The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1915-01-19

the Lord use His own with |
out respect to precedent or worldly |
wisdom. A perfectly impossible man, |
a mere baseball player, a bin |
graduate, q speaker OF the lingo of
the street corner and the workshop, |
has been chosen, like the jaw-bone
or the samson story, for Staying more
OF the enemies of righteousness than
have fallen at the hands of any other
preacher for a century past. Billy
Sunday. whO is now leading an amaz-
ing revival in Philadelphia. has set
the religious world by the ears. Most
of the large cities of the land seem
to be calling him to come to them
with his strange speech and stranger
methods.
Now the admitted truth is that no
ecclesiastical Ouncil that ever could
have been called would have dream
ed Of devising. as the instrument for
| calling this needless day of ours back
to a thought of God. such a plan
! and such methods as Billy Sunday
| and his campaign Had anybody, by
a wild flight Of imagination. dared
; suggest much a thing, he would have
/, been frozen by the outraged dignity
Of his ecclesiastical associates.
Nevertheless. although he is as I'M
conventional as Gideon's three hun
dred, and rs contrary to precedent as
Gideon's warfare, Billy Sunday seems
to be Gods chosen nan and the
churches, to their praise be it said.
are brave enough and tolerant en-
Ough to accept him. They see the
Midianites of evil routed. and SO are
willing to accept smashing crOckery,
flaring and fitful torches, and blatant
rams horns, as Gods chosen weap-
Ons. And when the church gets to
h point Of being willing to let God
win in His own way, she has arrived
l at q n1oNa Uhnr Hn will find hor fir
A Victorious B%attle-cry.
Close observers of the Billy Sun
day meetings in Philadelphia say
that there is a remarkable and amaz-
ing unanimity among the evangelical
!, clergy concerning his work Asked
for the reason, the answer is that
Sunday calls men back to the sim.
: plicities and fundamentals of relig-
ion. Therein is illustrated the rally.
! ing cry Of the victorious hosts O.
Israel, THE sword of the Lord an6
t Of Gideon" There is nothing tina
7 will bring churches together like
2 common task and a common slogan
Once let the Christian forces Of
! community get to shouting the sam
9 battle-cry and fighting the sam
enemy. and there will be victorie
beyond the dreams Of a divide,
church.
d Divisive forces were at work anon,
those old Jews. Tribal feeling wa
strong, and j~ealousies were many. /
n hundred had gone into the mele
shouting his own shibboleth Their
s would have been 10 victory. Nor ca
Christianity go to conquest shouting
o Immersion! Predestination. Appos
tolic succession! Second blessing" Di
v~isiveness n denominationalisr
d spell defeat. But when all voices CT
"a ssrTho cUnrA nf tho Lord ~ and tho
rush into action, we may expect t
ir see the Midianites of evil-the unite
= forces OF greed, graft, rum. and sell
u ishnesS-fleeing across the river t
the wilderness. A common passio
for the cause of God and of ma
is YIELDS Christians into
n = Why the Game Was LOst.
ii Last fall / saw a football gan
lg wherein a little college ig~nominious
if defeated a great university. TT
re reason was that the small school ha
c. a Gideon in charge of it's team. TT
re most interesting episode of the gan
es was the university's efforts to utili:
it's champion strong man, a Nigh
o. fellow, but no football playerl She
weight and strength were expecte
to work wonders. The attempt faj
ed utterly.
g. That illustrated one Of the Gidet
no lessons. Mere a n might a
m not given the great victories. III
of battle is not to the strong, nor II
c. race to the swift. O church, lea
this. All your bulk, all your mer
ry bers, all your wealth of which Y,
RI boast, all your social and polite
to influence, all your World-girdli
AT twentieth century organization, ca
not win this spiritual warfare. It
ce by obedience to God. by being Wilt
IN. to be little in His sight, it is by da
tn ing to use the humblest and cor
monest means, if He SO directs, tn
the church is to conquer for her &C
tut -
IN GREAT LITER ATCRE'S GRE
by INES.