Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1879-08-02
BEECHER.
HE breaches TO THlRTY-FlvE HUN
DRIED PEOPLE,
At Highland Lake Grove-The Necessity
Of Man Being Born Again A
Sermon Stored With Wit and
Spiced With Sarcasm.

About thirty-fve hundred people Wis
tied Highland lake grove Yesterday Tor
the purpose OF hearing Henry ward
Beecher preach. The audience embrac-
ed all classes and conditions, from the
highest TO the lowest, and all seemed
anxious To get near enough TO hear the
words which fell from his lips. a large
number of the audience went from this
city. while the towns along the line OF
the New York * New England road,
reaching as far upas Putnam and Stock
bridge. sent full compliment People
came, i'm tact, from all directions, by
steam, by teams and on foot. Mr..
Beecher left Boston on the l2:40 train,
which comprised ten cars, including the
Pullman car, Gen. Putnam, in which
was the speaker, members OF the press
and invited guests.
MR. BEECHER's SERMON.
After referring to and reading the
efforts OF Christ to teach Nicodemus the
necessity of regeneration, Mr.. Beecher
based his remarks upon the third
chapter OF John, third and seventh
verses:
Verify. verify. say unto thee, except a man
be born again he cannot see the Kingdom OF
God.
Marvel not that say unto thee ye must be
born again.
Ii such saying, said the famous
preacher, was true of NicOdemus, the
leader OF the people, how ofall that were
his interiors? NicOdemus himself, how
ever, stumbled at the figurative Ian
guage, and brought out, therefore, from
the Master the clear declaration that
this new birth was not physical one.
Nicodemus supposed, possibly, that one
must, by miraculous power, be born
literally again, and in this suppositlon
he is followed by large number OF peo-
pie in our time, who, though, do not
suppose that one must return To the
womb of the mother to be born again.
There is no change produced by the
divine spirit in the human soul, in the
act of conversion, which gives to them
any new faculty whatsoever, or any
other faculty or power than that which
lies potential and dormant in them be-
forehand. When men are born there Is
something of everything that every man
needs in him, and, ii it be developed,
educated and employed, every man has
i'm him all that he needs in the pertor-
nance of his whole duty, both toward
God and toward man. Conversion
never puts into man what he never
had before, nor takes away from him
what he had before. Every man has in
him everything that is needlul for a new
lie. Well,
WHAT Is BEING BORN AGAIN?
Is is simply an application, and, |
might almost say, a sOlemnlZatlon OF
that which YOU see taking place perpet-
uallv. 1t is beginning life again. 1t is
starting over again. That is all. You
have been going wrong, and you stop,
fully convinced that you are wrong, and
take an entirely new direction. That Is
the new beginning, or the new birth, or
the starting over again OF religious life.
The language OF the Bible is the Ian
guage OF the pcOple-common sense;
and when il says that we must be born
again it means that we must take a new
start. Let me call your attention to Il
fact: Our Master has not laid out a
plan for new church. There Is no
plan for a Christian church in the New
Testament. 1t is thing that has devel-
oped and opened itself just as the COM
mon schools have. So ii men are to
come up TO the divine Creators idea
they must be taken man by man. Each
man must be brought up higher. You
cannot lift whole communities. You
have got 10 begin ut the a, b, c's OF life
and take each individual and lift him up.
All those attempts, therefore, to rcgenc-
rate mankind or communities, as IT you
could carry them all up, are futile IN eX-
perience and also contrary TO the genius
OF the New Testament. Conversion
never makes saint; never has and never
will. Religion is more nature than ma
ture is itself. Conversion teaches a
man his letters. 1t doesn't teach him
literature. Conversion puts man
north when he is travelling south in a
wrong direction. 1t turns him around
and points him right, but not one step
beyond that. Theman must take his
own steps after conversion towards a
higher and nobler life. Its nearly 2OOO
wears since our master made this declara-
ton, "Ye must be born again" 2OOO
wears ago, and vet how many men OF the
millions and hundreds OF millions that
populate the globe have changed? Is 1t
to he supposed that there are 100000
out of the l2OO0,000 of inhabitants who
have experienced new birth?
WHAT THING EVER WENT so SLOW AS THIS
WORLD?
Well, it has God behind it; but it is
not what is behind it; it is what is be-
fore it that makes the pillow 20. | do
consider people holy because they have
had holy water sprinkled over them. y
man NAV call himself a Christian and
act like 4 brute; a man may be 4 Chris
tan and act like total depravity in the
pulpit and out oft. Handsome is that
handsome does" Measure commune
ties by barbariSm, and it must be admit
ted that we have grown good deal IN
Christianity; but measure the other
wav-take the ideal man as perfectly
healthy body, a royal and educated
reason, full of moral and religious SEN
sibilitieS, full of all domestic affections,
and it must be admitted that we have
not grown so much. 1t takes agreat
deal of grace to keep some men reSpecta-
BILE. Some men have just enough grace
To keep their mouth above the water,
or they would be drowned in the flood
of their tranSgrcSSIons. DO YOU know
a church member the moment you see
him? Laughter. The moment you
see him, do You like him the better
Laughter. There are 4 great many
people who ought To do Is We do IN the
city; put their number and name on
their door-plate Laughter and a band
around their hat labelled: Il am
Christian" TRuars OF laughter | say
this not at all to dcride a Christian life.
There is no end of the times that it
would profit man to be born again.
There was a question in the old church
whether baptism more than once was
right. hold that it is. Laughter.
You might, without harm to some men,
begin with sprinkling laughter and
end with more than immersion re-
newed laughter end with a thorough
soaking. Shouts oi laughter,l Men
read the Bible through the spectacles OF
theologians [laughterl, without having