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« Beecher, Charles Beecher, Edward Beecher, Henry Ward »

Beecher, Edward

BEECHER, EDWARD: Congregationalist, second son of Lyman Beecher; b. at East Hampton, L. I., Aug. 27, 1803; d. in Brooklyn July 28, 1895. He was graduated at Yale 1822; began his theological studies at Andover and continued them while acting as tutor at Yale 1825–26; was pastor of the Park Street Church, Boston, 1826–30; president of Illinois College, Jacksonville, Ill., 1830–44; pastor of the Salem Street Church, Boston, 1844–55, and editor of The Congregationalist 1849–1853; pastor at Galesburg, Ill., 1855–71; after 1871 resided in Brooklyn. He was lecturer on church institutions at the Chicago Theological Seminary (Congregational) 1859–66. In 1837 he defended the freedom of the press in the case of Elijah P. Lovejoy, an antislavery agitator at Alton, Ill. When Lovejoy's presses were destroyed by the mob, Beecher helped to obtain and secrete a new one, and was with Lovejoy and his brother, Owen, the night before the former was killed (Nov. 7, 1837). To resist the mob spirit he aided in founding the Illinois State Antislavery Society, drew up its constitution, and issued a Statement of Antislavery Principles, and Address to the People of Illinois. He published a Narrative of Riots at Alton (Cincinnati, 1838). His views as to the nature and cause of sin and on the atonement were set forth in two works, The Conflict of Ages, or the Great Debate on the Moral Relations of God and Man (Boston, 1853) and The Concord of Ages, or the Individual and Organic Harmony of God and Man (New York, 1860), in which he expressed the belief that the present life is a continuation of a preceding existence as well as a preparation for a future one; that the material system is adapted to regenerate men, who have made themselves sinful in the previous state; and that ultimately the conflict between good and evil will disappear, and harmony be established. The doctrine of divine suffering he held to present the character of God in its most affecting and powerful aspects, and to be essential to a true view of the atonement. He also published On the Kingdom of God (Boston, 1827); Baptism with Reference to its Import and Modes (New York, 1849); The Papal Conspiracy Exposed and Protestantism Defended in the Light of Reason, History, and Scripture (New York, 1855); History of Opinions on the Scriptural Doctrine of Retribution (1878).

« Beecher, Charles Beecher, Edward Beecher, Henry Ward »
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