The Discussion at Rochester Colony, Mich.
By D. W. Emerson
BRO. SMITH: Having been shown an article sent to the REVIEW Office by Eld. R. Faurot, which is intended as a reply to Eld. Cornell’s report of the discussion at Rochester Colony, in REVIEW, No. 18, in which article Eld. Faurot seems to accuse Eld. Cornell of dishonesty, &c., and as I heard the whole of the discussion, and think I occupied a position at that time to judge impartially, I must say that his reply to Eld. C. shows the same lack of Christian spirit that he, Eld. F., manifested throughout the discussion. This was particularly noticed and commented upon by every one not decidedly prejudiced in his favor; and whenever the mild, pleasant, and Christian-like spirit which was manifested by Eld. C. was spoken of by outsiders in the presence of his brethren, the reply invariably was, “Oh! well, Eld. Cornell only put that on for effect; he would have been as bad as Faurot if he had dared to be.” After the acquaintance I have had with Eld. Faurot, and the course pursued by him, I can form but one conclusion, and that is, that he rushed into the discussion blindly and got most completely defeated, and now feels that he has learned something and could perhaps do better next time. But the best thing he can do, in my opinion, is to leave it where it is. If he is so extremely anxious for further discussion, why did he point-blank refuse to discuss either of the four propositions submitted by Eld. C. at the last session of the debate? In regard to the claim which he sets up that his friends think Eld. C. has misrepresented him, meaning, of course, his brethren, I do not consider them the proper ones to decide the matter; for if it is ascertained that a man has prejudged a case, that fact is sufficient to exclude that man from acting as a juror in the case; but the impartial portion of the community, so far as I have heard from them, have given their decision in favor of Eld. C.; and it looks to me that the more Eld. F. agitates the matter, the lower he will fall in the estimation of a discerning and intelligent community. After laboring two evenings to prove that Christ’s kingdom is already set up on the earth, and that the church is the door to that kingdom, in his last speech of the debate, in order, as he doubtless thought, to give Eld. C. a finishing blow, he stated that that kingdom could never be inhabited by flesh and blood neither in this world or the next. And finally in the first two speeches the last evening, he used language which disgusted the larger portion of the audience; and it is hard telling where he would have been driven in that direction, for want of argument, if the moderator had not called him to order. In regard to the statement that he could not fill up his time except by exhortation or poetry, it was currently reported as coming from some of the most prominent members of the Disciple church, and was never contradicted to my knowledge. Besides it is a fact that he did so fill a very large portion of the time especially on the kingdom question, which was very good proof to every one that the report was true. I think his reply to Eld. C.’s report is too decidedly one-sided to require further notice from any one.
D. W. Emerson, M. D.