OCTOBEE, 1915
t:
The Commoner
Impressions of Billy Sunday
Charles L. Goodell, D.D., New York
City, in Homiletic Review.
What do you think of Billy Sun
day? is the question that is asked me
by ministers an I laymen and editors.
I answer in a sentence: I think he is
a man sent of God. To he specific, he
is the greatest influence in America
today in stopping the liquor business.
His efforts are put forth at the point
which all must agree to. the most vital
in all this work. Do all wo can by
legal enactment, if men really wish
to drink they -will find & way. Sun
day assails the drinker himself and
makes him give up his booze. After
that the saloon-keeper and the brew
er must go out of business. That is
the effect which attends Billy Sun
day everywhere. In the year after
he was in Wilkes-Barre the breweries
of that place sold 23,000 less barrels
of beer than the year before.
No man is so fearless and out
spoken against the social evil and all
uncleanness as he. Preaching on the
commandment, "Thou shalt not kill,"
he said, "There are thousands of
mothers whose hands are red with
the blood of unborn children." One
of the greatest preachers in America
said to me: "I can not say that in my
pulpit, but I am glad he has said it,
for it is terribly true." You can
track Billy Sunday across the coun
try by the homes he has made happy,
the hearts he has healed, the families
that he has united. He is the uncom
promising foe of every unholy pas
sion. We are talking about the need of
an ethical revival. Here we have JL
The grocers and merchants in the
towns where he has labored will tell
you that his converts pay bills that
had been forgotten and outlawed,
that a reign of common honesty is
ushered in. Ought there to be any
question about the value of such a
man to society, especially as he brings
his message to more people than any
other evangelist?
Is his work permanent? In answering
that question it is necessary to know
what are the influences which sur
round his converts after he has gone.
When the church has done its part to
nourish them, it is wonderful how
steadfast they have been. Dr. Guth
rie, speaking of Sunday's work at
Wilkes-Barre, says that a canvass of
the Methodist churches in that dis
trict showed that 83 per cent re
mained faithful to their work in the
church at the close of the first year,
and there had been more than enough
converted during 'iat year to make
up for all defiectioLS.
As against1 all this, two objections
are urged. First, that he preaches
an antiquated, theology. He is not a
theologian at all; he is the voice of
one crying in the wilderness, "Pre
pare ye the way of the Lord, make
his paths straight." He knows only
two things ma a sinner, Jesus
Christ a Savior. He speculates on
heaven and. hell as we
knows as much and as little as we do
about them. He is not always sound
on higher criticism; but his appeal is
to the highest criticism, namely, to
the vindication which the old Book
makes for itself as the power of God
unto salvation to every one that be
lieveth. The chief point of his offending is
that he uses words which are "coarse,
irreverent, and highly offensive to
good taste." The charge Is possibly
true in part. When you reel his blaz
ing passion against evil you do not
wonder at the words he uses. They
are the words of the man in the
street, the man whom he Is trying to
reach. That mas will never go away
and say h did not know what the
Treacher meant.
Strange to say, wfeite the man In
the street appreciates the message
the men most moved by it are men of
Soiowr a?iBcIal position. The Uni
versity of Pennsylvania was never so
moved as by Billy Sunday. The gen
eral conference of the Methodist
SrClVYent Wild with capture over
nnm,TUe rePre8entativcs, senators,
and judges of the United States
thronged the greatest auditorium of
Wwint0n t0 !iear him at a meting
where the sneaker of Mm !,., -,r
sided. Presidents of coneges and the- 3
wiusii;! scnoois and thousands upon
thousands of the most cultured and
spiritual men of the country indorse
mm. He is thf mnot i.t.
preachers. Let him get at the Phil-
? in ??lns hIs own BlinS. while we
judge him by the results of his work.
BOUQUET FROM THE ENEMY
There is no escaping the fact that
Mr. Bryan is the idol of the Chautau
qua circuit, and it is equally true
that every bit of the success he has
achieved therein he has earned many
times over. I am not, never have
heon, and see no possibility of my
ever becoming, a devotee of Mr. Bry
an's political fortunes; but as a plat
form speaker he is far and away the
most brilliant and likable personality
in the public eye today. Ho ia an ex
pert in playing upon the emotions of
an audience large or small prefer
ably large as ever was Dudley Buck
in the manipulation of the keys and
stops of an organ, and he can at will
strike chords in the human heart as
searchlngly appealingly as any pro
duced by an Elman or a Kreisler on
the violin, or a Paderewski at the pi
ano.
