The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1916-04-13
Mr.. A. S. Teats Goes After Billy
Sundays Detractors.

y
Mr.. A. S. Teats and sent to the Balti-
more Sun for publication, portion of
which appeared, and is here published
ir its entirety:
To the Editor of The Sun.
1t seems to me that the article writ
ten by M. E. Sloan, of Washington, and
published in the Sun under date of
March 29th, 1916, is one of the most
vile, subtle, uncharitable and cruel at
tacks on Christianity as represented by
Billy Sunday and others, that l ever
read
am not posing as defender of Billy
Sunday but in that article he is brand
ed as a hereto, falsifer and perverter
of real Christianity.
wonder if our friend Sloan really
knows what it means to be a real
Christian?
l suppose according to his own ideal,
he is real Christian; that is he does
Just as Christ did as a human being
and that he has refrained from doing
the things that Christ refrained from
doing. Christ went about doing good,
gave words of cheer and comfort to the
down trodden, blessed the little child
rem, and wept with them that wept. He
never went to a dance nor any other
place for amusement, and never covet-
ed anybody's money or property, etc.
| haven't the remotest idea that our
friend or any other human being ever
lived up to such a standard as that.
Then why all this prattle about real
Christianity. And the very fact that
we can not, throws US upon the mercy
of God for salvation which we can OBJ
tain only by repentance and faith.
Suppose there is no special harm in a
decent civil dance, yet we are all bound
to admit that we could have spent the
same time we spent there in doing
something more profitable, and the
same thing is true of every other form
of worldly pleasure.
fully believe that most of this knock
ing comes from fear that worldly pleas
ure and worldly gain will be interfered
with. Read the 18th chapter of Acts
and see how quickly Demetrius became
knocker when he found that Paul's
preachings was injuring his business.
If business is doing more harm than
good in community, it ought to be in
jured. deny that Billy Sunday sneer-
ed at theology and this | say not in de-
tense of him but in defense of the
truth. He did say in substance that
theology without repentance and faith
would not bring salvation and that is
the truth. Man in his best estate is fool
ishness with God; is cipher brought
against infnity. 1t is alright and a
good thing to be a great scholar so that
we may be better qualified to help
others, but there is no way by which
we may be saved except by repentance
and faith in Christ.
1t is easy to find evil in anything,
however good it may be if we are look
ing for it, and our friend tells US he has
been studying Billy Sunday ever since
he began and then comes out with this
broad statement: that he is unable to
find the Gospel preached at all. Now.
my dear reader, what is your guess on
it? Was he looking for good or evil?
Our friend goes on to say that no one
speaking by the spirit of God can pos
sibly be so impudent. etc. St. Paul
tells US that the Spirit beareth witness
with our spirits that we are the child
rem of God. In the face of this great
declaration, want to ask you sternly
how do you know, sir, what is going on
between the Spirit of God and human
soul other than your own? And where
did you get the authority you assume in
making such statement as that? How
do you know that there is more false
religion making under the name of
Christ than there is real Christianity?
The most laughable feature of the
article is that Mr.. Rodeheaver was to
have little fun with the children one
day by showing them some magic tricks
which is often done at home. But IN
the estimation of our friend, this was a
horrible thing to do and what wonder
it is that the world did not come to ar
end instantly where that was done if 1t
was done at all.
A. s. TEATs.
Oakland, Maryland. April LIST, 1916.