Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-03-21

preaeh in Atlanta tomorrow ana Will re-
neat the substance of the letter IN the
course or mis- sermon. The decision OF
Bishop Beckwith in the Armstrong case
having given much dissa'is. action IN
Atlanta, it is not improbable mat TINS le'-
ter from Rev. Mr.. Williams VIII nave
beneficial effect
ST. PArL's CHrRCH.
ArGrsrA, GA. March j., lss5.i
My DEAR M. --; am gao you lel' 'l,@ -
sou could write 20 me as frankly ~ you nave
IN your letter % March s. winch reeve ' "a
this morning. ia can oe OF any ne T., 70 9Ou
IN your ANTIQUITIES believe me " WILL DC
privilege and no trouble at a ID. A. uhuef-
sta.f rYfl~ ,.l-tian. Is Is Fubstanti ally TINS:
First 1ou lei eve the bi-hnps sentence
upon Or. Armstrong 70 be unjust, -.
second Believing . 10 be UNJUST the bish-
OPS action has omJittered you toward MIN
Third. j n consequence OF this feeling Of per
eoual bitterness Ia you would be unwilling 70
receive the hoiv communion at his hands: b.
and not being ina Glove and charity" with him
you cannot 20 TO communion at all
Fourth. The only course. therefore, winch
seems open fer you Is to withdraw irom the
communion Of the church altogether.
Fifth. One other consideration leads you up
TO the same conc usiOu, VIZ; ou lcei iual IL
you remain 10 the church you are thereby IN
dorsing the Bishops sentence, ana youcaunot
cOnscieutiousiy do that.
ArR. WILLIAMS IMPRESSIONS.
II I am correct in this statement of the diff
culties which are weighing upon your con
science. ! VIII tell you very frankly what I'M
preston they make upon my mind:
First. You have a perfect right 10 your
opinion as 70 the justice or injustice Of the
Bishops sentence, and believe Bishop Beck
with would be the last man IN the world TO
question your right of differing from him. Ihe
testimony IN any case, especially here ID u
of conflicting nature, viii impress differently
the minds OF different men. The Bishop was
EIsf "a qsf T..
on yours or mine. He could not do Otherwise.
and Won could never have respected hIm ~ ne
did. at the same time. II your opinion dluers
from ms, you are emitted 10 noi0 IT, anu
neither ne nor any one else should expect you
10 90 otherwise. One thing, however, I'D ust
be rcmem bered. The whole testimony OF the
case has not been published. u ls impossible
that you or should know every thing that the
Bishop al before him when he m aQe up his
decision. IL may be that even II We did We
should Etill dissent from his conclusions. But
10 the meantin G Is it not far that we should
wait until we do know all the facts just as he
knew them before we pronounce MS sentence
to be just or unjust. If, however, you are
persuaded that you have thorough knowl-
edge Of the whole case. and that the sentence
Is unjust then, as ] said before, you have a
perfect right 70 your opinion.
DIsTRUsT OF MOTIVES.
Second. But If your conviction that the
eenteace Is unjust has embIttered you towards
the Bishop personally, u must be because you
distrust his motives n reaching that decision.
animositv towards the parish or else by some
personal unfriendlness to Dr.. Armstrong
himself. Now, / need not remind you, my
dear friend, how delicate and unsafe thing
II is 10 sit IN judgment upon anybody's mo-
tiyes. A mans acts are legitimate subjects Of
criticism, but there Is only one
tents of the heart. i am not sur
prised that. in your loyalty to DR.. Armstrong,
believing him TO be wholly innocent OF the
charges made against him, the verdict OF the
court and the sents1ss Of the Bishop should
have staggered You. II was only natural
that in trying TO account for decision which
seemed TO you 50 plainly unjust. you should
have been tempted to believe that some un-
friendly motive was behind il all. But II you
will only accord to the Bishop. what you
claim for Yourself, viz: the right to form an
independent Judgment upon q great mass Of
testimony, l think you will agree with me
that we have no right TO impute to him any
unworthy motive. I do not know that any
thing / can say is likely TO change your per
sonal opinion Of him, but feel that must
say this: / have known Bishop Beckwith in
timately ever since / was Is years old. and
have never known man more absolutely free
from anything ike jealousy or envy or VIM
detiveness, any man more incapable OF any
meanness or littleness whatever And have
never known more CONSCIENTIOUS man, one
who tried harder to do his duty faithfully and
honestly and in the fear of God. II his judg-
ment has been at fault in this matter, you
san take my word for 1t that he has only done
what his conscience compelled him TO do, and
AT the cost to himself Of more personal suffer-
ing and pain than Won have any idea OF. lean
assure you, from my own personal knowledge,
Of the man, that you are wholly mistaken IN
your judgment OF him. If you could know ae
know, the agony Of trial through which he
has gone IN the past few weeks, not daring TO
violate his conscience and yet almost crushed
10 the earth, at the thought Of adding one
pain TO the sOrrows Of DR.. Armstrong and his
Family. you would feel that you could never
receive the holy communion at any worthier
hands than your Bishops, and you would
never hnd it in your heart to bear him any
thing but charity and good Will.
WITHDRAWAL FROM COMMUNION.
Fourth. But II you cannot overcome this
bitterness which Is IN your heart against the
Bishop personally, you feel that by our only
resort Is to withdraw from the communion OF
the church altogether. Now you know very
well how painful It would be TO me, 10 have
you do anything Of that sort under any cir
Dumstances. But know you only want to &c
what is right. How then could 1t possibly
help you out OF your troubles, 20 aban-
don The church? You do not pro-
pose, OF course. to abandon your re-
hgien, because Bishop Beckwlth has decided
case contrary TO your conviction OF JUS
ttoe And the question OF your personal en-
NIFTY 70 any man is simply a question OF relig-
son. IL Is question between your soul and
your God. You cannot escape il by leaving
the church. II would stand between you
and your saviour, whenever yhu knelt down
upon your knees, whether at your bedside OF
IN some church which is not your own.
~ Is question OF personal religion,
not question between one church
ana AnOthtTs lou chnuOb solve iL by simply
changing your ecclesiastical relations. on
the contrary, you would always feel that YOU
had gwen mp your church. with all its blessed
privileges and all its sacred associations. moi
because the church had forfeited its hold upor
your intelligence and your heart, but simpl,
because an Onicer Of the church, in the dis,
charge Of bis Official duty. had pronounced :
sentence which you thought 10 be unjust
And dc not believe that your conscience
would ever sustain you IN doing that. No
my dear friend, there is bu
one way to overcome these feeling
OF bitterness in our heart. We must Ugh
them on our knees. We must try 10 see
there be not some charitable constructor
that may be put upon what seems to us un
just, We must resist the temptation TO i'm
pute bad motives Go people. We must try &
give them credit for the same honesty Whic
we claim for Ourselves. We cannot afford {
drop the Lords Prayer out Of our religion.
REMAINING NOT AN ENDORSEMENT.
Fifth. But you feel that n youremain m th
church you are thereby indoraing the Bishop
sentence on DR.. Armstrong. I do not thin
90 at all. The Bishops decision in a trial ha
nothing whatever to do with our relations &
the church one way or the other. suppose
for example, he had set aside the verdict o
the court and acquitted Or. Armstrong, d
you think that the standing committee aut
the Church Advocate aud the members OF th
court would have had to leave the church II
order TO show that they did not indOrse hi
that II they did. they would only be donl
themselves great injustice. DO not belieW
that DR.. Armstrong himself would wish yOl
a.. la ~