Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

thought he could secure prosperity to himself at the expense of wrecking the character of his loving, self-denying friend and pastor. Plymouth Church never lost confidence in their minister. Through the thickest darkness they stuck to him as a dear father whose life was in their keeping. They upheld him by their united prayers, cheered him on with their tears and their smiles, and stood by his side in the face of every foe. When many a cross wind was blowing, when many a friend outside was deserting him, Plymouth Church never flinched a moment. They were his friends indeed, who would neither leave nor forsake him. When the infamous trial in the Civil Court came to an end, and the costs were declared to be £15,000, they at once paid every penny, and gave him his usual salary of £5000 besides. Royal people! The Lord will reward and has rewarded them for their fidelity to His servant; and punishment will descend, and has already descended, upon the heads of his persecutors.

One object, and perhaps the chief object, of this Life is to put Mr. Beecher in the proper light before the British people. While his name is universally familiar, there are not many who know anything accurately about him. He is supposed by some to be a Unitarian, by others a Universalist, and by others still, a Free Thinker, or Sceptic. It will appear from the following pages, I hope, that he still adheres to all those doctrines which are commonly denominated evangelical. He is not orthodox in the same sense that a Wesleyan, a Baptist, or a Presbyterian is accounted orthodox; but he is sound in the larger sense in which all evangelical churches are at one. He is a Trinitarian, believes in the Atonement, Regeneration, Sanctification, and a future life of rewards and punishments. Only a few weeks ago

he preached an exceedingly powerful sermon on "The Divinity of Christ," when he exclaimed respecting the Saviour: "Thou art my Hope, my Trust, my Life, my Object of worship; for all that belongs to me, within and without, for the present and for the time to come, Thou, Lord Jesus, art mine." If to believe that Jesus Christ is God, having all authority in His own hands, is to be a Socinian or Unitarian, then Mr. Beecher is one; and if to maintain that the Man Christ Jesus loved us and gave Himself for us is to deny the Atonement, then Mr. Beecher denies it.

23rd March 1881.

J. T. LL.

[blocks in formation]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][graphic]

CHAPTER I.

BIRTH AND PARENTAGE.

ENRY WARD BEECHER-minister of the Gospel, statesman, lecturer, man of letters, and philanthropist was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, United States, 24th June 1813. He was one of a family of thirteen, many of whom remain unto the present time, and are more or less distinguished either as preachers or as litterateurs. A sister, Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, has a world-wide reputation as an authoress, won chiefly through that most popular novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Two or

three of the brothers are exceedingly well-known in the States; but their fame has not spread abroad into other lands. But all the family are great, in that they are all eccentric and original. Every Beecher is conspicuous, perfectly unique, totally unlike everybody else, intensely himself, a fresh creation of the Almighty.

Mr. Beecher was blessed with parents who were eminent alike for their intellectual endowments and their profound transparent piety. His father, Dr. Lyman Beecher, was born at New Haven, Connecticut, 12th October 1775, studied theology under the great Dr. Dwight, obtained a church at East Hampton, Long Island, and was ordained in 1798. After a brief ministry there he returned to his native State, and became settled at Litchfield. From thence, in 1826, he went to Boston, where he laboured with eminent

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »