Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1876-04-28
The Brooklyn Scandal.
mr. pAeoN ro nr1

DR.. BACON TO PROF. sNYTH.
The late council advised that if COM
plant should be brought, the issue (purely
an issue OF fact) should be tried not by the
Examining Committee or any other commit.
tee OF the church-still less By q church
meeting-but by five eminent men whose
names it was thought would command the
confidence of the public, and who were to
De empowered by the church as its commits
SION Tor that trial, though the church was
TO have no voice or part in selecting them.
Had a complaint been offered, had the COM
mission been constituted, had the trial pro-
ceeded, the chances of finding out all that
can be proved against Mr. Beecher land who
wants anything else , would have been ten
iold better than in any helter-skelter /" in
vestigation without charges to be tried
with no complainant and with no respondent.
lhere Will be no Commission, and you and
those with whom you are acting will have
the satisfaction of knowing that by YOUR
hasty misunderstanding and consequent mis-
representation of the plau YOU have made it
impracticable.
You tell me that you have been inqui ring
about witnesses whose testimony is important
to the question of Mr.. Beechers guilt or in
nocence, and that you know OF more than
half dozen who will not testify in the trial
proposed By the late council, but are con-
.tidently expected to testify in the inves-
'igation which you are proposing. Give
us the names of the men and the women who
will testify where there are no charges to be
proved, and where there il no respondent to
cross-examine them, or to explain or contra
dict their testimony by that of other wit
nesses, and who are unalterably determined
that they will not tell the same story.
lace to face with Mr.. Beecher. before trib-
unal at which he will have the rights of
respondent. Publish their names. and Won
will make them infamous. You will not
tell who they are, for in SO doing YOU would
make their testimony worthless.
l have only one thing more to say. You
are sure that you and those with whom YOU
act IN this matter are on the right course.
20 on then; there is nothing to hinder YOU.
Thanks to God, and under Him, thanks to
the COngregatiOnalism that came over in the
Mayfower, this Is free country. and our
churches are free. Go on, then the late
Council at Brooklyn has no dominion over
YOUR church, or over any church Call YOUR
Council. Bring your witnesses before it.
Make your Investigation in YOUR own
way, and see what will come of II. Ifyou
can prove that Mr.. Beecher is a guilty man.
so that there shall remain no reasonable
doubt Of it, all the churches-yes all. not
even the Plymouth Church ezcetedlau
the churches, in the depth Of their sorrow
and humiliation, viii thauk God for YOUR
endeavOr and for YOUR success. II. on the
other hand, you shall prove to your own sat
isiaction that Mr.. Beecher has been circum-
vented By malignant conspiracy, and that
the skeleton in the closet. or whatever it
may be which he has done 50 much 10 con-
eeal, Is something else than the wickedness
which has been imputed t. him "a result
which do not expect. considering what
glimpses We get Of how YOUR Investigation
Is to be managed)-then not only will YOU
rejoice, but there will be a wide and upani-
nous rejoicing. The Church Of the Pilgrims
Will resound with graduation. and its elo-
quent pastor will be more eloquent than
when, at the Plymouth Church silver festi-
val, he eulOgized the brother whom be de-
lighted to honor But if-as Is most likely
the outcome of your Investigation
should leave tie scandal Just where
II now Is, save a. it NAV con-
firm the belief Of those who believe
Nj Beecher to be guilty. and the suspicious
OF those who suspect him ; and as it may in
hlme to hotter Indignation the passionate
affection Of those whose confidence in his
integrity remains mistaken. then the result
OF your Council viii be-what? Simply ad-
vice TO your church, ami 70 churches gener-
ally that they "forbear communion with
the Plymouth Church in BROOKLYN. and
especially with it. pastor
What then? That advice will be only !
advice, and will bind no chureh-not even
yours. Some churches-manv. no doubt |
will accept the advice and .'fJrbear commu- |
Mon with the Plymouth Church But the |
churches accepting the advice OF YOUR Coun- |
,ll, and acting in conformity with it, be thew |
lew or many, viii not thereby cease to he /
Congregational churches Mr.. on the other 1
hand, will the Plymouth Church and |
remaining IN communion with it
ease 10 be Congregational. There will Onlv
be an interruption Of the ordinary c0mmu- |
llon between some Congregational churches
and some others. But the interruption Will |
Dot be permanent. Ii may be that when we
III shall have passed away, the question
whether Henry Ward Beecher was an adul-
erer and perIurer viii remain, Ike the
amous question about Mary Queen Of Scots,
theme for debate among partisan antigua
les but (such Is COngregationalismj no such
'ersonal question can permanently interrupt
he intercCmmunion OF our churches or their
mutual trust and helpfulness. Ycurs, with
Faternal respect. LEONARD Bacon.
New Haven, April i, 1876