Year: 1879

LETTER FBOA NM. hAAAwA'AA"'
He Fully Explains tue Denneiiy
AmAir and Defends the Action of
Delaware Avenue BaDtist ChaRch'


The following is a letter written by
Mr.. Haldeman to the "Every Evening""
on q subject which the letter itself ex-
plains, and which We take the liberty
Of publishing.


EDiroR EVERY EVENING - You have
lately published in your paper certain
statements concerning the Delaware
Avenue Baptist Church in reference to
what is generally known as the Don
nelly Affair" If l am not mistaken
one article was headed Significantly
"Before the Church." and the impress
sion commonly received from 1t was that
the disgraoaful scene occurred within
the very threshold Of the building, that
it was participated in by those who had
lust come from the communion service,
and that the pastor Of the church sepa-
rated the combatants, and restored
peace. Other papers have published
articles rejecting upon the course of the
church in not suspending Donnelly,
while easy tougusd rumor has taken up
the matter on the street until an affair
bad enough in itself has been made
worse in the endeavor to throw .odium
upon pastor and people by holding them
responsible for the nnclean thing.


do not ask any favors but simply
claim the right to state facts that are
not known, to make clear the action Of
very large and respectable body Of
people and at the same time to correct
certain false statements.


In the first place the man Donnelly
did not come out of the church with
his wife that afternoon. In the second
place he had not been In the church ut
all that afternoon and in the third
ploce hs had not been walking iu fsl-
10 ship of communion with the church
for over yesr. . AT


Again the disturbance did not hap
pen directly "before' the church un-
less you call the street corner SO rods
away directly in front Of II. Further
did not come out and separate the par
ties. Still further did not see the oc-
currence as / came ont and further yet
l did not come out at all until it was
over.


In short did not know that any.
thing unusual was transpiring and did
not even have IL intimated to me until
the man who had been assaulted had
disappeared from the scene. In going
out on the avenue in the square ABOVE
the church, saw Donnslly leaning
against the fence, very white in the
face, and evidently laboring under in
tense excitement, an excitement
amounting almost to wildness and
responsibility. l persuaded him to
walk the street with me and at the
corner left him with the promise, on
his part, that he would call and see me.
In the evening l heard of his fresh out
break, after going home, but was un-
able to learn the full details.


The next day he came to see me.
dealt with him with all the severity
that his brutality and cowardice de-
mandsd and found him utterly broken
and seeming very nearly crazy with re-
morse for what he had done. For four
years he had not touched liquor and
the salvation in his case had been mar
velous, but now under the'tremendous
Eeaction Of his frenzy he felt tempted to
60 out and drink. A harsh word from
m. at that moment would have sent
him to his cups and God only knows to
what ending. l said to him at once
that il he would submit himself to rne
would try and save him. He prom
ised me he would dc as | bade him.
The following morning by appoint
ment | was at his house in company
with the man whom he had attacked
and two other witnesses. We were in
the wife's room. | asked some ques-
hons. From her learned the aggrava
ting wicksdness of the act and gave
Donnelly an opportunity to make
manifest in the presence Of all his deep
repentance.


That night he came before the church
voluntarily. He stated the way in
which he had been living for year.
Without mercy to himself he told it all
out, calling himself a "brute" and a
''beast" and while asking for sympathy
aud prayer for his wife, left it with the
church either to expel him at once or
70 help him to do better in the future.


What cnul1 fba oburoh dop NJ ob =, .,
ges had been preferred against him.
He came before it was possible to for
mulate any. According to our dis
cipline We were bound to hear him.
The manual demands that if we have
reason to believe brother is sincere
We must accept his confession. He is
therefore to be rejected only in the
event of direct evidence that he is
not sincere.


Scarcely any one think who heard
the statement that night could doubt
lis sincerity. The church voted to az
cept his confession and voted also to re-
cord it. By this confession he recognl-
zed his sin against God and against the
church which he had so openly dishon-
ored, and it so stands upon the minutes
of the meeting to-day.


If Tread the Word Of God Alright our
Lord teaches us to forgive, saying, that
Ha brother sin against us we are to for
give him not seven times only but se-
venty times seven. He does not by
this teach license but mercy, and in
that mercy seeks leverage by which
He may in fluence the guilty to better
Life. The church by its act did not ex-
cuse Donnelly.


1t recognized his sin. 1t recognized
it in Judgment, a Judgment so consc-
ously expressed that it forced the man
to confession. But while the church
thus asserted itself a. tribunal it
sought also to teach that it would deal