Sixty years with Plymouth Church

THE GIFT OF

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SIXTY YEARS WITH
PLYMOUTH CHURCH

V \-

^AyCO^^^o-t^-^^ ,

Sixty Years

WITH

Plymouth Church

Br

STEPHEN M. GRISWOLD

Neiu York Chicago Toronto

Fleming H. Revell Company

London and Edinburgh

r

Copyright, 1907, by
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY

New (York: 1S8 Fifth Avenue
Chicago: 80 Wabash Avenue
Toronto: 25 Richmond St., W,
London : 31 Paternoster Square
Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street

DEDICATED

To my New England Mother, who long

since entered into rest.

CONTENTS

PAGE

I.

Coming to New York ,.

15

II.

Early Plymouth . .

22

III.

'A Plymouth Usher

30

IF.

Plymouth Services . ,.

45

r.

Plymouth Members

59

ri.

Buying a Slave Girl ,.

70

rii.

Mr. Beecher in England

81

nil.

The Beecher Trial . .

90

IX.

The Church Tested .

101

X.

Church Thought and

Life

115

XI.

The Church Staff ■.. .

129

XII.

The Fort Sumter Expe-

dition . 1. . >

142

XIII

. Quaker City Excursion .

153

XIV.

Personalia ....

167

XV.

Future Plymouth . .

182

ILLUSTRATIONS

FAOma PAGE

Stephen M. Griswold . i. Title

Henry Ward Beecher . . . 15

Lyman Abbott ....... 105

Newell Dtmght Hillis . . . 133
Beecher Statue^ City Hall,

Brooklyn .. ,. ... . 153

Interior of Plymouth Church . 173
Chair Used by Henry Ward

Beecher in Plymouth Church 187

PREFACE

For some years past I have been
repeatedly urged to record my recol-
lections of Plymouth Church and
Henry Ward Beecher. One after
another the original members of the
church have passed away until now I
am almost alone, so far as the early
church connection is concerned, and
I have been told that there is really
no one left who could give the per-
sonal value to such a record. At
first, as I thought of the task, it ap-
peared too great. Business duties
pressed arid left little time for such
a work. Then out of the flood of
recollections, which should I select?
Recently a period of convalescence.

12 PREFACE

following a somewhat serious illness,
during which work was forbidden,
gave me leisure which I occupied in
recording such incidents as I thought
might be of interest and value. These
were arranged not in the form of his-
tory but as a series of sketches setting
forth different phases of the church
history arid the church life, as well as
illustrating Mr. Beecher himself as a
preacher and pastor, but still more
as a man. These are chiefly personal
in their character. Fifty-three years
of service as an usher in Plymouth
Church brought me into closest
touch with those services which have
made Plymouth so well known not
only in America, but throughout
the world. Very precious are those
memories to me, and as I have dwelt

PREFACE 13

upon them, I have felt it not less a
privilege than a duty to share them
with others and thus bear testimony
to a church life of great beauty and
power.

COPYRIGHTED

902

HOCKWOOD

Henry Ward Beeches

COMING TO NEW YORK

^^^^.^HE great metropoKs of the
■ ^1 East has ever had a great
^^^^^ attraction for the sons of
rural New England, and I
was no exception to the rule. In 1851
I made known to my parents my am-
bition to see and know more of the
world, and to this end I purposed to
make my way to New York in search
of fame and fortune — a wider hori-
zon and a larger life. I had spent
my uneventful days thus far on my
father's farm, and both he and my
mother were filled with dismay at my
determination to go to what was, to
them, a city of untold lawlessness and
is

i6 SIXTY YEARS WITH

full of pitfalls, where an unsophisti-
cated country youth like myself
would be beset with many tempta-
tions on every hand, and be led away
from the straight and narrow path
of his upbringing by his godly
parents. And truly the change
would be great from the quiet home
at Windsor in the beautiful valley of
the Connecticut to the stir and bustle
and crowds of a great city. So far
as success in any business I might
undertake or material gains were con-
cerned, my parents were quite sure
that the possibilities for advancement
were hardly commensurate with the
danger of discouragement and com-
plete failure.

However, I had not spoken with-
out careful thought, and when they
saw how strongly I felt, and that I

PLTMOUTH CHURCH 17

could not be content to live out my
days on the farm, they consented to
my going, though rather reluctantly;
but it was what I wanted, and I did
not feel that I was erecting a wall of
separation which would shut me out
of the home of my childhood; though
I little thought how hard it would be
to leave it when the time for my de-
parture reaUy came. My mother,
following the custom of most New
!England matrons of those days — I
wonder sometimes whether they are
as careful now to do the same —
placed in my satchel a Bible; and
with that and her blessing, on the
fourth of August, 1851, 1 started out
to make my way in the world, arriv-
ing in New York, a lonely country
boy, with no introductions and no one
to hold out a helping hand.

1 8 SIXTY YEARS WITH

Business opportunities were not so
varied in character then as they are
now, and mercantile pursuits seemed
to loom up above every other ; Amer-
ican ships were winning fame and
fortune for merchants and seemed to
me to offer the greatest prizes. For
a few days I wandered about the
city, going from office to office seek-
ing employment, and before a week
had passed I had secured it; going
from New York over to Brooklyn
and there continuing my quest, I se-
cured a position as clerk in a business
house on Atlantic Street.

For a time aU went well; the hurry
and bustle of the city, all so strange
and fascinating to me ; the new occu-
pation, calling into play an entirely
different line of thought; the new
surroundings, all combined to ward

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 19

off any feeling of loneliness or home-
sickness. A few weeks of this, how-
ever, sufficed to wear away the nov-
elty, and a full sense of my solitary
condition rushed over me; I had made
few acquaintances and had practi-
cally no society. I began to look
around for companions, or at least
for some place where I could spend
my evenings, when the time dragged
most heavily.

It was fortunate for me that just
at this point where so many young
men are tempted to wander into
questionable or even harmful ways,
my thoughts were turned in a truly
helpful direction. Like every new-
comer, I had studied the notices in
the papers and on the fences and bul-
letin boards, and of them all, the one
that had the greatest attraction for

20 SIXTY YEARS WITH

me was that of Plymouth Church
and Henry Ward Beecher, and I
determined that the next Sunday I
would find my way to the church and
hear him preach, which I accordingly
did. The large auditorium of the
church was thronged, but I received
such a cordial welcome as to make me
feel at home, and was at once shown
to a seat. That service was a revela-
tion to me, it was in every respect so
very different from anything I had
ever seen or heard. The singing by
the great congregation, the eloquence
and withal the helpfulness of the
preacher, made a deep impression on
me — an impression that stayed with
me throughout the week, and I de-
termined to go again the next Sun-
day. This time I was so fortunate
as to meet a young man whom I had

PLTMOUTH CHURCH 21

known in Hartford. He was a
friend of Dr, Henry E. Morrill, the
superintendent of the Sunday School,
and through him I was invited to be-
come a member of a Bible Class, an
invitation which I was very glad to
accept. From this time on I had no
reason to complain of any lack of
social life. No young man or woman
who was in Plymouth Church at this
time could fail to find the very best
type of society; under the leadership
of Mr. Beecher this feature of church
life was especially emphasised. The
next year I became a member of the
church, and from that time, during
more than half a century, Plymouth
Church has been more to me than I
can possibly express.

22 SIXTY YEARS WITH

EARLY PLYMOUTH

'T the time of my coming
to Brooklyn, Plymouth
Church was but four years
old, yet it had already
gained a most prominent position not
only in Brooklyn and New York, but
in the entire country, and indeed was
rapidly achieving an international
reputation. A brief sketch of its
history to this time will not be out of
place.

In 1823, when the entire popula-
tion of Brooklyn was less than ten
thousand, and the most densely pop-
ulated section to-day was but bar-
ren fields, two brothers, John and
Jacob M. Hicks, bought seven lots

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 23

running through from Cranberry to
Orange Streets, for the use of " The
First Presbyterian Church." Two
buildings were erected: a church edi-
fice fronting on Cranberry Street was
built at once, and seven years later a
lecture room fronting on Orange
Street was added. Under the pas-
torates of Rev. Joseph Sanford, Rev.
Daniel L. Carroll, D. D., and Rev.
Samuel H. Cox, D. D., the church
prospered, and in 1846 the question
came up of a more commodious edi-
fice. Learning of this, John T.
Howard, at that time a member of
the Congregational Church of the
Pilgrims, Rev. R. S. Storrs, Jr., pas-
tor, conceived the idea of a new Con-
gregational church in that locality.
Conference with David Hale of the
Broadway Tabernacle Church, New

24 SIXTY YEARS WITH

York, strengthened him, and he ob-
tained the refusal of the Presbyterian
property for $20,000. In September,
by the payment of $9500, furnished
by Henry C. Bowen, Seth B. Plunt,
John T. Howard, and David Hale,
the property was secured. The new
building of the First Presbyterian
Church was not completed until May,
1847, and on the same day that it
was opened, May 16, Henry Ward
Beecher preached the first sermon in
Plymouth Church to audiences that
crowded the edifice on Cranberry
Street to the doors.

The method of organisation was
somewhat unique. The first meet-
ing in the interest of the church was
held at Mr. Bowen's house on the
evening of May 8, the day before the
Presbyterians were to vacate their

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 25

old edifice. There were present, be-
sides Mr. Bowen, David Hale, Jira
Payne, John T. Howard, Charles
Rowland, and David Griffin. On
behalf of the owners David Hale
offered the property for religious
purposes, and it was decided to have
services on May 16. Henry Ward
Beecher, at that time pastor of the
Second Presbyterian Church in In-
dianapolis, who had come to New
York for the May anniversaries, had
made an address at the meeting of
the American Home Missionary So-
ciety, and had also spoken elsewhere,
winning great popular favour. He
was secured for the morning and
evening services, and Rev. Mr.
Eggleston, of Ellington, Conn.,
preached in the afternoon. Notice
was given of a permanent series of

26 SIXTY YEARS WITH

weekly prayer meetings to be held
on Friday evenings, and at the first
of these. May 21, a committee, con-
sisting of Henry C. Bowen, Rich-
ard Hale, John T. Howard, Charles
Rowland, and Jira Payne, was ap-
pointed to make arrangements for
the formation of a church. They
reported on June 11, at which time
twenty-one persons signified their
intention to join the church, and the
next day a council of ministers and
delegates met at the house of John
T. Howard. The articles of faith,
covenant, credentials of the new
members, etc., were presented and
approved, and on June 13, 1847, the
new church was publicly organised,
the Rev. R. S. Storrs, Jr., preaching
the sermon. The following evening
the church by a unanimous vote

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 27

elected Henry Ward Beecher to be
their pastor. Two months later he
wrote from Indianapolis accepting
the caU. On October 10 he com-
menced his labours, and on November
11 he was installed. The sermon was
preached by Dr. Edward Beecher,
other parts being taken by Drs.
Nathaniel Hewitt, D. C. Lansing,
Horace Bushnell, Rev. R. S. Storrs,
Jr., and Rev. J. P. Thompson.

The first winter proved the wisdom
of the new enterprise. An interest-
ing revival brought in a large num-
ber of new members, and it was not
long before it became evident that
the buildings were entirely inade-
quate. There was talk of rebuild-
ing, when a fire, in January, 1849,
settled the question by destroying the
building. Plans for a new edifice

28 SIXTY YEARS WITH

were drawn, and after some months
of worship in a temporary Taber-
nacle in Pierrepont Street, the pres-
ent buUding was entered on the first
Sunday of 1850.

It will readily be seen that it was
a live church that I joined, and after
half a century of experience and ob-
servation, I can only thank God that
I was brought to connect myself with
it. It was not merely the marvellous
preaching of Mr. Beecher, which I
feel helped me greatly; it was the
whole atmosphere of aggressive work.
The great audiences, crowding the
pews so that aisle chairs had to be put
in, was in itself an inspiration; so was
also the fine music with John Zundel
at the organ and the large choir lead-
ing the vast congregation. The cor-
dial social atmosphere that made even

PLTMOUTH CHURCH 29

a stranger feel at home also had its
share, but more than all these put
together, or perhaps better, manifest
through all these, was the sense that
church life was a means to an end, not
an end in itself, and that that end
was the building up of a true and
noble Christian life in all its different
phases. Surely no higher concep-
tion of a church's sphere can be
found, and to this I believe to be
due more than to any other one thmg
the power of Plymouth Church.

30 SIXTY YEARS WITH

A PLYMOUTH USHER

XT was a little more than a
year after I became a mem-
ber of Plymouth Church
that I began my work as
an usher, and for fifty-three years I
have been identified with Plymouth
Church in that capacity. An usher
has peculiar opportunities to study
human nature,, both individually and
collectively. His first acquaintance
is with the pewholders, and these
he quickly learns to distinguish.
Plymouth Church was remarkably
hospitable from the first. The stran-
gers within its gates usually out-
numbered the regular membership,
and they represented all classes and

PLTMOUTH CHURCH 31

conditions of men, but not more rep-
resentative were they than the com-
pany of those who were the constant
attendants on its services — ^the relied-
upon supporters of its enterprises.
It was not a wealthy congrega-
tion. There were a few men of
means; excepting possibly Claflin,
Bowen, Sage, Hutchinson, Storrs,
Arnold, Graves, Corning, Healy,
Bush, Benedict, Dennis, there were
no merchant princes or princely
bankers. The greater number were
earnest, aggressive men who had
something to do in life besides make
money. Generous whenever gen-
erosity was needed, they were for
the most part what are called " hard-
headed" business men. They were
in Plymouth Church, not because
it was fashionable to be there, or

32 SIXTY YEARS WITH

because it had the most noted pas-
tor in America, if not in the world,
but because they were in sympathy
with its purpose and the purpose
of its pastor, and felt that there
they could best serve their day and
generation.

Dominated by this spirit, it was
in entire keeping with their habit of
thought and action that they should
seek to extend as widely as possible
the enjoyment of the privileges of
their own church life. Hence they
were cordial to all visitors to the vari-
ous religious services, as weU as to
the social gatherings that were held.
It was the general custom in Ply-
mouth, as in most churches, to keep
the seats for the regular pewholders
until the commencement of the serv-
ice. Those who were not in their

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 33

places at that time had to stand their
chances with the guests, and what
those chances were may be gathered
from the fact that it was usual on
Sunday morning to see a line of
people standing in front of the
church and leading on the one side
to Henry Street and on the other to
Hicks Street, waiting to be admitted
to the service. Still it was very rare
that there was any hard feeling, and
certainly no expression of it was
manifest when pewholders to whom
a sermon by Mr. Beecher was the
great treat of the week, but who for
one reason or another were delayed,
found their seats occupied, and were
compelled themselves either to stand
or withdraw entirely.

