The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-04-21
Too Many Members of Church
Chew the Rag and Neglect to
Do Work God Assigns to Them
Churches Expect Kingdom to Grow by Efforts Of Others
Says Billy Sunday-You Cannot Expect Results if You
Depend on Proxies or Find Fault Continually With the
Preacher-Eyerybody Must Be Alert and Active.

In his sermon on Martha and Ma
ry' Friday afternoon, Rev Sunday
said:
You will find two texts this after
noon in the eleventh chapter of John
the twenty-eighth and thirty-ninth
verses-"The Master is come, and
calIeth for thee" and "Take ye away
the stone"
| once heard a sermon on the elev-
enth chapter of John, and the man
who preached the sermon made IL
analogous to a revival of religion,
and l was SO impressed with the ap-
propriateness of what he said that
took copious notes; and then / read
sermon on the subject, and the
hearing of the sermon and the read
ing of others led me to study the BIZ
bic with that in view, with the result
that ! bring you this message today
to help you.
If l had been made to pray these
words for years l never could have
made them sound as they must have
sounded when they fell from the lips
of Martha. You know we all have
a sort of professional way of say
ing, 81 feel sorry for you" when we
see someone in mourning or weep
ing, or who has just come back from
the cemetery, and we mean it insofar
as our experience goes. But If you
followed a loved one to the cemetery.
when you came back there would be
a different tone in your voice and a
different look on your face when you
said, Il am sorry" Don't you see?
1t isn't cold and metallic like other
words would be- And if you passed
through a similar experience you will
know what | mean.
Death Takes Lead
Over Everything.
When death comes it takes pre-
cedence over everything And so
whenever death does come he takes
the one that we can spare the least.
| think if God had selected me as the
death angel to go down there and
select a member of that family,
would have chosen one of the two
girls = Martha or Mary = instead Of
Lazarus, the brother But | think we
all see why the Lord did it that way.
| say death takes precedence over
everything. When death enters your
home no matter what your engage
ments, you will withdraw them. If
YOU have sent out invitations you will
recall them. You will stop work. You
will close the store. Grape will flut-
ter from your doorknob, whether you
live on the boulevard or in a back
alley When Mckinley died, every
wheel and every factory in America
stood still for five minutes. Not a
wheel turned not a yard of cloth
was sold, not a pound of :ny com
modify was weighed, to pay respect
10 him.
Now don't mean to convey the
impression that people are in more
danger in time of revival than any
cther time, but l hold this: That
in a campaign like this, this meeting
ought to have precedence over every
thing. You ought to give God the
right of way Other things can wait
Never mind your literaries. You can
read your paper on 1.-THE Lady of the
Lake" later on, and if you have one
prepared on Ruskin. that is all right
hut hold it and give God a chance
once in while in this old world.
Give Linz To
Revival N .nent.
The me you put into this The
more you W.. get out of 1t. Thats true
with everything. Like an old preach
er who was going to supply a churcf
one time, and, as was the custom II
those DAYS. at either door was LITTLE
box in which the people were request
ed to put their offering for the
preacher, and whatever was dropped
into that box belonged to the minis
ter. as his remuneration for his ser
vices. AS he went in his boy motto
ed that he dropped fifty cents IN, ant
as he came out he took the contents
of the box as his reward, and tn'
boy noticed that all he took out O
the box was fifty cents, and the poA
said to him,
Pop, If you had put more in you
would have got more out"
People are not more dead spirit
ualIy and morally in time Of reV'va
than any other time. People arr
Just as dead spiritually and morall,
now as they were before this cam
paiun started, but | believe there i
more and more danger now in TIM
of revival than any other time. Why
Because it is Gods set time to cal
men and women from their sins ant
their apathy and indifference, ant
don't you dare lift your infinitesima
reason and mediocre personality, ant
,,.,,. ninn,u iafeliArf in in defiance