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Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont filmds en commenpant par la premidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la dernidre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboles suivants apparastra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon Ie cas: Ie symbole — ► signifie "A SUIVRE", Ie symbole V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmds d des taux de r6duction diff^rents. Lorsque Ie document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clichd, il est filmd d partir de Tangle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant Ie nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m^thode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 Q^ iJ/i^ KjsZi^ A TO THE MEMBERS AND COMMITTEE or THE Cki\kdk ^tLi\dky ^dhool lj^)iot\. {Mr. Scott's Pamphlet, p. ii. ) " I beseech you as a body of Christian men, to give this matter a fair and impartial investigation." As a member of the Canada Sunday School Union, I am in receipt of a letter addressed to us by Mr. S. B. Scott, in which he takes the opportu- nity of making many and grievous charges against a body of Christians, whom he says, " for earnest piety and devotion, for a desire for the up-build- ing of Christ's kingdom and the salvation of souls, I am confident as a body, will not compare unfavorably with Christians of any other name"; and the excuse he gives for thus becoming the public accuser of these (vhristians, is — that two or three of that body object to his being an officer or on our Com- mittee. He appeals to us. as one who knows of no other tribunal to take his case up, to give it a fair and impartial inves- tigation. First, I would say, that he has no right to assume that the expressions of two or three members of a body, is the voice of that body, and on that account justify its wholesale crimination. So far as I can ler.x-^n, they do not object to Mr. Scott being a member of our committee, but to his being there as a representative of the Baptist body, lie, not being a member of that body ; and they do this, not from any personal ill-will or feeling against himself, but that they suppose the third Article of our Constitution requires that the officers and committee of the Canada Sunday School Union should be composed of members of the evangelical churches of this city. Second, as each Baptist church is independent and congregational, glorying in owning no allegiance but to Christ, and bowing to the behest of no earthly tribunal, it follows from this, that should any brother conceive himself to be unjustly dealt with, he can apply to any sister church which is equally independent and if they after investigation find in his favor, they can justify and admit him. I object to this appeal of Mr. Scott to us to give judgment in his case for two reasons — Ist. As a Sunday School Union we have no right to sit in revi- sion, investigate, or pronounce judgment on the acts of any of the churches whose membership compose our body ; and 2nd, by this appeal we are placed on the horns ot a dilemma. On the one hand, by retaining his name, we declare our belief in liis accusations against a body composing a portion of our membership, not one of them having an^ atom of self-respect would remain with us ; if on the other hand his name be dropped, we declare our iinhdlrf ill lii» statement^. Mr. Scott had no rijilit to place us in this position, and iu doin;;' so he has shewn himself so devoid of wisdom as to be unworthy tn be an officer or committee-man to nj an age our affairs. Mr. Scott, in pai^e 11. .says, " I have jileadcd for years, T plead now that thn/dcfs, (ill the farts in this case maybe brought to light." T will now try to satisfy him, premising tiiat liaviug been Mr. Scott's longest, best, tried companion and friend for many years, from his coming to the city up to the time of his leaving the church, I am fully qualilied to do this, being thor- oughly conversant with all the facts ; and in placing them before you, I do not do so as before a tribunal to give judgment in the case, but as Christian men whose esteem is highly valued. In stating these facts, I shall be as short as possible, placing tlie statements of Mr. Scott in juxtaposition with the acts and minutes of the church of which he complains, so that you may sec what reliance may be placed on any statements he has made, or may make, in relation to this matter. Mr. Scott, an officer of the church, having absented himself from the . .j.) No formal clmrges of any kind whatever wore made bytlie chuirh against me before my exclusion, nor was the matter submitted to an impartial investigaiion and decision. The only cliarges ever made are contained in tlie roHolutioii of .'