Lyman Beecher

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Leadership of Lane Seminary in Cincinnati (1832–1852)

The religious public had become impressed with the growing importance of the great West; a theological seminary had been founded at Walnut Hills, near Cincinnati, Ohio, and named Lane Seminary, after one of its principal benefactors. Beecher's Hanover Street Church was severely damaged by fire in 1830, and the Board of Lane Seminary, hoping this might dispose him to a move, later that year offered him the presidency, with a salary of $20,000 (equivalent to $1,209,000 in 2025), but he turned it down. He accepted a second offer, in 1832. His mission there was to train ministers to win the West for Protestantism. Along with his presidency, he was also professor of sacred theology, and pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church of Cincinnati (later merged with First Presbyterian into modern-day Covenant First Presbyterian Church). He served as a pastor for the first ten years of his Lane presidency.

Beecher was also notorious for his anti-Catholicism, and soon after his arrival in Cincinnati authored the nativist tract "A Plea for the West". His sermon on this subject at Boston in 1834 was followed shortly by the burning of the Catholic Ursuline Sisters' convent there. Catholics blamed Lyman, and charged that the arsonists had been "goaded on by Dr. Lyman Beecher", but Lyman insisted that the sermon "to which the mob ascribed" was preached before his presence in Boston was generally known, and on the very evening of the riot, some miles distant from the scene, and that probably not one of the rioters had heard it or even "knew of its delivery". Nevertheless, the convent was burned, and just at the season when Lyman was alerting Massachusetts to danger from the "despotic character and hostile designs of popery".

Authors disagree as to whether Lyman Beecher's three anti-catholic speeches triggered the burning. For example, Ira Leonard, author of American Nativism, 1830-1860, notes that the three anti-catholic speeches "by Lyman Beecher" ultimately "ignited the spark["]. This statement implies that some of the individuals involved in the burning attended one of Beecher's three sermons. Conversely, Ray Billington understands the two events to be more coincidental. Billington notes that, although the convent burned the evening of Beecher's sermons, the group of working-class men who organized the burning met on three separate occasions, two of which [preceded] Beecher's sermons. Furthermore, Beecher spoke at upper-class churches which the workers would not have attended. "In all probability," Billington comments, "the [convent] would have been attacked whether or not these sermons were delivered."

Beecher's term at Lane came at a time when slavery became an even larger issue, threatening to divide the Presbyterian Church, the state of Ohio, and the nation.

Like most important men of the 1820s, Beecher was a colonizationist, one who supported the American Colonization Society's program of helping free Blacks emigrate to West Africa and set up there a black colony. He is reported to have reacted positively to an announcement of the planned debates on that topic at Lane. However, a June 4, 1834, meeting of the Cincinnati Colonization Society "was addressed at length, by the Rev. Dr. Beecher, president of the Lane Seminary, who defended the society in an able manner, against some of the many charges brought against it, and endeavored to show the friends of abolition, that they might and ought to act in concert with the Colonization Society." He is quoted again as participating in a meeting of the same body on October 31, 1834.

But against a background of the Haitian Revolution, the French Revolution of 1830, the agitation in England for reform and against colonial slavery, and the punishment by American courts of citizens like Reuben Crandall who had dared to attack the slave trade carried on under the American flag, news about the brutal treatment of American slaves began to be heard. John Rankin's Letters on Slavery had begun to direct the attention of Americans to the evils of slavery, and a new organization, the American Anti-Slavery Society, held its initial meeting in Philadelphia in 1833. Its president, Arthur Tappan, through whose generous donations Beecher had been induced to head the new Lane Seminary, forwarded to the students a copy of the address issued by the convention, and the whole subject was soon under discussion.

In February 1834, students at Lane, with national publicity, for 18 consecutive nights debated the colonization issue: whether the American Colonization Society, which sought to settle freed slaves in Africa, was worthy of support. The students did not have permission for the debate, but they were not stopped ahead of time. Most of them abandoned colonization as a hoax, replacing it with abolitionism. It was seen as a hoax because firstly it was logistically impossible to relocate more than a handful of freed slaves, and secondly according to Gerrit Smith, the colonization movement aimed to make slavery more defensible, not end it.

Many of the students were from the South, and an effort was made to stop the discussions and the meetings. Slaveholders from Kentucky came in and incited mob violence, and for several weeks Beecher lived in a turmoil, not knowing whether rioters might destroy the seminary and the houses of the professors. The Board of Trustees interfered during the absence of Beecher, and allayed the excitement of the mob by forbidding all further discussion of slavery in the seminary, even at meals, whereupon the students withdrew en masse. The group of about 50 students (who became known as the Lane Rebels) who left the seminary went to the new Oberlin Collegiate Institute, leaving Lane almost without students. Beecher believed himself blameless.

The well-reported events contributed significantly to the growth and spread of abolitionism in the northern United States. Beecher was neither aware of nor interested in Lane's key role in publicizing abolitionism.

