Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1874-07-02
THE DEGENERATION SCANDAL.
Summary Of Theodore Tiiton's Letter to Leon
ard Bacon.

gational Council which tried Ply
mouth church for not trying Tlton,
is published. 1t is very long-equiva-
lent to about eight or nine columns
of the HERALD. TWAS called oct by
five essays written by DR.. Bacon for
the New York Independent, which
Mr. Tilton regards as doing him
great injustice Those who have ex-
pected to find in it much additional
/, revelation regarding the scandal be-
tween him and Mr.. Beecher will be
somewhat disappointed, as the facts
of that affair are alluded TO but Incl
dentally The direct and main sub
ect at issue in the letter is, not Mr..
Beecher's but Plymouth Church's
treatment of Mr.. Tilton. The letter,
after referring to DR.. Bacon's essays,
says:
The numerous and extraordinary
Misrepresentation of my position
which these writings will perpetuate
to my injury, if not corrected, COM
pei me to lay before you the data for
| their correction.
In producing to your inspection
some hitherto unpublished papers and
documents in this case, | need first
to state few facts in chronological
sequence, sufficient to explain the
documentary evidence which follows:
!. After [ had been for fifteen
years member of Plymouth Church,
and had become meanwhile an init
mate friond of the Pastor knowledge
came to me in 1870 that he had CON-
mitted against me an ofenSe ,0hich l
forbear to name or characterize. -
Prompted by my self-respect, l i'm
medlatoy and forever ceased my at
tendance on his ministry. | inform
ed him of this determination as early
as January, 1871, in the presence of
a mutual friend, Mr. Francis d.
| Moulton
The rules of Plymouth Church af-
forded me a choice between two
methods Of retirement One to ask
for formal letter of dismissal the
other, to dismiss myself less formally
by prolonged absence. | chose the
latter. La SO doing, my chief desire
was to dU0id giving rlSe to curious IN
quirieS into the reasons for my a6an-
doning a Church IN which had been
brought up from boy hood; and there
fore | did not invite attention to the
subject by asking for a dismissory
letter, but adopted the alternative of
silently staying away,-relying on
the rule that prolonged absence
would finally secure to me a dismissal
involving no publicity to the case.
Several powerful reasons prompted
me to the adoption Of this alternative,
among which were the following {:
The Pastor communicated to me in
o0riting an apology, signed By has name.
He also appealed to me to protect
him from bringing reproa~ O to the
cause of religion. He alleged that
an exposure would forbid him to reaS-
cend his pulpit. These, and other
similar reasons, | had no right or
| diannaItion to disregard and L acted
| upon them with conscious dusiro 10
see Mr.. Beecher protected rather
than harmed
III. At length my absence from
| Chnrch-~an absence of which not
three members of the congregation
besides the Pastor, knew the cause
began to excite comment in private
circles.
TiIton then refers to the causes
| which his fellow church members i'm
agined kept him from the sanctuary.
Some supposed his religious opinions
| to have undergone ohange-whlch
was partially true, bat no more so of
him than of many of the most honor
ed members of Plymouth Church.
Others lnsinuatod that he had "adopt-
ed unchristian views of marriage and
divorce" TO which he volunteers the
assertion that be 'holds with ever
| increasing frmness the ono and only
view common to all Christendom. y
Others fancied that he had 'Abecome
a spiritualist Of an extravagant type;
whereas | have never yet seen my
way clear to be Spiritualist at1atl, -
certainly not to be so much Spirit
| ualist az some of the most prominent
members of plymouth Church are
known 10 be-" Meanwhile the true
| reason for his withdrawal, he says
"has always been understood by the
pastor, but never by his flock At
length Mr.. TiIton, latter many
calumnious whisperings near and far
(since evil tales magnify as they
travel), a weekly paper in New York,
in November, 1872, published wick
ed and horrible scandal,-a publica-
ton which some persons in the
Church ignorantly attributed in its
origin and animus to me whereas l
had previously spent many months Of
constant and u,lremittin9 eadeqv0r to
suppress it, an endeavor which, with
an earnest motive, but foolish
Judgment, l made many iU-directed
sacrifices Of my reputation, position,
money, and fair prospects in IJei for
all which losses of things precious
since mine alone was the folly, let
| mine alone be the blame.
". Mr.. Tilton refers to the "sur-
reptitious publication of the tripartite
agreement between Tilton, Beecher
and Bowen which, says Tilton,
pledged himself to remain silent con-
corning (not his personal grievances
against Mr.. Beecher, butt such
charges Of Mr.. BoCen'S as Mr.. Bowen
had retracted in writing.
V. In August, 1873, William F.
West, member of the Plymouth
church, and Mr.. F. B. Carpenter,
came to Tilton's house, and the for
mer declared his intention to cite Mr..
T. for trial, urging him to proceed to
| tr;oI vuilIinClv and (Hsince Mr. Papnh.