BISHOP’S ANNUAL ADDRESS.
The Rt. Rev. John Beckwith
Second Bishop of Georgia
Given at St. John’s Church, Savannah on May 13, 1886

 Brethren of the Clergy and Laity:

May 8th, 1885—I confirmed, in private, one person, presented by Rev. J. R. Winchester, in Macon. 

May 10th—I held morning service and made an address in St Luke’s Atlanta. 

June 7th—I received the Letter Dimissory of Rev. Charles C. Randolph, from the Diocese of Virginia.

June 14th—The Priest in charge of St. Luke’s, Atlanta, being sick, I held morning service in that Church and made an address.

June 16th—I read the marriage service in St. Luke’s, and on the 28th, the Priest in charge being still sick, I read the service and preached in the same Church.

July 5th, 12th, 19th, 26th—I held service and preached in Trinity Church, Chicago.

July 16th—I received the Letter Dimissory of Rev. R. W. Anderson, from the Diocese of Kentucky.

July 30th—I received the Letter Dimissory of Rev. W. D. Powers, from the Diocese of Maryland.

August 23d—I held morning service and preached in All Saints’ Chapel, Newport, Rhode Island.

August 30th—I preached in Christ Church, Riverdale, New York City.

September 27th—I preached in Trinity Church, Asheville, North Carolina.

October 2d—The Standing Committee of this Diocese presented the Rev. James G. Armstrong, D. D., Rector of St. Philip’s Church, Atlanta, on trial under Canon XI. of the Canons of this Diocese, with the unanimous recommendation of the Committee that he be “suspended pending the trial.”

October 3d—I suspended the Rev. James G Armstrong, D. D., pending his trial, in accordance with Section 7 of Canon XI. of the Canons of this Diocese.

October 11th — I held morning service, assisted by the Rev. W. E. Eppes, preached and confirmed one in Grace Church, Clarksville. I had hoped to hold service that morning in Toccoa, but after reaching Mt. Airy we encountered a storm of such violence that it was thought useless to make the attempt.

October 15th —I gave a Letter Dimissory to the Rev. Otis A. Glazebrook, transferring him to the Jurisdiction of New Jersey.

October 18th—I held morning service, assisted by the Rev. H. K. Rees, confirmed seven, made an address and administered the Holy Communion in St. James’ Church, Cedartown. In the afternoon I consecrated this beautiful new Church, and preached. This building and its valuable lot are the fruits of the earnest, prayerful labors of a few devoted Church people, aided by the generous munificence of Mr. A. G. West and his family.

October 23d—I baptized one infant in St. Luke’s, Atlanta.

October 25th—I held morning service, assisted by the Rev. Wm. L. Githens, of California, then in temporary charge, preached, confirmed five, and made an address in St. Mark’s, Dalton.

November 1st—I held service, assisted by the Rector, Rev. W. P. Powers, preached and administered the Holy Communion in St. Peters’s Church, Rome. In the afternoon, I confirmed in private, one person, presented by Rev. Mr. Powers, and in the evening held service, preached and confirmed twelve in the same Church. I congratulate St. Peter’s that it has secured the services of so faithful and devoted a Rector as Mr. Powers.

November 2d—I administered the Holy Communion to a sick person in the country near Atlanta.

November 4th—I confirmed in private, one person, presented by Rev. C. M. Beckwith in Atlanta.

November 7th—I made an effort to go to Hawkinsville. After waiting at the depot in Macon, until nearly one o’clock Sunday morning, for a train which was due at seven and a half p.m. of Saturday, I was compelled to give up the trip and disappoint the Parish.

November 15th—I held morning service, assisted by the Rev. Chas. C. Randolph, preached and confirmed three in Calvary Church, Americus, This Parish has been long without a Rector. I trust that under the faithful guidance of Mr. Randolph, a future of successful growth awaits it.

