Year: 1870

A New York paper of October the
18th publishes this:


Rev. Henry Ward Beecher preached
,on Sunday last, Sermon which seems
to have attracted great deal of atten-
ition. He took his text from Matthew
xxi, 80. {" For in the resurrection
they neither marry nor are given In
marriage, but are as the Angels OF
God in Heaven"


In Jerusalem, said Mr.. Beecher,
every one of the faction had their turn
in propounding to Christ their ques-
tions; they had their enigmas and
their dark sayings, which had no sub
stantial truth. and here is specimen
The Sadducees did not believe in q
resurrection. According to the land
system of the Jews, By which pro. erty
was to be kept in families, Ii bro
ther died, his widow was to be taken
by his next brother, polygamy being
permissible and so there was widow
that passed from one brother to another
tothe seventh. Now" say they, in
the other life, whose shall she be for
all seven had her p The answer of
the Saviour was substantially this !:
Z" You are set of ignorant fools. 1t
Mas couched in other language than
this, but it came to that. 9. Ye do err,
not knowing the power of the Scrip
lures" You biunder, you are ignorant,
the everlasting law of nature is the law
of God. For in the resurrection, they
neither marry nor are given in marrl-
age. But although he likened men in
the future state to angels, he did not
explain what angels were. lie said that
there was part of man that ceases
and does not go on into the other life,
that a portion Of his powers which fit
him for this lower life will stay
here and fall back, and that in the
other lifs we shall carry those qualities
which are highest and noblest His
reply therefore, is remarkable for what
it says, and quite as remarkable for
what 1T leaves unsaid for not only
here i'm this passage. but everywhere in
the Bible. you will be struck with how
little it has had to say about the other
state. He poured light on life and
Immortality, but be certainly did not
reveal them. In the passage. "Ye do
err, not knowing the power of the
Scriptures" He af6rms that the Old
Testament taught that there was an>
other life after death and it may seem
strange, but il almost requires some
such afirmations as these TO persuade
ps that the Old Testament did recog-
nize some such doctrine. For it has
never been explicitly taught, though a
great many times recognized, there can
be no question but what, in such early
Zines, such d dim faith existed, though
there was not single instance 10 the
whole Ave books of Moses when it is
addressed to man as motive Of con
Auct; all idea Of reward and punish
lnent relative to this life. If you do
this you shall be punished. or if you do
that you shall be rewarded here in this
sworld-nowhere in the other, People
ask, can Uniyersalists be Christians
let me ask them, bow could God
maintain an economy that ran for 400
wears. and never recognized any such
thing as d future state? And there il
nothing taught 10 the New Testament
that is specific as to Heaven, whether il
10 q thing or q place There IS nc
account given of its government, or o.
the experience ofthose that are there.
A Thousand questions, therefore, are
NOT answered which thousand of mel
uonatarally inquisitiye spirits now ask


We reason now more in respect to our
own nature than the ancicnts did Paul
declares that Aesh and blood shall not