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| Plymouth Church where Henry Ward Beecher was the first pastor. |
Dependence: An Evening Prayer and Closing Prayer [following sermon] are presented here by Mary Katherine May of QualityMusicandBooks.com. Transcribed from the book, Prayers from Plymouth Pulpit, 1867, by Henry Ward Beecher, pp. 157-162. This work is in the public domain. By today's standards Beecher's prayers are long. Though the language is dated, the prayer is worthy of being used for inspirational reading and as it was intended--a prayer. At the end of this blogpost you will find an Adobe PDF file containing Beecher's text that may be downloaded for personal use and sharing.
Henry Ward Beecher (June 24, 1813 – March 8, 1887) was an
American Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, and speaker, known for
his support of the abolition of slavery, his emphasis on God's love, and his
1875 adultery trial.
Henry Ward Beecher was the son of Lyman Beecher, a Calvinist
minister who became one of the best-known evangelists of his age. Several of
his brothers and sisters became well-known educators and activists, most
notably Harriet Beecher Stowe, who achieved worldwide fame with her
abolitionist novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. Henry Ward Beecher graduated from Amherst
College in 1834 and Lane Theological Seminary in 1837 before serving as a
minister in Lawrenceburg, Indiana and Indianapolis, Indiana.
In 1847, Beecher became the first pastor of the Plymouth
Church in Brooklyn, New York. He soon acquired fame on the lecture circuit for
his novel oratorical style, in which he employed humor, dialect, and slang.
Over the course of his ministry, Beecher developed a theology emphasizing God's
love above all else, a contradiction of his father's stern Calvinism. He also
grew interested in social reform, particularly the abolitionist movement. In
the years leading up to the Civil War, he raised money to purchase slaves from
captivity and to send rifles, nicknamed Beecher's
Bibles, to abolitionists fighting in Kansas and Nebraska. He toured Europe
during the Civil War speaking in support of the Union.
After the war, Beecher supported social reform causes such
as women's suffrage and temperance. He also championed Charles Darwin's theory
of evolution, stating that it was not incompatible with Christian beliefs. In
1874, Beecher's former associate Theodore Tilton filed adultery charges against
him for an alleged affair with Tilton's wife Elizabeth. The subsequent trial,
which resulted in a hung jury, was one of the most widely reported American
trials of the century. Beecher's long career in the public spotlight led
biographer Debby Applegate to call him The Most Famous Man in
America. (Source: Wikipedia.org)
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| Henry Ward Beecher Brady-Handy |
DEPENDENCE: An Evening Prayer
from Prayers from Plymouth Pulpit by Henry Ward Beecher. New
York: The Pilgrim Press, 1867.
We thank thee, our Father, that
thou hast not cast us forth from heaven in thy wrath; we are not born into this
world as though we had fallen headlong; thou hast sent us hither that thou
mightest bring us back again in the day of thy glory with joy and everlasting
triumph. Nor wilt thou suffer us to be
overborne nor tempted beyond that which we are able to bear. Thou wilt open a door of escape; thou wilt
lead us forth out of our sin and out of our transgression; thou wilt heal the
love of sin in us; thou wilt by thine own blessed spirit work in us mightily to
will and to do of the things which are pleasing to thee. We thank thee for this assurance of thy providence;
for this certainty of thy grace; for this wonder and wealth of thy love; for
this thoughtfulness in our behalf. How
great is the sum of thy thoughts of us!
How precious when they come to our realization; that thou dost think of
us, and think to love, and love to succor and redeem. We cannot reach the height and the glory of
this, but we receive it gladly. This is
the succor which we need.
Much as we can do in this life, and
are made to do for ourselves; much as we can help one another, thou, O God, art
yet needful for us. We need thee, that
we may rest; we need thee that we may be raised up out of rest; we need thee
that we may be able to discharge the duties which are incumbent upon us one
among others in life; we need thee more that we may not be held down to earth
by our daily duties, but that we may learn from them to rise to higher
conceptions of life and ideals of character, that we may be able to take hold
upon the invisible and eternal truths of thy kingdom. We need thee every day; we need thee sleeping
or waking. When we lie down and cannot
think for ourselves, we are safest; then most we need thee when we rise up and
begin to go forth and act upon our own judgments, and are open to ten thousand
temptations; we need thee in the things which we do best, and how much more in
all other things!
And now, we beseech thee, that it
may not seem to us either terrible or hard that we should open the door of the
soul and call thee in to dwell with us.
May we desire above all other things to be guided by thee; may we desire
those things that most nearly represent thy will; may we not sit down in our
own complacency, nor flatter ourselves with the opinions of others, nor live
under any servile obedience to the things that now are, and are of esteem among
men. Be thou discerned of us, and reveal
thyself to every one. May we be
dissatisfied with ourselves, with our past lives, yet not in a repining spirit,
but may we forget the things that are behind, and may we reach upward and press
forward. We beseech of thee that thou
wilt bless us according to our several necessities. With some there is a strife of pride
evermore, but thou hast pity on the proud; thou wilt help them, and dost love
to help rather than punish, if they will permit thee. There are those that are made weak by their vanity
every day, and led by it into transgression.
