Category: Colorized Image

Billy Sunday’s prayer in the House of Representatives, Jan 10, 1918

Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1889 – 1931), Saturday 23 March 1918, page 7

The U.S. House of Representatives, 1918. Colorized by author.

BILLY SUNDAY’S PRAYER.

CHEERED IN PARLIAMENT.

Billy Sunday prayed in the House of Representatives at Washington on Thursday, January 10, and was applauded at the close of his appeal. Mr. Champ Clark, Speaker of the House, extended the invitation to Mr. Sunday to take the place of the regular House chaplain. Mr. Sunday, in his prayer, verbally assailed the Germans, and invoked the aid of Divine Providence to help the President, the Secretary of War, and Congress to defeat Prussianism.

“We thank Thee that we are Americans,” prayed the evangelist, ‘”and live beneath the protecting folds of the Stars and Stripes. We thank Thee, that Thou canst look over the battlements of glory on our land and see that there is not one stain on any star or stripe. We thank Thee for our happy homes. We thank Thee for our wives and little ones. We thank Thee for the fruitful trees and bountiful harvests. We thank Thee that as a nation we have never gone to bed  hungry, or scraped the bottom of our flour barrel, and we pray for Thy continued mercy and blessing.

Most Infamous Nation in History.

“We pray that Thou wilt forgive our transgressions and blot out our iniquities. Thou knowest, O Lord, that we are in a life-and-death struggle with one of the most vile, infamous, greedy, avaricious, bloodthirsty, sensual, and vicious nations that ever disgraced the pages of history.

‘”Thou knowest that Germany from the eyes of mankind has wrung enough tears to make another sea; that she has drawn blood to redden every wave upon that sea; that she has drawn enough shrieks and groans from the breasts of men, women, and children to make another mountain.

‘”We pray Thee that Thou wilt bare Thy mighty arm and strike that great pack ot hungry, wolfish Huns, whose fingers drip with blood and gore. We pray Thee that the stars in their courses and the winds and waves may fight against them.

“We pray Thee that Thou wilt bless our beloved President and give him strength of mind and body and courage of heart for his arduous duties in these sorrow laden, staggering days. We pray Thee to bless the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy, and bless, we pray Thee the Navy Strategy Board. Bless we pray Thee, the generals at the head of our army and the boys across the sea. somewhere in France, and bless those protecting our transports, loaded to the water’s edge with men and provisions.

Prays for Allied Victory- ‘ “Bless our boys at home who are in ‘ cantonments. Bless, we pray Thee, this Senate and House, and give them wisdom and strength, for they seem to have come into the kingdom for such a time as this.

“‘And, Lord, may every man, woman, and child from Maine to California, from Minnesota to Louisiana, stand up to the last ditch and be glad and willing to suffer and endure until final victory sha’ll come. Bless our Alliée, and may victory be ours. And in Thy own time, and in Thy own way, we pray Thee that Thou wilt release the white-winged dove of peace until it shall dispel the storm and clouds that hang lowering over this sin-cursed, blood-soaked, and sorrowing world, and when it is all over we will uncover our heads and lift our faces to the heavens ‘ and ring with a new meaning

“‘My country, “tis of thee, sweet laud of Liberty.

” Of thee I sing.’

“‘And the praise shall come to Thee forevermore through Jesus Christ. Amen.”

The House broke into instant applause at the ending words of the prayer. Many members crowded around the evangelist, and shook hands with him, and an in-formal reception was held in the lobby.

The Billy Sunday archives at Grace College in Warsaw, Indiana have the following related artifact in their archives. He seems to have spoken at Union Station Plaza, starting January 6, 1918.

Champ Clark (James Beauchamp Clark, 1850–1921) was a prominent American politician and leading Democrat in the early 20th century. By 1918, he was near the end of his long and distinguished career in the U.S. House of Representatives, which he had served in almost continuously since 1893.

Transcription of above letter:

WALLACE BASSFORD, SECRETARY

THE SPEAKER’S ROOMS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

WASHINGTON, D.C.

January 8, 1916.

