The Brooklyn Bridge
Walking across the iconic Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan is a journey I never take for granted. As you come closer to lower Manhattan the skyline expands into grand heights while the island shrinks in width. Every step changes your perspective. Today’s walk is different for me. I am dwelling on a time in New York’s history prior to the construction of the Bridge. My mind wanders, thinking about the time I just spent at a church in Brooklyn Heights. I cannot help but wonder about the smuggling pastor.
Imagine agreeing to be the lead minister of one of the most well funded church plants in America but with one major stipulation given to the hiring committee of the church: to accept the position as pastor, the church must agree to become one of the largest illegal smuggling organizations in the U.S. This is where Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims found themselves in 1847. As the storm clouds of the Civil War angrily gathered from every corner of our young Republic, Plymouth Church was founded to meet the needs of the influential Brooklyn Heights community. The congregation wanted Plymouth Church to be more than a religious club for the wealthy. So they called on one of the most fiery and controversial preachers of the day: Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. (Rev. Beecher’s sister would turn the literary and political world of the U.S. upside down a few years later with her book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin).
The Beecher family was inspired by an extremely loving and well-spoken mother (who was a century ahead of the views of the day and planted the seeds of revolution in her children) and the new theology that swept America in the mid-19th century. This “new” theology, in a nutshell, focused on the story of the Gospels and the love of Christ rather than the Old Testament Law and judgment that had been dominant in much of America’s churches since its founding as a nation. God’s story was about setting captives free, not enslaving them to a set of rules and regulations. Beecher, inspired by the life and words of Christ in the Gospels, believed the church was essential and compelled with the responsibility to be a channel of social conviction, justice and reform. So Beecher came to his new church with an agenda. Read his words written years after the abolition of slavery, about his agreement to take this new pastorate: “I opened Plymouth Church, though you did not know it, TO HIDE FUGITIVES [my emphasis]. I took them into my own home and fed them. I piloted them, and sent them toward the North Star, which to them was the Star of Bethlehem.”
Beecher, known not only a powerful orator but for his humanness and interminable humor, was the fuel for one of the most influential ministries of the 19th century. He connected with his hearers and captivated hearts that inspired action rather than just nods of approval. Plymouth rapidly became a church that changed history not just through words but through their willingness to do something with what they believed. Beecher was compelled in both the pulpit and print to speak out for woman’s suffrage, religious diversity, the rights of Native Americans and most powerfully, the abolition of slavery. Because of his outspoken views his life was constantly threatened, even to the point of having a loaded gun put in his face. (Beecher told the perpetrator that he might as well pull the trigger because nothing would compel him to stop fighting for the abolishment of slavery. It was the call of Christ and Beecher could only obey).
Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims took up their pastor’s convictions because they saw them as Christ’s call. To them, scripture clearly laid out that Christ died to set ALL men free. The church, under the nose of the local authorities, became the Grand Central Depot of the Underground Railroad, a secretive network of people that spanned from the southern coast to the Canadian border. Those in the Underground Railroad were committed to helping slaves escape to the north and Canada. Plymouth became the largest port of safety for this illegal and righteous endeavor.
Beecher held “mock auctions” on Sunday mornings to purchase freedom for actual slaves. Sojourner Truth, Booker T. Washington, Charles Dickens and Mark Twain spoke at the church. Lincoln attended twice and Beecher would become his close friend and an advisor.
As I cross into the Financial District in downtown Manhattan I think about where we as the church put our values today. Our world continues to be plagued with injustices. We love to talk about changing the world; we even scream about it from the pulpit, yet how many Rev. Beecher’s do we have in America today? How many men and woman in the pulpit have a cause so great they would look an angry shooter in the face and say, ‘You might as well pull the trigger because I cannot stop until those people are set free. It is the call of Christ on my life.’ How many smuggling pastors are in America today?
Henry Ward Beecher