November 10th—I took part, by request of the family, in the funeral service of the Rt. Rev. John Freeman Young, D. D., late Bishop of Florida. In the death of Bishop Young, the American Church has lost one of its most accomplished scholars, and the Diocese of Florida, a true and faithful Bishop, whose goodness and devotion will be more and more appreciated as time separates them from the difficulties and trials which beset a Bishop’s work in a feeble and scattered Diocese.

November 20th—I confirmed in private, three persons, presented by the Rev. E G. Weed, on the Sand Hills, near Augusta.

November 22d–I held morning service in the Presbyterian Church, assisted by Rev. Mr. Denniston, preached, confirmed one, and made an address in Newnan.

November 20th—Being Thanksgiving Day, I held morning service, assisted by the Rev. Mr. Beckwith, and made an address in St. Luke’s, Atlanta.

November 28th—I made an effort to reach Talbotton, but the trains having failed to make connection, I was compelled after getting as far as Macon, to return and defer the visitation.

December 3d—I held evening service, assisted by Rev. Mr. Stuart-Martin, and preached in Eastman. A mission Church is soon to be built at this point through the liberality of Rev. A. G. P. Dodge, Jr.

December 4th-I held evening service, assisted by Rev. Mr. Winn, preached, confirmed three and made an address in Blackshear. Here also we are soon to have a new mission Church.

December 6th—I held morning service, assisted by Rev. Mr. Stuart-Martin, confirmed one, and made an address in Bainbridge. I am glad to state that this little congregation, whose Church building was, some years since, destroyed by a tornado, has, after many struggles and prayers, at last succeeded in building a new Church. Since my visit I have received information that the Church is completed and it will, I trust, be ready for consecration upon my next visit.

December 7th—I held evening service, assisted by Rev. Mr. Stuart-Martin, and preached in Valdosta. 1 am glad to announce that the very pretty Church building which was being built at the time of my visit, has since been completed.

December 8th—I held evening service, assisted by Rev. Mr. Stuart-Martin and preached in Du Pont. In this village the Messr. DuPont have given a valuable lot and have determined to erect upon it a Church as a monument to their beloved mother. It is greatly to be desired, that love for the dead could more frequently in this way express itself in good works for the glory of God.

December 9th—I reached Way Cross where 1 had an engagement to hold service that evening. I was prevented by a storm which raged so violently that, it was almost impossible to reach the Church.

December 10th—Baptized one infant—confirmed one in private.

December 11th—I held evening service, assisted by the Rev. Mr Dodge and Rev. ——— Mabin, of the Diocese of -—, now in charge of missions work, preached and confirmed one in St. Mary’s.

December 13th— I held morning service, assisted by Rev. Mr. Winn, and preached in the Church of the Messiah, on the Satilla river. Many of the missions above mentioned are new. The field has been opened by the Rev. Mr. Dodge, who, with the faithful and energetic missionaries who accompanied me on my visitation, is doing a noble work in which I trust he and they may be richly blessed.

December 17th—I attended the funeral services of lien. Robert Toombs, in Washington, and, at the request of the family, made an address. After appropriate services had been held in the Methodist Church, by the ministers of other denominations, I was requested to conduct the services at the grave.

December 20th—I held morning service, assisted by the Rector, Rev. R. W. Anderson, preached, confirmed nine and I made an address in St. Stephens’ Church, Milledgeville. It was with great pleasure that I saw how heartily Mr. Anderson had entered upon his new work, and how enthusiastically the people had received and were co-operating with him.

December 21—I received the letter Dimissory of Rev. Wiley J. Page, from the Diocese of Virginia.

December 25th- I held morning service, assisted by Rev. C. M Beckwith, confirmed five and made an address in St. Luke’s, Atlanta.

December 27th—I held morning service, assisted by Rev. Mr. McConnell, preached and administered the Holy Communion in the Church of the Ascension, Cartersville.

December 31st—I gave a Letter Dimissory to Rev. A. J. Tardy, to the Diocese of Louisiana.

