Year: 1870

m'SSiOn 10 Dack hlm. We suppose ne l5 now
happy Fisk.


MIR. Beecher tho Beauty Of Goodness.


Our readers will find in the HERALD to-day
the usual weekly report Of the sermons and
addresses delivered in this metropolis and in
different parts of the country. 1t is very full
and varied enough to suit the religious views
and tastes of all. While it is the mission Of
individual preachers to serve up that which
suits the particular congregations or sects to
great cosmopolitan journal to be universal and
to reflect the views of all. Yesterday was
Palm Sunday, and no one could fail to be
struck with the fact by seeing crowds Of peo-
pie carrying in their hands or attached to their
garments sprigs of CEDAR pine, or some other
evergreen which are used as sub
stitute for the palm leaf and are
emblematic of the entry of Christ into Jerusa-
lem riding on an ass, when the populace strewed
palm leaves in his path. The dissenting sects
do not pay much attention to this day, but the
Catholic preachers, as will be seen by our
reports, make the event celebrated the occasion
of special notice. We make in another article
reference to the various topics discussed in the
pulpit yesterday.


Among the sermons worthy of note we take
that of the Rev. H. W. Beecher as the specially
for this week. Mr.. Beecher took for his
subject one that was well adapted for the dis
play of his acknowledged eloquence and that
vein of poetry which ruas through his mind.
1t was the Beauty Of Goodness. The text
was from Zechariah--"For how great is his
goodness and how great is his beauty" His
discourse was interlarded, however, with hi s
accustomed hum0r and jokes that make the
audience smile. This feature of his serm ons
is, in fact, a vary attractive one to the Ply
mouth church congregation, for it dispels the
gloom or seriousness which his hearers might
feel at the denunciation of their SINS, True, he
tells them of their wretchedness and short
comings, for that he is bound to do; but he
lets them up and causes them to forget these
by pleasant sallies of wit. This, undoubtedly,
is one Of the great secrets of his popularity,
and fills his church with fashionable and
wealthy congregation that take the world
easy. Then Mr.. Bcecher generalizes very
much at all times, as he did on this subject Of
''the beauty Of goodness" and, consequently,
every sinner is more disposed to apply his
remarks TO others than to himself.


However, he does make sometimes decided
hits Yesterday, for example, he said ''that
when we looked at spiritual beauty we could
not avoid being surprised at the meagreness
of spiritual attainments among men. Chris
tiar.s were barbarians yet They resemble the
savages in this respect-he was naked, with
the exception of piece Of cloth round his
loins; but though naked he would have
string of beads round his neck, and would
be quite tckled with this bauble of
beauty" In illustration of this idea,
as applied to taste and Christian refine
ment he remarked that there were
men who upholstered" their houses with grand
furniture, grand windows, with heavy cur
tains to keep the light out, and yet there was
not single book to be seen in the house, or
anything that indicated refinement. Such
men would put up those dreadful Swiss pic
lures which he (Mr. Beecher) wished were
sunk at the bottom Of the sea by every ship
that brought them over. He denounced
these ''daubs." Still he commended real
taste in art, and spoke eloquently- of The
beauties Of nature and of pure sentiment.
These remarks must have touched the vulgar
sLoddy portion of his congregation, as he pro-
baby intended they should.


Of course, it was TO be expected Mr.
Beechcr would not lose the opportunity of
mentioning the negroes in connection with
their jubilee over the adoption Of the fifteenth
amendment to the constitution. He regarded
this celebration as particularly beautiful in
"a moral and political point of view,
send all the bouquets, ''al the flowers
they could spare, to the Academy Of Music
last night, to make "the theatre look like
flower garden" on the conspicuous occasion Of
the jubilee meeting held there by the negroes.
The sermon was closed by showing that God
was leading us, in thousand unknown ways,
to greater perfection He Illustrated this by
remarkng that God was like an organ builder,
who tuned the organ until he produced one out
of the chaotic appearance of its thousand
parts perfect and harmonious instrument.
Out Of this perfecting we should, by and by,
rise TO beauty that we could not now conceive
of, and il was for that we were to live. Evi-
dently Mr.. Beecher believes in the progress of
humanity and looks forward to glorious fu-
ture, though he does not say explicitly whether
this is to be in the next world or in the present
one only.


MEXICAN NEws.-The intelligence from
Mexico is anything but encouraging. The
revolution still presents a formidable front.
Huerta Aguerre, Cadena, Lucas and Negrete
are still engaged in stirring up the discontented