The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1891-10-10
THE CHURCH TROUBLE.
The Officers Tell Their Story and Give
Copies of Correspondence:
The Trustees, Stewards and Glass Lead.
ers of st. James Church who are Dis
satisfied With Rev. ID. p. Brown,
Pastor, Give Their Reasons Why.

80
Right Rev. John M. Brown and Congre
cation OF st. James A. NJ. E. Church
| Dear Brethren, Sisters and Friends
No one feels more deeply and keenly
our situation as church at this mos,
extraordinary and trying time. Every
! thing reasonably known to us has beer
| done to avoid meeting of this charac
ter. However, we feel justified in ou1
| present course in the consciousness OF
having done and acted in the past ir
this matter as we believe God has di
rected. Our actions, we affirm, have
not been based upon personal feelings
against our pastor; for we have sough,
to treat him as a gentleman and have
labored earnestly, faithfully and pray
erfully in his behalf during his STAY
! with us. &-s..s.
Our situation spiritually and tempor-
ally dictated that something should be
| done to bring ''St.uJames'' back to its
former condition of&prosperity;aand, we
think no one hasnrealizeda sffis more
fully than Rev. D.. l&P. Brown Our
| church once ranked as the nforemost
church outside of the city of Chicago,
in this Fourth Episcopal District pre-.
sided over by his grace Bishop Brown;
and you can readily see how anxious
we were to sustain that reputation,
although in no worldly sense.
1t is proper to cite the historical
causes of our decline briefly: To do so
it will be necessary to carry you back
to the year 1889, the third and last year
of the Rev. John M. Henderson's stay
with us. 1t will be remembered that
| our church, through it's pastor, became
engaged in controversy with the Cath
olic pastor, Rev. J. T. Harrison. Rev.
Henderson manifested open hostility to
the activity of the Catholic work
among our people. A newspaper COM
bat was INDUCED in in which we lost
ton the wisdom of such step, but SUI
tice it to say, it cost US dearly in loss
of workers both spiritual and temporal
Realizing that in all probability our
beloved Bishop would not return to US
the Rev. John NJ. Henderson for an
other year, we felt it our imperative
duty to take such steps as would insure
us as a successor to. him man suffi-
GENTLY strong to repair the damage
done to us as a society and to advance
the work of the Master. Hence, we
sent communication to his grace, ask
ing that in case of change to send us
either Rev. T. w. Henderson or Rev.
Laws. We were fully cognizant of the
work to be done and wisdom dictated
that the ability of men of that stamp
was needed at that time.
In response to our most earnest re-
quest his grace saw fit to send to us a
man young in years and of scarcely any
experience whatever. He could not be
expected, therefore, to grapple with
the situation as it stood at that time
Rev. Brown failed in the leadership of
those who were the burden bearers of
the church, and the people, and did not
build up the church. It was sore dis
appointment to us; the future too,
looked dark and dismal. But his grace
had sent him. Out of love and respect
for him we accepted Rev. Brown. We
went to work with will, determined
to hold up his hands at all hazards.
The first half of the year we did very
we'll. Then became apparent a waning
interest on the part Of the members,
they failed to adhere to their obliga-
tions to the church and the congrega-
ton dwindled away. Something had
to be done. We appointed committee,
consisting of the following named per-
sons, to call the attention of the Pre-
siding Elder to our distressing condi-
ton: Danl. Hardin, Stephen Harris,
Andrew J. Bell, T. H. Lyles.
This committee proceeded with it's
task, and saw the presiding elder. He
expressed regret, but held out hope to
them in the promise to secure change
for us at the close of the conference
year, then drawing to it's close, provid-
ed however there should be no change
for the better. We asked advice from
him as to the proper procedure.in the
event of there being no improvement
in our condition. He (the presiding
elder) directed that we prepare letter
stating plainly our condition, and our
needs, and send it to the approaching
conference. He promised that he would
personally see that we received tn
attention and consideration due so i'm
portant field as that occupied by St.
James. Let us now see see if.'there
was any Improvement Our sfoating
debt was 1865. We received sfNm the
Isaac Crosby legacy 5000. sIn order to
wipe out every dollar of Indebtedness
by the close Of the conference year we
desired to raise $500. We purchased
six dozen nickel savings banks; sixty
| of them were given to the members OF
the church, with the request that each
| one be returned to us at day about
| eight weeks from the time of their be.
ing given out. .as .z.a.. ...a
This was to be grand rally, as we
| had the laudable am bition of being free
of our floating indie btedness as said at
! the beginning of a new conference year.
Due notice was given of their recall
i through the pulpit and nress. We