We beseech of thee that thou wilt teach them how to wage that battle of
faith which belongs peculiarly to them, and may they look at those things as
thou dost, and see that their life lies where most is to be overcome; and may
they not wish that they were others, or that their circumstances were changed,
or that any thing was different but purity.
May they long for greater manhood, for more holiness before God, and may
they accept their circumstances and their discipline as the means which thou dost
point to them of grace. We beseech of
thee that thou wilt bless those that are exercised particularly with worldly
care, and in its midst find themselves drawn away and tempted, and overcome by
temptations. Remember any that find
themselves mourning the violation of their own moral sense, who see how far
their feet slide, who know how irreconcilable with the law of God is the life
they have lived, but who spend their time in repentance.
We beseech of thee that thou wilt
help them to set up thy banner, which is victorious over temptation and over
the adversary. We beseech of thee that
thou wilt give them such confirmation in good that they may at last begin to
build higher than their foes can reach, and beyond the reach of any more
unsettling.
If there are those in thy presence,
that by ignorance or heedless mistakes, who, by courses of folly and wickedness
in times past, are suffering severe penalties and trouble, we pray that they
may not spend their time in useless murmuring, that they may not rebel against
the past, but rather may they take hope of thee, and with all their heart turn
to the living God, and find in a newness of life that peace which they cannot
find in the present nor in the remembrances of the past; and may every one have
hope in thee. May none feel that they
are in a state without hope; the most guilty, the most wicked, those that have
sinned longest, and deepest, and darkest, may they remember that there is a
grace of God in Christ Jesus even to them, to those afar off as well as to
those that are near. O make thine
atoning mercy and the glory of thy forgiving goodness apparent unto every one,
and may every one be able to see that, in proportion as they are forgiven,
according to the magnitude of their iniquity and the greatness of their
transgression will be the glory transcending which thou wilt have, if thou showest
mercy unto them; and while we doubt ourselves, and while we may distrust one
another, and while at times all things seem unstable and unsatisfactory, O save
us from that last and worst disaster, distrusting thee may our faith in God but
immutable, and even when we are so guilty that we cannot look up, at least may
we be able to bow the head, to smite upon our breasts, and say, “God be
merciful to us sinners.” And if we dare
not sit by thee in thy throne, if we dare not come to thee as children to the
knees of their parents, and look up, at least may we sit down at thy feet, and
find there that we are sitting at the feet of a Redeemer, pitying, gentle,
forgiving, all-succoring. We pray that
none may be discouraged; may every one accept his life work; may every one,
undismayed and undaunted, go forward from good to better, from strength to
strength. We beseech of thee that thou
will make us useful; while we are seeking for our own growth, may we not
treasure up strength gained, or experiences, or joys, for our own selfish
using, but as we receive so may we give.
May our whole life be a life of seed sowing; may our whole life be a
work for God and for man.
We pray that thou wilt bless all
the churches that name the name of Christ in this city. Wilt thou strengthen them to do thy work;
redeem all that are called by thy name, and make them lovely. May thy servants that preach the gospel be
inspired of God to preach it; may the witness of thy Spirit go with the
preaching of the truth. Wilt thou search
the hearts of thy servants as with a lighted candle; reveal to them their true
nature, and the significance of their whole life. We pray that thou wilt go forth through our
whole land, deepening the foundations of piety, raising up greater zeal for
God, more purity of intention and of life, and filling this whole land with the
power of the Gospel of Christ. May we be
saved from a dead-letter gospel; may we be saved from the formalism of unvital
institutions; may we be saved from the timidity of men; may we be filled with a
sacred, a holy, buring zeal of Christ, and may love temper it, and restrain it,
and only that, and so may this land see the salvation of our God. Pity the condition of the world; make haste,
thou that lingerest not, but seemest to linger, because thou livest so long. Make haste, we beseech of thee, even by
reason of our infirmity, for we wait for thee, and our eyes fail for thy
salvation. O kindle the morning, then,
and bid the light advance, and the glory of the nations, that we may take hold
upon thy promises, and interpret them in the light of growing events, until the
day shall come to be seen by us, either from earth or from heaven, when the
glory of the Lord shall fill the earth as the waters fill the sea. And to thy name shall be the praise, Father,
Son, and Spirit, ever more.
Closing Prayer [following sermon]
Our Father, wilt thou add thy
blessing to the word spoken. Grant that
it may do good to us all. May it
encourage us to undertake a release from evil.
May it encourage us to undertake the assailing of habits long formed. May we not be discouraged because the labor
of the way before us is so great, or because of past failures. And grant, O Lord God, that we may look up at
the infiniteness of thy patience. Thou
are long suffering, thou art wonderful, and full of graciousness; and we pray that
we may take heart, not from what we can do, but from that great summer which
shines and distills the divine influence upon us perpetually. Grant, O thou divine Light and Warmth, thou
Sun of righteousness, that thy beams may shine with cheer and nutriment upon
all that are here present today. May
there be many that shall be called by the goodness of God to repentance. May there be many who have been seeking thee,
that shall girt their loins with fresh alacrity. May there be many who are discouraged in the
way and are lagging that shall be gathered up, and that shall begin to work
again with new zeal. Revive thy work in
our hearts, and in all the churches throughout the land. We ask it for the Redeemer’s sake. Amen.
Adobe PDF File for Download: DEPENDENCE
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