The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-12-30
REQUESTED TO WITHDRAW 1T.
DIR. VASS' CONGREGATION DOES NOT
WANT HIM TO RESIGN.

The PuIpit-Documentar and 9th
or Evidence in strong DiSprOOf OF
ihe Allegations and Criticisms
Made-SIembers of a Compensation
Expected TO Do Their Part in the
Progress and UpbuiIdinE of the
Church-The Congregational Meet
ing Requests DR.. Vass To Withdraw
His Resignation by a Vote OF 1O7 to
35.
The call for a congregational meeting
OF the First Presbyterian church was
largely responded TO yesterday morning,
il having been announced that Dr /.
L. Vass. pastor Of the church, would make
a talk with reference TO his resignation,
which was stu before the congregation,
after which the congregation would again
take the matter under consideration
on account of the small attendance at
the former meeting at which action was
taken, cards were sent to all the members
OF the congregation, and the result was
about $50 Of the regular church members
We're in attendance. The congregational
meeting was held at the conclusion of the
services, and by a vote OF 107 to 50 DR..
Nass was requested TO withdraw his resig-
nation and remain pastor of the church.
The day marked the close of the fifth
year of DR.. Nass' pastorate, and he
preached his Quinquiennial sermon. His
text was from EDh. vii, TO-, Finally, my
brethren, be strong in the Lord and in
the power of his might" DR.. Nass
preached a brief sermon. speaking of the
fact that fatal human weakness could be
cured by divine strength only. This text,
he said, was the churchs recipe and the
lndviduals recipe for security and COM
fort The compulsion of love and faith
from union with the Lord, hatred to
sin, the power of companionship
with each other. and earnest
prayers, he said, were the methods for
masking any church strong in the Lord,
and in the power of his might.
He then took up the history of the
Churchs work for the past nVc years,
during which time he has been CONNECTED
with 1t The exact anniversary was Nov.
70, he having begun his work on that date
in 1890. AT that time he said the church
had z32 members, 10 of whom could not
be traced and of the PIG known, one
fourth were non-residents. Within the
i've years, he said, there have been re-
ceived into the church l63 members.
Within these years q members have
died and many have left savannah ana
been transferred TO other churches.
There are now enrolled 290 members, of
whom 230 live in or near Savannah and
the others are nOn-residents.
DIR. Vass spoke also of the building of
the manse al a cost of S5,t5I15, on which
q note of $500 is now due, and which in
debtedness a band of noble ladies is try
ing TO reduce. The church has raised
about $1,000 in that time, an average of
about 5000 year, of which about $5tW0
was spent in support of the church and
in improvements and nearly 5000 used
1n general benevolent Work.
So much for the general statement of
the work, he said, but the question as TO
what IS the spiritual condition Of the con-
gregation is really the important one. 1t
Is the desire OF every pastor, Dr. Nass
said, to remove all obstacles 10 the spiri-
tual progress of his congregation. He
stated that on account of certain crltt-
cisms which had been made upon him he
had asked the congregation 10 JOIN with
him in asking the Savannah presbytery
TO dissolve the pastoral relationship
which exists. 1t was due to himself and
to the congregation, he said, that he
should state plainly the reasons for his
some months ago, May 10 of this year"
he said, Gin a joint meeting of the SEES
sion and board of deacons IL was stated
that there was "a lack of Christian SYM
pathy on the part of the congregation to-
ward the pastor, that the pastor was
not touching or attracting the hearts and
sympathies Of the congregation, espec-
tally among the young, either through
his sermons, or his private or social IN
tercourse among them,' and that there
was a general lack of attractiVeness in
the Sabbath and prayer meeting services.
Certain suggestions were made then which
4 tiutdNOItu " carry Oulf Anpu6n 1
agreed neither with the correctness of
the criticism nor the suggestions. / also
stated distinctly that if it should prove
that my services We're not acceptable,
would, of course, tender my resignation,
as l would not force myself on any un-
willing church"
of the elders and deacons at which l
was not present, ana the following pa
per was sent to me and signed by the
secretary Of the meeting:
Rev. l.. c. Nass, d. D., pastor First
Presbyterian church: Dear Sir and
Brother: However much we seYerally love
you in Christian fellowship, and in all
respects, it is the opinion of this joint
meeting of the elders and deacons, that
your charge at this place is not pros
pering under your minlstrations, and we
do not believe it is possible for you TO
spiritually touch our people. We are OF
the opinion that your resignation should
be put before the congregation at its
next annual meeting, and we recommend
it; so that the spirit of the congregation
s9gees bat T may write BE t yoSr resg
nation so as to take effect February
next, or as soon before as you may find
tt practicable to retire, giving the church
appropriate notice of your dep@It ure.
Faithfully yours
DIR. Vass stated that this was a very re-
markable document coming from meet
ing that under a Presbyterian system
had no authority to make any such re-
quest Of a pastor. He said, however,
that under the circumstances he felt it
hest to tender his resignation. which, as
will be remembered, was acted on at
the annual meeting of the congregation,
there being 81 present and he being re-
quested TO withdraw the resignation by a
vote of As TO a.
The statements made in the above pa
per, in his judgment DR.. Nass said, were
entirely incorrect. 1t had been suggest
ed he said, that he say nothing about
the matter, but in the face of such
rious allegations, no fair-minded person
could expect him to let the matter go
unnoticed. The statements were, he said,
unfair and positively unsupported by the
facts.
With regard to the statement that he
did not reach his congregation spiritually,
he said in his general intercourse with
the members, they were constantly
speaking to him about the helpfulness
OF his sermons and the prayer meeting
talks. He had also received many let
ters from absent members, he said. tell
ing him what great blessings they de-
rived from the services and of their long
ings to get back and enjoy them. Even
the savior himself, he said, failed to
reach many spiritually, and Peter and
Paul failed in vast numbers OF instances.
He next spoke of additions to a church
as a test of spiritual work. He stated the
Il rrfr "a fu of