Show BEECHER ON LONGEVITY LONGEVITY- SHORT LONGEVITY SHORT LIFE A BLESSING J WS WE lave have met with some very ridiculous ridiculous ridiculous lous theories on one and another subject but we believe for reaching the climax of absurdity we must award the palm to theReTo the Rev Henry Ward Beecher He re- re 8 d delivered livered a sermon on longevity taking as his text the chapter of Genesis which contains the genealogies of the antediluvian patriarchs Inthe In the fashion of modern divines his reasoning had for its object the exaltation in the minds of his hearers of the present generation over every generation that has preceded it If modern popular preachers are to tobe tobe be believed this generation is smarter richer better behaved possesses more knowledge of God and of science and art artand and has more and purer Christianity and is every way more advanced than any generation that ever lived If God does not reveal Himself to them as He did to the ancients instead of being de- de deplored deplored de deplored and ang viewed as a cause of sorrow it itIs itIs Is 18 claimed as an evidence of superiority the the ancients were ignorant and had but few opportunities of obtaining knowledge God therefore had to re- re reveal reveal re reveal veal himself to them but the moderns are so advanced in knowledge and pos pos- possess possess pos pos- sess seas so many facilities that they can progress without His help Miracles were needed anciently Such was the condition of the world then that the work of God could not progress without them But now when men have made such progress in science that the power to work miracles which God formerly deemed necessary to give can be dispensed with with-rit is viewed as entirely superfluous Thus they reason doing all in their power to confirm the people in their vanity and self-conceit self until for these qualities the present generation is unequalled even by the Pharisees of old Beecher aims to convince his hearers that short life Ufe is a blessing He says In the beginning the human race seems Seems to hare hale ha ye been created animals not without the great elementary forces which constitute the mind lout but ut these forces were undeveloped and held in aBeyance It was the physical that was largely developed at first They at- at attained at attained what would now be considered an extraordinary old age before they reached the period of puberty The first children were begotten when they were one hundred or one hundred and andI I forty years old i we think that to be old age Then came four or five hundred years afterward of life indicating indicating- slow maturation What co coarse slow grow grow- ing growing inefficient creatures they were I Ido Ido do not think that Adam was any differ differ- different out ent from them There is an impression that the human race began at the top topI I r and slid down to the bottom I do not h believe it I d I think that Adam was a a hild that he never had a thought and the exception of eating the for for- forbidden forbidden for bidden fruit scarcely performed an act that was thought worthy of memory and aDd that that name which has filled all history and the world is purely and merely a name There seems to have I been in his life and in the whole of it I nothing worthy t to have been I bored My impress impression is very that the whole family at att a t the tile bottom and worked its way up to toI t I the present present time and that it is destined destine t J to work Its way up to an inconceivably inconceivable t r t higher level than humanity now stands up upon n It i is probable that in their eight or ten hundred years these creatures did not live as much as we do in eighty l- l r A Ur lift life of eighty years y ars which does in ir that time the work spread out in their ther ease case over eight hundred years is a vast step in the progress of man Considering Consider Consider- ConsiderS ing the present nature of man long long- v S such as theirs would be a great D n While yet human life was while hile ty was undeveloped while bile th the c accomplishing power was very small email it would seem t to r be in accordance with Divine wisdom to t lengthen out the scope of life that man might have time to be and do some some- something something something thing But Rut as they learned there were many reasons why human life should be diminished in its scope The man who gives utterance to this inane folly professes to be a minister of the gospel He would delude his hear hear- hearers hearers hearers ers into the belief that his and their mis mis- miserably miserably short ignorant and depraved lives are noble compared with the lives of I primitive men who lived upwards of nine hundred years We presume that in his own estimation his knowledge is far superior to that of Enoch the seventh from Adam who walked with God three hundred and sixty-five sixty years and who because of his faith God trans trans- translated translated translated slow What a coarse slow growing inefficient creature Enoch must have been compared with the refined fast fast- growing fast growing and perfect creature so highly eulogized ed by the Rev Henry ere er Epochs Epoch's writings must have been in existence at least three thousand years for Jude quotes from them and says that Enoch prophesied respecting the coming of Jesus how long are we to imagine that the writings and memories of the moderns are to live Noah the pro pro- progenitor progenitor pro progenitor genitor of a new world the builder of the ark in which the human race and every species of animal that we now pos pos- possess pos pos- possess possess sess were preserved with all his know know- knowledge knowledge knowledge ledge and greatness is insignificant compared with the pastor of Plymouth Church that Brooklyn Brooklyn that is according to the logic he enunciates He continues his argument in favor of short life as follows For many other reasons it would be unfortunate if men lived in the full possession of their powers to an exceed exceed- exceeding exceeding exceeding ing great age Suppose that some men in New York whose names are famil famil- familiar familiar familiar who have the power of making making- and amassing money and property and who wield the great administrative influence which accompanies great wealth sup sup- suppose suppose suppose pose that they instead of passing away in a few years and making room for others should live five hundred years already having scores of millions in their hands and already wielding a mighty influence through their wealth and experience nothing on earth could prevent their being despotic inthe in the com com- commercial commercial commercial mercial world What a disparity would there be If with the tone and temper of modern manhood men lived five hundred years what chance would there be for a man at fifty to cope with a man manI manof manof manof I of four hundred years How would lone one end of society the upper end by its I position by its experience by its know know- knowledge knowledge knowledge ledge by its wealth wealth-if wealth if these were sold selfishly or weigh despotically despotically weigh down on the other side There was a divine mercy manifested in the measurement of I I reI the duration of human life lite in this re- re respect respect re respect so that a man lives long I enough to develop his bis forces and to accomplish a certain amount but not notI I long enough to use that accomplish accomplish- accomplishment accomplishment accomplishment ment as a means of obstruction to others or as means of despotism When men therefore are wicked and are holding high sway we comfort our our- ourselves ourselves ourselves selves by saying Well they cant can't live forever And they cannot The shortening of human life and the dying of men in this economy of life is very often the best event of their lives Even of men that are quite useful it is their duty to die and when they die they frequently as Sampson did accomplish a great work of I In life they have done it may be very much of good or evil now let et them take themselves out of the way and the they will do something more When a great tree is cut down in the forest you will see that around it are the twenty trees that before had been overshadowed and an had no chance to get the sun all now begin to lift their tops up and to drink at the fountain of life and start up Now that the old umbrageous monI I mon mon- monarch monarch monarch arch is gone there is a chance for man many more So there are many consolations in the death of men men-if men if the right ones only would die Did any man who had the credit of being sane ever advance such ideas and an have them listened to with any patience before After reading them we feel thankful that such men are likely to t accomplish the best event of their lives die die Such to b be ought an occurrence J tt I accepted asa divine mercy When they pass off they certainly accomplish a great work of deliverance They are ar I the right ones to die We wonder how many ambitious preachers there are in Beechers Beecher's neighborhood who would find many consolations in the death of the pastor of Plymouth Church We agree with him that men live long enough if New York life is the kind of existence to be led But is it We should be sorry to think so o We think he may comfort himself by saying re- re re men there Well they cant can't live forever forever forever- Give us we say if we can have bave our choice the coarse slow slew slew growing growing inefficient the ancients with their longevity in preference to the fast short life so much vaunted by H W Beecher Beech |