The hospitality, too, was thor-
oughly democratic. It may be

34 SIXTY YEARS WITH

doubted whether any church in the
land, not even excepting those of
the Roman Cathohc worship, gave
so genuine a welcome to every sort
of people, rich or poor, high or low,
educated or uneducated, white, black
or brown, as did Plymouth Church.
'No man, woman, or child was al-
lowed to feel out of place, or unwel-
come. That this was and is true,
is a notable testimony to the influ-
ences that controlled the church from
its very beginning.

When we consider the guests, their
number and quahty, the ushers used
sometimes to wonder where they all
came from. Truly, the fame of
Plymouth had gone into all the
world. Travellers visited it, just
as they went to Washington or Ni-
agara. It was " the thing " to hear

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 35

Henry Ward Beecher in Plymouth
Church — ^usually the two were abso-
lutely identical. Distinguished men
from all walks in life, in America
and every other country in Christen-
dom, were there. Famous editors,
popular ministers, eminent states-
men, great generals, were to be seen
in the audience Sabbath after Sab-
bath. Among those whom I remem-
ber were Louis Kossuth, Abraham
Lincoln, General Grant, Charles
Dickens, Wendell Phillips, Theo-
dore Parker, William Lloyd Gar-
rison, Charles Sumner, the poet
Whittier, Horace Greeley, besides a
host of others. During the Civil
War most of the so-called War Gov-
ernors, Andrews of Massachusetts,
Buckingham of Connecticut, Mor-
gan of New York, Curtin of Penn-

36 SIXTY YEARS WITH

sylvania, and others, were to be seen
in the congregation, and it was not
an uncommon occurrence to see many
of the New England regiments on
their way to the field, stop over
Sunday and march into Plymouth
Church. It had become identified
with those higher purposes and
deeper principles of the war which
appealed most of all to the New
England conscience.

Of course there were aU sorts of
experiences in seating these guests.
The ushers soon came to be able to
tell where the strangers came from
by their form of expression. " Is this
Ward Beecher's Church? " invariably
betokened an Englishman, as they
always called him Ward Beecher in
England, and probably more of the
foreigners who visit Plymouth come

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 37

from there than from any other
country. "We are from Canada,"
is the next most common salutation.
" I am a clergyman from Oregon."
" I am a missionary from China."
" I am from San Francisco and this
is my first visit here." " We are
from New Jersey, and never heard
Mr. Beecher." " I am from Aus-
tralia and this is my first visit to this
country." These are but illustra-
tions of the expressions which greeted
the ushers every Sunday.

Of course they all want good seats.
It is astonishing how many people
come who are hard of hearing, and
want front pews; and if they are
seated on the left they cannot hear
in the right ear, and if on the right,
they cannot hear in the left ear. All
this was not unnoticed by Mr.

38 SIXTY YEARS WITH

Beecher, as we realised one day when,
as he entered the pulpit, he turned to
Mr. Whitney, on duty there, and
putting his hand to his ear quietly
said, " I am very hard of hearing,
can you not give me a front seat? "
Others, if you give them a front seat,
say it tires their eyes to look up, and
if they are seated too far back, they
cannot see. It is the duty of the
usher to satisfy all. That strangers
come so constantly is witness to the
cordiality and courtesy of their re-
ception and treatment. Mr. Beecher
frequently said that the ushers helped
him in no small degree in the Sunday
services.

The interest for the ushers was by
no means finished when the seats were
fiUed and the standing room was ap-
portioned. Then came watching the

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 39

eifect of the service upon the audi-
ence. True, most of the ushers took
seats when their special work of in-
troduction was over — i. e., if there
were any seats available, or they had
succeeded in reserving any; but there
were always some on duty, and not
even Mr. Beecher's eloquence entirely
eclipsed the interest with which the
various attitudes were watched.
These attitudes were of all sorts.
There were sceptical people, who evi-
dently wondered whether this man
Beecher was really as great as they
tried to make him out; they sat in
their seats with a very firm back, in-
disposed to bend or yield to any in-
fluence. As a rule they got little
farther than the prayer or the second
hymn before there was a very percep-
tible unbending. Somehow few could

40 SIXTY YEARS WITH

withstand the power of Plymouth
Church singing, and Mr. Beeeher's
prayers had a wonderfully mov-
ing influence. The sermon, how-
ever, captured all. If asked what
it was that had conquered they per-
haps could not have told, but sure it
was that the shoulders shook, the
head bent forward, the whole frame
seemed to respond to the touch of
the master hand. Especially inter-
esting was it to watch the young
men. Students came from all over
the country to hear the "greatest
pulpit orator " in the land. All sense
of surroundings was lost, and bend-
ing forward, with eye fixed on the
speaker, and even the mouth open,
as if in fear of closing any possible
avenue by which the thought might
enter mind and heart, they listened

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 41

with an intensity of attention that
can scarcely be measured.

The general bearing of the audi-
ence was always reverential. There
was none of the solemn formahty
seen in a good many churches. To
some people it doubtless savoured
more of a lecture hall than of a
church. The form of the auditorium
was the reverse of the stately Gothic.
There was no dim religious light.
Plenty of windows let in plenty of
light and plenty of fresh air. The
pews were comfortable. Under any
other preacher they might have con-
duced to decorous naps. There was
no excess of dress. People wore
clothes for comfort, not for show,
and if perchance they commenced
with style they invariably ended with
simplicity.

42 SIJ^TY YEARS WITH

There was, too, a breezy sort of
cheeriness about the whole place.
Quiet, friendly chatting between
friends went on, but it was never
obtrusive, or interfered with devo-
tion. The moment service com-
menced it was manifest that it was
divine service, not a public entertain-
ment. Mr. Beecher was a wonderful
reader, and to hear his rendering of
a chapter in the Bible, or of a hymn
new or old, was in itself a great privi-
lege. During the prayer there was
a stillness that could be felt. Few
men have greater, or as great a gift
in bringing men to the recognition of
their communion with God.

With the sermon there was evident
a general attitude of expectancy.
Something was coming, and every-
one wanted to be sure and get it.

PLTMOUTH CHURCH 43

Sometimes it was humorous, and a
ripple of laughter would go over the
audience. Those who heard about it
were apt to be shocked and to con-
sider it irreverent. It is doubtful
whether anyone who was present
ever had that feeling. Sometimes it
was pathetic, and there was sus-
picious fumbling in pockets. Some-
times it was soul-stirring, and one
could see the forms quiver and grow
tense. Most often it was that calm,
quiet, yet forceful presentation of
truth, not in the abstract as some-
thing to be looked upon from various
angles, then labelled and put aside,
but practical, affecting the daily life;
and faces would grow earnest, and
the results would be seen in the home,
the shop, or the office.

Service over, Plymouth Church

44 SIXTY YEARS WITH

people gathered in knots to chat over
— ^pretty much everythmg, for it was
like one big family. Strangers
looked on with curiosity, generally
appreciative, less often with a cer-
tain air of disapproval at the appar-
ent levity. One thing was noticeable:
those who came once generally came
again at some time, and so faces that
had been strange came to wear a fa-
miliar look.

PLTMOUTH CHURCH 45

PLYMOUTH SERVICES

HEW, if any, churches in the
country, certainly none in
Greater New York, pre-
serve the old-time sim-
plicity of the typical New England

Congregational Church as distinct
as does Plymouth Church. The
building itself, with no steeple, the
form of its auditorium, unusual at
that period in a church, the arrange-
ment of its pews, all were indeed inno-
vations, and they have been followed,
though hardly improved upon, in
building other church edifices. When
it comes to the conduct of worship,
however, it is severe in its simplicity.
There is the opening hymn shared by

46 SIXTY YEARS WITH

the congregation, a short invocation,
reading of the Scripture, then the
offering, and while it is being re-
ceived an anthem is sung by the
choir.

The " long " prayer is followed by
a hymn; but the chief feature of the
entire service is always the sermon,
after which comes a hymn and the
benediction. The evening service
followed the order of that of the
morning. Of elaborate liturgies
there has been no hint, yet the
service has ever been both impres-
sive and interesting. People ex-
plained it at first by the peculiar
power of the man who occupied the
pulpit, yet this can hardly account
for its continuance to the present
day in its original form. The suc-
ceeding pastors have continued the

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 47

plan, not because Mr. Beecher started
it or perhaps because they themselves
preferred it, but because it seems to
fit Plymouth Church, and is enjoyed
by Plymouth congregations. Some-
how a liturgy would seem entirely
out of place there, however appro-
priate it might be elsewhere, and not
only is this recognised, but there
seems to have been at no time any
desire to make the service more
elaborate.

When it comes to the conduct of
the different parts of the service,
however, there was nothing hum-
drum, or that savoured of routine.
Mr. Beecher was a remarkable reader.
Delicate shades of meaning came out
in the very tones of his voice, and his
power of intense sympathy made it
easy for him to impersonate for the

48 SIXTY YEARS WITH

time being almost any character.
Had he turned his attention to the
stage he would have been a wonder-
ful actor. As he read the Scriptures
the Bible characters stood out with
marvellous distinctness; we could al-
most see them or hear them. He
entered also so fully into the deepest
meaning of what he read that the
rendering shed new light on some of
the most difficult passages of the
Bible. Attention has more than once
been called to his rendering of those
verses in which the Saviour speaks
so strongly of the Scribes and Phari-
sees. He would read them as if they
were fairly afire with indignation and
wrath; then, softening his voice, read
them again with an infinite pathos,
as if they were prophecy rather than
condemnation, and ask which ren-

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 49

dering was more in accord with the
nature of Jesus.

The same thing was manifest in
his rendering of hj^nns. He was ex-
tremely fond of poetry, and searched
far and wide for the best hymns.
Our first hymn book was a little one
known as Temple Melodies. Mr.
Beecher could not get along with this,
and with the aid of his brother. Rev.
Charles Beecher, and the organist,
John Zundel, compiled and published
the Plymouth Collection. This long
held its place at the head of church
hymnals and really worked a revo-
lution in church music.

To many the feature of the whole
service was the "long prayer," as it
was called. Many who could not
quite agree with all the conclusions
and statements of the sermons found

50 SIXTY YEARS WITH

these prayers of wonderful help. The
same sympathy that made his render-
ing of Scripture so effective became
very apparent when he took up the
problems of daily life, the perplexi-
ties, doubts, temptations, successes.
Probably no preacher has ever had
such wide publication of his prayers
as Mr. Beecher, and the Book of
Prayers from Plymouth Pulpit be-
came a source of spiritual strength
to many who could not attend the
services. They were taken down in
shorthand, as were his sermons, and
published, appearing first in the
Christian Union and then in book
form.

The sermon needs no description
from me — even if I could give it.
It seemed the very expression of the
man, his interpretation of himself,

PLTMOUTH CHURCH 51

Mr. Beecher was to all appearance
well-nigh reckless in the vigour with
which he made statements that seemed
to him to be true, with little or no re-
gard to their relation to other truths.
The result was that he was charged
with being grossly inconsistent. One
day he would preach a sermon that
would have delighted the old New
England divines. The next Sunday
he seemed an out-and-out Unitarian,
while Quakers, Swedenborgians and
all sorts of beliefs claimed him. The
explanation was that he saw very
clearly the element of truth in any
system, whether he agreed with it in
f uU or not, and in his eif ort to state
it plainly and give due credit to it,
often left the impression that the par-
ticular statement he made was all
there was to it. One result was that

52 SIXTY YEARS WITH

the independent forming of opinions
was encouraged and helped in Ply-
mouth Church as in few churches.
Those who imagined that Mr. Beecher
dominated the thought of his people
to an extent which made them mere
echoes of himself were very far from
the truth. It was an intellectual stim-
ulus to sit under him, not merely in
the effort to keep up with his thought,
which poured forth like Niagara, but
in the compulsion to form an inde-
pendent personal opinion. Men loved
to hear him, not so much because they
always agreed with him as because
he had the faculty of stimulating the
best there was in them, arousing their
highest ambitions.

In no single service was Mr.
Beecher at his best so completely as
in the communion service. It was

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 53

distinctively a family gathering in
which the host was not Mr. Beecher,
or Plymouth Church, but the Sav-
iour, and to it were welcome all who
loved that Saviour, whatever their
formal creed or church connection, or
even if they were without any creed or
connection; this was the impression
left upon those who came from other
churches, and this was the descrip-
tion of it given me by a theological
student, who said that he came from
a distant city to Brooklyn and timed
his visit primarily with reference to
that service and especially to Mr.
Beecher's invitation as given by him
from the pulpit. In these days there
is nothing very startling in that posi-
tion, but in the earlier times it was
regarded as a very unsafe liberality,
even if not absolutely wrong.

54 SIXTY YEARS WITH

As I have already said, the music
of Plymouth Church has always heen
an important part of the church wor-
ship. The high-priced quartet has
never been relied upon, the chorus
choir being preferred, not merely for
its own singing, but because it served
best in leading the congregation, and
that was the thing ever kept in mind.
Mr. Beecher loved the old-fashioned
hymns, though he had also a hearty
welcome for new ones, and he was
never satisfied unless he got every-
body to singing. I have often seen
him jump up from his chair right in
the middle of a hymn and hold up his
hand for silence. " You are not sing-
ing this hymn right," he would say.
" Sing it with more spirit, and let
everybody sing." The effect upon
the congregation would be electric,

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 55

and after that the church would
fairly tremble with the volume of
music the audience would pour forth.
The result has been that it has always
been the fashion for everybody in the
congregation, strangers as well as
members, to sing, and this undoubt-
edly has had a share in doing away
with coldness and formality in the
service.

All this, however, could not have
been accomplished without the cordial
sympathy and positive help of many
great organists and leading singers.
There have been more famous musi-
cians engaged for Plymouth Church
Choir during the past fifty years than
in any other church in this country,
if not in the world. Among the
names I may mention are Zundel,
Burnet, Stebbins, Wheeler, Thursby,

56 SIXT Y YEARS WITH

Toedt, Sterling, Lasar, Damrosch,
Warrenwrath, Camp, and many
others. Of them all probably John
Zundel came the nearest to Mr.
Beecher's ideal. He entered heart-
ily into all the preacher's ideas and
feelings and seemed to understand
just how to interpret him in music;
Mr. Beecher used to say that he in-
spired his sermons. It has not been
surprising that even with the in-
evitable changes brought by time,
there have been but few intervals,
and those very brief, from the organ-
isation of the church up to the pres-
ent time, when the music has not been
of the highest order, arid the stand-
ard of to-day is in no respect inferior
to that of the past.