January 3d, 1886—I held morning service, assisted by Rev. Messrs. Holley and Mabin, preached and administered the Holy Communion in St. Andrew’s, Darien. In the afternoon I held service, assisted by Rev. Mr. Mabin. confirmed two colored persons and made an address in St. Cyprian’s Church, Darien. In the evening I held service, assisted by Rev. Messrs. Holley and Mabin, confirmed seven and made an address in St. Andrew’s, Darien.

January 6th—I consecrated Christ Church, Frederica, on St. Simons Island. There were present and assisting in the service, the Rev. Mr. Boone, who preached the sermon, and Rev. Messrs. Mabin, Stuart-Martin, Winn, Lucas, Holley and the Rector, Rev. Mr. Dodge. This beautiful Church has been built upon the site of the old historic Church, and is a monument to the generosity and devotion of its Rector, the Rev. A. G. P. Dodge, Jr. On the same day I confirmed, in private, one person, presented by Mr. Dodge.

January 10th —I held morning service, assisted by Rev. Messrs Lucas and Mabin, preached and confirmed six persons in St. Mark’s, Brunswick. In the afternoon I held service, assisted by Rev. Messrs. Lucas and Mabin, confirmed ten colored persons in St. Athanasius’ Mission Brunswick. After the service I confirmed, in private, one colored person.

January 12th—I confirmed in private, two persons, presented by Rev. Mr. Hunt, in Atlanta.

January 13th—The Court, appointed to try the Rev. J. G. Armstrong, D. D.. met in Atlanta, and entered upon its duties.

January 17th—I held morning service, assisted by Rev. C. J. LaRoche, preached, confirmed nine, and made an address in St. Thomas Church, Thomasville.

January 24th—I held morning service, assisted by Rev. Mr. Pond, preached, confirmed one person, and made an address in St. Paul’s, Albany.

January 25th—I baptized in private, one infant in Albany.

January 31st— I held morning service, assisted by Rev. Mr. Hunter, and preached in Trinity Church, Columbus. In the evening, I held service, confirmed seventeen whites and one colored person, and made an address in the same Church.

February 4th—I received from the Ecclesiastical Court, its Findings and Sentence in the case of the Rev. J. G. Armstrong, D. D.

February 5th—I sent a copy of the Judgment to the Rev. Dr. Armstrong, with notice that, on or before the 19th day of February, he show cause, (if any be had in writing, in person, or by his counsel, why the sentence of suspension for a period not greater than ten years should not be executed to its full extent.

February 5th —I held evening service, assisted by Rev. Mr. Macauley, and preached in the Methodist Church, Madison.

February 7th—I held morning service, assisted by Rev. Mr. Knowles, preached, confirmed one, and made an address in the Church of the Redeemer, Greensboro.

February 14th—I held morning service, assisted by Rev. Mr. Wingate, preached, confirmed fourteen, and made an address in St. Paul’s, Macon. In the afternoon, I confirmed in private, one person, presented by the Rev. Mr. Winchester. I congratulate the Rector, Vestry and Congregation of St. Paul’s, upon the completion of their very beautiful and substantial Church.

February 18th—I took part with the Rector, Rev. Mr. Winchester, and Rev. Messrs. C. C. Williams, Wingate and Page, in the funeral services of Col. L. N. Whittle, in Christ Church, Macon.

February 21st—Held morning service, assisted by Rev. Caleb Dowe, preached and confirmed seven in St. George’s, Griffin.

February 23d—Gave Letter Dimissory to Rev. W. B. Walker to the Diocese of Connecticut.

February 28—I held morning service, assisted by Rev. Mr. Davis, preached and confirmed nine in Emmanuel Church, Athens. In the afternoon I held service, assisted by Rev. Mr. Davis, preached and confirmed one in St. Mary’s, Athens.

