,
sort OF prlce paid for the promise OF JOY more than
equivalent the life TO come That is the ascetic idea
of religion: but Chriss idea not that That state
OF mind which He calls Kingdom was meant to make
men supremely happy and JOY IN the language OF the
apostle one OF the signs. JOY in the Holy Ghost
righteousness, exalted morality of life, that peace
which cannot come except by harmony and 10y in tho
Holy Ghoat-that is the kingdom. In aspect that
is the way to define IT, Whom a mans whole life Is
conducted in the same spirit as Chrst's he will be
/ filed with that tranquility, and he will be
BLossoMISG ouT IN
That IS Chrst's idea Of religion Those that suppose
gloomy only with the reverson ofthe heavenly rewards
TO sustain H. am sure can never have pondered on the
declaration Of the Master himself and the antthess in
which He put himself to John.
In the time OF the Saviour there existed three great
scots. There was the Pharsee, who the literais
and the Puritan OF the Jews in one respect There was
the saddncee who also was lbcrast in one respect
but affected with Greek philosophy and then there
was the Essene srhe Essenes bore striking rcseui-
%
doctrines. Christ says, 'John came neither
| eating nor drinking and YOU said He has dcvil-a
demonn The Son Of Man came right against
john presenting the opposite phase As Christ says,
"rhe SON Of Man came eating and drinking" That is
man like other men-gong with the poor, going with
the rch gong with the priest, going with the leper-
afraid 10 go anywhere to touch anything, like
any other John, the asccttc, and
| CHRIST THE SWEET SOCIALIST.
And men say ''He is glutton and wine bbbero
Mr. Beecher here read considerable portion Of the
! Sermon on the Mount making appropriate comments
| upon each Now, he continued, this Is the
Gospel that teaches men to be happy in misery. Was
there another gospel that attempted to do that
The kingdom which Christ came to establish in the
/ world is such that II lifts a man above all
these things where He can look down upon them and
control them and this kingdom, it will be observed
that adapted itself to men as they are Now,
4 If man should establish school OF art, every one
would say, "There comes in the doctrine OF election
Those have the inspiration OF art will be directly
indirectly benefited by IL but no others AS the milk
from the udder of the COW when left TO itself
night brings the cream TO the top, in every society
the tendency has been for
THE BEST NATURES TO RISE TO THE TOR,
leaving the skim milk below and the cream above. To
very large extent churches arc, in fact
nothing but institutions for people wo or
They are what might be called academies OF
instruction and mutual insurance companies for
/ the prosperous They have little relation to the
side world am not saying that they ought not TO
ist bat because the arrogance Of claiming TO be
than what they ought 70 be rebukcd, do say they
are not fair specimens Of the large spir Of cbrIstanty
which takes men IN the ratio in which they need
and not in the ratio 10 which they have the bountes Of
Ife Christianity teaches tho atherhood OF God-the
4NmNu lrNau hfIT - hat .eutnfu
Himself the amplitude Of human suffering. Look at
these things that come TO the realization Of man -:
My God, though | should be poor, sinful and
love, and He sits regent al the very centre
OF universal affairs, and from His heart and hand now
forth the vigilance that takes care Of all things When
the little babe puts It's tiny hand into mine its hand Is
as strong mine Isl since II Is mine that guides H. and
when put my hand into Gods II is as strong as His,
since He guides H. Then We have these elements
OF tho kingdom OF heaven which Christ brought here,
and not alone with these principles their motive force
but that magnificent background, assured immor-
tality More and more think, az men grow old they
feel the nced OF this and even scepticsm breaks into
men break into poem, not supposng Il 70 DO his
tory, but finding great comfort aud soace IN It, To
THE PEARLY GATE rs THE GATE OF THE GRAVE,
and this have because / have Joined Chrsps king
dom | belong TO Chrsts kingdom, which is distin
gulshcd from the lower kingdom Of the carna man.
There ought To be of superiority about Chris
tan, even over other men that In all outward things
act az he does for he should act from higher motive.
am sorry TO say that am humbled often by hearing
how far this Is from the truth. The president OF n
New York bank with which am accustomed 10 do
business said 70 me the other day tThc fact that a
man s member Of q church Is with not a re.
sumption OF honesty but rather the other wayu Id Il
true that great many people belong 10 the Church
who 40 not belong 10 Christ Il is true that MANY nor
sons make cloak Of religion the better TO carry out
their schemes. This tho preacher said reflected dis.
credit w hs Churches l0r shey should those who