The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1916-05-13
SUNDAY SPOKE TO
BOYS And GIRLS
Eight thousand High School
Students Hear Sermon on
Forces That VIM
OPPOSED TO FORMAL RELIGION
Declared Christianity Does Not Con-
sist of Forms and RituaIs-W.
J. Bryan Present.

Kansas City-Twenty thousand per
sons. 5000 of them high school boys
and girls, heard Billy Sunday in the
Tabernacle on the fourth night; and
how many were turned away no one
will ever know.
Some said as many were unable to
get in as did get in, and it surely did
seem so.
The services were to begin at 1880
o'clock At sos o'clock the taberna-
Gle was full. In the next hour and a
half enough thousands came to fill all
the streets around about And they
kept on coming. They banked up
against the thirty doors, which were
guarded At 1880 o'clock the crowd
outside was SO clamorous that Russell
Gr1ner, chief doorkeeper, had to teIe-
phone for squad of policeman to
push the people back, because they
were talking and laughing and inter
rupting the services inside.
Were a Noisy Crowd.
Many Of those who came too late to
get in were high school pupils. They
will have another chance to hear the
evangelist. Sunday announced that
Thursday night, May Is, would be high
school night again, and to make sure
that all will get in, the whole Taber-
nacIe will be reserved for them.
True Religion Against Sham.
The sermon preached in the taber-
nacle in the afternoon by Billy Sun
day was taken from the parable of
The Publican and the Pharisee." He
said in part:
L want to talk to you on true re-
igion and not the sham substitute
which some people call religion.
christianity does not consist of
forms and rituals; do not forget that
for a minute. There are a lot of peo-
pie who never had religion of the
heart: they never mad a religion ex-
perience.
You did not have a religion expert
ence if your religion is reduced to
lot of forms and rituals.
There are some people with whom
formality seems TO make up for true
religion, like the Pharisees. In every
community there are people like those
carping critics, as in the days of Jesus
Christ.
THE Pharisees' religion was a reli-
gion of forms and observations Of form
and rituals They made great hub
bub.
Jesus Christ was murdered by the
church of the day, whose sins he had
rebuked- 1 don't expect anything bet
ter from the same gang today.
$50 much of this stuff called reli-
gion doesn't get further than the head
1 don't fight religion, fight sin. III
die for the church any minute, if neces-
sary, but I'll still fight sim
Appeals to Boys and Girls.
Preaching in the evening at the tab
ernacle, Mr.. Sunday appealed especial
ly to the boys and girls, the young
women and the young men, from the
public and private schools of the city
and surrounding districts. These
young people were especially invited
and the service was arranged with
their interests in view.
Using Forces That Win for his
subject, the evangelist pleaded earn
estly and eloquently for clean living,
| and called upon his young hearers to
! embrace fully their educational advan-
tages.
RepIete with incidents of modern
days the sermon lost its ''churchy'' at
mosphere and became heart to heart
| talk. Inspiring the students with the
successes of the worlds greatest men
and women whose names every school
| boy has known for years, Sunday fired
| the sparks of ambition that were lying
| dormant and smoldering in their
breasts. Like a great wind, the story
| of strugglers and the ultimate sue
cesses, waved the flames to white
heat, until the thousands of students
were tensely breathing, gripping their
seats, their eyes watching every move
| and the preacher as he whirled around
and hammered the pulpit, jumping
| from side to side to emphasize his
points Driving mental pictures of the
! lives of great men before their minds,
Sunday brought his allpowerful SINH
! les into action and took the gospel and
| the crowd to victory.
| Never to WaTer in the struggle, and
| to grit the teeth and shove a clean
| passage through the supposed impreg-
nable walls that bar the way to the
| highest pinnacle of success was what
! ~