William Mercer Green Papers Box 2 Folder 9 Document 8

Bishop Wilmer to Bishop Green. Greensboro, Ala., MAy 20, 1865.

Rt. Rev. and dear Bro.,

I was very much gratified at hearing from you, and thank you much for the copy of your Pastoral and Prayer. The tone of both is unexceptionable. I cannor, however, agree with you in assuming the lapse of our Church organisation. It is of vital importance, in my judgement, that we should keep that organisation intact, fold our General Council, and await the course of events. We can act together in that way, and keep ourselves in position to act as, after full deliberation, we may think best. Upon what possible ground does the oraganisation of the Church lapse under present circumstances? The nationality of the Church is purely a matter of human arrangement;--very desirable, I grant, if practicable, but fraught with evil consequences in the contingencies which may possibly arise. Let me pray you to reconsider this point. If one gives way, the line is broken; disintegration is inevitable; and gradual absoption, without let or hindrance, must ensue.

I do not think that your Prayer will satisfy the demands of those in authority. I am doubtful as to the right of the Bishop to substitute a Prayer in the regular Liturgy. True, if the Church organisation has crumbled away and each Diocese

are gone, if your opinion prevails as to the lapse thereof.

We are in a position to add to the Church very largely if we hold together. If we do not, and the different religious bodies in the South maintain their independent organisations, we shall lose largely. Let me press this point upon your consideration.

I have written to Bishop Elliott to urge him to call us together as a Council of Bishops for mutual consultaion. By the way, there is a rumor that he has been arrested.

Personally, I shall have more trouble than any of the rest of the Southern Bishops. The Northern Church, ignoring all that we have done, and in this following the lead of the State, will not, I have reason to think, recognise my jurisdiction. This may, in certain contingencies, lead to serious complications, Ihave little concern as to the result. All these things are ordered in infinite wisdom, and the will of our Father in heaven will be done. This should be enough for the child.

Let us brace ourselves with more than ordinary strength to meet the approaching trial, being assured that no serious

harm can come to him who maintains his integrity and faith firm to the end.

I send you the enclosed Pastoral. I judge that, whether we substitue or not, the same result will follow. The order will go forth in due time--"Pray a certain prayer or vacater;" or perhaps, "Go into exile." How can we meet? I would love to commune with you.

Yours in the best of bonds, RICHARD H. WILMER.

Bishop Green.

Bishop Green to Bishop Wilmer. Colombus, Miss. Juune 7th, 1865.

Rt. Rev. R. H. Wilmer,

My dear Sir,

Wilst I thank you for your letter and the accompanying Pastoral Circular, I hasten by the first opportunity to set you right in the view which you have taken of my letter to my Clergy.

You seem to understand me as taking the ground that our Southern ecclesiastical organisation is absolutely dissolved. Such a view of our Church condition was very far from my mind

when I wrote that letter. If you will give it another reading, you will see that, whilst advising the use of that Prayer, I expressly said "until it may be further orders," thus purposely leaving open the door to the more authoritative prescription of out General Council, if we were ever to be blessed with another. I would have been more explicit in my reference to that body, if I hadm at the time, been more sanguine of our ever having another meeting of the kind, and especially if I had supposed my language open to the construction which you have put upon it. You will further see that in justifying myself for recommending that Prayer, I do it on the ground,not of the disorganised or disintegrated state of our Southern Church, but simply on the unsettled condition of out ecclesiastical affairs; by which I meant nothing more than that the sudden change in our political status would, for a time, prevent us a Church from legislating for ourselves or even consulting with one another. In the mean time, when every Clergyman was at a loss what course to pursue, and concerted action was so very desirable, I felt free to exercise a little of that authority which in better times than these belonged to each and every Bishop, namely the regulation of worship in his Diocese.

But whilst I thus regarded the circumstances in which we were placed as virtually, and for a time only, throwing my Di-

ocese back upon its primitive and reserved powers, I looked forward with hope to some wiser and more authoritative action by our General Council.

I am fully aware, my good Brother, that I have no canonical authority to substitute a Prayer of my own, or of any one else, for one of those in our Liturgy; but you must be aware that there are time in the Church's ecperience when Canon, Rubric, and even Constitution, may excusably yield to a more constraining power. God knows thatthe leveling spirit of the present day has stripped our Bishops of nearly all their rightful authority; but what mere puppets would they be if a sound discretion were denied them in exigencies like the present! I, however, will not argue this point with you. It is probable that we should not widely differ if we could only meet and talk it over.

You must understand me, however, that I have adopted the theory of out good Bishop Polk, viz. that the Church should follow her nationality. When I voted for our separate organisation, it was upon the ground of expediency, and under the belief that we could thereby keep up a more stable and friendly intercourse with our Nothern brethren. Whether we shall ever reunite with them must be determined by circumstances. Never, however, will I consent to it, unless