The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1875-01-20
THE PALLADIUM
WEDNESDAY. JAN. 20. 1875.



Beecher's Sermon.
The New York Sun makes the
following report of sermon
preached by MIR. Beecher, on Sun
day, January the 10th, at Plymouth
Church:
Mr.. Beecher announced his text,
from ! Samuel. xiv, 43, as follows:
Then Saul said to Jonathan,
Tell me what thou hast done.
And Jonathan told him, and said,
did but taste little honey with
the end of the rod that was in mine
hand, and 10. I must die"
LITTLE SINS.
From this text Mr.. Beecher de-
livered one of his hour talks, in
which his audience were continually
drawn toward him by the old bond
of sympathy. His subject was
Little SINS" and Jonathan's sin in
eating the honey was used as an
example from which to draw les
sons of wisdom. He said that
Jonathan was in the first place q
coward. Sauls order that no man
should eat during the long days
fighting was bad generalship and
should have been disobeyed.
Courage is all very well, but bread
is also good in its place, and a
famished army is a good place for
1t. Jonathan, instead of returning
to his father, should have stood up
like man, and said, s.Your order
was not right, and L have disobey
ed it. Still, in disobeying he had
certainly committed little sin, and
to the little sins of life Mr.. Beecher
wished to call the attention of his
hearers
Great sins are those where the
motive which prompts them is
wrong, and their results are dis
astrous to ourselves or our fellow
men, We are not likely to under
dervalue great sins which are no.
torious, and the nature of which
the world has passed upon. 1t is
the little sin which we commit,
perhaps 9nwittingly, which we
undervalue, and the result of which
is sometimes terribly destructive of
soul and body. Mr.. Beecher had
known men who were terribly
afflicted because they had forgotten
to read their Bible or to pray at a
certain hour. They looked upon
this as great sin. Yet these same
men would give way to violent
bursts of passion which injured
themselves and all around them.
BIG LITTLE SINS.
''Now," said the Plymouth pastor,
crossing his legs, and leaning upon
his stand, sit is o matter OF opinion
with me when, where, and how I
say my prayers, and when, where,
and how I read my Bible. To
neglect either is at least venial
fault, and the motive which prompts
the neglect is not bad one gen
orally. But the emissions of an
evil disposition which may appear
of slight consequence at the time,
are liable to embitter the lives of
all who surround me. These are
some of the little sins of which I
would warn you to beware
The cyclone which destroys vii
lagos and uproots forests is ter
rible thing. It is force which
appeals to you by it's grandeur, and
strikes terror to your heart by it's
awful power. Increasing his legs
and stepping to the front. I will
tell you q little thing which is more
than it's match. The grasshopper.
IT'S a small creature. You may
take him in your hand, turn him
and twist him, and annihilate him
in a moment. But when grasshop-
pers come by millions they devas-
tate your fields, and do more dam
age in one day than a hundred
temporary cyclones, whose fury is
expended in a moment. IL is the
multiplication of these little things,
said he, that does the damage, and
in the same way little sins multi
piled make up the grand total of
the sinners wasted life. 1 can
defend my pantry from burglars
but not from mice. can fight
against the mice, but how shall I
exterminate the cockroaches?"
Mr.. Beecher next touched upon
the little sins that SO often mar. and
often break up marriages. ''Oh,"
said he, 'if men and women lived
after marriage as they did before
it, what gardens of Eden would be
united along our streets! But men
worship before marriage and they
want to rule after it. They give
everything before, and want to be
paid all the rest of their lives by re
ceiving everything. Their little sins
of temper and of judgment are con-
tinually blighting men and women.
No man can tell what a priceless
treasure is lost when two natures
that have rung together like sweet
chimes are torn apart by these
harsh attritions. It is the neglect
of little things that results in this
evil. Oh, the friendships that have
been severed by the constant
gnawing, gnawing, gnawing OF lit
tie faults! Beware, my hearers, of
little sins!
One of Ohio's State Senators,
Burton, of Hamilton. has just
received a land warrant for a sec
ton, and a thousand dollars in