Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-08-11
BEECHER
On the Changes in Religious Belief
God Never Rests, nor Fine, nor Man
kind, and we Grow by Change
He who Changes Not Never
Grows.

Concluding recent lecture, Henry Ware
Beecher said: Il will not weary your patience
by longer discussion, and will briefly make
a few points of application. The first is, the
folly of a blind adherence to all forms o.
creed and organization. | suppose there are
some men who, if they could have their own
way, would rather start for Europe IN Noah S
ark than in one of the very best White StaI
steamers. Laughter But, for myself, !
would rather go IN the modern steamer.
Laughter Change for the sake of change
is folly. Change without study, care or
adaptation is worse than folly, it is crime.
But where men have the primary object IN
view, charity, and when men are seeking to
establish this by new instruments, new meas
ures and new methods, they are wise, and
the men that insist upon adhering to the old
ones are unwise. For an old method, when
new ones are IN vogue, is ike dried apples
after the trees in the field begin to
give you fresh ripe apples again. Dried ap-
piles if you can't get anything else. Laugh
ter. And hence the injustice of charging
wrong upon all men that step aside from the
paths of thought that have been laid down.
Men usually greet those persons that under
take to present truths IN a new form and with
new adaptation and with new and skillful
points-men generally say, But the bible.
The bible says so and so, and you must give up
that precious book" | don't mean to give
L L
to do by it what Christ's disciples did when
they went through the fields on Sunday, eat
ing wheat, rubbing it in their hands. They
didn't think that they had to eat the straw
nor the chaff, because they wanted to get the
wheat, aud don't think | am bound to eat
straw OF chaf; that is, | am not bound to
eat your Interpretation of the bible. Every
mans Interpretation of every passage of
the scriptures is according ID his philosophy
and the way he has been taught; and it don't
follow because | repudlate your interpreta-
ton therefore | repudlate the passage, the
text nor the doctrine, and a man
may believe very differently from you and
not be reflector of the sacred scrip
lures or reflector of the truer theology than
that which he held before or which you hold.
An enlightened mind, and unprecedented soul,
and a wise method of conducting to thought,
that Is the very end for which the scripture
was written, and no man will understand 1t
of the spirit until he brings his own mind to
the same standpoint IN which the scripture
itself was written, and then it will be inter-
preted to him. And one word more: Of all
dangers, no danger IS greater than that of
fear, unless it be that of blindness. There
are men that viii not talk, will not think,
will not be instructed the blind leads the
blind, and both fall into the ditch. And on
the other hand there are many persons who
are most gentle, and most amiable, and most
excellent, and they don't know where these
things will grow. On, when | was a child,
the Sabbath wasn't the same thing it is now.
When | was a child they taught us cate
chism; but there Is no catechlsm taught
now In our families. When | was
child everybody believed in confessions,
and hear men say that they
don't believe in confessions. When was a
child, and used to go to meetings, we used to
go to our pews and go through our regular
form, and walk home again, and nobody
talked, and now everybody talks with every
body else on the way to meetin and every
body seems to enjoy themselves, and it's all
changed; it's all changed. And people don t
know where things are going TO. Now,
say if you look at the result you will find that
this whole age has been the legitimate out
come of those gifts of Providence which pre-
pare US for better things. All your maple
trees and ali your oak trees, and all your
beech trees about here, are drawing near the
time. Leaves-why they believe
that the sun was created to make them, and
every time that the leaves look up into the |
heaven they think that the whole heaven was |
instituted for them. And at last it will go on |
until the autumn, and they begin to find they |
are growing weaker at the base, and one |
drops down and another drops down, and all |
the congregation OF leaves say, ALAS! alas! |
there are to be no more leaves; we are all |
falling. There is not leaf even to day that |
has not made a young bud at its base which |
will live when the old leaf falls. There is a |
young baby leaf that the cold, harsh wind of /
winter cannot touch, and when shall como |
the next spring and the odorous breath of the |
south wind shall go cheeriiy through the for
est, into every one of those shall come life,
and they shall spring out, clustering new
leaves and the great trees shall clap their
hands for joy. Drop the old leaves, but see
to il that there are new ones formed. Let |
The new leaves spring out. There is hope in
progress. God never rests, nor time, nor
and we grow by change, and he
who changes not never grows" Loud APP
plause.
Let those who are not Office seekers
Answer.
Atlanta Constitution: Who can want a
better greenback platform than the one that
me Democrats of Louisiana adopted about a
month ago? The Democrats of the south
Ind west control the actions of the party, and |
hey are practically solid on the greenback
ssues. Is not Mr.. Hendricks or Mr.. Voor-
ices sufficiently advanced on these questions?
They certainly are, and they are leaders of
he only party that can defeat the schemes of
he grasping capitalists and coupon clippers
# the east. What need then of a Greenback
,arty In the south and west? Let any man
Who is not an ofhce-seeker answer.