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. … The story goes that David Lipscomb objected to Tant’s being banned but had turned effective control of the paper over to J. C. McQuiddy. The justification for the ban was a report that Tant had used “profane” language in the pulpit, a report Tant denied. [He called a male cow a “bull.” JDT]<\/p>\n
C. McQuiddy offered this apology:<\/p>\n
“Some years ago J. D. Tant was shut out of the columns of the Advocate on what was thought to be reliable evidence, but further developments proved this to be untrue. For the injustice done him I offer my apology, and deeply regret the occurrence. The Advocate never charged nor believed him guilty of any criminal conduct, and only thought his plainness of speech often amounted to bluntness, which offended some people. The management of the Advocate was only anxious for him to prove himself innocent; but when his accusers refused to meet him in Nashville, J. D. Tant offering to pay all railroad expenses to and from Nashville, he had no way left to exonerate himself. It now appears clear that there is no truth in the accusation.” (Gospel Advocate, 7 October 1920, p. 977).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
D. Tant responded as follows:<\/p>\n
“Brother J. C. McQuiddy: I am glad to note in the … Advocate of Oct. 7 that you consider one, J. D. Tant, worthy of an apology from you on account of certain treatment given him by the Advocate in the long ago. While said treatment caused some of my friends and myself to lose respect for the Advocate, for we felt I did not have fair treatment, yet I assure you with all love that I accept your apology in full, and we will rub out the past and be brethren, as we were in the long ago.<\/p>\n
“It is also quite true that my language is blunt and plain; having been reared in the West, where we all use plain speech, and being an Irishman (for I’d be ashamed to be anything else), we all use language out there that can be understood. When I heard many of my brethren, especially among the pure- hearted preachers, claiming that my language was offensive because I said ‘bull’ in the pulpit, I hardly knew what to do. After all, a preacher must try to please the Lord instead of men in preaching the gospel. David could not wear Saul’s armor to fight Goliath, yet he won the victory. Paul’s brethren said his speech was contemptible; yet he fought a good fight. Also, Paul said, ‘To the pure all things are pure; but to the defiled nothing is pure’. Many of my brethren who are shocked at my speech, I believe can not show up a better moral life than I can. I shall not quit preaching to go to college now to learn smooth language that will please my brethren, but shall continue to preach the gospel straight and keep in touch with the Lord, and keep myself unspotted from the world. I will work and pray for the salvation of all men I may influence, for I am more anxious to fill heaven than I am to get a college education so I can use language that will please my brethren. I well know that I must soon give an account of my steward-ship to God, and I think if I have preached the gospel and lived right, God will give me one hundred percent on language. And Freed and Hardeman will give me one hundred percent on penmanship, and then I’ll be on the safe side. In love, J. D. Tant.” (Gospel Advocate, November 30, 1920) [Freed Hardeman was a college operated by Christians and named after two prominent preachers. JDT]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Here is Tant on several of his favorite themes. Those with fine speech, who are educated at “our” colleges are embarrassed by J. D. Tant as we move through the new century. To such men, Tant’s work for God matters not at all. Tant is not “refined,” and he holds no degree. There was, of course, no college for which the blunt J. D. Tant could teach . . . he would have told the truth boldly in all matters that he believed to be right, true and just. That would not do . . . even in 1920. And, of course, he had no “credentials,” he had no degree, not even one in penmanship! [My grandfather’s penmanship was atrocious.- JDT]<\/p>\n
More disturbing to Tant was the realization that a man who was blunt and was trained only as a common carpenter couldn’t teach at the schools either . . . then or now. He sees where we are drifting . . . Form will matter, and substance becomes secondary. The way you say things is important . . . it’s ok to lie, commit adultery, et. al., as long as you are discreet and educated. Tant finds this offensive. Tant, to the end of his days, will call it as he sees it and as often as it truly is. He refused to pretend things were all right.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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. … The story goes that…<\/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":[726],"class_list":["post-69037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-church-history"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":59005,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/larimore-and-tant\/","url_meta":{"origin":69037,"position":0},"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":69037,"position":1},"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":56961,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-an-old-time-preacher-handled-mischief\/","url_meta":{"origin":69037,"position":2},"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":55347,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-bit-of-history\/","url_meta":{"origin":69037,"position":3},"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":56719,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-hardships-of-preaching\/","url_meta":{"origin":69037,"position":4},"title":"The Hardships of Preaching","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 6, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"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\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":57250,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/an-idea-for-a-sermon-topic\/","url_meta":{"origin":69037,"position":5},"title":"An Idea for a Sermon Topic","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 23, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant Sometimes preachers are hard-pressed to come up with a good sermon topic. In reading some of my father's old church bulletins from Norman, Oklahoma, (April 1946), he wrote of a famous preacher in London many years ago who announced his sermon for the next Sunday -\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/thinking.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69037","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=69037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69037\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}