Among my earliest recollections of
Mr. Beecher's preaching was the pro-

PLTMOUTH CHURCH 57

fusion of his illustrations from na-
ture. Every part and manifestation
of nature had its place, but so fre-
quent were his references to flowers
that it became a common saying
among members of Plymouth Church
that " Mr. Beecher must be very fond
of flowers." He seemed to know
every flower in the garden or in the
field, and was constantly drawing les-
sons from them or using them in some
way to enforce a point.

One Sunday morning, I think it
was in 1852, someone sent him a
smaU bouquet in a vase. He took it
to church with him, placed it on the
little table at his side, and there it
remained during the service. It is
difficult in these days to understand
what a comjnotion it occasioned.
Such a thing as bringing flowers into

S8 SIXTY YEARS WITH

a church on the Sabbath day had
never been heard of, and was not at
all in accord with traditional New
England ideas. Everyone in the
congregation of course noticed it, and
that bouquet of flowers became
during the week the talk of all
Brooklyn.

There were not a few who were
alarmed at Mr. Beecher's rapidly
growing popularity, and who made a
point of finding fault with everything
he did. These declared that Henry
Ward Beecher had desecrated the
House of God by taking flowers into
the pulpit during religious worship!
This, however, aif ected neither Mr.
Beecher nor the church. Flowers on
the pulpit had come to stay, and stay
they did, and now are recognised as a
legitimate part of church service all
over the world.

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 59

PLYMOUTH MEMBERS

^^^LYMOUTH CHURCH

I I was born in days of strife.

JN^^ It was natural that the
mihtant element should be
dominant. The very way in which
the church was organised was illus-
trative of their methods. The prompt
improvement of the opportunity to
buy the property, the meeting one
week, the opening of services the next
week, the organisation of the church,
the calling of the council, the invita-
tion to Mr. Beecher to be their pastor,
all in quick succession, were charac-
teristic.

Mr. Howard was one who nat-
urally foresaw the possibilities for

6o SIXTY YEARS WITH

the future, and thus came into leader-
ship in the origin of the enterprise.
Once started, however, the initiative
and the dominating influence be-
longed to a group of men, of consid-
erable note at the time as being closely-
identified with the anti-slavery agita-
tion, and who were out of patience
with what they considered the time-
serving policy of too many of the
churches, and particularly of the va-
rious benevolent and missionary socie-
ties: Henry C. Bowen, Richard Hale,
Arthur and Lewis Tappan. These
were in business, chiefly dry goods,
and had large connections with the
South. As the strife grew more
severe, complaints grew, and finally
the Southern merchants drew up a
list of Northern merchants with
whom they would have no dealings.
All four of these men were on that

PLTMOVTH CHURCH 6r

list. Mr. Bowen's partner, Mr. Mc-
Namee, was one with him, but it was
Mr. Bowen in particular who sent the
famous retort, when urged to cater to
his Southern constituency:

" Our goods are for sale, but not
our principles."

He, as others, suffered for this,
but the only effect it had was to
strengthen them in the position they
had taken. The American nation
owes a debt of gratitude to the patri-
otic New York merchants who stood
for liberty arid their country in these
perilous times. Among the first were
A. T. Stewart, Simeon B. Chittenden
and H. B. Claflin.

It was natural under the circum-
stances that the early history of the
church should have been very much
controlled by these men. Of them
all, Mr. Bowen was perhaps the most

62 SIXTY YEARS WITH

aggressive and the most of a leader.
He was the first superintendent of
the Sunday School, and had much to
do with the plans for and the erection
of the present church building. A
man of very positive convictions and
great executive ability, he did what
he did with his might. The same
characteristics went into his conduct
of The Independentj of which he
was one of the founders in 1848.
While the fame of its editors, Henry
Ward Beecher, Joseph P. Thompson
and Richard Salter Storrs, went far
and wide, not a little of the success
of the paper was due to his general
management, and to his hearty in-
dorsement of the position of his
editors, however radical they were —
indeed the more radical the better.
Later, when he acquired entire con-

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 63

trol, these characteristics were still
more manifest.

Another prominent man was Aus-
tin Abbott, brother of Dr. Lyman
Abbott, a well-known lawyer, and one
who was closely identified with the
defence of Mr. Beecher in his
famous trial. Well do I remember
him as he first came, a boy, and took
his seat in the west gallery. Then
there were Henry M. and Augustus
Storrs. The former was an intimate
friend of Horace Greeley and used
to travel about with him in his po-
litical tours. Both were warm friends
of Mr. Beecher, but Augustus was
specially active ; it was at his house in
Sidney Place that many of the meet-
ings for consultation were held.
Robert R. Raymond came to Brook-
lyn from Boston and brought the

64 SIXTY YEARS WITH

classic atmosphere, combined with a
most emphatic manner, to his profes-
sor's work in the Polytechnic Insti-
tute. He was one of the compara-
tively few who took part in the
prayer meetings, which generally
were really lecture talks by Mr.
Beecher. He seemed to think that a
literary atmosphere would certainly
do no harm, for his favourite subject
was Shakespeare, and he frequently
read lengthy extracts from his plays.
He became widely known as a student
and reader of Shakespeare. His son,
Rossiter Raymond, will be mentioned
later.

Robert S. Bussing was specially
interested in the Bethel Mission; at
first it was independent, but after-
wards became a regular part of Ply-
mouth Church work. General Ho-

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 65

ratio C. King was among the leaders
in somewhat later days. A son of
Horatio King, United States Post-
master-General under Buchanan, he
always identified himself with the
various reform movements, especially
the anti-slavery ones, and was thus in
hearty sympathy with Mr. Beecher
and Plymouth Church in its activities,
and has for many years served as clerk
of the church. Always interested in
music, he was a fine organist and
helped materially in that department
of church worship. Another whose
name became very widely known, es-
pecially at the time of the trial, was
Thomas G. Shearman. He was also
identified with every phase of church
life, was clerk for many years, and
an active and most loyal upholder of
pastor and church.

66 SIXTY YEARS WITH

For the most part these were not
very wealthy men, though Augustus
Storrs was esteemed such, and Mr.
Bussing at one time had a large in-
come. There were a few, however,
of large means, and they gave most
liberally: Horace B. Claflin, Rufus
R. Graves, and Henry W. Sage. Mr.
Sage wiU long be remembered for his
generous gifts to Cornell University,
and was always looked to for cordial
support of any good cause in Brook-
lyn. Horace B. Claflin as founder
of the great H. B. Claflin Company
was not less munificent, though often
in ways less prominent before the
public, and the same may be said of
■Mr. Graves. These with Mr. Storrs
were always bidders for the highest
priced pews, paying premiums vary-
ing from $3000 to $5000 each.

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 67

While present days are not so
strenuous as those early years, and
modern conditions scarcely develop
individual influence in church life of
as great intensity as the times of con-
flict, Plymouth to-day has a large and
influential company of men identi-
fied with its life. Among them Gen-
eral Horatio C. King, already spoken
of, and Professor Rossiter W. Ray-
mond, are some of the links connect-
ing the present with the past. No
one who has listened to Professor
Raymond's explanations of Scrip-
tures or heard his talks in the meet-
ings fails to realise his power in the
church life. " Deacon " Stephen V.
White has long been a well-known
member, as liberal as he is loyal; so
too are John Arbuckle, the cofi^ee
merchant, Henry Hentz and Henry

68 SIXTY YEARS WITH

Chapin, Jr. Mr. Beecher is repre-
sented by his son, William C, and the
Howard family is still well known in
Plymouth.

Mention of even a few would in-
clude Benjamin F. Blair, Walter L.
Wellington, F. G. Corning, son of
Rev. J, L. Corning, one of the early
members, George W. Mabie, T. W.
Lauterdale, Philip M. Knight, Geo.
W. Bardwell, Elijah R. Kennedy,
Frank M. Brooks, Horace D. Sher-
rill, Jas. A. Brodie, Chas. N". Judson,
Terance Jacobson, Dr. Wm. Morris
Butler, Chas. H. More, Clarence B.
Wisner, Wm. Foster, Benjamin F.
Webb, H. Edward Dreier, Amos D.
Carver, Wm. E. Davenport, W. F.
Osborne, H. A. Garthewait, A. K.
Powell, Frederick W. Starr, Louis
N. Chapin, Dwight Studwell, Henry

PLTMOUTH CHURCH 69

Sanger Snow, A. Stanwood, Sea-
bury N. Haley, Wm. Tupper, Fred-
erick W. Heinrich, H. W. Wheeler,
M. C. Ogden, John H. Jackson,
George A. Price, W. P. Long, Mr.
Carpenter, Mr. Ramsay, Mr. Ken-
yon, Mr. Smith, Mr. Bingham, Mr.
Ayers, Mr. Aderley, and many
others.

70 SIXTY YEARS WITH

BUYING A SLAVE GIRL

XT is impossible to under-
stand accurately the early
history of Plymouth
Church, and realise the
position it held in the country, as well
as its influence over its members,
without some knowledge of the gen-
eral history of the times. It was a
period of great political ferment.
The slavery question was looming up
as the "irrepressible conflict." The
war with Mexico, at its height when
the church was organised, precipi-
tated the discussion as to the exten-
sion of slave territory. The discov-
ery of gold in California (February,
1850) opened up possibilities of na-

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 71

tional growth undreamed of before,
and which stirred the greatest ambi-
tions, especially in the slave states.
The passage of the fugitive slave
law (September, 1850) was but fuel
to the flame. Into the discussions of
the time two Congregational minis-
ters threw themselves with all the
ardour of their natures, and excep-
tional ability — Henry Ward Beecher,
of Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, and
Joseph P. Thompson, of Broadway
Tabernacle, New York. Nor did
they lack for hearty support by their
churches. The men who stood behind
them were equally in earnest with
themselves. The pulpits — or rather
platforms — of both were free for the
presentation of the cause of justice
and liberty, and many scenes in them
have become historic.

72 SIXTY YEARS WITH

On one occasion the Broadway
Tabernacle, at that time located on
Broadway near Duane Street, was
opened for a mass meeting. Mr.
Beecher was advertised to speak, and
the house was packed. He was lis-
tened to with closest attention and
deepest interest, but the climax came
when turning round he lifted a chain
that had been taken from a slave in
the South, held it for a moment high
above his head, then dashed it to the
floor, placed his foot upon it and
said: " In this way we propose to deal
with the slave power in the South."
The effect upon the audience was
thrilling and the applause fairly
rocked the building.

Another scene, which none who wit-
nessed it could ever forget, was in
Plymouth Church. It was Sabbath

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 73

morning, and as usual every seat and
all the available standing room was
fiUed. After the sermon Mr. Beecher
said that he had a matter which he
wished to present to the congrega-
tion. No one had the least idea as to
what he was going to do, and the
people waited in profound silence.
He then said, " Sarah, come up here."
As the audience looked, a little mu-
latto girl arose in the body of the
church, ran up the pulpit steps and
took Mr. Beecher's hand. Turning
to the assembled multitude he said:
" This little girl is a slave, and I have
promised her owner $1200, his price
for her, or she will be returned to
slavery. Pass the basket."

The ushers found their way
through the vast audience. Although
the church seated only a little more

74 SIXT Y YEARS WITH

than two thousand, there must have
been nearly three thousand present,
and soon the collection was made. It
appeared that the sum total was not
far from fifteen hundred dollars.
Many gave jewelry, diamonds,
watches and chains. Her freedom
was announced amid thunders of ap-
plause. This was not the only in-
stance of a similar nature. Mr.
Beecher was frequently condemned
for even in form acknowledging the
right of a slave owner to any re-
muneration for a slave, hut if he
thought a thing right to do, he did
it without the least regard to what
other people might say.

There was probably no one ques-
tion at the time about which there
were more intensely opposing opin-
ions, than this one of the return of

PLTMOUTH CHURCH 75

slaves. Congress had passed the fu-
gitive slave law, and aU lawyers and
students of the Constitution affirmed
not merely its legality, but its justice,
at least its technical justice. To a
large number, however, the fact that
it was legal made no difference so
long as they were convinced that it
was morally wrong. Among these
was Mr. Beecher, and he had the cor-
dial support of the people. One re-
sult was the formation all through
the North of a system, known as the
Underground Railroad, by which
slaves escaping from the South were
helped on their way until they could
reach Canada, when they were free.
It was no secret that some of the men
in Plymouth Church knew a good
deal about this railroad, and were
deeply interested in helping men.

76 SIXTY YEARS WITH

women and girls to escape from
bondage.

The first national event in which
the church took a definite part, so
far as I remember, was the question
as to whether Kansas should be a free
or a slave state. Settlers were rush-
ing in from aU parts of the country,
and the North was favouring those
who were opposed to slavery, while
the South sought to strengthen the
slave-holding element. The result
was a constant clashing, resulting in
what came to be known as the Bor-
der Ruffian War, in which John
Brown first appeared as a national
figure. In the difficulty of provision-
ing such a new country, aU sorts of
supplies were rushed in, including
ammunition and Bibles. Mr. Beecher
told his congregation that just then

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 77

a Sharps rifle was as good a mission-
ary to send as a Bible. Accordingly
the church purchased and boxed up
several cases of rifles and Bibles and
sent them out. These rifles were
afterwards called Beecher Bibles.

The events that followed, leading
up to the War of the Rebellion, were
all part of Plymouth Church life. It
seemed sometimes as if Mr. Beecher
was everywhere and nothing could be
done without him. At the time when
Senator Brooks in the United States
Senate made his unprovoked attack
on Charles Sumner, the whole coun-
try was wild with indignation. Meet-
ings were held on every hand to pro-
test against the outrage. Every item
of news from Mr. Sumner's bedside
was watched for with intense solici-
tude, and for a time it seemed as if

78 SIXTY YEARS WITH

the fate of war or peace hung upon
the life of the Senator. Among the
meetings was one called to take place
in front of City Hall, Brooklyn, and,
as so often was the case, Mr. Beecher
was the speaker. The Square was
packed, and as he came out on the
steps of the City Hall to speak a
great cheer went up, a cheer not
merely of sympathy for Mr. Sumner,
but of faith in and regard for the
speaker. Mr. Beecher, with his mar-
vellous power, raised his voice so that
it could be heard all over the Square,
and for an hour he held the audience
spellbound with his arraignment of
the slave power of the South, and the
wrongs it was committing, while he
affirmed his conviction that the con-
flict would result in a storm of civil
war. It was a wonderful illustration

PLTMOUTH CHURCH "jq

of the inspiration that made him
great.

