Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-05-18
THE BAPTIST CONVENTION.
TAIN "MEAN SPECIMENS
OF MINISTER'S"
Communication from Baptist Minister
Behold How Good and How Pleas
ant it is for Brethren
to Dwell Together
in Unity"
DIR. KALLooH EXPLAINS


Church, Isaac S. Kalloch, in his prelude SUM-
day night on the Metropolitan and other
Baptist Churches" spoke as follows: You
will all remember that last Sunday night |
tice of any slanderous statements made by
irresponsible parties that would involve me in
any personal discussion but the remarkable
experiences of the last week seem to call for
some statement, personal to myself. Last
week you all know the Baptist Convention
was held at Sacramento. l felt greatly in
need of rest, and thought perhaps a weeks
vacation and pleasant converse with my old
friends of the Baptist persuasion would do
me good. so l started for the Convention.
They had done me the honor twice out OF the
five times that they have held Conventions in
this State, to elect me President but imagine
my surprise when | saw hanging around the
door of the place where the Convention was
held, the same crowd of pimps, detectives
and assassins, that have surrounded me in
this city for the last three or four months.
Verify, | thought ought to be at home with
these surroundings. In the Convention |
ever | had ally little petty disagreement with
every minister that had any little personal
spite against me as man and parson.
Also, l saw there, dressed in broadcloth and
wearing plug hats, having the semblance of
gentlemen, but who, to my knowledge, for q
year past have not had dollar in their
pockets, men who have not had money enough
TO pay their expenses of trip from this Tenn
pie to the Baldwin Hotel and yet here they
were, all dressed up for the occasion, and
ready for their work. 1t looked to me as
though they had me III their tolls for time.
was never so completely taken by surprise in
my life. Never, in all the brutality, ferocity
and hideousness of the attacks of these fellows
upon me, did the thought enter my head that
they would attempt to steal a Baptist Con-
vention from me. was caught mapping, but
God delivered me from the mouth of the lion.
Never in the annals of inhuman persecution
occurred such barbarous attempt to ruin a
man; such an attempt to PREJUDICE me and
my son | never met with before.
THE BAPTIST CONVENTION AND IT'S ATTEMPTED
ACTION IN THE CASE OF DIR. KALLoCH.
EDS. RECoRD-UNIoN : Having been a par
ticipant in the proceedings of the Baptist
Convention held in Sacramento last week.
and careful observer of the temper and
mode of action of the two antagonistic par
ties, and observing the comments editorially
and in the local columns of the daily press, 1
ask the privilege of making brief but i'm
partial statement concerning the points in
question.
First in Importance, as well as in order of
statement. is the fact that from the moment
nj | X oil cd ha
platform, as an advocate of the w. Z. c., he
was fully understood by many in his own
denomination as entering anew upon an am
bilious course entirely at variance with the
spirit and duties of the gospel ministry. His
course since that moment has never received
any formal Endorsement by representative
bodies of the denomination in California, but
on the contrary. has met the unfaltering oppo-
sition of large and most respectable element
among his own brethren and the universal
disapprobation of Eastern Baptists, as the
attitude of certain ministers and churches
here and the utterances of the Baptist press
at the East unitedly testify. 1t is therefore
not true, in point of fact or principle, that
the Endorsement of DIR. Kalloeh by his own
denomination here or elsewhere is of such
long standing that no protest at this late day
is or can be of any avail.
nomination being purely congregational, the
local Endorsement of any man by single
church or a number of churches, against the
protest of large majority, does not involve
the denomination, as a whole, in the support
of wrong done by its ministers and churches.
True, the duty of discipline demands recogni-
ton and enforcement i'll all such cases; but
the practical obstacles which always beset
the practical application of purely republican
principles find their worst form of illustra-
ton in an attempt at disciplinary action by
the representative action of local churches.
In proof of this fact allusion to the celebrated
Parshall case at Oakland is sufficient. A bad
man was then and there arraigred, tried, found
guilty, and duly deposed from the ministry,
whereupon second council met ard restored
the deposed minister to the functions of his
office. The very men who thus set aside the
action of large and intelligent body of
Christian ministers and laymen were promi-
nent in the recent successful attempt to
quash any preliminary consideration looking
to the reputation of |. s. Kalloch and |. Nj.
Kalloch, as duly authenticated and approved
ministers of the gospel. The jailer of the
San Francisco Jail and the aged brother who
assumed the prerogatives of censor to the re-
ligious press for publishing unquestioned
facts both of whom had no word of censure
for the Kallochs in the late Convention nor
would suffer others to utter their solemn con.
victions, were the abettors of the infamous
overriding of large and respectable council
in the restoration of a still more infamous
man to the ranks of the Christian ministry
Is it matter of surprise that the public sen.
timent should hold the entire denomination
responsible for the Endorsement OF wrong,
under circumstances so humiliating to all the
lovers of purity in character and life in the
men who assume the solemn functions of the
Christian ministry? And yet, the piety and
intelligence of the Baptist denomination in
California and throughout the United States
call aloud for the just condemnation of all
who desecrate the sacred Office, regardless oi
talents, position or power.
ThIrdly-The action proposed by those in
terested in the purity of our ministry and the
vindication of our religious principles, as well
as IN the general prosperity Of a pure Chris
tianity, was such as should have received the
Endorsement of DIR. Kalloch himself and all
his adherents, had he and they desired the
vindication of the holy religion which they
profess more than present exemption fIom
preliminary inquiry and UNCONVENTIONAL ex'
preston concerning the issues so painfully
pressed upon the consciences of all who seek
the peace and prosperity of the Christian
Church in all its various forms of organza.
ton, as animated by the spirit of Christ him.
self In this connection, it is but proper to
state that the vote on Mr.. Abbott's proposed
resolution, when analysed in the light of all
the facts, is in no wise to be regarded as q
fair expression of sentiment on the main
question at issue. The following considera
lions will render this fact apparent to all:
l. The vote was not the expression of duly
qualified delegates, several persons voting who
were not Representatives of the churches
2. The magnetic " Kalloch had the synpa-
thetic support of nearly all the female dele
gates in the convention, whose influence led
others of their own and even some of the
"sterner" sex to vote "aye." 1t was the
writer's own eye which took in the scene Of
three women laying hold of one man, in a
fruitless endeavor to gain his affirmative vote
Whether it was due to their influence that he
did not vote in the negative deponent saith
not, but such was the fact. g. The question
was put by the Moderator in defiance of al
rule, even according to his own admission,
his excuse being lame afterthought or al
least too feeble for a justification at the time
of taking the voc. His refusal to heed the
call for the yeas and nays was unquestiona
bly, result of INDIGESTION on his part, he be-
ing pledged TO the measure in advance, a:
well as to certain resolutions concerning
Sabbath dissertation, which would have in
volved the unqualified censure of 1. S. Kali
loch, and which were, aui informed, pre-
pared largely at his instance and with hi;
approval. 4. A large number of men moi
fully in sympathy with DIR. Kalloch unques
tionably voted in opposition to the reading Of
the resolution, on the ground of its inadmis
sibility in purely deliberative body. These
brethren cannot but know that their plea i: