To Correspondents by Editor

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 2, 1857

To Correspondents.

By Editor

We have long designed to say a word to our contributors, and having come across the following in the Guide to Holiness we can heartily adopt it:

"We need hardly to say to our contributors that there are several articles on hand which will appear in due time. Let none infer that delay always implies rejection. We have, however, some communications, intended for publication, which we shall be compelled to decline; not on account of their heterodoxy, but because if published they must be wholly re-written, and in some instances so remodeled that the author would hardly know them; and, if even this were desirable, we have not time to do it. We trust, in saying this, no one's feelings will be wounded. Indeed we have no right to suspect such a thing, as our friends invariably accord to us the largest liberty. Write on, then, beloved, and trust to our judgment, and, by the grace of God, we will so exercise it in the disposition made of articles received, as shall best conduce to the great interests we are trying to serve."

Let all who write, aim to interest the church at large. We say this more especially with reference to the subject of confessions. A spirit of confession is good, and should be cultivated by all. But where wrongs have been local, the confession of those wrongs need not be more extensive. For instance, if a brother has deviated from the right course, whose influence is felt only in his own and perhaps a few adjoining churches, a confession on his part would not be of special interest to the church at large, who have perhaps known nothing about him or his influence. Let all wrongs be made right; and they may be by this general rule: Let all public wrongs be publicly confessed, and private ones, privately, according to the extent of their influence.