Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1879-07-04
The Congregational Convention Again.
CAsrLEroN, Vt, June Is.

The Congregational Convention Again.
CAsTLEToN, Vt, June Is.
To the Editor of the Free Press and Times:
desire TO acknowledge your courtesy in
printing my exceptions to your editorial upon
the Convention, especially as | cannot feel
that the force of them is broken by the com
ments upon them. You of course think
otherwise, and will perhaps allow rejoinder
to those comments The subject as whole,
is a most important one; and | should not
wonder if we were rehearsing the general line
of discussion which will be taken up quite
widely in distant papers and debates. | shall
be very glad if certain religious papers will
not torture themselves (and Congregational
polity) into grand agony over what they
may call a martyrdom of the truth and of
liberty here in Vermont but if they do, it
would be a pity that they should have the
sanction of sensible secular paper
am entitled, you remark, to say what
the issue was in my individual mind ven
ture TO guess on the strength of quite free in
terchangc with others of the majority at the
| time. that the issue as | have stated it was
the main issue in their minds not certainly
whether any man should or should not ap-
peal to Scripture in any argument whatever
in his own defence anywhere. lie certainly
can and may and will nobody can stop him;
nor would anyone try to stop him. Therefore
| it was not deemed necessary To assert that he
could. The Convention We're not at work
limiting the right of argument in self defence
in ecclesiastical councils, when no court in
the land limitsit that is, guess they were
not. If the amendment referred TO
I anvil hnt q
| " it did, seeing that right needs
no restatcment, nor could he strength
| ened by any restatcment and as also it was
/ an amendment to resolutions constantly al
luded to by the Press, programme and speak
ers, as resolutions upon ministerial Stand
ing" it meant. of course the right to main
tain that standing in the pulpiis of the de
nomination by an appeal 10 the word of
God
We know of no other standing with which
councils and conventions with us have
anything TO do, concerning pastors who
were all the subjects of the resolution.
But you say ''thc action of the convention
must be judged by the record" So would
have il. And does not the record, the CON
stanty stated subject of the resolutions and
all parliamentary usage bearing upon the
case, show that the question was, Whether
the Congregational denomination ought or
not to admit To is pulpits persons preaching
what it calls heresy? That was the very
question ministerial standing" is standing
in the pulpit with us. When man has that
he has good and regular standing with us
when he has not the latter he has no minis
terial standing with us. Also if the proceed
ings were at all according 10 parliamentary
usage, it cannot possibly be made 10 appear
that when giving ayes and noes on the first
section of the amendment, we were
voting upon the abstract proposition, that the
right of appeal to the word of God is par
amount right of every conscientious man
in defence of his own conduct. If that Sec
ton was adopted, it was straightway to be in
corporated into the resolution, as bearing
upon the same topic which it bore upon sole
ly, j. e., the right TO preach in our pulpits.
And if the right to appeal to the Bible for an
accused minister, meant anything more than
the right of argument in self-defence from
the Bible, which no court of church or State
denies, and therefore need not he asserted, it
meant that an appeal to the Bible for such
minister should operate like an appeal TO
higher secular court from lower taking
the man out of the jurisdiction of the lower.
Or, as if the Pocasset murderers should, by
simply appealing to the example of Abra-
ham offering Isaac, escape the penalty of
Massachusetts, law for their crime.
The speaker, who said that in certain con-
nections the appeal to the Bible was moth
ing" meant plainly that We don't get ahead
any in acquaintance with a man, who prom
Uses to defend himself by the Bible, until we
know good many other things about him
The main reasons and those lad
vanced. too, for refusal to adopt the amend
ment, were distinctly, that the authority of
the Bible was sufficiently recognized in the
resolution, and the legitimate right of pri
vate judgement was not denied in it; and
therefore the making of private appeal to
the Bible paramount 10 "A Judgment of
council also founded on the word of God
would eviscerate the resolution or the |
amendment would be idle words
BY the resolution, council sitting
tomorrow is not advised not to listen to a |
minister's whole argument from the word of |
God for peculiar views but it is delivered |
from the necessity in every case of giving |
that argument unanswerable weight against |
its own prima .tdeie creed and argument |
from the word, unless his defence be unan-
swerabe and unanswered. 1t means that the |
council should not say, meekly listening in a |
half dazed way to some new hair splitting on |
the Greek word dionios, well perhaps |
you know best. We haven't time to dis |
cuss the matter. This is different from what |
We have been accustomed TO. But you will |
promise us YOU will do as little harm as
possible, won't you?'
1t meant rather that they should say: I've |
are sufficiently convinced that our we'll
known creed has been fairly reasoned up to, |
out of the Scriptures, by our fathers and
ourselves, TO lead us to say: You appeal to
the Bible. Very well take your Bible
and preach it as you understand it
but where You will not be understood to
speak for this Council and the Congrega
tional churches" You say, INA iorilies do |
not settle matters of belief and conscience"
But majorites have right TO say whether |
or not they will give fellowship and coun-
tenance to what they consider error
You say that evidently think that be-
cause the majority was big one, therefore |
their action should pass without question"
Is that like what | said | thought, and
said there should be no hasty construction of |
this vote apart from its accessories. And | |
do think when we come down To the
bottom question" that every man has the
right TO appeal from all human judgments to
the word of Godi support Of his own opin-
IONS conduct and utterances on his Orn
PLATFORM (Which last words you omit with
the expectation that there he can stand, but
not always on your platform or mine, or
hat of political party or Christian denOm
nation, or even on the soil of secular State.
He can so appeal anywhere if he will take
the consequences of his appeal not being the
sole law of judgment in his case. That
would be lndividualsm VS.. Society, indie
VS.. Congrcgationalism