Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 March 1887 — BEECHER AT REST. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

BEECHER AT REST.

The Sufferings of the Eminent Brooklyn Minister Ended by t > Death. i A Sketch of the Deceased’s Career as Pastor, Author, and Lecturer. Rev. Henry Ward Beecher was stricken with apoplexy at his home in Brooklyn on Saturday, March 5, and lingered until the following Tuesday, when death relieved him of his sufferings. During these three days the great preacher lay in a comatose condition, surrounded by tho members of his family and physicians. His faithful wife was by his bedside- almost continuously from the hour he was stricken by the fatal

illness. Dr. Searle made the following statement in regard to the distinguished divine s last hours: “Mr. Beecher began to fail decidedly at 3 o’clock Tuesday morning. His respira--tion was rapid. At 4 o'clock the family was summoned. Death came slowly and stealthily. His respirations gradually became faster and faster until they reached sixty a minute. His pulse was variable and often reached 140. He still remained in the same condition except as to breathing, his eyes closed, and he was entirely unconscious. The motions of the right arm became less irequent, and were finally stopped almost entirely. About 9 o'clock in the morning we could detect the first symptoms of immediate death. His pnlse ran up still higher, flickered, and fluctuated until 9:28, two minutes before his death. His pulse ceased almost entirely at the wrist, being so faint that it could hardly be detected, and then stopped altogether. TLere was a rattle in Lis throat, paiuful to those around him, but unfelt by him owing to the failure of the nerve center of the respiratory organs, together with the failure of the heart's action. His death was ve,ry easy, as painless if not as pleasant as death from suffocation or by drowning is sajd to be.” Tlio Death-bed Scene. [New York telegram.) The Rev. Henry Ward Beecher died at 9:30 o’clock Tuesday, morning surrounded by all the" members of his family except those for’whom distance or sickness made it impossible to reach his bedside. S. V. White and E. A. Seacomb of Plymouth Church and Maj. J. B. Pond were also present when death’s summons came. The family had been summoned to the death bed early in the morning by Dr. Searle, who detected the signs of rapidly approaching dissolution. At about Ba. m. Mr. S. V. White announced to those gathered before the house that the end was very near, and even (hen the sobs of the sorrowing family could be heard all through the house. At 9:30 o’clock Dr. Searle, who had been holding one of Mr. Beecher's hands, said: “Mr. Beecher is no more; he is dead.” It is difficult to describe the scene at this moment. Notwithstanding the fact that his death was looked for, that it had been expected hourly, it seemed to come with such crushing force that the family were completely prostrated with grief. They could not bring themselves to the Ead realization that the kindly voice of the husband, father, and grandfather was forever hushed in death, and that they had only the remembrance of his kind admonitions. Mrs. Beecher, who had borne up so bravely from the first, and who had watched so constantly at the bedside of her dying husband, was utterly broken down, and when supported by her son Harry, as she tottered from the room, looked as if ,it would not be long before she would follow her beloved husband. Tlio House of Sorrow. No crape was hung on the door of Mr. Beecher’s late heme to announce that the great orator was no more. Mr. Beecher had always expressed a dislike of this custom and of the gloom associated with crape in the presence of death. Instead a magnificent wreath of white and red roses and lilies of the valley tied with white satin was hung at the left side of the doorway. Many telegrams of condolence were received by the stricken family,, among them the following: " " “Executive Mansion, I . ~ “Washington, 1) C., March 8. j “Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher : “Accept my heartfelt sympathy in this hour of your bereavement, with the hope that comfort may be vouchsafed from the heavenly source you know so well. “Grover Cleveland.”

Sketch of HU Life. It is half a century ago since Henry Ward Beecher, then boyish-looking and aged 24 years, preached his first sermon, and his maiden effort was delivered “before an ex* tremely orthodox congregation of Presbyterians in a little white frame church at I.awrenceburg, Ind. It is probable that from the first he gave great promise, for, after remaining in Lawrenceburg for only two years, we find him promoted in 1831) to a much better position in Indianapolis, where he remained several years, and where he first attracted national attention. His, Presbyterian beliefs seem to have gradually become weaker during this time, and in 1847, his Indianapolis congregation becoming convinced that he was wandering into forbidden paths and inclined to overturn well-established dogmas, it became necessary that he should find, another and more liberal flock. Plymouth Congregational Church in Brooklyn wanted a pastor, and Mr. Beecher was taken on trial. He pleased the congregation so well that he was soon installed as regular pastor, and from that day to this he and Plymouth Church have been so closely identified with each other that it is impossible almost to think of a time when he was not the regular occupant of its pulpit Mr. Beecher came from one of the most remarkable and most talented American families—the 6ame famk’y which has given us Charles and Edwari '.eecher and Mrs. Harriet Beecher Btow<\ He was the fourth son of the eminent Da Lyman Beecher, and received most of his theological training at Lane Seminary, near Cincinnati, 0., under his father’s eye. He was born at Litchfield, Conn., June 24, 1813, and after attending some public Latin schools en- ~

