by Jefferson David Tant<\/p>\n
The following is an excerpt from the story of my grandfather, J. D. Tant, written by Yeater Tant. I was rereading this portion this morning and thought of the hardships he endured, and how comfortable so many of us are. Would we have such faith? And would we be willing to tackle obstinant brethren he did? Read, enjoy, and reflect. [By the way, the book is still in print.]<\/p>\n
The agreement between my brethren and me was that I must spend all my time in those seven counties, making my own appointments. I was to ride to those appointments when anyone would lend me a horse, otherwise I must walk. Not only was I expected to be a good walker, but a good swimmer as well. I have had to swim as often as seven times to reach my appointment. Several times when on a borrowed horse I have ridden forty miles in the night, laid down on the saddle blanket to sleep two or three hours, and then gone on the next day.<\/p>\n
On one occasion I got off the train in the morning at Navasota, Texas, to commence a protracted meeting 42 miles east that night. It would cost me $3 to go round by Houston and up to Willis, within four miles of my meeting. I had the $3, but felt like if I could save it by walking to my appointment, I would be doing the right thing. The train ran my way 28 miles to Montgomery, but as they had no connection to make, and made one trip a day on their own time, I could not wait for them. Taking my grip in my hand, I left the train and walked down the track to Montgomery, 28 miles; made it by 4 p.m., borrowed a horse and went on 12 miles, and got there on time to fill my appointment. The train came into Montgomery at 9 o’clock that night, and when the editor of the local paper wrote them up for letting passengers get off and walk and beat them in by five hours the people seemed to enjoy the incident.<\/p>\n
Next morning I borrowed another horse and rode back twelve miles to carry my first borrowed horse home… After this big meeting near Willis, I pulled up to Grimes County to resurrect a dead church. I found this church had been composed of kinfolks, who are the meanest people on earth to settle church troubles among. The church had been meeting for worship until the past Christmas, at which time many of the members had got drunk, including one elder. I would rather try to make a whistle out of a pig’s tail than try to rule some churches by some so-called elders.<\/p>\n
I went to this community, and told a brother of my mission. He informed me that some of the members were still bitter enemies. It would never in life do to bring them together, as some would be killed. But I set the next day to discuss the matter. Only two brethren met with me. I argued with them that the church was bound to go to hell in their present condition. I thought the best thing to do was to bring all together and settle all trouble. If they wanted to fight, I thought the best thing to was to pull it off, and let two or three members kill each other and to go the devil. Such would bring about a state of sorrow and humiliation among the rest of the members and perhaps convert them to the Lord, and they could be saved.<\/p>\n
This suggestion was accepted, and the very next day the whole community came out, as they usually do over a church fuss. I brought the matter out from every angle. Each had to tell how good he was, and how all the meanness was in the other fellow. During the trial I had to get up three times and set one of the elders down, who got up to use the direct operation of the Devil’s spirit on another member. But finally I struck the right key. They all tuned in and all confessed their wrongs to each other and came back to Christ.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jefferson David Tant The following is an excerpt from the story of my grandfather, J. D. Tant, written by Yeater Tant. I was rereading this portion this morning and thought of the hardships he endured, and how comfortable so many of us are. Would we have such faith? And would we be willing to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[536],"class_list":["post-56719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-preaching"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":69037,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jefferson-d-tant-j-c-mcquiddy-exchange\/","url_meta":{"origin":56719,"position":0},"title":"Jefferson D. Tant – J. C. McQuiddy Exchange\u00a0\u00a0","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 26, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Gardner comments by Jefferson David Tant III Tant was barred from the Gospel Advocate starting in 1909 for some ten years. In Tant's biography, this is attributed to the fact that the Advocate became more \"literary\" with the addition of men like R. H. Boll to the staff.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56961,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-an-old-time-preacher-handled-mischief\/","url_meta":{"origin":56719,"position":1},"title":"How an Old-Time Preacher Handled Mischief","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 16, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Author Unknown One of the best-known preachers of the first half of the last century was J. D. Tant (1861-1941). My Dad knew brother Tant and heard him preach. A few months before Dad died, he was telling me about some of the preachers he had known and some of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59005,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/larimore-and-tant\/","url_meta":{"origin":56719,"position":2},"title":"Larimore and Tant","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 13, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by F. Yater Tant Gospel Guardian, September 22, 1955 In the 1890s the beloved T. B. Larimore held a six-month meeting at Sherman, Texas, and baptized something like 250 people. His prestige there and his influence were almost comparable to Paul's in Galatia at the time the Galatians \"would have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37298,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-have-fought-a-good-fight\/","url_meta":{"origin":56719,"position":3},"title":"I Have Fought a Good Fight","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 16, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by J. D. Tant (1861-1941) Sixty years have come and gone. I hope and pray that long after I cross the great divide, hundreds will read my sermons, be taught the way of life, and take up their cross and follow Jesus. I am leaving this bit of history that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55347,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-bit-of-history\/","url_meta":{"origin":56719,"position":4},"title":"A Bit of History","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 31, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant While looking through an old paperback songbook, I found a page written by Austin Taylor, a song leader who often traveled with my grandfather (J. D. Tant) and other gospel preachers to lead singing during gospel meetings. He mentioned the favorite songs of several preachers. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31523,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-elephant-in-the-room\/","url_meta":{"origin":56719,"position":5},"title":"The Elephant in the Room (Tant)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 2, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant People use many devices to mitigate or cancel out plain Bible teaching. This ancient practice can be traced to the Old Testament. Seven hundred years before Christ, Isaiah was dealing with a rebellious people. God told him: \"Now go, write it on a tablet before them\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/blindfold.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56719\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}