Page:The Judicial Capacity of the General Convention Exemplified.djvu/30

28 a year ago. It is one of greater magnitude, and of far greater interest. It is whether a minister of the New Church shall be permitted to slander a brother minister in a most outrageous and cruel manner, and afterwards, without having made any attempt at redress, or any acknowledgment even, and seeking to cloak his first great wrong by further falsehoods, shall be received into the bosom, or elected to offices of dignity, in a body which claims to be pre-eminently the Church of the Lord.

I am aware of the disadvantage of my position, growing out of the strong prejudice against me which unfortunately exists in the minds of some of the leading men in the Convention, and their consequent predisposition to take sides with any one who will speak ill of me. But I appeal to you, my brother—not as my friend, for I have no reason to believe that you feel very friendly towards me—but as a man and a Christian, as a lover of justice and order, as the presiding officer of the General Convention, and as one to whom many look with confidence for wise counsel, just judgment and prudent action, to exert your influence to prevent Mr. Wilks from coming into, or holding any office under, the General Convention, until the matter complained of shall have been amicably arranged, or Mr. Wilks acquitted of all wrong in the premises, by a competent and impartial tribunal. I do not ask—I do not expect you to do this on my account, but from a regard to the honor of the body over which you preside, and the best welfare of the Church, which I believe you have. Yours truly,

And a few hours after this letter was sent, the mail brought me from California, Mr. Miller’s affidavit, (see page 20). And I immediately dispatched another note to the President of the Convention, stating this fact, and closing with this plain and emphatic language:

"If the General Convention receives him, (Mr. Wilks) into fellowship, or allows him to hold any office in its gift, [considering the evidence with which it was then furnished,] I am sure it will bring upon itself a disgrace from which it cannot recover for many long years. However little regard the Convention may have for me or my protest in this matter, I hope, at least, it will have some regard for its own dignity and welfare, and for that course of conduct which the laws of Christian charity, not less than the true principles of church government, obviously require.”

But notwithstanding all this, and the evidence against Mr. W. furnished by Mr. Miller’s letters (Nos. I. & V.) of which I had forwarded copies to Mr. Worcester, Mr. Wilks was admitted a member of the Convention, and Mr. Barrett consequently was adjudged guilty of bringing a false accusation against a brother, whose "innocence," say the Convention, "Mr. W. has satisfactorily established." Immediately after the adjournment of the Convention, the following correspondence in