A very diif erent, yet not less char-
acteristic, scene was that in the lec-
ture room of the church one Friday
evening, when the news of the death
of John Brown had come. Looking
back over the years it is easy to see
that his attempt with a mere handful
of men to free the slaves of the South
was a most foolish thing. Yet at
that time so keen was the realisation
of the wrongs that slavery had com-
mitted and so hearty the respect for
the nobility of his purpose and of his
character, that from all the land there
went up one general expression of
sympathy. The seriousness of the
situation appears in the fact that the
State of Virginia felt obliged to call
out a large number of troops on the

8o SIXTY YEARS WITH

day of his execution to quell any
popular disturbance. The day of the
execution was Friday, and as the
audience crowded the room, it was
easy to see that there was but one
thought in the minds of all. Mr.
Beecher came in and took his seat
upon the platform, a strange and un-
usual expression on his face, indicat-
ing the intensity of the feeling within.
After one or two short prayers, and
a couple of hymns, one after another
gave expression to his sorrow and
amazement at the condition of things
between the North and the South,
and through aU there was manifest
the conviction that war and bloodshed
were sure to come. The meeting was
long and earnest, showing the deep
impression made on the people of the
church.

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 8i

MR. BEECHER IN ENGLAND

^^^^H£ most critical time for
M C| the North during the Civil
^^^^^ War was when it was
thought that England
would recognise the Southern Con-
federacy. The close relations be-
tween the cotton manufacturers of
England and the vast cotton produc-
ers of the South created a pubhc
sentiment in England in favour of
the slave states. The feeling on both
sides was intensified by the " Trent
Affair." Two Confederate envoys,
sent to Europe to secure the recogni-
tion of the Confederacy, were taken
from the British steamship Trent by
a United States man-of-war. Great

82 SIXTY YEARS WITH

Britain, which had declared neu-
trality and thus granted the Confed-
eracy the rights of belligerents, de-
manded their surrender. Feeling in
the North ran very high, and there
were most vigorous protests against
yielding to the English demands.
The President and his advisers, how-
ever, realising that the arrest of the
two envoys tallied very closely with
the EngUsh actions that had brought
on the War of 1812, concluded that
it was wiser to avoid so far as possible
any occasion for interference on the
part of Europe, and returned the en-
voys. Their arrival in England and
their setting forth of their side of the
conflict was a signal for a great in-
crease of hostility to the North, and
the pressure from the industrial cen-
tres became so great that probably

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 83

only the steadfast friendship for the
North of the Queen's hushand,
Prince Albert, averted what would
most certainly have been a great
calamity. Even Mr. Gladstone had
expressed his conviction that the suc-
cess of the Southern States, so far at
least as regarded their separation
from the North was concerned, was
" as certain as any event yet future
and contingent, could be." Even
the Emancipation Proclamation did
not suffice to open the eyes of many
to the real issues, and there was a
widespread feeling that some way
must be found to present the cause
of the North in such a manner as to
reach the English conscience and
genuine love of liberty.

In the summer of 1863 Mr.
Beecher had been sent to Europe for

84 SIXTY YEARS WITH

a rest. On his return he came to
England, and immediately there
arose a general demand for him to
represent America. His marvellous
success in the anti-slavery campaign
preceding the Civil War, his wide-
spread popularity, and particularly
his power over audiences, made many
look to him as the providential am-
bassador. He demurred at first, but
at last yielded.

When he arrived in London, Man-
chester, and Liverpool, where great
mass meetings had been arranged for
him to address, he found that every
efi'ort had been made to discredit him,
by huge posters placed throughout
the country asking : " Who is Henry
Ward Beecher? He is the man who
said the best blood of England must
be shed to atone for the Trent affair.

PLTMOUTH CHURCH 85

Men of Manchester, Englishmen,
what reception can you give this
man? He is the friend of General
Butler. He is the friend of that so-
called gospel preacher, Cheever. His
impudence in coming here is only
equalled by his cruelty and impiety."
The meeting at Liverpool was an-
nounced as follows. "At a meeting
held in New York at the time when
the Confederate envoys, Messrs. Ma-
son and Slidell, had been surrendered
by President Lincoln to the British
Government, from whose vessel (the
Royal Mail Steamer Trent) they
were taken, the Rev. Henry Ward
Beecher said. This act will demon-
strate the unfeeling selfishness of
the British Government and bring us
to a realisation of our national hu-
miliation. This opinion comes from

86 SIXTY YEARS WITH

a Christian minister who wishes to
obtain a welcome in Liverpool, where
operatives are suffering almost un-
precedented hardships caused by the
suicidal war raging in the States of
North America, and which is being
urged on by fanatical statesmen and
preachers of the North ! "

These posters and notices of the
press had so inflamed the public mind
that when Mr. Beecher entered the
great halls in Liverpool, Manches-
ter and London, he had to face a
howling mob. When he arose to
speak, the tumult and hisses made it
impossible for him to be heard.
Calmly he stood and faced the storm
like a giant oak for a period of one
hour to one hour and a half, at each
one of these three great meetings.

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 87

before the audience would listen to
anything which he said; gradually
sentence after sentence began to
reach them, and here Mr. Beecher
showed his great power as an orator.
He slowly quieted the mob until they
listened to every word he said, and
when he closed, the applause which
greeted him was greater than the
groans and the howling with which
he had been received. He had met
the enemy and conquered.

He had an easy road afterwards
in following up this victory, speak-
ing in different towns and cities all
over England, and everywhere the
people received him with respect and
enthusiasm. By degrees he succeeded
in slowly changing the opinions of
the people from favouring the cause

88 SIXTY YEARS WITH

of the Confederate States to in-
dorsing the struggle of the North
for Union and Liberty. Returning
to London before sailing for Amer-
ica, he was received with great hon-
ours by the most noted men in that
city, including royalty. Dinners,
breakfasts, and receptions followed
one another in quick succession until
he took his departure.

Upon his return home he was
tendered a great reception in the
Academy of Music, Brooklyn. The
people of the North had been watch-
ing every step of his course in Eng-
land with deep anxiety, for it was a
serious time in the history of this na-
tion. The service which he rendered
his country at that time earned the
gratitude of the American Govern-
ment and people, and made him the

PLTMOUTH CHURCH 89

most popular man of the North. I
may add that this period of Mr.
Beecher's life was the one of his
greatest power and influence, and
marked one of the greatest epochs
in his history.

90 SIJiTY YEARS WITH

THE BEECHER TRIAL

HOLLOWING the Civil
War came the recon-
struction days, and into
all those experiences Mr.
Beecher entered with full energy,
but even more than before he de-
voted himself to his work as a
preacher and writer. He was in
demand everywhere for addresses
and lectures, as well as for articles
from his pen. Churches, lyceums,
theological seminaries, public meet-
ings of all sorts tried to secure him.
He took up editorial work on the
Christian Union, now The Outlook;
he gave the first of the famous series
of lectures on " Preaching," at Yale

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 91

Theological Seminary. Indeed, it
seemed as if he was ubiquitous.
How he got time for it all was a
marvel, even to those who best knew
his great powers of endurance, and
his marvellous capacity for work.
In it all Plymouth Church never
suffered. Its interests were his first
care, and while it was never selfish
or unwilling that others should share
their advantage, he was faithful to
what he esteemed his first duty.

Thus was built up a strength of
mutual confidence, and affection,
that was to be tested in as severe
a way as could well be imagined.
That the test was borne and that
both pastor and people came out
of it, not merely with no loss of
mutual esteem and honour, but with
the vigour of church life unimpaired.

92 SIXTY YEARS WITH

indeed strengthened, is but another
testimony to the genuine force of
Christian character in both.

No survey of Plymouth Church
during its history can ignore the
famous trial, or rather series of trials,
in which both the church and its pas-
tor were subjected to an ordeal of
the severest type. Into the details
there is no necessity of going, neither
is there advantage in reviewing argu-
ments. The actors are fast passing
away. Those now coming on the
stage have little concern with any
results except those made manifest
in the life of Plymouth Church, and
which may be taken as illustrating its
character.

As for Mr. Beecher himself, he
needs no vindication. The verdict of
his city, which has honoured him as

PLTMOUTH CHURCH 93

it honours few men, is sufficiently
clear. So also is that of the churches
and the great mass of Christian men
and women over the country. He
was undoubtedly indiscreet, yet not
in the way that most charged indis-
cretion. Open, above board, frank,
generous, he trusted others, and, as
Dr. Abbott has said, accepted " as
true, without inquiry or investiga-
tion, statements which a man of
more practical wisdom would cer-
tainly have doubted." Good men
and true found it in many cases dif-
ficult to understand his course. Those
who believed in him can afford to
await until the limelight of the high-
est of all courts shall pass its verdict.
Of more immediate value to those
interested in Plymouth Church was
its bearing in such circumstances.

94 SIXTY YEARS WITH

and the results as manifested in its
life. It is to be remembered that
there were really three trials: 1. An
investigation by Plymouth Church,
commencing in June and closing in
August, 1874; 2. A trial before the
civil court, from January 6 to July
2, 1875, brought by Mr. Tilton on
the charge of alienating his wife's
affections; 3. A council of Congre-
gational Churches, called by Ply-
mouth Church to review its action in
regard to its pastor. The first investi-
gation was presented, in its method,
evidence and results, to a meeting of
the church. After full pubhc notice
and by a unanimous vote of about
fifteen hundred members, practically
the entire resident membership, Mr.
Beecher was awarded the perfect
confidence of the church. The civil

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 95

trial resulted in a disagreement of
the jury, but the chief lawyer for the
prosecution and the presiding judge
both publicly affirmed their absolute
conviction in Mr. Beecher's inno-
cence. The Council was the largest
and most representative ever known
in the history of the Congregational
Churches. Over two hundred and
forty men from every part of the
country, holding every phase of
theological beliefs and of ecclesiasti-
cal habit, met together, and for days
investigated, considered, questioned,
with a freedom impossible in strictly
legal procedure, and closed their ses-
sions with formal reaffirmation of
Mr. Beecher's innocence, no charge
against him having been sustained by
any proof.
WhUe it is thus true that Mr.

96 SIXTY YEARS WITH

Beecher and the church came forth
triumphant, it was at heavy cost.
No man could endure such a strain
without showing the eif ects of it, and
Mr. Beecher never recovered the old
buoyancy. In many ways it became
evident how keenly he felt the trial.
The church showed the effect less.
A few, very few, members left the
church, but the number of dismis-
sions was not larger than usual;
indeed they were less than in the
previous two years, and the church
remained the more united. The ad-
missions by letter were exceptionally
large, as were also those by confes-
sion of their faith. More pertinent,
however, than these evidences of life
is the fact that the entire work of
the church suffered no interruption.
Prayer meetings, Sunday School,

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 97

continued with usual vigour, and
the general activities of the congre-
gation were carried on as if there
was nothing unusual taking place.

It was this that aroused the atten-
tion of the country at large and con-
vinced many that the basis of the
real power of Plymouth Church lay
not so much in any oratorical gifts
of its pastor, as in the substantial
Christian life of its members. Those
who could hold together under such
a strain were not likely to fall apart
under the pressure of any lesser dif-
ficulty. Undoubtedly there was a
certain amount of esprit de corps, a
realisation of the absolute necessity
of mutual support, but to those who
look back on those days it is still
more evident that they felt that
more than Mr. Beecher, or even Ply-

98 SIXTY YEARS WITH

mouth Church, was at stake; it was
the ability of a company of Chris-
tian men and women to hold their
faith, and the expression of their
faith.

So far as their personal interest
and faith in Mr. Beecher were con-
cerned, nothing could illustrate it
better than the action of the society
in helping him to meet the extraor-
dinary expense, and the visit to his
home in Peekskill of the members of
the three Sunday Schools. While
Mr. Beecher had a most liberal sal-
ary, he was free and even reckless
in expenditure. The result was that
the cost of the trial went far beyond
his resources. At its close, and even
before he had had time to realise
what that cost had been, the society
which has charge of the finances of

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 99

the church, met and voted that his
salary for that year be one hundred
thousand dollars. It was a great
relief to him financially, but stUl
more grateful as a taken of the love
and confidence of the people. Not
less touching to him was the tribute
from the Sunday Schools.

He was at the time living in his
summer home at Peekskill, N. Y.
Without any knowledge on his part,
until the very day, it was arranged
by the teachers and officers of the
Plymouth, Bethel and Mayflower
Schools that the scholars should go to
Peekskill to congratulate him on the
outcome of the trial, and emphasise
the feeling of the church already ex-
pressed in the salary grant. The
steamer Blackburn was chartered and
about three hundred joined in the ex-

SIXTY YEARS WITH

cursion up the North River. Mr. R.
D. Jaques, an old, active and hon-
oured member of the church, describ-
ing the scene, says that Mr. Beecher
met them standing under a tree, his
hat oif and his long hair flowing in
the wind. The visitors formed in line
so that each could shake his hand.
As the little ones came, Mr. Beecher
would lift them up in his arms and
kiss them. Then the house was
thrown open and they were welcomed
to every part of it. Refreshments
were provided and the social festivi-
ties continued until the time came to
return. It was a happy company
that sailed down the river, but it is
doubtful whether anyone was hap-
pier than the host, as he realised what
the visit meant of their love and
honour.

PLYMOUTH CHURCH loi

THE CHURCH TESTED

ON March 8, 1887, a little
less than forty years after
he had been called as pas-
tor of Plymouth Church,
Henry Ward Beecher died. The end
came suddenly. There was no ling-
ering sickness, no wasting of his pow-
ers. If the impassioned delivery of
earlier years was somewhat lacking,
there was still a power and vigour
fuUy as effective. The year before
he had been to England on a lec-
ture tour and received an ovation as
marked as the disapproval attending
his first attempts. He had been in
demand all over the country for ad-
dresses and lectures. The columns

I02 SIXTY YEARS WITH

of papers and magazines were every-
where open to him, and while it may-
be true that his popularity was not
of the intense sort that it had been
at times, when he was ahnost the idol
of the people, it probably was of a
more substantial character. It is
probable, too, that at no time in its
history had Plymouth Church been
more closely identified with him, or
the opinion been so prevalent that
neither could prosper without the
other. The services were as fuUy
attended as ever, and church work
had settled into the harmonious
routine which always bodes good
for a church's life.

