The New York herald., 1875-11-22
PLYMOUTH CHURCH.

SERMON BY THE REV. H. W. BEEcHER-''AM
TO SEE THE DEVILS SLAVES RUNNING AWAY
WITH THE PLEASURE or THIS WORLD AND
I NOT TO TOUCH TT"
The unpleasant weather that prevailed yesterday did
not diminish the throng that weekly wends its way to
Plymouth church Mr.. Beecner announced that the
church had determined to hold series Of morning
prayer meetings but much difficulty had been found
in trying to fix upon hour when all could attend
that it had finally been resolved to hold meetings dur
ing the evening instead OF morning. He invited all,
whether members Of the church not who wished TO
converse with HIM about religious matters attend
these meetings which will be held in the lecture
at halEpas seven every evening except that OF Thurs
day
When he advanced to deliver his sermon Mr.. Beecher
said:-'I sorry to inform YOU that have left my
notes at home. Fortunately don't deliver written
sermons and so am not brought to the estate that
many a in like circumstances would be. The
trouble is afraid shall talk too long, for when
man doesn't know exactly what he is going to say it
takes him longer to say it. Fortunately / remember
where the text is 1t in the twentieth and twenty
first of the fourteenth chapter Of Zacharan:-
in that day shall there be upon the bells OF the horses
Holiness unto tho Lord; and the pots in the Lords
house shall be like the bowls before the altar'n &c
At first, he continued, the contrast which you
shall nnd by comparing theiss of Judah and the
wise Of Greece is in nothing striking than in
the forward looking Of the old jew and the backward
looking Of the Greek.
GOLDEN AGE
was behind the Grecian. They spoke OF a time Of sim
plicity and purity and Of excellence, when
noble as of long anterior age But the propnet-and
in that he was in strict accordance with the latest
thought of mankind in day-aways looked
davt In he all
those blessings that the Imagination conceive
belonging to mankind This future Of course they
were forced TO describe with the best symbols and
the best experience OF the time which
they lived and, therefore, as IN the
case have IN hand, they declared
that in that glorious time when the world should
to its manhood the very bells the horses should
have inscribed on them, "Holness to the LORD" and
that in temple there should be cutting down OF
the bells OF gold and silver but there should be
ing up OF the pots that had been for vulgar There
should be a coming up-the kitchen should be equal TO
the parlor in the temple The passages Of Scripture
does not that the bell II used should have in
scrptons Of sancy upon them but that the bells Of
ornament Of beauty should be regarded religious
or drop tie figure entirely, that amusement aud
beauty should bc regarded as part Of relgion-not by
degrading religion but by lining up amusement and
carrying il higher and consecratng It,
COMMON things cease to be common, and low things
cease 20 be low be vulgar, when they per
formed under the higher inspirations of mans ma
ture when they with them not the flesh but the
spirit and the spirit not in ~ lower forms but in its
higher and divinely illuminated forms. The under
hirelngs Of a hospital looked upon dsgustfu
drudges; but when Florence Nightingale walks through
the wards Of Scuar or when In our own land Miss
Barton or a Miss woolsey any other Of the thousand
angelic women who have performed such selfsaer-
fcing deeds are named tears Of admiration and sym
pathy drop from eyes and can lind no words TO
express feelings yet their deeds the
done by the hirelng and the curmudgeon. In
il is done from noble motives for humanity, and in
the other Il Is done only or money Thus We see there
Is a way by which the lower things can be raised We
all however fall into the habit o. the age and the habit
OF the Chnrch-wc are attempting to make men adnTa
bic and large BY separating Them from lower uses, hy
taking them away from temptation We are saying
10 men, III you love the Lord Jesus Christ you Will be
much IN prayers, much IN your closet much in the
Bible much In the fellowship Of the saints.n
which is all true, but II IS not the
whole truth for II God had designed that all mems
duties should be confined to the closet and the Bible
with atte prayer human society would have organized
itself very differently from what II has What
you going DO with that vast outside world with It's
shops and IFS ships and ts thousands who asking,
"What shall we eatY'-ths great multitude, numer- |
the drops OF the sea- ID which you live, among
which you have relations where you father or
brother Or mother Or sister where you are employer
or employed where you are thrust out every day,
whether you viii or not, TO do worldly and physical
duties How are you going 10 say
IA ABANDON THESE THINGS
TO be a Christian ! Will have Where there
is a trouble will drop IT. That Isl If the nerve aches
cut II Off Christ did not say that a man should be
taken out Of the world, but that he should perform
all his duties in the world with the exalted spirit that
should glorfy their everyday life The world to come
up nature Is not TO pc forever simply the opprop1ous
loOtstoo which philosophers shall wipe their feet
/ regard the doctrine or being better man by getting
out Or the way Of temptation as q cowards doctrine.
WHAT ii ENJOYMENTf
II is thought too, that II man becomes Christian
he ought to mark the difference between himself
tho world In the matter Of pleasure-that worldly
pleasures are not for Christian man. Wen, what do
YOU mean by worldly Pleasures Why company,
dancing and festive enjoyment Where do you get
your conception OF thatY When God arranged
by tho inspiration OF Moses for the worship
Of His people all their meetings prolonged
with castings and enjoyment such as tho world has
never secp since. We have fallen into ascotcgm ID
our day The Christian should make the distinction
pleasures from higher motives, not by abandoning
ihcno Am / 10 see the DEVILS slaves running away
With tho pleasure OF this world and not to touch itY
Take ali the pleasure you wl but let II be pleasure
that makes you softer, better, more generous, more
noble and that gives you the elasticity and the grace
that belongs 20 the birds OF the air when they sing
going heavenward. Until recent period the devil
owned all the music 81 our age; All the art there
was in the world mostly all the wit and great deal
larger share Of the literature These higher influences
Of the soul had been suffered 70 slip into the hands o
tho adversary Of men, and II was ctt 70 rs 70 have
\ bare walls and clad duties and 70 walk grimly
through fo hoping that liz andby We should get All our
pay IN the life TO want TO see this world made
bright for tho Lord Jesus aud every element IN this
world mado 10 speak for Christ and the very bells on
the hofses 70 pc lnscribed "Honesg unto the Lord"
PARK CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.
DISHONESTY N PUBLIC LIYE--A SERMON BY
REV. MATTHEW HALE SMITH.
In the Park Congregational church Rev Matthew