The Potter-Pence Debate on "Means" at Luray, Virginia, 1890
Elder Lemuel Potter's Account of the Debate at Luray, Virginia
DEAR BROTHER GOODSON: I wish to give a brief account of my late visit among the brethren and sisters in the State of Virginia. I received very urgent invitations to come to the Ebenezer Association, which I concluded to do, and, as I was making the trip, I concluded that I would go one week earlier, and visit the Ketocton Association, also. This Association was well attended, and was a very pleasant meeting, having, since their last meeting of the association, rid themselves of the "Means, Instrumentality, and Sunday-school" element, which pervaded some of the churches of their body. At this Association, I met Elders Hess, of Ohio, Taylor, of North Carolina, Purifoy, of Alabama, and T. N. Alderton, of West Virginia. After this Association ended, I went, in company with others, to Front Royal, on Monday evening and remained there until Thursday morning, preaching at that church one time. On Thursday morning a company of us boarded the train and made our way to Luray, where I stopped and paid a visit to Elder Lampton, who was in very feeble health. On Friday morning we arrived at Alma Church, where the Ebenezer Association convened. On this occasion, Elder C. L. Yates, of Virginia, the leading minister of the Means element in Virginia, and Elder W. T. Pence, of Kansas, and one of the brightest lights and one of the most ardent workers of the Means faction, were present. I was invited by the brethren to preach the introductory sermon. I tried to comply with the request, using as a text, 2 Cor. iv., 5: "For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake." I spent some time in the course of my remarks, as to whether or not the gospel was a means in the regeneration of sinners. At the close of my discourse, the Association elected Brother B. F. Coffman, moderator, and Brother Groves, of Luray, clerk, after whch they adjourned for dinner. During the dinner hour, Elder C. L. Yates, who had formerly been moderator of that Association, called on me, personally, out in the grove, and claimed to be strong in the faith of the doctrine of salvation by grace, unconditionally bestowed upon the sinner, and the passiveness of the sinner in regeneration. He claimed at the same time that he was badly hurt at the way the brethren had acted, as he was the former moderator of the Association, and that without giving him an opportunity to even resign his office, the brethren had announced the office vacant, and elected the brother named above. He then asked me if I would debate the subject that I had spoken on that morning. I told him I would. I would fight for what I believed, and that I would also fight what I did not believe. After some caviling about the proposition, in which he wanted me to deny the use of instrumentalities, which I refused to do, I told him to make his mark, or draw his line, provided we were not both on the same side. He went away, and in a short time Elder Paul W. Yates came to me, stating that he had come to bear a challenge to me to discuss the matter of difference between us. The last named brother is sound, and declares himself identified with our side of the issue, but is a half-brother in the flesh to C. L. Yates. I told him the challenge was accepted, and in a few moments Elder Pence and myself confronted each other face to face, and agreed to propositions to be discussed between us at Luray, the next Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. He affirmed for one day and a half, the following proposition, which I denied: "Do the Scriptures teach God's use of the gospel, as a means of the regeneration of sinners?" His explanation of the proposition is that the Scriptures teach that God uses means, - uses the gospel as a means in the regeneration of sinners. He claimed at first that whatever God used as a means in the accomplishment of his purpose, must be considered as divine means or instrumentalities; and were not to be considered as human means; so that we were to understand, not that men use the gospel as a means in the regeneration of sinners, but that God himself used them.
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