.\- ulusion, whit'li resolution and whicli charges I never .saw or heard of until tij'le.i- my exclusion ; neither had any intimation (^yer " Dea. Scott having absented himself for some time from the public worship and the Lord's table, Dea. and Bro. (Church Clerk,) were appointed a Committee to visit him, to re- port at next meeting." "Ai'iuL 1st, 1870. — The Committee appointed to vi.sit Dea. Scott reported tliat a communication in writing has been received from him, which contaimtl all he wished to say to the Committee. The Committc'' had not visited him, since they were hiformed by him that a visit would only be for the purpose of receiving his communication. Dea. St ott's letter was then read to the church : been given me, in any form what- after which it was moved by Dea and ever, that exclusion had been seconded, that a letter be written to Brc cott thought of by a single member of assuring him of none but the kindly fee i. gs of the church. No notice was given the church towards him, expressing our esteem to me that such charges would be and good-will, and requesting him to resume fel- made at the church meeting refer- lowship with us. Dea. moved in amend- red to. I was not called upon to ment that no letter be written, but the Corn- answer such charge, and had no opportunity to do bo, but was eon demned unheard. mittee be continued with instructions to visit Dea. Scott, to ask him to return to fellowship with the church, and at the same time assure him of our kindly feelings and good-will towards him. After some discussion the amendment was put to vote and carried." This meeting (April 1st) was a large one, notice having been given at the pievious public Wednesday prayer meeting that Bro. Scott's letter would be read, and a lull attendance requested, so that all the members knew that Mr. Scott's case was to be considered. ' 3 \ (.Ur. .Vi,.//',v l\iiiifilil,t,/> 6.) If tlit^ wonlH of t)u- ( liiucli in thfirown ivsoIntiDii iibovc riuotcd mt'iiii unythiiifj:, tiny ceitftiiily do mean that tlu-y theiiist'lves liavo iK'tn guilty of doing to one of tlu'ir uumliiT (and at tho timo tlu'ir Se- nior Deacon,) i\w greatest wrong acliurcii is capable of doing; and if their own wordu mean anything, tlioy mean that they have done tluH wrong H'ithdiil art. The church, by their own ac- knowledgment, h;iv(! cut off oiu! of their own number, and deprived him of the privileges ancl ordi- nances of (iod's Houf-e for the crime of a misunderstanding. By their own acknowledgment, they have by an act of their own, which they themselves condemn, alienated a whole family from the church, and all for the crime of a misunderstanding. By their own acknowledgment, they have declared one of their members unfit for church mem- bership or church fellowship, or to associate with Christian people, for the crime of a misunderstanding. They have for this crini". blotted out his name from their roll of membership, and placed it in a black list with other excluded mem- bers. A plain illustration of this ex- traordinary case of church action would he as follows : — A father permits an unjustifiable ill-feeling to arise iix his mind against his eldest sou, and in a moment of angry haste, writes the son a letter making various unreasonable and unfounded accusations against him; accusations which the son nerer heard or thoujfht of before. MiNCTK OK Mat I.Vni, 1870. " In till! ta.s«' of 15ro. S. li. Scott, tiie ('om- mittee reported having visited liim according to instructions, but were unable to induenct; hirn to alter liis opinions or liis resolution. He di;- sireil to return thanks for th(^ expression of the good-will of the ciiurcli towards liini, but wished it to lie understocjd that all he had to say to the church was contained in his letter. After sonu; discussion and conversation, in which it ap- peared that otlicr members of the church had endeavored to inthice I'.ro. Scott to take a differ- ent view of matters, and that every effort had been used to disabusi! him of his erroneous im- pressions, it was moved by Dea. seconded by Bro. , 'Tiiat wliereas our brother S. B. Scott, having absented him.self from the fellow- ship of the church for some time, and a com- mittee having been appointed to request his retinn ; ana whereas oiu' brother, in justification of such absence, had sent in a letter, the prin- cipal purport of which is, alleging ill-feeling on the part of some of the members of the church towards himself; and whereas a committee was appointed to assun; him that nothing but the kindest of feelings existed toward liimself, and an earnest desire on their part that he would again take his place amongst us ; notwithstand- ing this our brother still persists in refusing to return to our fellowship; it is, therefore, our painful duty, notwithstanding our high opinion of our dear brother's Christian character, to re- solve, and it is hereby resolved. That his name be erased from the roll of membership ; and we record our sense of the unscriptural course our brother has taken in absenting himself from the fellowship of tjie church because of an alleged grievance, before making the matter known to the church.' " — Carried. I would here utate most emphatically, (hat prior to Mr. Scott absenting Iiini,s»^H" Iron! the communion, and thnn hy his own net leaving tL.' church, he had nevrr, either at the DoaconH* monthly official nieetingH or at any of the meetings of the churcli, business or otherwise, complained of any act or word of any of the members of the church toward liimself ; (at every monthly busi- ness meeting any member is at liberty to bring up any matter or cause affecting the interests or welfare of the church). It is becoming too common a practice in all our churches, whenever a member takes offence, real or imaginary, in.stead of obeying Christ's law of offences (see Matt, xviii, 15), to leave the worship in the hope that they may evade this law by violating another, (Heb. x, 25,) and compel the church to take up their case. It is time the churches take a stand in all their members to understand that thei/ must Jirst return such cases. giving ind do their dutij before any of their complaints can be heard {Mr. Scott's Pavif/tlet.p.j.) Aware that very few of their number knew anything at all of tJie facts in this case, I wrote the church a letter earnestly protest- ing against what had been done in their name, by these few indi- viduals, requesting the withdrawal of the resolution of exchision, because of its severe injustice, and because the action was wrong and totally contrary to the established usages of either Baptist or other churches. But this letter pleading for right against wrong ; plead- ing for justice against injustice ; pleading with Christian men and women for fair, honorable Christian treatment, was never permitted to be read to the church. They never saw it; they never heard it, for it was suppressed and kept back from them by another arbitrary act on the part of the two or three individuals above referred to. MiN'jTE, Monthly Church Meeting, Sept 30,1870. " With reference to the letter received from S. B. Scott, the Deacons reported through the chairman, that this letter complaining of the action of the church in his case, having bet'n refer- red to them for consideration J and the various points in the letter having been maturely considered, they do not see that the reasons given therein call for the reversal of the previous action of the church in the case. The report was adopted." The Deacons were a unit in this report. Had 3Ir. Scott written to say that he was sorry to find that the church had misunder- stood his intentions as shewn by his con- tinued absence, — and that he was desirous of returning to its fellowship, and expressed a wish to be restored, — the report would have been different. I I am informed by the " former pastor " " that before and after Mr. Scott " withdrew from his place in the church, he (Mr. A.) as his pastor, reasoned "with him till he left Mr. A. to understand that neither deputations nor " private interviews could be of any avail — for he had no concessions to " make; that, in fact, unless the church took his view of the case, and was " willing to acknowledge that he had all along been in the right, negotiations " were useless, and must be fruitless." 5 After a lapse of twenty-one months, during which time Mr. Scott had done all in his power to injure the reputation of the body by pouring into the ear of every one who would listen to him, at home and abroad, the tale of his nv.^rpu,5ed wrongs, and insulting grievously some of its members by attributing the basest of motives to those who had shewn him acts of kindness. So deeply did they pity his self-torture and mental flagellation, that they were willing to forgive and forget, all the injuries he had done to them, pro- vided he would do the same as regards his supposed wrong, knowing that he still persisted in misunderstanding the views and feelings of the church towards himself, notwithstanding the repeated expressions of their kindly feelings and good-will; and feeling assured that if there was to be any peace and harmony in the proposed re-union, it could only be in fully car- rying out and accepting truly the spirit of the followintr Resolution, passed February 2, 1872:— Hesolved, — "That tliis church, deeply regretting the misunderstiJiding which has existed between itneltand Mr. Scott, resulting in tlie erasnro of his nam*! and the alienation of his family from the church, desires that said misunderstanding may be mutually forgiven and forgotten, and extends to each of them a cordial invitation to return." In examining the Resolutions of April Ist, 1870, and May 13th, 1870, and comparing them with the above, i find a wonderful persistence in the "body "of the same kindly feeling, and (April 1st,) the same "cordial invitation to return," his "erroneous impressions" concerning them, hit misunderstanding their views md feelings towards himself causing his ^. .