Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1882-04-04
In His Bones.
THE CURIOUS SOURCE OF MR. BEECH
ER'S BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY.

The Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, in
Plymouth Church yesterday morning
took for his text First Corinthians, XIV /,
10: "If in this life only we have hope
in Christ we are of all men most miser-
able" He said that the cardinal mo-
ralities of life ought to stand for prof :
tableness and pleasure even if there be
no life hereafter and if all the motives
of the Guspels should be taken away it
should still be the interest of man to
be moral. Christian people are obliged
to dwell in the sphere of imagination.
After all the libraries of sermons about
faith it is nothing but imagination.
People live by their Imagination here.
and they shall not be disappointed The
different shapings may fail them, but it
will he because trey were too low
Though they may find things different
from what they expected, it will be be-
cause they are grander aud more glori
GUS than hey imagined. 1t il said that
That the world existed long before there
is any record, no man who Is abreast OF
current events can doubt. No word is
that a belief in Immortality existed
"A
anything excepting grand old gentle
remembering. He threw no light upon
the subject Of Immortality. I-aac was
figure of great neatness and beauty.
life hereafter. Jacob was a merchant
politician who never lost a good bar
gain Yet in his reference to higher
ii; NJ enp IN
toned a future life Neither did that
magnificent figure of the law giver Mo
SEES, who stood head and shoulders above
any man in history. He framed the
political and social economies of the
Israelites. yet in all the Mosaic institu
| lions there is no hint as to an after life
AS the ages 60 marching down there is
not one of the great men who gives q
word of testimony as to Immortality
There is nothing of the kind in the
whole moral code of the Old Testament,
and there il nothing more remark able
than that fact. David mourned the
death of his son, aud could not at first
be comforted At length he said: Il
shall 90 to him, but he shall not return
to me-" This was full of sentiment, il
he meant heaven but he did not. He
! meant that he should lie down in the
sepulchre Of his fathers with him.
| When Christ came the Jews had brought
back from Bah, Ion the belief in immOr
tali!y- Many persons say that this the
DRY of Immortality is bred of supersti
| ton. 1t is even said that the idea of q
future life bad its origin in dreams.
Mr. BeecheFsaid that he did not care
whether or not this YVES so, II Mr.
| Rothschiid should send him check for
| 81 600 600 he would not care whether #
came in a bag that was soiled with the
i fl lIh of ali the shj ps betweea Liverpool
and New York. so long as the check
came which, he added, with smile,
is not likely to happen. The clergy
man said that be had no words of re
proach for the agnostfcs those who say
they do not know There may De y
God, and continued existence. they
say, but who can prove it? Not to
know, however, is rs bad as not to be-
lieve. He had infinite compassion for
such people. What man, he said il,
conclusion. is worthy the name of man
| who has not in hin, the springs of i'm
mortaIity? If 10 600 scientific meu
should prove TO him that there is no ev.
idence of immortality he would yet
have that in him which would prove to
| him that it is true. He believed in lis
very bones that be would find it true.