The Washington herald., 1918-02-06
SUNDAY READY
TO KNOCK HIS
ENEMIES DOWN
Evangelist Hurls Def at
Man Who Called Him
"OBrien."
BY ARTHUR JOYCE.

~ So
Billy Sundays sermon last night was
characterized by all the punch and
pep that have made the evangelist
stand out as Americas greatest re.
vival exponent. "
From the ministerial point of view
the sermon was replete with telling
points that stood out boldly. There
was no mincing OF words, II served
to bring out two important features
Of Billy's make-up-his unique faculty
of bitter denunciation and the remark.
able degree Of pathos that he is able
to inject into story with a moral
the sort that makes his audience fuss
around for handkerchiefs. Even the
evangelist himself cried rs he recount
ed teh scenes that attended his moth
er's funeral when he went back home
and saw for the first time In thirty
seven years the old familiar sights OF
his boyhood days.
Denounces Kaiser.
His denunciation. as usual, was lev
eled at Germany and the Kaiser. II
| was aimed, too. at Billy's enemies.
He revived the story spread broad
cast by some of his critics that his
name isn't Sunday at all. but O'Brien.
VI VI khhlGdhCys ana ueUeC
any man TO make the charge to him
personally.
Come up and insult me to my
face, you dirty. sinking dog" shout
ed the evangelist, and I'll knock
you down so quickly you'll forget
your own name. Ny life's been
threatened from one end of America
to the other by the dirty saloon
gang simply because I'm trying to
make people decent. I'm sick of the
threats and insinuations and II makes
me want to fight"
Billy, in his prayer at the close or
the sermon, called upon God to tear
the crown from the head Of the
dastardly Hohenzollern Kaiser and
send TO perdition his damnable gang
Of hyneas that has been feeding oil
. the bones of innocent women and
children and brave men"
You know. Jesus" continued Billy,
he's drenching the world in blood.
Think of the thousands of innocent
women and children he has ravaged
and murdered. Think of the faces
that are turned now across the seas
praying for the safe return Of their
daddies and brothers and hoping for
the destruction oft he Internal Prus-
sian horde. Every day as we look
overseas our thoughts 60 out and
your hearts cry in anguish at the
sight of poor stricken Belgium and
Armenia and Serbia, where women
have been ravaged and killed, their
blood crying out for Vengeance against
the murderous horde of Huns.
And think, Jesus. OF the wonder
full women of the Red Cross who
have gone to the front in the interest
of humanity and whose sacredness
has been torn to shreds and their
bodies dumped into No Mans Land.
Oh, God. stand behind the allies and
help them wipe that puppet of the
devil and that dirty blackhearted
gang of human hyneas from the face
of God Almighty's dirt"
All the vigor that the evangelist
possesses was thrown into that pray
er and the audience Of about 1900
persons sat spellbound until he had
finished. And 1t went SO far as to
applaud the prayer. .-
Billy tried hard to hold back the
tears when he spoke OF his visit
back home to put mother In heI
grave" He told of the old school
house and the old oak tree that
beckoned him to sit once more in
its branches and which recalled to
his mind incidents OF his barefoot
days. Billy stood figuratively for
several minutes beneath that old
oak tree as it told him of the stunts
he used to pull. back in Iowa. He
talked to II as though to a friend
and the little side remarks about
his early poverty in his Bread and
A11 hrnrtcrhf ha,
tears-especially from the women
in the audience.
His sermon was on rs II Well
With Thee 1t was filled with
characteristic Sunday epigrams.
High spots In Sermon.
Here are a few of them; picked
at random from his talk:
"I'll be glad when the curfew
shall ring in every city and town
in the country. Girls today who
haven't sprouted long skirts know
more about sin than their grand
mothers did at 1.-THE little frizz!e-
headed james.
I'll give you a tip. old top: 60
home and look in the mirror, then
say to God there's the old devil
that's responsible for my way of
living
Lots of people in Washington. II
you'd read their obituary notices
tomorrow. you wouldn't have TO
wonder long where they have ;one
to-judging by the lives they're
leading.
Society isn't rotten. It's the in
dividual who helps make society
that's rotten.
There aren't enough devils in
hell to drag a boy or girl from the
arms of a good, Christian mother
, There aren't enough angels in
Heaven to help you II you don't
want to live decently.
''If more men were guided by the
institution of their, wives thcre
would be fewer moral wrecks in
the world.
You cant cure smallpox by
crawling between two clean sheets,
Sin didn't start in a stale beer joint
or a fan-tan dive. 1t began In the
Garden of Eden.
Clarke Griffith was with Mrs
Griffith on the platform. John Bar
rett, head Of the Pan-American