The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1882-03-09

Harpsrs theatre was crowded last even
ing with an audience that seldom fEds its
way into places of amusement. The crowd
was attracted by the Rev. Henry Ward
i Beecher. Who talked On the subject of.
Moral uses>of Luxury and Beauty" The
talk was of rambling character. and was
characteristic with the man, and could
hardly be dignifed by the appellation of
lecture.
1 TIE LECTURE.
4 Promptly at o'clock Rev. J. G. Halli-
day, of the Broadway Presbyterian church,
entered the stage with Rev. Mr.. Beecher.
| In few words the former introduced the
! latter who without preface commenced his
/ talk by stating that it might seem strange
| that he whose whole life had been in the
| church, should come here and urge men to
| the opposite of what the church had for
years been teaching. He did not address
himself to those men who had already
| acquired wealth, but to the young men, the
mechanics, clerks, and young men of all
classes who were now laboring to keep up
their expenses. 1t might seem strange that
a moral teacher should be enthusiastic in
his advocacy of riches and the beautiful, |
1 but he did advocate these, and hoped to
see along this very line development in |
| the civilization of the world. Without |
these society would relax and go again |
into barbarism. He held that it was posi- |
BILE for and the duty of every man, unless |
he be diseased in mind or body, to organize
and redeem himself from the servitude to |
the inner man. What the speaker under |
stood by riches was not the heaping up of |
money or property A man was poor
whose thoughts and skill were necessary
every day to give him food and shelter 1t |
was the poorest thing man could do to
| take care of an animal that was himself I
| To be bound down so that this WIS his |
whole aim was poverty indeed. When a
| man had enough for himself and could |
look after the wants and comforts of wife |
| and children he had risen a step. When |
he lived no longer from day to day, when |
the work Of every hour and every day was
not necessary to the support of himself |
when he
COULD THINK OF Els HOUSEHOLD,
when he emerged from self-service to that
of service to those depending upon him, it
was then that he had time to think and
reach out after something more than sup
port, and take the first step toward high
er civilization. Then he need not give every
thought to his support, for every dollar
saved helped to bring in more. But with
us every dollar said, ''get more, and when
we had increased our store to $4,000 we
wanted to double it; when we had $50, 600
we wanted $40, 600, and so on until the
millions were reached, and then the com
petition between men went on, each deter
mined to out do his fellow. Men made
money merely for the love of it. They
accumulated property and died rich in
property but poor in humanity.
1t was the opposite of this with that
other m yyh O Hn
accumulated wealth to crafty his appetite
and give him sensual enjoyment. On one
side was the avariclous man, and upon the a,
other the selfindulgent man. The great
middle class held up those two examples L
and warned all against riches They said t
give me neither rices nor poverty, but just
enough. That was one word for which /,
there had never been found any boundary. :,
In speaking of the opposition there had
been to riches, he said we were the chill t
dren of the Puritans, who were imperfect t
in that they appeared at a time when there g
was great ignorance. Whatever there was
Of wealth or beauty was in the hands of
the masters, and was usedfer the very pur- V
pbse of making the slavery of the poor "
more complete The people had lost sight
of that teaching of the gospel that every u
man should give an account of himself, not
through his priest, his church, or his party, o
but through himself to God. There was p
sanctfty under man, and he who assaulted
him, buffeted God. This was the resurrec- 81
ton idea that
INSPIRED THE PURITAN LIFE. .
They went back to dig out their country
men. They found all authority, all learn
ing, all riches, all embellishments of art II
and whatever was beautiful arrayed against =
them to help keep the common people in
bondage. Because these were the things
that bound their fellow-men these Puritans
turned against them. They did one work
hat was noble. They brought to New V,
England free spirits, but they also brought h
heir old prejudices, and in their newihomes st
quilt plainly and strongly, but left out all n
he beautiful. The old New England b.
ZONES, if they had anything that was beau g
iful, it was that which the soul created B
md hung upon the walls. The speaker q
aid he could not conceive of one more -
hungry for the beautiful than he was when
boy in one of those old New England
ZONES
Those noble Puritans believe that there h,
ould not be harmony between the beauti- ),
III and sanctity. They seemed to think III
here was something akin between poverty al
nd sanctity. That idea had been encour- DC
ged and taught in the church from that tn
mc down to the present almost. They nm
10 not consider Cnat there could be pride
l poverty as well as in riches, that there at
ould be extravaganza among the poor as he
ell as among the rich. These were not
he result of riches nor of poverty; they -,
ERE in human nature.
The speaker believed temptation were rls
lore cogent in poverty than in riches. an
ct that doctrine was still IN the church
he best remedy for the heresy was riches ,,;
femselves. VI
Another source of prejudice against the pc
,quisition of riches was the Interpretation VIC
lat had been placed on the sculptures by
lie ascetic school.
DEvOTEEs. r..
He spoke of the importance of each man s,,-
his share to the civilization -
Id reform of humanity, and argued that
was the duty Of each man to spend
triton of his money for the benefit of the
ate and for his HOUSEHOLD This could u.
lily be done when the man had resources Br
owe his actual expenses, as without such
sets the man who lived beyond his means Il.
IS cheat and thief-he enjoyed what ioe
! not belong to him. In spending money the
his hollqphGld bv ba WING library opd rY,s