The Weekly Kansas chief. [volume] (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918, 1876-03-16
A New Crusade Against the Tnhdeis'

Two weeks ago. a communication appe ~
these columns entitled "'Thonghts on h'''7 a.,
hv "a Seeker After Truth" We were "''
ontbor of it, and in fact, did not enu"iso ''
,otaments-(the first half, however, o"u'' NV
T. ol,iectionable to the most orthonoA) )-o"' We
,.;,,od IL in accordance with an oiteh express
IF giving all sides an opportunity To be
pnt II nroduced prodigious kicking
.Ii,,,, and the Indications, for awhile,
"" n, ,-o would be consigned to the stake
=. Tho communication was written in
,,,,o,,;.c,ionaJle language, and the sentiments
worse than those expresesd by cores
- - =, fnrmer occasions. What there was
:. 90 cause such terrific explosion, We can
,,,t conceive unless it was that some one felt
,bat his reputation and standing needed recu-
,,sratinr. and big hullabalOO in the name of
cbristanity seemed the best means of accom-
nIisbipr it. Several years ago, we had occasion
= make some remarks that were distasteful to
members of the Methodist Church. Instead of
irving to incite pious mob over it, Rev. Mr..
Maban, their Minister, replied in a communica-
tion. which was admitted into our columns as
freeley as our own remarks had been; and an
able defender of his side of the question he show
ed himself TO be. Last Summer, a correspondent
made an attack upon the Catholic Church, at
which one or two of the members took offence;
but instead of organizing an AHto de Fe for the
purpose of demolishing the Chief one of them
met their assailant with the pen, and piled up
argument and history against him, until we had
to declare the subject exhausted OH both sides.
But now a minister appears, so pure, so blame
less so free from suspicion or reproach, that he
undertakes the job of closing out the Chief, for
the objectionable offence of allowing cores
pOndent TO express sentiments not recognized by
the Church. We suppose, if we were to publish
dozen columns each week advocating the doc
trnes preached by him, it would be all right; but
to admit short article now and then on the
other side, is crilae not to be forgiven. That
is the spirit of the tyrant. Prosecutors and tor
turers for opinions sake are made of just such
stuff-the power is all that is lacking.
On Sunday week, Mr.. Sheldon, after his SER
mon in the Presbyterian Church, took occasion
to produce the Chiet; and to read portion of the
communication in question, Committing the first
half,) and proceeded TO denOunce it, and to init
mate that such paper ought not be couute-
nanced. We suppose he kept getting madder,
the more he thought of it; for on Wednesday
evening, at the prayer meeting, or lecture, or
whatever it was, at the Presbyterian Church, he
again brought up the subject, and announced
that, at the Methodist prayer meeting, Thursday
evening, the question would be submitted to a
vote, to ascertain how many would pledge them
selves to stop the Chief, and he wanted them all
to be there. Aside from his audacity in trying
to dictate to a newspaper as to what it should
admit into its columns, it was the sublimity of
cheek for him to endeavor to take charge of the
regular prayer meeting Of the Methodist Church,
to carry on his crusade. Why didn't he do the
work In his own meetingi Or, did he feel un-
equal to the occasion, and wish to commit the
Methodists to his undertakings The sequel will
show that the Methodists understood and appre-
ciated it.
Thursday, he sent messages to the church men-
bers throughout the country, to come 70 prayer
meeting that night-to be sure and come then,
if they never attened prayer meeting again.
Come for whati To worship Godf Not exactly;
but to help Sheldon dem"lish the Chief. Well,
the meeting CAME off, and was attended more
largely than usual. After the services were con-
cluded, Father Leak announced that Mr. Sheldon
had something to say, whereupOn this mighty
Smasher arose and delivered himself of bis
TRADE against the Chief, declaring that it was
not a proper object of patronage by Christians.
Then his first lieutenant, in the person of Mr. A.
G. Sanborn, arose and moved that the sense of
the meeting be taken relative to the article in
the Chief. SanbOrn must recOlect that he was a
sinner once himsef; and if he'll let us run our
own machine, We'll agree to treat him to a
Beecher cigar and say more about it.
But We digress. This motion of Sanborns
brought the Methodist brethren to their feet
DIR. Reeder, DIR. Cash, Mr.. Monroe, Mr.. Byers,
Mr.. YOrhees, and others, put in their protest.
We cannot give the remarks of each one; but
the substance of the whole, taken together, |
was; that this was a free country, and the |
editor of the Chief had a right to publish |
what he pleased. If anybody took exceptions, |
the editor had said, time and again, that his |
columns were open for all sides, and they could |
reply. If they did not wish to do that, and could
not stand what the paper said, it was their priv
ilege to stop taking it, without calling public |
meeting for the purpose The church was not |
proper place to dictate to a newspaper, and the |
whole matter was out of place and uncalled for.
While most of them often found matter in tie |
Chief that they did not endorse, they found much
that they liked, and whenever they found that
they could not stand it, they should exercise
their privilege of disseminating it. Judge Mayn-
ard said, that since his house had burned down,
he had as much as he could do to get his bread
and meat, and had no time to regulate newspa-
pers Father Leak closed by remarking, that he
had heard good deal about the article, and had
got copy of the paper and taken it home with
him, and had read the communication carefully.
Dlvestlng 1t OF its nice, fowery language he con-
sidered the substance of it pretty thin and if the
cause of Christianity could not withstand such
things as that, he thought it was getting pretty
weak, and had better quit.
One member has since told us, that If lool.s >.
him as if Sheldon had got his foot into some
thing unpleasant, and came to the Metbodist
Church to wipe it of. He and his fellow MEM
bers thought the Methodist Church had had di-
ficulties enough, within the past two or three
years, and now that harmony prevailed once
more, and they had just had good revival, they
did not propose to be forced into another squab-
BILE over so silly matter
We believe one or two persons announced that
they should discontinue the paper. One, espeei-
ally, who had been taking the paper almost ever
since we have been in Troy, and had never paid