^„^.^. ,,w..ov.. v.»^....p ^.. per- sistent withdrawal from the church "resulting in the erasure of his name," performed under a sense of "painful duty." The duty being " painful" shewing that the causes that necessitated the duty were then " deeply regretr ted." It will also be observed that it was the "misunderstanding" that was " regretted," — resulting in the duty done (the erasure) and not the duty per- formed ; — the church saying to Mr. Scott, " We deeply regret that you should have misunderstood our kind feelings and wishes towards yourself, and we deeply regret if we have misunderstood your conduct in leaving our fellowship and persistently refusing to return, which resulted in the erasure," &c. The assumption by Mr. Scott (while having the minutes of May 13th, 1870, in his possession,) that "it is fair to presume that the misunderstand- ing is entirely on their part" evinces a lack of perception difficult to com- prehend. Fearing that Mr. Scott would misunderstand this resolution, Dea. - and the seconder were, at this meeting, requested to wait on Mr. S. and explain to him what course the church desired him to take, and the result proved the correctness of the fear ; as the Pastor to whom he shewed his letter of reply prior to sending it, assured him that the conditions contained therein could not possibly be complied with ; if he meant to return, it was useless sending such a letter. 6 {Mr. Scott's Pam/>ltl,-t, f- S) Tho conditions of thiH ri'solutioti wtTL' thankfully acct^pted, and an cxproHKion of thiH feeling with our intention of icturninK was accord- ingly communicated to the church, l)y a letter presented at their next church meeting ; and we expected to return, for ive believed the church were in earnest, that they really meant what they said to us. Still, when this invitation is accepted, thankfully accepted in the kindly spirit in which it ap- pears to be given, he is rejected. So far from " this rcsolutiou bcinjr thank- fully accepted,"' the letter of reply shewed that he had totally misapprehended its im- port; the letter contaiuintr conditions which must be complied with before ho would re- turn ; insisting on the rescinding of the minutes of May 13th, 1870 — thus requiring the church to confess to all that their action had been wrong, and thus prove the truth- fulness of all Mr. Scott's injurious state- ments against them : nor did it contain any intimation that he was willing, and would bury the past. The fact that Mr. Scott did not return and take his place in the church during the four weeks that intervened between February 2nd and March 1st, proves that he did not accept and wmph/ with the invitation at once, but awaited some further action at the next church meeting. As Mr. Scott has tried to illustrate the case from his standpoint, by supposing a case of father and son, allow me also to illustrate from another standpoint. An excellent Christian man becomes possessed with a species of insanity called Jealousy ; every act of his wife is misunderstood ; he imag- ines she is under the control of a certain " rich man" ; he leaves her; after months of absence and his persistent refusal to return, she is compelled to acknowledge the fact that he has left her, and will not return ; he stays away for nearly two years, continually traducing her character ; notwitli- standinti' all this, her heart yearns for re-union ; she invites him to bury all misunderstandings and return. He says, " Yes, if you will confess your uuilt." She replies, " How can I do this, and admit that all you have said against my character is true, when it is not ? no, rather than this, I must still bear with the separation." Minute, March Ist, 1872. Resolved, " That we beg to inform Mr, Scott, that he has misapprehended the import of our last communication to himself and his family, iind we now beg to inform him that our intention was and now is to invite him to ask for restoration to the fellowship of the church, with the earnest wish that such asking may result iu such restoration." In reply to this, the following letter was received and read at the monthly meeting, April 5th, 1872, shewing that the temper and spirit of Mr. Scott was still unchanged, and that the