Mexico weekly ledger., 1877-12-27

Such, indeed proved to be the case
, and she had to be removed few day
later to the lunatic asylum.
Loutrelle was hung on the 10Th 0
June, 1899.
BEECHERILM OR UNIVESAKISN
What Beecher believes and what ht
| doesen't believe would seem at frs
thought to be of little consequence
He is not man Of convictions, anC
only talks off what happens to come
into his mind. He is also a very ir.
reyerential person, and his conscience
is exceedingly elastic. In place OF
convictions he has impressions, and
those TO which he gave utterance Oh
Sunday were very characteristic.
:her could not believe that the
Y hell existed, for the idea OF
Ial damnatior of wicked men
en- was displeasing to him.
an agreeable thought that
d be OOrn predestined to
ne agreeableness Or disa-
their existence. To the
on of religious doctrines it
,ry to bring the reason rather
sentiment, though Beecher
itierently.
have said. the variable views
cn theological comedian rs the
hero of the scandal trial appear un-
worthy of serious attention; but, it
must be remembered, Bcccher is after
all the most noted preacher of the
Congregational Church. He draws
by far the largest salary of any, and
no one of his ministerial brethren can
keep a great meeting house so full of
rapt or amused hearers Us he. More
over, Yale College, the leading Con-
| gregationalist institution of learning,
stands by him i'll his religious and
moral eccentricities, and his denomi-
nation, so far rs it could, has set the
seal of its approval on him. He told
the young theological students at
Yale how to preach, and their grave
professors listened and applauded.
All the budding Congregational
preachers contemplate with a sort of
awe Beecher's wonderful success and
ready pulpit eloquence, and, though
they may desp;ir of equalling him,
they cherish hopes that they will at
least become Beechers on some
what reduced scale. Therefore, when
on Sunday he profanely declared, 81
do swear by the Lord Jesus Christ, by
by His groans, by His tears of agonT,
bv the wounds in His side, that 1t
the orthodox hell is impossible"
he must have startled these young
men, ani pared the way to their be-
coming Uniyersalists. Ever though
they succeed, through the efforts of
Beecheristes like DR.. Porter of Yale
College, in getting installed as Con-
gregationalist pastors, they will be
Universalists all the same, as the
Rev. DIR. Taylor says; though, as
they will be so in fact, but under a
difiert and delu,;ive ilame, they will
he religious frauds. But why
shouldn't they he frauds! Is not
their great exemplar the greatest of
frauds himself, and isn't he the m ost
successful preacher in the denomina-
ion in spite of it?
Whatever skcptics may think about
hell, however absurd they may regard
the doctrine that the Divine Justice
can only be satisfied with the torment
of millions of human beings, eternal
damnation is all essential plank in tho
Congregational platform. 1t is al
most the keystone of the theological
arch, removing which the whole struc-
ture goes to pieces. If the conse-
auence of sin ,mrepented OF Is not
eternal punishment, and If righteous
ness does not win eternal bliss, then
the Congregationalists should at once
.revise their creed, or, as Or. Taylor
suggests, go over in body to the
Universalists. Nothing is so bad as
sham and pretence in religious COM
munion, and nothing IS so fatal to ITS
success in securing the respect and
gaining the adhesion OF men.
;. The moral corruption of Beecher-
ism, sustained. and whitewashed, has
; already undermined the Congregation
al Church, and now its sentimentality
and skepticism, its profanity and fiji
, pancy, ara milking another breach in
ae7S~4& 49, = El1zsz u