It appears Debby Applegate has written only one book and that is a shame, because she is a lucid and thoughtful author who has penned a riveting account of Henry Ward Beecher. Before reading her work, I knew nothing of Beecher other than a passing familiarity with his last name. You will have likely heard of his sister, Harriet Ward Beecher, author of the best-selling novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. In fact, almost all of the Beechers were famous in their own right. Even the ones who took their own lives.
Henry was one of those individuals who seemed to somehow show up to the right place at the right time. A full chronology of his life is outside of this review, but it is remarkable how much of his fame centred on who he happened to meet and where he happened to go. By mid-life, he became one of the first attractions any visitor to New York City went to see — a pastor of a congregational church. And his oratory led him to become one of the highest paid and most sought after public lecturers of his day.
This long held and worldwide fame made his eventual exposure the most talked about thing in America. Solid accusations of adultery and spiritual abuse made it into the public square in his latter years at a time when the idea of a #MeToo movement could not even be conceived. Thus, Beecher kept his job and, with some, his reputation. But he was an evil man who did a lot of damage to a lot of people.
I found myself reading the 500+ pages of his life in just a few days and not just because Applegate is a good storyteller. The echoes of his life and failings resonated so loudly with today that if one were to remove the obvious historical links you would think you were watching the nightly news. In some ways that gave me hope. Today is not the worst time in human history. I mean, senators were packing pistols on the Senate floor in 1860! And the age-old sins that plague us now were just as prevalent then. The ratio of sex workers to male citizens in New York City in the middle of the nineteenth century is likely five times what it is today.
All of this got me thinking of a few big lessons, things we should know better about but still fall into today. By looking carefully at Beecher’s life, perhaps we will take the warning to heart.
We want heroes
On more than one occasion, Beecher violated another man’s wife, only to have that man set the matter aside in order to keep Beecher in his pastoral office. It is mind-blowing to read. On other occasions, Beecher abused people’s trust, broke business contracts and made silly ultimatums to get his own way. And the people he offended did all they could to keep him in office. There were slightly different motivations for each case, but Applegate’s careful history displays time and again that men and women wanted a hero and they were willing to sacrifice almost anything to get one.
I have seen some of this nonsense in my own lifetime. A man in ministry makes obviously unjust decisions or nepotistic appointments or arbitrary expenditures and the inner circle rallies around him to defend, explain and justify. Anyone who dares question the actions of the leader is summarily marginalized or dismissed with questions floated about their loyalty and spiritual maturity. This was exactly the tactic of Beecher’s handlers and it was gross. But, we will do these things if we think we need heroes.
I wonder sometimes if this is what keeps some folks so fixated on a certain political figure in our day. I have heard every reason under the sun why that figure’s sexual sins should be ignored, by the same people who joyfully exposed the sexual sins and called for the resignation of another well-known politician. They could see the sin in their political enemy, but not in the man they had picked as their hero. No man deserves unquestioning loyalty. For the best of men are only men at best. Human beings are flawed, weak, self-deceived and Christians (of all people) should have a full-orbed anthropology that does not make gods out of them.
Spiritual abuse is as old as Eden
Beecher vomited all kinds of nonsense to the women with whom he allegedly had affairs. Stuff about his relationship with them "being on a higher spiritual plane” than mere physical lust, etc. He whined about his heavy load, how no one understood him, how difficult it was to be married to his wife. Then violated his marriage vows. Even though he denied sexual adultery, he admitted to relational adultery - his heart was not with his wife. He would spend almost every night in another man’s home “talking” with that man’s wife while that man was out of town! That alone should have ousted him from the ministry. Who does that? And what does that do to your own marriage? And her marriage? That is not the action of a godly shepherd of souls.
But I have heard and seen the same thing in our own day. A powerful man in an unhappy marriage who begins to flirt and fondle without incrimination. This is as old as the day sin came into the world. But it is awful. Read this book and you will feel the awful. But that prompts my next thought.
When the Bible is set aside as the governing authority for what kind of man is qualified to serve as a pastor, everything falls apart
Once Beecher was publicly accused he admitted to certain improprieties. Now, he did this craftily, painting himself as a foolish innocent who was so full of love and good will for others he sometimes made injudicious decisions… like hanging out late at night with other men’s wives. But my point here is that members of his church should have simply listened to what he admitted and fired him on the spot. If you are a married man making out with women other than your wife, you should not be a pastor anymore. Period.
But the people of Beecher’s church needed him and all for different reasons. The men who owned the church building needed him because it kept the building full and the cash flowing. (How do you like that? You build a church building, rent to a church that you join, become a leader of that church, and then you somehow find it in your heart to give your pastor a pass when he morally fails. Maybe that had something to do with the financial free fall you would enter if said pastor got the boot?!)
When pragmatism takes first spot in a church’s deliberative body, you’re sunk. If elders have a fierce commitment to the Bible, they will choose to their own hurt when that is required. That means they will be willing to remove a pastor that is disqualified, even if that results in financial hardship. But money is not the only thing that can take first spot. Fear of man, aversion to conflict - things like this easily trump Truth when elders are not well trained. And the final result is that disqualified men fill pulpits.
Titus 1:15–16
To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.
There is an apt description of Beecher. May it never be so of you and me!
We lust for shiny things
It is odd for the modern to think of paying exorbitant fees just to hear a man lecture… on anything. But, Beecher was at the forefront of his generation’s entertainment industry. People found pleasure, their senses were stirred, by just listening to him talk. About anything! It was not by accident. While not the sharpest knife in the drawer when it came to studying theology, he was a Messermeister in the study of communication. And he laboured at it. To him, it was not so much what was said, but how it was put.
This is a classic example of the gift outshining the content. True Christians were willing to put up with his imprecision, theological missteps and logical contradictions, just because it was all said so beautifully.
I recall hearing a remarkable Christian communicator in person 15 years ago. He was close to mesmerizing. His turn of phrase, winsome humour, pointed application - it was hard to not be jealous. But, then there were all the questions of his character and theological oddities. It dawned on me that in all likelihood we would never ask him to be an elder in our local church. Besides being a gifted communicator, he was also arrogant, quick-tempered and not particularly holy. But I almost drank the Kool-aid because he was entertaining. What is in the human heart that makes us long for what the world can never provide?
The one glaring fault of the book is Applegate’s confusion of Calvinistic theology with mere fatalism. In this regard, she seems to have fallen somewhat under the spell of her subject and many of the Beecher children who came to a similar conclusion. Yet, her misconception here in some ways helps the reader to better grasp what was going on in the minds of a generation that were turning their back on a rich theological heritage.
All told, I am considering making The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher assigned reading for the men I help train for ministry. Sometimes a long hard look at sin and its accompanying chaos in another man’s life paints a vivid picture of where we might end up if we are not serious about holiness and depending on God. Beecher showed very little evidence of a saving faith at all, even though he spent a lifetime speaking for God. If my assessment is correct, I cannot fathom what the Day of Reckoning was like for him.
God have mercy on us all.
