The Portland daily press., 1872-02-03
To the 'sEvangeIical 4" Ministers of Port

graph III iteoo ONOiihS huC6FGtctF ulluCl eiiC |
following caption THE Evangelical Minis
sters and Mr.. Hepworth." 1t processes to re-
port the sentiment of a discussion held at
the last weekly meeting of the Ministerial As
ISOLATION. In the belief that this plausible |
is virtually communication or a
card" from you or some of you, 1 beg the
privilege of replying to it, as member both of
the community to which it is addressed and of
the body which it maligns.
The sentiment of your association APP
pears to have been a compound personal senti-
ment of appreciation towards Mr.. Hepworth
and of odtum theologicoun towards Unitarians.
In the first place, Mr.. Hepworth is wholly sim
cere in his new profession of faith, which re
suited from profound [ conviction and in
the second place, the Unitarians are wholly in
sincere and, in their treatment of Mr.. Hep
worth, are guilty of ''harshness," "unfairness,"
'poor taste" "vituperation, 'vindictiveness,"
'bigotry" and 'illiberality." Those arrows
come copiously, as if from clerical culver.
Now, to take the two heads of this ''senti-
ment" seriatirn, l grant you Mr.. Hepworth's
sincerity, to begin with. / do it, however, for
the single reason that shrink from the ungra-
cious task of disparaging the honesty of man
whom you are striving to uphold and defend.
Still, would not go with you to the extent of
saying that his sincerity cannot be doubted by
any fair-minded person." for do not feel COM
petent to declare what all fair-minded persons
must think about this business. 1t at least
may be that your judgment is the result of in
adequate information in the premises; so that,
while you may fairly entertain one view of the
matter, another person, better informed, may
with equal fairness entertain the opposite
opinion
1 cannot for one moment, adopt mode of
reasoning highly favored in some quarters: 1
am fair-minded; think thus and so; ergo
those who do not think thus and SO are not fair
minded. 1t is very much as if one should say:
l am Christian; l believe the doctrine of the
Trinity; ergo those who do not SO believe are
not Christians That mode of theological argu-
ment would be, as you will perhaps admit,
quite indefensble.
Be content, gentlemen, to put on record your
own conviction of this mans sincerity. It will
go for what it is WORTH and you will add to it
no particle of weight by impugning the fair
ness of those who may think otherwise.
Under the first division of your published
Sentiment" you say that Mr.. Hepworth has
been led by ''profound conviction" Harpers
Weekly has recently published the similar an
nouncement that Mr.. Hepworth is a good
scholar But 1 notice that you are not so
rash. You do not attribute to him this pro-
found conviction in scholarly or theological
but only in an experimental, direction, a ''pro-
found conviction of the powerlessness of Unita-
rianism to keep men from sin.
1t may be fairly questioned if Mr.. HepwOrth
could have attained to that conviction, even ex-
perimentally; for it is more than doubtful if he
has ever known Unitarianism well enough to
perceive what restraining influence it might
have And, furthermore, the eRistolaryl effu-
sions of gratitude to him, from si1ners brought
to repentance under his Unitarian ministra-
tions, which he has been wont to read from
time to time to fearful and admiring audiences,
may indicate that this profound conviction"
of his is too recent to have acquired a very deep
lodgment in his mind.
But, admitting that in this experimental di-
rection, Mr.. Hepworth may have reached a
profound conviction, ask you, gentlemen, do
you wish us to understand that you sanction
that criterion of theological truth? Do you
wish the community to understand that you
use that criterion and profess belief, not in
what you think to be true, but in what you
think to be ecpedient, as restraining influence.
Are you not encouraging your congregations to
incredulity as to your sincerity. When you
are placing them sin the hands of an angry
God over the pit of hell" may not your hear
ers say in their hearts, CHOW MI does not
believe what he is saying, but thinks this is
powerful to keep men from sin, or, at best, be-
lieves it only for that reason" M
1 respectfully submit to you, gentlemen, this
suggestion:-Is it not the true act of true faith
to stand with loyal steadfastness faithful to
Gods truth, as it may be in any way revealed
to us; and to trust rather to the saving efficacy
of that truth, than to such theological nostrums
as we might empirieally invent, or adopt, for
the salvation of souls? 1 am sure you will as
sent to that
You will agree with me, then, that Mr.. Hep
worth s'course should havei been determined,
not by his estimate of Trinitarianism as Gu
rative agent but by the result of the inquiry,
pushed with all mental resources at his COM
mand,-Is Tri,itariaaism truea
You may fairly urge, indeed, that in such in
quiry the curative properties of Trinitarianism,
if well established, would come legitimately
under consideration, as indirect and partial
evidence For the thing which, in the large
embrace of time, in ages past and ages to come
Is most salutapy to man is, prinaa facie, the
true thing. But the very smallest reliance
should be placed on our microscopic estimates
in field so vast and so obscure. The truer
way logically, the surer way experimentally, the
only way free from casuistry and other compli-
cations, is to reverse the statement and say,
That Which is true is forever and forever most
sdl,ttdTy to mankind. The fidelity of Omnipo-
tence is pledged to that.
