USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > Lives of the clergy of New York and Brooklyn: embracing two hundred biographies of eminent living men in all denominations. Also, the history of each sect and congregation, Pt. 1 > Part 4
USA > New York > New York City > Lives of the clergy of New York and Brooklyn: embracing two hundred biographies of eminent living men in all denominations. Also, the history of each sect and congregation, Pt. 1 > Part 4
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28
Always patient, self-sacrificing and earnest in his ministerial work, be has taken the certain means of making it of the highest advantage to his fellow creatures and the church at large. True and devoted to bis doctrines, he has maintained them because of his love for them, and because it was his duty, but never in any spirit of mere hostility to the opinions or prejudices of other men. He stands fixedly to the doctrines and government of the church of which he is a minister, and it is for these that he contends in all their purity and sanctity, and not for the persecution of any man for his opinions or actions.
Dr. Beach's preaching is marked by the same solid practical features which characterize him in other respects. All his views have a scope and power which arrest attention. He speaks with
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REV. ALFRED B. BEACH, D. D.
deliberation, and both tone and manner have a serious impressiveness. While he is scholarly in his mode of discussion, he is not less partial to the common sense branch of all subjects. His sermons please and instruct : they lift the hearer to a more elevated spirituality, and cause a closer communing with one's own conscience. They have scholarship and inspiration, and they have also the calm tender pleading, which first softens and then saves the human heart from its sins.
This is a ministry which has been not only successful, but in which the purity of character, and the devoted labor of the indi- vidual must stand as an example to all men forever. True to every duty as a clergyman, a citizen, and in every private relation; Dr. Beach has made the actions of his life teachers of principle to his fellow-men.
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Mart Beecher
C
.
REV. HENRY WARD BEECHER,
PASTOR OF PLYMOUTHI CONGREGATIONAL. CHURCH. BROOKLYN.
0 CLERGYMAN in the United States has attracted st to himself the widespread attention which has been Lestowed upon the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. His position in the religious, political, literary, and social work is one of commanding influence, and his great and varied talents are always most conspicuous. He has been discumed from every standpoint of criticism, and still is a man of the wkkest popularity.
Rev. Henry Ward Beecher is the son of the late Rev. Dr. Ly- man Beecher, and was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, June 24th, 1813. Dr. Lyman Beecher was one of the most distinguished Con- gregational clergymen and scholars of his day, and he reared a large family, all of whom have obtained distinction in some of the scholarly walks of life. Several of the sons are clergymen, and Mra Harriet Beecher Stowe, authoress of " Uncle Tom's Cabin," and other works, is a distinguished daughter. Henry Ward was grad- uated at Amherst College, in 1834, and studied theology with his father at Lane Seminary, Cincinnati. In 1837, in his twenty-fourth year, he accepted his first charge as a Presbyterian minister at Lawrenceburg, Indiana, where he remained two years. He next removed to Indianapolis, where he continued eight years, until 1847. Hle was a popular preacher in the West, having those powers-natural eloquence and fearless independent character- which are so highly valued by the people of that section.
In 1847, he accepted a call to his present charge as pastor of Plymouth Congregational Church, Brooklyn. He left the West with many regrets, scarcely believing that a city like Brooklyn was the proper tield of labor for him. His peculiar style of preaching had
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HENRY WARD BEECHER.
never been heard there; and, in fact, it was so much of an innova- tion upon the kind which was in vogue, that its success might well be deemed doubtful.
The congregation which called him was a new organization of orthodox Congregational believers. They had purchased the church property on Cranberry and Orange streets, formerly occupied by the Presbyterian Congregation of the Rev. Dr. Samuel H. Cox, and were chiefly New England people.
