"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
We have our churches, our joss houses, our tabernacles; we have got the
wisdom of the orientals, the ginger, vim, tabasco sauce, peppering of
the twentieth century; we have got all of that, and I do not believe
that there are any people beneath the sun who are better fed, better
paid, better clothed, better housed, or any happier than we are beneath
the stars and stripes--no nation on earth. There are lots of things
that could be eliminated to make us better than we are today. We are
the happiest people in God's world.
Out in Iowa, a fellow said to me: "Mr. Sunday, we ought to be better
organized." Just think of that, we ought to be better organized. Now
listen to me, my friends! Listen to me! There is so much machinery in
the churches today that you can hear it squeak.
Drop into a young people's meeting. The leader will say in a weak,
effeminate, apologetic, minor sort of way, that there was a splendid
topic this evening but he had not had much time for preparation. It
is superfluous for him to say that; you could have told that. He goes
along and tells how happy he is to have you there to take part this
evening, making this meeting interesting. Some one gets up and reads
a poem from the _Christian Endeavor World_ and then they sing No. 38.
They get up and sing:
"Oh, to be nothing--nothing,
Only to lie at His feet."
We used to sing that song, but I found out that people took it so
literally that I cut it out.
Then a long pause, and some one says, "Let us sing No. 52." So they get
up and then some one starts,
"Throw out the life line,
Throw out the life line."
They haven't got strength enough to put up a clothesline. Another long
pause, and then you hear, "Have all taken part that feel free to do so?
We have a few minutes left. So let us sing No. 23." Then another long
pause. "I hear the organ prelude; it is time for us to close, now let
us all repeat together, 'The Lord keep watch between me and thee, while
we are absent one from another.'"
I tell you God has got a hard job on his hands. Ever hear anything like
that?
Ambassadors of God
Believe that God Almighty can do something. Don't whine around as
though God were a corpse, ready for the undertaker. God is still on
the job. The Holy Spirit is needed to bring man into spiritual touch
with God; to make man realize that he is a joint representative
of God on earth today. Do you ever realize that you are God's
representative--God's ambassador?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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