Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-04-07
EVANGELIST BILLY SUNDAY
Interesting Methods Of Remarkable
Preacher.

Preacher.
Condemned by a council Of clergy
men in New York and commended by
William ]. Bryan, Billy Sunday, base
ball evengelist, expresses indifference
and plans to continue his work as II
nothing at all had happened. The OBJ
lection to Sunday has been largely on
tional methods and language, and
high-handed way Of dealing with stu
| ations. Not as a defense, but as an in
innate study Of the man and his work,
| the Rev. Elijah P. Brown, sometime
assistant to Sunday and now better
known as RAMS Horn" Brown, has
written with Sundays sanction and
under his direction "The Real Billy
Sunday" a volume published by the
Fleming H. Revell company. From 1t
the selections which follow are taken.
There never was any preaching done
jes like that baseball man does it. He's
got a platform to stand on more'n as
big as two wagon boxes and he kivers
every inch Of it in every sermon he
breaches. In the meetin' he
got so fired up that he tore off both his
coat and vest, jerked off his collar and
kervat, an then rolled up his sleeves
as II he was a-goin' to help thresh.
thought I'd heard rather strong preach
in all my life, but l never heard none
o.
Why 1t goes into you like chiggers"
That is the way an early convert Of
Billy Sunday described his work. Since
| then his reputation has lost nothing in
force and strength, judging by the
speeches Of more recent date and the
throngs which flock to hear him.
In place where Sunday was to hold
meeting a delegation Of ministers
asked him to tone down his remarks,
to them he replied:
why, If I did that I wouldn't have
any more people to preach to than you
dol"
And that is the light in which he
views his unusual methods.
The typical Sunday meeting takes
place in a large, brilliantly lighted
building, with a roped-in space in front
for delegations from various lodges
and organizations, and over the plat
form q huge white banner on which is
painted in black letters three feet
high:
Get Right With God.
A stir comes from the audience pack
ed in the hall-there are almost always
large number turned away-when
Sunday appears and takes his seat on
the platform. Several songs are sung
and enthusiasm Is aroused. The open
ing prayer Is delivered by some local
clergyman, and two or three more
songs are sung. Then Sunday makes
few Introductory remarks Of a peril
nent nature and says:
dig up!"
The new, shining milk pans which
hang on the posts about the hall are
now brought into play, and the ex-
pense of the meetings Is betrayed in
this way. After more singing by the
choir Sunday goes to the pulpit desk
and gives out his text.
"As the first words Of the text are
announced" says Mr.. Brown, his
muscles become rigid and he bends
backward as IL about to throw SOM
ersault. The manner of the speaker Is
in sense mild at the start; he is not
violent; he does not speak unduly
loud; there is nothing approaching
strain in his voice. He quickens his
pace; his collar begins to look as II 1t
had seen better days; soon he is rain
ing great sledge hammer blows on the
desk to force home his points, and peo-
pie start as If shot at.
There is but one wor6 that will even
remotely indicate his manner and that
is action" At one moment he Is at
one end Of the platform and the next
at the other and then quicker than
thought he bounds back to the center,
giving the desk a solar plexus blow
that would knock out a giant Ever and
anon he makes long rapid strides to-
give it more whacks, until at last a
large piece splits off and bounds to the
sawdust floor below, at which every
small boy in the front row jumps and
says "Gee!"
II don't care If a church has two
thousand church members. What Il
ask is, how much power have they?
Nine times out Of ten you blame the
evangelist when there are no CONVEX
sions, instead of the Godforsaken,
booze hitting, card playing church
members. There were places where Je-
sus could do no mighty works because
Of unbelief, where they should have
been faith.
II said to a barkeeper one time
Why don't you give your heart to
Christ? You are too nice fellow to
be in this vile business He said, II
wouldn't be in it if the church men,
bers hadn't voted for me- II there is
anything that makes me sick 1t is to|
have some red nosed, buttermilk eyed,
beetle browed, peanut Drained, stall
fed old saloon keeper say that he
wouldn't be in the business IL it were
not for church members voting for
him. He'll is so full Of church men,
bers like that there feet are sticking
out of the windows"
And this is one Of his replies to criti-
cism for the language he uses:
Where you put salt it kills the bac-
terra that cause decay. If a man were
to take a piece of meat and smell 1t
and look disgusted and his little boy
were to say, What's the matter with
it, pop? And he were to say, 1t Is un-
dergoing a process in the formation of
new chemical compounds, the boy
would be all in. But II the father were
to say It's rotten then the boy would
understand and hold his nose. Rotten
is a good Anglo-Saxon word and you
don't have to go to the dictionary to
find out what it means. Some Of you
preachers had better look out or the
devil will get away with some Of your
members before they can find out what
you mean by your sermons"
90