solicitation to " forgive and forget" was repudiated. « There are facts in connection with this matter which, I am sure, are not gen- erally understood, and which I believe it to be of great importance that every member of the church should know. These are— That I have been excluded from the church upon accusations "hich I never saw or heard of until my exclusion ; that no charges K whutrvei wtTf made by tlic churih Rguinst me before my exchiHiou ; that the chargiH in the vHoliition upon which my eicliii ion is baHod, and which I never saw until after my exiluHion, are not true ; tliat legs than twelve ont of the tJien large nu'mber- Hhip of the churi-h voted for my excluHion ; that Hoon after my exclusion I wrote a letter to the church, making a full statement of the above facte — requenting the witlulmwal of thi- reHolntion for the reasons above stated, and requesting also an impartial investigation of this extraordinary action on the part of a few members of the church ; that this reasonable request was not only den'ed me, but the letter con- taining it and tlie stiittments abcjve reftsrred to was never even read to the church — and that the chun h has been kept in the dark in relation to these incomprehensible facts. These, I am aware, are serious ( liarges, and I may be allowed to suggest that a failure on the part of the church to disprove them by an impartial investigation rannot full of l>i'ing regarded as conclusive evidence of their being correct." (Signed,) S. B. SCOTT. f, (Mr. Scott's rmnphUt,/'. 4.) Surely these men must have felt, as most undouhledbf they //'.v riiiii/>lil,t, !■ /.I Thcfxclnsioiiof u mt'iuln r fioiii iiCliristian ilinicli is indoccl i\j'Mt- Jul thing, iiTui midor the ciroum- staiU'cK \\'\i\\ which this ciisu is surrounded, it seems to me to he terrible. By the act of exclusion, a member is put out of the vhurch back into tJie worUl, and thus de- clared to he unfit to associate with Christian people. By the act of exclusion, a memljir is depriveil of the benefits, the privil;jres, and the ordinances of God's liouso. This act is regarded by the; com- munity as an evidcince that the member has bet>n guilty of some crime or some act decidedly and unquestionably bad. Indeed, no matter how great may be the crim>- committed, or liow deep may be the guilt of an indivi hull, the extreme extent of the ability of a church to do harm, or to destroy character and reputation, is the act of exclusion. A church is in- capable of doing anything worst' to one of their number, no matter how bad he may be, and hence the correctness and the justice of the universal belief that exclusion is in no case whatever, either justifi- able or excusable, except in cases of the clearest proof, and the most undoubted and positive evidence of guilty conduct. 4th, The pronencss for sell'-inflictod incii- (al torture— tlic '• loarful " and •• tt irible "" eit'eets ol' uuaL;inary ^riovaiic-es, — is fully seen in the miud tliut could write the oppo- site extract. Every seut^ible man knows that the odium ol' excli- ;ion !rom a church depends cntiirlij on tht; moral character of the act for which it is done. A Presbyte- rian becomos a Methodist, and leaves the b( Jy ; his name is tra.scd from their roll; no odium there. In Mr. Scott's case, so carei'ul was the church of his feelintis, that tliey defjarted from their usual practice, aud in the act of erasure, there is a certificate !j;iven him of their hii;h opinion of his Chris- tian character ; to wliich certificate audits effects Mr. Scott is entirely oblivious. When a member is cut off for moral guilt or loss of Christian character, he is excluded ; but when he leaves the church and will not return, his name is cniKed from the roll. While an exclusion may be the worst that can be done, it may also be the least. [M,: Sco.U's l\iiiif>!iUi, p. /o.) A threat to leave the church, if his rule was being opposed, has been the usual and prevailing ar- gument by which submission on the part of tlie church has been gained ; indeed, so prevalent has been the fear of this threat being put into execution, that the former pastor of the church found it ne- cessary to caution other membi^rs "to be careful and tender of this individual, or he would leave the church, and the church would lose hit money." and the church would lose his 5th. Being persuaded that the statement in the opposite extract must be incorrect, and another of his " misunderstandings," never having heard such a "threat," I wrote to the '> former Pastor" to obtain his au- tliority to deny it, //' incorrect, and received the following reply ; — Oct 13th, 1878. •• In reference to Mr. Scott's statement, ' So prevalent has been the fear of this threat, etc., that the former Pastor of the church fouud it necessary to caution other mem- bers, to be careful and tender of this individual, or he would leave the church money.' T beg to say. that if th(! 