tered Amherst College, from which he was graduated. It cannot be said that he had the educational advantages of his eldest brother, nor of Charles, who was born two years later, but what he lost in education was more than compensated for t>y hia natural ability and his energy air a stndent. At, any rate he entered the ministry the most scholarly man of tbe three, and from the very first sermon preached by him before the Coagregationalists of Brooklyn to the day of his death he made his power felt, not only in the church to which he beearne attached, but his ideas exerted a wonderful influence upon all other denominations. Mr. Beecher's fame became familiar throughout the length and breadth of the laud in a short time, and the Plymouth Church, which soon became known as “Beecher's church,” was enlarged to accommodate the tremendous crowds which gathered to hear the eloquent preacher. He spoke on all topics of current or national interest; he attacked abuses and criticised politicians; he opened up his battery of satire upon (he institution of slavery, and denounced the American Government Tor not wiping out the great stuiu upon tho nation; took hold of the abolition movement, and invited the slaves - of the South to strike for liberty, declaring that every one of them who entered New York would be protected; ridiculed the slave party in Congress; Called the slaveowners vulgar traders in human flesh, and, in a word, ilid everything within his power to bring down odium upon the South, and to raise the feeling in the North to such a pitch that a clash would be inevitable between the two sections and the slave question finally settled forever. He had no doubt ns to the ability of the North to bring the South to terms, and he looked forward to the inevitable struggle with confidence. Beecher’s name became famous among the abolitionists and obnoxious among the slaveholders. He was admired by half the country and thoroughly hated by the other half. But enemies as well as friends thronged to hear him, and although tho Plymoutti Church had seating capacity for 3,000 persons the aisles were often filled, and hundreds of people stood up in have and galleries during the delivery of what may be appropriately termed his great religio-political lectures. During the years of excitement which preceded the Southern rebellion, and during the rebellion itself, he maintained that slavery must be abolished at any cost. When the war broke out he did perhaps as much as any other man iu tho country to inspire the people with patriotism and enthusiasm, aDd his discourses always contained more politics than religion. After the war he settled down more closely to the discussion of purely religious topics, but now and then he departed from tbe well-worn scriptural paths, and launched off into politics, political and social economy, questions of international law and trade, and, in short, there was scarcely a topic before (he public upon which he did not give his views, whether it concerned the local government of Brooklyn or the claims of the United States against Great Britain. Mr. Beecher had for a number of years been a regular contributor to the columns of religious and family newspapers, and out of one of these connections a scandal arose in 1874 which greatly impaired his iufluence and for a time threatened to destroy it entirely. Mr. BeecHer was a prolific and always an interesting and instructive writer. He began by contributing to the Cincinnati Journal, a religious Weekly, of which he afterward became editor. He was a constant contributor to tbe Independent from the date of its establishment in 1858, and from 1861 to 1863 be was its chief editor. He wrote also for tho Farmer and Gardener, and contributed lo other agricultural newspapers, farming being one of his numerous hobbies. For a number of years be edited and was part proprietor of the Christian Union, which, under bis management, became a valuable property, and he contributed weekly sketches and a novel to Mr. Bonner’s New York Ledger. His principal published works are: “Lectures to Young Men,” “Life Thoughts,” “Sermons on Liberty and' War,” “The Plymouth Collection of Hymns and Tunes,” “Royal Truths,” “Eyes and Ears,” “Star Papers,” “Norwood, a Novel,” and a large number of voluiij.es of “Plymouth Sermons.” His greatest* and most pretentious undertaking was a life of Christ, which was never completed according to contract, and which resulted in a large amount of litigation between himself, his publishers, and their successors. The changes which have come over Mr. Beecher’s theological views during the last ten years are so fresh in the minds of the people that it is not necessary to particularize them here. It is enough to say that he has been ,at times on the very verge of infidelity anti at times in the very core of orthodoxy. His congregation was not a particular one respecting questions of religion. It cared more for the man than the doctrines which he preached. It was a sensational congregation, and it admired him because be satisfied its demands for something at once unique, sensational, and interesting. They are few who can call his doctrines sound, and there are many who will pronounce his teachings pernicious, but he was always assured, no matter how radical or how liberal his views might be, of the support of that portion of the American people who have no settled opinions of their own about religion or a future state. He became popular with a large class by denying tho existence of a hell and making the sinners of his congregation feel as comfortable as possible for the time' being. Mr. Beecher visited Europe thrice, but has never traveled extensively abroad. As a lecturer he was very successful, and accumulated a large fortune in this way alone. He was a man of fine appearance pi early life, but of late years he became rather corpulent and lost considerable of that sprightliness which his congregation so much admired.

HU Desire Was to Continue Preaching. [Bismarck (Dak.) special. When Henry Ward Beecher stopped here on his Northwestern lecture tour three years ago he said in one interview in nnswer to the question as to when he intended retiring from the pulpit and the lecture field: “I intend to preach for fifteen years.for I helieve that a retirement from active work would hasten death.” Be farther stated that in his opinion if his father had not retired when he did he would have lived fifteen years longer. When here Mr. Beecher was accompanied by J. B. Pond, the business manager of the tour, and Pond told many interesting stories of the pranks and evidences of youthful humor of the great divine. Among other things he gave a representative of a Bismarck paper a note written by Mr. Beecher white in Jamestown. Mr. Beecher had been annoyed along his journey by invitations and demands for ffiim to preach, and going into Pond’s room at the hotel in Jamestown he wrote the following: “Dear Sir—You ask me to preach for you. lam a lecturer, not a preacher; you have barked up the wrong tree. I’ll be d—d before I shall preach for you. “J. B. Pond.” The note was written by Mr. Beecher and left on Mr. Pond’s table. . The present style of ladies’ hats is so tall that it is said they are felt on high.