The following is an interesting historical account of this congre- gation :
" Plymouth Church stands upon ground comprising seven lots, running through from Cranberry to Orange streets. It was pur- chased in 1823 of John and Jacob M. Hicks for the erection of an edifice for the use of "The First Presbyterian Church." The population of Brooklyn was then less than 10,000. It was re- garded by cautious men as a hazardous enterprise, for the church was built in what was then cultivated fields, and far out from the settled portion of the village, though now in the densest part of Brooklyn Heights. The pastors who labored on this ground were Rev. Joseph Sandford, from 1823 to 1829 ; Rev. Daniel L. Carroll, D. D., from 1829 to 1835; Rev. Samuel H. Cox. D. D., from 1837 to 1847, when the Presbyterian Society built their present house of worship upon Henry street. In 1846 John T. Howard, then a mem- ber of the Church of the Pilgrims in Brooklyn, Rev. R. S. Storrs, Jr., pastor, learning that the premises were for sale, obtained the refusal of them from the trustees at the price of $20,000, and con- sulted with David Hale, of the Tabernacle Church, New York, as to the expediency of establishing a new Congregational Church at this location. Encouraged by the support of Mr. Hale, Mr. Howard completed the contract of purchase on June 11th, 1846. Possession was given on the 10th of May, 1847. The first meeting of those interested in the establishment of the new Church was held at the house of Henry C. Bowen, on Saturday evening, May 8th, 1847. There were present David Hale, of New York ; Ira Payne, John T. Howard, Charles Rowland, David Griffin, and Henry C. Bowen, of Brooklyn. It was there resolved, 'that religious services shall be commenced, by Divine permission, on Sunday, the 16th day of May ;' and on that morning, in 1847, the meeting house in Cranberry street was opened for religious worship.
" IIenry Ward Beecher, who was then pastor of the Second Pres-
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HENRY WARD BEECHER.
byterian Church, in Indianapolis, had visited New York at this time, at the request of the American Home Missionary Society, to make a public address at its anniversary. He was invited to preach at the opening of this Church, and accordingly preached, both in the morn- ing and evening, to audiences which crowded every part of the building. On Monday evening, June 14th, 1847, the Church, by a unanimous vote, elected Henry Ward Beccher to be their pastor. Oa the 19th of August, Mr. Beecher wrote from Indianapolis accept- ing the pastorate. On Sunday, the 10th of October, 1847, he com- meneed his labors In the morning the Church was about three- fourths fall, and entirely full in the evening. This continued to be the case for about four months, after which the building was gen- erally crowded both morning and evening. From the year 1849 to 1806 there was a frequent recurrence of revivals at the Church, and large meresions to the number of its members. With a few excep- Man, coesquent upon ill health, a visit to Europe and a lecturing ter in behalf of the abolition of slavery, Mr. Beecher has labored morality at his post since 1847. He has a Summer vacation every your, which generally lasts upon an average about six weeks.
"On the 13th of January, 1849, Plymouth Church was seriously damaged by fire, and it was decided that the Church should be entirely rebuilt. The corner-stone of this edifice was laid May 29th, 1849, and the building was completed so as to be occupied by the congregation on the first Sunday in January, 1850. The Church is 100 feet long, 80 feet broad, and accommodates 2,800 people. Lec- fare moins and school rooms were also built, and the entire cost of the Church was about $36,000, and the former also a large sum. In 1866 a new organ was purchased at an expense of $22,000. In 1869 the pew rents realized about $53,000. The Bethel, in Hicks street, has been built by the Church at a cost of about $75,000. School services on Sunday evenings, lectures and a free reading room are a part of the agencies of this Bethel. It has done and is doing the greatest amount of good to the more neglected part of the population. A new Bethel has been erected in another part of the city. In view of all these facts, Plymouth Church may be said to be a Church in ramest"
In October, 1872, services took place during several days to com- memorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the organization of the congregation. A movement was inaugurated to raise fifty thousand dollars for the support of their nissions. At the annual business
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HENRY WARD BEECHER.
meeting of the trustees it was shown that there were 2,184 names upon the registry of the Church. From the treasurer's report, it appears that the annual collection amounted to $15,554 97; for the poor, $1,079 18; pew rentals, $60,000; contributions of three schools, $3,054 56. Total, $79,683 65.
In 1856, Mr. Beecher took an active part in the Presidential con- test in favor of Fremont-not only with his pen, but by addressing mass meetings in different parts of the Northern States. As a popu- lar lecturer he has appeared very generally before the Lyceums of the country. He was one of the founders of the religious weekly paper called the Independent, of New York, and was for some time its editor. Later he founded the Christian Union, and is still its editor, and a large owner. He has published a volume of "Lectures to Young Men," a volume of "Star Papers," made up of his con- tributions to the Independent, and other volumes of popular litera- ture. He edited the " Plymouth Collection of Hymns," which is one of the best and most diversified collections of sacred poetry in the English language, and is now in. use in the Congregational and other Churches. Six series of his sermons have been published in uniform volumes. Many of his occasional addresses have been pub- lished, and he has contributed much to the literary press.
