, 1886-06-06
MIR. BEECHER'S SERMON.
THE TENDENCY OF KNOWLEDGE is
TO PRODUCE MORALITY.
Our Free Public Schools Arc Towers of
Defence. and While We Have Them
We Can Hear the Strain of European
Ignorance and Vice.

hhh -
BROOKLYN, May 3o.-Henry Ward
Beecher preached this morning from the
texts ii Peter, iii, is, and Ephesians, iv. 10;
but grow in grace, and in the knowledge
Of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ"
But speaking the truth in love. may
grow up into him in all things, which is the
head, even Christi
He said; We are familiar in this land
where education is an atmosphere almost
anil byworl, with growth in intelli gcnce
and in knowledge. These two thin IS are
very different. Intelligence implies n certain
conllt.on OF the kno wing faculties; knowl
edge is the fruit OF this intelligence. There is
just MS much difference between them ns
there is between skill and the product
OF SIX II. There Ia just tho same difference
that thor, is between husbandry and
the hnrvests that husbandry can produce.
A man may have intelligence, and can
scarcely be without knowledge. A man may
have "A good deal OF knowledge, and hardly
have much intelligence. We see multitudes
coming out of our colleges every year
with n good deal Of knowledge ana very
little common sense. We see men that
have plundered right and left through the
whole OF history and in all directions, but
they are not intelligent men after all. They
hic ny lutlT knOMltubt. lHtf hO
not know what to do with it, and they are
no moro rich in knowledge than the ass that
carries gold from the mine to the mint IL n
rich as. But where one has both inie1i-
gence and knowledge, and where he is grow
ing in them both, that is n transcendently
noble thing.
1t is said, In the eagerness of some mon for
religion, hat intelligence or education with
out religion is prejudicial; and it has even
been said that intelligence without re-
ligion is educated vice. Truth is sacrificed
here to n phrase. 1t is the direct tendency OF
intelligence and knowledge to produce
morality. l aver without fear OF contra
diction, that If you take the statistics OF vice
and OF penib.e crime. you shall find that by
far the largest number Of those that
have stumbled on the threshold OF the
law and are ruinel for life We're men
without knowledge and without any
reasonable degree OF education. They are
poor, ignorant creatures, that have FOLLOWED
their passions. l declare that education, or
the development OF tne knowing parts OF a
man, gives to him 80 large u view of the
Held OF life that he Is more likely to sec that
morality is safety. than il he were ignorant;
and that the general fact stands proved
that intelligence and knowledge tend
on the whole, by immense measure, toward
goodness, responsibility, virtue and morality.
SO that II We shall grow In knowio ige and
grow in aptitude for intelligence and knowl-
edge, we shall make a long stride away from
animalism and from the dangers that beset
the pa -sions and the nppetites OF human life.
There is, therefore, in our great land n
good deal OF reason why we should bring 10
bear on all classes OF men-the sweaty Ia
borer OF the farm, the dusty man at the
stithy or in the mine-every where, up and
down, through society, We should exhort
men to abate their passions and to
learn pleasure out of the develop
ments of intellect and knowledge. There
is no reason In this land why men should
he ignorant. except original limitation of
capacity. We are a reading people; and If
We were Il thinking people in the same ratio
in which we read, we should be a very wise
people. The food for knowledge was never
so abundant 1t is true that when you lool,
ut the circulation of pamphlets and books and
many newspapers you will find a vast amount
Of trash. Notwithstanding this, there is n
good denl OF knowledge, too. And with all
their worthlessness. the general system of
spreading reading matter before men,
adapted to their capacities in every rank
and position in life, is n wise one. Physiolo-
gists say TINT an OK needs a good deal of
straw TO distend his stomach, and that il he
wero ( d on concentrated food he would
waste away; and ldon't know but that may
he the reason why there is so much straw
put into The literature. that men, oxlike, may
enjoy their fodder.
Tue desire lor knowledge, above all the want
OF int, Il gencc, is receiving attention to-day
among Us, and al o the pc ntings an | yearn-
ings OF men in all directions, experimentally.
All these one way and another are indicat-
ing either the pres nee or the want of in
tel tx nee. All the world over, the under
classes are fermenting; they are disturbed.
In all the old nations you can hear
the sound of swarming, If you will
put your enr to the hive. And men are
feeling that ignorance is poison. They de
sire to escape from it, and they do not know
yet the best why's how, but they are striving,
and making many mistakes 1t is better for
a man 10 make mistakes striving tn IN TO
make no mistakes supine, dead. Life is able
to qualify mistakes
"But look Mt those classes that are bring
ing anarchy to usI' Who are theyi Mis-
readl Misinformel II They are men that have
got no reading; no information; scarcely the
capacity Tor it, They are men that know
how TO hiss, ~ktSbark, TO roar. They are
animals. They grow stronger and stronger
from the top OF the head TO the bottom Of it,
and there lies their prime pal genius-where
the tigers lies, where the swine's lies. Among
tlONt luhl 4 Ntl u uill lnltAllkfult III
scarcely an exception, the great mass OF the
people, there is little disturbance. There
may be dtquiet, but they are finding their
way. Slowly, sometimes with complaint
and with many aspirations. they are find
ing their way. But we arc safe.
Around about the oil walls of tho
ancient cities, before artillery had change |
fortification, Mt every little way there were
towers, ani again towers. and towers, out
OF which the archer might send his arrow or
his spear. These are our schools-watch
towers not only. but towers Of defence And
as long "a the free public school of America
Is well established in every neighborhood,
we are tough cnou IN and elastic enough
TO lear the strain OF all the expert
ment- that Old Europe can bring 10 our
shores. | nm not disturbed, except for the
present. the inconvenience OF 1t and the
necessary sun .ring. But everything that
comes to birth IN this world comes crying.
Entrance into life is through the gap OF
pain, and every up stop in life is, a. it were,
"A bi tn again, with more or less OF suffering
and trouble. But the manhood is not far oil
SO long as Intelligence exists
Now, whlo bodily growth, Intellectual
growth and growth in knowledge are to be
q teemed, and are not to lie thrown into the
shade by any misconccption OF the value OF
gracs and religion, yet | affirm that the
highest growth, because II is one that carries
all thes 9th RS with /. more or less or blcsses
them. Il growth in grace, or the growing up
into Jesus Christ, who ia our head. Growth
not hasi ar. hut grown by the spirit, by the
disp" tion; aud thut too. not according to
the lowe cGnons Of custom aud morality, but
nccoriins to the example that Is shown u.
The Power OF Money
and what the small sum of twenty five
cents will do if nroncrlv invested AL