On The Honor Roll
The slander-slingers of the Rio Grande are making up quite a long honor roll of preachers throughout the nation, who for one reason or another are out of humor with us. Many of them write personal letters and get them published with or without permission. Brother Brewer was anxious to have his published. Brother Collins wrote one, Brother Brewer says, and requested that it not be published. They ought to publish it, since it is known that he sent one. We would like to know what he had to say about us.
Dear Brother Paisley got on the honor roll and is so embarrassed over it that he wants off. It develops that he did not intend' for his letter to be published. In it he added his support to all the ugly charges made against us, including the one that the editor of the Bible Banner "was crooked in business." I have sensed all along that the brother was going to sooner or later be embarrassed by writing letters and talking too much. He has written me several that he should not have written that I did not publish. When he had his latest brain-storm in print, he hastened to write a long "Criticism, Correction and Apology," a copy of which I have. He explains that "I am making this correction before I see any reaction to my criticism." Well, my "reaction" to his "criticism" was in the editor's hands before I received the "correction and apology." After reading it, I see no reason why I should change or recall my "reaction."
I have no desire to unjustly add to or prolong the brother's embarrassment. We shall give him full credit for the apology he has made. He now refuses to believe that we, or either of us, "was" or is "crooked in business."' He apologizes for everything he has said which lent support to that ugly charge. He goes to great length in still insisting that we are guilty of "unprincipled' misrepresentations" and still affirms "any day or night" that the editor exhibits "outstanding unfairness toward all men who dare to cross his path." He repeats, most of the charges that put him on the honor roll. The apology adds up to this. The editor is not "crooked in business" but otherwise both he and I are monumental fibbers! Now, that is very nice of you, Brother Paisley, to make such an all-out apology as that. Your generosity and magnanimity will possibly win widespread applause. It should insure "peace in our generation" and be a guarantee that henceforth no cross-word shall pass between us. It is wonderful to enjoy such a full measure of your confidence after all these years, and we shall strive to be worthy of it. There is one little thing, though, that bothers me mildly. I just wonder if our brother would ever have made such a noble correction and such a humble apology, if he had not appeared on the honor roll.