Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1840-07-08

Is MS own ana, IN TIE putph or out Of IL
be will say that il is bis own.
Well, but is no; our pulpit our own7-
your may ask and may not man do
what he will with his own2
L answer THE Pulpit of Hollis ST.
Church, as mere physical object,-as so
much wood and paints your property.
You may lock il up, or you may cut
down. You may do what YOU will with
your own,-so that you do no injury to
s0hat is another's 0loR. You may hang
around your pulpit silken cords or iron
chains, as you please. But while you
have a man in it. whom you have put
there as your MINISTER'S do the work
for which the pulpit was made,--he is not
your property. He is, indeed, your serv-
ant; but he is not your slave. He is a
man, not a thing; and il entirely trans
cends your power to touch the very source
Of all his the freedom Of MS spirit and
of has speech.
see now, therefore, that the Resolve
| of 18th November 1889, TO which your
vote refers. and which expressly declares
the freedom of Hollis Street pulpit, was
entirely nnecessary-honorable thought
il was to the majority al that time-since
( the vote which went before IT, viz: the
vote Of 30th September, and the vote now
under consideration, both Of which af-
feet 10 restrain that freedom, are nugatorY
from the first. Had 1. last fall, and the
fall before, looked as allentively as l have
now done, at the limitations of your pow
| er and of my own righls-uot to say du-
!; ties-I should not have retired. as / did.
, from nv pulpit, ill | should be called
, back to it by vote of the Proprittors, of
4 the nature of Declaration Of In!epend-
e ence. No as material mass, the put
!. Dit of your Church Is essentially subject
/ to your wishes. AS moral engine II IS
II as essentially free. II can come under
s bondage 10 no man, while II IS moral
n engine When it falls into other hands, It
q may become whatever else the owners
:, and the incumbent may agree among
5. themselves TO make it. / now see my err
e ror, in leaving il as | did. confess the
,r error that [ see. l should have been
more Jealous of encroachmenls upon my
10 rights; and, for the future, hope l shall
is be. hope, too, that my brethren in the
r ministry will take warning from my case,
n and learn from ii that the first concession
in that they make, to encroachments upon
In their Fights, will surely and shortly be
n followed by an opportunity for second.
&c This Vote. therefore, l must regard as
~ nugatory; first, because IT is in deroga-
be ton of my rights; and secondly, because
in it affects TO do what 1t transcends your
IS power to do.
re Bv YOUR third Vote, Gentlemen, see
all that you have appointed a large Commit
,w lee that is fully authorized TO attend TO
,es all matters and things relating TO the soci-
,ut civ, and to employ counsel If they think
ur necessary
Nv. To this Vote l have no objection. I!
Oh. touches no rights ard no duties Of mine.
an If your Standing Commiuee, whose Office
er. it appears entirely TO supersede, are con-
oh tent with the measure, shall not com.
plain of il. But, since it contemplate:
ON the employment Of legal counsel, in tht
the settlement of this controversy, hope tina
rig. the committee, as well as their constituen
rect body. considering The relation of spifilna
ere adviser that still hold to both, will, frs
suffer a word of counsel and exhortatio
ave from me- 1t shall be good counsel.
It as shall be given in kindness, and in goo
faith.
mot In nv first communication to you, la
.nce fall, suggested two ways of relievin
,een yourselves ofthe grievance complained Q
can first, by Withdrawing yourselves fror
rec:. your pews and secondly, by displacin
edg- me from my pulpit. The alternative pr
uties posed gave some ofyou offence. Has an
BILE, one, ofthe offended ones, discovered an
arqe other alternative, since2 Ii | suggests
it the only alternative in the case, it seems
of me that you should have been displeas
But with the case-though of your own ma
the ing-and not with me. for showing y,
and the only way of disposing Of it. In 4
While exercise of your right, however, to choo
lions between the branches of the alternatiy
a bv Won chose the latter that is, you decide
to displace ME from my pulpit. That w
,hich YOUR object then. 1t is your object no
stand In the same letter in which l p.opos
,ling- this alternative, proposed, also, distir
can issue, upon the question. What is the caG
cord of YOUR public action against me2 av
in a ring, g. you, by your committee, denyIr
turo. that the source of these waters of str
i'll az was to be found 10 the part 'na1
n the taken in relation to the lem
and form The issue being thus tenoereo' ?
, saw taken, in my next communication s'al
and If that the case, so far as The pleadngs W.
ccupv concerned, was ready for trial. ana tn;s
- las, resnec ,fuIly demanded, before mutt
n do ecclesiastical Council the only COM
,rr,;n' len, tribunal the only tribunal Fec'
none MED bv our laws. for the settlement
a .Ue II ancb cases the only tribunal by me-
: ~ Of which YOU could effect your obj
- f,as. This YOU declined doing:-your comf
= NV tee. to " no my communication was refer
I'd ofl for consideration, reporting that in Il