All this was suddenly broken up.
On Wednesday evening, March 2,
Mr. Beecher suffered an apoplectic
stroke and on the following Tuesday

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 103

he died. No one who attended the
services, held almost continuously
during that week, can ever forget
them. The dominant tone was one
of the personal loss of a friend.
There was grateful recognition of a
magnificent service done for hu-
manity, and for the -building up of
the Kingdom of God, but the greater
work was almost lost sight of in the
individual remembrances, the per-
sonal testimonies to the man who had
helped men. On Sunday of that
week came the regular communion
service of the church. The usual ser-
mon was omitted and only the Lord's
Supper was commemorated. There
were several evening meetings,
mostly for prayer and mutual sym-
pathy.

The manifestation of public sym-

I04 SIXTY YEARS WITH

pathy surprised even those who knew
best how widespread was the interest
in the beloved pastor. As the coflBn
lay in the church on Thursday there
was an unceasing line of those who
wished to show their regard for him.
On Friday the funeral services were
conducted by Rev. Charles H. Hall,
D. D., pastor of the First Presby-
terian Church, to which Plymouth
Church had succeeded in ownership
of its site. As it was manifest that
Plymouth Church could not possibly
hold the crowds that wanted to come,
simultaneous memorial services were
held in other churches. Most of the
business houses were closed, as were
also the public offices of the city and
the schools. Everywhere there was
manifest the recognition that a great
man had gone.

Lyman Abbott

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 105

Who would take his place? Could
anyone take his place? Was it not
true that the relations between him
and his church were so intimate, so
vital, that the sundering of them by
his death would inevitably involve
the dissolution of the church? These
were the questions asked everywhere
by the public and probably in the
consciousness of the members of the
church itself, at least of a considera-
ble number. Fortunately there was
one already identified with the church
ifor many years, who had come to it
as a boy, had been very intimately
associated with Mr. Beecher, and had
entered most fully into his spirit and
life. Dr. Lyman Abbott had already
won for himself an independent posi-
tion in the church and the literary life
of the country. Glad to call himself

io6 SIXTY YEARS WITH

a disciple of Mr. Beecher, he had been
by no means a copyist, and held his
own place. Far more than would
have been possible for anyone not so
intimately acquainted with the life of
the church, he was able to fill the gap
at least for the time being, and it
seemed the natural thing when he
was called to fill the pulpit and guide
the church activities until it could
decide on some permanent arrange-
ment.

Probably there has never been seen
a finer instance of loyalty to a
church's best traditions than the ex-
perience of the following months.
As was inevitable, the audiences fell
ofi' very materially. Still the church
was fairly well filled and for the first
time in years the ushers had a reason-
ably comfortable time. Yet examine-

PLTMOUTH CHURCH 107

tion proved that the loss was only
of the strangers. Not a pewholder
withdrew. There was no diminution
in the active work of the church.
Prayer meetings, Sabbath School,
mission services continued as before.
Even the finances did not suffer. It
was naturally impracticable to keep
up the high premiums on pews.
Hitherto the Tuesday evening suc-
ceeding the first Sunday in the year
had been a sort of gala time, when
loyalty to Plymouth and its pastor
and good-natured rivalry had com-
bined to bring from the more wealthy
members sums mounting into the
thousands of dollars. The current
year was safe, but anticipating the
change that would be necessary, the
leaders, indeed practically the whole
church, renewed their pew leases at

io8 SIXTY YEARS WITH

the same figure, so that there might
be no question of financial disquiet
for the new pastor, whoever he might
be. Subsequently" the whole method
was changed, pew premiums giving
place to the envelope system, un-
der which the church has prospered
greatly.

The immediate question of the
conduct of the church being solved,
the more important one of a perma-
nent successor to Mr. Beecher was
taken up in earnest. I do not think
that the possibility of disbanding was
for a moment present in the thought
of any, certainly not of the leaders.
They set about the work carefully
with a clear realisation of the diffi-
culties involved, but with a deter-
mination to succeed. It is always
difficult to succeed a man of great in-

PLTMOUTH CHURCH 109

dividuality, and this general rule was
made even more difficult in this case
by the peculiar quality of the per-
sonality. The very intensity of the
experiences of the past decade and
more had served to create a certain
alignment, and search as they would
and did, it was difficult to find any-
one to meet all the conditions.

It was not unnatural that the com-
mittee in charge, not, it must be re-
membered, of choosing a pastor, but
of recommending one, or more, for
the choice of both church and society,
should look beyond the sea. More
than one church had done so and
with conspicuous success. Broad-
way Tabernacle had called Wm. M.
Taylor, and Fifth Avenue Presby-
terian, John Hall. Plymouth Church,
at that time at least, was not likely to

no SIXTY YEARS WITH

look to Scotland, nor to Ireland.
There was absolutely nothing of the
Presbyterian in its make-up. It was
Independent, through and through.
To the Congregationalists of Eng-
land therefore it must look, if it were
to go beyond its own immediate fel-
lowship.

It seemed as if just the man was
found in Rev. Charles A. Berry of
Wolverhampton. A friend of Mr.
Beecher, an earnest and very effect-
ive preacher, a man of great evan-
gelistic power, he won the hearts of
Plymouth people, and the recom-
mendation of the committee was fol-
lowed by a unanimous and most
urgent caU to him to become the pas-
tor. How deeply he appreciated,
not so much the honour, though such
he esteemed it, as the token of aif ec-

PLYMOUTH CHURCH m

tionate confidence, was manifest both
in his correspondence with the church
and in the delay in announcing his
answer. That he would have been
glad to come is certain, equally so
that he felt that duty to a work of
peculiar quality and special need
called him to stay with his own
people. They were as dismayed at
the possibility of losing him as Ply-
mouth Church would have been had
Mr. Beecher been called to another
pulpit.

Mr. Berry's declination of the call
brought Plymouth Church face to
to face with a most difficult situation,
at least it seemed so to many. In
truth it was not so difficult as it
seemed. Dr. Abbott had filled
the pulpit with acceptance and had
conducted the affairs of the church

112 SIXTY YEARS WITH

with rare tact. The pastoral work,
which had for some years been prac-
tically in the hands of Rev. S. B.
Halliday, went on as usual. Now
that Mr. Berry was not to come, who
could so well meet the need as the-
one who had stood them in good
stead in the time of stress? It
was therefore perfectly natural that
thoughts should turn to Dr. Abbott,
and wTien they had once started
equally natural that he should be
called. Accordingly, in the spring of
1888 he was invited to be pastor. He
accepted, and after a summer's rest
in Europe commenced the active
work of the pastorate in September.

During the summer months the
preaching services were omitted, but
the prayer meetings and mission
work were continued. The general

PLTMOUTH CHURCH 113

condition of the church may be indi-
cated by the impression made upon
one who came in during the closing
part of the interregnimi to take up
the pastoral work for a few months,
dropped by Mr. HaUiday, who had
gone to build up a Beecher Memorial
Church in the outskirts of Brooklyn.
Coming fresh from foreign mission-
ary service, with no experience in
American church life. Rev. Edwin
M. Bliss bears most earnest testi-
mony to the vigour and power of the
church life of Plymouth, even dur-
ing those months when many were
away. Repeatedly he told inquirers
that those who imagined that Ply-
mouth Church would go to pieces
were absolutely mistaken; that there
was evident a strong church on a
firm f oimdation.

114 SIXTY YEARS WITH

Truly there could be no better
testimony to the substantial quality
of Mr. Beecher's leadership than the
experience of that year and a half
of church life under such radically
diif erent conditions.

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 115

CHURCH THOUGHT AND
LIFE

LAYMAN is ordinarily
not supposed to trouble
himself very much about
theology, but to leave
that as the special prerogative of
the ministers. This was certainly
true of the great majority of the
lay members of Plymouth Church.
At the same time they were by no
means indifferent to theology. They
could not be so long as Mr. Beecher
was pastor, and Dr. Abbott's posi-
tive opinions on theological ques-
tions, while not obtruded, were never
hidden. It must be remembered, too,
that the constitution, articles of faith

ii6 SIXTY YEARS WITH

and covenant were drawn up by lay-
men. Henry C. Bowen was un-
doubtedly the moving spirit, but the
others heartily concurred. The arti-
cles of faith were as follows:

" 1. We believe in the existence of
One Ever-living and True God, Sov-
ereign and Unchangeable, Infinite in
Power, Wisdom and Goodness.

"2. We believe the Scriptures of
the Old and New Testaments to be
inspired of God; to contain a revela-
tion of His will, and to be the au-
thoritative rule of faith and practice.

"3. We believe that the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Ghost are re-
vealed in the Scriptures as existing,
in respect to attributes, character and
office, as three Persons, equally Di-
vine ; while in other respects they are

PLTMOUTH CHURCH 117

united, and are, in a proper sense,
One God.

" 4. We believe that our First Par-
ents were created upright; that they
fell from their original state by disi
obedience, and that aU their posterity
are not only prone to sin, but do be-
come sinful and guilty before God.

" 5. We believe that God so loved
the world that He gave His only be-
gotten Son to die for it; that Christ
appeared in the flesh; that He set
forth a perfect example of obedi-
ence; that He purely taught the
truths needful for our salvation; that
He suff'ered in our stead, the just for
the unjust; that He died to atone for
our sins, and to purify us therefrom;
and that He rose from the dead and
ascended into heaven, where He ever
liveth to make intercession for us.

ii8 SI XTY YEARS WITH

"6. We believe that God offers
full forgiveness and everlasting life
to all who will heartily repent and
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ;
while those who do not beheve, but
persevere in sin, shall finally perish.

" 7. We believe in the resurrection
of all the dead ; in a final and general
judgment, upon the awards of which
the wicked shall go into everlasting
punishment and the righteous into
life eternal."

These were adopted by the church
as they stand on April 17, 1848, by a
rising vote. They represent the plat-
form on which Mr. Beecher accepted
the pastorate of the church, and have
remained essentially the doctrinal
basis of the church under the pastor-
ates of Dr. Abbott and Dr. Hillis.

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 119

It will readily be seen that in gen-
eral the position of Plymouth Church
was essentially that of the New Eng-
land churches, and when, after being
trained in orthodox Windsor, Conn.,
I came to Brooklyn, I found myself
in much the same atmosphere. At
the same time there was nothing hide-
bound. There was no attempt to
draw lines too tight; indeed, there
was little drawing of lines. Prin-
ciples were stated, and applied. De-
scription took the place of defini-
tion.

One result was the intensifying of
certain convictions, and of these the
chief was that the test of belief was
the life. Mr. Beecher's breadth of
sympathy on all public questions,
manifested particularly in the slav-
ery discussion, came out if possible

I20 SIXTY YEARS WITH

more clearly in regard to doctrinal
matters. He made it a principle to
seek for the best in every man, and
was very loath to believe evil of any-
one. So when men differed from
him in theology his tendency always
was to seek for the truth that was
contained in that view, and give it
all possible emphasis. In his preach-
ing he did not feel obliged to guard
himself against every possible mis-
conception, and would speak on a
topic or present a truth, as if for the
moment at least, that was the one
topic, the one truth, to be con-
sidered. The result was that he was
claimed by very nearly every denom-
ination in the country. When this
was done by Universalists or Uni-
tarians, the old-line Congregation-
alists were troubled, and Presbyteri-

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 121

ans thanked God that they could not
be held responsible for his views.

When Dr. Abbott became pastor
the same condition continued, per-
haps emphasised, as Dr. Abbott is
broader in his theology than Mr.
Beecher ever was, while still preserv-
ing Mr. Beecher's general attitude
toward divergent beliefs. Under
Dr. Hillis theological matters are
subordinated to general aggressive
church work, although now as always
there is the most cordial welcome to
all of every form of Christian state-
ment who emphasise Christian life.

The effect of all this upon the
church itself, in its membership, has
been to make it exceedingly liberal.
Men are taken for what they are, not
for what they believe, and this prin-
ciple accepted in one respect is easily

122 SIXTY YEARS WITH

extended to others. It would be a
mistake, however, to suppose that
broadness of theology is the same
thing as looseness of doctrinal be-
lief.

Plymouth Church is loyal to the
faith in which it was born and nur-
tured, and there are not a few who do
not accept many of the forms of
statement current to-day. They do
not therefore condemn those who do,
realising that the very principle of
intellectual independence, which has
always been so powerful an element
in the church life, inevitably involves
difference of opiaion. Many who
might not accept aU Dr. Abbott's
views have received great benefit
from his preaching, emphasising, as
he always has, life rather than doc-
trine.

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 123

In its ecclesiastical organisation
and relations Plymouth Church was
thoroughly independent, scarcely
even Congregational. Rule 1 of its
ecclesiastical principles says: "This
church is an independent ecclesiasti-
cal hody; and in matters of doctrine,
order and discipline is amenable to
no other organisation." It did not
propose to stand absolutely alone,
however, as is shown from Rule 2:
"This church will extend to other
evangelical churches, and receive
from them, that fellowship, advice
and assistance which the laws of
Christ require." In its general cus-
toms, as to membership, ordinances,
meetings, etc., it conformed to those
of the Congregational churches, with
which those who were its first mem-
bers had been connected, and when it

124 SIXTY YEARS WITH

installed its first pastor, as in each
succeeding instance, it called in the
Congregational churches to assist.
So also in its time of greatest stress
it recognised the obligations of its
fellowship with the Congregational
churches by calling the largest Con-
gregational council ever convened in
America. At the same time, if it
seemed to it right and wise to em-
phasise the broader fellowship with
those of other faith it did so, whether
Congregationalists at large liked it
or not. So in its benevolences, it
gave where it chose. If it liked to
give through the medium of what
were known as the Congregational
Societies, it did ; if it didn't like to, it
didn't. Every once in a while from
some source, near or more remote,
generally more remote, protest would

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 125

come that Mr. Beecher and his
church were not carrying their full
share of denominational burdens;
there was courteous attention, but a
very definite giving to understand
that the church would do as it
thought best.

