The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-12-03
CLASSES CONFIRMED
BISHOP nECxxwFTH ADMINISTERS SACRAMENT AT TWO CHURCHES.
Preached Last Night at st. Johns
 Where Glass of Twelve Was Con- AEmeAAsI.eaVen for Ut. Melga.

T
 The Right Reverend 0. M. Beckwith, D. D., Bishop of the Diocese of Ala bama, conducted services yesterday at St. Johns Episcopal Church and al the Episcopal Church of the Holy Com fOrter, and at both churches adminis- tered the rites of confirmation to large classes.
 At the Holy Comforter church the Bishop conducted the service at the II o'clock morning hour and at the evening hour he conducted the service at St. Johns.
 The congregation filled the large au- ditoriun of St. Johns last night when Bishop E<ckwith preached a sermon which held the closest interest of ev- cry one present sfrom Provergs xxiii, [, FsAsy a iEan thinketh in his heart, so f is he" A broad interpretation of the text" said the Bishop, would be, that, behind every man. and bacK of every character Is an idea, and whatever a man may be, or whatever man may say. or whatever man may do, he Is perfectly consistent with -ne Idea that is behind"
 This fact the Bishop said accounted for the great diversity of character in the world--fOr the fact that living in the same neighborhood, breathing the same air, looking out and up at the same scenes are so many and so diff ferent characters. The air and the scenes and the man is consistent and ell right. bat the difference ,.es fin the Idea behind, Tor as q man .hinketh so is he.
 This is true. not of men alone but of governments, of inanimate things. of animals and of individuals. Men diff fer. he said, not because one man is all right and the other man Is all wrong, but according to the ideas along which they live. but truth and right eousness remain unchanged, the stan dards of God AImigty vary not" Ills emphasized strong thought in con- nection with the way in which men 'thinketh in their hearts" concerning the church of God. Some there are, he said, who look on the church as a human organization and others as a Divine organization, The difference, in this instance, is not with the church, and not with the man but with the idea that lies behind. He spoke of ths difference in the ideas of people con- cerning joining the church, saying that some people connect themselves with the church to do something and some go there to get something, and in it all there Is nothing wrong with the man, nothing at variance with the church. the difficulty lies with the idea that is back of 1t all In illustration of the difference of the ideas that lies back of everything. he said that some men rent pews in the church and say Put nobody in my pew" while others rent pews especially 10 place stran- gers there. It is all in the idea that lies behind. He also spoke of the dif- ferent views taken by men about min iste-s. The difficulty always lies in the idea behind--as the man thinketh of the church as a whole, as a Parish, or as he thinketh of the minister as a man. He spoke of the great Thought of Christian unity which is taking hold of the minds of men of this day and said that it was in the air and people must get in touch with 1t, must learn Gods truth concerning these hings and seek instill the Idea behind the man for ''as the man thinketh," etc.
 At the conclusion of the sermon Bishop Beckwith confirmed a class of twelve. This visitation of the Bishop is the second since the last session of the Diosceean Council in idav.. at which time he administered the rites of con- firmation to a class of sixteen, making total of twenty-eight to be confirm ed since May. The class confirmed at the Holy Comferter Included four boys and two girls. At both churches the music was arranged especially for the occasion. Bishop Beckwith leaves this matning for Mt Meigs.