The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-08-09
First Discourse Of the Plymouth Pastor
in His Summer Parish.
MORALITY AND SPIRITUALITY
The Leaves and Blossoms Which Develop Into
the Fruits Of the Spirit.
AN APOSTROPHE TO PEACE.
TWIN MOUNTAIN HOUSE, n. H., August s, 1875.

Mr. Barron had stationed two at the door
way of the parlor with orders to allow one in
without pass No passes issued until after the
guests of the Twin Mountain seated after them
the guests of the Crawford and then the holders of
passes were admitted Tho crush was tremendous for
a short time but finally the crowd got seated 1t
estimated that / 400 people were present At all the
windows and tho doorway groups collected,
and many unable to obtain seats leaned upon the win
dow stills and listened About eighty teams and twenty
Ave stagccoachcs brought parties tho house. and
special from Fabyan in just before service
began. Mcssrs Suerman and Huntington of the
celebrated Park church choir, of Hartford,
were in attendance II was expected that the whole
choir would be present but many of the lady members
being the country they could not be brought together
Among the crowd was Mr.. John G. Sinclair the demo-
cratic leader of New Hampshire
SERVICES
opened with hymn No 1877 in the Plymouth collection
God our help in ages past.
Mt Beecher said as the books scarce and many
in the congregation who could sing had books, he
would to the old fashioned method of reading
lines time in order that all might join in the sing
ing After the singing of the hymn Mr. Bcccher prayed
a foilows-
Wilt thou he gracious to us Father, not according
to the wisdom and the purity OF our asking but accord
ing TO the greatness of our necessity and according TO
the greatness Of Thy generosity Take from
way of hnking take measure from our habit Of
giving but from thine self Thou that art infinitely
full riches; Thou that dos delight to give rather than
TO receive; Thou that dost love overflow with Thy
light give n portion of it to all things that look
upon this morning. Though our troubles may seem
to us or to any ofus very great though our sorrow may
very deep; though our disappoinmens may
seem groyous though our limitation may seem very
narrow; though may seem to be pinched or pierced;
though we may be pursued or oppressed; though we
may be at liberty or in the wilderness, or wandering
in our necessity, Thou wilt not withhold
Thee nor win withholding make Thee rich
Grant, therefore, that there may be given
to from Thine infinite ulness and gracousness Thy
loving Kindness and tender mercy, that may for
get and find ourselves stronger in our
God made cheerful by the cheer that is In Him. Look
ing away from self no longer whrlng in that small
sphere where our troubles arc may know ourselves
TO he the of light and the sons of God and the
heirs of the heavenly nhcritance and may up
with the dignity, tho joy and the conscious power
which belongs to us-not OF ourselves but of Thee!
Prayer followed by the hymn
Jesus love Thy charming Name.
Mr. Beecher then announced his text from tho Gospel,
according TO John ill.,. 5-6-'Jesus answered, Verify,
verify say unto thee, except man BIO born of water
and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom OF
God That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that
which is born of the Spirit is spirit"
Mr. Bcecher spoke in substance follows-
THE SERMON
wo not TO understand by the declaration that
there is any mysterious efficiency in the application Of
far that is concerned Ncodcmus thought it
cessary to be baptized as fresh start in lile but
be more than baptized; that a man needed the water
and the Holy Ghost at the time II the ad
dtiona element of the Divine Spirit that to be
phatc Nicodcmus one Of the most thoroughly mis-
represented rulers all the Scriptures He of
eminent courage, great sagacity and purity of life
Ncodcmus went TO Christ in the night time, not be-
he afraid, but because he wanted to have
meal Of talk with Him and pour out himself and ask for
cnlighenmcnt II was not cowardice it was hunger
hunnCr Then
could he find what he longed for. He was, indeed,
strange coward who, being a member of the San
hcdrin stood up and said to his peers who had deter
mined to kill Christi
Doth our law condemn any until he is hcard9"
Did not Nicodemus display great cowardice when
he went with Joseph, took the body of Christ, en-
balmed and buried it, Any could bo courageous in
a crowd 1t Is easy to go along with the strong
enough TO stand alone and fight for principle has
indeed, stout heart and brave will, and
Nicodcmus had both of these attributes. 1t
makes it all the remarkable that to such
Jesus declared That which is born of the flesh flesh,
and that which is born Of the Spirit is SPIRIT You
must bo born again is everything; born of the flesh we
naturally corrupt Are we to understand that until
there has passed crisis in n mans spiritual destiny
everything that he felt thought did went for
nothingY In other words are we To understand that
morality is without any spiritual valueS Arc we TO
count only that part Of human thought WILL conduct
and character which Is directly inspired by the Divine
Spirit valuable in human life? Many have thought
this extreme doctrine There arc
MORALITY.
First what may be called the popular notion of moral
ity, and secondly the philosophical notion Tho popu-
lar idea is that If man does not do anything very bad
and if he does some things that very tolerablo
he is moral Thus, if he does not steal; if
not inIure anybody purposcly; if he is reasonably
Industrious; if he never lies except occasionally
(laughcr-if he is a good ncighbor; II he pays his
debts If he is kind father then he the world goes
is understood TO DO moral When VIC speak OF moral
man generally understand man who is free from
vices; that is that he has the negative virtue Of being
free from bad qualities What Is morality? What do
We mcanfby morality in the higher, larger and
more philosophical sense of that term We
of ourselves and the circumstances in which
we are placed. He who discharges tho duties
required Of him by reason Of the physical laws in
hcrcnt in us all; he who discharges, with reasonable
fidelity, the laws that are imposed on him by his neigh
borhood he who fulnls the obg aons thai are incum-
bent him by Of his industrial and commercial
relations in society; he who performs tho duties that
belong to him as citizcn-hc discharges moral duties
that regulate our conduct in all the varied
conditions in which we are placed in the
world Now the question arises, Is this
morality of no account or vauoS must say in regard
even TO the popular idea of morality that is very val
ucablc II would be one Of the very worst things you
could do to destroy this morality and give ncghbor-
hood tho idea that no better for having mega
tive virtues and that not to howl not to quarrel not to
get drunk, not TO steal is of no moral worth What
say OF these things is that while they all that Is
required Of man, they of very great Importance
his relations 10 his fellows.
But look al the higher conceptions OF morality Is
nothing that man, knowing the laws of health avoids
transgrcssng themg II he obcys them is IL nohingY
not His lawsy Did He not ordan the laws of the
vOus system, the brain and the hcartg Though these
laws were not told from Sinai, they are much Gods
laws as the Dccaoguc is Gods law IL morality Is good
for nothing would it not be II there of
IL? But who will say II Is good for nothingY 1t may
not be good for everything; II may not I'LL the
OF duty, will have occasion TO show, but in far
II goes II Is good and is TO be encouraged IF to treat
all men as you would have them treat You in accord
with The golden rule, Is of no moral worth then
tho opposite Is true The fulnlmcnt Of duties
mcrcial and industrial relations is morality. When
fnpI ul. ma Dn Unn narh rnA
atygn | say 'Certninly don Don't you
believe in spiritual morality?" 81 do, most
certainly, and | will Illustrate g. | have
vineyard on my hillside and when my vines all set
out was doubtug whether they would grow or not but
when after some weeks of southern wind and rain
found that the buds were swollen and were breaking
out In leaf was rcjoiccd indeed was glad TO
every bud said, How fare your TO every leaf and
when they began To show out every stem with more
leaves was happy ndecd.n
well" says man, what were your leaves good
fory Could you them."