The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1877-01-31
BEECHER ON VANDERBILT.
He thinks that if Vanderbilt had
sung Hymns thirty years ago
it would have been better.

He CnlnkS C1aC III NanOcfDIIb HAT
sung Hymns thirty years age
itwOuId have been better.
Mr.. Beecher began his usua
weekly "talk' on Sunday night. il
Plymouth Church. by saying =
Cornelius Vanderbilt died yester
day. One of the most remarkable
men New York has ever produced
one Of the clearest heads; one who
had the art of turning thoughts e
things; a man of great sagacity, q
man of intense foresight, capable
of comprehensive plan and combi
nation; of great energy Of will o.
clean executive processes, who tool
few backward steps. Beginning
early, he made himself felt upon the
commercial interests of his neigh
borhood, and has gone on through @
long series of years and reached an
extraordinary old age of activity
with his understanding clear and
crisp and radiant to the very last
He was a man who did a great deal
of good, a man that deserves in bis
rank the honors of that rank. There
are few of the commercial forces
that have been his equal; perhaps
none his superior. But there it
stops; right there it stops. 1t is
true that he gave a church. 1t is
true that IN his last days, thanks to
the christian woman whom God gave
him for a companion and good guide
he endowed a university, and the
good he has done in these will o. t.
run and outlast, immeasurably, all
the other successes of his life. But
am speaking of the mans inten-
tions,| his recognized purposes and
methods all through his life. He
had a wide field and scope, and GER
tainly, as a mere business man, he
must be spoken Of honorably.
Within a few days another man
dies, not in his own mansion, nor
surrounded by affectionate friends
and all endearments not with half a
dozen physicians and skilful nurses !;
not with his name from day to day
mentioned in the papers, the Their
mometer of his life recorded, as in
the weather department where every
change of temperament is recorded (;
died a death in the midst of unut-
terable horrors, for in that terrific
plunge made through that broken
bridge at Ashtabula, it would seem
as if all the gorgons had come to-
gether for whatever could be done
by rending and tearing and burning
and decorating. There Mr.. Bliss
died-not great man, but a man
whose whole life was devoted seri-
ously, earnestly, sweetly to the work
of softening, enriching and emo
bling the dispositions of men. do
not think his hymns will last as
Watts's or Wesley's, but they are
adapted to our time and have moved
a whole generation of schools and
churches. L do not think his melo-
dies will ever last by the side of
Mozart's or Beethoven's or a host of
others, yet they have been adopted
in this land, and the hymns and
songs written by Mr.. Bliss have Civ.
en- a silent influence gentle as the
dew in summer, as gentle as the
rains, and have nourished ten thou
sand times ten thousand tender
roots; have caused more thoughts.
more sacred emotions 10 spring up
IA the souls of men, [ had almost
said, than the showers do in the
summer. Here is @ man almost I'M
known, except as sweet singer in
Israel. His life suddenly ceased a |
iew papers note it; he holds no
place in the world as Vanderbilt 1t
s not right that l should compare
hese men except to say that the |
after was the vaster in the lower |
ange OF the mind, in strength OF /
and yet it seems to me
hat Mr.. Bliss has done far grand
II work-he has opened the door
Trough which ten thousand souls
ave eeen the other life; has made
heaven not Of brass, but transpa-
emit; has caused joy to blossom,
nd caused the name of Jesus Christ
0 be effulgent. and brought some
hing OF the very spirit of heavenly
race upon the earth has made lit
lie children understand the glory of
he Savior.s love and service, and
is whole life has been put into the
FORK of sanctlfyiug the dispositions
f men, It is a noble life, and it
es not within the circuit of imita-
on by every one, but all of us may
o something, each in our several
pheres.
Mr.. Lyman Abbott spoke of
which he had had with
II. Deems, who he said, had told
of the interior of Mr.Van-
character. 1t was feeling
hich he had, that after all there
as something more than this worlds
access, and that this had been GO
e on. not only in the last months
his illness, but long before; also
his reverence for a Christian
other, whom he almost worshiped,
ld for his liking for one English
assic, Bunyan's Pilgrims Pro-
ress,' that his favorite hymns
ere those sung by his Christian
ife during his last sickness-"Show
ty, Lord oh, Lord. forgive :"
Come, We sinners, poor and needy"
Id There is rest for the weary"
Yes, L am very glad that he liked ]
ose hymns, very glad that he liked {
ng them thirty years ago it would {
we made a great differnce. both to
m and to many others. 1t is well f
zen old men DIET is a great CON- t
rt-that they manifest deeper r
terest in things spiritual; but Cor 9
illus Vanderbilt, as long as he Z
N III ohnarF ~ 1