'former 11 Pastor" refers to mc. 1 do most emphatically and indi?;nantly deny ever havins; used such language, or said anything to the effect of Mr. Scott's words. I have glanced over the pamphlet, and such a tissue of misreprssent- ations I don't think I ever before read. The most charitable construction I can put on Mr. Scott's conduct is, that on the subject on which the pamphlet treats, he is a mono-maniac." Signed, John Alexander. (,1/r. Scott's Painplilri, />. 10.) These dissensions and ditfitul- ties, 80 fatal to any real progress among the Baptists of this city, are chargeable to a vei few indi- viduals, and most undoubtedly mainly with one. Here, and here only, is believed to be the answer to the question, a thousand times repeated — " Why are the Baptists of Montreal con- tinually in contentions?" Hth. On (MKiuiry as to the facts of " real progresa " during the period these dissensions and difficulties arc said to have occurred while under the administratioii of the "for- mer pastor," I find that period to have been the most prosperous of any of the church's history, there having been admitted to its membership o/or 400 during seven and one- half years; and in Sept. 1869, this one indi- vidual, with ten others, (embracing nearly all of those whom Mr. Scott supposed were hostile to him at that time) left to form another body, with the cordial co-operation of the mother church ; they have since increased to 134, and raised ^ Sabbath School of 500 ; and so prosperous are they that they have subscribed over 835,000 to build a new place of worship. The J'irst Church have recently raised and expended on their hous(^ about $3000, — while the two churches, in addition, raised last year, for church and benevolent pur- poses, $11,500. About five years ago, tliis body of Christians had only one pastor — salary $1 500 ; now they have three, the salary of two ^2,000 each. In the First Church there is a serious difficulty, the difficulty of obtaining a desirable pew for any new-comer ; and the Sabbath School has nearly doubled since Mr. Scutt loft it. These results are nsmdly the fruits of unity, and not of dissension. Knowing the Baptists of Montreal fully as well as Mr. Scott, I can truly say that so lar from their being '■ continually in contentions," that for the past eighteen years I do not know of a single case of " dii^sension," nor of any difficult^' that was not easily settled by the rule. Matt. 18 : 15, except in Mr. Scott's case ; even here there was unaminity, (see Meeting, April 12th, 1872); so that if any of the churches of this city enjoy more peace and iiarmony, they must be happy indeed. 7th. I have submitted the proof sheets of this pan)phlet to the " former pastor," and several parties most conversant with the facts and minutes therein contained, in order that I might be fully assured of the positive accuracy of every statement. In conclusion, allow me to state that, believing as I do that Mr. Scott firmly believes in the truthfulness of his statements, that he does not intend to deceive, and tb t he is as sincere in imaginintr he is doing right in the publication of thewj statements, as Saul was when he persecuted the church of f 12 Ood, — in his self-inflicted mental torture, — in the putting away from him his dearest friends and esteeming them his enemies, for no other reason than that they dared to suggest the possibility that he might be mistaken, and differ from him in the correctness of his cou-se in lea ring the clinrch, — he deserves our deepest sympathy and commiseration. If Mr. Scott wishes to verify the correctness of the various minutes herein quoted, I shall be happy to prove them to any one he may appoint. Having thus, by placing the statements of Mr. Scott in his pamphlet respecting the acts of this " body of Christians" opposite the record of the acts themselves, shewing what reliance we can place upon his statements, I can safely conclude that any statements he mni/ make, will be equally unreliable ; and shall not. therefore, pay any attenticm to them. I think I have fully shewn that, notwithstanding I have a high ''opinion" of Mr. Scott's Christian character, a full recognition of his indefatigable and zealous labors in our Society, the Canada Sunday School Union, and on every other subject would have full confidence in his statements, yet on this subject I would no more take them than I would the statements of a jealous husband respecting his Avife ; and I deeply regret to say that I have as little hope of the one listening to reason as the other. WM. MUIR. Montreal, October, 1873.