The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1859-03-24


Man is but msn-your brother too:
And With good will" for your watchword,
Give him an equal ground with you
COMM MUNICATIONS.
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For the Courier.
To TIE EDIroR or THE COURIER:
Sm:-In my article of February 10Th, l
respectfully asked my friend Fowler for
bread, and he has given me stone; asked
him for light, and he has intensified the
darkness; he has rendered it like that of
Egypt a darknt IS which may be felt. keen
ly feel it, and hence, in the hope that he will
rclent, | shall still cry for light.
In his reply to me, he has fully succeed
ed in saying, as usual, a good deal; but no
thing TO the purpose: he has thrown his
tomahawk, but not to the mark the dilcm-
ma, or tight fix-that Logical Rreupine,
which confess cannot handle-he has al
so left wholly untouched. Thus it would
seem that am an instance of the blind led
by the blind. Mr. Taunton said 81 give him
his life time to reconcile it to the GOSPEL Of
Christ" Judging fro.a the progress thus
far made, fear that his lifetime will be in.
sufficient.
To all his talk about who am, what my
religious, and what my political views may
be, have only to say that stated those
views truly, and if Mr.. Fowler, 0 think pro-
.tessing ,Christian), feels justified in imputins
hypocricy and ilfidelity to an unknoUn per-
son, simply for the offense Of asking for light
which he is unable or unwilling to give, then
| beg b observe that we have read the Cos
pei of our Lord under widely different infiu-
ences. must k,sow party to be guilty,
before nail him thus; either in the COL
umns of public Journal or in my private
walk of life.
Excepting. on one point the whole of Mr..
Fowler's communication is entirely irrelevcnt
to the subject; it gives no light-professes
to give no light-on the subject on which it is
asked. have an idea of going to Pixies
Peak, but if on my journey stop to gather
AMI smell and examine every flower, herb,
shrub or tree, which may line my path; or
stop to kill or destroy every noxious insect,
reptile, beast or poisonous plant | find,
should never reach the desired Peak even
so, cannot and do not intend to reply to
matters which have nothing to do with clear
Ing tha mst'in which,I am surrounded.
Neither can see in what way the publi-
cation of my name will at all effect the case !;
the facts which have stated, or may vet
state, are true or false independently of nv
name; aad.toNdecline giving the light soli-
cited, on such trivial grounds, looks very
like 'ownins the corn," or, in n-other words,
confessing his inability to do it.
With regard to Mr.. Taunton's remarks
about the non-admission of pro-slavery men
to church membership: and also on the
views Of our revolutionary Fathers, it is
wholly aside from the subject of my letter
have nothin, to do with it. Those views
may or may not be correct l neither at
tack nor defend them now: l have nv own
views upon them, and at the proper time
may perhaps express them If, by raising
these collateral questions, the gentleman
thinks to divert me from the main and real
ones, have only to say that he has entirely
mistaken his man; am well used to such
"decoy Ducks" and "stod Pigeons" and
don't intend quietly to walk into net 80
clumslly set for me.
Instead of allaying my troubles on the
subject of the fourth and tenth commands, he
has only mystificd the matter by DENYING
that he had said the word ''doulos" was
translated ''bondman' in the Scripture wher-
ever the condition of slave was meant: but
he has forgotten to ten US what he did say
] will tell you what he said: he said just
what have before stated; when the Cour-
Ter Was handed to him in Blakesburg, and
his attention called to the subject, he did no,
then deny having said so, but said that had
mlsrepresented him; for, said he, ''the word
6Sndman u ~ those commands" Some
persons present doubted this, and with an
air of triumph Mr.. F. called for the Bible
and read it: the coveted, but pesky and nn
manncriy word would not appear there
whereupon he looks sour and discomfited
and dismissed the subject by saying, 'well
it means the same thing" beg to entc'
my protest against this plan of making word.
to mean anything, or every thing, or nothing
just to suit the purpose of the moment.-
Plain unlearned men like myself and som,
other trembling Demo- rats, can neither ap
prove, understand, nor follow such tortuou
mode of reasoning. 1t looks like the Roman
Pagan God, Janus, which had three fa.,es
and hence from whatever point Of the com
pass you might view him, he was prepare,
for you, and could look you straight in tn
face, Even SO in the present case, ther