Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1847-10-28
MEMORIAL OF BlsH. oNDERDoNK

MEMORIAL OF BlSH. ONDERD0Nk.
The following is given in the New York
Commercial as the substance (the original
being somewhat abridged) Of the memorial
sent into the Episcopal Convention in New
York on the 18th:
To THE BlsHoPs, CLERGY AND LAITY, sc.
The undersigned, the Bishop Of this do
cese, presents TO your venerable body the fol-
lowing memorial:
II is known to your venerable cody that your
memorialisf was, on the third day of January
1916, declared by Court Of Bishops, organ
lied under canon, &C., suspended from all
exercise Of the Episcopal and ministerial func-
tons, and the same has been published with
the evidence before the Court.
The undersigned is firmly persuaded that
the sentence passed upon him was not justi-
fed by the law Of the Church, and the priva-
tons and sufferings he has since undergone
in consequence thereof are at variance with
the principles which lie at the foundation of
the rights and liberties of American citizens,
and those by which the Protestant Episcopal
Church was first delivered OF unjust, illegal
and tyrannical proceedings.
Your memorialist appeals for relief to your
ceedings under the supposed sanction of the
law as well as protection against persecu-
tons contrary to the law.
Your memorialist. without adverting more
particularly to The grounds on which he claims
relief, would say that this concerns every min
lister and Bishop in the Church as much as it
concerns himself
Your memorialist objects to the sentence
declared against him on the following grounds.
The ca.ons Of the Church clearly distinguish
between suspension and deposition. The for
mer therefore cannot be made parallel with
the latter, or in any way equal TO it.-Between
the two, as punlshments, there is, according
TO the plain Interpretation of words, an essen
tal difference
BY the same law which suspends Bishop,
it is expressly declared that no deposed Bish
op can, &c-(See canon.)
Suspension then cannot deprive minister
or Bishop of the right to restoration, except
upon the principle that the sentence of sus-
pension defines the kind of degree. But the
sentence passed upon your memorialst does
in fact deprive him Of that right
There is no power appointed by law TO ter
inmate sentence of suspension, and if such
sentence does not contain within itself limit,
il is passed contrary to law, or al least is inde-
pendent of law, and is therefore null and void.
Such course has tendency to tyranny and
oppression.
Under such an illegal sentence your memo
rialist is now suffering reproach and afflic-
ton, and he appears to the supreme coun-
Gil of the Church for relief from the wrong.
In calling the attention of your venerable
body to these facts he will not affect to be in
dependent of personal, social and domestic
considerations, and the remembrance Of many
years of faithful services spent among his
brethren of the diocese and of the Church.
But still deeper in the solicitude with which
the question fills him for the cause Of truth
and Justice, and the interests and the high po-
sition Of the Church of Christ. Others will
now Judge of our character, of our Difference
to law and order, and the rights and liberties
of all classes of American citizens.
Nor will they forget that we profess to be a
Protestant Church. iostered under the free in
situations of the North American Republic.
Your rnemofialist wishes 10 be understood
as casting no reflection upon those who pass
ed the illegal sentence upon him, except as
regards error of Judgement and it is well
known that this may co exist with general in
tellrgence.
The questioning of the legality of the pro-
ceedings he regards as the right Of every
Christian freeman, and in the discharge Of
that right and duty he throws himself upon
your venerable body, trusting that you may
be guided in your judgement by the Holy
Spirit of wisdom and understanding, and
counsel and decide in the fear of God and
your memorialist, &c.,
[Signed] BENJAMIN J. ONDERDoNK.