Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1877-05-29
Altfan0rla 6aHette
MFR. Bcecher's Last Sundays Sermon.
TUESDAY, MAY -, 1877.

Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, 10 Plymouth
Church, Brooklyn, last Sunday. said IF you
will take notice human life goes through an un-
folding series perpetually. All human lite is
working away from the material to the spirit
| ual. La each development We rise little by lit
tlc and reach God at last, as represented to Us
| through the Lord Jesu; Christ. 10 this de-
| velopment We rise not only step by step, bu,
each step wo take is in the direction Of the
right. The child has right to bread, but tho
child soon learns that he lives not by bread
alone. As the child rises to manhood his ideal
enlarges and he sees The more complex relations
of his life. lie sees their subtety and thei!
iutrcacy. The moment any man sees any
great truth he has right in that truth. a
man identifies himself with tho truth; it be,
comes part OF the emotion, part Of tins will.
No man has any right 10 withhold 1t from him.
So, then, men arc large in proportion as they
come into the kno%lcdso OF Cod aud into con1
muuiou with God himself. 1t is in this sense
that Paul says, "All things are yours. Man
has within him the elements that connect hlm
with every side of the universe, either Dasccnt
uudcveI opcd or developed. There are, there.
fore, no sssignabe bounds for man, either in
this lille or that which is 10 come. Men are
great, therefore, not by what they ate 10 them
selves, but by asSoc!atlng themselves 10 all the
divine movements and currents oil the universe.
Hence all men that are working for scIfishncss.
for pride, for the lower lie, Tor the animal.
work away from true greatness. Ii is net the
man, then, who holds these things for mate
rial ends that is tho great man. 1t is the con
hat ot..,t nIrIiu hn Inni
bic that shall give permanency 10 the greatness
Of men. Who, then, comes into Gods spirit
comes into sympathy with universal being.
II this be so, then we have a gauge by which
We can measure the forces aud the dangers OF
secls or the organizations by which men mould
themselves into sects. The historic Church has
been Church under the law Of the flesh. The
churches do not represent the ineffable, the su-
pernatural, the divine. They have not even
the ideal conception. The alabaster may be
there, but there is very little OF tho precious
ointment. II you were to exclude the house
hold from the world religion would be begging
10 less than generation. Zach sect thinks II
is so much nearer right than the other that It
thinks it right to warn its children OF that other
sect. If you are going TO have historic church
why not 20 10 Rome at once? We have a true
history say the Romanists The Congregation
alists say if you want liberty come TO us.
The Presbyterlaos say II you want strict
government come to us. Tho Ubitarians il
you want unity come to u. Tho secls
have all got their own little bit Of truth, and
they all say they have the whole OF 1t. Secta
that are apmopriatng and are buIldlng ur that
which is peculiar to themselves arc not prop
ery instructed in the text, 'Ail things arc
yours" Neither is there any form, Of worship
u I IL, | L,r h.
ed sermon during forty years against Catho'
lies and | never iotcud to do so. When | was
man boy made covenant with myself that
would not quarrel with anybody whose taco
was set in the same direction as mine. What
ever that is good in that Church, in its worship,
is Christ \ and Christ il NINE There Is 10 pill
grim that goes to Rome TO DO honor to Plus
lN. that will manifest more reverence (more
reverence that is scnsiblc) than feel toward
Him. Am to set aside the great Church OF
the Orient because there are webs OF error spun
around it? Whatever there is in that Church
that is good aud tue Is miac.
It you say that this Ia 4 mistake, that tins Is
imaginative preaching, thcD | say hat ii there
is such being rs Christ, such being as God
then there il such :. thing as Il spiritual uni
verse, and we are iittcd Tor 1t by every door
that will shut out sin from Us. 'lncrG IS
rest rcmaincth for the people OF God. There
arc different organizations, different doctrines,
vet there is a sense in which they are one; but
it is sense which they who support and hold
them dou recognize.
4 UNIQUE SWGNDLE. There IS man no"
residing in Eureka, Nevada, whose ambition
and boast is that he eau beat anybody's little
game. Some years age, when the smallpox
scare was agitatiug the Gitz,ns Of Plochc, our
hero, who was 10 an impccuniou5 condition,
seedy, and broke, conceived and put luto exc
cution stratageu that succeeded admirably III
filing his pockets aDd adolnloC his back. Let
ting u confederate into his conlidcnce-aoother
of the same ilk--hc procured vial OF cro!on
oil, retired to his room, and. by repeated apph'
cations, brought out lirst.ciass eruption on
his face and body. >,
The confederate reported the case. aud DC
was Immediately removed to the pest house,
and his chum, who kindly volunteered, was ap
pointcd nurse at salary of $40 per day. They
we're the only occupants of the Institution, and
! managed TO while away thirty days Of enforced
sccIusiou, With the aid Of suud1y dcIlcacIes and
| pour;shing diet. 4, the expiration ot thirty
days the nurse reported complete cure OF the
| sick man. and boastel that under and by reason
| OF tho strict attention paid BY hun TO the pa
| tient, not a pit or scar mar!cd bis features. "A
new suit Of clothes was provided fer both, the
| 5000 maid for attcnjancr and they lett town on