March 2d—I ordained to the Diaconate Mr. Walter R. Dye, in the Church of the Good Shepherd, Augusta. The candidate was presented by the Rev. E. G. Weed, and there were present of the clergy, the Rev. C. C. Williams. Rev. S. J. Pinkerton and Rev. W. B. Walker.

March 5th—I approved the judgement of the Court which sat in the case of the Diocese versus the Rev. James G. Armstrong, D. D., and pronounced as “Such ecclesiastical censure as the case” in my judgment required, that the Rev. James G. Armstrong, D. D., be suspended from the ministry for five years from October 5th, 1885.

March 7th—I held morning service, assisted by Rev. Mr. Macauley, preached and administered the Holy Communion in the Church of the Mediator, Washington.

March 8th—I performed the marriage service in private in Washington

March 14th—I held morning service, assisted by Rev. H. K. Rees, and preached, by request, in the Methodist Church, Cave Spring.

March 21st—I held morning service, assisted by Rev. Mr. Strong, and preached in St. John’s, Savannah.

March 25th—I confirmed in private one colored person, presented by Rev. Mr. Andrew, in Savannah.

March 26th—I confirmed in private one person, presented by Rev. Mr. Strong, in Savannah.

March 28th—I held early service, assisted by Rev. Mr. Strong, confirmed thirty-four and made an address in St. John’s, Savannah. At the eleven o’clock service, on the same day, I held morning service, assisted Rev. Mr Boone, preached and confirmed fourteen, and made an address in Christ Church, Savannah. In the afternoon of the same day, I held evening service, assisted by Rev. Mr. Andrew and Rev. Mr. Boone, preached confirmed seven colored persons, in St. Stephen’s Church, Savannah.

April 4th—I held morning service, assisted by Rev. Mr. Beckwith, and made an address in St. Luke’s, Atlanta.

April 11th—I held morning service, assisted by Rev. Mr. Weed, preached, confirmed nineteen, made an address and administered the Holy Communion in the Church of the Good Shepherd, Augusta.

April 11—In the evening, held service, assisted by Rev. Mr. Weed and Rev. Mr. Dye, and preached in Christ Church Mission, Augusta.

April 12th— Held morning service, assisted by Rev. Messrs. Weed and Dye, preached and confirmed one in the Mission Church, at Bel Air.

April 18th—Held morning service, assisted by Rev. Mr. Leman, preached, confirmed twelve and made an address in St. James’, Marietta.

April 19th, 20th—I made addresses in St. Luke’s, Atlanta, and on the 20th confirmed one in the same Church. In the afternoon of the 20th I performed the burial service in St. Philip’s, Atlanta.

April 21st, 22d, 23d—I held services, assisted by Rev. Mr. Beckwith, and made Lenten addresses in St. Luke’s, Atlanta.

April 24th—Ordained to Priesthood Rev. William R. McConnell, assisted in laying on of hands by Rev. C. M. Beckwith and Rev. C. C. Leman, in St. Luke’s, Atlanta.

April 25th—Easter morning, held service, assisted by Rev. Messrs. Pate and Hunt, preached and confirmed fifteen and made an address in St. Philip’s, Atlanta. In the evening, held service, assisted by Rev. Messrs. Beckwith and Page, confirmed twenty-two and made an address in St. Luke’s, Atlanta.

April 27th—I baptized one infant in St. Philip’s, Atlanta.

April 28th—I performed the marriage service in St. James’, Marietta.

April 30th—I performed the funeral service, in private, in Atlanta.

May 2d—Held morning service, assisted by Rev. Messrs. Winchester and Wingate, confirmed thirty-three and made an address in Christ Church, Macon. In the afternoon, held service, assisted by Rev. Messrs. Winchester and Page, preached and confirmed six in St. Barnabas Mission Church, Macon. I congratulate this prosperous Mission upon having obtained the services of so earnest and devoted a Missionary as the Rev. Mr. Page.

May 4th—I administered the Holy Communion, in private, in Atlanta.

