Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-01-11
BILLY" SUNDAYS SERMONS

lessons First. the hour is come to realize
that the church ls not the end. The
church is the means to the end, and II you
think when you come into the church that
that is the end, God have mercy on you
and the church II you are in It. You are
not in the church TO keep n little space
II Inches square warm, but that church
is IN the community and you are in that
church to make this community a better
community and overthrow the sin that
iss in II. And II you do not, the church
is a fiat failure.
''The hour is come; come for something
else. It has come for plainness Of speech
on the part OF the preacher. IL you have
anything to antagonlze, out with It;
specify sins and sinners. You can al
ways count on a decent public to right
a wrong and any public that won't right
a wrong is good one to get out Of.
PREACHING MADE PLAIN.
"Charles Finney went to Europe to
preach, and in London a famous free
thinker went to hear him. The free
thinkers wife noticed a great change in
him. he was more kind, more affectionate.
more affab1e, less abusive, and she said:
4 know what Is the matter with you;
you have been to hear that man from
America preach And he said: wife,
that is an insult; that man Finney don't
preach, he just makes plain what the
other fellows preach 1 wish to God
you could say the same for me when
leave here, for If preaching could save
| you you would have been In heaven long
| ago. You need something else, and by
the grace of God l am going to give
| II to you. Now, the foremost preacher
of his day was Paul. What he preached
was not SO much idealism as prac-
| ticallty; not so much theology, homo
| letics, exegesis or didactics, but n man
ner of life. I tell you there was no
small fuss about his way OF preaching.
| When Paul was on the job the devil
was awake. There is kind of preach
| ing that will never arouse the devil.
" He that believeth not is condemned
| already He that has not believed in
Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of
| God ls condemned where he sits.
TOO much of the preaching OF today
Is too nice. too pretty, too dainty; it does
not kill. Too many sermons are just
| given for literary excellence of the pro-
duction. They get q new adjective or
or noun or pronoun-you cannot be saved
by grammar A little bit of grammar
is all right, but don't be n big fool and
sit around and crlticise because the
preacher gets word wrong. II you
| do that your head is filled with buck
oysters and sawdust, IL that is all you
can see in 1t.
1HSy We peen crying peace, peace. Ihere !
is no peace. Some people won't come to
hear me because they are afraid to hear
the truth They want deodorized disin- |
fected sermons. They are afraid to be
stuck over the edge of the pit and get |!
smell of the birthstone. You can't get |
rid of sin as long as you treat 1t as |
cream puff instead OF a rattlesnake. You |
can't brush sin away with feather |
duster Go ask the drunkard who has |
been made sober whether he likes Bill
Go ask the girl who was dragged from
the quagmire of shame and restored to her
mothers arms whether she likes Bill |
Go ask the happy housewife who gets the
pay envelope every Saturday night in
stead of 1t going to the filthy saloon
keeper whether she's for Bill Some
people say, oh. he's sensational Moth
ing would be more sensational than II
some of you were to suddenly become
decent. I would rather be a guidepost
than n tombstone.
TRUTH WILL CONVINCE.
'I repeat that anybody who is decent,
or wants to be decent, will admire you
when you preach the truth. although you
riddle them when you do it. The hour
Is come, my friend The hour is come
to believe in a revival Some people do
not believe in revivals neither does the
devil, so you are like your daddy.
|
against, and am against everything the
devil Is in favor of. the dance, the booze,
the brewery, my friends that have cards
in their homes. ! am against everything
that the devil is in favor Of, and favor
everything the devil is against, no mat
tor what 1t is II you know which side
the devil is on, put me down on the
other side any time. If you haven't got
religion enough to believe in revlvals, get
down on your knees and pray until you
get it, or get out of the church.
Did you ever hear the story OF the
Scotch shepherd that drove his sheep into
the fold and counted them over, one,
two three-95, 96. 81, and then came
into the cabin and spoke to the collie
dog lying in the corner with her puppies
and he said to her. 'Cis, there are three
OF them gone; you better go out and
find Them She jumped to her feet and
rushed to the door. The storm beat in
her face and she turned back to her
puppies, and he said: Go on, I counted
them and there are three missing; get
them She jumped through the doorway
and was gone. After a while he heard
her at the door. There she stood with
two OF the sheep He went back into the
fold and counted second time, thinking
shat he had made a mistake. 9i. 95. 96,
81, 9s, 90.
LOST SHEEP Is FOUND.
HE came back to the cabin and went
over to the corner where she was lying
with her little ones, and he said: I was
right the first time. There were three.
You found two; there is one yet out on
the mountain. Go and get II. Hurry
up She jumped to her feet and rushed
to the door, and she WINGED and turned
back again to her little ones He said:
'Cis. you won't let that sheep die will
your Go and hnd IT. She looked at her
master and she couldn't say no, and she
bounced through the open door I'm the
teeth OF tho storm and was gone. One,
two, three, four hours went by and at
last he heard her scratching on the cabin
door He threw It open and there she
stood. torn by thorns, battered by the
storm. torn hX the raRged rncla- hut aha !