Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-02-07
PREACHERS VIEW OF BILLY SUNDAY
Rev. Alfred Il. IIusscy, I'm the baltimore sun

OF late your columns have contained
no little praise OF Evangelist sunday.
Particular prominence has been given
by your paper To carefully prepared re-
ports OF sermons in his favor preached
by the ministers of two OF our proIni-
ncnt churches These gentlemen are
both men of light and leading in the
community Their opinions are entitled
TO Serious and respectful consideration.
Yet with their latest announcements
| find myself in complete ana utter dis
agreement In the haste exhibited by
them In getting on board the billy sun
day bandwagon | cannot but ind them
lacking in their usual good sense and
sound judgment Like these gentlemen
] have been to Philadelphia and hav.
heard the much ,alkcd-of evangelist.
Instead OF sitting in the seats reserved
for my brethren Of the cloth preferred
TO sit among the crowd and study the
situation from It's point OF view.
Or. iuckcl tells us that the vast tab
crnaclc ~ crowded night and dag. The
afternoon that ! was there | saw at
least 900 empty seats. This, OF course,
Is "A small proportion in a building Gov
crng the space OF an ordinary city
block, but AT the same time ihcr" was
no jamming at the doors ana nobody
was turned away what was the ma
ture of the audience? So far as could
judge, more than two-thirds was made
UP OF typical church members or the
remaining onc-third "a good half con-
sisted of people who were mauifcsily
dra Nn there by curiosity. They stared
and listened, but took no part in the
service. Their attitude was plainly ono
OF mild inQuisit!V"ncss moderated by
Indifference, while the other half con-
sisted OF men who We're of the class
known az down and outs. IL crowd re-
cruited partly from the ranks of tie
unemployed aud partly from the buns
M, N q
These men, seated ut n long distance
from the speaker, made no effort TO lis
ten hut either settled down and slum-
bcrea peacefully throughout the S"rN-
ice or stared with stupid inexpensive
faces at their neiehbors venture TO
say that they would have Co'c any
where to get the warmth and shelter
there granted them. No one troubled
them. No soul saver. that ] could see.
apprna chcd them In any way. And
when the meeting was over they dis
persci with tho crowd.
Sermon Cheap Mcd!ocrity.
As for service and preacher. the i'm
preston made upon me was that of
chcap n mediocrity. There vas some Vul-
Earty. There were q great many stale
Jokes. coupled with some good mimicry
and much sensational shouting. Mr.
Sunday is n genuine comedian. and lie
obviously had his crowd with him. He
had only to stand on ono FOOT and wave
his hands and they would clap ana
stamp. \ coarse ni"e at the common
dccenccs q life. n jest hoary with age
an acrobatic lcap--cach and all were
greeted by roars Of delight. But I saw
no one deeply impressed or seriously
affected. The man is sincere, evidently
but his sermon showed neither intellcc-
tual grasp nor real emotional power
AZ for breadth of vision. there was none
The sermon was made UP of the same
70, t.lly
dcnunCiation OF unbclicvcrs that has
been the stock in trade of revival
preachers since time out OF mind. In
short, the service was entirely lacking
in the feel" Of n great, genuinely re-
ligious movement. Its prevailing
cheapnesS reflected littlc credit upon
those who found II interesting.
Both Or. IIuckcl and DR. Eirckhead
tell us that Billy Sunday breaches the
gospel Of Jesus Christ. Perhaps to
them he seems to do so. For myself
the teachings of the Master both in
spirit and In letter, are very different
derive from the gospels the idea that
Jesus taught love. reverence. good viii
charity, tolerance, sclf-sacrincc. con-
dcmninE only pride, sclf-suilricncy
narrowncss. scctarianism. bigotry. ha-
tired. ! have never heard OF Billy Sun
day saying ono word Of Kindness or
forbcarancc concerning lhoHn who dis
agree with him. Neither In his wrIticn
nor his spoken message can ! ANA even
SO much as II passing recognition nr
that social morality the pnasion FOR
which br"nthcr through every word
that Jcnus ever uttered, Nor dOen liilIy
sunday laZ rlrrra upon the value of
character. with him. II IL "bniicvo ma
believe. or bo damned fOTuyrr" y
preacher wh" declares "IhG dociIiun
Of the fnthrihpnd Of ind and the
brotherhood or man la the grrntrhi rot
out or h"ll, Hid 'Vcry minister who
DrcachcE II ir ~ iinr," is certainly worry
far from preaching The gospel Of
Christ.
''rhr iIypnnu>m az Numbers"
Again both Of iliosu gentlemen hnyo
manirosily fallen ~ prey ~ III" pre-
vailinE hypno,ihm Of nimioip with
the average American. n potent nrgu-
mcnt Is, "crcryhodyh doing H." A la
mcntahlo modctr tendency IL In roi
low the crowd, accept the Judgment OF
tho mob. Granted thui sunday docA
| draw n crowd. Whnt OF ~ DO num-
hers really moan anything; chris
| tianity began with u nero handfuI or
humble, unbelievable folk. Yut II is