The keynotes of his platform work
are absolute sincerity and a magnetic
kumanness that are irresistible, and
no individual who has ever listened
to him In matters outside of political
controversy, however reluctant to ad
mit his greatness, has failed to fall
beneath the winning spell of man,
matter, and method. He is a good
man, and has a greater number of
points of contact with the general
run of humanity than any other pub
lic speaker of today. It is a stimu
lating thing to know that in this line
of human endeavor he has got his
reward in the assured position he
holds in a movement at which it is
the fashion in some uninformed and
cynical quarters to sneer, but which
in point 'of fact has had a supremely
awakening effect upon the American
people, and for which we are all of us
better off.
"All of which," as a friend of mine
once put it after I had expressed my
self in similar terms concerning Mr.
Bryan, "is some tribute for a narrow
minded, hide-bound, bigoted, old
standpat, reactionary, antediluvian
republican to pay to a hated rival.'"
John Kendrick Bangs.
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NO ROOM FOR PESSIMISM
Denver Field and Farm.
ual or potential passenger or ship
per. Scarcely anything Is spared in
the way of persuacion and pledge if
thereby the good will of the commun
ity that has becomo critical can bo
won, and justice to the road and its
owners also be conserved.
Representatives selected for the
work are not of the Cassius type but
are persons who can mix well with
all sorts and conditions of men, and
who, before they have said a word,
nevertheless havo helped their case
by their air of radiant good will and
fair play. It is a "please-the-public"
atmosphere that they carry with
them as they tour tho states and fol
low the schedule that emanates from
tho central office. They want friends
for their road among the farmers,
storekeepers and manufacturers of
the region, and they intend to win
them by friendliness based on justice.
So before grievances can become
lawsuits and before untoward Inci
dents can becomo magnified into in
iquities they run their train on to a
siding in the home town of a poten
tial enemy and talk tho affair out.
Of course the road profits by such
an attitude officially declared and
handsomely supported. Its legal de
partment's expenses are lower, its
station agonts can serve patrons bet
ter because of fower wordy feuds, its
shippers forward goods with more al
acrity and in greater volume becauso
confident that justice will bo done,
and the number of passougers carried
rises Bomqwhat because residents
along the line feol .more friendly to
ward railroad corporations. '
To be fair to the officials of this
and other roads pursuing this policy,
let it be said that their motives are
not wholly prudential and self-regarding.
Like a great many other
business men in the United States
they see that justice and good will
are good in themselves, and admir
able entirely apart from any close re
lation they may have to ultimate busi
ness stability. Kansas City Star.
CONSOLED
A rector In South London was vis
iting one of his poorer parishioners,
an old woman, afflicted with deaf
ness. She expressed her great re
gret at not being ablo to hear his
sermons. Desiring to be sympathet
ic and to say something consoling, be
replied, with unnecessary self-depreciation,
"You don't miss much."
"So they tell me," was the discon
certing reply. Kansas City Star.
A GOOD WOiL TRADT
The economic values that inhere
In good will between men are driving
corporations, business firms and in
dividual employers into many sorts
of welfare work that two decades ago,
if urged upon them, would have been
scoffed at as being as Improvident as
they were sentimentally siuy. ior
instance, consider the good will or
"harmony train" which one of tho
leading railways of the middle west
and southwest now keeps moving
over its main line and Its branch
lines. The staff aboard have for their
task Investigation of all complaints
and prompt settlement of the same
when justified; and tho point i usu
ally stretched in the patron's favor.
The humblest resident of any town
along the line may draw near, tell
of his needs and difficulties as an act-
Speeches of f
William Jennings
ryan
Revised and Arranged by
Himself
In Five Uniform Volumes, Thfn 12mo Ornamental
Boards Daintv Style
FOLLOWING ARE THE TITLES I
THE PEOPLE'S LAW A Discussion of State Consti
tutions and what they should contain.
THE PRICE OP A SOUL
THE VALUE OP AN IDEAL
THE PRINCE OF PEACE
MAN
Reprinted In this form Volume II of Mr. Bryan'a Speeches. Each
f these four addresses has been delivered before many lar&e audiences.
These five volumes make a most attractive series.
Price of Each, SO Cents, Net. Postage, 5 Cents
TWO OTHER NOTABLE SPEECHES t
THE SIGNS OP THE TIMES; To which is added
"Faith." The most important address by Mr. Bryan since
his two volumes of "Selected Speeches" were compiled, with
one of the best of those added.
One 16mo Volume, h Flexible Leather, with Gilt-Top. 75c net Postage 5e
Address FUNK Se WAGNALLS CO Ftifelblier, 364-M Fh rtk Ave Jf. T.
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