May 6th—Held evening service, assisted by Rev. Mr. Eppes confirmed two and made an address in the new Church, in Gainesville. After many years of struggle and patient endurance, the little band of faithful followers of the Master, in Gainesville, have succeeded in erecting a comely Church, where the devoted Missionarv, Rev. W. E. Eppes, gives them monthly services. It is the day of small things, but the future is full of promise, and, God helping them, those who have sown in patience shall reap in joy.

May 9th—Held morning service, assisted by Rev. Messrs. Williams and Dye; preached and confirmed eleven, and administered the Holy Communion in St. Paul’s, Augusta. In the afternoon, I held service, assisted by the same clergymen, confirmed sixteen, and made an address in the Church of the Atonement, Augusta. I was greatly gratified by the evidences of zeal and devotion on the part of Mr. Dye. He has the difficult work before him of supplying the place lately made vacant by the resignation of Rev. W. B. Walker. I trust the Master’s blessing may “prevent and follow him.”

May 13th—Confirmed in St. John’s Church, Savannah, one.

On the 18th of February it was my sad privilege to be present and take part in the funeral services of Col. L. N. Whittle. One by one our landmarks are being removed, our leaders are passing away, our own responsibilities are increasing, and the shortness and uncertainty of human life are becoming to us more and more real. Few laymen in any Diocese were ever more useful, none more faithful than Col. Whittle. As a member of the General Convention, as a delegate to this Body, as a member of the Standing Committee, as Senior Warden of Christ Church, Macon, and as Trustee of the University of the South, he has been for many years our most prominent Representative. Those who knew him most intimately loved him most sincerely. He was the determined foe of everything false and unreal, and the reliable advocate of all that was pure and genuine and manly. His devotion to virtue and his contempt for vice had in them an element of chivalry. With all the brusqueness of his manner and the occasional bluntness of his speech, no knight of the Middle Age ever devoted a more sincere or a braver heart to the defence of the reputation of woman than did Col. Whittle. A want of consideration, a lack of refined courtesy, on the part of a man toward a woman, stirred in him an indignation whose expression none could suppress and none could misunderstand. In his dealings with men he was frank, straightforward, honest and true; while as a Christian, in the presence of his God, his faith was as that of a little child, and his obedience was without reserve; hand and heart were ever ready to do his Master’s will and serve his Master’s Church. His death has caused a vacant place in this Convention which cannot easily be filled. How intently he watched and took his part in our proceedings! How jealously be guarded the honor and welfare of the Church, I can never forget. Through all the sad memories of the past there runs, like a silver thread, the recollection of his quaint humor, and the good-natured lectures he, ever and anon, would deliver to Bishop and clergy. We thought them amusing then, hut they come back to me now like the echoes of an old song, that I would gladly hear again. But the Master called him home; through the silences be heard the sweet voice, saying: “Friend, come up higher;” and one of the purest, noblest spirits among the sons of the Church passed away to meet his Lord in Paradise.

During the past year the Appleton Church Home has had under its care thirty-two children, and has found homes for four. There has been a good deal of sickness in the Home, due to an epidemic of measles, troublesome but not very dangerous, which visited the city of Macon for a short time. I am thankful to state that, aside from the fatigue of the Sisters, caused by constant nursing, and the temporary suffering of the children, the Home has escaped, and all are well once more. Last year the Parishes contributed to the Home $182.03; this year they have sent us $205.76. Last year individuals and Parishes sending children gave us $134.00; thin year we have $319.00, of which amount $69.00 came from those who send children, while $250.00 were the gifts of two generous ladies in Savannah, who, at my personal request, came to our assistance, and enabled us to avoid debt at a time when our income was exhausted. Last year, therefore, we received from Parishes, contributing according to Canon, from individuals or persons sending children, $316.03—while this year our income from these sources is $524.76, of which the Parishes, acting under the Canon, gave us $205.76. We have been able thus far to retain our present number of children and avoid debt; but if in the future the Diocese show as little interest in this, its only Institution for the care and training of orphan girls as it has in the past, we will be compelled to send away some of the little destitute ones, who have no shelter except the Church Home, and no friends save the devoted Sisters, who train and care for them there. We have a piece of property which, business men tell me, is rapidly increasing in value and which, in a few years, can be sold for an amount which, added to our present small endowment, will enable us to do our work without inconvenience to the Diocese. Within the past few months a member of Christ Church,, Macon, Mrs. John L. Jones, a true mother in Israel, has gone to her rest I am informed that, among her many charities, the orphans were remembered, and that she added to our endowment by leaving to the Home $1,000.00.

