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Rev. Joey N. Welsh. June 11, 2006. Enduring Power of Words ANOTHER ANGLE: the occasional musings of a Kentucky pastor The Enduring Power of Words By The Rev. Joey N. Welsh joey_e_welsh@hotmail.com Edward Bulwer-Lytton, First Baron Lytton (1803-1873) had a way with words. Unfortunately, his way was often long, florid and overwrought. His famous opening sentence to the novel, Paul Clifford, begins with, "It was a dark and stormy night" and runs on for over 50 words more before at last finding a period. An annual contest named for Bulwer-Lytton recognizes overly-long opening sentences that are similarly over the top. To his credit, Baron Lytton also could come up with briefer phrases that carried a lot of meaning. He was the first person to write about "pursuit of the almighty dollar." And, in his historical play, Richelieu, he wrote, "the pen is mightier than the sword." This last quote reminds us of a truth that the biblical writers always knew: words are mighty things. In Genesis 15:1 the Lord's covenant with Abram begins with: "After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: 'Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.'" Later, in another turning point in the biblical narrative, God gives Moses the Ten Commandments and directs him, saying, "These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites." (Exodus 19:6) Psalmist and writer of Proverbs knew words were awesome The psalmist and writer of Proverbs both knew that words were awesome, sometimes cutting both ways. Psalm 119:105 declares, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path." Proverbs 15:1 counsels that, "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." Most of the Old Testament prophets spoke of "the Word of the LORD" coming to them in power and with enlightening insight. The very term, word - and the concept of the divine Word - are also crucial in the New Testament. The Gospel of John opens by saying that Jesus is God's Word come to life: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1); "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us." (John 1:14) Revelations warns of plague of adding to Bible And, finally, the last book of the Bible, in its closing paragraph, cautions, "I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds anything to them, God will add him to the plagues described in this book." (Revelation 22:18) Clearly, words (and Gods Word) are essential things, according to biblical literature. The term "word" appears about 1,000 times in scripture, and its use generally comes laden with significant implications. In our own age we rely on CNN, Fox News, sound bites and images repeated endlessly, but the power of words has been unmatched across the ages. Harriet Beecher (1811-1896) was born into a household where words - and the Word of scripture - were of surpassing importance. The daughter of one famed cleric (Lyman Beecher) and the older sister to another renowned preacher (Henry Ward Beecher), she moved with her family to Cincinnati in 1832, when her father became president of a the new Lane Theological Seminary. Lane Seminary was center of pre-Civil War discourse Established by the Presbyterians, Lane Seminary was a center of pre-Civil War discourse about religion and the ethics of slavery in America. In 1834 the seminary was the site of a debate on Christianity and slavery that continued for 18 nights, 2, hours each night. The discussions were as widely reported as the Lincoln-Douglass debates that occurred a generation later. In the end, the debates became an anti-slavery revival meeting, and the more avid abolitionists among the seminary students, faculty and trustees withdrew from Lane and went to northern Ohio, becoming a part of Oberlin College. Rigorous, spirited discussion was part of Beecher's life This rigorous, spirited discussion was a part of the life Harriet Beecher experienced. She visited across the Ohio River in Kentucky. She witnessed there slave families split apart during auctions in Washington, KY and in nearby Maysville. And she read a book co-authored by one of the Lane Seminary students who had led the 1834 debates and had gone on to Oberlin. American Slavery As It Is: Testimony of a Thousand Witnesses, was written jointly by Theodore Weld, his abolitionist wife, Angelina Grimke, and her sister Sarah Grimke. It contained many stunning narratives of slavery's inhumanities. At about the same time Harriet read an autobiography by Josiah Henson, an escaped slave who had begun a new life as a free man in Canada. Later, after she married clergyman Calvin Stowe and moved to Maine, Harriet Beecher Stowe continued to mull over the vignettes of slavery that she had read about, heard debated and witnessed for herself. Her response was to put her thoughts and feelings into word, a novel she named Uncle Toms Cabin. The book appeared first in serial form in an abolitionist journal. Printed in installments over a period of 40 weeks, beginning June 5, 1851, the story was a sensation, and each new chapter was widely anticipated and discussed. Published as a book in 1852, Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly was the bestseller of its day. Though it relied on some stereotypes that are now dated and even painful to contemplate in the 21st century, the novel was radical for its day. It fed passions against slavery in 1850s America. It affected the national dispute over abolition even more than the Lane Seminary debates had done in1834 or the Lincoln-Douglas debates would do in 1858 during the widely-followed Illinois campaign for the U. S. Senate. Stowe's words cited for their power by Abraham Lincoln The words written by Harriet Beecher Stowe helped to set the stage for the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation. Abraham Lincoln himself admitted as much. In 1862, when he met Stowe, he reportedly said, "So you're the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war!" We live in an epoch when pictures seem to rule the day. We tend to believe world and national news most readily if we see the story reported on the spot in living color. (Remember the videos of the tsunami or the destruction wrought by Katrina?) Many more people will see The Da Vinci Code as a movie than ever considered judging it as a book. People of the generation of my sons are more likely to see a favorite song presented as a music video than they are to listen to it and come up with their own pictures in their imaginations. Now consider the power of electronic media Let's recall that before the electronic media, even before Edison brought electricity into homes or businesses, people truly were electrified by the simple power of words. They were capable of being enthralled by reading hour upon hour of printed reports from the Lane Seminary debates. And they lined up for blocks to buy Harriet Beecher Stowe's book, feeling privileged to be able to purchase and read a novel hundreds of pages long. (The Bantam paperback version published in our own time runs to about 550 pages.) 155 years ago this week much of the reading public had devoured the first part of the novel in its serialized form, and people were discussing it and ready for the next 39 installments. Can you imagine a time when a greater percentage of the nation was interested in weekly printed chapters fromnovels than the percentage that now follows the episodes of American Idol? Words are powerful, and they are lasting. Thats something the biblical writers knew about several millennia ago. That's also something that Harriet Beecher Stowe both knew and proved in a smashing way 155 years ago during the first week in June, 1851. Here's to the enduring power of words, lest we forget! This story was posted on 2006-06-12 07:30:39
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