Year: 1875

Committee and demanding Investigation OF ms case
the church private upon the ease Or II any circa
made mpaccabe for yon to adopt esasa .ss oi
you in applying for letter Of dsmission rom UNI, .ms
church and OF 70 some o1es such Sea
justification Of the total absence T1I i,,n an
ordnance il Would establish the principle that the real
or imagined nhdelity OF one professed christian Is %


and practice on the part OF all others. No church ever
did will acknowledge such doctrine Inc ea-
for diligence, and not less, in the performance
Of your religious duties. A..
Examining Committee and notified Of Its contemplated
action, yon made request for delay ana none
letter Of dismi-son and recommendatt9n: on You ani
apRsarsd before ihe church @ at rse nv unS speea


indulgence allowed 20 appeal BY proiessona S9unse reb
contrary TO the usual practice Of such churches In the
presence Of your brethren you stii made no reqaese
Of any kind You did not deny your absence from thi:
and from every other church 1Sn da mo not ssse sa at
bubble p prayer or at the Lords snpper or at any public


inistra;ion whatever, nor did you profess hat that
yomr absence Was because Of an evil action
which you alleged had been committed by another mem
your willingness perform your duties as church mem
Der far as o1 could % this osnse the very
language which you used at the time, as well wen
your previous conduct for five years made ~ p, Eo
would f your covenant in the future only as you haa
in the pasth"t , is ,sS to sasDIe saye0' to believe
that you really feel hardship to be deprived OF the
right OF communion m w neary w. ye We Reas d deliberately
given up such communion on your part 1Gar arom9ee


tons, however shall be resated IN your own ansus''


l. You say that you have not had "proper trial.
patient hearing and could have had more II you had
been placed upon a more formal trial Beng asked
yonr case You peremptory refused to do so, and
declined to make any other or further statemeht M
the facts before it which you willing
to give. II further light seemed to you necessary 10
by yonr own act that such light was withheld: You had
the benefit OF every safeguard tnat coud nave Dse
counsel full hearing OF all that you wished to say ana


III You say that suticiency OF the reasons assign
by you for your absence was not considered In TINS you
name upo the precise ground that your reasons were
Wholly insufficient We not bound to pass any
formal declaration TO that effect. Our vote upon the
question then pending covered the whole ground;


III Yon complain that you not arralned for any
unjust ba yon efer to those contained in the statement
made in your defense before the church. But the
church was and still Is Of the opinion That your accusa
ton against pastor If true, would have con
stued defense for your past conduct IL certainly
believed them unjust and untrue but II could not
interrupt the orderly course OF proceeding under when
your past conduct the subject OF investigation In or
der To- nut you on trial for ofense committed III the
very midst OF the investigation III sucn course were
pursued trials would never end ,,


" But you complain because you were not arragned
account Of your previous public testimony coSceEnins
either th church or the Committee knew, you had never
made any statement mpugung the purity OF our PASTOR
except while you testiying as witness III court
Of usce and az we there bound to assume under
compulsory process The Committee dd not thns tnat
they would be justified in calling you to account ocore


~, r6ch for III. untruth your language In court and
in which might again come to trial with you again
" Ear tbe truth or falsy of the statement there made
the church felt and still feels bound 10 leave YOU TO an
IN he
date witnesses, and might have been considered con-
eaae p' n upon the basis Of your testimony except
as to that portion OF It relating to your aban;
to hn rne II is not necessary to tell you
NOT the slightest belief in the truth OF your present state
mcnts concerning our pastor We nave investigated
these matters before andaiter examination lasting for
two months ia the church and six months in the courts
we had to unanimous conclusion upon that SUD
iect III we had renewed that investigation even AZ your
instance there would have been more bitter complaint
nsincerity in assuming TO try over sxa case upon
which we had already pronounced Judgment than there
can possibly be Of the course which we have actually


Scr is anything in the question OF eccesiastIsal
of considerations The rule under which y0nr name was
dropped adopted unanimously by this church about
with us II has been applied in about 80 cases without
rem0ntrnce from you or from any OF the persons al
cered from any four sister churches, many not most
of which, as informed, have expressly or pract-


T6e casc then as it appears u.s. Is briefly this You
complain that have acted under rule which for 10



members without opposition objection You com
plain that you have not had technical" trial. for
hearing for every word that you and your counsel de-
sired to say. You complain that we would not ar
nor any one else had ever asked you should be
so arraigned. You complain that We did not
Won never asked us to So offered to support any
charges by proof You complain or your exclusion from
communion with this church, when for five years you
have deliberately excluded yourself from communion
with this and all other churches. You complain that we
atiO
while yon never xpTessed desire for any such thing


In short your entire complaint is that we iaied TO do
done with the single exception OF the consider
ton of your foe the abandonment OF the church,
and those did fully consider and pass upon.


You therefore request us TO JON you III calling a
te ~ 10 M NeyertheIss since we are at ali times
willing to listen to the advice OF our brethren and ready
scOusly have fallen accept your proposition for the
cal Of mutual council of churches and Will listen 70
their raerna advice upon the six grounds Of complaint
refrrred 10 in your letter OF Nov. II, namely:


l. Whether you had or were entitled TO proper trial


H. Whether yOu ought to have been arralgned Tor un
lust charges against the pastor OF this church


Ill whether we had right N view OF your confessed
for five years, 70 drop your name under our long


" Whether the excuses alleged by You justified your
course or prevented from holding that you had aban
dOned yoIr connection with us


v Whether considered these excuses.


vi Whether ought 10 have given you recon-
meniati0n 10 another caurch.


- THOMAS @. SHEARMAY, Clerk.


motion was made that a copy OF the letter be
forwarded to Mrs. Moulton, and 1t was unanimously
adopted Mr. Edgerton then moved that the whole
subject of naming council aud arranging
the necessary preliminaries be. referred TO
the Examining Committee. Considerable
discussion followed, in which Mr. Beecher
took very active part, offering suggestions for the
furtherance of the work. He spoke three or four
times during the discussion. II was finally decided
that the Examining Committee make the prehIn-
i... uHan4rorno,,ta fnr n cnuncn aud rennrt frnfn