The independence of the organisa-
tion manifested itself in individuals.
Those who wished their gifts to go
through a certain channel were per-
fectly at liberty to send them there,
and no one felt aggrieved because
others did not see their way clear to
do the same.

Another effect, both of the eccle-
siastical independence and the broad
humanitarian theology, was mani-
fest in the social life, to which refer-
ence has been made many times, not
too often however, for it was and is

126 SIXTY YEARS WITH

one of the chief features of Ply-
mouth life.

In the northeast corner of what is
now the Sunday School room were lo-
cated the social parlours. They were
handsomely furnished, and there
every Monday evening Mr. Beecher
held an informal reception, when all
members of the church or congrega-
tion were cordially welcomed. The
prominent members of the church
were present, including such men as
Messrs. Howard, Bowen, Claflin,
Sage, Storrs, Freeland, Wheelock,
Fanning, Mason, Caldwell, Ropes,
Southwick, Murray, Leckler, Sloat,
Corning, Hutchinson, Bxirgess, Dr.
Morrill StudweU and others, and this
was often an opportunity to welcome
distinguished visitors. One such oc-
casion I remember well, when a large

PLTMOUTH CHURCH 127

number of distinguished people gath-
ered to welcome Mr. Beecher's sister,
Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe. She
had just returned from England,
where she had been introduced to
Queen Victoria as the first American
authoress; the papers had announced
that two million copies of her book,
" Uncle Tom's Cabin," had been sold,
and the congratulations and social
enjoyment were great.

The same characteristics that dis-
tinguished the regular church life
were manifest in all its departments,
as the Sunday School and Bible
classes. In all there was free play
for individual ideas and development.
One Bible class in particular I would
mention, that conducted for many
years by Mr. Wilbur, and which had
more than one hundred members. In

128 SIXTY YEARS WITH

a variety of ways, by freedom of dis-
cussion in the class, by excursions,
receptions, entertainments of various
kinds, it bound the young people to-
gether, helped greatly to build up the
church, and particularly contributed
to its social life. How firmly it was
established is witnessed by the fact
that it has never weakened, even in
the changes that have come in the
membership, or the official direction
of the church. With three pastors so
different in many respects as Mr.
Beecher, Dr. Abbott and Dr. Hillis,
there has been no difference in the
general type of church life.

PLTMOUTH CHURCH 129

THE CHURCH STAFF

XT is only of recent years
that the Congregational
and Presbyterian churches
have come to include in
the regular staff of church officers,
assistant pastors or pastor's assist-
ants. For a long time Mr. Beecher
and Plymouth Church followed the
prevailing custom, relying upon vol-
unteer service for such extra work in
the line of parish visitation as was be-
yond the pastor's power. As the
church grew, however, and as the de-
mands upon its pastor for outside
work in the form of public ad-
dresses, lectures, etc., increased, it
became evident that something must

I30 SIXTY YEARS WITH

be done to meet the emergency. For-
tunately, just the right man was
found. Rev. S. B. Halliday had seen
considerable service in mission work
in New York City, was a man of
genial character, great sympathy,
kindhearted, and painstaking in the
performance of his duties. He came
to Brooklyn in 1870 and remained
there in pastoral duty until after Mr.
Beecher's death. His work was
chiefly among the poorer class, but
there were many families of means
that welcomed him to their homes.
Perhaps the one word that best ex-
presses the impression that he left on
those who knew him best, is — ^godly.
He was a good man, one who in life
and thought lived near God. Mr.
Beecher thoroughly appreciated him,
and he idolised Mr. Beecher. It was

PLr MOUTH CHURCH 131

scarcely surprising that when Mr.
Beecher died he should find it hard
to adapt himself to changed condi-
tions. He had hoped that Mr. Berry
would accept the call to the pastorate,
but when that failed, he resigned his
position and went into East New
York, then on the outskirts of Brook-
lyn, where he took charge of a weak
Congregational Church. It was due
to him that the name " The Beecher
Memorial Church " was given to it,
and it was significant of the honour
in which both Mr. Beecher and Mr.
Halliday were held that men of
every form of faith. Christian and
non-Christian, and from many dif-
ferent countries, contributed toward
the building which was erected a few
years later. When Mr. Halliday
died it was like the severing of an-

132 SIXTY YEARS WITH

other link of the chain binding Mr.
Beecher to the Christian life of
Brooklyn.

When Dr. Abbott became pastor
the question of an assistant came up
again. At first Dr. Abbott was un-
willing to have one, but as the neces-
sity became more apparent, and also
as there appeared one who seemed in
every way fitted for the work. Rev.
Howard S. Bliss was called and com-
menced his duties soon after Dr.
Abbott was installed. The son of the
well-known founder of the Syrian
Protestant College at Beirut, Syria,
a man of pleasing ways, tact in deal-
ing with people, and a fine speaker,
he won the most cordial regard and
affections of the church people. He
remained for many years, through
Dr. Abbott's pastorate, leaving Ply-

Newell D wight Hillis

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 133

mouth only to take the pastorate of
a flourishing church in New Jersey,
whose traditions made it easy for one
naturally sympathetic with and
trained in the liberal yet practical
and aggressive atmosphere of Ply-
mouth Church, to develop a vigorous
church life. Mr. Bliss has since been
called to the presidency of the col-
lege at Beirut to take up the work
as it was laid down by his aged
father.

During Dr. Hillis' pastorate there
have been two assistant pastors. Revs.
Willard P. Harmon and George J.
Corey. Both have well sustained the
traditions of the church, have made
themselves many friends, and have
done much to develop the newer life
which under changed conditions has
become a necessity. Mr. Harmon

134 SIXTY YEARS WITH

left to enter the full pastorate. Mr.
Corey is the present assistant.

Comparatively few who are not
themselves directly connected with
the business affairs of a church prob-
ably realise how much of the orderly
conduct of the church depends upon
the sexton. To many people he is
simply the man who looks after fu-
nerals, sees that the furnace fires are
properly managed, the church swept,
etc. In Plymouth Church the sexton
was always a man of considerable im-
portance, and I feel it a duty which
I owe to the church, not less than to
them, to speak of their faithful work.
Not only have they conducted the
ordinary duties of a sexton, but have
acted in a clerical capacity to the
board of trustees in collecting pew
rents, and in other business of the

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 13S

church. In this they have had a most
important share in the comfort of the
congregation and the success of the
church.

Plymouth Church has been in
charge of five different sextons dur-
ing its existence. Mr. McFarlane
was its caretaker in its early years.
Owing to his bluff manner he was
never very popular with the young
people, and one instance I shall never
forget. One evening Charles
Dickens was to lecture in the church.
As the price of the tickets was from
one to two dollars, there were not
many of the boys at that time who
could afford to pay it. We were
bound not to be left out, so a plan
was devised to overcome the difficulty.
Accordingly we perched ourselves on
a window-sill outside, where by rais-

136 SIXTY YEARS WITH

ing the sash slightly we could hear
and see the lecturer. All went well
for a time and we were congratulat-
ing ourselves, when the old sexton
discovered us. Then there was a
scampering up Orange and down
Henry to Fulton Street with McFar-
lane close after. I was one of the
unfortunate boys who were caught,
and the pounding which I received
made such an impression upon me
that I can see and hear Charles
Dickens to this day.

After Mr. McFarlane came Mr.
Weld, who was the sexton for many
years, during the most exciting
period of the church's history, and
when it was thronged by the greatest
crowds. Mr. Weld was faithful to his
trust, never ruffled, kind to everyone
and popular with all, and remained at

PLTMOUTH CHURCH 137

his post until old age and sickness
called him away. His funeral was
large, attended by a great number of
the members of the church. When
his body was carried down the aisle
Mr. and Mrs. Beecher, arm in arm,
headed the mournful procession. If
some great artist could have trans-
ferred the scene to canvas and
called it the funeral of the old sexton,
it could have taken its place among
the other great paintings of church
history.

Mr. George Day, one of the oldest
members of the church and who is
stiU living, followed Mr. Weld, but
remained in office only two years, be-
ing succeeded by Mr. Smith, who
filled the position for a long time in a
most acceptable manner. After him
came Mr. Charles T. Halsey, who has

138 SIXTY YEARS WITH

charge at the present time. I wish
especially to mention my obligations
to him for assistance in verifying
names and dates.

In close relation to the pastors and
assistant pastors have been the clerks
of the church. Perhaps the one who
attained the widest fame in this ca-
pacity was Mr. Thomas G. Shear-
man, whose term of service was long
and included the period of the trials.
At the ecclesiastical council he made
his knowledge of Congregational
polity and history very manifest, and
contributed not a little to the con-
vincing of the churches of the denom-
ination that Plymouth Church, while
standing firm in its independency,
was yet willing and glad to recognise
to the full the fellowship of other
churches, and desirous of doing all

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 139

that it might to make that fellowship
cordial. The present clerk, Horatio
C. King, is but another illustration
of how men of ability and position
have delighted to serve Plymouth.

The Sunday School has always
been a most important part of Ply-
mouth Church, and the list of super-
intendents shows how it has been
regarded by all. At the first organ-
isation Mr. Bowen was made super-
intendent, on September 5, 1847,
with an attendance of ten teachers
and twenty-eight scholars. The fol-
lowing May there were twenty-five
teachers and one hundred and forty
scholars, and twenty years later, in
1867, the attendance was considerably
over one thousand. Mr. Bowen was
followed by Luther Eames, Edward
Corning, Henry E. Morrill, George

I40 SIXTY YEARS WITH

E. Bell, Rossiter W. Raymond, and
George W. Bardwell, who is now in
charge.

My own recollections centre par-
ticularly about Dr. Morrill, during
whose service of ten years, from 1851
to 1861, I became a member of the
school. All have done noble service.
Professor Raymond has perhaps
been specially successful. His clear
thought, simple expression, hearty
sympathy, great personal tact, have
endeared him to all, teachers and
scholars, and done much to build up
the school and church.

To speak of the deacons and trus-
tees would be simply to repeat the
names of those already mentioned as
prominent in the work of the church,
for on one or the other of these
boards very nearly all have served at

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 141

some time. It has been, too, no mere
formal service. Men of high position
in business and professional life have
given freely of time and labour to
serve the interests of the church.

Mention should be made of the
Bethel and Mayflower Missions. The
Bethel Mission School was estab-
lished in 1841, in Main Street, near
the Catherine Ferry, then to rooms
above the market on James Street,
then to 42 and 44 Fulton Street.
Almost as soon as Plymouth Church
was formed its members interested
themselves in the school, but there
was no official relation until 1866,
when it was voted to adopt the school
as one of the regular institutions of
the church. This was accepted by
the school, and the connection contin-
ued until 1904, when it was dropped.

142 SIXTY YEARS WITH

THE FORT SUMTER
EXPEDITION

^ J ^ HE!N" it became evident
W I ^ that the North had won
VM^r the victory and that the
defeat of the Confederacy
was at hand, President Lincohi de-
cided to celebrate the event by re-
placing the same old flag that had
waved over Fort Sumter before the
war had commenced, and had been
lowered on the 14th of April, 1861,
after a brave struggle by Major An-
derson, only when compelled to do so
by the gims of General Beauregard.
By the President's order, the Secre-
tary of War directed that on " April
14th, 1865, at twelve o'clock noon,

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 143

Major General Anderson will raise
and plant upon the ruins of Fort
Sumter, in Charleston harbour, the
same United States flag which floated
over the battlements of that fort dur-
ing the Rebel assault four years
previous." At the request of Mr.
Lincoln, Mr. Beecher was invited to
deliver the oration upon that occa-
sion. As soon as it became known
that he had accepted, a large number
of his friends wished to go with him,
but how to get there was the problem.
The AragOj the government steamer,
was fuU, and all the other steamers
available had been chartered by the
government for service in the war.
After a diligent search it was found
that the Neptune Steamship Com-
pany would take one of their pro-
pellers, running between New York

144 SIXTY YEARS WITH

and Providence, off the route, and
charter it for a party.

A committee was formed consist-
ing of Mr. Edward Gary, editor of
the Brooklyn Union, Mr. Edwin A.
Studwell and myself as chairman.
The steamship company agreed to
carry one hundred and eighty pas-
sengers for the sum of eighteen
thousand dollars, which I paid them,
the trip to be made in nine days.

As soon as all the arrangements
were completed, Mr. Beecher an-
nounced the program from the pulpit
and through the press. Nearly all
the prominent clergymen arid citizens
of Brooklyn applied for tickets. It
became necessary to refuse a large
number, as the steamer could not ac-
commodate more than one hundred
and eighty people. On the 10th of

PLYMOUTH CHURCH i45

April, 1865, we left the foot of Wall
Street in one of the Fulton Ferry
boats, which had been kindly offered
to take the party to the Oceanus, ly-
ing at the foot of Robinson Street,
New York. A more patriotic party
never left the city of Brooklyn. All
the way to Charleston, those who
were not seasick (for the steamer
rolled fearfully) were engaged in
holding meetings and singing patri-
otic songs. Speeches were made by
the clergymen, including Messrs.
Cuyler, Putman, Gallagher, Chad-
wick, Corning, French and others;
also by prominent citizens of Brook-
lyn, including Messrs. Low, Bowen,
Smith, Lambert, Frothingham and
others. The singing was led by Mr.
Bradbury, while among the songs
were " We are out on the ocean sail-

146 SIXTY YEARS WITH

ing," " John Brown's Soul is March-
ing on," " We'U Hang Jeff Davis to
a Sour Apple Tree." Arriving at
Charleston Bar on the afternoon of
the 13th of April we passed into the
harbour, and as we went by; Fort
Sumter the entire company assem-
bled upon the upper deck and sang
" Old Hundred."

Just before the Oceanus left the
dock in New York we received a des-
patch from the Secretary of War,
Edwin M. Stanton, that Lee with
his entire army had surrendered to
Grant. Our steamer was the first
one to carry the news of Lee's sur-
render to the people of the South. As
the Oceanus slowly neared the dock
at Charleston, we could see the shores
were lined with people, and as we
came within hailing distance, Cap-

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 147

tain Young shouted through his
trumpet, "Lee has surrendered!"
At once there went up a mighty shout
from that black mass — it was hke the
roar of Niagara. " God bless Massa
Lincoln 1" could be heard above the
din, then came " My country, 'tis of
thee," "Hail Columbia," sung as
only coloured people can sing. The
band on the Blackstone, which was
anchored near, played " The Star-
Spangled Banner," and in the even-
ing all the men-of-war in the harbour
were illuminated to celebrate the
news of the victory.

