Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-10-15
BERRY PRAISES
BILLY" SUNDAY;
RAPS METHODS
Methodist Leader Denies
He Denounced Taber-
nacle Evangelist
SCORES VULGAR DISPLAY

stlnging criticism OF many Of the meth
ads Of tabernacle evangelists copied after
. ~Rnly" Sunday campaigns and arising
rom his success. were made today by
p,shop Joseph F. Berry, head of the Con-
.ress on Evangelism OF the Methodist
& rhurch in this country. Among the fea-
E ,res Of such campaigns which the Bishop
Fl .,,r,,oned as Objectionable we're the
,Enocking" Of ministers during the early
weeks of tabernacle campaigns, the "vul-
,.r display Of presents from the people.
q ,ns wholly Inadequate provision for in
n .,,uctlng the converts and guiding them
,rro a real heart experience OF personal
X raivation."
bishop Berry believes the tabernacle
campaigns are good. but are seriously in
need of reformation. He believes the
,sndency to take away from the pastor
n h,s evangelistic leadership and the dis
,osition to discount the church building
i centre of evangelistic activity and
4 a magnify the tabernacle she'd is to he
s.niored Further, he objected to the
4 tendency to commercialize this new
n ,,e,hod of tabernacle evangelism by many
h Of the leaders.
NOT ATTACKING BILLY"
Az the same time the Bishop insisted
n that Il be made plain that he was not
4 attacking BILLY Sunday personally, and
1 Mad not attacked him in Minnesota, as
+ had been reported In press dispatches pub
/ Ished throughout the country. II was
\ for the purpose of setting himself straight
ss regards these dispatches that Bishop
4 perry consented to issue a public state
+ ment of his present attitude on taber-
II nacle evangelism. He said that he wanted
\ n clearly explained that he was not att
4 tscking persons but methods.
3 The Bishop declared his belief that the
Il sunday campaign, conducted IN this city
+ last winter, was of much value to the
II sniritual and civic Improvement OF this
4 rommunity. He said, Billy Sunday was
4 ihe greatest rcformer in the country, and
4 mat great good was bound to come to
,ny part of the country in which he
labored But, he said. better results
n would come through a change of methods.
4 REGARDING the news reports that the
Bishop attacked Sunday, Bishop Berry
5 said:
.sThe press dispatch was a blundering
L AFFAIR made no attacks upon Mr.. Sun
dav and said none of the things they
4 reported me to have said. l was deliv-
ering A series of addresses on Pastoral
/ Evangelism at the Minnesota Confer
ence. and in one of these I deprecated
/ the growing tendency to take away from
/ the pastor his evangelistic leadership
II also expressed regret that there is
IA growing disposition to discount the
4 church building as a centre of evangel-
istic activity and to magnify the taber-
nace or shed. 1 expressed my confidence
IN the sincerity and devotion of Mr.
Il gunday and repeated that the usefulness
II Ii. III Nod hU fafV oh
jectionable features which now seem to
+ be inseparable from all this tabernacle
evangelism. ."-
.'of these features 1 specified the habit
! OF evangelists. during the first weeks of
their campaigns. of knocking ministers
and churches. the reception in public and
the vulgar display of presents from the
I people, and the wholly inadequate pro-
vision for instructing the converts and
guiding them into a real heart experience
Of personal salvation
In explanation of his feeling toward the
Standardization of tabernacle evangel-
Ism. Bishop Berry continued.
4 Il expressed sincere regret that this
new method of tabernacle evangelism was
being commercialized by many of it's
leaders. and cited some instances of this
which were startling and deplorable"
Among the instances the Bishop said
Who had offered a. minister $50 commits
non on each campaign he arranged in
enurehes in his conference, of another
Who onered a minister 10 per cent of
MS tabernacle thank offerings. and of
me growing tendency of young men to
become tabernacle .evangelists rather
nan pastors of churches. He asserted
NAT II was difficult to get young men to
become regular ministers because of the
commercial lure of evangelism. and. that
ne believed there were enough evangelists
work of the tabernacle class, and the
ehurches Of his determination would be
lar better OFF IL no more OF them became
hDernacle preachers at this time
In the address referred TO criticised
mttnods. not persons" he said. The re-
nuons OF Mr.. sunday and myself are the
same as they have been n: % years. He
unnerstands me perfectly, and IL was
ealy Unnecessary for me to send him a
Hter, which l promptly wrote, disavow-
ng the silly things which the sensational
press dispatches made me say.
Notwithstanding the discount, which
necessary because OF the things I
nave mentioned, regard Mr.. Sunday as
me mightiest force making for righteous
ness In the republic. He is reformer
more than an evangelist. His preach
ms '~eeinst sin-personal, political, civic
~ nsuonal-has given US a moral tonic
1nich We sorely needed. The community
@nere ne labors is vastly better for the
deals OF character and life which he
nolos aloft. The number OF the con-
ferts' In his meetings is vastly overestI-
mated. but the moral uplift which re-
.a's from his sledge-hammer preaching
simply beyond any possibility OF esti-