"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
"When those fellows over in Babylon offered booze to Daniel, although
he was only seventeen years old, he said, 'Nothing doing.' He told
them where to head in. Moses pushed aside the greatest scepter of any
kingdom and did what his heart told him was right. 'Be thou strong and
show thyself a man.'
"David was a man of lofty purposes and his life was influenced by those
that had preceded him. It wasn't an accident that made David a king.
The big job is always looking for big men. A round peg will not fit
into a square hole, even if he is a university professor.
"The young buck who inherits a big fortune without working for it,"
continued Mr. Sunday, "is going down the line so fast you can't see
him for the fog. The man who has real, rich, red blood in his veins,
instead of pink tea and ice water, when the lions of opposition roar,
thinks it is only a call for dinner in the dining car, and he goes
ahead and does things.
"There are some going around disguised as men who ought to be
arrested," the evangelist interposed. "To know some men is an
invitation to do right; to know others is an invitation to know dirty
booze and to blot the family escutcheon, insult your mothers and
sisters. The size of the man depends on his mind, not on his muscle.
There is lots of bulk but little brains in some men.
"It's a sad day for a young man when Bill Taft's overcoat wouldn't make
him a vest," he added, amid shouts of laughter, in which even staid,
stern-faced professors joined with the students.
"Too many fellows look like men from across the street, but when you
get close to them they shrivel up.
"It makes a difference what kind of an example you follow. If Thomas
Edison should say to his boy, 'Be an inventor,' the boy would know what
he meant, but if some red-nosed, beer-soaked old reprobate should tell
his boy to 'be a man,' the boy would be all in. Lots of fellows today
turn out bad because their fathers' talk and walk do not agree.
"The best thing that can happen to a young man," said Mr. Sunday,
"is to come under the influence of a real man. Every one has a hero,
whether it be on the foot-ball field or in the classroom, and if every
one would lead right today, there would be no going astray tomorrow.
"There are some men in this world that when they are around you turn
up your collar, feel chills running up and down your back and when you
look at the thermometer, you find the temperature is about 60 degrees
below zero."
Then followed the evangelist's famous story of how David killed
Goliath, considerably tempered to suit the culture of his audience. He
told how David boldly asked who the "big lobster was," and why he was
"strutting around as if he was the whole cheese, the head guy of the
opposition party.
"David put down the sword that Saul had given him, for he felt like a
fellow in a hand-me-down suit two sizes too large. He picked up one of
his little pebbles, slung it across the river and hit poor old Goliath
on the koko."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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