She knew the Home well, saw its workings, and appreciated the tender care bestowed by the Sisters upon the little helpless ones, and left this practical evidence of her approval of the Institution. Would that the Master could put it into the hearts of others to follow her Christian example I can only appeal to you, my dear brethren, to remember this Institution it is doing the Master’s work faithfully and nobly. In many parts of the Diocese, where I pay my annual visits, I am now welcomed by young Christian women, earning an honest livelihood in comfortable homes who once were little wanderers who found their way to this Home of the Church They came to us as friendless, or at least helpless, children; they are now useful Christian women. If such facts cannot appeal to Church people, and induce them to think of and provide for a Home which is doing such a work, then no words of mine can awaken interest, and the work must fail.

For some time past, certain writers in certain Church Papers have been a good deal exercised and, for that reason, seemed to think the Church a good deal agitated, over the question of an Appellate Court. In order to avoid the imbecility and consequent injustice of Presbyters, sitting as a Diocesan Ecclesiastical Court, and to free the Church from the tyranny of the Bishop, it is proposed that the General Convention shall, by the vote of a majority of the Dioceses, assume a power, which, so far as I can understand its history, does not belong to it; change, in part, our form of government and create a Court which shall have power to review the action of Diocesan Courts, whether that action touch the Constitution or not deprive a Diocese of a power which it has had and exercised since the formation of our Ecclesiastical government is this Country and make the Bishops no longer the Executors of the will of the Diocese, but the wooden agent of a Court which is the creature of a Legislature which, by gradual encroachments, shall have grown and developed into a centralized government in the hands of an oligarchy. Some have even gone so far as to dream that this Court shall have (if I may so call them) ex post facto powers; and that trial finished according to existing Law, shall be raised from the dead and reviewed by this omnipotent Court, to the confusion of Diocesan Court and Bishops and the happiness of the traditional aggrieved parishioners.

The question of Appellate Courts is not new to the Church.

What the outcome may be no man can, with certainty, foretell. We have been called, in witty satire, ” the resolutionary sons of revolutionary sires.” and no man may prophesy what we will or will not resolve; but I think it may be safely said, that the Church has not lost all of her conservative spirit. She still believes in Law, and has some regard to history. An ex post facto Court, I think, is not among our dangers. An Eastern Monk. in times long past, may have rushed among the combatants in a gladiatorial show and sacrificed his life for the sake of mercy and humanity, and a modern American Priest may have yielded his life, after condemnation by a Diocesan Ecclesiastical Court, to the influences of chloroform, and some imaginative minds may find an analogy between the two, and, in the death of the latter, an argument in favor of an Appellate Court; but the mind of the Church, when intent upon Courts of justice, is not imaginative, and the heart of the Church cannot be stirred into excitement, or the Church herself be hurried into hasty action by such impossible analogies, or such fantastic arguments. The Question of an Appellate Court is one that cannot be handled in the flippant manner customary among authors of newspaper articles, when trying to fire the heart of the Church. It will demand and justify the very best wisdom, learning and statesmanship of which the Church is possessed. Should the question come before the next General Convention, it will be the duty of your delegates, and of your Bishop, to give to it patient and earnest examination, and to bring back to you from that Convention, such knowledge as we may obtain after free “intercourse with the Bishops and representatives of the Church at large. The question is too important and, in its consequences, too far reaching to be decided by the action of individual Diocesan Courts, or for our judgments to be seriously influenced by our sympathies for individual sufferers, who may, or may not, suffer justly; or even by our admiration of heroic Monks who fell victims to the brutality of Roman mobs.

