San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1878-01-19
Mw BEECuIER's ORThO'
0lg DOXY. 1-a 81
A SERMON In which he Deptcss
THE Most aatdeOus NtGht.
mmre Of Theology"
[New York Times, Dec. l7thl

MT. Deecner te4t WAC s"o u
verse of the first chapter Of Ephesians'
aud the theme OF his discourse was the
background Of mystery which sur
rounds. or rather obscures, all attempts
to teach or understand the attributes
and nature of God. Men must learn
these things by their own experience
and, in illustrating the difference be-
tween God aod man. he said that mans
essential faculties are precisely similar
to those Of God, and only differ iu de.
grees, Just as the child Of four years,
sitting on his fathers knee, has the
same power. of reasoning as his father,
only that power in the father is ma
tured, while in the child it is weak and
obscure. A man would not hold q
candle out of the window and say it
was sunrise. and yet the same light aud
the same warmth exist in the candle
that exist in tho sun, though in an inn
mensely different degree.
Speaking of the Trinity, Mr.. Beecher.
said that he believed that there were
three persons united in one Godhead,
but if any one should ask him why he
believed it, he should tell him frankly
that he did not know anything about
it, only that it was easier to believe
that which he thought ooincided with
the doctrine of the New Testament
than to contradict it. But he could
not attempt to explain it. Orthodoxy
SAYS that men must believe in the Trim.
| ity or they cannot come into the
church. That is called orthodoxy, but
he called it heathenism. 1t is not an
easy thing, said MIR. Beecher, for an
honest, conscientious man to know just
what to preach and what not to preach.
A man who values morality, and who
has the good of his fellowman at heart
can not be careless as to the things he
ought to teach. His own head had
often reeled, and his mind had been
greatly troubled, when he reflected on
his responsibility in this matter. 1t
was no easy matter to remove the rot
ten timbers and replace them with
sound ones, and not stop the voyage OF
the ship. 1t was said that Adam was
created perfect. 1t was also said that
Adam sinned, and that in consequence
of that sin the whole human race fell.
The human race had existed on earth
for thousands and thousands of years,
and had gone on propagating aud null
, tiplyiug, until all the waves of the
ocean which had rolled in upon the
shore during those centuries did not
coutaiu drops enough, nor the sands oi
the sea particles enough, nor all the
figures of the arithmetic numbers
enough, to compute the preface, to say
nothing of the body, of the great his
tory of the human race. The numbers
of the human race we're actually be-
youd computation. and for thousands
and thousands of years they had been
born into the world, had lived and
struggled, and finally died, and gone
where? IF you tell me that they
have all gone to heaven, my answer
will be that such sweeping OF mud
into heaven would defile its purity
and | can not accept that. Ii you tel
me that they have gone to hell, then
swear by the Lord Jesus Christ, whom
7 have sworn to worship forever, tha
; Won will make aa infdel oi me. Th'
doctrine that ,;od has been for thou
: sands OF years peopliug this earth will
human beings. during a period three
fourtbs of which was not ILLUMINATED
by an altar or a church. and in place
, where a vast population Of those peo'
ple are yet without tina. light. Is Il
transform the Almighty into a monste
more hideous than Satan himself, an
7 ssear by all that IS sacred that vii
= never worship Satan though ne shoul'
Z appear dressed in royal robes and seat
/ ed on the throt.e Of JehOvAh- Mel
Z NAV say, You sill not 60 TO hesven-
> 4 heaven presided over By such DC
- ,hst. ubO has been PeopliD,
, TN. v..-li with millions Of human be
linrs M then sweeping then Of ini