LETTER OF
The GOSPEL TRUTH CHARLES G. FINNEY
1871
To Philo Carpenter
4 November 1871
[MS in the Finney Papers, microfilm, roll 6, #2138.]
Finney received the following letter from Charles A. Blanchard:
Wheaton Oct. 27. 1871
Rev. C. G. Finney
My dear brother,
Philo Carpenter, Esq. has
to day read to my father and myself a letter
from you wherein you "bitterly and personally" re-
proach the Editor of the Cynosure, and remark
that the Cynosure must be reformed before it can
reform others. Along with this rather insulting re-
mark, comes an insinuation, that, under other
hands the paper could accomplish much more
for the cause.
On account of this letter I beg leave to
call your attention to a few facts: and first,
That when the secret lodges were undermining
the liberties of Americans, and the religion of
Christ, the alarm was not sounded from Oberlin
but from Illinois. It is true that Clark, Burrell,
Cross, Morgan and other brethren, and above all
yourself have done noble work, but this does not
alter the fact that organized opposition to the
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secret orders commenced west of Ohio. and second,
That when the paper was called for Oberlin was
asked, by one of its Professors to lead the movement
and take the paper but Oberlin declined, the Prof.
writing that "we shall resign that honor to Wheat-
on: and third,
That the paper has lived and grown in spite
of the world, the flesh and the devil, to a
circulation of over five thousand, receiving the
heartfelt "God-speeds" of the same kind of men
who were the first to follow you to Christ, and
the opposition, secret or open, of the same sort of
D.D.'s, and Profs. who threw their whole weight
against Finney and Holiness and God, and fourth
That when the open enemies are beginning
to give way; when the denominational papers
have been compelled to say a little for God's
own truth; when the secular papers are begin-
ning to throw off the muzzles of secretism;
and finally when a great misfortune should
have stilled the tongue and stopped the pen
of slander, of envy or of malice: The man
who has kept the fires burning when his
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brethren were asleep; who started the paper
they lacked strength or courage to start, this
man is struck, and struck in the dark,
and in the back by a brother in Christ!
If you believe one half that you have said
in the letter referred to, you have sinned in not
warning in the spirit of Christ your brother who
was going wrong. But at such a time, in such a
way, to attack a paper which has contended as
best it could for principles you profess to love; to
seek to draw it from the one who started [it] to a place
or able
where there is no one who has been willing ^ to
take any responsibility for it, and to seek to put
it into the care of strangers; this is past belief.
Did I not know you[r] earnest work for the Mas-
ter; your long and faithful fight with sin; your
elevated christian character, I should say that
the author of such a letter was a trickster and
a coward. Nor can I now think that my own
C. G. Finney, whose name I have reverenced sin[ce]
I breathed prairie air, could have written such
a letter unless he had been (unconsciously) in-
fluenced by a small ambitious spirit, which
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seeks to obtain from strangers a place for
which his best friends most thoroughly
know his complete unfitness.
It seems to me that a confession is
due from yourself to Prest. Blanchard and
also a Christian reproof if you think him
to be wrong. Hoping and knowing that
you will put this matter, before Him who
has so abundantly blessed your labors and
that we may both be drawn nearer to Him by this affliction
I am your servant in Christ Jesus
C. A. Blanchard
Finney replied to this letter on 2 November, and then sent Blanchard's letter to Philo Carpenter with the following endorsement at the end:
Dear Br. Carpenter. I have just recd this
letter & have replied to it. In my
reply I said I would send the above to
you for your judgment whether I deserved
it. I hope you will be frank & say I do deserve
the castigation form this young man if you
think so. He may show you my reply.
It never occurred to me me as possible that any one
could suspect me of seeking to sustain any other
relation to the paper than I have done. C. G. Finney
[Along the left hand margin]
Please return this after
reading it
This endorsement was subsequently crossed out by Finney, who received the following letter from Carpenter:
[MS in Finney Papers, microfilm, roll 6, #2140]
Aurora Nov 8th 1871
Pres Finney
My dear Sir
Yours of the 4th was duly
recd with C A Blanchards letter & your reply.
I regret that I have given you trouble & anxiety
in allowing Br. B & son to know the contents of a
private & friendly letter from yourself, dictated
in the kindest spirit & expressing my own
views, & I doubt not the views of a great
number of Br Bs warmest friends. In the
simplicity of my heart I thought that your
frank & kind letter would have a good influence
on father & Son, and stopped, in reading
the letter, to say Now Br B you are not to betray
private
confidence, in my showing you thisletter,
from our mutual friend. But the young
Mans letter to you is a gross extravagance,
a Blanchard freak, and I shall tell him
that he owes you no slight apology.&emdash; I have
entertained a high opinion of Mr C.A.Bs ability
& goodness of heart, & have hoped very much
from his labors, & still hope, he is more popular
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with an audience than his father, generally
I think, more cool & deliberaly , & many think
less objectionable in the use of language, &
possessing greater power to hold an audience
than most men of his age, and after all I
am not without hope that your letter will have
a salutary influence, Your views are
entertained by nearly every member, if not all,
of the ex committee, but I think have not been
as freely expressed to the Pres as they should have
been. The paper is again out in a small form,
and I hope for its continuance & improvement.
I have had Mr. C A Blanchard,s letter to you & your
reply copied, and also your letter to me, calling out
the correspondence,- and which I returne to you
with Mr Bs as you request.
If I have erred in this thing, it has been on
the side of charity, and you will please
pardon me.
Yours with great esteem
Philo Carpenter
Footnotes:
See Finney to Philo Carpenter, October 25, 1871, Finney Papers, Microfilm, roll 6, #2136.
The date here seems to be when Finney sent off his note on Blanchard's letter to Philo Carpenter.
Carpenter had intended to write "deliberate" here.
Written thus.