The next morning all was bustle
and activity, getting ready to go
down to the fort, and every available
sailing craft was brought into service
to carry the people of Charleston to
the ceremonies of the day. At eleven

148 SIXTY YEARS WITH

o'clock we were assembled inside the
walls of Sumter, as distinguished a
gathering as ever assembled since the
signing of The Declaration of Inde-
pendence. High officers of the Army
and Navy, United States Senators,
members of Congress, officers of the
Government, clergjonen and distin-
guished citizens from all over the
United States, and a nimiber from
England.

At the hour of noon Major An-
derson, who had been a long time in
feeble health, came upon the plat-
form. Sergeant Hart took from a
mail-pouch the old flag and fastened
it to the halyards. Major Anderson,
taking hold of the rope, said, " I
thank God that I have lived to see
this day and perform probably the
last act of duty of my life for my

PLTMOUTH CHURCH 149

country." (He died soon after.) As
he slowly raised the flag over the
ruined walls of the fort, from Forts
Moultrie, Ripley, Pickney, Putnam
and Johnson, Cimimings Point and
Battery B, and from every United
States gunboat in the harbour there
broke forth a mighty salute. The
thunder of the cannon fairly shook
the earth and the clouds of smoke en-
veloped the fort in ahnost midnight
darkness. When they rolled away
Old Glory waved peacefully as
though it had never been fired upon
by rebel cannon. The audience sang
" Victory at last."

Mr. Beecher came forward to the
front of the platform to deliver the
oration. There was a cold wind
blowing in from the sea, the wind
playing havoc with the leaves of his

ISO SIXTY YEARS WITH

manuscript. As he commenced he
took off his hat, hut immediately
arose the cry, " Put on your hat, Mr.
Beecher." He obeyed and went on
with his address, holding the close at-
tention of everyone for over an hour.
It has taken its place in the history
of memorable addresses delivered on
great occasions. The history of the
country wUl place it second to none
among the most patriotic and able
orations.

iThe next two or three days were
spent in and about Charleston, visit-
ing the scenes of desolation caused by
the war. The only carriages to be
had were donkey carts. It was a
usual sight to see George Thompson
of England and Charles Sumner
jogging along, or WiUiam Lloyd
.Garrison and Senator Wilson to-

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 151

gether, Henry Ward Beecher and
Fred Douglass in a donkey cart
driven by a former slave. Mass meet-
ings were held in the abandoned
churches and public buildings of the
city, mostly attended by the coloured
people.

On the third day the Oceanus
passed out of Charleston harbour,
saluted by all the ships and forts.
The flag on Sumter was dipped as
we passed by; all went well untU we
rounded Cape Hatteras and were
bearing into Fortress Monroe. Pass-
ing a pilot boat, the captain shouted,
" What's the news? " The reply came
back over the water, " The President
is dead." We could not and did not
believe it. Soon after, passing an-
other pilot boat, to a similar question
the answer came, "Mr. Lincoln has

152 SIXTY YEARS WITH

been assassinated." Then we realised
the truth. With saddened hearts we
sailed up to Fortress Monroe, which
was already draped in black. Here
our party separated, some coming di-
rect to New York, the rest going to
Washington to take part in the cere-
monies attending the funeral of Mr.
Lincoln.

I have spoken more fully of the
Sumter excursion because it was an
important national event, and be-
cause it was so closely identified with
Plymouth Church and Brooklyn. If
it had not been for Mr. Beecher there
would have been no Oceanus voyage.

^tnry "Ward Berber's Statue, ^TOoklyn, X J/-

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 153

QUAKER CITY EXCURSION

M^^HE plan of the Quaker
M ^1 City Excursion, made f a-
^^^^^ mous by Mark Twain,
originated in Plymouth
Church, when Mr. Beecher contem-
plated writing a Life of Christ. He
expressed a desire to visit the sacred
places of Palestine, where our Lord
lived and where He was crucified, and
wanted several members of Plymouth
Church to go with him. A committee
was formed to arrange for the jour-
ney, composed of Captain C. Dun-
can, John T. Howard and Rufus R.
Graves. A very beautiful and sub-
stantial side-wheel steamship, the
Quaker City, was chartered for the

154 SIXTY YEARS WITH

journey, and the number of passen-
gers was limited to one hundred and
fifty. The price of the passage for
each person was fixed at twelve hun-
dred and fifty dollars. Mr. Beecher
engaged passage, but at the last mo-
ment decided not to go.

The Secretary of State furnished
us with letters commending us to the
attention of the foreign govern-
ments which we might visit, and on
the eighth day of June we sailed out
of New York harbour. Our first stop-
ping place was at the Azores, then
we went to Gibraltar and Marseilles,
where time was given to the passen-
gers to visit Paris and London; next
to Gtenoa, from which port we made
visits to Milan, Venice and Lake
Como. The next stopping place was
Leghorn, where we turned aside to

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 155

Florence and Pisa and visited Gari-
baldi, who was then at his home.
From Leghorn our course took us to
Naples, giving time to see Rome, Ve-
suvius and Pompeii; then on through
the Straits of Messina, across the
Ionian Sea, through the Grecian
Archipelago to Athens, Greece;
through the Dardanelles and the Sea
of Marmora to Constantinople.
After one week's stay in that Orien-
tal city, the route lay through the Bos-
phorus, across the Black Sea to Se-
bastopol. After visiting the famous
battlefields of the Crimea, we sailed
to Odessa, in the northwest corner of
the Black Sea, ours being the first
American steamship which ever en-
tered that harbour. While staying
there a telegram was received from
the Emperor of Russia inviting us

156 SIXTY YEARS WITH

to visit him at his palace, Livadia, at
Yalta. Yalta is a very beautiful
place on the slope of a mountain,
overlooking the Black Sea, about two
hundred miles east of Odessa, and is
the summer home of the imperial
family of Russia. The Grand Duke
Michael's palace, Orianda, the Grand
Duke Vladimir's, Worondow, and
their grounds join those of the Em-
peror. The invitation was accepted.
Mrs. Griswold's story of the visit as
given in the " Pilgrimage " is as
follows:

"On the way from Odessa to
Yalta, several meetings were held by
the gentlemen in the saloon for the
purpose of preparing an address to
be presented to the Czar; at the same
time the ladies were gathered in

PLrMOUTH CHURCH 157

groups conversing about the coming
event.

" This morning we dropped an-
chor at Yalta. The Governor-gen-
eral conveyed to us a message from
the Emperor ' that we were welcome,
and he would be pleased to receive us
the next day at twelve o'clock.' Word
also came that carriages and horses
would be in readiness to convey the
party to the palace, which is about
two miles from the landing place.

" All was astir on board preparing
for the great occasion. The porters
are overtaxed in getting out the
stored-away trunks for the passen-
gers, as the most recherche ward-
robes must be selected. The ladies'
purchases through Europe are now
brought into requisition. Paris
dresses, laces, coiffures, and jewelry

158 SIXTY YEARS WITH

are to be worn for the first time. At
ten and a half o'clock we saw the
spacious rowboats belonging to the
Emperor nearing our ship. How
gaily they were decked out with scar-
let cloth and fringe hanging over the
sides almost touching the water; each
boat was rowed by twelve men dressed
in white caps and uniform. They ap-
proached the vessel's side with ex-
treme caution, owing to the heavy
sea, which was rolling in. As the
boat would rise upon a wave and sink
away, one person stepped in after an-
other until it was filled, when another
boat would take its place. In this
way all were safely landed. We
left the boat by crimson-carpeted
steps leading up from the water into
a picturesque canopied landing. The
ladies occupied the carriages and the

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 159

gentlemen rode on horseback. We
formed quite a procession, number-
ing over sixty persons.

"The gates were thrown open to
admit us to the palace grounds. A.
company of mounted Cossacks werq
drawn up on each side of the gate,
and we passed through in military
order, escorted by the Grand Duke
Michael, brother of the Emperor,
who had met us on the way.

"At precisely twelve o'clock we
formed in front of the palace. The
smoothly cut lawn around us was like
a velvet carpet, with a profusion of
surrounding flowers. Immediately
the Emperor and the Empress ap-
peared, accompanied by their daugh-
ter Marie, and one of their sons, the
Grand Duke Serge, followed by a
retinue of distinguished persons.

i6o SIXTY YEARS WITH

" The American Consul who had
come with us from Odessa stepped
forward and read a short address to
his Imperial Highness Alexander II,
Czar of Russia, which had been pre-
pared and signed by the passengers.
The Emperor rephed to it by saying
'that he thanked us for the address
and was very much pleased to meet
us, especially as such friendly rela-
tions exist between Russia and the
United States.' The Empress fur-
ther replied by saying 'that Ameri-
cans were favourites in Russia,' and
she hoped her people were the same
with the Americans.

"The Emperor is tall and well-
proportioned, with a mild yet firm
expression. The impression of the
beholders is that he is one bom to
command. He wore a white cap and

PLTMOUTH CHURCH i6i

a white linen suit, the coat confined
with a belt around the waist and
ornamented with gUt buttons and
elaborate epaulets.

" The Empress is of medium
height, fair complexion, and al-
though delicate looking she appears
young for one of her age. A bright,
welcoming smile lit up her face. Her
dress was white foulard silk, dotted
with blue and richly trimmed with
blue satin. She wore a small sleeve-
less jacket, a broad blue sash, and
around her neck was a tie made of
Swiss muslin and Valenciennes lace.
On her head was a straw hat trimmed
with blue velvet and black lace. Her
hands were covered with flesh-cov-
ered kid gloves, and she carried a
light drab parasol hned with blue
silk.

i62 SIXTY YEARS WITH

" The Grand Duchess was attired
in a dress of similar material to that
of her mother, only this was more
tastefully arranged with blue silk
and fringe, a belt of the same ma-
terial as the dress, fastened by a
large rosette, and a straw hat also
trimmed with blue silk.

" The Grand Duke Serge is quite
young, and a well-appearing youth.
He was dressed in a scarlet blouse
and white pants.

" Individual introductions fol-
lowed. Several of the ladies, includ-
ing myself, had an opportunity of
conversing with the Empress. All
of the Imperial family speak En-
ghsh very well.

"We were escorted through the
buildings by the Emperor and Em-
press, entering a door which was on

PLTMOUTH CHURCH 163

either side a bower of flowers. Al-
most all the apartments were thrown
open. The floors were inlaid and
polished, and the furniture was cu-
rious and costly. The Emperor took
special pains to show us the chapel,
where he and his family worshipped.
It was very handsome, and connected
with the main building.

"Every eff'ort was made by the
Imperial family to welcome us, and
really the Pilgrims seemed to act as
much at home as though they were
accustomed to calUng on Emperors
every day.

" I could not realise that we were
being entertained by a ruler of more
than eighty million people, and
whose word was the supreme law of
the most powerful nation on the
globe.

t64 sixty years WITH

" At eight o'clock in the evening
the anchor was lifted and we sailed
by the Czar's palace, which was
brilliantly lighted, and amid the
booming of cannon, and the shooting
of rockets, and a blue light illuminat-
ing our ship we bade farewell to a
scene which I shall treasure as one of
the brightest remembrances of my
life."

From Yalta the steamer sailed
across the Black Sea, through the
Bosphorus, down the coast of Asia
Minor, to the Gulf of Smyrna, an-
choring in the harbour of Smyrna.
A delay was made to give time to
visit the ruins of the ancient city of
Ephesus. Passing the coast of the
Isle of Cyprus the next landing place
was Beirut, where several days were

PLTMOUTH CHURCH 165

spent, affording the pilgrims oppor-
tunity to visit the Mountains of
Lebanon, the ruins of Baalbec, and
the city of Damascus. From Beirut
we sailed down the coast of Pales-
tine, passing Tyre and Sidon. The
steamer anchored off the harbour of
Jaffa. Three weeks were given to
visit Jerusalem, Bethany, the River
Jordan, the Dead Sea, Jericho, and
other places in i;he Holy Land. At
Jerusalem one of the Plymouth
Church passengers, Mr. Moses
Beach, purchased an olive tree at the
foot of the Mount of Olives near the
Garden of G^thsemane, had it cut
down and transported to Jaffa, where
it was placed on board the Quaker
Cityj brought home, and through the
generosity of Mr. Beach was made
into furniture which now stands in

i66 SIXTY YEARS WITH

Plymouth pulpit. The next landing
place was Alexandria, Egypt, giving
an opportunity to visit Cairo and the
Pyramids. From Alexandria the
voyage was continued homeward,
stopping at Malta, Gibraltar and
Bermuda.

It was a great journey, as it af-
forded a majestic and sublime pano-
rama of the diiferent nations, kin-
dreds, and tongues of the world, and
may well take its place among other
great events of Plymouth Church.

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 167

PERSONALIA

GREAT deal of the
power of church life, as
well as of personal life,
centres about personal
items. Without seeking to arrange
them chronologically or even to asso-
ciate them topically, I wish to gather
up in this chapter some of the inci-
dents that do not well belong in the
preceding chapters. Some of them it
is easy to locate, others have lost their
setting, as the years have gone by,
and stand out with an individuality
that is their own. It is no reflection
on Mr. Beecher's successors, noble
and true men, that he figures so
prominently in them. The memory

i68 SIXTY YEARS WITH

of those early days when, as a coun-
try lad, I came to Brooklyn, naturally
centres around the man who from
my boyhood, through early manhood
and into middle age had a mighty in-
fluence upon my life.

One event I recall, in the very first
year of my new life. In itself it was
no more significant or important than
many others, but it meant much to
me, opening up as it did a broader
vision of world-wide interest, and
particularly of the close connection
between things called secular and re-
ligious. The slavery question had a
profound religious bearing, and
touched the very core of Plymouth
Church life, yet even that does not
stand out more vividly in my memory
than the scene when Louis Kossuth
landed at the Battery from an Amer-

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 169

ican man-of-war, and rode up Broad-
way escorted by a hundred or more
prominent citizens. We boys knew
little about him, but none the less
eagerly we hurried along, barely es-
caping the horses' feet, and none the
less lustily we joined in the shout.
Later, through Mr. Beecher's refer-
ences to him and his work, and by
seeing him in Plymouth Church, we
came to know that the fight for lib-
erty was the same, whether in the
South or in Europe, and whether it
was for black men that we knew or
for Hungarians of whom we knew
nothing, scarcely even the name.
Another lesson that we learned was
that the whole world is kin, and that
even far-ofF lands cannot suffer op-
pression and wrong without other
lands suffering with them. So Ply-

lyo SIXTY YEARS WITH

mouth pulpit became a platform for
the presentation of every form of ap-
peal to the best Christian conscious-
ness of the church and through the
church of the nation.

