Pioche daily record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1872-1876, 1874-09-02
THE PIOCHE DAILY RECORD.
PLYMoUTH's POSITION.


The following resolutions were also
unanimously adopted:
Resolved, That the evidence before
the Examining Committee not only does
not afford any foundation for putting the
pastor of this church, Rev. Henry Ward
Beecher, upon trial; but, on the contra
nv, establishes to the satisfaction of this
church, his entire innocence and abso-
lutte personal purity with respect to all
the charges now or hereafter made
against him by Theodore now Tilton.
Resolved, That our confidence and
love for our pastor, SO far from being
diminished, is heightened and deepened
by the unmerited sufferings which be has
SO long horne, and we welcome him,
with sympathy more tender and trust
more upbounded than we ever felt be-
fore, to his public labors among us-to
our church, our families, our homes and
our hearts. Y. Telegram, %.
The members of the Beecher 1nvesti-
eating Committee have made their re-
port, in which they fully exonerate
Beecher from the charges brought against
him by Tilton; whereupon the congrega-
ton of Plymouth Church adopted the
resolutions that are published at the
head OF this article. As to the report OF
the committee, that was foregone con-
clusion; no one had any curiosity about
that. The members of the committee
were like packed jury-bound to &C.
quit-they were put there for that pur-
pose and they did their work. OF course,
nobody believes them, nor do they be-
lieve their report to be true themselves,
but task was set them; they assumed
it, and have performed it. The matter
thus far is easy to be understood, and
in these days of whitewasbing commit
tees and Investigations, is too common
to excite remark. The rest of the pro-
ceedings are remarkable and afford a
very instructive chapter as to the extent
of human credulity. The congregation,
by resolution, say that they welcome
Beecher to their families, their homes
and their hearts. OF course these people
have right to welcome to the sanctua-
ries they name whom they please. They
may, if they choose, take a convict from
the penitentiary, or a painted harlot
from the. street. II they consider such
persons as fit company for their families
and themselves, We do not know that
any one else has right to object. There
is no accounting for taste. If the con
grega.ion of Plymouth or any other
church have taste for filthy, libidinous
depraved society and conversation, We
suppose that they must be allowed an
opportunity of indulging their eccentric
notions. The Jews on q certain awful
occasion preferred to release felon
rather than the Savior of mankind;
SO the members of Plymouth Church
prefer a self confessed libertine
and lecher for their teacher and spiritual
director. No doubt they know what they
are doing and are aware that the congre-
cation is we'll matched with its favor.
lite preacher, and that lie is admirably
adapted for their society. There is prob
ably mutual affinity between them all,
that the intrusion Of thoroughly pure
minded pastor, virtuous in thought and
deed, would woefully discompose. With
the relations of these parties, including
their homes and their families and hearts,
mutually agreeable as they are, it would
be a pity to interfere, or ruflie for q
moment the ocean of tranquility on
which they are SO calmly reposing. The
outside world, busybody as it is, and
much as Plymouth Church deprecates
its interference, will, however, be apt to
be censorious. 1t will say that, though
the members of Plymouth Church are
contented and confident, that they have
inflicted one of the deepest and most
dangerous wounds on the cause of
christianity and morality that has proba-
ably occurred since the occupation of
America By the the white race. The
world will say, at least that part that
accepts and believes the tenets of christi.
anity, that no community, however
highly placed, however blessed with the
worlds possessions, has a right to cast
discredit and obloquy upon the teach
ings of the Master, by supporting and
exalting man that, in the opinion of
impartial observers, has for years con.
stantly, persistentlv and wilfully be.
trayed his trust by the practice OF
debauchery. II it does, the weight Of
the crime falls equally upon them as
accessories after the fact. That is ex.
actly the position that the committee
and members of Plymouth Church have
now taken. As sensible, reasonable
people. with the evidence staring them
in the face, they must feel, nay, know
that Beecher is guilty. But in spite OF
this conviction that must, that will force
itself upon their minds. they declare thai
he is innocent, and when they do So
they become, doubtless with the best in.
tentions, tainted with the undoubtet
guilt of the man they are endeavoring t.
shield from punishment.