He tells us that he used to be laughed at for talking as though he had
pudding in his mouth. Yet he became one of the greatest orators the
world has seen.
He joined the church merely because he was expected to do so. It was
only "pride and shamefacedness" that prevented him from expressing his
doubts as to whether he was a Christian. When he actually came to take
the step he wondered whether he should be struck dead for not feeling
more; and afterward he walked home crying and wishing he knew what he
ought to do and how he ought to do it. Yet he became one of the
greatest religious leaders of his time.
From the "Biography of Henry Ward Beecher," by W. C. Beecher and
Scoville. C. L. Webster Co., 1888.
"If I had had the influence of a discreet, sympathetic Christian person
to brood over and help and encourage me, I should have been a Christian
child from my mother's lap, I am persuaded; but I had no such
influence. The influences of a Christian family were about me, to be
sure, but they were generic; and I revolved these speculative
experiences, my strong religious habitudes taking the form of
speculation all through my childhood.
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