| OCR Text |
Show THE RELIGIOUS WAR. 271 a solemn assembly of the Church he was put upon trial for slander, convicted, and in the presence of his weeping family dismissed, not only from his pulpit but from the Church. "To the eye of flesh the good elder was lost, but the eye of faith saw further into the millstone. He was cast down, but not dismayed; discomfited, but not conquered. He bent before the storm, but did not break. His enemies boasted of their victory, and taunted him in his distress. He went on in the even tenor of his way, and devoted himself to making friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness. They did not dream of the resources of one possessed of such unfaltering faith as he had. They forgot, if indeed they had ever known the proverb, ' Pride goeth. before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.' " The good elder had taken the precaution to appeal or move for a new trial, and before the momentous day for that had arrived, he was prepared. He had laid their grievances before the sinners of Canon City, and they were in the Church in force, determined to see fair play. "After the usual formalities it came to a vote, and the sinners voted him back into the church and pulpit, his most active prosecutors were censured and suspended until they .should repent and ask the good man's pardon, which they never did; when the elder, to heap coals of fire on their heads, introduced an organ into the church. This caused further defections, and in the spring of 1868 all but four of the original families who entered Canon in 1864 sold out and removed to Missouri, and the land had rest till now. "In the summer of 1867 Bishop Randall of the Epis- |
