BEECHER.
BEECHER.
q^efy7-^-/f2.,,.eA'^-
palians and loyalists, Eli being descended through
Nathaniel Foote, who came to Connecticut with
Hooker's company, in 1636, from James Foote, who
was knighted for his loyalty to King Charles. His
mother died when Henry was three years old,
and he found an ex-
cellent and careful
parent in his father's
second wife, Hannah
Porter. His early
environment was
■such as to foster inde-
pendence and sturdi-
nt!ss of character.
There were no in-
didgences in the
large, simple house-
hold; plenty of work,
much wholesome
fun, strict discipline
— the whole steeped
in an atmosphere of
theology. The little boy at four years of age at-
tended the district school, and at ten was sent to
the school kept by his sister Catherine, where he
was the only boy among thirty or forty girls.
There was nothing precocious in his development;
he was not particularly apt as a scholar; but was
a healthy boy, full of fun and spirit, having a
faculty of repartee which delighted his school-
mates. In 1826 his family removed to Boston, his
father being appointed pastor of the Hanover
street church in that city. Henry attended the
Moimt Pleasant institute, where he made a
special study of mathematics, incited thereto by
his desire to enter the navy. His religious con-
victions at this time were deepened while attend-
ing some revival meetings, and he resolved to
become a preacher of the gospel. He entered
Amherst college in 1830, where he made his mark
chiefly outside the class-room, drawing and lead-
ing his fellow students by that personal magnet-
ism which was afterwards so large a part of his
power as a preacher. In logic and in class de-
bates he outshone his class-mates, being especially
noted for the quality of his extemporaneous
speeches. He took a course of elocutionary train-
ing, specially needed because of some slight defect
in his utterance, and also became interested in
the science of phrenology*, which he always re-
garded as useful to the preacher in enabling him
to understand just how to impress certain people.
His college life was a time of religioxis ferment;
opinions which had long been growing reached
their culmination, and resulted in the division of
both Congregational and Presbyterian churches
into two parties. "My whole life, wrote Mr.
Beecher, " lias more or less taken its color from
the controversy which led to the division of the
old-school and the new-school Presbyterians."
He was graduated from Amherst in 1834, and
pursued his theological course at Lane seminar^-,
Cincinnati, Ohio, where his father was professor
of systematic theology. While a student here,
his first editorial work was done on the Cincinnati
Journal, in the columns of which he advanced
his anti slavery- views. Here he first witnessed
the fierce partisan feeling between the Abolition-
ists and the upholders of the " divine institution "
of slavery. He saw the freedom of the press im-
perilled and the city in danger of mob law, and
he patrolled the streets himself for some days
armed as a special policeman. He also taught a
large Bible class, and began to formulate his plans
for pastoral work. He completed his course in
1837, and was given the pastorate of a church at
La\\Tenceburgh, Ind., where he had a congrega-
tion of nineteen women and one man. He was
here subjected to a rigorous examination on
" doctrines " by the elders of the church, and was
pronounced orthodox, but was rejected becaxise
he woidd not subscribe himself as belonging to
the old-school Presbyterians. The matter was
adjiLsted by the congregation aflSliating with the
new-school Presbj-terians, and the young pastor
maintained his relations with it for two years.
In 1839 he accepted the pastorate of a church at
Indianapolis, Ind. Here he conducted several re-
vivals, preaching daily sometimes for eighteen
consecutive days. He found his recreation in
horticulture, and was editor of the agricultural
department of the Indianapolis Journal. He
established a depot of the underground railway
at his house, where he succored and comforted
nmaway slaves, and at night drove them on to
the next place of refuge. In 1847 he assimied
pastoral charge of the Phonouth Congregational
church, Brooklyn, N. Y. His first sermon
preached there, June, 1847, was an exposition of
his views in regard to slavery, which he considered
a thing altogether accursed; abolitionism M-as a
Ijrinciple not yet popular at the north, and be-
cause of his vigorous and cavistic utterances against
.slavery, Mr. Beecher found his life endangered,
and was obliged to walk in the middle of the
street after dusk, through fear of ambushed assail-
ants, and at one time a mob was organized to tear
down his church, but was diverted from its pur-
pose by some trifiing circumstance. His genius
as an orator increased the church, and rapidly
brought him into prominence. He was an omniv-
orous reader, and his mind was stored with
mines of information and apt illustrations. He
Avas unconventional in the pvdpit, and moved
men to laughter as well as tears. " All the
bells in my belfry shall ring to call men to God,"'
he said. He minimized law, and magnified love
as the chief factor in the religious belief. He
