A Biography of Rev. Henry Ward Beecher

remaining three, within which space he intended to complete the work, were clearly blocked out in his own mind. As he got more and more back into the long-interrupted current of...

Church and Steamboat—Jenny Lind—Hospitality—Colonel Pertzel—The Family—Twins—Medicine—Giving Counsel—For the Sailor—An Absurd Story Contradicted—Salisbury—Trouting—Death of Alfr...

Beginning of the Great Battle—Five Great Eras—Compromise Measures of 1850—“Shall We Compromise”—The Fugitive Slave Law Denounced—Right of Free Speech Defended—Commercial Liberty...

“After spending some days in the Lake district I went to Manchester to meet the engagement there for October 9th. Great excitement existed; the streets were placarded with vast...

War Begun—Firing upon Fort Sumter—“The American Eagle as you want it”—Death of Col. Ellsworth—Equips his Sons—Personal Feeling yields to Patriotism—His House a Store-House of Mi...

A Preacher—His Place—His Training—His Estimate of the Work—Defects—Effectual Call—Upon Drawing an Audience—His Theory—Preparation—Results—A Theologian—His Orthodoxy—Evolution—Or...

After-Effects of the Conspiracy—Calling Council of 1876—Principle of Selection—Mr. Beecher Cautions his Church—Bowen Reappears; Proposes a Secret Tribunal—Mr. Beecher’s Reply—Bo...

Amherst College—Private Journal—Testimony of Classmates—Tutor’s Delight—Begins his Anti-Slavery Career—Spiritual Darkness—Engagement—Letters of his Mother—Experiences in Teachin...

“Mr. Moulton came to me at first as the schoolmate and friend of Mr. Tilton, determined to reinstate him, I at first suspected, without regard to my interests, but on further ac...

Early Glimpses—Recollections of the Mother—Going to School at Ma’am Kilbourne’s—His First Letter—District School—The Coming of the New Mother—His First Ride on Horseback—A Merry...

To the public Mr. Beecher was best known as the eloquent preacher and speaker, the fearless advocate of right and foe to wrong, the champion of the weak and oppressed, a friend...

With a heart full of tender feelings he parted with his people and entered into the larger work in which he first became known outside of the limits of his Presbytery.

In the early spring of 1837 Mr. Beecher graduated from Lane Seminary. In accordance with the practice of the Presbyterian Church, a clergyman might be licensed to preach, even t...

The Battle Renewed—Repeal of the Missouri Compromise Proposed—The Struggle in Congress—Mr. Beecher’s Appeals—The Battle lost in Congress is Transferred to the Territories—Forces...

With President Lincoln’s death the Rebellion died. A few fitful flames and a few smouldering coals here and there were all that was left of the great conflagration, but the Rebe...

Like the fabled Antæus of old, Mr. Beecher found strength by contact with old Mother Earth; not only that, but rest, health, and inspiration; while from the study of natural pro...

Lane Seminary—Dr. Beecher Called—Home at Walnut Hills—Amusing Incidents—Family Meeting—Death of Mrs. Beecher—Extracts from Journal—First Mention of Preaching in the West—Experie...

It had always been Mr. Beecher’s belief that a Christian gentleman should be a good citizen, and that being a good citizen involved some responsibility in securing and enforcing...

While these larger public matters were engaging his attention there was an equally engrossing field of private activity in which he was constantly engaged, and which developed i...

It was in 1827, and Henry was fourteen years old, when he entered the Mount Pleasant Institute. “He was admitted to the institution at a price about half the usual charge, for o...

Mr. Beecher had confidently expected to have remained permanently in the West, and to have grown up with the new but rising country; but it was destined to be otherwise.

As Henry Ward was perfectly satisfied with the parents that bore him, so he was with the place in which he was born. “Surely old Litchfield,” he says, “was a blessed place for o...

On his return home from England, Mr. Beecher found that there was a marked change in the feelings of the Administration towards him. It was the popular verdict, in which Washing...

In October, 1873, formal charges were preferred against Theodore Tilton, by Plymouth Church, for slandering his pastor. He replied to the clerk of the church, that he was not, a...

Visit to England in 1863—The Need of Rest—Condition of Affairs at Home—Arrival at Liverpool—Refusal to Speak—Visit to the Continent—Reception by the King of Belgium—Civil War Di...

Boston—Home Atmosphere—Various Experiences—Ethics rubbed in by a six-pound Shot—Discontent—Makes up his mind to go to Sea—To Study Navigation—Picture of his Life in Boston.

