“Sin is black, grace abounds, the will is free.” —one biographer’s summary of Lyman Beecher’s Theology During Lyman Beecher’s sophomore year at Yale, school president Timothy Dwight launched a preaching campaign against the school’s pervading religious skepticism. After a debate titled “Is the Bible the Word of God?” Beecher noted, “all infidelity skulked and hid its head.” When Dwight preached, “The harvest is past,