The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1874-05-14
communication from DR.. Harris.


10 Tie Edit0r Of tic Globe Il find in
your issue of this morning the following
items "The Middlebury Register learns in
reference to the ecclesiastical court, held
at Rutland last week, = on the appeal of
Edward /. Temple and Benz amin III. Burt,
from the decision of the Rev. DIR. Harris,
rector of Trinity church, that the board re-
verscd the rector's decision, relnstatcd to
the Holy Communion the suspended mem
bers without condition, and censurcd the
rector for not referring the matter to the
Bishop, instead of assuming to suspend
them
Tie Registers informant must have been
either ignorant of the facts in the case or
malciously disposed to misrepresent them,
for there are several grave errors in the
above statement. In the first place, there
was no reversal of the rector's decision by
any "Joard" whatsoever. The "ecclesasti
cal court was simply the Right Rev. the
Bishop of the Diocese, who had sole and
complete jurisdiction in the matter of the
appeal. He did, indeed, call in several
clcrgymen and one layman to advise him
in the matter. but the final decision was
his, and not that of any board. After
advising with his co-assessors he did see fit
to restore the appellants to the Holy Com
munion "without condition. The exact
language, in which he ''censured the rec
!,v'' = .11A,.a I,.,-n M .lnt,lt t,ai
the rector of Trinity church misjudged IN
attempting to decide a question. in which
he was personally interested. inasmuch
as the charge accused him of falsehool.
We hold, however, that he is in some degree
to be executed ON the ground which he al
lcges viz. that he sought through such re-
pusion to obtain Il formal judgement OF
this charge" SO far as | am here ''cen-
sured, | submit without argument or cril-
cism. II will I've perceived, however, that
nothing is here said about my mot refer
ring the matter TO the Bishop" in the first
instance. "instead Of assuming to suspend
thepaylrs myself | am. in fact, nowhere
said to have exceeded my authority in sus-
pending these persons. According to the
law of the church. no one has any authori-
" to suspend communicate from the
Holy Communion crceDt the Rector. The
Bishop himself has no jurisdiction in the
matter. until the Rector has suspended and
the suspended party has appealed to the
Bishop for redress This right of appeal to
the Bishopaud the obligation of the Bishop
to investigate, when such an appeal is
made, constitute an ample protection of
every communicate from any unjust repu-
sion Of him by his rector. "a formal judy
menl of the charge of .alschood was pre-
ciscly what | sought to obtain through the
ropulsion OF certain parties from the Holy
Communion, this being the only way in
which could secure an investigation. The
! NeyiSier's informant speaks of 'reierring
the matter to the Bishop There is no
way provided by winch rector can cite
an offending communicate before the
Bishop OIL any other tribunal. 10 the rec
tor alone 1t belongs to initiate all discipline,
but when he has initiated it. ample pro-
vision Is made for its proper and Just fur
therancc.
The facts in this case are as follows ::
Certain COMMITMENTS. both insidiously
and openly accuse the rector Of falsehood,
to the injury of his influence with his con-
gregaion, and to the discredit Of his holy
Office; the canons Of the church provide 4
way in which minister shall he presented
for trial. il he he guilty of any such i'm
morality these persons, however, neg
lect to employ this method; the rector for
bears, until tOrbearance becomes either Il
confession of weakness or evidence of
careless regard for his own reputation, and
for the credit of the ministry; unable him
self TO bring the offending parties before
any tribunal for a formal hearing of these
charges. he does the only thing which he
can do, viz: put the parties where they
are Themselves obliged TO appeal for hear
ING, or be deprived Of privileges which
they profess to value, and which he Judges
them to have Justly forfeited the hearing
is had the rector is entirely eXonerated
from ali charges brought against him the
offending parties are ccnsured, but are re-
stored to the holy communion, apparently
upon the technical ground that ''the rector
misiudged in attempting to decide question
in which he was personally interested.
had hoped that this matter might have
been kept out of our local journals at least
But as the members of my own parish an(
the community in which am set to do my
work as Il minister Of Christs church, have
had a garbled and false statement put be
fore them, feel compelled to correct TIN
error in this manner, and thank you fo
your courtesy in permitting me so to do n
this length. VIM j. HARRIS,
Rutland, May IS, 1874.
o. Es,r IyrsoI n.