The Freedom Ring

Puck Magazine Passage from "Evolution & Religion"  By Rev. Henry Ward Beecher,  -Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, NY, Sunday Morning, May 17, 1885- “When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning. It will be foul weather today: for the sky is red and lowering. Oye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?"   — Matthew xvi : 2 , 3 . This could mean nothing unless it meant that, as the weather changes, God's miraculous developments are presenting a diversified appearance throughout time. He was in the world and the world did not recognize him. He was among the then most religiously cultivated people, and he was developing a higher conception of morality and spiritual religion than theirs, and they could not understand it.  They looked upon all the miracles that he brought, the transcendent works of goodwill and of grace, as if they were in a circus, watching the athletic fea...

The Fugitive Slave Act passed by Congress in September 1850, which increased federal and free-state responsibility for the recovery of fugitive slaves . The Story of How Henry Ward Beecher became an Anti-Slavery Activist Adapted passages from “Henry Ward Beecher: An American Portrait” published in 1887. Henry Ward Beecher was asked by a group of abolitionists to help in presenting two slave girls who were sisters, the Edmonson sisters, to a large audience at the Brooklyn Tabernacle , to present their case with the objective of purchasing their freedom. It was said that these girls had previously experienced some traumatizing incident and those abolitionist who found out about it, wanted to purchase their freedom before they were sold off “down the river.” At the time, Henry Ward Beecher did not talk publicly much about politics or anti-slavery themes. However, that all started to change once he stepped foot on that stage at the Tabernacle. Below we find the story of that night: It...

The Sermon of the Beatitudes Rev. Henry Ward Beecher , America's most famous man throughout the 1800's and the brother to  Harriet Beecher Stowe   the author of " Uncle Tom's Cabin ," gives a sermon on perfecting your life through love. Beecher popularized the Gospel of Love in America, which took hold of mainstream attention during and after the Civil War. SUNDAY MORNING,  August 29, 1875  Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, NY Rev. Henry Ward Beecher

The Story of the Invasion of a Slave State, told by Henry Ward Beecher John Brown an Abolitionist — Known for his raid on Harpers Ferry, 1859 Adapted Passages from “The Life and Work of Henry Ward Beecher” published in 1887 In 1859 occurred the unlawful invasion of a Slave State for the avowed purpose of liberating its slaves, by John Brown (abolitionist) and his associates an attempt, though really insignificant from a numerical point of view, which aroused and embittered the entire South against the North, for pro-slavery men thereupon naturally concluded that Brown was secretly encouraged and abetted by the Abolitionists of the North. The false nature of these accusations was clearly demonstrated in a sermon entitled “ The Nation’s Duty to Slavery,” in which Brown’s entire career was reviewed by the Abolitionist preacher, Henry Ward Beecher , and from which some extracts are here presented : John Brown, ca. 1858. National Archives “An old man, kind at heart, indus...

African American Soldiers - Civil War - 1864 Preached by the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, March 9th, 1862, at the time of the Emancipation Message from President Lincoln Slavery vs. Liberty It has entered also the temple of God; and we have the record of the evil influences exerted by slavery upon the morals and the beliefs of the people. It has drugged the priests at the altar. It has put false fire thereon, and in the lurid light of that fire it has read God's word backward, making the charter of liberty for the world to be the charter of despotism. The apostasy of the Southern churches is one of the most extraordinary that ever took place. Never was the foul virus and bitterness of slavery shown before as it has been in the prostration of the churches of the South, and the utter apostasy of the ministers of the Gospel belonging to them. So manifest are they, that though all the statistics have been gathered by men appointed by pro-slavery administrations, and strained and doctored b...

President Abraham Lincoln gesturing as he delivers the Gettysburg Address Preached by the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, March 9th, 1862, at the time of the Emancipation Message from President Lincoln “Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people. Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. And they shall call them, The holy people, the redeemed of the Lord: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken."   - Isaiah lXII. 10, 11, 12. Message from President Lincoln  GREAT reformations in morals can never stop with individuals. Just as corruption of the citizen soon infects the institutions and the laws of the land, similarly the reformation of the citizen reforms laws and usages. It is this sort of reformation that the prophet cele...