“Henry Ward Beecher, our esteemed brother, sailed for Europe on Tuesday, July 9, in the ship _New World_, Captain Knight. It was a sudden move, but having received a friendly in...

Henry Ward Beecher used to say that the first thing for a man to do, if he would succeed in life, is to “choose a good father and mother to be born of.” He himself was eminently...

The Conspiracy—Relations with Mr. Bowen—Disputes and Arbitration—Theodore Tilton’s Early Promise and Intimacy with Mr. Beecher—Bowen’s Ill-Will and Tilton’s Malice—Tilton discha...

As in nature violent storms are often succeeded by peaceful calms, and as the sun shines brightest and the air seems clearest and most purified after the thunder-storm has broke...

To remedy the marked defects in his training, noticed in the preceding chapter, something must be done, or this boy will fail not only of becoming a student but of acquiring eve...

For several years before his death earnest efforts were made to induce Mr. Beecher to revisit England. His manly fight against such odds, in 1863, had quite captured the heart o...

As we have stated, Plymouth Church took possession of its new building on the first Sabbath in January, 1850. Then, as on the Sabbaths of the nearly forty succeeding years in wh...

Very shortly after Mr. Beecher settled in Brooklyn he began working in a somewhat different and larger parish than the one included in his church. At first in the more immediate...

“We went down to the graveyard with little Georgie, and waded through it in the snow. I got out of the carriage, and took the little coffin in my arms, and walked knee-deep to t...

A few months prior to his death our father undertook the preparation of his Autobiography. This was earnestly encouraged by his family, who shared with the public the desire tha...

Church and Steamboat—Jenny Lind—Hospitality—Colonel 350-395 Pertzel—The Family—Twins—Medicine—Giving Counsel—For the Sailor—An Absurd Story contradicted—Salisbury—Trouting—Death...

War Begun—Firing upon Fort Sumter—“The American Eagle 309-338 as you want it”—Death of Col. Ellsworth—Equips his Sons—Personal Feeling yields to Patriotism—His House a Store-hou...

Beginning of the Great Battle—Five Great 233-270 Eras—Compromise Measures of 1850—“Shall We Compromise”—The Fugitive Slave Law denounced—Right of Free Speech defended—Commercial...

Early Glimpses—Recollections of the Mother—Going to 46-71 School at Ma’am Kilbourne’s—His First Letter—District School—The Coming of the New Mother—His First Ride on Horseback—A...

The Battle renewed—Repeal of the Missouri Compromise 271-291 proposed—The Struggle in Congress—Mr. Beecher’s Appeals—The Battle lost in Congress is transferred to the Territorie...

Lane Seminary—Dr. Beecher Called—Home at Walnut 136-156 Hills—Amusing Incidents—Family Meeting—Death of Mrs. Beecher—Extracts from Journal—First Mention of Preaching in the West...

The Conspiracy—Relations with Mr. Bowen—Disputes and 488-522 Arbitration—Theodore Tilton’s Early Promise and Intimacy with Mr. Beecher—Bowen’s Ill-Will and Tilton’s Malice—Tilto...

After-Effects of the Conspiracy—Calling Council of 537-563 1876—Principle of Selection—Mr. Beecher cautions his Church—Bowen Reappears; Proposes a Secret Tribunal—Mr. Beecher’s...

Visit to England in 1863—The Need of Rest—Condition of 396-407 Affairs at Home—Arrival at Liverpool—Refusal to Speak—Visit to the Continent—Reception by the King of Belgium—Civi...

A Preacher—His Place—His Training—His Estimate of the 588-613 Work—Defects—Effectual Call—Upon Drawing an Audience—His Theory—Preparation—Results—A Theologian—His Orthodoxy—Evol...

Amherst College—Private Journal—Testimony of 109-135 Classmates—Tutor’s Delight—Begins his Anti-Slavery Career—Spiritual Darkness—Engagement—Letters of his Mother—Experiences in...

Boston—Home Atmosphere—Various Experiences—Ethics 82-92 rubbed in by a Six-pound Shot—Discontent—Makes up his Mind to go to Sea—To Study Navigation—Picture of his Life in Boston

Litchfield—Situation—Natural Features—Early 30-45 Settlers—Social and Moral Advantages—Patriotism—North Street described—The Beecher Home—Birth of Henry Ward—The Times at Home a...

First Voyage to England—Extracts from Diary—Warwick 339-349 Castle—Stratford-on-Avon—The Skylark—Oxford—Bodleian Library—London—Old-time Sadness—Paris—Catch-Words from Diary—Eff...