The Freedom Ring

Rev. Henry Ward Beecher Date: April 13, 1862 Exactly one year after the Civil War broke out, the famous minister and abolitionist, Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, gave a powerful sermon on the definition and success of America's democracy. It was rapidly printed and distributed throughout the nation as an effort to embolden and sustain the righteousness of the American commonwealth. America was in the middle of a Civil War and the nation leaned on Beecher to guide their moral senses. Abraham Lincoln was grateful to have the support of Beecher, his famous family, and his millions of devout followers. Lincoln referred to the reverend's older sister, Harriet Beecher Stowe , as "...the little lady who started this big war" due to the wild success of her book,  "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Lincoln's nickname for Henry, her younger brother, was simply, "the most influential man in America." Rev. Henry Ward Beecher was one of America's first mega preacher...

Famous and Historical Sermon by the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher Plymouth Church Brooklyn, NY - Sunday Morning July 17, 1870  Warring Turbulence of Man George Villiers, by Peter Paul Rubens, 1625 “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not; ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain; ye fight and war, and yet ye have not, because ye ask not.” — JAMES IV. 1, 2. This is a description of the turbulence of man, regarded simply as an animal. There is a dormant implication here, also, of man as a spiritual being. As an animal, he is restless, avaricious, dishonest, plundering, murdering, forever desiring, and yet unsatisfied in his desires, because his lower nature never can be at rest, but, like the troubled sea, casts up grime and dirt. “Because ye ask not.” Because the spiritual side of man, which derives its being from God, and all the plentitude of its enjoyment from spiritual things, th...