Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-09-18

/
given a genuine f1aying yesterday
| afternoon by Billy Sunday, and in
| sarcastic terms admonished church
members. Don't come to church,
if you do, come late; don't pray
for the preacher; and if you see
/ a stranger don't shake hands with
( him; never try to bring anybody to
church with you; let the pastor do
all the work; don't sing, don't at
tend prayer meetings" etc. Elk
| cerpts from his afternoon sermon
are appended:
| l want to talk a little while
about true religion, and not about
a sham substitute.
There are people with whom
/ formality seems to make up for a
| lack of spirituality. They are very
/ diligent for the outward observ-
ance-for the forms, the rituals
and the ceremonies. The Phari-
sees used to stoop to tie the herbs
that grew by the wayside and yet
they neglected weightier matters
of the laws of equity, love, justice,
mercy, truth, love your neighbor
as yourself, and yet they were just
as far from the kingdom of God
as if they had been openly pro-
fame What the world wants is a
religion of deeds-not talks. Talks
cheap! Lots of people are expert
windjammers, but to get out and
deliver the goods is what the
/ world is looking for.
Gratitude to God is never cou-
pied with a defamation Of his crea-
lures. You can thank God with
one breath and turn around and
assassinate your neighbor with the
next; you can't thank God with
one breath and lie about somebody
the next; you can't put that over
on God, no, sir! Gratitude to God
is never coupled with a defamation
of his creatures.
Every church that ! have ever
had anything to do with or known
anything about is cursed with a
few men and women who want to
run the whole thing-a little bunch
of Pharisees. We call them by a
different name, but they are the
same old bunch.
And if I find man that's drunk,
it's none of my business whether it
was hereditary, whether it was the
result of his environment, whether
it was the result of his being a
fool; it's my business to help make
him sober.
And if I find a girl selling her
womanhood. merchandising her
virtue for gain, it's none of my
business whether that's the result
of deception or misplaced love or
of lust it's my business to help
set her free and send her home
with the tears of repentance cours-
ing down her cheeks.
Perhaps if you'd been up against
what she was up against you'd be
what she is, so don't fold your
skirts of selfrighteousness about
your old carcass and thank God
you are not as other people are.
Don't imagine that there is an
inevitable law of absorption going
along in the world; if you come too
closely in contact with the unfor-
to you the virus of the sin that
communicates and infests and
blights and infects them like
pestilence and a mildew.
Mo- You get down on your
knees and tell God you are an old
sinner bound for hell and you
ought to go to hell and if you get
what's your due. you will get hell.
You don't deserve salvation. No
body deserves it! Don't act as if
God Almighty owes it to you; He
doesn't. He owes you a chance to
accept it but He isn't giving it to
you because you deserve it. If
you got what you deserve, you'd
get hell, every one of you.
The trouble, my friends, is in the
heart: that's what's the matter
with the people.
What the Lord wants is that
thing l can see sitting in the seat
that can talk and touch and speak
and use other people for Jesus
Christ. He wants that. Don't try
and put him off with something
else and think when you put lit
tie money in the collection plate
that's the only responsibility and
obligation that you owe to God or
the church or to the world.
W. I46AI IGuuGl1HS OCl VICE III
such opposite directions couldn't
possibly meet with the same re-
suit, could they? Suppose two of
US should go to the top of the
Woolworth building and one should
jump to the street below while the
other would go down by the fire
escape. We couldn't possibly ex-
pect to reach the ground with the
same degree of safety, could we
when we took such opposite ways
of attaining it?
You do what the Lord wants and
see how he will put his hand of
approval on you and how he will
bless you in this old world and do
great things. Listen!
Don't come to church-and if
you do, come late. 1t it's too wet, !
too dry, too hot, too cold. too
windy, too dusty, don't come. OIL
course the preacher-you expect |
him to be there. Don't imagine the