"Billy" Sunday, the Man and His Message: With his own words which have won thousands for ChristEllis, William T. (William Thomas)
Religion
"Billy" Sunday, the Man and His Message: With his own words which have won thousands for Christ
Ellis, William T. (William Thomas)
Baseball players -- United States -- Biography; Evangelists -- United States -- Biography; Sunday, Billy, 1862-1935
I pity the boy or girl from the depths of my soul, who if you ask are
you willing to be a Christian, will answer: "Mr. Sunday, I would like
to be, but if I tell that at home my brothers will abuse me, my mother
will sneer at me, my father will curse me. If I were, I would have no
encouragement to stand and fight the battle." I pity from the depths of
my soul that boy or girl, the boy who has a father like that; the girl
that has a mother like that, who have a joint like that for a home.
Unclean! Suppose every young man who is a moral leper were impelled by
some uncontrollable impulse over which he had no power to make public
revelations of his sins! Down the street he comes in his auto and you
speak to him from the curbstone and he will say: "Unclean! Unclean!"
Yonder he comes walking down the street. Suppose that to every man and
woman he meets he is impelled and compelled to make revelation of the
fact that he is a leper.
Leprosy is an infectious disease; it is the germ of sin. If there is an
evil in you the evil will dwell in others. When we do wrong we inspire
others--and your lives scatter disease when you come in contact with
others. If there is sin in the father there will be sin in the boy;
if there is sin in the mother, there will be sin in the daughter; if
there is sin in the sister, there will be sin in the brother; by your
influence you will spread it. If you live the wrong way you will drag
somebody else to perdition with you as you go, and kindred ties will
facilitate it.
Supposing all your hearts were open. Supposing we had glass doors to
our hearts, and we could walk down the street and look in and see where
you have been, and with whom you have been and what you have been
doing. A good many of you would want stained-glass windows and heavy
tapestry to cover them.
"But the Lord Looketh on the Heart"
Suppose I could put a screen behind me, pull a string or push a button,
and produce on that screen a view of the hearts of the people. I would
say: "Here is Mr. and Mrs. A's life, as it is, and here, as the people
think it is. Here is what he really is. Here is where he has been. Here
is how much booze he drinks. Here is how much he lost last year at
horse races." But these are the things that society does not take note
of. Society takes no note of the flirtation on the street. It waits
until the girl has lost her virtue and then it slams the door in her
face. It takes no note of that young man drinking at a banquet table;
it waits until he becomes a bleary-eyed drunkard and then it will slam
the door in his face. It will take no note of the young fellow that
plays cards for a prize; it waits until he becomes a blackleg gambler
and then it slams the door in his face.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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