In looking over the Diocese, it is difficult to give you a clear and correct statement of its condition. In some parts of the Diocese there seems to be a new missionary spirit: new fields have been opened, new Churches built and new energy infused into the work of the Church. In other parts towns, once flourishing and able to take care of the clergy, have been financially injured by the prosperity of other towns, and the Church there seems to languish. We have had, as you well know, serious troubles during the past year. These troubles have become so serious and so notorious as to attract to us the attention of the entire Church in America and of all the Christian Bodies in Georgia. I do not hesitate to say that, so far as I am personally concerned, it has been the very saddest year of my life. But the men of to-day are but causes, the results are in the future. There are times when men must rise above the present, gaze steadily at the future and act with reference, not to the present, but to the future when, passion having subsided, they will be judged, not by the exigencies of that present in which men are excited and passionate, but by the results in that future when their acts will be subjected to the calm, cold scrutiny of men who weigh events and by them judge of causes. Acting in the Church, and for the Church, I esteem a man’s life not too high a price to pay for her welfare and her peace. That peace and welfare not yet hers) I believe has been fairly bought and, in due time, will be truly delivered. I know not that it will come in my day but, come when it may, I shall feel that to the best of my knowledge and ability, I did what I could to maintain these principles which are the very life of her usefulness and of her influence among men. And what I say of myself, I wish to say with emphasis of the Standing Committee of this Diocese, and of the Ecclesiastical Court which sat in the trial of one of its fellow Presbyters.

I do not believe that the American Church has a body of men more honorable, more conscientious and more true than the Standing Committee which made the presentment or the Court which sat upon the trial of this case. Popular feeling may be lashed into excitement; popular opinion may be influenced, developed and concentrated in condemnation of men who patiently do their duty before God, and do not feel it necessary to rush into the public prints to justify their action or offer incense to the passion of the hour; but the time will come—it comes with the patient, unfaltering step of fate—when popular feeling will grow calm; popular opinion become cool; popular judgment, ignoring individuals, look at principles; and God’s Church will vindicate the men who, without fear or favor, did their duty for their duty’s sake. With the tenderest sympathy for those who suffer; with the wish, ever present, that I could give pleasure where I have been compelled to inflict pain, I wish to record the expression of my commiseration for those who interpret duty to mean the fickle favor of popular opinion, and to pay the willing tribute of my homage to those who do not educate their consciences by articles in the newspapers, but who meet responsibilities and discharge duty in accordance with the decisions of their own judgments and the dictates of their own consciences; and who, having thus acted, are content to wait, if need be, for justification, until that awful hour when all hearts shall be open, all desires known, and when no secrets shall be hid.

The future is before us with its obligations and responsibilities. If we will keep our hearts open before God; if we will live and act as men who must give an account of thoughts, words and deeds to Him who “trieth the hearts and reins;” if we will go to our work determined, God helping us, to do what our hand findeth to do, with all our might, striving the while to keep our consciences void of offense towards God, and of justifiable offense towards man—learning, by experience, to be humble yet brave—to put self aside that we may the more clearly see duty; if we will believe that the blessed Master will, in his own good time, enable us to reap if we faint not; that if conscientiously, unselfishly, lovingly, we will do our duty for our duty’s sake, He will guard and care for the consequences; then, though oar hearts be scarred with suffering, and our temporal hopes languish, and our temporal peace desert us, still we can labor and persevere, do and dare in the blessed trust that the enduring reward is not for him whom the world accounts successful; hut that reward, that immortal crown, is reserved for him who, through all failures and discouragements, has been true to duty; and, having kept himself pure and unspotted from the world, has been faithful unto death.