"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
And, finally, you abuse the telephone girl because she doesn't connect
you in a minute. Bad temper. I say you abuse your wife, you go cussing
around if supper isn't ready on time; cussing because the coffee isn't
hot; you dig your fork into a hunk of beefsteak and put it on your
plate and then you say: "Where did you get this, in the harness shop?
Take it out and make a hinge for the door." Then you go to your store,
or office, and smile and everybody thinks you are an angel about to
sprout wings and fly to the imperial realm above. Bad temper! You growl
at your children; you snap and snarl around the house until they have
to go to the neighbors to see a smile. They never get a kind word--no
wonder so many of them go to the devil quick.
CHAPTER XXIV
An Army with Banners
The man who is right with God will not be wrong with anything that is
good.--BILLY SUNDAY.
The oldest problem of the Christian Church, and the latest problem of
democracy, is how to reach the great mass of the people. Frequently the
charge is made that the Church merely skims the surface of society,
and that the great uncaring masses of the people lie untouched beneath
it. Commonly, a revival reaches only a short distance outside the
circumference of church circles. The wonder and greatness of the Billy
Sunday campaigns consist in the fact that they reach to the uttermost
rim of a community, to its greatest height and its lowest depth. There
can be no question that he stirs a city as not even the fiercest
political campaign stirs it. Sunday touches life on all levels,
bringing his message to bear upon the society woman in her parlor and
the humblest day laborer in the trench.
This does not come to pass by any mere chance. Organized activity
achieves it. The method which produces the greatest results is what is
called the Delegation Idea, whereby detachments of persons from various
trades, callings and organizations and communities attend in a body
upon the services of the Sunday Tabernacle.
By pre-arrangement, seats are reserved every night for these visiting
delegations. Sometimes there will be as many as a dozen delegations
present in one evening. As the campaign progresses towards its
conclusion real difficulty is experienced in finding open dates for
all the delegations that apply. At the outset, Mr. Sunday's assistants
have to "work up" these delegations. Later, the delegations themselves
besiege the workers.
In variety the delegations range from a regiment of Boy Scouts to a
post of old soldiers; from the miners of a specified colliery to the
bankers of the city; from the telephone girls to the members of a
woman's club; from an athletic club to a Bible class.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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