The midland journal., 1916-04-28

time. Only 30 minutes had passed
since he had jumped down into the
little box But, it was the most
crowded, the most wonderful 80 min
utes that practically all of those $4,000
Baltimoreans had ever passed through.
Then Billy made his closing prayer
Ia few words OF thanksgiving to God.
And he bade good-by to the audience.
which shouted its answer in thunder
Gus tones
Il was over!
There were fully 10000 turned away
from the tabernacle at the night meet
ing, and. when Billy mounted the plat
form, every available inch of space
was occupied Men and women were
sitting in the sawdust in the front
aisles. Daniel @. Ammidon, president
OF the Police Board, was one who could
not find chair and who sauatted on
the shavings. Eugene Levering had
great difficulty getting in, and 1t was
only after the most strenuous efforts
that he succeeded.
Governor Harrington was again on
the platform, as was Ex-Governor War
field
Billy, before preaching his sermon,
made an address of thanks to Balti-
more. He thanked the ministers, laud-
ing them highly; he thanked the exc
cutiye committee as q whole and rs
individuals; he thanked the choir, the
ushers, the doorkeepers, the police
men, the f1remen, the city officials, the
doctors and nurses, the secretaries, the
entertainment committee and all
others connected with the campaign.
And then he stopped to bring all Of the
members Of his party to the platform.
II have left the best to the last"
Billy then continued. Il want to thank
the newspapers for the manner in
which they have published the ac.
counts Of this campaign. They have
been kind, and have given us carte
blanche space. The newspapers are
among the greatest factors in religious
work, and know of no force or power
for uplift greater than the press.
In all truth. the last day was great
day in Billy Sundays Baltimore cam
- 5l
paign.
No other meetings OF the revival
were like into these. Not like them
in the enormous throngs that surged
round in the big barnlike building;
not like them in the deep devotion,
the profound sense Of the spiritual
that dominated those in the long pine
benches, not like them In the nature
Of the sermons, nor yet in the manner
of their delivery.
For Sunday, too, was different He
was as different in spirit and in pur-
pose as the crowds that heard him.
To him the supreme feature of this
saying of farewell was the terrible
fear clutching at his heart that some
soul on the brink of surrender might
gain the fortitude to Withstand the
appeal Of the gospel he preached:
might, though the spirit struggled
hard, remain loyal to the flesh and the
devil, and so might commit the unpar-
donable sin on which he preached the
other night; might resist the Holy
Ghost; might go out of the tabernacle,
so stepped in sin that nothing could
ever touch it to repentance
This terror gave the evangelist
new courage. It infused into his voice
the ring of conviction, the tremor Of
pathos, the joyous note Of the soul
triumphant, that, 1t would seem, was
potent enough to melt hearts of stone.
His sermons were packed with plea
after plea for sinners to repent The
danger of tomorrow, the time that
never materializes" he painted with
1TomorhOw," he told them, 'is the
thirty-second day of the month; it is
the eighth day OF the week; 1t is the
twenty-fifth hour Of the day. Oh, it is
the time that never materializes. Now
spells victory, tomorrow, defeat"
There were four services. and this
was the keynote of them ALL In the
morning, when there were 10000 in
the tabernacle, he told them of hope
the only hope for the human race,
and begged and beseeched them to
seize that hope before their doom en-
quilted them. Two hundred and sixty
weeping men. women and children
heard the call and came down the
trail.
Again, at the service for men only.
held few hours later. when he
preached on Tomorrow" he empha-
sized with redoubled emphasis, the
dire need of salvation. He told them
if he were to come back to Baltimore
in five years there were many before
him who would not be here to receive
him then. He stirred their imagina-
tions with the fear of the end, and then
urged them to decide the great Ques-
tion before it was too late There
were 379 men who hit the trail them
Less than an hour after the men
had emptied the tabernacle. another