Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-02-07
GEORGE WHITFIELD.
South Cardinals First Billy Sunday
Recalled.

Does the following quotation de
scribe, in o general way, the famous
evangelist, the Rev. Billy" Sunday?
His aim was TO do the most exten
sive possible good and therefore III
was willing to preach, if circumstan
ces required, in meeting houces, o.
even in the open air as well as in con
,secrated churches. Wherever he found
human beings .desirous of religious in
struction, he readily preached to then
preaching almost daily tC
crowded congregations. So charmed
were the people with his eioquence
that frequently no house could contain
his hearers. The oftener he preached
the keener were their desires to hear
him again. AS theological reasoner
or writer Of sermons, he had many su-
periors; but as an orator for impress
ing the heart, moving the passions
end for abashing, confoundinS and
beating down vice and immortality, he
was. exceeded by none. e. All his
popularity, and all bis powers, as the
greatest pulpit orator of the age, were
employed, by him in the capacity of an
itinerant minister for advancing the
present and future happiness of man
kind, without regard to sect, party or
denomination. In his youth, as
he often confessed and lamented, he
was gay, giddy and profligGte. 4.
From an abandoned and licentious
course in life. he was converted; and,
what is no uncommon thing, from one
extreme he ran into the other, and be-
came most jealous and indefatigable
teacher of religion. He became a
preacher to all denominations without
exception. He possessed a lively i'm
agination, much humor, and had ac-
quired considerable knowledge of hu-
man nature and the manners of the
world. He, could, when he pleas
ed, raise the passions, and touch the
tone of the human heart to great per-
lection. /. ;. While he was almost
worshipped by the vulgar, men of su-
perior rank and erudition. found him
the polite gentleman, and the face
tioUs and jocular companion. Though
he loved good cheer, yet he was an en-
emy to all manner of excess or intem-
perance /. -. He knew well how to
keep up the curiosity of the multitude,
and his rowing manner stamped a kind
cf novelty on his instructions. When
exposed to the taunts Of the scoffer,
and the ridicule of the flagitious, he
remained firm to his purpose and could
even retort these weapons with aston
ishing ease and dexterity, and render
vice abashed, under the lash OF his sa-
tire and wit. To habitual sin
ners, his address was, for the most part
applicable and powerful, and with
equal ease could alarm the secure and
confirm the unsteady. y Though, in
prayer, he commonly addressed the
second person of the Trinity in fa-
miliar and fulsome style and in his SER
mons used many funny forms of speech
yet these seemed only shades
to set off to greater advantage the
lustre of his good qualities. 1t
cannot be denied that religion in
America owed not little to the zeal,
diligence and oratory of this extraor-
binary man." r...
The foregoing, however is not a
description of ''Billy" Sunday, but of
the first evangelist in South Carolina,
George Whitfield, who preached here
1872 years ago. He seems to have been
a sort of combination of Methodist,
Episcopalian and Presbyterian, al
though he did not adhere strictly to the
doctrine and practice of any church.
Indeed, the authorities of the Episco-
pal church in South Carolina were so
much incensed at his refusal to follow
it's forms that he was tried and sus-
pended from the ministry-but he kept
on preaching. For "a years he was the
most active and strenuous evangelist
in the world, preaching more than Mr.,
Sunday does, for it is recorded of
Whitfield that "in the compass of a
single week, and that for years, he
spoke in general forty hours, and in
very many sixty, and that to thous-
sands" His voice was so clear and
powerful that it could reach 10000 pco-
ple--and he had no aid from me-
chanical devices in this respect. His
disregard of ecclesiastical forms and
conventions caused him to meet with
much opposition from the clergy who
cared more for form than substance,
but he got his message over to the
people and had a wonderful following
Of the masses wherever he preached.