The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1891-07-01
BEECHER CRITICISED.
osv. DIXON, of Brooklyn, Says he
Vas not Rosponoible
FOR yfTERlNCES And ACTIONS
:, Later 1lie....His Teachings Not
= cbristian...Aner His Trial Mr..
Deccher was Greatly Changed, and
II IS Not Strange He Thought His
Friends Misunderstood Him.


r,oorIyy. June SO.-The Rev. a. @.
ni,on pastor OF the Hanson Place Bap-
H.. church, surprised his congregation
S,n5av morning by making some very
lain remarks concerning the Rev. Hen
r. Ward Beecher. lie considered Mr..
roccber as a teacher and practically
gs,el that his pulpit utterances during
,be latter part OF his life were produc-
five Of more harm than good.
a came to Brooklyn in 1881, "he said,
aims, to hear Mr.. Beccher preach. 1
heard him and was disappointed. The
crcJopic power of which l had read was
not in the sermon of that Sunday morn
;ng heard him lecture some time
sii,lcryarl on bis Western tour, and my
Ji.snrcia;ment was greater.
aI'l.oyc been led To believe that as o
man he was all that was claimed
or him by his Brooklyn admirers
Good. generous, truo, though very i'm
,rn6ent. As an orator, with theme
;bst aroused him, he had no equal. AS
a rcinrmer. he was bold and uncompro-
mi.ine. As u philanthropist, hc was
To;M.wite in his great hearted SYM
r5,Iv Asa citizen, he was patriotic
and aggressive
ASA TEACHER.
nBut DIR business with Henry Ward
Dsochcr this morning is as a teacher.
In Mr. Bcccher's early ministry he was
a,cachcr. He believed the Bible and
sragI9iracd il as the revelation OF God
Mil ro uncertain accent. But in his
s,cr ministry it was almost impossible
ia learn lust what he believed as to the
iGgnig,;on OF the Scriptures, future
rni:shwcnt, the atoncment, etc. At
ines hc seemed to be Orthodox, then
l'ni,ariar. then again Universalist. Ho
DECLARED tha. his best friends failed to
understand him; and no wonder. The
sermon q tEc day seemed to contradict
thc gc"Iron OF last week. Some one
soiI; 'Thc world is now composed OF
believers, unbelievers aud Beecherites.'
Tho Henry Ward Beecher of old ago
almost demolished the strong Henry
Ward BeeCher OF former days"
HIS FRIENDS EXCUSE.
a few OF Mr.. Beecher's friends in
Brooklyn, who knew him well, said that
shegtbenervous strain Of the great trial,
in which he bore himself so nobly, he
Wa. no, Just what he was before. have
j, on good authority that such was the
opinion OF some prominent members of
Plymouth church, and that 1t made
item generous toward the inconsisten-
cies and Yagaries OF his preaching in his
later days. Some OF his best friends
thought him at times hardly responsible
,Drwhat he said or did
The true explanation OF this charge,
however. seems to me to lie in Mr..
lacrhcr's constituencies to environment,
and he iact that in his early days he
a1iicd the Bible, while in his latter
lays be gave most OF his time to the
study Of cOntempOranGous literature,
he spirit Of which was largely anti
biblical.
"!t is evident that Mr.. Beecher, in
lnplring his sermons on evolution,
nal Herbert Spencer more than he did
Nosts, lie was always Il man OF the
times in the sense that he was in SYM
r.ky with living men about him, but
Abccame man OF the times in the
sa.c that he allowed the speculntions
@the times to mould his thought, In
elhy lie Mr. Beecher believed that the
BbIe should mould the age. In later
years he tried to adapt the Bible to the
'IiHt Of opposition about him.
ALL MES NOT CHILDREN OF GOD.
THE kind OF unbcliet which Mr..
Be,chcr did more than any other man
tOpoPHIarizc has done much to weaken
ile power OF the pulpit. To charge
Grl with being the father of all men is
a'Iander upon His holiness. Men by
E:iHTe are The children OF wrath, con.
GCeircl in sin and born in iniquity.'
Few Illusions can do more harm than
jiIle EeechcTism, which holds all mon to
Dc children of God. 1t puts men to
sleep on the bed Of false security. 1t is
iaeyaary oil the broad and sentimental
@'aa' which has no foundation in Scrip
lure or experience