The Topeka state journal., 1909-02-06
Evangelist BiederWOIf Opens
Campaign in Topeka.
Says He Has a Message for the
People.
LACK OF BACKBONE.
Says Be Good Idea to Swap
Brains for One.
Lower Floor OF Auditorium
Filled at Opening.

81 am Al years old. I weigh 147
pounds and am married. thus the
great evangelist, Biederwolf fntroduc-
ed himself to the hundreds of people
in the Auditorium last night. "but 1
have a message to you people of To-
peka, and it is the message and not
the messenger to which I desire to cen
ter your attention"
The much heralded Biederwolf and
his men of Monticello. Ind, have ar
rived and last night opened series OF
evangelistic meetings TO continue three
weeks or more under the wings of some
16 churches of Topeka This company
has been 10 months in the towns or
Kansas Clay Center. Newton. indie
pendence. Wamego and Coffeyville have
been their field. At Coffeyville, thelr
last stop, their meetings were held IN
g specially constructed tabernacle ana
their reward was the conversion OF =
600 souls; at Wamego, a little town OF
1000, $50 conversions were made; eV-
erywhere DR.. Biederwof and MS men
have had wonderful success and II IS
their hope to make in Topeka, the
largest city of their tour, a record re-
vivaI of religious feeling.
The last paStorate held by Dr. bed
erwolf was that of the Broadway treS-
bvterian church at LOganspOrt. Ind,
from whence he went to the spanish
American war as chaplain of the one
Hundred and SiXty-frst regiment OF
Indiana volunteers, and upon his re
turn began his remarkable eVangeHstlc
career The others in the company are
Homer Rodeheaver of Akron, Col, a
singer with trained and pleasing barl-
tone voice and trombone SololSt as
well: Ray Y. Cliff. pianist, of Ingram,
Wis; Alexander Asher. of Crawfords-
VILE. Ind, general manager, and }: u.
Lawson. correspondent of the meetings
for foreign papers and journals
The entire lower floor of the large
"a aT7d he a
sprinkled with the curious and the serl-
GUS A score of pastors occupied one
end of the platform while the remain
der was reserved for the volunteer
chorus for which over 100 reported last
evening Under the leadership of MT
Rodeheaver the chorus will be 1ncreas-
ed to several hundred voices next week.
The opening prayer was made py
Rev. F. N ---ch of the First Method
list church. and was followed by sing
ing by the entire audience led by the
choir and the great pipe organ Rev
Chas A Finch read the Scripture les
son and Mr.. Rodeheaver played a from
hone solo, after which the evangelist
faced his audience. introducing his
project and inviting cooperation OF all
the church workers OF the city.
Iaments Lack of Backbone.
For the opening address the doctor
took the text, James. 7:1I, To hlm
that knoweth to do good and doeth it
not. to him it is sim or paraphrased
into the vernacular OF the day Inc
Meanest Man in the World
1.-The meanest man in the world is |
the man who won't do what he ought
to do; and the most cowardly man IN |
the world is the man who IS AFRAID 10 |
do it, began DR.. BiederwOlf. If the |
people of Topeka average with the rest |
of the people of the world, some OF |
YOU would make a good bargain II |
y GU would snap some of your ora1ns Tor
a little backbone. This world always |
has and always will take off It's hat
to 81 brave man; and the braVest man
God ever made is the man who VIII 90
right at auy cost when he knows what /
is the right thing to do. I'd rather
have lust thimble full of brains, IL
they were of the right quality and have
n moral nerve of the proper size at It's |
base, than I would to have the brain
of a Solomon, a Solon and a Socrates
ali combined, and be a wiShy-WaShy, |
weak-kneed jelyfish in my makeup.
Il don't believe there has ever been
a man among the heather or civilized
people who has been without a
glimpse of the truth. and in whose
inner nature there has not been strlv-
ings or Compunctions of character
which were calculated to lead him
on toward the thought which was in
the mind of God concerning him, and
lust as far as he has neglected or
trified with them, he has come under
the condemnation of this text.
The speaker applied the text to four
classes of men. First he said, lit
applies to the man who not only
knows how to do good but processes
to do it. whose life is a deliberate de-
nial of his profession. Second. it ap-
plies to the man who is delaying his
decision for Jesus Christ I think it
is no exaggeration to say that nine
tepths of the unsaved. people with
whom you converse will tell you that
they know they ought to become
Christians and yet so many refuse to
do it and say some other time
Thirdly, this text applies to the back
sliders' the man who once knew God,
but who has drifted back into the |
ways of the world, and no one knows