The New York herald., 1874-08-08
Strange Gods.

Strange Gods.
The controversy between Mr.. Beecher and
Mr. Tilton must soon end so far as the moral
catastrophe is concerned While the decision
OF the tribunal now in session will not be the
legal conclusion, the effect of its report must
practically decide the public opinion of the
country. For while there would be every de-
sire to release Mr.. Beecher from the suspi-
cions that now environ him, and which, un-
explained as at present, make impossible his
further usefulness in the ministry, it would
be impossible for this committee to make
what would be called ''whitewashing re-
port" Whatever the conclusions Of the COM
mittee, the evidence upon which these conclu-
sions rest must accompany the report, and the
country is quite as competent as the commit
tee to determine the value of this evidence.
As it now stands, and with the exception Of
the unexplained letters, the weight of the
evidence is in favor of Mr.. Beecher.
of Mr.. Tilton as unworthy of credence,
and we can well understand how the supple
mentary examination of Mrs. Tilton, that
pathetic and extraordinary story of misery,
neglect, disappointment, dishonor and suffer-
ing, would make it impossible for us to accept
as true any unsupported averment from him.
It has been well observed the trial does not
involve the fame of Mr. Tilton, but of the man
he has accused of an extraordinary crime.
Pending the decision of this solemn ques-
ton there are some instructive lessons that can
be cleaned out of this Brooklyn scandal. Mr..
TltOn himself shows us what is possible to
young man Of talent and force, who begins his
career in humble way, opposed by ''those
twin jailers of the daring heart, low birth
and iron fortune" In his romantic letter to
Mr.. Beecher, printed in the ingenious inter-
view Of Mr.. Morris in which, after assailing
the clergyman publicly, he writes a private
memento of eternal friendship, Mr.. Tlton
alludes to his sudden advancement, and to the
opportunities that had opened before him.
They were legitimate, gradual evidences of
growth and labor. But we see how the high
est advantages are valueless unless sustained
by unbending and consistent integrity. So
long as Theodore Tilton followed his duty
with patience and modesty his career was
upward. Then came the awakening of rest
less ambition, the desire to live always in the
public eye, the craving for leadership, the
impatienoe with the limitations of home, and
Of union which, like so many, alas too
many, began in boys fancy and was smoth-
cred in the selfish strife Of manhood's 6 pur-
pose, the growth Of little coteries of men and
women who had 'ideas' and reforms" and
who bathed him with the incense of praise.
So long as Mr.. Beecher was the pas.
tor Of Plymouth church he was the
overmastering presence in Brooklyn. In
that armament there could be only one
sun. So the life of the young man
changed He became dissatisfied with his
home, and naturally, almost inevitably, began
to quarrel with religion, with those Satisfying
and refreshing religious experiences, .'those
fair and winning thoughts of the other life."
The old gods no longer possessed his devo-
tion-the gods of home. duty, industry,
patience, self-denial and marriage. He sought
strange gods, and in the mad search found
himself grovelling at The feet of obscene idols,
and around him the ruins of his hearth, his
fame and his life.
Nor is it for us to intrude into the
sacred precincts Of home and domestic life,
even after the wife of Nh. Tlton has raised
the veil We dare rot say word to add to
the SORROWS of that stricken wife and mother.
But even her story, tragic as it is, has its
lessons Her fate mated her with wayward,
gifted man, and like so many mon of
gifts and impulses, like Byron, Shelley
and Dickens, no doubt there were hun
dred times in every days life when he teased
and fretted unconsciously the heart that loved
but did not understand him. It is hard for
us to say coldly what woman's duty should be
under circumstances like those which sur
rounded the wife of Theodore Tilton. But
her duty most surely did not lie beyond her
home. Is it not possible that much of this
misery would have been averted had she re-
solved sternly to find no inspiration, no COM
forts no helping, no religious consultations
outside Of her home and the heart of her
chosen lord? No wife can find her true gods
outside Of her household. When she goes be-
yond and seeks strange gods, then calamiies
begin, more terrible in their result than any
from which she fees. When Mrs. Tilton re-
cites, in ingenious gratitude, the peace and
religious comfort she received from Mr..
Beecher, when she tells US that to him, more
than any one else, she owed her peace OF mind
she unconsciously shows us the misery of fol-
lowing strange gods. For this blessed atmos-
phere of home is 30 subtle that any new
no matter how high in it's
inspiration, that seeks to intrude upon it,
cannot fail in the end to bring moral death,
misfortune and shame. Let the true wife
learn, no matter how hard her lot, that it is
better to sit in suffering silence at her own
praying for love to return than
to seek for ''peace" and consolation" even