The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1872-01-04
Beginning at The Bottom.

Beginning at The Bottom.
Henry Ward Beecher, in recent
''Lecturc Room Talk on The Religions
Duty Of Thanksgiving" gave the follow
ing account ot his early experiences as
minister;
! DO not believe that to-day feel as
thankful for the comforts of my house as
| Gid when | first began to preach, and
had two rooms, and felt that they were
mine, and went around among the people
of the neighborhood with the thought,
''WaS there eyer q man so happy as |
am 2n
Well, | may As wcll tell vou-when be-
gan to preach lnever eXpectedto to do much
But | meant to do as we'll as | could
never expected to 60 anywhere. | was
asked to cross the river from Cincinnati
and preachin Covington / went over and
began to preach there. | did not know
but was going to stay there. And was
perfectly will;"g to stay. But | was
soon called by a woman TO Lawrenceburg.
She was the factotum of the whole church.
And | went there and spoke to q well-nigh
empty building. | was settled over a
town with two distileries and twenty
devils in IT, | was very poor. There
was no patrimony coming to me, as You
know. The moment | was out of the
seminary | was without my fathers sup
port, and was obliged to take care of NY
self | had a salary but it was salary
of only 800 And took half of that to
New England to get married with And
as the parish paid only half Of it, and the
other half was to come from the Mis-
sionary Society, | found myself very short
of funds. | had Just Is cents in my
pocket when | came back | was taken
up by good Methodist brother for about
week, and then | got these two rooms
to which | have alluded. They were up
stairs. One was the kitchen, cellar, and
sitting room, the other was the library,
bedroom and parlor 50 that we had
SIX rooms calling each three. The cellar
was made by putting things under the
bed; and the other rooms were added by
sundry devices. You who 60 into flush
houses, furnished by your grandpapas
and grandmammas, do not know any
thing about the joys of housekeeping
Persons ought to begin at the bottom to
know what those Joys are. And | began
down there
| had no idea that | could preach.
never expected that | could accomplish
much. | merely went to work with the
feeling Il will do as we'll as | can, and
will stick to it, if the Lord pleases, and
fight his battle the best way know how"
And | was thankful as | could be. No
body ever sent me spare-rib that | did
not thank God for the kindness which was
shown me. | recollect that when Judge
49, gave me his cast-off clothing | felt
that was sumptuously clothed | wore
old coats and second hand shirts for two
or three years; and | was not above it
either-although sometimes, as | was
physically a somewhat well-deyeloped
man, and the Judge was thin, and his
legs were slim, they We're rather tight
fit
There was a humorous side to this, but
could easily have put a dolorous side to
it; | could have said, 'Humph pretty
business; son of Lyman Beecher, Presi
dent of theological seminary, in this
miserable hole, where there is no church,
and where there are no elders, and no
men to make them OF This is not accord
ing 10 my deserts. | could do better.
ought not to waste my talents in such a
place" But | was delivered from any
such feeling. | felt that it was an un-
speakable privilege to be anywhere and
speak of Christ | had very little the
ology-that is to say, it slipped away from
me. | knew it, but it did not do me any
good 1t was like an armor which had |
lost its buckles, and would not stick on.
But had one vivid point-the realization
of the love Of God in Jesus Christ. And |
| tried to work that up in every possible |
shape for my people. And it was the
secret of all the little success which | had |
in the early part of my ministry.
| remember that | used to ride out in |
the neighborhood and preach to the desti-
tute, and that my predominant feeling |
was thanksgiving that God had permitted |
me to preach the unsearchable riches Of |
his grace | think l can say that during
the first ten years of my ministerial life | |
was in that spirit.
Now, in later years, have worked a
great deal harder, and in some respects I
have gained, in some have lost do not |
believe | have that same grateful, tender,
thanksgiving spirit which | had then. |
think that increasing prosperity and the
multiplication of mercies have rather
wthered it, 1t would seem as though
mercies were like some vines that have
noticed. On the western side of my
place there is a vine that has twained
about tree until it has girded it so that
the tree has died. And have seen Gods
mercies twine about men so abundantly
that they choked out the manhood that
was in them.
Therefore, while those who are in
trouble out to give thanks and find oc-
casion for thanksgiving, those who are
prosperous, those who have comfortable
houses, those who have amenities and
luxuries of life, ought to be careful, and
see to it that they are thankful, and ask
themselves, "Does the thanksgiving spirit
increase in me in proportion as am pros
pered and Gods mercies are showered up
on me ?"