The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-03-05

DISPL LEASED
Language OF Dr..
Il Hatcher Offends Them.
RELIGIOUS HERALD TALKS
II ellis that the Desperate Condition OF
the School at Bristol Has Made
Unnecessary to Use Some
Very PlainTaI

ba Several well known Baptist pastors in
the State have expressed great dis
pleasure Mt the language used BY the
Rev. DR.. w. e. Hatcher aud others In
the Religious Herald criticisng them for
their failure to respond TO the appeals Aor
the Virginia Institute at Bristol, now on
4 the verge of a. collapse.
Is In tho prosecution Of his work for re-
licving Bristol, Or. Hatcher has had
h free use OF the columns Of the Herald,
the denomnatonal organ, md from time
Ito time he has given q budget Of news
concurrlnE the progress of hfs lnbors.
Z; Along with these patches Of news came
at odd times appeals to the brethren. AS
4 the time limit set by tho creditors drew
K nearer and nearer, and the conditions
Bpf Bristol became more and moro des-
( perate the appeals grew correspondinEly
more strenuous. With his usual vigor of
style, DR.. Hatcher tried to stir up some
43of those pastors who had as yet made 10
move. No names were caled--the crit
iclsm was general rather than specific,
\ but it was at times mono, the less sharp
and singing.
:3s Now some OF the pastors are coming
back and are manifestly dspcascd. They
felt they had a right to decide whether
liDr not they should burden their churches
with collections for Bristol. They didn't
like the criticism and they are beginning
to say so. incidentally. at least, one Of
them takes n hard crack at the General
Association. This particular pastor has
gone so far as to write;!to DIR. r.. III. Pitt,
seditor Of 4 he Herald, upon the subject.
& 55t HERALD MAKES EXPLANATION.
XII Or. Pitt has made 4 reply, not In an
other letter, but in tho columns of the
Herald, where 1t may be3scen by all the
disconnected brethren In q long cd-
gtorial this week he says:
s .tIn tho ardor of our desire to save the
Bristol school, we have published from
time to time appeals to or brethren to
rally to this enterprise, to which the
General Association had EivenRits cordial
Ind unanimous endorsement. These APP
peals have sometimes, as we judge from
~ letter just received from a valued and
esteemed brother, given offense to some
OF tho non-co-operating brethren. because
they were accompanied BY criticisms OF
inactive and ,nresponsive pastors which
seemed unnecessarily sharp and singing.
have several things to say. In the
\ first place, we have not published one
line which. to us Al any rate, had any
direct personal references When we have
CRITICISMS TO offer upon any individual,
we shall name our man. Make no mis-
I take about that! x
u I'll HIn the second place, we have been In
an almost desperate undertaking. 1t Is
not ours. We really had no moro re-
sponsibility for 1t than any one Of the
hundreds of pastors or Of the tens OF
thousands Of laymen In Virginia. 1t is
the enterprise Of the General Association.
Still, If the Religious Herald had been
silent, or lacking in zeal and enthusiasm,
what would the friends of the Virginia,
tf,1{n Jp1ya ,phJ nj "a
to do our best, and we had little time for
playing the exquisite or the courier.
Doubtless we have not been as careful
y as we ought to have been, and, while
distinctly. disavowing any personal refer
ence In any paragraph we have published
Y(except, of course, when the person IS
$named), we wish also to express regret
\ that any line or word published should
have given any worthy friend pain or
course, good and true brethren, pastors
and lay1nen, are fully capable of deciding
for themselves what they ought TO DO II
case Ike this, and we do not desire to
take this Irerogative from Them 4
DIGS AT ASSOCIATION.
& Then the Herald couples 4 word or two
more 10 this frank avowal.' The min
lister who complains of the tone Of the
Hernld's articles on Bristol asks Must
Z wc advocate .nri enterprise because It is
wise in interpolation OF the General As;so-
x Cl0llON we must SlNc aSCouill " Hpu'
selves, and We must judge for ourselves.
TO this statement the Herald makes re-
ply partly as follows
# "Of course, the General Association has
no authority over churches or pastors.
1t has not. ana ought not to have, any
method Of imposing its Will on churches
or individuals But the repeated. en-
phhtic and unanimous delNerunccs OF.
the General Association With reference
no tho conduct of work whose manage
,nent has been committed to it ought to
have great weight with our pastors and
churches. There is a duty Of co-opera-
ton just as high and solemn and Inn
perious as any other duty. To be sure,
in any given case we may refuse, ana
there is 40 power lodged anywhere to
compel us OF course. one does not by
1oi1ing In the deliberations of the Gem
erGl Association sign away his own ltb-
erty OF conscience. 1t may happen-as 1t
sooms to have happened in this case
that churches and pastors have already
wele1lty obligations which they must dis
charge before they can undertake addi-
3tional tasks. 1T may happen--us has
doubtless happened in other cascs-that
HourI people have raised their preJudices
#totthc rank of conscientious scrupes, l t
may happen thaot those who have n relish
for INSTRUMENTATION aud genius for OBJ
gtrlction are unable to resist the tempta-
ton TO use an opportunity such as this
enterprise las afforded 10 exploit their
liberty to balk or kick. II may be that
some are unable TO discriminate their
personal dislilies from the claims Of n
REORGANIZATION enterprise. 1t may be
that some pastors and churches have
failed to move from sheer inerla. Let
each be fully persuaded In his own mind,
TO his own Master he standeth or
falleth."