Lyman Beecher (1775–1863) was an American Presbyterian clergyman and temperance reformer. A well-known revivalist before the Civil War, he achieved fame as a reformer, educator, and central figure in theological controversies. Beecher was the father of 13 children, including the educator Catharine Beecher, abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe, and clergyman Henry Ward Beecher.
Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Beecher studied at Yale and was a minister at East Hampton, New York 1799–1810, Litchfield, Connecticut 1810–26, and Hanover St Church, Boston 1826–32. He gained distinction for his vigorous denunciation of alcohol and his sharply anti-Catholic sermons.
Beecher later became president of the new Lane Theological Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio 1832–50, working as a pastor 1832–42. His evangelical Calvinism, considered strict by Bostonians, proved so mild for western conservative Presbyterians that he was put on trial for slander, heresy, and hypocrisy, but his presbytery and synod acquitted him.
Beecher’s sermons and magazine articles were published in his Works (1852.) An Autobiography appeared in 1864–65.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Lyman Beecher
No great advance has ever been made in science, politics, or religion, without controversy.
—Lyman Beecher
Topics: Difficulties
Eloquence is logic on fire.
—Lyman Beecher
Never chase a lie. Let it alone, and it will run itself to death. I can work out a good character much faster than any one can lie me out of it.
—Lyman Beecher
Topics: Deception/Lying, Lies
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