No Paper Next Week
In keeping with our policy and the terms of our mailing permit, we issue no paper the last week in December. Your next paper will be dated January 5, 1956.
Seventy Years Together
Our warm congratulations and best wishes to Brother and Sister W. W. Otey who on Christmas Eve, December 24, celebrate their seventieth wedding anniversary. Most of our readers get their Guardian on Monday; if such is the case with you, why not remember this truly great soldier of the cross and his faithful companion with a card or letter? Box 13, Winfield, Kansas.
For General Information
Foy E. Wallace, Jr.
Current reports and impressions move me to let it be generally known that I have no connection at all with the present Gospel Guardian. In several years I have not received or read an issue, no copy of it has come to my hand. No one on its staff or among its contributors represents me, nor has permission to speak or write for me. Efforts to link me with it by reports in its columns, re-prints and quotations of articles attributed to me, and the using of my name in any way by anyone in connection with it or with any of its activities, are all contrary with my desires and incompatible with my feelings.
It is known to many that in the three years since my mistress was stricken my first concern has been her care. Everything else has been secondary. To the many who indicate constant interest in us by inquiries concerning our state, let me report that the hydro-therapy treatments at Hot Springs accomplished what was believed impossible in releasing the grip of paralysis, enabling our beloved to abandon the wheelchair and to walk with assistance. We are steadfast in the determination to break this hemiplegic hold and to see her walk on her own power in full restoration to physical activity.
The weight on our hearts in this time of stress and strain has been unutterably heavy. The continued mention of us by many people in many places in petitions to the throne of grace has been our greatest source of consolation. In this comfort of faith, still trusting, we shall yield always to the will of him who holds the future in his hand. His providence has sustained us. We do not walk alone.
It has been heartening to me to fill numerous engagements for meetings, and my spirit has been renewed preaching the word in places where we have known and loved the people through the years. At intervals we will be in Hot Springs, Ark., and in various other places where we may be able to go, but wherever we are, communications addressed to Box 1804, Oklahoma City. ing friend [sic]. O, T. Lowry, who in this extended friend, O. T. Lowry, who in this extended emergency has looked after our local personal affairs with an interest and care that no other than a confidential friend could do.
(Gospel Advocate, November 24, 1955)
(Editor's Note: We supposed it was generally known that Brother Wallace had severed all connection with the Gospel Guardian some five or six years ago. As a matter fact he actually gave up the paper nine years ago, turning it over to Brother Cogdill; and has written not more than half a dozen articles for it since that time. He has written nothing for the last five years.
It is a matter of genuine regret to us, of course, as we are sure it is to all faithful Christians, that Brother Wallace's powerful pen has been so silent during these fateful years when his influence for truth has been so desperately needed. We could fervently wish that the Gospel Advocate and Firm Foundation would be as ready to publish his doctrinal writings as they are to publish his personal expressions. But we all know that such is not the case. So far as we can learn from those most closely associated with him in late years, Brother Wallace's disassociation of himself from the Gospel Guardian is on personal rather than doctrinal grounds. The Gospel Guardian's position on "centralized control" and all the huge promotions of the liberal-minded brethren among us is exactly what it was when Brother Wallace edited the paper. So far as we know, his convictions also are what they were then. We have heard him preach only one sermon in more than three years, and it went right down the line in opposition to the "sponsoring church" cooperatives, brotherhood orphanages, church support of colleges, etc.
Since there are many who read the Gospel Guardian who do not receive the Gospel Advocate or Firm Foundation, we give space "for general information" to Brother Wallace's statement. The recovery being made by Sister Wallace will bring joy to the hearts of all. We join our prayers with the prayers of many others that her complete recovery may be rapidly accomplished. As to our use of quotations from Brother Wallace's writings of past years, we will exercise the same freedom relative to him that we have toward all others — using any quotation which we judge will be helpful in advancing the cause of Christ. However deep may be the affection we feel for Brother Wallace, and however much we might like to respect his wish that no quotation ever appear from him on these pages, there is one thing that means more to us than pleasing him: the cause of Christ.
Meanwhile, since Brother Wallace (for personal reasons) will not write for the Gospel Guardian, and since he can not (for doctrinal reasons) have his articles published in the Gospel Advocate and the Firm Foundation, cannot some way be found to re-activate his Torch, or perhaps furnish him some other medium of expression? We do not know his desires at all in this matter, and certainly do not speak for him in any sense; but we do know the desires of thousands of other brethren: they want to see his great influence exerted through his writings for the truth in these critical hours! We believe Brother Wallace still holds to the truth, and we could devoutly wish some way could be found by which his teachings could be spread abroad "for general information." — F.Y.T.