New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-06-26
4 SEEENTIETH BIRTHD4Y.

Mr. Beecher's SEVENTEEN birthday finds his
physical powers undated and his intellectual force
unimpairsd. Born in 1913, graduated from Ann
herst College in 1891, and installed as pastor of
Presbyterian church in 1887, he has been preach
inS for forty six years The Oldest members OF Ply
mouth Church, who bave listened to his sermons
for thirty-si1 years can see no evidence of decad-
ence in his preaching HIS theolog has become
more elastic, but his manner has not altered and
his power as a pulpit orator has not been dlmin-
ished, although the influence of his sermons ow-
ting to causes to which il Is unnecessary to refer is
no longer what it when his twenty-ffth ami
yersary was celebrated eleven years ago at Ply
mouth Church. lie remains, however, the most
conspicuous of American preachers, with an unri-
vailed capacity for expression and the orators
magical power of swaylng mems hearts and minds
and OF bringing either tears smiles to their faces
The broad effects of hs decade of active work in the
West have never disappeared in his preaching His
sermons still to have the breath of the prairie
stirrng in them and his manner has never lost the
elements OF hegrtiness, simplicity and informality
which 1t acquired during his earlier experience in
tbs ministry. His voice is as strong and n.elodous
as ever; his humor has not grown stale his MEM
DRY mas not failed him; and he is still in the
tnrity Of his intellectual powers. The great
dIence that gathered to honor him last night in
Brooklyn did not need. when lie spoke, TO listen
long in order TO be convinced that as a popular
preacher ard platform orator he is still the tore
most. Others may equal or surpass him in intel
lectual vigor in rhetorical graces and literary fin
ish or in logical subtety and argumontativo pow
err but no other preacher Is SO richly endowed with
those qualities of heart. mind and voice which give
Mr. Beecher "a fairly electrical ascendancy over an
audience.
In responding to the congratulations of multi
II eG.Nt tl,.f..
Beecher had a comparatively easy task Every
face hat was upturned TO meet his glance was IL
lumined with sympathy aud affection. He was the
central figure in a great concourse of loyal adher- |
ents and devoted friends every one of whom invo- |
unfairly held his breath in order that IL might be
easier for tho Plymouth pastor to make himself |
heard How different his emotions must have |
been when in his filtieth year. just twenty years
ago. he faced the English mobs in Manchester, |
Liverpool and London, and pleaded the cause of the
Union aud of Freedom! lie was subjected at that |
time to every conceivable annoyance. His voice |
was drowned by continuous uproar; he was In |
suited by gallery and pitt he was Kissed and |
hooted ana every sentence that fell from his lips |
was punctuated with rOars and yells. As he him.
self described the scene " I had to speak extern
pore on subjects the most delicate and difficult Us
between our two nations. where even THE shading
outscream mob and drown the roar of a multi
tude 1t was like.driving a team'of runaway horses
and making love TO n lady AT tho same time" The
man who responded 10 the addresses of welcome
and congratuation last night could not have faced
an English mob at three score-and-ten AS he did so
at fifty. Advanced age requires OK
emption from the supreme tests of mature man
hood But the far-reaching voice, the enthusiasm,
the earnestness the courage. the humOr the pathos
and the eloquence remained in the man, as they
y ore when he closed his series Of wartime adj
dresses IN England with u remarkable oratorical
triumph at Exeter Hall.