The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1878-04-04
WOnTHIN "a /, ( !,
The following pulpit utterances were
put in type some time since and have
b zen crowded out by other matter =
They are just as good, however, as they
were We when first spoken ! s>tss
THE PULPIT.
BEECIIER STILL RISING. =

BEECIIER STILL RISING,
Henry Ward Beecller, like Raphael,
is doing his greatest work III his age.
His declining years. show no decline,
but lie rises continually to greater in
tellectual and spiritual heights. lis
sermon delivered Il few Sundays ago n
'lIeretlity" is pronounced the greatest
of his life. We copy below aportion of
it where he speaks of the Marriage of
Science and Religion, which will soon
occur, and where lie tells the truth a.
bout the horrible wars and quarrcls
which have been waged in the name of
religion. lie says ''if the church had
been left in the hands of the priesthood
it would have gone to the devil long a.
go" For holding the same views and
expressing them, some of the Worthing-
ton bigots have becn ready to immo-
late us. The difference between the
Gospel of Christ and Theology is as
great us the difference between Christ
and Judaism. But the churches, al
most without exception, are so bound
up in Theology that they are daily
thruSting out ministers and laymen,
for mere difference Of opinion upon the
illogical points. No wonder the peo-
pie are tired OF the Old Churches and
arc rallying around the Swings and the
Cheneys. Here is what Beecher says:
Tie conditions Of society keep the
masses in IL heated, nervous, struggling
condition. The BARRIERS of society are
among the strongest to keep men in
place in civilized community. There
is not a man in this church. nor Il wO-
man either, who dare defy them. No
adequate provision has been made in
church or State for the clevatiu of
men who have not enough will-stanlna
to act us individuals. 1t is the spirit
OF Christ in men, 5 hearts that holds the
church from corruption. There have
been more quarrels and more wars on
account Of religion, than there ever were
from any other cause. If the church
had been left i'll the hands of the priest
hood it would have gone to the devil
long ago. They have no sympathy with
anything that comb"ts their ideas. 1t
is III the household, 10y the iireside, and
in loving mothers hearts that the Cos
pei has been sustained. Religion Will
wed science and science will we'd relg-
ion. l hail the day when the two shall
unite. They will come together cuyly
ut first like other lovers, but there will
be the KISS and warm embrace, aud ut
last they will marry. and there will be
{ no more trouble between them than is
fS,pp in,
lilies. These are two itveiutiOus--(iod
i, the natural world and God IN tie
spiritual world. We must have ethics
for nations and for races, including i'll
conditions, for physical health and So
ci'l environment, civil lib'rtv and light,
and the wholesale inlt ritance Of we'll
regulated minds. Do you think the
beautiful valley OF the Amazon WAS put
in this world to produce nothing but
enormous plants and useless trees? |
cannot believe it. You ami I may not
live to see it. but the day will come
when the whole world will I've Chris
tianZed, when every knee will bow, and
every tongue confess. You will not
SEE it here. will not see it here. But
shall see it there [pointing heaven
ward.
rev. II. W. Thomas, pastor of the
Centenary Methodist Church, the
largest NJ. F.. Church in Chicago, re-
Gently spoke thus of the atonement and
of another chance:
1T seems to me to lie sad abuse of
the blessed doctrine Of the atonement,
if, in it, amy find the least excuse or
right to lo wrong, for God never can
give such right; or, if any think that in
the sntferings Of Christ they can find
amy possible covrrirg-up, or hiding
from themselves Of their ong-loings,
only as these sutferinys so reach their
inward nature and move it to repent
ance and restitution. and thus back in
to ii ghteousness. This idea of men
cheating and stealing, and then hiding
and living upon their ill-gotten gains;
this idea OF men raviSlIiMg the innocent
and numbering the defcnscless. and
til II dying III triumph on the galiows
the next mono Mt; this idea of slandering
some neighbor and seeing his good
name 81 down in darkness, and you.
the real william, stand out us the very
pink of fairness, and then think to hide
it all in the atonement;-I say this, aud
a!l such ideas have gone quite too far
for even the morality, not to say the
religion. OF on: day. God gives no man
the right to sin; and lie fOrgives no sin
only upon deep repentance and rcstitu-
ton when that i, possible. And |
somehow feel that before we can ever
fully forgive ourselves we must not on
ly have the disposition to make all pos
sihlc amends, but must make all real
sonable tfiurts, and I somehow feel
that t:ere may be in the life to come
some way bv which, wa may make the
confessions or the resolutions that are
so often impossible here.
MURRAY ON MODERN THEOLOGY.
Rev. ". II. II. Murray, pastor of one
of the largest churches in Boston, said
in u recent sermon:
The form and structure of modern
theology-wh;c!l may he regarded rs
biblical Interpretation in it's widest
sense-were defined and put together
10y men who were us ignorant us Il babe
in its cradle Of the thousand and orc
evidences which are now freely admit
tea by their successors as competent
testimony before that great tribunal of
scholarly decision which sits without
adjournment in adjudication Of these
grave matters. OF Calvin [
need not speak, save to alllule to him
us the best theologian and the poorest
Interpreter of the gospels that ever had
an ambition to he Il pope without Il tia
IA, or had the evil fortune to perpetu-
ate Il partisanslip-and this is it's con-
demnation-that ripened Il harvest of
prejudice, passion and cruelty from the
seeds of like nature, Which, by his teach
ings and his conduct, he had sown in
his life. From these ard from men of
equally limited Acknowledgement e.
Q,mlly obstructed III reaching the truth
10y their circumstances; men equally
rrejndiced. wickedly ambitious and T.
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