Morning journal and courier., 1888-06-19
nnx. mn nAKR,s oAsE.


 ous and Striking Remarks.
 To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 Following is 8 review of his pastoral work and difficulties given by Rev. Mr. Bake of Branford Congregational church to his peo- pie, together with his letter of resignation:
 Dear brethren and friends:
 For nearly three years it has bean my priv ilege to stand in this place and preach to you the word of truth as God has given me to preach. This has been to me a joy and 8 cross, mingling of pleasure and pain. A nobler calling man cannot pursue. Nor is there one in which he is so often confronted by his own unworthiness. It is my joy to be engaged in this work. It is my regret that am so unworthy to be engaged in it.
 feetionate interest and Christian forbearance as have endeavored to put before you the way of duty and of life, and to urge you upon it. For your patience and your pray- CTS and cooperation I desire here and now 10 put on record my gratitude. Your pleasant words and grateful encouragement have always been appreciated, and will be treas ursd among the pleasant memories of this With deYout gratitude to Almighty God we may cast glance backward oyer the few years of mutual service, for he has been gra- cious and has added his blessing to our mu- tual efforts. and heard and answered our prayers, in that some precious souls have been brought into the Kingdom of his dear sonand many hearts have been encouraged to more faithful and diligent performance of duty If the total results have fallen short of our ardent hopes and been disap-
 pointment to some. to us, just anticspations,
 there is still much to encouragesonr faith and stimulate our gratitude.
 On the testimony of many witnesses the past three years have presented greatly larger attendance at and 8 deeper and more sustained interest in the social religious meetings than for any corresponding period within the memory of some of the oldest members Of the church. This is of itself most Important testimony of the power of the simple gospel and to the love many of You have for it. But we must not forget the gracious outpouring of Gods spirit in the autumn of 1885 and the winter of 1886. Had the church at large been recep- tive, and had there been no unrighteous op- position in the church at that time, without question a vastly greater amount of good would have been accomplished and the town of Branford would have been, morally speaking, created anew. But the evil of that opposition is not confined to the arrest ment of that work. For when people for any reason begin to fight against God they soon declare themselves the enemies of all good in their ready vituperation of his ser wants and systematic efforts to cripple their work. Thus, deplorable as it is, spectacle over which angels may well weep, it is unde- niable fact that for at least thirty months "an enemy" has been sowing "tares" with utmost diligence and is now exultingly pointing to his crop.
 Do you say this opposition was and is con- scientious, and that'it was born and nour- ished in prayer? Consider it's weapons and methods of warfare. Distraction and ridi- cule have been it's weapons, and sneers and innuendo and misrepresentation it's methods. zG righteousness never beget such offspring as | this.
 It has sought to estrange the young people, \ and has succeeded in the cases of few. It | has sought far and wide for people with real ! or imaginary grievances, and has diligently \ fostered all it has been able to unearth; and \ then it has been attempted to terrorize the | remainder by the cry of Young people \ alienated, :" "Universal dissatisfaction" \ This sort of proceedure, beloved friends, cannot be traceabEe to the love of God, the ! love of his church, or the fear that any of | the vital interests of religion are in danger. From the beginning in l644 there has been | but one way open to this church if it would ful6ll it's mission: not the way of compromise but the way of righteousness. In the hope that God would in time move upon the hearts of the people to arise in spiritual might have steadily pursued my way, unmindful of many obstacles, quietly stepping over or by
  sistent with my Christian manhood it only the cause which love might be advanced. In this course I have been sustained aud com forted by the rich and abundant grace of God, through which alone have been en- abled to endure.
 But faithfulness and diligence in service, forbearance and charity in conduct, while ex- erting salutary influence upon the suscep- tible, have been wasted where it was hoped their efficacy would have been most marked, for the spirit of opposition culminated in. the preamble and resolutions passed at the re- cent meeting of the society, concerning which desire now to say few words.
 l. The church has taken action upon my reIa-
 tions her. and she is first and always first In any
 action mt touching % pastoral suppl supply ,.n,.,,.r
 of the church to provide for for her temporatie' and 8 The recent action of the society the action of a master and not Of servant; of usurper of
 f The recent @ @ action of the society is absolutely
 null and void, having been taken illegally and in d1. Membership was denied one applicant on the
 ground of ineligibility because he is not natural a. The vote of an ineligible person, therefore \ not member, was received and counted.
 For these reasons respectfully decline to \ accept the notice so conrteously, and may add 90 cordially, extended to me, to consider the time of my sojourn among You limited by the 1st of September next.
 Perhaps some of you will laugh at this
 but beg to remind you that here is some, \ thing rather to provoke tears. It was said
 "something will have to be done to be rid oi him, D and you have done something; but
 what pity it had not been done betterl
 The wickedness of some and the amazing fatuity of others have been in combination \ with the usual result of defeating their own purpose and exposing them to the shafts oi ridieule. I have waited for someone who
 voted with the majority, if there
 is anyone possessed of honesty enough
 to move a meeting of the church and sub.
 sequent meeting of the society to consider
 the action of the church and either to ap prove or veto it. But my waiting has beer
 in vain, and I am reluctantly constrained tc
 believe there-is 8 most deplorable obscura
 tion of moral sense and . radical deficiency
 of the principle of justice in the now domi-
 nant party.
 And then that preamble and resolutionsi
 Whereas, At present there is feeling of di.satis
 faction and lack of unanimity in the society and
 snrch tSerewh and as the ReV HennS ans
 P Bake the present occupant of the pulpit of said
 church and society. after nearly three years act
 ing pastor among us has failed to unie the society
 Rssslved. first, That in accordance with the reso held July 2S, 1887 notice is hereby given that the
 ing pastor of the First Ecclesisstisai church and
 society, will not be required after the expiration of Secondly copy of these resolutions be forwarded to Rev. Henry F. Bake and ..spread''
 upon the records of this First Ecclesiastical soci ety.
 Now quite like the idea of spreading \ this thing upon the records and in the New Haven papers; the ideas presented are so original and so we'll put and 80 significant,
 especially that very happy and accurate al- H fusion to the First Ecclesiastical church
 But the preamble is what gets me after all. The modesty of 1t and the picus regret it breathes are to me quite overwhelming. "A feeling of dissatisfaction" ia great detri- msnt to the church," and the Rev. Henry P. Bake is responsible for it all This is sub- Timely impudentl and it's impotence is in the adroit way in which deplorable fact is introduced between an absolute and an iR-