Our next great failure has been our fighting the missionary society without showing by work we had a plan far its superior.

      I was in Austin in 1886 or '87 when the society was born. The F. F. was there also. In those days we were building up nothing, but fighting all things. At that time we had a church co-operative system of missionary work in Texas. For three years the noted C. M. Wilmeth had been sent out to evangelize the state. He was paid $1200 a year. At that time we had in Texas 60,000 members, and as the whole outfit was paying two cents each for missionary work, many of us thought that was well enough, and also thought Wilmeth sufficient to evangelize Texas. We opposed anything that said we should raise $50,000 a year and put out fifty men instead of one. It had never occurred to the F. F. workers that we could kill out the society by educating the church that twice as much work can be done as a church than can be done as a society. It is generally claimed that it takes fifty-three cents out of each dollar that is raised through the society to pay the salaries of the society leaders and to keep the machine running.

      Had we all worked up co-operative meetings in all counties and brought the church in direct contact with the preachers, and had we taught the brethren we can spend only half our energies in fighting the digressives and the other half in building up the church of God, today we would have had in Texas ten congregations to where we have one. But, unfortunately, we count so much on the fighting business and opposition to the society work, that many caught the spirit of pull down, and forgot to build up.

      While they spent their force in pulling down and disgusted many by their do-nothing manner, they forgot to build, then drifted out into the world because they were covetous. They forgot to meet and many have turned back to the world.

      It became hard for any of us to write an article to the F. F. without telling some tale of woe done by the digressives and often speaking unkindly of them.

      As a great number of complainers, and covetous, and grumblers fell in with the church, as that was the only kind of food they could feed on and feel happy, and as this element had never tried hard to advance the church before the division, the outside world who had energy and enterprise to push any work they engaged in, began to note the digressives with all their machinery had zeal, and had pushed their society into all the churches.

      Then seeing that instead of the members who opposed the work showing a better way by doing something, they could note that they were doing nothing but complain.

      So many good men and women accepted the charge made against the church that we had nothing in it but antis, then turned aside and sought homes in working churches, preferring to work with congregations who held some unscriptural practices rather than be with scriptural churches who did nothing but complain and fight all.

      About this time the formal confession, soul sleeping, no hell, one class idea, no Sunday school idea, anti-literature idea, anti-song invitation idea, with many other ideas of tomfoolery, made their way into the paper, and through the paper into the church, and each little fellow feeling sure the church would soon wreck if not governed by his idea, and as the F. F. was too small in size and in brains to push all of these world-moving ideas at the same time this forced many to start the only sound paper and the best paper on earth.

      If there has been a common or ordinary paper started during the past fifteen years I have failed to see it, but quite a number have been started which were the best and only sound papers we had.

      At about this time the digressive element started a paper, the organ of the society and instrumental music, and its heads had as much sense in one day in running it as all of us on the other side have had in twenty years.

      They decided: 1. All preachers must be drummers for this paper, and every meeting they hold they must sow down the town with the paper. 2. No preacher's quarrels should go into their paper. 3. No church wrangle should pass through their paper. 4. Any mistake made by any of their preachers or members should not be published to the world through their paper. 5. No harsh language or unkind criticism should go through their paper. 6. All little 2x4 "one gallos" preachers who sent up articles opposing their work should not be heard, as their paper should not be a channel through which all opposition to their work should pass, but on the other hand for fifteen years there has not been advanced a scriptural suggestion of bible work in the F. F. without from one to fifteen little fellows were allowed to pour cold water on the suggestion and publish their opposition through the F. F.

      From teaching your children the bible in Sunday school to the unscripturalness of riding on the car to our appointments instead of riding a mule--all were criticized.

      If we could have used as much discretion and sense in controlling the F. F. as the Courier has used in managing their paper, today we would have been a united brotherhood in Texas, and the F. F. would have been as large as the Gospel Advocate with 20,000, instead of 8,000, subscribers.

      But the great trouble with us we were all too smart. Almost all our brethren were editors and knew exactly how to run the paper, except the little fellow in the office, and when one of those little fellows did not do to suit us we would pull off and get twenty-five to fifty sore heads, who had had a few articles thrown into the waste basket because they were not written plainly enough to be read and with them we would start the only sound paper in Texas.

      But the other side was not so smart. They only had two or three editors, so all the rest helped them. They have succeeded in capturing the majority of the towns, and have run the majority of the sound brethren back into the alleys and their children, who have been too well taught to go to Sunday school, into sectarian ranks.

      While many members may think this lesson over-drawn, yet a careful study will show what I say to be true at many places in Texas.--J. D. Tant.