The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1879-11-20
Tc Rev. W. Weakley.

Whether you inherited your creed
or got it otherwise l believe you to
be a Christian. What induced you
to reply to Supernumerary 1 know
not; but your logic is good, forci
bic. hold with you to those sen
timents. You must permit me,
however, to say that the premises
laid down and the conclusions
drawn when applied to myself are
all wrong. In my former article L
said, "THe force of circumstances aOill
perhaps drive US to another com
munion." You have it, "He expects
to join another communion" l
havn't space nor inclination to give
you in print all the circum instances
to which l referred. A man whose
health has been impaired By hard
labor and exposure in the ministry,
still having an ardent desire to be
engaged in the loved employ, but
prevented, occupies an unenviable
position indeed. Yet charity de-
mands that l say, perhaps my
brethren knowbetter what position L
ought to sustain to the church than
1 do. AS to the doctrines of the
Methodist church l believe and
preach them; lave had my name on
the roll of membership a quarter of
a century; my mother lived in this
communion a half century. l have
no quarrel with Methodist doctrine.
To conscientiously bear the usages,
and especially the treatment of
many of the laity and some minis
tiers of our church, is quite another
and different thing. While it must
be confessed by all that the itinerant
system, with the Episcopacy at its
head, succeeds better than any 9th
er in spreading scriptural holiness
over the land" still it is not evil
dent that that is the place for dis
abled man@who has but little hope
of ever being again well, and who Is
struggling to maintain a family.
(How well soever he may love the
doctrines of the church. You
wouldn't unchristianize and damn
such a man, would you? Not you
If Mr.. Wesley and the late DIR.
a. L. Bledsoe could leave one com
munion, join another, do great
good, die and 60 to Heaven, why
may not others do at least some
good, after changing church rela
lions, and be saved? The usages
of one church may be as great an
obstacle in one mans way as the
doctrine of another church would
be to another man. Might not
both act without doing violence to
conscience?
You say, Brother, that q man
should not inherit his creed. 1 be
lieve that more creeds are inheri-
ted than are obtained in any other
way. doubt not that you yourself
would have been a member of some
other Church If your parents had
been. My mothers being MethO-
dist had not a little TO do with
nv present church relations
NV father was not a member of
any Church organization bat being
of Primitive Baptist parentage he
inclined to that Christian body.
l have some relatives and dear
friends who are Presbyterians. 1
love all three OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
often heard the pure Gospel of Jc-
sus preached by them all. 1 am no
Sectarian. 1 hold that a christian
minister's duty, (no matter what
peculiar tenets may characterize his
Church is to preach Christ-"The
way, the Truth and the life" You
further say, Il do not see how a
man can be this to-day, and that to-
morrow, and nothing next day" AS
to whether 1 am something or moth
ing, l leave for others to say.
have learned from the old Book
more reliable than disciplines,