The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1869-06-21
p..Iv :. R.x m. xevs., le,,er.

Reply to Hsv. MIR. keyes' Letter.
ter to your former parshone1s and tSs Port
land public Press, June 7) you say Athat |
suspicion of your doctriuai soundness had |
much to DC with yogr removal from the pas
torate OF Chestnut street IRE Church" We peg
no suspicious ofEthe kind; but the fact of your |
heresy was SO patent that we boldly charged |
you with it, and you unqualifiedly denied it, |
in the pulpit and out of it. Not content with |
this, you told Bishop Clark that the charge Of |
heterodoxy was false, and that you were sound |
in Methodist doctrine You went to a former
pastor of Chestnut street church, and, by ex-
planning away the heresies you had uttered in
the pulpit ION the ground that you did not
mean them to be taken at their full value), and
plainly avowing your faith in Methodist doc
trine as full and clear as when you first enter
ed the ministry, induced him to go to the
Bishop and vouch for your soundness in the
faith. You made your most intimate friends
believe, by your prompt denial on the one
hand, and your cunning and s0phistry on the
other, that you were a full-blooded Methodist,
and consequently they were bound to stand by
you as true and loyal men.
u Yet in your letter you speak of motives
which governed you in Withholding full dis
closure of your views, as opposed to Method
ism, and whether your mind was fully ripe for
an open and distinct avowal of your new wine
or faith. So it seems, according to your own
duHllSSlOu, yUu WtEe uuSOuuu III lActuOulSiB,
although when thus charged you denied it.
You say that you had the sanction Of wiser
and better men than yourself, that you could
consistently hold this ,aeac scine in the old bottle
and yet remain Methodist preacher. 20 We
would like to know who those Cise men were.
Were they Methodists? We doubt it. Did
they also counsel you to deny tho charge of
apostacy if your teachings from the pulpit
were called in question, and to declare that
you were in harmony with Methodism? You
| f1,o+x roxx - el.1
kindly feelings of your friends by separating
yourself from the church, on grounds which
we could not understand or appreciate How
considerate! We are under great obligations
to you for your forbearance and for your esti-
mate of our intelligence. Rather than shock
us, you would consent to tarry with us anoth-
er year, and continue to deceive us in the be-
lief that you were a Methodist You further
say, sthat your mission in Chestnut street
was not ended, and that it was the will of God
that you should remain another year" We
| Judged that your mission was ended, and had
no doubt but that it was the will of God you
should leave.
What strikes us as somewhat singular is,
that after your s'mind had fully ripened under
| the careful and thorough survey of the past
| you had at Yonkers, and you had seen clearly
| and deeply the antagonism that existed be
| tween your own deliberate convictions anSs
many Of the leading doctrines of Methodism'
after you had given up your ordination
| you had resolved to connect yourself with the
| new church, you say, II still believe that it
was the will of God that / should remain at
| Chestnut street church another year, and had
| / been permitted to do So the best interests OF
| fle church would have been promoted, and 1
| should have left them united and strong" o,
| consistency, thou art Jewel. If it was the
| will of God, after you had renowned the err
rors of Methodism, and received the new
| light of truth, through the spirit and
| teachings Of Swedenborg. to remain with us
| another year, holding your own peculiar
views in allegiance keeping the 7eac scine close
ly sealed up in that old bottle, dealing out to us
| the dry bones of Methodist theology, without
| flesh, snew or life, then you cannot be follow
| ing the will of God now. The interests of
| Methodism and Chestnut church in particu-
| lar seem to be still dear to your heart But
| then rather than shock our kindly feelings
rather than disclose your peculiar views-rath-
er than preach the truth, you would continue
| to deceive the people, still let the ne1 aciae
| work in the old bottles. .aa8.tis
How could you be SO daring. The mighty
| fermentation going on within, might have
| burst the old bottle, extinguished your light,
| and left the world in darkness as regards your
mission on earth. Yon say that you chad hon
| estly confined yourself to presenting those
views which were not antagonistc to Metho-
| dist theology The interests of the, church
still cling to you, and for the sake of harmony,
(which is the strength and support of all in
situations you were perfectly willing to sac
rifice your own peace of mind, and keep the
ne,c aci,ae fermenting in that old bottle another
| year. How kind. Why not for once give us
| an honest statement, and say that you wanted
to hold your connection with Chestnut street
another year, for the sake of the twenty-six
hundred dollars you would receive, and for the
opportunity you would have las it would have
been your last chanee) of SO pouring out the
carry as many of the church with you as pos
sible when you left her communion, as
YOU fully intended to do at that time.
