The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-02-01
Pastor of Seventh St. Christian
Church Opposes Giving
Evangelist Invitation
Charges Sunday
With Plagiarism
Doesn't Like Sunday Methods
and Resents His Character
ization of Ministers AS "A
Bunch of Stiffs'

Before a large congregation in the
Eeventh-Strest Christian Church last
night DR.. n d. e. Maclachian, pastor
of tho church. preached sermon
strongly opposing the proposal to
bring to Richmond Evangelist Billy
Sunday for a series of meetings. BE-
tore the Ministerial Union this morn
ing pr. Mac,achlan will again oppose
the evangelist coming here. This
la so far the only dtscordant note in
Ghe desire OF ministers and church
people to get the famous preacher
here.
in his sermon last night Dt. Mac
lachlan made a wholesale attack on
the methods, manners and customs of
The Sunday campaign. Exhibiting
clippings from the New York Times
he declared that Sunday is a plagarist
as shown BY the fact thai memorial
day address ty the evangelist recently
made corresponds word fo~ word to a
similar address made by Colonel
Robert Tngeraoll.
Other features of the sermon were
attacks On what the speaker termed
the censoriousness of the SUNDAY
campaign. this being the alleged OPP
position TO end denunciatton of min
lSters by f.,a evangelist. Dr.. Maclach-
AtA2 WHY Hot aUtt1HEa w asNFfbk 1A&UsA$
the characterization OF ministers as
"A bunch If stiffs" He declared that
he had "a right to resent such language
and that he would resent II. standing
and saying 10 Mr. sunday, ITO my own
master | stand or fall"
DR. Nat.lachian's Questions.
The subject of the sermon was
billy Sundayism. promiss or Men,
see" The speaker inci,ncd strongly
raised and answered the following
questions:
Can the cause of trat., be further9d
by d~nuncia.ion of other peoples con-
scienttous beliefs?
Can u genuine revival be worked
up7
Do the recruits justify she expendi-
tnre Of time and money?
Can the church be strengthened by
criticism of It's msnisters?
Can a pdroly individuaiistic gospel
fill the needs Of the present age?
Can spiritual power be measured by
numbers7
Can the pulpit prnfitabIy divorce
itself from decency and ORDER
DIR. Maclachian said, in part:
Now, billy Sunday and Roles Pom
rase are absolute incompatibiiittes ana
contradictions. They cannot both be
I2EEI- IL EtitT sRihdAy Is FlkHI To
day, then the diguttaries OF commerce
and the Church were wrong when
they compassed penrosefa election last
November. billy Sunday may he
sincere. earnest and couY aseous, but
has he the nerve To tell the truth.
the whole truth. and nothing but the
truth. TO the gentlemen who are most
conspicaomsy supporting him. bare
he tell them that they sold civic right
Aee ana ~ AA So
the whiakey ring for thirty pieces OF
high-tarfn money! He need not f1ght
booze and graft to hell and back
again and then some. he only needs
tn fight them to the door OF Phiiadel-
phia's churches in which their pro-
tectionists' ind sanctuary. II Billy
sunday can pat spine and grit into
the Amen and 'Hallelutsh' crowd
that is back of his work, he win per-
form a miracle"
1t is right here that Mir. Sundays
and all similar methods seem to me
10 break down. He does not get to
the root of the matter He does not
clean up house permanently. Some
twelve years ago there was a great
simultaneous revival in Louisville.
KY. and In the fall Of the same year
I<ouisvtlle's response to that revival
was an election so corrupt that even
n Democratic Court of Appeals de-
clared nearly every Office in the city
vacant. Down In Atlanta year or
two ago there Was a. great campaign
under the Men and Religion Move
rnent which resulted In the closing up
III the redlight district; but the wave
passed. and today Atlanta is piiIorico
before the civilized world as a city
Of mob rule. terrorizing its trial courts
and quitting itself In the blood of an
innocent jew. liz Pttsburg cleaner
since the Sunday campaign? Is
Portsmouth? Ii Seattle?
l have left to the last the question
Of MIR. Sundays methods. am not
disposed as Il rule to csivil about meth
eds. ! have no fault to find with the
drum beating ana ragtime of the SAL
walton Army meeting. for it's appeal
Is not the church-going ciass---it does
not set a standard for the Church.
But the appeal Of MIR. Sunday is very
largely, Ii not exclusively. to the
church people. He Is in no sense
an apostle to the downs-and- outs and
human derelicts. such as Jerry Nc
Auley and General Booth were His
boast liz that he arouses the churches
but does he elevate them Do his
methods tend to create high type Of
spiritual religions May not religion
be ciieapened by bringing 1t down to
tho level Of the bah park and comia
supplement.
Take. e. g.. the element of force
involved In the carefully worked up
revival atmosphere and The hypnotic
influence on the more or less sug-
eestible subjects In a huge gather
Ing OF people, all intent on a single
idea and under the domination OF "A
masterful will Force Ia no less force
because II Is of spiritual nature. The
hypnotist lays no hand on his subject.
Y ct he eunpeis him To sIs, iais bidding
All psychologists agreed that there Is
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