In the following brief extract we find at least seven direct antiscriptural statements. It is a good illustration of the blindness of those (even great men) who are led by tradition instead of the plain teachings of the word of God.
Henry Ward Beecher says :—
"How blessed is the truth which comes to us, that we are not as the beasts that die; that we are as the gods that live! That for which we were made is immortality; and our journey is rough, straight, burdensome, with many tears. Our journey is not to the grave. I am not growing into old age to be blind, and to be deaf, and to be rheumatic, and to shrink a miserable cripple into the corner, shaking and tottering and forgetting all that I ever knew. The best part of me is untouched. I sit enshrined within the me. The soul, the reason, the moral sense, the power to think, the power to will, the power to love, and the power to admire purity, and to reach out after it—that is not touched by time, though its instrument and means of outer demonstration be corroded and failing.
"This body is but a chrysalis, and when we break through, we rise on wings by the attraction of God, and by the propulsion of our inevitable desire and need, and are forever with the Lord."—[Extract of sermon.]
Now let these statements be arraigned before the tribunal of God's word, and see if they will stand the test.
Bible. "For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them; as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast; for all is vanity. Eccl. 3 : 19.
Beecher. "We are not as the beasts that die."
Bible. "They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust." Job 17 : 16. "For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning." Gen. 37 : 35.
Beecher. "Our journey is not to the grave."
Bible. "Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people." Gen. 25 : 8.
Beecher. "I am not growing into old age."
Bible. "For the living know that they shall die; but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished." Eccl. 9 : 5, 6. "His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." Ps. 146 : 4.
Beecher. In describing what is not affected by the ravages of time and death, he mentions, "the power to think, the power to love," &c.
Bible. "Thou shalt surely die." Gen. 2 : 17. Old Serpent. "Ye shall not surely die." "Ye shall be as gods." Gen. 3 : 4, 5.
Beecher. "We are not as the beasts that die." "We are the gods that live."
Mr. Beecher seems to side with Satan in the great controversy, just as squarely giving God the lie, as language can do it. O foolish man! Better for thee to come over on the Lord's side, for Satan was a liar from the beginning. M. E. CORNELL.