The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1917-08-16
BILLY SUNDAY HEARD
IN ANNUAL SERMON

In Introductory remarks, delivered
as a prelude to his annual sermon to
his Hood River Valley friends and
neighbors Sunday, Billy Sunday inti-
mated that he might accept an invita-
tion to go to France and talk to the
men in the trenches. In response to an
expression from Rev. Longbrake, pas
tor of the Methodist church, where
the sermon was preached, of the
appreciation of local people for the
sacrifice made by the noted evangelist
in giving one Sunday of his vacation to
them, Mr.. Sunday, after stating his
pleasure of the privilege of preaching
in Hood River, told of the numerous
requests that came to him daily for
sermons.
Zone of the hardest things | have to
go up against, he declared. sis that
of saying no to invitations from COM
manding officers of different canton
ments to address our soldiers. One of
the members of the party of General
Joffre, when the French Commission
was in New York City, visited me and
rendered an invitation to go to France
and to talk to the men. We have been
thinking and celebrating over it, and
we don't know yet what we will do
about about it.
No Hood River church has ever been
crowded as was the Asbury Methodist
church Sunday, when Rev. Mr.. Sunday
arose to address an audience that filled
every pew, every aisle and overfiowed
into the streets. Moter parties jour
neyed from neighboring Mid-Columbia
towns. Parties of automobile tourists
from distant states, hearing of the ser
mon, stopped by to listen to Billy Sum
day. Strings of horse-drawn and motor
vehicles lined the streets for radius
of several blocks around the big
church.
Mr.. Sunday was never in finer fettle.
At times the big congregation roared
with laughter and few minutes later
men and women were seen wiping
away the tears. The sermon was
punctuated with frequent applause.
What shall |, then, do with Jesus, "
the words of Pontius PLATE, as he
faced the Jerusalem multitude de-
manding the deliverance into their
hands of the Savior, was Mr.. Sundays
text. With dramatic words. gestures
and illustrations he painted the scenes
enacted on that memorable occasion.
Plate he referred to as plastic, rat
hole, rum-soaked, deceitful, pusilani-
nous cheap politician of his day.
"And if there is anything this side of
hell hate" declared Rev. Mr.. Sun
day, "it is ward politician, who plays
one faction against another and slaps
the face of the people who have dele
gated him their power. "
At this point Mr.. Sunday paid a
glowing tribute to the newspaper fra
ternity. 81 have often wondered" he
declared, "what would have been the
history of the past 1900 years had a
strong press prevailed at the time of
Christ. | think | know newspaper men
well, and | am sure that no class of
men can scent fraud quicker or fur
ther away than the newspaper boys.
Suppose Jerusalem had had a great
daily or there had then been a Lord
Northcliffe. Jesus Christ would have
been recognized. He would have been
the great newspaper sensation of his
day"
But the writers of modern popular
novels came in for a volley of criti-
cism at the hands of the evangelist.
He related the experience of an inter-
view with young woman, who in the
course of her talk with him asked if
he had read long list of recent nov
els. "And after had told her that
had not read any of them," said Mr..
Sunday, ''she asked me why. And |
told her this, because | don't have
time to wade through 400 miles of
sewage to get at a scintilla of truth. -
Billy Sunday nowadays cannot re-
main long away from utterances tend
ed to make Americans draw closer in
stronger bond of patriotism. In the
course of his talk he cited Stephen
Decatur as the kind of man he liked
because of his notable utterance, My
country, may she always be right, but
right or wrong, my country"
''And the boys of our navy and our
army" declared Mr.. Sunday at an
other depression in his sermon, twill
dig the grave of German autocracy so
deep that it will not even rise at the
blast of the bugle on Judgment Day"
Rev. Sunday preached for an hour
and half. In his benedictoy prayer
he asked Gods blessing for men of
Twelfth company, o. c. A. Closing
with a, "God Bless you, Good Bye, -
he leaped down from the pulpit and
hastened to the side of Ma Sunday.
The crowd pressed around them and
the two with difficulty made their way
to the doors.
4 Rev. Sunday announced that three
weeks from Sunday he will begin his
evangelistic campaign at Los Angeles.