The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1874-07-28
Che Rutland daily Glnbe.
TUESDAY. JULY 2S, 1874.
THE BEECHER -TILrON SCAN.
DIAL.
Reflections and Prophecies.


every body's thoughts, and almost in every
body's mouth. The attempt to ignore it
to blink it out of sight-though even made
by the press, in notable instances, has come
to naught, as has Beecher's own heretofore
naughty, (apparent,) Indifference to it.
The whole thing is bound to appear in print,
and will in all its parts, be stirred up to its
very bottom, foul as it may be. And some
good must come from i, with all its abom-
nations.
Having my own reflections in relation to
it, l propose, with your permission, to
ventilate them, and the reader, can take
them, for what they are worth.
|. The day has gone by, never to return,
when the ministerial coat is n bar to en-
quiry into the character of the man who
happens either worthily or unworthily to
wear it. Like other men, ministers will
not be allowed to treat grave charges against
them, (though made by so bad woman as
Mrs. Woodruff is by some called,) with
scorn or contempt. Ministers are men,
men, pertain the passions, the weakness,
and, alas too often, the wickedness Of poor
humanity. No reasonable man will, there
fore demand of them absolute perfection,
but no Just man will allow them to throw
| on the cloak of real or affected sanctity,
and say-"you must not enquire into my
reputation. When that enquiry is made it
will be at my own instance, and by my own
court
Hereafter they will be treated just like
other possibly, probably, in certain
cases more unfairly, but most certainly, as
a rule with searching impartiality, that
has been, in the past, too little observed.
2. When accused of wrong or crime,
which concerns the public, no court select
ed by the accused and held in secret, will
be tolerated by public opinion. The YER
diets of such courts, so far as the great pub
lie is concerned, will go for naught, if the
accused is acquitted. Should Mr.. Beecher
be acquitted by a court of his own choosing,
with Tiltons wife manipulated for the oc-
|
kept from the public, the whole affair will
be by most people regarded as sham and
shame, and that acquittal though it may be
just will bear those marks of being put
up job, and of Partially, which will be
characterized with the political but forcble
slang of the day, as a "whte washing af-
fair. Such court, few thoughtful, limo
cent men, will allow to sit on their case for
they can do such no good, and they will
hereafter do but little good even to the
guilty, acquit them as they may. Star
chamber courts, in ecclesia steal, as in civil
causes, are in direct antagonism to the
| light, liberty, fairness, and justice of the
age. Henry Ward Beecher, made a grand
mistake, when he invoked such question
able, suspicious, aid in his behalf, for though
it may pronounce him innocent, the case
will go to the great court of appeals-Pub-
lie Opinion.
8. This scandal will do something towards
dissipating great evil of the day-the wor-
ship of the creature man rather than the
Creator God. Too many churches are run
to-day on the sensational order. The pull
pit with many popular churches, must have
its star performer, in order to draw
well, and very many go to church, not
for the worship of God, but to wor
ship the preacher. Thousands have
flocked to hear Beechcr, with no higher
motive, it may be believed, than they would
go to n theatre to witness some great trag
edian, "tear passion to tatters and split the
ears of groundlings' Thousands have
wept at his bidding, and laughed at his apt,
but obviously cut and dried jokes 1t may
be seriously questioned indeed, if he has
done more with all his adroitly hidden cum
ming and transparent ability, to aid the
cause of virtue, than many an unostentatious
preacher, who would hardly be allowed to
stand in his shoes, even for Il temporary
supply, in Plymouth church. Should he be
sustained by his chosen court, man worship
will even then receive il severe blow; but
should he fall, by the verdict of that or any
more impartially constituted competent tri-
bunal, the worship of the man in the attrac-
tive sensational, preacher, will also fall as
low as he, and "great will be the fall there
of. " It's time people should go to church,
not because Beecher, or Chaplin, or Hall is to
preach, but as a means of grace, and as the
vestibule of heaven. 1t is time that fair
talents and learning in the preacher, with
the presumption of his purity and devotion
to the Masters service, in the hearers
mind should draw men to the gates Of the
Lord, and not idle curiosity or controlling
desire to be pleased, entertained, and mag
netized.
Grave fears are expressed BY some,
l find, that this great scandal, especially if
Beecher should fall, will do great injury
to christianity, and help the cause of inf
deity. | think not. The hushing up of
sins and niquities of church members, and
the blind clnging of congregations to tai
ented but bad ministers, may damage
churches, disgust thinking men, and dis
perse congregations, but christianity does
not rest on any Beecher, and years ago did
not on Onderdonk of unsavory memory,
nor now on this or that man, or man made
organization, but on the truth of Him who
was sent to be its witness. "Let God be
true and every man a liar, and Chrlsts
truth will stand all tests, the severest test
being, not the arguments of such as Bolney
or Paine, but the inconsistency and wicked
, ness of its loud mouthed professors. lthas
never been Il wonder to me, that able inf
, del writers have never been able to kill the
christian religion for find them faulty in
promises and conclusions, but confess that
the strongest argument, to me, of its divine