The American people are so familiar with the name and character of
Henry Ward Beecher, that no explanation of what follows, is needed
by the present generation. Beecher is the most gifted and noted
_liberalist_ and progressionist in America. He is out at sea, without
chart or compass. The movements of the wind, and the motion of the
current, determine his course. He cares not whither he sails or where
he lands, or whether he lands at all or not, so that the breeze is
pleasant and the waves smooth. His great mind, glib tongue, and
tireless pen, have enabled him to unsettle and pervert the faith of
thousands of honest and unsuspecting people. Even some preachers
among the disciples, who are noted for their adherence to the fixed
principles of revealed religion, have been seduced by Beecher. The good
providence of God, in time, revealed the true character of the man
of no faith, and men now see it blackened and tarnished by crime and
immorality. Let the liberalists and progressionists among the disciples
of Christ, take warning from the downfall of the far famed Beecher.
Scandal has come; disgrace and shame that would make any conscience,
not seared with a hot iron, tingle; or any face, not past feeling,
blush. But the Bible is no way responsible for it, not even in
appearance. Beecher was no Bible man. Bible men were not his admirers,
nor the men that gathered around him, that liked him only the more for
his broad views, his liberality, when he pronounced that beautiful
benediction on the Pope, “God bless his old soul,” and said he could
commune with the Pope, or worship at a pagan altar; declared that there
is not a particle of divine authority, in any church in the world;
that he was inspired as much as the apostles; and would baptize a man
every month if he desired it; that there is no authority for infant
baptism; but he was for it now stronger than ever, because it was a
good thing—it had been tried! This man identified with the Bible? Not
a word of it. The Bible is responsible for none of the scandal and
disgrace that hang upon him and must hang there forever. No, not a word
of it, you unbelieving man; we turn all over to you; we have here a
specimen of _your work_; _unbelief_; what it can do in a short time;
how it can drag a man down, and the ruin to which it can bring him.
Here is the fruit of unbelief; he can eat of it, and all unbelievers
can view it, and see what comes of a man that contemns the Bible and
puts its authority at defiance.
Gentlemen, unbelievers, if you like to view the results of unbelief,
and the ruin that follows in its train, come up here and see what
it has done in the case of an illustrious man; a man whose fame has
extended throughout the civilized world; a man of wonderful versatility
of thought, and immense gifts as a speaker and writer, with such an
opening as no other man on the continent had. This man had reached
mature years, and his influence had become so great, that many good
people would not hear a word against him, nor believe that his terrible
skeptical talk meant any harm. It was only _independence_. But, in the
midst of such a career of popularity, and that not of an ephemeral
character either, as no other man in this nation ever had, up springs
trouble in the midst of his most intimate friends, and those he knew
better, and had associated with more intimately than any others.
It comes not from persecutors without, nor from enemies or envious
preachers within, but his most intimate friends, who know him better
than all others.
But, why do not infidels make an ado about infidels falling? They never
fall! They have never attained to anything from which they can fall.
They are at the bottom and there is nothing below them to which they can
fall. We know of a case where an infidel has recently covered himself
all over with slime, but nothing of consequence is said about it. Why
not? If he had been a preacher of the gospel his case would have been
published half round the world before now. But he is _an infidel_, and
the idea of purity is not associated with infidelity, in the public
mind. There is no noise about it. His brethren, infidels, bring him
to no trial, call him to no account, appoint no committee, and have
no examination of the case! Why not? He _professed nothing_, and they
_profess nothing_. Such things do not disgrace them, or bring scandal
on them.