We nipped that flower in the bud and you
left. It is wonderful how rapidly the fermen-
tation of that auiae has gone on, since you re-
ceived that donation Of three hundred dollars
from your brethren and friends, and left the
city. You say, that you shave had careful and
thorough survey of the past and the present,
undisturbed by cares, and responsibilities.
How narrowing must have been the sight of
the past, to your mental vision. How you
could bear to look upon the demon of decep-
ton, with all its attendant train, I cannot inn
agine. Itseems to us that you would call up a
host Of evil spirits, that like Banques ghost,
would not down at your bidding. 1t has how
ever done us one good service. 1t has "con-
WINGED you, that you were not Methodist. -
Allow us here to say, amen. You say, that
you had for a long time contemplated this
change as among the possibilities and that
you had long beer in doubt, concerning the
truth, of some of the leading doctrines of
Methodism." Permit us to remind you that
up to the time you lett this city, you denied
your unsoundeess in the Methodist faith, and
your most intimate friends stood by you on
that defamation shoulder I'd. spaE]{ md BIC
members of the Conference, and then harmon
ize the long continued change with that. With
this new acifae working in the old bottles we do
not wonder that you "found it hard to sever
the ties, and associations of twenty years ex-
perience in Methodism.' The church and its
interests must have been very dear to YOU.
You say, the tree rooted by twenty years of
growth, is not easily plueked up" Don't you
aoo ha hes soar very hs m ss trees whS s
down deep into the SOIL They make
show and spread at the top, but
having no root in themselves, when the time
little earth with them. We do not think it
would pay, to transplant such tree, even into
the new church soil. As you have denied, we
will not accuse you of merceuary motives, in
taking this step, in plucking up this tree
without roots. The mercenary motive was be-
fore this, viz. in trying to remain in Chestnut
street another year. We are afraid however.
that your prospects in the M. e. Church were
not as hattering as you would have us believe
or in accordance with your ambition. That
careful survey however that you made at Yon-
kers, has forever settled the question, "and
the stubborn fact remains, am not Method
ist. ALLOW us here again to say Anaen And
you add, Il cannot honestly remain longer a
Ia AatltC. "a ana logical de-.
duction from the above, is, that you have been
dishonest in the past, by holding ON to the
name, while you have in reality been anything
but Methodist. We commenced your action,
in forwarding your ordination parchment to
Bishop James, and only regret that you did
not do SO before you ever came to Portland
Onething in your letter puzzles us not a little,
and that is, how you could be called of God TO
preach his Gospel before you had received
that Gospel, was converted and became
christian man. How, when and where did
God write the commission on your heart. To
the list of doctrines you have renowned you
might have added many more. But yon have
given us enough for the present.
And now in conclusion permit me to say
that your friends upon whom You have gone
back, and whom you have so cruelty deceived,
are not particularly anxious to have you ex-
plain your views more fully to them. They
are Methodists, and do not wish you to cut the
string and sunseal that old bottle and let the
faele wife out They feel that the old is better,
and do not desire the new. We have no OBJ
lection to laymen or ministers honestly differ
ing from Methodism. leaving our church, and
connecting themselves with other religious
bodies. But we do object to harboring wolves