Rare Book Monthly
Articles - October - 2003 Issue
The Doctrine of Caiaphas by Rev. David Murdoch D.D.
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My great anxiety has been, and still is, that your good name and great renown as a minister and citizen, should never suffer, or be in the least tarnished by any unwise step of either yourself or your friends, particularly of the latter. I have watched this matter more closely, deliberated upon it with more prayer and anxiety, than any one subject that has ever occupied my mind from the day of my birth; and all these watchings and prayers, any my deliberate conclusions, have been far more with reference to your happiness and prosperity, and future usefulness and tranquility, than the result to the church, or the gratification of malcontents. An honest difference of opinion may be tolerated, I think, and yet be no cause for disruption of friendly relations. Our views may be diverse, and probably are, yet both be honest and sincere; and I know you would despise any man who would flatter you to the face, and then backbite you. I therefore beg to express my opinion plainly and sincerely, after great deliberation; and though we may be antipodes, yet I ask you to believe me honest, though you judge me unwise. The high position, advanced age, and other circumstances mentioned by you, are all acknowledged, and have long been considered, and they constitute a serious item for adjustment. I cannot but believe, however, that the fears of reverse, expressed by you in that particular, are groundless.
For nearly nine years we have encountered the fierce hostility of a FACTION which has never ceased, but has actually, though almost imperceptibly, been steadily increasing. The seeds of discontent, heretofore sown, are now producing their legitimate fruits. At every trial of strength, to be sure, we have thus far been victorious, but have never subdued them, and nothing is clearer to my mind that that we never shall. They will triumph sooner or later, it being a question of time merely. If they are to succeed at all, then, even though it be one or two years hence, what would two more years of anguish, strife and turmoil avail, but to mark more deeply the furrows of time and harrowing perplexity upon your brow and upon mine, and be shoved off at the last. It seems to me folly to protract a warfare, though we be right, where there is no prospect even the most distant, of its termination or our success. From the signs of the times, and all the information I can gain, I am led most seriously to doubt whether we could rally force sufficient to carry the day in another trial; and that trial, I am fully satisfied, will come before long.
The feeling of discouragement and discontent, existing on account of the unhappy and divided state of feeling in the church, rests like a pall upon the congregation, and they have, I think to quite an extent, made up their minds to yield. The incessant din of these opponents has had the effect, in a measure, to paralyze the appreciation of the congregation, and your most brilliant efforts fail to be appreciated, except by a few. Our Savior’s injunction was, “Cast not your pearls before swine,” and in view of it, I feel as though every consideration of interest, self-respect, and your future good, pointed to the dissolution of the pastoral relation with them. I am aware of the ties of attachment and friendship which have twined themselves around your heart, and which would be sundered, and the pain and grief you, your family, myself and many others, would suffer on their being sundered. You may say you will continue to stem the tide, if your friends will stand by you. That, in my opinion, will weaken rather than strengthen us, as every succeeding ebb and flow the billows gather increasing strength. Public opinion, like fashion, is impulsive and restless.