During the late war he went to England, where he addressed immense audiences in the principal cities in behalf of the cause of the Union. He produced a marked effect, particularly as the Con- federate agents made an attempt to put him down; and probably accomplished more in influencing the English masses than any man who went abroad. There is a collection of handbills and posters, some of them printed in red ink, at the Brooklyn Historical Society, which were used to incite public feeling against him. In April, 1865, he went to Charleston, at the request of the Government, and deliv- ered an oration on the occasion of the raising of the old flag over Fort Sumter.
Mr. Beecher is of medium height, solid sinewy figure, and has a large head, with a rather florid complexion. His features are regu- lar, and highly expressive of intellectuality, and a genial disposition. His step is quick, and he shows in every way that he is a thorough- going man, and as bold as he is generous. His eloquence is charac- terized by originality, logic, pathos, and not a little humor. While his voice is not a pleasant one, it is full of feeling, distinct and
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HENRY WARD BEECHER.
strong. He has a great deal of gesticulation, and sometimes his voice rings out to the utmost power of his capacious lungs.
At the close of some very fine congregational singing, Mr. Beecher rises to begin his sermon. He commences in a moderate tone of roice, and confines himself to a pretty close reading of his notes. As he proceeds he warms up in his subject, grows eloquent, and succeals in fixing the deepest attention by the force of his argu- meut, and the original and often humorous similes which he con- stantly introduces He shakes back his hair, draws a long breath to be sure that his lungs are in order, withdraws a step or two from the desk, and folds his arms across his breast, as if for bands to keep bita from breaking his ribs in the coming effort. After all this pre- peration, instantaneously made, he at once soars to the highest efforts of oratory. At one moment tears are starting to almost every eye, and the next the congregation are in a broad smile, which sometimes oude in a load laugh. He utters words of the keenest sarcasm, and to be melt awayánto thoughts of holiness and love. At another time he paticalatos most violently ; he paces up and down the pulpit In great agitation ; he runs to first one corner of the desk and then the other ; pounds and shakes his fist, bends forward and backward ; abd, finally, in a whirlwind of excitement, and in a voice of thunder, jours forth a torrent of language which the want of breath only Indaces him to suspend. He makes your heart bound with emotion ; he terapts the most solemn into smiles, and stands a wonder as an gestor. Tuat he is a mighty thinker, and one of the most powerful of living orators, cannot be denied. While he is speaking the old and young are held in wrapt attention, and there is no subject but what be discusses with singular originality and brilliancy. His ser- mons are very long, but never tiresome. The thoughts are profound and new, and they are demonstrated with ability and eloquence. His learning, ingenious arguments, and interweavings of pathos and humor make the whole discourse most effective.
Ile is a man of genial disposition, and of warm attachments ; and he has secured idolizing friends. His sympathies are with all works of education and philanthropy, and he is altogether without sectarian prejudices. In truth, he is one who for many noble qualities of character, joined with extraordinary gifts as a preacher, has secured a wider public and private esteem than any man of bis day.
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REV. HENRY W. BELLOWS, D. D., PASTOR OF ALL SOULS' UNITARIAN CHURCH, NEW YORK.
EV. DR. HENRY W. BELLOWS, pastor of All Souls' Unitarian Church, Fourth avenue, was born in Boston, June 11th, 1814. He was graduated at Harvard College in 1832, entered the divinity school at Cambridge in 1834, and completed his course in 1837. On the 2d of January, 1838, he was ordained pastor of the First Congregational Church, in New York. He was the principal originator of the Chris- tian Inquirer, a Unitarian paper of New York, in which he was the main writer from 1846 until the middle of 1850. In 1851 he received the degrec of D. D. from Harvard. His present congrega- tion is the same over which he was first ordained, although they are now classed as Unitarians, and have twice changed their place of worship. Says another of Dr. Bellows: " He is a ready speaker and popular lecturer. ITis taste and connections lead him to intimate relations with artists, and engage him often in questions of a social and philanthropic character. He has spoken and published his views freely upon the prominent topics of the day, and inclines to deal with current events rather than scholastic studies. His occa sional contributions to the Christian Examiner are marked by inde pendence of thought and boldness of expressions."
Dr. Bellows has published some twenty-five pamphlets and dis- courses, and some books. His "Phi Beta Kappa Oration," delivered in 1853; his famous defence of the drama, delivered in 1857; and " Treatment of Social Diseases," a course of lectures delivered before the Lowell Institute, Boston, also in the latter year, and a book of travel in Europe, are the most noted of his productions. He is the editor of the Liberal Christian, a prominent religious journal of New York.
