Year: 1872

Men VINO FOLLOW Mi00oy CnTIsts
Twilight Christ and = Midnight
Christ-What . True federation Is.


Mr.. Beecher preached to congregation even
larger than usual yesterday morning He selected
double text as follows Matthew X, 80, 37-"And
mans foes shall they be those Of his own house.
hold" HE that lOveth father or mother more than
me is not worthy OF me- and he that l0veth son and
daughter more tnan me Is not worthy OF me-"
John xiv, 8:-'Jesus saith unto him, am the way
and the truth and the life no c0meth unto the
Father but by me.u Mr.. Beecher set out as though
he were about to preach q sermon on the
divinity Of Christ. His opening sentences had Q
reference to the manhood OF Jesus, In which he
stated that II all allusi0n to that manhood was
eliminated from the Gospel there would be taken
from them the pith and the more effective lessons
OF the life Of the Saviour ''There Is no way that
can see," said Mr.. Beecher 'of escape from the
conviction that Christ was either insane or di-
vine." Believing thoroughly in His divinity, he
showed the availability Of the human side Of
Christ's character to the Christian believer, and
that He was truly our example because He was our
Father Passing from this to the more immediate
consideration Of his text, he said that II no man
could 60 to Christ without giving up all social
and physical love, then His divinity was
demoniac. The text could not mean that
What II did mean was that we were





All truth ends in God. fhe laboratory, the strata,
was that this truth was covered. The subject of
the sermon would therefore, not be the divinity OF
GOd but


''MORAL HONESTY AND MORAL EARNEsTNEssn


There were three manifestations Of Christ common
70 midday christ @ the twilight Christ and
Christ that men accepted, who was to them "Christ
oyer all, blessed for evermore. The twilight
standing of men who believed in His truth, His
purity, His beneyolence, in His work, but who
her apw nd
apply them to their belief. The midnight Christ
Christ to these men is darkness, and they believe
they know not what. They acknowledge the neces-
doing, right acting right feeling Now ali truths
them. There was a truth in patriotism, but there
was no practical value in it unless you saw q
ovns a1a i Is andes the
ditions under which we live. at any rate, II this
love is to have influence must give to It
less, indifferent apprehension 81 Christ. was
the teachings Of Christ were always in the
direction Of q full play Of manhood. All suffering
to be % under the influence
Christ that they would really believe that it was
more blessed to live life oi prvation than well
the sun shines. In March we see the sun rise and
set, and We see morning after morning that the





little thereby; but still the sun goes rising and
setting; by-and-by it sends IT'S rays deeper and
helps the iower to push its head through the EARTH
and the flower SO gay and so bright looks out on to
the sun and seems to say that -


1t thus with the use that men made of the light
and warmth Of truth. Men think that they made
the truth that brings them all their merces This
TRUTH however, did not teach intolerance. We
should be deferental to the convictions of others.
You may be going 10 the same city as others, but
n
up to their annual feast, at Jerusalem, they could
go four different ways 1t was not Tor the man who
man who went by the Sea Of Gailee The thing
was that they appeared before Zion, and before the
sensbility, choice belief; II is not meant to be in
difference-that is stupidity. The true man
sqs % LIS pS S aeh oT n take He the was
only to God. Those who made such
proposal might as well propose to present him
sectarian body. liberation enabled men to look
upon every mans conscience as If 1t was his own.
truth is true and that it makes part OF your being
then you have a right to let men look into 1t. You
ought to to so be a to + lock up this truth you
If it were Gods throne. There are men who feel
something within them OF the throbs OF infnity;
they feel and know that they are the sons Of God.
Their fidelity to conviction forces upon them the
necessity Of having largeness orroom to set forth
the heresies OF one age become the orthodox belief
of the next. Every man seems as though he were
born with


LION UNDER HIM


and an angel over him, and the angel has rather a
hard time. When men are thus moved by their
fidelity to truth they are under divine influence.
1t is those who don't care who are the most miser-
able OF men and the most to be pitied These men
cannot be respected, Tor there is q degradation in
it. They profess TO be sympathetic to public
opinion. They stand they know not where, and
have neither beginning nor end for their life pur-
pose. These are the men who would not stamp on
the Bible, but would violate every command that
is in it, men who profess to believe in everything,
but who believe In nothing. Let no man include in
this category the honest donbters. But 1t must not
be forgotten that the great facts to these were
that they lived and that this life was theirs. I" l
want to love everybody" said Mr.. Beecher, but
find this the hardest work have to do. think, II
you could take me at the right heat, could die for
somebody; but these men who believe IN nothing
and nobody could not die for one OF them.
would rather be fanatic in belief than fanatic In
doubt. l believe In historic Christ, but believe
In more than this I believe In God in His care OF
the universe, In His love for man and in His capa
bility to save and justify mankind"


SEVENTH AVENUE METHODIST EPISCOPAL


CHURCH, BROOKLYN


Sermon by Rev. DIR. wild on Business
and Observation-Disclosures Between