Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1878-07-23
From y. 7. Herald Of 18th.
Plymouth Church.
THE NAME AND NATURE OF THE sA.
YIoR-sERNION BY REV. HENRY
WARD BEECAER.

THE NAME AMI MAJ OF The SAS
YIoR-sERMON BY REV. HENRY
WARD BEECAER.
Rev. Henry Ward Beecher preached
his last sermon previous to his long
vacation yesterday morning. After
the sermon the congregation was re-
quested to sing that old Plymouth
hymn, Love Divine all Love Excel
ling. " and then to sing it In their
hearts until they should meet again,
and after singing it they went their
several ways to assemble no more I'M
I'll Mr.. Beecher shall turn in OctO-
Der. The sermon was an exposition
of the second chapter Of st. Paul's
epistle to the Philippians, the verse
in which it is declared that at the
name of Jesus every knee should bow
being emphasized particularly as the
text. After dwelling upon the pas
sion men have for perpetuating their
names and pointing out that man
stands alone in the universe in this
desire, Mr.. Beecher remarked that the
passion existed at the advent in a
marked degree. The Man of all men
living whose name once seemed least
likely to be remembered was the hum
bic Nazarine carpenters SOD, without
wealth or friends. who was summari-
ly tried and executed by the higher
classes and yet His was the illustri-
Gus Eame adored long after the prin-
ces of His time had been forgOtten.-
The ideal of God presented by Jesus
was self-sacrificing love, as set over
against the pagan ideal Of power
simply.
EXPOUNDING THE TEXT
In the passage under consideration,
the apostles. exhOrtiDg the people to
initiate the Saviour, enjoined them to
have the largest sympathy for the in
terests of everybody. Look not ev-
cry man on his Own things"-exclu-
sively, that means-''but every man
also on the things of Other.h Be in
terested in everything that interests
mankind. And then to encourage
them he added, Let the mind be in
you which was also in Christ Jesus"
and In order to picture what that
mind was he pictures Him as existing
and pre-existIng, the chief and the
head, the highest conceivable being in
the universal being in the form of
God" But God is a spirit and has no
bodily form, and if He was therefore
in the image of God it must have been
not in His outward form, but in His
nature-"whO being in the form of
God thought it not robbery to be
equal with God" When one being is
laid upon another, Mr.. Beecher re-
marked, and every line and angle is |
found to meet and match, and Jesus |
Christ thinks it not wrong to make |
Himself equal with the Almighty |
God, that is a powerful argument ia |
favor of His divinity. But made |
Himself of no reputation and took |
upon Him the form of a servant and |
was made in the likeness Of men,
And being found in fashion as a man |
He humbled himself and became ODE |
dent unto denth"-and, as if that |
were not enough yet, "even the death |
Of the cross. Wherefore God also hath |
highly exalted him and given Him a |
name which is above every name. u
Wherefore q? Because being the image |
Of God, 1.-The express image of His
person." as il is said elsewhere-be- |
cause standing far above the utter
most conception OF being, character,
power and glory that man can form, |
He of His own accord descended into |
one part of His creation where the |
nascent race was struggling for emaD-
ciHation, development and cultivation |
and poured forth His whole tide of |
being for their sake who were unre- |
quitting and ungrateful. He came in
to the world not simply to do nurse's
work, but to do a martyrs work, and |
poured His bei2g out upon the poor |
est, weakest end Cneanest.
WHY THE SAVIOUR CAME.
The declared object of Christ's COM
ng to the world was not to make some
change in the everlasting organization
Of truth and justice. but that there |
might be emitted from Him some con-
,eption of what the eternal God al
ways was and always will be. Men
Of science who talk of evolution were
for a God which built the
world. In time they would reach a
stage where there would be disclosed
TO them a God working in mind
Then the world building God would
not be destroyed, but the man build
ing God would he exalted.
Referring TO the fact that many of
the teachings OF Scripture were found
in Oriental creeds, Mr.. Beecher re-
marked that all the world had been
spinning threads. but Jesus Christ
was the loom in which they were
woven into the glorious garment that
covered all humanity. The true dis
,iples of Christ were those who Were
ike Christ. and every arrogant hero,
every despotic leader, every selfishly
ambitious man, was excluded from