The Cairo daily bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1870-1872, 1872-01-06
THE BULLETIN.
Publication once, bulletin building,
Washington Avenue.
HOW BEECHER BEGAN PREACHING.
HIS NARRATION OF his EXPERIENCE AT
IAwRENCEBURG, INDIANA.
rom the ChrIsllan rnlnnl

| LAW hhNNtbI NO INDIANA.
(from the Christian UnionJ
i was asked to cross the river from Gin
cinnati and preach in Covington, and
went over and began to preach there.
did not know but ! was going to stay
there. And j was perfectly willing tc
stay. But l was soon called by woman
to Lswrenceburg. She was the factotIm
Of the whole church. And / went there
and spoke to n well-nigh empty building
was settled over a town with two dis.
tilleries and twenty devils in it, | was
very poor. There was no patrimony com.
ing to me, as you know. The moment /
was out OF the seminary / was without my
fathers support, and was obliged to take
care of myself. | had a salary, but it was
a salary of only si0o. And took half of
that to goto New England to get married,
And rs the parish paid only half of it, and
the other half was to come from the mis-
sionary society, found myself short of
funds. i had just eighteen cents in my
pocket when came back. Twas taken up
by good Methodist brother for about a
week, and then got those two rooms to
which / have alluded. They were up
stairs. One was a kitchen, cellar and sit
ting room the other was the library, bed
|
rooms, calling each three. The cellar was
made by putting things under the bed,
and the other rooms were added by sun
dry devices. You who 90 into fiush houses,
furnished by grandpapas ard grandmarn-
mas, do not know anything about the JOYS
of housekeeping. Persons ought to begin
at the bottom to know what these joys go
And began down there. =,
| had M iIaa that | sgulu preach i
never e.pected that / could accomplish
much. merely went to work with the
feeling, ~ will do rs well rs ] can, and
/ will stick to it, If the Lord plesses, and
fight His battles 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 when Judge
- gave me his cast. off clothing. l felt
that | was sumptgously clothed. ! wore
old coats and sccond-handed shirts for two
or three years and | was not above 1t
either; although sometimes, as j was
physically a somewhat well-developed
man, and the Judge was thin and his legs
were slim, they we're rather tight fit.
There was humorous side 10 this, but
] could easily have put dolorous side to
ii. ! could have said, "Humph! pretty
business, son of Lyman Beecher, president
Of theological seminary, in this miser-
able hole where there is no church, and
where there are no elders, and no men to
make them out Of. This is not according
10 my deserts, could do better. ought
not 70 waste my talents in such place.
But was delivered from any such feel
ing. felt that it was an unspeakable
privilege TO be anywhere and speak of
Christ. had very little theology-that
is to say, it slipped away from NE.
knew it, hut itdid not do me any good.
II 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 Christ Jesus. And / tried
to work that up in every possible shape
for the people. And it was the secret of
all the lit,lo success which had in the
early part Of my ministry. ! remember
that / used to ride out in the neightorhood
and preach to the destitute, and that my
predominant feeling was thanksgiving that
God Ia. permitted me to preach the un-
searchable riches Of His grace.