The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1898-08-27
AN OPEN LETTER
To the Rev. John W. Primrose, u, d. +,
GroenviIIc, Misc.
REV. AND DEAR SIR:

Daily Democrat of the 10Th inst.
called forth by sermon delivered
recently by me and appearing in
| The GREENvMLE TINES of August
18th.
The article wRs written and
published, you declare, from q
sense of duty; duty to the public,
in order to disclaim concurrence
flor the benefit of the public in
tho views expressed in my sermon.
You say that ''on fundamental
points it is due the public that our
position positions . be clearly de-
| fined"
Allowing that your ''sole object"
in writing and publishing your ar
ticle was what you claim It to be,
and that you have correctly dag
nased the need of the public, !
deem it my duty to reply to you
in the columns of o newspaper,
that for you and all the good peo-
pie of this community our posi-
tions-which you assert to he at
oddS-may he still more clearly
defined,
To begin at your beginning, let
me say that, in spite of your reit-
Grated testimony to the olearness
of my style and meaning in the
sermon criticised, you have mis-
| understood me most grievously
and pathetically, if you are labor
ing under the delusiou that nv
sermon was intended as an attack
upon the character and work of
! Moses :; t%St t%S, vas Ignorant Of his
great genius, or unmindful of the
vast good that has blessed the
world because of much that he
said and did. 4 am sorry you
| overlooked the sentence IN the ser
mon where he is spoken of as 'the
greatest religious leader of antiq-
pity," and that other sentence
where it is distinctly stated that
the legislation OF Moses was far in
advance of his age. | should deem
lit, my dear Sir, cause for painful
humiliation, if | thought myself
less capable than YOU of being ap-
pealed to by the mighty genius OF
the great Law-giver; less eager
than you to do him reverence for
what he did that endures and
should endure; for what he said
| that the wisest of men will never
willingly let die. The remark OF
an old professor struck me very
forcibly when it was uttered, and
has remained with me since boy
hood. "When you get to using
superlatlves," he said, "you are
treadlng on dangerous ground
The wisdom of this remark | ap-
preciate now more fully than eyer
before; 1t has made me chary OF su-
perlatives: nevertheless, the wise
warning of it did not prevent me
from characterizing Moses as 1.-THE
GREATEST religious leader of antiq,
uity." # # thiIss ElIs does not seem tf
Yod high praise enough to besto"
upon a mortal, or immortal, man.
| if it oGends you'll am sorry; bn'
] can bestQw no higher, and my
sorrow must abide,
| As you have chosen to put wha'
Won take to be the "gist" OF my
sermon IN syllogistic form, perml
me to do you like service. The
glst of your article, as ! under
stand it, ''may be sylloglStlcall1
stated thus" -
The words of Moses in the Book
Deuteronomy, were all inspire'
by the Holy God; God il unn
phangeable, therefore what Nose
sanctioned, or commanded, IN w
Book, Deuteronomy, tbarrini
purely local needs and peculia
circumstances it would be moral,
right, or not morally wrong, t
command, or sanction, now. Or,
Moses wrote always as he wa
inspired by the Interchangeable God
Moses wrote the Book, Deuteron
orhy; Therefore he who criticlse
any part of this book is a critic 0
God. Or,
Moses idea of God, giyep t
him by God Himself, could nc
have been at fault; it must hav
lbsen complete, perfect: Thegerf
Ioft. he WHO entertsins an idea 9
God IA any. respect different frOr
that Of Moses, necessarily enter