Ileave with you Mr.. Hepworth's profound
conviction which is evidently yours also, for
what it may be worth; not entering now upon a
discussion of its validity in the light of general
observation.
The second part of the tssentiment' of the
Ministerial Association as reported, is, briefly
that Unitarians, jim their treatment of Mr. Hep
worth, have exhibited themselves in their true
character, as bigoted, illiberal, vituperative,
&C., &C., ad lib. WE'LL gentlemen, know not
what ''vituperation" of Mr.. Hepworth you may
think you have discovered in your diligent
IL
have found therein anything that sounds like
the published sentiment" of your Ministerial
Association, l admit that you have some foun-
dation for your charge. 1t would puzzle you
however, to cite anything of the kind.
When this 'bright particular STAR fell from
our armament, we looked up to see if the heav-
ems were blotted out, and we found to our salts
faction that our armament remained all undis-
turbed by the great catastrophe. We were sim
cerely gratifed; we frankly, said so, but never
with a word nj 6vituporafiop -
thought by some among us that our skies had
become little fairer, through the absence of
certain lurid effects that had been previously
noted. That also was said, frankly, truthfully,
and with full explanation, but not with "per-
sonal vituperation.'
What has been publicly said by Unatarians
relative to Mr.. Hepworth, has been, as a rule,
singularly tnpersonal. For example, DIR. Jas.
f. Clarke said in a sermon substantially this:
IA man sometimes feels uneasy and attributes
his uneasiness to his surroundings, when in fact
it is in himself. He changes his place and
Keeps the pain; but his departure is relief
both to himself and to those whom he leaves"
This is simply a statement Of general truth
which not one of you would dispute; in its APP
plication to Mr.. Hepworth it is an attempt to
account, in some degree, for his erratic courses
by the supposition that he is constitutionally
an uneasy man." Possibly this diagnosis of
the case is erroneous; but an erroneous diagno-
sis cannot rightly be called ''vituperation.'
l adduce this as fair illustration of the treat
ment of Mr. Hepworth to which you so vigor-
ously object. 1t appears to me that the moder-
alton of this treatment surpasses that of your
objections to it.
If you find us recurring sometimes to certain
universally recognized principles of honor and
honesty which appear to you to be somewhat
damaging to Mr.. Hepworth, you must try to
overlook this innocent offence; we recur to those
principles with primary reference to our own
condition; for it is by contemplating these
that we are reconciled to our loss and are deliy-
cred from the temptation to covet your gain.
Permit me in this connection to call to you're
membrance what you doubtless well know, that
it has never been the custom of Unitarians to
part from their "new departure men other
wise than with cordial courtesy and good will.
Recall if you can, a word uttered by them in
condemnation of DR.. Huntington when he went
out from among them. Point out one unkind
word that followed DR.. Osgood into his prefer
red connections. And if now you find apparent
personal enmity in some of the remarks made
relative to Mr.. Hepworth, please in Justice con-
slider whether disappearance of enpity may
not be fallaclous: the presumption, you see, is
against it. Mere justice, if not Christian cour-
tesy, might suggest to you that possibly it is
not we who judge him, the words that he
has spoken, it is these that judge him; that it
is not our hostility that he now encounters, but
the hostility of certain laws of conduct which
his courses bring to the public attention
1t gives me a cosy and kindly feeling towards
you all, to find you attributing to us IAN un-
easy consciousness of the weakness of their
lourI denominational position" Bless your
hearts, that is precisely what we have been say
ing about you for fifty years! And we have be-
lieved it all along, and never so firmly as at
this day of commanding testimonies. This is
pleasant. The shuttle-cock passes and no harm
is done to either party
If the allegations reviewed herein are not
your own hope YOU will Immediately let it ap-