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Thursday, April 20, 2023

You Can't Buy God's Grace, Warns Editor, April 20, 1923

Buying the Grace of God

Concluding an evangelistic campaign in a Southern city the other day, the Rev. William A. Sunday carried off a donation of $25,000 for his services. Much publicity was given to the fact as if to advertise that we are a generous Christian people. But 10,000 times $25,000 given for the salvation of souls in Southern towns and cities will not offset the fact of the brutal practices of Southern mobs and the bosses of Southern convict camps.

Right now the Florida Legislature is very much stirred up over revelations of brutalities practiced upon prisoners in convict camps in that state. In one place a white man was brutally lashed to death. It is a late date for Florida to be opening its eyes to the brutal treatment of its convicts. Fifteen years ago Northern magazines of national circulation sent investigators into Florida and saw mill and convict camps and told of the brutalities existing then. Nothing much was done about it. One or two prominent men were sentenced to the Federal prison on peonage charges and pardoned by a President of the United States before they began to serve their terms. I have seen with my own eyes emaciated wrecks of men driven like dumb brutes under an unspeakable lash in the hands of a vile, bestial, bullying boss.

Florida is a promising field for Rev. William Sunday right now. There are many communities in Florida that would give him fat purses and think they were squaring themselves with God. Buying the grace of God looks so simple. It’s so much easier than keeping his commandments. From the editorial page of the Elizabeth City Independent, Friday, April 20, 1923, W.O. Saunders, editor. Rev. William A. Sunday, better known as Billy Sunday, was a famous preacher. He was also an outfielder in baseball's National League.

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