Copyright, 1907, by FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY New York: 158 Fifth Avenue Chicago: 80 Wabash Avenue Toronto: 25 Richmond St., W. London: 21 Paternoster Square Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street DEDICATED To my New England Mother, who long since entered into rest. I. Coming to New York II. Early Plymouth III. A Plymouth Usher IV. Plymouth Services V. Plymouth Members VI. Buying a Slave Girl VII. Mr. Beecher in England VIII. The Beecher Trial IX. The Church Tested X. Church Thought and Life XI. The Chur

For some years past I have been repeatedly urged to record my recollections 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 personal value to such a record. At first, as I thought of the task, it appeared too great. Business duties pressed and left little time for such a work. The

he great metropolis of the 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 ambition 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 horizon 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 cit

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 population of Brooklyn was less than ten thousand, and the most densely populated section to-day was but barren fields, two brothers, John and Jacob M. H

t was a little more than a year after I became a member 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 strangers within its gates usually outnumbered the regu

ew , if any, churches in the country, certainly none in Greater New York, preserve the old-time simplicity 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 arrangement of its pews, all were indeed innovations, and they have been followed, though hardly improved upon, in building other church edifices. When it comes to the conduct of worship, however, it i

lymouth Church was born in days of strife. It was natural that the militant element should be dominant. The very way in which the church was organised was illustrative 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 invitation to Mr. Beecher to be their pastor, all in quick succession, were characteristic. Mr. Howard was one who naturally f

t is impossible to understand 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 general 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, precipitated the discussion as to the extension of slave territory. The discovery of gold

he most critical time for the North during the Civil War was when it was thought that England would recognise the Southern Confederacy. The close relations between the cotton manufacturers of England and the vast cotton producers of the South created a public 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 recognition of the Confederacy, were taken from the British steamship

ollowing the Civil War came the reconstruction days, and into all those experiences Mr. Beecher entered with full energy, but even more than before he devoted 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 meetings 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

n March 8, 1887, a little less than forty years after he had been called as pastor of Plymouth Church, Henry Ward Beecher died. The end came suddenly. There was no lingering sickness, no wasting of his powers. If the impassioned delivery of earlier years was somewhat lacking, there was still a power and vigour fully as effective. The year before he had been to England on a lecture tour and received an ovation as marked as the disapproval attending his first attempts. He had been in demand all ov

  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 positive opinions on theological questions, while not obtruded, were never hidden. It must be remembered, too, that the constitution, art

t 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 assistants. For a long time Mr. Beecher and Plymouth Church followed the prevailing custom, relying upon volunteer service for such extra work in the line of parish visitation as was beyond the pastor's power. As the church grew, however, and as the demands upon its pastor for outside work in the form of public addresses, lectures

hen it became evident that the North had won the victory and that the defeat of the Confederacy was at hand, President Lincoln decided to celebrate the event by replacing 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 Anderson, only when compelled to do so by the guns of General Beauregard. By the President's order, the Secretary of War directed that on "April 14th, 1865, at twelve o

he plan of the Quaker City Excursion, made famous by Mark Twain, originated in Plymouth Church, when Mr. Beecher contemplated 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 journey, composed of Captain C. Duncan, John T. Howard and Rufus R. Graves. A very beautiful and substantial side-wheel steamship, t

  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 associate them topically, I wish to gather up in this chapter some of the incidents 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 a

hat will become of Plymouth Church when Mr. 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 answer to that. Now again the question comes up under the pastoral care of Dr. Hillis. My answer to this last question as to the others is, that the life of Plymout