Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1884-02-16
BEECHER.S BRIGHT THOUGHTS.
Sosne OF the Fl ynouth Phs'oT's sayings IN
SUNDAY Discourse on Love.

@ --
Mr.. Beecher, at Plymouth Church,
took as his text, John XIX, 80. The
passages describe the haste OF Peter and
John to the sepulchre after Christ had
,rhsp. IN the course Of his sermon he
gave uttcrance to the following
john ard Peter raced That was a
grand and glorious race to the sepulchre.
Well. low Won would bet OF Peter,
every one Of Won. John was q very
modest mar, but he cannot forget to put
in what no mythical man would ever
have put in, that the other disciple
outran Peter.
..'Pe,cr loved John loved. John
loved with reflective power, Peter with
motive. That makes a very great dlf-
ference. Peters zeal was not fed from
the head; it was the impulse Of blood.
John was a passionate man, but reflec-
ton grew with himxas action teslded to
grow with Peter, and he lived more and
more all inward life than Peter.
"In that race to the sepulchre love
and reflection beat love and impulse. SO
1t has been ever since. Not that love
and impulse are bad; not that either CT
/ them should exist alone; but if they are
Separated and divided to the end Of the
world love and reflection will beat III
activity, IL large scope, love and blood
impulse.
"There are multitudcs of men who
feel deeply, but feeling works inwardly,
.and7the more powerfully they feel the
H.lfs they are disposed to speak or to act.
'U!efe are men who are like the strings
I II aharp; you connot tonch them that
they do not answer back again instantly.
Feeling works ontwardly with them.
There are many men who, under heat,
b0D.and bubble and throw off the lid
| *s4d.Overflow and put out the fire.
When tho potato was first carried tc
| England they ate the tops. They didn't
know that the real potato lay under the
1gTplnd, hidden. There are a great
many men whose graces grow on the
lbbs ~ IL bO I'Cto Il III
They are all development.
'qThe power Of one common Church Ii
that the lordliness Of love brings to
'gether all these gifts and graces that ar,
4 distributed through various personal
/ ities, and makes them one in the life o
the. Church.
'eThe men of divine, governments
sympathy and the men Of human sym
patty, and the Church needs then
both.
',Schools in theology make themseive
the arbiters of all Gods DEGREES and al
Gods thought and admiration. TIL
extreme schools Judge everything b.
their tenet, and the lax schools judg
everything by their tenet. There ain
one Of you right, from the East to til
West. You are all imperfect.
sin this life we are all fragmentary
/ and in no direction more than in mora
government. In no direction are Their
more different lives of thought possible
rYou will sooner build a church tina
4 win hold all the population Of the glob
than you will build ono that will hol
all,the varying beliefs.
fThe law Of unity is not the law
similarity. It is the law of love b
which every man receives every othel
and considers that variation from hin
self as a rich contribution to the unit
and the grandeur of the whole, for tt
Church of Christ must represent til
sum total of all that which God has r,
vealed in this hfe and the varying di
positions of the men of the earth.
;"If we must analyze, divide, separat
then Of the two choose not zeal, clamo
/ ops and full Of exterior %activit,
81 Choose reflective love, not without a
tifitv, but more slow, more continuou
] deeper, and that puts into the result
!. activity more Of God.
4"Now, take this one thought HON
III is originate mean it will be if ve
! practice it in your life and in your HON
: Set yourself not up MS the Judge Of me
Accept those around You in everythir
a thar is in accordance with love and r
Fiction. Take them to Yourself: tai
yourself to them. In your neighbc
4 hood, everywhere. thank God for t
differences that are this side of wicke
ness. Every variation from O is
= accretion TO yon if you will so acce
j t.
RnSipund IN E,to