Rev. William A. Sunday,

My dear Friend:

Don’t you forget that you, your wife, and your son and his wife and Mr. Rodehever are to take luncheon with me at the Capitol at 12:30 on next Thursday. Chaplain Couden asked me last week one day, if I would have any objection to your opening the proceedings of the House with prayer. I told him, of course not. I would be delighted.

I asked him about the day, and he said he had written you a letter which he had not sent but would send it, asking you to pray at the opening ceremony, and telling you to set your own day.

Now, I have this suggestion to make to you: The House meets at twelve o’clock sharp and we begin our luncheon at twelve thirty. You come up to my office about ten minutes before twelve on Thursday, bringing your folks with you. They can go up in the gallery and you can open the proceedings with prayer and in a few minutes we can go to lunch, so that you can perform both functions at once.

I am not advised as to whether you have any automobile. If you have not, and will let me know at once, I will send my own, which is big enough to hold five or six people and have it bring you up to the Capitol and then take you and yours wherever you desire to go afterwards.

So please send me an answer to all these queries by the bearer, as to whether you can come up Thursday in time to open with prayer.

I enjoyed your Sunday sermon very much. I hope your meeting will be a great success.

I will have a pleasant, small company to lunch with us.

Your friend,

Champ Clark

How did the 1918 Billy Sunday Chicago campaign do by the numbers?

Chicago Tribune. Mon, May 20, 1918 ·Page 1

Bily Sunday Tabernacle. Chicago, Navy Pier, c. 1918.

49,165 SOULS AND $56,000, BILLY’S SCORE

Great Crowd Hears Revivalist Close Campaign.

Trail hitters (total) ………… 49,165

Attendance at tabernacle and meetings led by members of the Sunday party ………… 1,200,000

Money raised for current expenses ………… $135,000

Money raised for free will offering to Billy Sunday, which he will give in its entirety to the Pacific Garden mission ………… $56,000

Number of churches co-operating ………… 424

Length of campaign (including 11 Sundays) ………… 10 weeks

BY THE REV. W. B. NORTON.

Billy Sunday has prepared his own epitaph, which he says he wants chiseled on his tombstone when he shall be laid away in Forest Home cemetery, where, he says, he expects his body to rest. It is this:

“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day.”

Last night Billy announced the end of his revival campaign here by saying:

“I’ve done my duty. Like a physician after he hands the new baby over to the mother and the nurse, takes his departure, so I commit these new converts to the churches and I go on my way to other fields.”

A Strenuous Finish.

For the first time since Billy began preaching in the tabernacle at Chicago avenue and the lake ten weeks ago, he pulled off both coat and collar and went at his task as in the old baseball days. It was his final sermon and he put into it all the power and feeling he could command.

The rain beat heavily on the roof, and occasionally an umbrella began to rise, but was quickly put down again, so as not to obstruct the view of others. Finally all of the roof windows were closed and the doors opened. At least 13,000 were present, many of them standing. A considerable number were in the seats at 5 o’clock with knitting or papers in hands, determined to have a seat for the final service, no matter how large the crowd.

Appeals for the free will offering for Billy, which is to go to the Pacific Garden mission, were made by George W. Dixon, chairman of the committee on the offering; W. A. Peterson, chairman of the finance committee; the Rev. John Timothy Stone, and Mel Trotter, superintendent of the Pacific Garden mission.

1918, Navy Pier.

Chicago Tribune. Mon, May 20, 1918 ·Page 4

Sunday Is Pleased.

“I consider the most remarkable feature of the meetings has been the evident hunger of the people to hear the gospel, their eagerness of attention, and the steadiness with which they have come,” Mr. Sunday said yesterday. “Every time the invitation has been given there has been a steady stream of hitters, not as I have seen it elsewhere, many coming at one meeting and almost no one the next time. I feel that it has been a remarkable meeting.”

Chicago Tribune. Tue, Jun 25, 1918 ·Page 3

The building (at Chicago Avenue and the lake) is the largest tabernacle ever built for the use of Mr. Sunday and was fourteen feet longer than the next largest one built in New York. It accommodated an audience of 16,000 when the vestibule was filled, as was done on several occasions during the revival campaign.

More images of the Chicago 1918 campaign.