Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-29
CRAPSEY TO BISHOPS
Deposed Clergyman Says Dis
missaI Was Unnatural Action
HE BIDS PULPIT FAREWELL
Will Preach Convictions From Plat
form and in Print, He Declares.
LAITY WILL SUPPLANT CLERGY
Advises Congregation "to Take Up
Task he Has Laid Down and
Science Will Decide"

ROCHESTER, N. Y, November oa.-Dr
Algernon s. Crapsey, recently dismissed
| from the ministry of the Protestant Epis-
copai Church on the charge of heresy, de-
iivered his valedictory address to his par
| 1shloners at ST. Andrews Church here
| yesterday. He said:
| Il have this day rendered to the war
| dens and vestrymen of our parish my res
| 1gnation as rector Of ST. Andrew. Church.
! This action, bringing to an end, as it does,
the relationship of pastor and people
which has existed between US for near.y
| twenty-eight years, was not voluntary on
my part, nor was it brought about by any
desire in the heart of our vestry or your-
| selves.
Il have been compelled to take this step
by our ecclesiastical superiors here, who.
| In effect, dismissed me from my office They
do not consider that I any longer have
the ability rightly to divide the work of
trust nor the wisdom to instruct you In
the way of salvation.
ana am sorry to say that our eccle-
slast1cal superiors have as little confidence
IN your intelligence as in mine; they do not
tnink that you have the capacity to sepa-
rate the wheat from the chaff in nv
preaching, nor are you, in the estimation
OF these gentlemen, able 20 search the
scriptures and determine for yourselves
Wnether what say is true or not Whether
TINS reflection of our superiors upon nv
intelligence and upon yours is Well founded
Is not for me to say. 1 know that it is eff
lectual IN bringing upon me the greatest
sorrow of my life.
Hoped to Die in Service.
Having lived SO long in your service, 1
had hoped to die in that service. If God
SO pleased 1t was my wish to grow old in
your midst and from being your brother
would have become your father
But this is not to be. Instead of being
separated by the gracious, natural action
OF GOD we are forced to part by what we
peiieve TO be the unnatural, ungracious
action of men. But we have no time now
10 think OF that. Our thoughts are occu-
pied with thinking of what has been and
what will be.
L have often spoken unwisely. 50 far
as your earthly comforts and mine arc
concerned. but I have never spoken nm
.ruly. l nave never spoken against my in
"ard convection, nor have held back for
prudential reasons things which / con-
sldered 1t my duty to say and it is for
speaking thus unwisely, so far as NV com
h toTt ana yours Is concerned, but as 1 still
DeieVe Tor speaking what was true and
timely, L am deprived of the rights of
speaking In this pulpit at all. and after
next Sunday shall never speak from this
pulpit again.
disciples of the Truth,
But 90 not consider that a misfortune.
nave spoken to you SO long that I have
told you over and over again all that is
In my heart. You are familiar with everv
tone of my voice. 1t is, in respect to nv
preaching, expedient for you that 1 should
go away, that you may cease to be nv dis
ciples and may become disciples of the
truth
But, I am not only barred from the
pulpit, am also forbidden to stand before
the altar and to celebrate the sacred Offices
of the church This however though a
sorrow to us both, is certainly not a mis-
fortune to me- No one but a minister can
know how dangerous to his soul is the con-
slant repetition of the acts Of the ritual
and the continual rehearsal of the words
of the liturgy Through continual use the
words become dulled and the actions
mechanical, and 1 am sure that, however
sad 1t may be, 1t is better for nv soul to
leave my place before the. high altar and
go down and kneel in the midst of the
people and receive the sacraments of the
church from worthier hands than mine
$50 much for the things that are behind:
now, what of the things that lie before?
Because am compelled to leave the pas
torate of st. Andrews must you also for
sake its membership? l do not believe il
While it is my duty to go FORTH not know
ing whittier l go, it is your duty to abide
In your place 1t is your task to take up
the work that l lay down and make st
Andrews in the future, as it has been in
the past. center of spiritual light and
social life to this neighborhood and city.
Welcomes Greater Liberty.
And even If you hold as many of YOU
do, the same conception of truth for which
l am condemned and dismissed your right
to remain in the church is unassailable
You have not simply my word for this you
have had the word Of the bishop of the
diocese 10 that effect. He had said that ],
even l, who have freely expressed nv
thoughts, and who from this time out will
have greater liberty of expression, who
from the platform and the printed page
can give forth my conviction of the truth
with tenfold the power and effect that I
could express that truth from the pulpit
he, the bishop, says that /, even I, under
all these circumstances am still member
in good standing in the Protestant Episco-
pal Church, and neither he nor any other
bishop would dare to excommunicate me-
Now, that such a situation is anoma-
lous, not to say absurd, is apparent. The
laity may believe and teach what the
clergy not permitted either to believe
or teach. The inevitable consequence of
this situation is that the teaching office
will pass from the clergy to the laity, and
what the laity cares to teach and believe
the clergy will have to receive, Tor the
clergy are depending on the laity, not the
laity on the clergy.
Inc Iact that the present situation Is
unstable Is the controlling reason for you
remaining. If you believe In the tradi-
tional conception of the origin of Jesus
your right to remain In the church is un-
questioned; If, on the contrary, you hold
to the scientific and historical conception
of the origin of Jesus, still 1t Is your right
and duty to remain, for 1t is not the prov
ince of the church to determine the ques-
ton of the physical origin of Jesus; that
determination belongs to science and
when science has determined the church
will receive.
1T is the duty of the church not to tell
you by what physical process Jesus was
generated. but to instruct you in that way
of life which Jesus taught and lived. If
the church should ever become wholly rec
reant as the church Is today sadly me-
siectful OF the moral and spiritual exam
pie and teaching of Jesus, then and then
L only would IL he YOUR duty To laauo tha