Dr. Bellows is not a satisfied man. He is seriously disturbed that men take so many roads to heaven, when they might all go by
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REV HENRY W. BELLOWS, D. D.
one. He has drawn up the articles of a new Christian covenant, and elaborated a system for a church platform on which every theologian can be accommodated with a seat. Through wonderful study he has discovered a means by which ecclesiastical fire and water may be made to mingle, and by which the venom of sects can be changed into the milk of human kindness. It is a consolidation of Christianity. It is to overthrow the walls which keep God's child- ren apart. It is to tear up present creeds and take an enlarged view of the Bible. Dr. Bellows has this olive branch all ready, and longs to put it in the mouths of doves and send it throughout the earth ; bet he shakes his head and says the times are not ripe for it, and protally never will be. Still, if he had his way, he would take all these czvedle and send them to a paper-mill, and have a broad sheet made to which should be written the covenant of a new and uni- word chanh, and be would go forth first as an earthquake, and butake down every altar, from the old cathedrals of Europe to the Methodist rookeries of the back.woods, and then, with the lamps of the virgins, he would-another Aladdin-raise up such a structure as the world had rever seen; and this should be not the church of a wet, but of mankind, and such should crown the hills of every
From this pleasant dream of Dr. Bellows, it can be seen that he is a liberal-minded, large-hearted man. A few years ago he nearly committed clerical suicide. He delivered a ringing, thundering, de- face of the poor, kicked, reviled drama, and absolutely recognized actors and actresses as worthy of salvation. The religious editors rushed breathless to their offices and exhausted their inkstands in Wesmearing him with ridicule and drenching him with wrath. His Inthren of the ministry howled louder than a pack of wolves, and many orthodox families threatened to fly from the city inhabited by woch a monster. For a minister-for a man claiming to respect his calling-to go out of his way to uphold the beastly, sore, corrupt drama, and to associate with the giddy, wicked, painted and padded creatures of the stage, it called for a straight-jacket, if not the spout of the hydrant. The panic was frightful and the threats were dia- bolical The doctor stood in a slippery place. His enthusiasm for gruius, his appreciation of an art, his liberal and kindly nature had carried him to an extreme position; but in spite of ink, and wolves, and orthodox families, and scorn, and threats, he stood firm, and eren partook of a dinner with the profane people. The editors again
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REV. HENRY W. BELLOWS, D. D. -
desired to devour him, but it was shrewdly suspected that their chief objeet was to be black-mailed with a slice from the dinner. The doctor ate of the remarkably good cheer which sueh entertainers are sure to provide, and the food of wisdom and counsel which he had himself dispensed, was rendered more palatable in consequence. People who are just as anxious as anybody else to avoid fire and brimstone felt that one clergyman, at least, had sought to give them wings to rise, rather than, as usual, a millstone to hurry them down.
When the war broke out, a great philanthropic thought took possession of Dr. Bellows. Everybody was erazy ; the young men were following the fife and drum, and a large number were disposed to think war merely a frolic; but the doctor declared it was to be a serious business, and that disease would be more potent than even the bullet. IIe organized the Sanitary Commission, and a work was commeneed which has no parallel in the history of humane enter- prises. The condition of matters in the camps and hospitals was of the worst possible character; but from chaos there was produced system ; from ignorance came intelligence ; and, instead of everything conspiring to kill the soldier, seience, natural laws, and humanity were all combined for his safety and relief. Dr. Bellows neglected every other duty save this one, to his mind of such vast national importance. He drew about him men of equal zeal; he visited the caunps and hospitals in every part of the country ; he stormed at "red tape," and official stupidity, and had the satisfaction of witnessing the complete success of his system and plans, and the constant relief of untold suffering. The ministering spirits of this commission were on the battle-fields, and at every sick couch; its watchfulness detected every error of hospital management, and every want of the afflicted, while its influence in every department of the government, and with the people, was sufficient to make its authority efficient and its means ample. In faet, the Sanitary Commission was the great philanthropic mission of the day. Dr. Bellows was its parent, its never flagging spirit, and its daily slave. Should his idea of a uni- versal church be but a dream ; should no aetor or actress ever walk with him in the golden streets of the New Jerusalem, certainly his efforts in this newer scheme will adorn him with garlands forever.
