The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1855-06-06

brlet space Tor reply to Mr.. Neacham's
communication 10 your last
lad thought proper to correct his
erroneous statement, that DIR Merrill
had been Pastor of this church to the
time of his dccoasc. To this he deems
it pertinent te reply, In the first place,
that :" the general sentiment of tho COM
munity is that the piece was untimoly
aud needless" This is mere assump-
tion. profess to know something abont
the general sentiment of this community,
and can assure him that he is mistaken
But will show before close. this arti-
Gle, conclusively that tie piece was not
untimey and needless" but tin,cly and
nccdtm
Next, Mr. NJ. is Mortified that I should
have undertaken to " rake up the ashes
! Of the dead. and violate even the heath.
en- maxim Let the dead rest in peace"
But wh' has "rakcd up the ashes" and
violated the maxim" but Mr. NJ him.
self, in stating what was not true in re-
viii more fully show And is he to
turn the odium upon man who under
takes TO correct his error, and that with
out the uttcrance of single disparaging
word concerning the deaG2 1 trust
there is common sense enough in this
community to perceive the gross injus-
tice of this.
Mr. NJ. then attempts to prove a con.
tinued, unbrukon Passionate of Dr. Mer.
rill by his communication to the church
which | quoted, in which lie said that he
- To l,o xat.,
tion"-oddine 81 request that the
church will excuse me from performing
pastoral duties,"--t which the church
assented. This proves, says Mr.. Meach.
am, simply that DR.. NJ. agreed to re-
liuquish salary. and the church agreed
to reliuquish service" AND then he falls
back upon the retained pastoral re/dtion
as proof of continued Paaorshfp. and
says that have admitted it, BY making
the quotation lie takes care however.
to omit from my quotation these sgnif-
icant words used by DR. Merrill" and
Irc('nqUiA my c/0in 10 control or So
Dcrtntcnd their (the church's) concerns
as Pastor :" and lie onits. also. to state
what he well knew, that this relinguish-
ment was c0rricH an by abstuinng
thencetorwnrd, entirely. from all past oral
duties, to the time Of his death. 50 that
there remained nothing in the Pastor
ship so pcrtinaciously claimed for d.. NJ.
but ndked relatton, without the per-
Torrance of single duty in connection
with it. Everybody knows that Pas.
tor is one who goes before. and leads a
flock. Did n mere pastoral ,eiotion cv-
cr lead anybody; or do anybody any
good
Mr. NJ. tries to ihakc much of the fact
that this pastoral relation was never dis
solved by council and was therefore
continued. do not deny that the reia
ton was enthusiastically continued. but
say tlat it was an empty name 1t is
the attempt to pcrvert this mere name
this shadow, into the substantial reality
of an actual Pastorsbip of which com
plain.
To make this case, if possible palmer
let it be supposed that, Immediately up
Oh his accomplishment DR.. NJ. Ind re
mo, el To California aud remained Their,
twelve ard half years aud then died
and that Mr. Alcacham. in funeral dis
couryc in Nliddlcbury, connected with
lis deccase. had SAID that he was Pastor
, of this church 10 the time of his death
would not the whole congregation hav,
been filled with wonder and amazemcnt
= and even Indignation But would mol
his continued Pustorate have been jus
as real in that. As In the present case
Mr. Mcacham could have said that IN,
council has dissolved the pastoral rela
t ton and that therefore "hc was, all tina
time. Pastor of Mindlcbury church
2 though iu California
. To my mind there is grave question
p. OF morals connected with the declaration
f of MIR. NJ that DR.. Merrill continued t,
, he Pastor of this church to the time o
I MS death, Nothing can be plaiuer thai
that man is bound TO use language j,
the sense in which lie has reason to be
lieve it will lie understood by those wh'
? hear without any occult reserved meaning
b, under cover of which he may escape
= when called 10 account for what h,
= says. Thus in tho present case, Mr.
| Meaclam knew that the docla ration iha
). DR.. NJ was Pastor Of this church to th
:. time of his death, would convey the ide,
that he was a veritable, acting Pastor
> A portion of:he Congregation. it is true
J. could not be misled by this, because the,
knew that, for nearly thirteen years b,
5 has been no more Pastor Of this churcl
r than though ho had been all that tim,
in California But there was consid
f cradle portion who knew nothing abou
C the matter. except what they heard fron
o tho lips Of the speaker They were o
j, course deceived and the number Of th,
:, deceived will be greatly increased wher
' the discourse comes to be Incorporated il
the Memoir, which it is understood Mr.
Mcacham is TO prepare and publish, un
: der the direction Of Dr. Mcrrill's will.
To get out, more fully, my idea Of tn
moral character Of this sweeping declar
:, alton, / will suppose that n strange
i who heard the address, should, on retir
5 ing from the house, have learned III
l. facts in the case. namely. that in fs4:
DR. Mhad formally relinqui.hed all CLAIM
0 to control or superiniepd the concerns o
: the church ms Pastoral had ihenccforth
q actually relnquish'd aud abandoned al
!, pastoral duties The stranger meet
Mr, NJ. the next day, when the follow
ing dialogue occurs Did you not state