Excerpt from Life and Work of Henry Ward Beecher: An Authentic, Impartial and Complete History of His Public Career and Private Life From the Cradle to the Grave IT has been said by an eminent historian that the biography of no man can be properly written while he is yet alive. To no one will this remark apply with greater force than to him whose name has been foremost for nearly half a century as the pastor Of Plymouth Church, who fearlessly preached freedom for the slave, and whose words have electrified a continent and sent a thrill to the heart of the whole English-speaking race. A man who was so highly distinguished for originality of thought, who has been called the Shakespeare Of the century, the advocate of universal liberty, the friend of the Oppressed everywhere, and who converted the Eng lish public to a right view of the civil struggle in America, could only be fully and fairly appreciated when the grave had closed over him, and the mighty voice with which he spoke had been hushed forever. 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.