Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1874-01-16
The Plymouth Church Controversy.

The reply of plymouth Church TO Inc
second letter Of the other two Congresa-
ti,nal Churchez in Brooklyn, it will be re-
,De,nbered. was. that If those churches
w,nli state distinctly the points which
they desired to submit to council
Plymouth Church would then say whether
ny no it would unite in calling council
The Joint Conference Committee Of the
Two churche- replied, specifying five points
,t,. first two of which were a follows
-, /. #, ipaeeorianee with the principles ami
,,.,gss Of regatonali-m that mehper ny
terminate MS membership in a church 10y s.ln ip
ahseuting himself from It's serN ices anu N''i -,
Or is corporate and e"nseniih- - -;
The mart Of the church necessary 10 saeh tei 10
ton Of mem bership: . . ,,a,,,
her fr,rn the ordinance while the church mas NJ
,,n.r,ted sv auy te to the term nation uI n-s
membership if specific and formal chat IS "a =, ~
~ unchrisiian cund1ct are preSents A-ais L. H.. -
A brother IN the church 70 Nh-0H - -. min
,lines 10 answer, j. IL iu accordance Win tIo
= 'nIes and usages O. Coz -resatlonalsn ti4i tnS
church shall withhold inquiry as 1" the h44S-
vickedness and in the a eoi such puo4lc $50 -
Of his offences shall tTe-t he acca-eu a ., gi.
cent absentee and drop b name rem 'ne ID W. 49,
membership. without reelection upon MN
The letter of the committee goes On 10
state that the late ac- Tor IF PlymouthChurch
annsars to be intendej as a defnitive With
drawal from the fellow hip of the Congre-
pational churches, ana adds: If you de
eide to maintain that position, OF course,
,pr snecial relations You OF denomina-
t,,nal alliance and the fellowship which I'M
pile, reciprocity Of duties, will be suspend
ed. agrecably to your 4es.re. The hope
was, however, earnestly expressed that this
WAS not the real purpose of Plymouth
Church, and the old friendship Of the now
disasreeing churches was invoked 10 avert
~ unhappy result 1t having appeared
that this letter had not been adopted by
any vote of the members Of either OF the
Churches. Plymouth Church adopted and
returned reply, drawn up by Mr. Bcecher,
the substance of which is as follows:
We wish it nox to be distinctly understood that
We must hereafter decline TO receive fom You doeu-
tnents which ara not accompanied proof oi The
authority of the whole brotherhood a. sour churches
regularly and deliberately conferred; ana that We
must decline t. receive IN any case ifeh them uf
from you, letters containing covert 'nslnuatluh7
against the character Of any OF the members Of this
church With these reservations, We now proceed
10 answer your letter OF Dec. -. In the hrst part
% il you enumerate the points which u would
probably have des red TO bring before IItuaI ad-
visory council But amer this enungration you
proceed to say that the most recent declaraiiols
o: this church have completely altered the whole
case and that II these declarations are adhered o.
YOU do not see how We could enter any council We
infer that you mean to withdraw your invitation.
and shall therefore postpone any discussion "l
is terms until il shall have been renewed ~ your
churches We DO not decllae to Join IN mutual
council il is yuu who seem 10 u 70 nave Atst eeT-
- under Gulnus autANrtN y. ana II
withdrawnit.
The position Of Plymouth Church, deliberately
taken at the beginning and never changed, Is Coz
sregationalism. as we understand It, hold H. and
are determined to ma intsin il. That Il does not
prevent church from giving or receiving ,-eIio"-
ship, advice and assistance Is sufficiently proved
by the whole history OF this church and % nun
dreds OF other C0ngre gational churches We have
desire u interfere with the churches you repre-
sent in any course they may feel constrained 70
take. II they choose to withdraw rom Truly
Congregational ellowship.t is their right 80 10 do
But we have not withdrawn, and we Will not with
draw. Nor can we surrender, Tor their aecohlhtla-
tiOn. the fundamental principle by virtue OF when
we exist a. a church-the principle 81 our solemn
and sole responsibility to the Master i'F the mar
1-ement Of our own AFFAIRS.
The next important proceeding was pro-
test. signed by twenty-five influential mem-
bers of DR.. Budiington's church, against
the course Of their pastor and committee.
The protest denied that the church had ever
sanctioned the course of the committee, and
demanded publicly called church meeting,
to take regular and authorized action in the
matter The upshot is thus told by New
York correspondent
Early on Monday morning, one OF the
prominent members of Clinton Avenue
Church called on Mr.. Beecher. Would
Mr.. Beecher make a call on DR.. Storrs AT
his study? A settlement of this ugly matter
might be Effected ''Call?" said Ply
mouth pastor, ''to be sure | will. Had the
brethren sought an earlier interview it
would have been granted and been better
for all concerned" 80 Mr.. Beecher took
his hat and started for the study. There he
found Mr.. BuddingtOn. \ cordial greeting
took place as if nothing to rufile the three
men had ever taken place. The conference
lasted for over two hours. 1t was agreed
that all personal topics should be left out
all questions OF Congregational pOlity and
usage in dispute shall be the subject of cor
respondeuce. Upon matters that the pas
tors cannot agree upon that are deemed
vital, an agreed statement Is TO be drawn up
and submitted to Il council mutually called.
In the meantime the conference committee
are to keep quiet. In short. their oecupa-
ton l. gone.