The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-06-23
Mr.. BEECHER ON EVOLUTION.
He Treats Of Regenerationan Its Rela-
ton to the System of Nature.
The Kingdom of God One of Development
False Doctrines Of Mental Philosophy
--Reviyals Founded in Nature.


day, continuing the evolution series, had for its
text the third verse of the third chapter of John
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verify,
verify, | say unto thee, except man be born
again he cannot see the kingdom Of God" Mr..
Beecher said:
Christ began His ministry where John left off
his Repent, said John, ''for The kingdom Of
heaven is at hand" Reformation is always the
precursor of the higher stages of spiritual life,
and at that very point Christ took up His teach
ing, saying: Repent, for the kingdom of God is
at hand. But this was not the end, though it
was the beginning When He fell in with
OF singular purity pure character, like Nico-
demus. true and noble man. a coura geous man
in an antique way, a ruler among the Jews, a
man far above immortality anything of that
kind, to him he says: Eye must be born again.
Hardly another creature could have beer SCI
lected of whom it could be SO little expected that
Christ should say: Even such a one as you
must be born again" And propose to speak
on the subject of regeneration, and to show how
perfectly it fits into that system of nature which
evolution is supposed to be the unfolding of to
kneeling ndapprehenson. Christcaed men from
gross and animal life to a moral life-there can
be no question about that-folowing largely thus
the whole Old Testament example. That was but
a beginning. 1t was but foundation on which
a noble. airy structure was to be built. He
taught that there was stage yet beyond mo-
ralty, yet it was possible to unfold mans nature
like seed, either not planted or rot half grown,
and that there was beyond the laws of morality,
the laws OF rectitude TO ourselves and our fell
lows-bevond that there was Almighty sphere
outcome, into which every man should come;
that such development was the direct result of
divine influence. In other words, He taught that
which, If you arc to take similtude from ma.
ture, is familiar to every man: that while dark
ness and moisture, and heat will start seed,
nothing can carry it through its processes but
the sunlight and warmth, which are indispensable
to the higher stages of vegetable culture. do
not say that 1T is an analogy, but simply an
Illustration There are influences enough
emitted in nature to lead man up certain
way but when he comes to border of posi-
bic development OF himself, there must be direct
impact-if may say so-of the divine character
itself, the quickenng spirit of God. He taught,
too, that the man, opened to and stimulated by
the divine soul, could bring forth emotion, dis
position, insight, JOY and vision such as do not
come out of mere morality nor out of ordinary
influence in secular ife as if He had said. you
know no more about your Undeveloped higher
possibilities than a man knows what seed is
that stops before it blossoms or bears fruit. He
revealed another province, as it were, as one
might be supposed, ascending in mansion be-
quethed to him from the ground floor, with all
its conveniences, to chambers next above, fitted
with rare delights and prepared for peace and
comfort, and still ascending, begins to get the
wide prospect from the third stage all through
the land, making the outside of the house better
at last the dome crystals, topping all others.
through which night and day pour their
splendor, where he can see the whole
heaven above; SO OF men that began as ami
mails, that 60 up to be social, that come to
a higher range of the esthetic and intellectual,
and at last, highest of all, see God and immor-
tality, and are in state of communion with the
invisible. He taught that when one is thus
developed his daily life reaches away into
sphere where the soul of God and the conscious
presence ofd5od-the direct intercourse with our
thoughts and emotions with God-are felt; and,
still more important, state of receptiyity OF
the divine influence, under which the soul has
new development and new life.
THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND DEVELOPMENT
Thisis not taught once or twice, nor casually.
Look at the early verses of this very book of St
John, the most interior revelatory book of the
whole Bible. The twelfth and thirteenth verses:
'As many as received Him, to them gave
He power to become the sons of God,
even to them that believed on His name.
Which were born not of blood, nor of the will
of the fesh nor of the will Of man, but Of
God" He taught that such are in the kingdom
of God, and he taught us that the kingdom
of God is not place. 1t Isl not anything
in space or time, with regular organization, rul-
ers instruments and the law, but that the king
dom of God was moral condition, and that any
body that reached mp to that moral condition
was a member Of that kingdom. All those that
have their inward and nobler nature developed
till they feel the inspiration of Gods presence
and life in them, the inhabitants Of that
kingdom. None others are. He taught that all
this development prefigurcs and prepares for a
life still beyond this terraqueous ife where
man will enter upon transcendant conditions
which the eye has not SEEM nor the ear heard,
nor hath it entered into the heart of man to con-
ceive. And here are the steps and stages begin
he ay>1
force of natural laws, through the force of insti
buttons, of instruction, through the force of
moral experience, through the inspiration which
comes from God himself, and under that in
spiration. to state which hovers upon the spir-
itual and has some of its powers of intuition and
realization. Now, in all Of the realm of creation
where evolution is going on, is there any applica-
tion of it so important, so desirable, sublime
unfolding process from matter to the organic,
| and animal, and moral, and intellectual, and
| civic to final spirituality, to communion with
| and unity with God HIMSELF
| Now, as taught in theology, the doctrine OF
| conversion the doctrine of new birth, the doc
| trine Of being born again. the doctrine Of regen
Grafton is the form in which il is apt to come TO
the popular apprehension. This as taught in
| theology has often been overlaid by false men
| tai philosophy. AS urged in religious circles, it
| has been made often grotesque; as exhibited in
the lives of men that profess 10 have received
this revelation OF the spirit it has too often been
adulterated or simulated by gross elements un-
| lovely and rupnsive We must not Judge Of
the truth Of its cardinal doctrine of regeneration
| by tho unfoldings which we have seen OF IL
either il. actual life broad SCALE or in
| theology Itself. All these things should not
hide from us the glorious truth that the full
length portraiture Of man In his earthly state ia
given only in the New Testament, and that IL is
unfoded by the Lord Jesus Christ as the last
stage of evolution in the practical unfolding OF
human nature in the world and preparatory to
its transportation into the other. Many
men have taught that it was inv
possible Cor man to sec God unless
he had this change: that this change dd
not depend on his own will; that II was impossi-
BILE. except by the irresistible will or God; that
| that will was not given to all, only to the elect.
and that all the rest persisted; that it was kind
Of order of nobility, and the King doesn't crown
every peasant nor every good citizen, nor rib