Excerpt from Henry Ward Beecher Generally the preface to a volume is the portion last written. Before I set pen to paper on the substance of this volume, I write this preface to make clear to myself, and I hope also to others, my purpose. It is not to tell the full story of Mr. Beecher's personal life: that has already been done by his wife and son and son-in-law, in a volume which is essentially autobiographical and to which I could add nothing. It is not to write the life and times of Mr. Beecher: he was so identified with all the great events of his time that to write such a volume would be to write the history of the United States in what is perhaps the most critical and certainly the most dramatic period of the na tional life. In this volume, I, his friend, who gladly acknowledge my own indebtedness to him, seek to interpret the life and character of a man of great spiritual and intellectual genius, whose faults were superficial, whose virtues were profound, whose influence will outlive his fame, and who has probably done more to change directly the religious life, and indirectly the theological thought in Amer ica than any preacher since Jonathan Edwards. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.