Although earlier in his career he had opposed them, Beecher stoked controversy by advocating "new measures" of evangelism (including revivals and camp meetings) that ran counter to traditional Calvinist understanding. These new measures at the time of the Second Great Awakening brought turmoil to churches all across America. Joshua Lacy Wilson, pastor of First Presbyterian (later merged with Second Presbyterian into modern-day Covenant First Presbyterian) charged Beecher with heresy in 1835.

The trial took place in his own church, and Beecher defended himself, while burdened with the cares of his seminary, his church, and his wife at home on her deathbed. The trial resulted in acquittal, and, on an appeal to the general synod, he was again acquitted, but the controversy engendered by the action went on until the Presbyterian church was divided in two. Beecher took an active part in the theological controversies that led to the excision of a portion of the general assembly of the Presbyterian church in 1837-38, Beecher adhering to the New School Presbyterian branch of the schism.

Works

Beecher was the author of a great number of printed sermons and addresses. His published works are:

Beecher, Lyman (1806). A sermon, occasioned by the lamented death of Mrs. Frances M. Sands, of New-Shoreham, formerly an inhabitant of East-Hampton, (L.I.), composed and now made public at the request of her afflicted partner, and delivered at East-Hampton October 12th, 1806. Sag Harbor, New York.

Beecher, Lyman (1809). The Remedy for Duelling. A sermon, delivered before the Presbytery of Long-Island, at the opening of their session, at Aquebogue, April 16, 1806. New York.

Beecher, Lyman (1819). The Design, Rights, and Duties of Local Churches: A Sermon Delivered at the installation of the Rev. Elias Cornelius as associate pastor of the Tabernacle Church in Salem, July 21, 1819. Andover, Massachusetts.

Beecher, Lyman; Garrettson, Freeborn (1820). Address of the Charitable Society for the Education of Indigent Pious Young Men, for the Ministry of the Gospel : published by Rev. Lyman Beecher, chairman of their committee of supplies. And now re-published with Rev. Mr. Garretson's letter, and some additional notes, by another hand. Concord, New Hampshire. ISBN 9780608436739. OCLC 191281079. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)

Beecher, Lyman (1827). Six Sermons on the Nature, Occasions, Signs, Evils, and Remedy of Intemperance. Boston.

Beecher, Lyman; Nettleton, Asahel (1828). Letters of the Rev. Dr. Beecher and Rev. Mr. Nettleton, on the "New measures" in conducting revivals of religion : with a review of a sermon, by Novanglus. New York: G. & C. Carvill.

Beecher, Lyman (1828). Sermons Delivered on Various Occasions. Boston.

Beecher, Lyman (1829). The Gospel according to Paul. A sermon, delivered Sept. 17, 1828, at the installation of the Rev. Bennet Tyler, D.D., as pastor of the Second Congregational Church in Portland, Maine. Boston.

Beecher, Lyman (1835). Lectures on Skepticism, delivered in Park Street Church, Boston, and in the Second Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati (3rd ed.). Cincinnati: Corey and Webster.

Beecher, Lyman (1835). A Plea for the West. Cincinnati: Truman and Smith.

Beecher, Lyman (1836). A Plea for Colleges (2nd ed.). Cincinnati and New York: Truman and Smith (Cincinnati); Leavitt, Lord and Co. (New York).

Beecher, Lyman (1852). Lectures on Political Atheism and Kindred Subjects: Together with Six Lectures on temperance. Dedicated to the working men of the United States. Beecher's Works, vol. I. Boston: John P. Jewett & Company.

Beecher, Lyman (1852). Sermons Delivered on Various Occasions. Beecher's Works, vol. II. Boston: John P. Jewett & Company.

Beecher, Lyman (1853). Views of Theology : as developed in three sermons : and on his trials before the Presbytery and Synod of Cincinnati, June, 1835 : with remarks on the Princeton review. Beecher's Works, vol. III. Boston: J.P. Jewett.

Beecher, Lyman (1853). Atheism Considered Theologically and Politically: In a Series of Lectures. London.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

Beecher, Lyman (1864). Beecher, Charles (ed.). Autobiography, Correspondence, Etc., of Lyman Beecher, D.D. Vol. 1. New York: Harper & Brothers.

Beecher, Lyman (1865). Beecher, Charles (ed.). Autobiography, Correspondence, Etc., of Lyman Beecher, D.D. Vol. 2. New York: Harper & Brothers.

He made a collection of those of his works which he deemed the most valuable (3 vols., Boston, 1852).

Lyman Beecher

Lyman Beecher

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Early life

Ministry

Ministry on Long Island in New York (1798–1810)

Ministry in Litchfield, Connecticut (1810–1826)

Ministry in Boston (1826–1832)

Leadership of Lane Seminary in Cincinnati (1832–1852)

Move from Cincinnati to New York City (1852–death in 1863)

Legacy

Personal life

Works