South Congregational Church history and catalogue, 1852–1865 · scan page 125

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THE    EX-PARTE   COUNCIL.  115
we  are  an  Independent  Congregational  Church,  neither
associated  nor  consociated,  and  as  an  independent  Church,
wliicli  we  ai"e  and  always  have  been,  we  are  in  this  case  no
more  amenable  to  this  Council,  nncalled  by  us,  than  a
IJaptist,  Methodist,  or  Episcopal  Church  would  be.  And
the  same  obtains  in  the  case  of  our  minister.  Rev.  Mr.
Carroll.  He  is  not  a  member  of  the  Association  or  Con-
sociation ;  but  an  Old  School  Presbyterian  clergyman,
"responsible"  to  his  own  brethren,  and  none  other, — an
ecclesiastical  body  which  we  regard  as  entirely  "  evangeli-
cal." Did  both  Church  and  minister,  or  either  of  them,
call  and  ask  advice  from  this  Council  %  Neither  did.  We
neither  asked  advice,  nor  needed  it ;  for,  the  greater  part  of
the  minority  having  absented  themselves  from  our  services
for  some  time  past,  we  have  been  during  this  period  a  united
and  prosperous  Church, — have  had  no  difficulties  to  harmo-
nize, no  grievances  to  complain  of.
The  vote  of  sixty-one  members  ratifying  the  action  of
the  Standing  Committee  in  declining  even  to  become  par-
ties to  this  Council,  was  unanimous. — This  being  so,  by
what  authority  has  this  Council,  representing  twelve  out  of
two  hundred  and  twenty-two  Consociated  Churches  in  this
State,  arraigned,  tried,  condemned,  and  attempted  to  "  ex-
communicate" us?  "Who  made  them  judges  and  rulers
over  us,  an  independent  Church,  and  over  our  minister,  who
belongs  to  another  denomination  ?  It  is  simply  imperti-
nence and  usurpation.
"  The  right  of  obtaining  advice  from  neighbor  Churches
through  an  Ex-par  to  Council  in  conformity  with  a  reasonable
and  long  established  usage  of  the  New  England  Churches,
cannot  be  disputed."  We  do  not  dispute  it.  But  when
called  upon  by  others  to  advise  them,  (which  advice  was
conveyed  in  a  single  sentence,)  we  do  deny  that  it  was
either  necessary  or  right  for  the  Council,  upon  a  whole
Church,  a  Church  over  which  they  had  no  jurisdiction,  and
u])on  Ex-parte  statements,  to  pronounce  anathemas,  and
even  attempt  to  assassinate  the  character  of  its  minister.
And  however  nmch  "in  conformity  with  a  reasonable  (!)
and  long  established  usage  of  the  New  England  Churches,"
it   is   in    manifest   no«-conformity   with   simple   Christian

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Silent Grounds Collective, Church Burial & Death Records, CH-P004-0125. South Congregational Church history and catalogue, 1852–1865, printed page not verified, PDF page 125. Hallock, Gerard, 1800-1866; digitized copy contributed by University of California Libraries https://archive.org/details/historyofsouthco00hall/page/n129/mode/1up Accessed September 8, 2026.

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