Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1855-06-08

REY. ". S. LaNGpoN.

{ necessary for me thus 10 address you
Had YOU made your onslaught ia the seiee' -. -
which you are editor, would have tfeasoI
n same silence hsse heretofore observed N reia-
~. ~ ~ ateacks which have been made
o, ms from that quarter; but, having CHOSEN 10
-. tb,,ph the nediurn OF political ournai,
80. gryl vide circulation, and that too among
80 who oyy Jog TO circumstances cannot be sup
nosad to he prepared to put proper estimate on
lie notiyss by which you are actnstec, places me
in such an attitude, mat outy seems 70 constTsln
,,,e 20 depart from my long settled purpose to pay
NJ attention whatever to what YOU and such as god
might see proper to say concerning me.
/ regret this on your own account: be cause
thereby may be compelled to say things dsa-
greeabIe to myself and painfnl to you yet trust
that what 1 shall say, however plain and pointed,
shall be in all kindness and in the spirit of the great
Master. especially regret that in your hot haste
to destroy an apostate from the Cumberland faith,
and thereby get great glory to yourself among
your brethren. you should have SO far forgotten
your high calling as minister of the gospel OF
our Lord Jesus Christ as to suffer yourself to be
led into a violation Of the Lords day by having
your assault upon me published on that holy day,
a melancholy truth which must stare all the read
ers OF that article in the face the paper in which
it appears is dated, SUNDAY MoEsISG; and your
guilt cannot be extenuated by asserting that you
yourself did not print and publish the article on
that day, for the commandment is not only 10 keep
the Sabbath holy ourselves, but il clearly implies
that we employ no one to do any manner of work
for US on that holy day SO that you, teacher o.
the law. stand convicted of its public violation
rep1et for your own sake and still more Tor the
sake Of the cause of the Master, that you thus
acted. ! And even on the assumption, that mat
paper was printed and mailed on Saturday night,
the very date of the paper exhibits you as sane
tioning what you yourself teach as violation OF
Tho pfhlI shQr
no doubt has reasons satisfactory to his own mind
for issuing his Sunday sheet, and on him pass no
structures: he does it in the exercise OF right
Guaranteed TO him, and many honest and excellent
msn take a different view of the obligation to keep
the Sabbath and the day on which it is to be OBJ
served from that which is held by all evangelical
christians But you can render no apology, which
will Justify you in the estimation OF the christian
public. The end you had in view seemed, sup-
pose, in your estimation, to justify the act I GU
must not only get glory from your own brethren,
but YOU must get further glory by prcstrating the
apostate in the estimation of his brethren also;
therefore. you cannot wait for the issuing of your
own sheet but at the expense of violation of the
| Sabbath, your Sunday paper, early on Monday
morning. has to be scattered in the pews of the
church. that your onslaught may attract the atten-
ton of the members of the Assembly. But that
date Sunday morning staring them IN the face was
4 enough 10 give llB iuclIOtio VI Ao>cLiuiJ Oh
intimaton of the character of its author, and to
prepare them to detect the virus of its contents.
| This was bad beginning, and when l consider the
attitude in which you have placed yourself really
ply you, and am assured that the better portion
of Your brethren will be ashamed of you
Let US, pow, calmly ard dispasslonately consider
! the onslaught ITSELF At the very eutstart you be-
! tray bad spirit and evil design, for the neces-
! ssry impression upon the minds OF your readers,
| hos Ar,,hf 10
that made walton and uncasd for attack upon
the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. which yea'
! and all those present know is none of the truth.
Had you been disposed TO deal fairly and honestly,
you would have informed your readers what wss
the subject under discussion in the Assembly which
elected my speech. You would have told them
that it was the subject of church extension, and
! especially in the Great West Had you been actn-
ated hy the spirit of candor ard of kindness, you
| would have told them my object was to show the
Assembly the importance OF active and energetic
efforts to establish churches in the new territories
and to lay before thsE the great losses the Presby-
! terrain church had already sustained owing to the
! want of such efforts Yon would have told them
that when | referred to the Cumberland Presby-
terians, and their method Of getting foot hold IN
new territories spoke of them in terms not only
of respect, but Of high commentator; and that
! oore public testimony to the honorable manner
| in which their acquisitions had been obtained.
All present know that this did, but for you to do
| this it seems, would not suit your purpose, and
therefore you have made representation Calcutta
| ted to exasperate many Of the members of your
church whose minds, through Misrepresentation and
Misrepresentation, are already greatly prelndlced
against me. Was this honorable was it worthy
! christian minister
But to proceed you represent me as saying
! that when / was converted, / inquired for the
! church Of nv fathers To this have only to say,
made no such statement, as in the region OF
country where resided, there was no Presbyte-
Ran Church. but did say that WAS left to the
alternative of becoming connected with the Bap
tist, Methodist. or Cumberland Presbyterian church,
and how natural that the name Presbyterian should
be loved by one whose antecedent5 were such as
mine Bot You would make the impression that
when made these statements that ] wished to
/ convey the idea that when | connected myself
with the Cumberland body, did it holding all the
| doctrines of the Presbyterian church, and that
while was in that body, | was in reality all the
while. in doctrine true Presbyterian l commu-
Gated no such idea to have done it would have
been foIy and madness. Were not DR.. Edgar and
DR.. Lapsley present, and were they not as well
acquainted as you with my history of the Conn
berland church, and my controversy with DIR. Mil
Ter and would they not have called me to account
! for the fasehood? No, sir, none but qctiM per-
uerter could have put such construction upon my
! language Ny object was to show how natural it
for those Of Presbyterian families, IN similar
circumstances, to fall in with Cumberland Presby-
terians, and that for the want of energetic meas
ures to occupy such countries the Presbyterian
Church had lost multitudes Of families.
If yoar veracous witnesses testify that | told
them | had examined the doctrines OF all the
clutches in the region in which / resided, when
protested to have obtained hope IN Christ, then
their testimony may be true buff they assert that
told them had examined the doctrines OF all the
churches in Christendom, in the United States
then either their testimony is false stated what
was untrue (Which is most likely, the candid will
udge) for must confess that to such an inyestgs-
tion even TO this day, have not attained. But
did examine the Cumberland Presbyterian Confess
sion Of Faith, and l sincerely adopted it, aud
during tie whole course of my ministry IN that
church. held and taught its doctrines as set forth
in that book in their plain anG obvious sense and
inconsistly | admit, while denying the doctrine OF
predestination preached the doctrine OF Justifca-
ton by faith 10 such a way as clearly involves the
great truth that the salvation of the sinner is from
first to last of free unmerrted and sovereign grace,
and the same must be done by every minister who
honestly adopts that book, though it is lamenta
bic truth that too many who profess to adopt it
avoid that inconsistency by preaching the Armi
Man scheme but inconsistency appending to IT the
Calvanstic doctrine Of the final perseverance of
the saints Hence, the agtations among you in
relation to altering the confession Of faith
If those who hold to the Confession as ! did
IL ri 81