Another scene, after I had grown
to manhood, illustrates the same chiv-
alry that was bound to assert the
claims of any person or any class.
Mr. Beecher was always an advocate
of women's rights. He could never
see why women should be debarred
from so many of the privileges, or
duties, of social hf e. During the first
Lincoln campaign there appeared
upon the lecture platform a woman
who brought a woman's plea for the
cause of liberty and human rights.
No one who ever heard Anna Dick-
inson speak could forget her, or
failed to be moved by her eloquence.

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 171

Of course Mr. Beecher was her
friend, and welcomed her assistance
in the contest that was growing more
and more severe. She drew great
crowds whenever she spoke.

I was then president of the Cen-
tral Republican Club, and we en-
gaged Miss Dickinson to speak in
the Academy of Music, where we
were then holding meetings. Some
days before the meeting was to take
place the secretary of the board of
directors of the Academy called at
my office with a notice that the di-
rectors could not allow Miss Dick-
inson to speak in that building.

I did not know what to do. The
meeting had been extensively adver-
tised. I finally decided to go and see
Mr. Beecher. As I recited the facts
to him I could see the expression of

172 SIXTY YEARS WITH

indignation and the colour come to
his face. He thought a moment and
said, " Wait until next Sunday morn-
ing."

The next Sunday the church was
packed. When Mr. Beecher gave
the notices and came to Miss Dickin-
son's lecture, he called the board of
directors to account for this action
in refusing to allow a woman to speak
in the Academy of Music. One of
the directors, who was present, being
ignorant of the situation, took it up
and denied the action of the directors.
Then said Mr. Beecher, " I take back
all that I have said," I was there in
the west gaUery, and at once decided
not to allow a misrepresentation like
that to pass, and, mounted on the
backs of two pews, I recited to the
audience all of the facts and the of-

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Ph

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PLTMOUTH CHURCH 173

ficial notice which I had from the di-
rectors, that the Academy could not
be used for this woman to speak in.

When I had finished, the congre-
gation broke into great applause.
Mr. Beecher then went on with his
remarks, scoring the directors of the
Academy, and created such a senti-
ment in the community that the di-
rectors rescinded their action, and the
great mass meeting, with Miss Dick-
inson as speaker, took place.

Since then, not only the Academy
of Music, but other public buildings
throughout the country have been
open for women to speak in, upon
any subject..

Stories of Mr. Beecher's sayings
might be gathered by the thousand,
indeed they have been, and published
in a book for the use of ministers.

174 SIXTY YEARS WITH

teachers, and public speakers. Fortu-
nately or unfortunately the reporter
was not quite so ubiquitous then,
especially in the earlier days, as now,
but still there was a sufficient amount
of newspaper enterprise, and I often
wish I had kept a record of the inci-
dents and trenchant remarks that
were gathered up. A good many,
however, never got into the papers.
Whether or not the following did I
cannot say. Certainly I did not get
them from the press.

One day the evening papers an-
noimced that a terrible accident had
happened to Mrs. Beecher, that she
had been thrown out of her carriage
in lower Fulton Street, been dashed
against the steps of the Long Island
Bank, and so seriously injured that
she was not expected to live, and

PLTMOUTH CHURCH i75

some said that she had been killed.
That evening at the prayer meeting
no one expected to see Mr. Beecher.
He came as usual and the people
crowded around him asking about
Mrs. Beecher, as she had been re-
ported killed. He seemed quite dis-
turbed by the persistent inquiries of
those around him. In a half impa-
tient manner he said, " It would have
been serious with any other woman."
The same cool, imperturbable bear-
ing so often manifest in his experi-
ences in England came out again and
again during the stirring scenes in
this country. When the Civil War
broke out and the riots in New York
took place for several days the city
was almost in the hands of the mob.
It was given out that Plymouth
Church was to be attacked the next

176 SIXTY YEARS WITH

Sunday evening. Crowds of rough-
looking men came over the ferry and
mixed with the congregation. John
Folk, superintendent of the police
force of Brooklyn, with forty of his
men was in the lecture room and
back of the organ to protect Mr.
Beecher, in case of an attempt to
reach him, amid the intense excite-
ment of the audience. Mr. Beecher
came upon the platform calm and
cool and proceeded with the services
as usual. During the sermon a stone
crashed through the upper windows
from the outside. Mr. Beecher
stopped, looked up to the windows,
and then to the great congregation,
and said "Miscreant," and calmly
went on with his sermon.

He was always glad when he could
be, so to speak, off duty, and be free

PLYMOUTH CHURCH i77

to do whatever occurred to him to do,
whether anybody else would ever have
thought of it or not. One Sunday
evening when his pulpit was occupied
by some other pastor he was seen sit-
ting in the third gallery. When
asked why he was up there, he re-
plied " that he wanted to see how the
preacher looked from that point of
view."

The boys on the Heights all knew
Mr. Beecher and liked to meet him
because he always had a word with
them. In coming to church one day
he met a group of boys. They hailed
him in this fashion: "There goes
Mr. Beecher, he is a screecher."
When he reached the church it
seemed to please him to teU the story
to the congregation.

Whenever Mr. Beecher crossed the

178 SIXTY YEARS WITH

ocean he was very sea-sick, and after
landing he would say that those
whom God abhorred He sent to sea.
This was probably the reason why at
the last moment he decided not to
to take the trip in the Quaker City,
referred to in a previous chapter.
The expedition would never have
been organised but for Mr. Beecher,
and yet it had to go without him.

While in a very real sense Mr.
Beecher was a true cosmopolitan,
and a genuine citizen of the United
States, he was specially fond of
New England, was grateful that
that section was his birthplace, and
always glad when one opportunity or
another called him there to lecture or
preach. The New England people
fully reciprocated the feeling and in
turn Mr. Beecher used to declare that

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 179

" New England was the brain of the
nation." Little wonder that so many
New England boys found their way
to Plymouth Church.

In a similar way he was very fond
of Brooklyn as the city of homes.
He was interested in New York, with
its bustle and rush, as the "work
shop," but Brooklyn was the " board-
ing house," and many a semi-homeless
boarder found a warm welcome in
Plymouth Church. Perhaps it was
these people that he had in mind
when Plymouth Church could not
hold half the people who desired to
attend the services, and he appealed
to the pewholders to stay away even-
ings and give their pews to strangers,
inaugurating thus a custom which has
continued to the present time.

While preaching upon the great-

i8o SIXTY YEARS WITH

ness of God's work as compared with
the works of man, he said man can
tunnel momitains, buUd ships to cross
the sea, span the world with the tele-
graph, cross the continent with the
iron horse, build cathedrals and
Capitols, machines to fly in the air,
and explore the depths of the sea, but
with all of man's greatness and skill,'
" he cannot make a fly."

In a vivid description of a thunder
storm illustrating some part of his
sermon he closed with a most beau-
tiful piece of word painting in de-
scribing the passing away of the
clouds after the storm, picturing the
sun shining upon the edges of the
clouds making a pathway as he said
for " Angels to walk to and fro when
they came down from Heaven."

Intensely practical as he was in his

PLTMOUTH CHURCH i8i

conception of religion, Mr. Beecher
had a very profound sense of the
future life, and there was always a
sub-stratum of that thought in his
preaching. In a sermon on the Dar-
winian theory he said, "I do not
care where I came from; it is where
I am going to that I am interested
m.

In a sermon on Heaven, he said
that everyone had a right to make
their own Heaven. The one that in-
spired in them the greatest hope and
most beautiful thoughts and gave
them the greatest happiness was their
Heaven. Speaking of the end of
life, he said that when he died he
would like to pass out of life sud-
denly, like a cannon ball shot out of
a cannon.

i82 SIXTY YEARS WITH

FUTURE PLYMOUTH

^-— ^HAT will become of Ply-
^ ■ ^ mouth Church when Mr.
V J ^ Beecher passes away? was
a question often asked in
the early days. The answer to that
has already been given. It was a
severe test to which the church was
put, but it stood it nobly. Again
when Dr. Abbott was pastor the same
question was asked. Ten years of
successful life is the sufficient an-
swer to that. Now again the ques-
tion comes up under the pastoral care
of Dr. HiUis.

My answer to this last question as
to the others is, that the hfe of Ply-
mouth Church does not depend upon

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 183

any one man, however great he may
be. It would be difficult to find three
men more different, each from the
other, than the three who have filled
Plymouth pulpit. Yet after all the
general type of the church hfe has
not changed, nor has its attitude to-
ward the surrounding city and the
wider national life taken on a differ-
ent character. The emphasis now, as
always, is on Christian living, in the
assurance that out of that living will
come Christian thinking. Each in
his own way, but each with the same
purpose and the same result, has
preached the gospel of life. The
form of that life has varied, but the
variation has been occasioned by the
need of adaptation to the general
type of church life, as illustrated on
every hand. Plymouth has simply

184 SIXTY YEARS WITH

shown its ability to meet new condi-
tions in itself.

So also with regard to the broader
relation to public life. It is now, as
it always has been, the natural and
the expected thing that every great
cause, for righteousness and peace,
should send its advocates to Brookljm
and that they should have a welcome
in Plymouth pulpit. A significant
illustration of this occurred but re-
cently at the opening of the great
Peace Congress. The two churches
that were identified with it more than
any others were Plymouth and Broad-
way Tabernacle. Probably no pastor
in the country is more widely known
for his practical interest in public
afi'airs than is Dr. Hillis, and wher-
ever he goes from the Atlantic to the
Pacific he is welcomed both for him-

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 185

self and as the pastor of Plymouth
Church. The simple fact is it is the
same old Plymouth. It has grown
up with the country, has had its share
in the making of the country, whether
in the strife of war or in the urgency
for peace, and has made for itself a
name that will stand, like Faneuil
Hall in Boston, or Independence
Hall in Philadelphia, for aU time to
come.

This permanency, however, will be
as its strength has been in the wise
management of the church in its
various departments. The problem
of a city church located as Plymouth
is must be to-day very diif erent from
that which faced its founders. Brook-
lyn has gone 'way beyond the
Heights, and while strangers still
find it easy to reach, the permanent

i86 SIXTY YEARS WITH

membership extends over a wide ter-
ritory and must of necessity be more
or less transitory. This uncertainty
brings to view the necessity of perma-
nence of financial basis. They are
wise, strong men who are in charge,
as is shown by the fact that notwith-
standing the changes that are inevi-
table, the church is free from debt and
is accumulating permanent funds
which will be of great value. Run-
ning expenses of all kinds, pastors'
salaries, music, etc., are met from
current income from pew rents, leav-
ing the church free to put additional
sums into permanent form. Then
there is a Beecher endowment fund
of almost fifty thousand dollars, and
a Beecher memorial fund of the same
amount. Constantly sums of money
are coming into the church treasury

Chair Used by Henry Ward Beecher
IN Plymouth Church

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 187

from legacies or special gifts, and
these are either invested or applied
to improvements such as it is judged
will increase the effectiveness of the
church work. Among these is a
Beecher memorial building soon to
be erected adjoining the church. The
alteration of the front entrance is
contemplated, and other work which
will prove advantageous to the so-
ciety. Memorial stained glass win-
dows are to be put in, contributed by
members.

Perhaps still more important is the
development of the church activities.
In Mr. Beecher's time the great fea-
ture of church life was the sermon.
To-day it is church organisation.
Some seem to think that the preach-
ing of to-day is inferior to that of a
generation ago. While it may be

188 SIXTY YEARS WITH

true that no single man stands out as
did Mr. Beecher, Dr. R. S. Storrs,
or Dr. William M. Taylor, it seems
to me that the average of preaching
is higher. Dr. Hillis is not Mr.
Beecher, but he is Dr. Hillis, and
Plymouth people never go from Ply-
mouth Church without the thought
of a good and great presentation of
truth. However that may be, one
thing is very noticeable: the growth
in Plymouth, as elsewhere, of church
societies. The women have their
societies for Home and Foreign Mis-
sions, there is a Young Woman's
Guild, and a Henry Ward Beecher
Missionary Circle, a Young Men's
Club, and an organisation of older
men known as Plymouth Men. The
year that Mr. Beecher died The Ply-
mouth League was formed and had

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 189

a successful career until a few years
ago, when it was dropped.

So Plymouth has kept abreast of
the times, using any means that
seemed to promise usefulness, ever
ready to change where change was
adjudged wise, ready to drop any-
thing that in the shifting conditions
had outhved its usefulness, loyal to
its past, yet realising that the high-
est loyalty is to a future ideal rather
than a past achievement. Mr.
Beecher was no iconoclast, and at the
same time, the past, however great
and grand, as such, had no attraction
for him. His eye was set on the fu-
ture, a future that included the in-
dividual life and the corporate life.
Present-day socialism had scarcely
dawned during his day, but were he
living now he would be found in line.

igo SIXTY YEARS WITH

with the broadest and the freest con-
ceptions of society, and true to his
belief that the church should lead.
This not because it is an organisation,
including wise men, or divinely or-
dered, but because it expresses in the
fullest and best way the divine prin-
ciples that must govern society. That
this idea of his so dominated the
church in its early life and has con-
tinued to control it to the present day
is the true basis for confidence as to
its future.

Plymouth Church will stand just
so long as it represents this ideal, and
apphes it to all classes and conditions
of men, without regard to race or
creed. To-day, as of old, men of
every form of belief or no belief find
a welcome and find help, and many
go forth with old ideas changed, new

PLYMOUTH CHURCH 191

ambitions stirred, a clearer vision of
what it means to live a Christian life.
If the time ever comes when that is
not true, then Plymouth Church will
be a relic of the past, a curiosity, to
be visited by strangers as Plymouth
Rock or Westminster Abbey. That
that time will ever come I do not
believe. However much the centres
of population may change, the needs
of men never change, and even if
other churches should follow their
constituencies to other sections, Ply-
mouth wiU remain, a living monu-
ment to the truth and the life that
has been from its origin its power.

THE END

Cornell University Library

arV16910

Sixty years with Plymouth Church

3 1924 031 450 806

olin,anx

■Ill