We wrote as follows of him at that time: "Any day at the New York office of the Commission, in Broadway, you may sce a pale, thin-faced, modest bearing man. He attends to business as if he had been brought up in a counting-room, is distressed if anything goes
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REV. HENRY W. BELLOWS, D. D.
wrong, and it is not the fault of his attention and energy if all docs not go right When the sun of the South is blazing its fullest, and when the keen storms are sweeping along the Virginia mountains, be is ever thinking of comforts for the soldiers. And, then, how sadly he speaks of the sick beds and graves which, he tells you, are stretched from the rising to the setting sun. He has written and publistol various reports of the Commission, which are replete with Interesting details and facts He also delivers addresses on the sub- ject of the work, which are intended to keep the public informed of the vastness of the field, and the necessity of their constant sup- fort Dr. Bellows possesses an amount of practical, homely sense, tok common to meu of his profession, and a familiarity with scientific waljects, which happily fit him for the position of president of the Corsmiminq, and have lol to much of its success Dreamer as he is, boa bas shares himself not the less an carnest worker. With a mind warded with its imaginings of beauty, he has been able to do a with work amilet the surroundings of terrible war."
Dr. Bellows bad his dream of a church edifice. It was to be the combined elegance of architecture, and every tower, and every arch, and every inch of it was to be in a measure a religious sentiment. All of beauty, all of solemnity, all of religion, all of penitence, and all of faith, were to speak in its walls, its adornment, and its wor- ship Consequently, in the construction of All Souls' Church, he bewildered the architects and astonished the town. Peculiar in its construction, it is equally novel in its interior arrangement, but as a whyde, is most imposing, tasteful, and beautiful.
The congregation is numerous and wealthy. They are exceed- ingly proud of their minister, and largely encourage him in his good works
Dr. Bellows is not a showy man in the pulpit, either in person of mannem His appearance is utterly without pretension, and al- wat bumble, while his manners are plain and careless as to all «doct His head is of the intellectual kind, his face gentle in every hecament, and you award him instantly the merit of learning, amia- bility, and goodness He is a very effective thinker, and as much an effective speaker. His thought is original, his reasoning is pro- found, and both are enforced by great earnestness of feeling and lobo of sporch. Religion, humanity, goodness, beauty, art, and genius are the subjects of his enthusiasm, and in all his discourses, in the pulpit and elsewhere, they leave their line of light. His most
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REV. HENRY W. BELLOWS, D. D.
eloquent passages are when he rises in amplification or climax. "We want only faith in the constitution as it is," he said, in a pow- erful sermon-" faith in the rights of political majorities to exercise their legitimate powers-faith in the original wisdom of the fathers -faith in humanity-faith in Christ and in God, to carry us tri- umphantly through this glorious but awful hour when the grandest political structure, the providence of God ever allowed to be erected is to be finally tested by earthquake, and to prove, I doubt not, that it rests on the Rock of Ages, and will endure while time shall last." His voice, especially at such times, is as clear and sweet as a flute; his intensified words fall upon the feelings like sparks upon tinder, and he carries the hearer absorbed and lost in his eloquence, while in himself every thought awakens an emotion, and every utterance has been sealed by conviction. He is a fair, honest speaker, with nature, devotion, and kindness glowing in all he says. He is em- phatically one to trust-like Affection as she entwines with her tender arms, and like Merey, whose voice is the truest melody of love.
But perhaps Dr. Bellows is the most interesting in his social intercourse. Any one ean approach him, and few there are who do not love an hour with him-he is so genial, so friendly, and so enter- taining. Are you sad, he is saddened also; are you gay, he laughs with you; is your conversation of religion, of books, of music, of works of art, or on the topies of the day, he is ready to discuss them all. And, then, he has such a store of information from his reading, such a critical taste, such new ideas, such just and liberal views, that he not only instructs but eaptivates. In truth, he is not one of your gloomy, sour, eynical clergymen, but finds a silver lining in every cloud, and seeks to plant flowers where so many others would sow thorns. He would have this a happy world; he would enjoy to the fullest its rich blessings, and he would bring the mind of man in contact with everything beautiful on earth, to prepare it the better for heaven. A hater of bigotry, a denouncer of Phariseeism, he is the upholder of purity and the illustration of humility. Bold in the advocacy of truthi, unsparing in his rebuke of evil, he is modest of his triumphs and thoughtful of his own actions. In the com- munity, in the church, and in the social world, he stands a firm, symmetrical pillar as a guide and a beacon. The pillar will crumble to decay, but the virtues of the man are enduring.
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