Former professional baseball player-turned urban evangelist. Follow this daily blog that chronicles the life and ministry of revivalist preacher William Ashley "Billy" Sunday (1862-1935)
As originally published in The South Bend Tribune. June 16, 1913. Transcriptions by AI and might contain errors.
REVIVAL CLOSES WITH 6,398 CONVERTED; SUNDAY GETS $10,500
SOUTH BEND’S RELIGIOUS CAMPAIGN PROVES TO BE MOST NOTABLE IN HISTORY OF ALL INDIANA
AIR OF SADNESS PREDOMINATES AT CLOSING MEETING OF BILLY SUNDAY’S BIG REVIVAL.
“BOSS” AND “MA” SAY THEIR LAST FAREWELL
Hundreds Cheer Evangelist and His Wife on Rear of Car as They Leave City—Other Thousands Disappointed by Early Departure—Last Day of Services Proves to be Remarkable One—Over 30,000 Present.
Billy Sunday’s seven weeks’ fight against the devil in St. Joseph county became religious history to-day after the baseball evangelist had shown 6,- 395 people the road to salvation and approximately $10,500 had been raised for him.
The final curtain was rung down last night and the hard working little evangelist, with his wife, said good- bye to South Bend at 10 o’clock this morning. With a check for the $10,500 tucked away in an inside coat pocket, Billy boarded at 10 o’clock Northern Indiana Interurban car for his home at Winona.
A thousand people saw him off. Hundreds waved their hats and hand- kerchiefs at the evangelist, his wife, and Rev. William Asher, as the car moved out of the station and south on Michigan street. All three stood on the rear platform bowing and smiling in response.
It was estimated a crowd of 8,000 or 10,000 people would have been at the station to see the evangelist off, but the hour was earlier than many had expected, disappointed many. The Northern Indiana Interurban car which carried the party through to Winona is the same car the evangelist had used to eat lunch under his own roof.
State’s Greatest Revival.
With Sunday’s farewell prayer and general handshaking all around at the tabernacle last night the meet- ings, which undoubtedly constituted Indiana’s greatest religious revival, came to a close. The meetings end- ed quietly and with that heavy sol- emnity, which told plainer than words what it meant to the people to bid farewell to “Billy,” “Ma,” “Rody,” “Mac,” Ackley and all the rest.
Tears started in the eyes of many a woman, and many a sob and fare- wells were said on the platform. Hun- dreds crowded near the revival lead- er to shake their hands, and the num- ber about Homer Rodeheaver, di- rector of the music, and Mrs. Sun- day became so large, the people were formed in lines and then compelled to move rapidly as soon as they had said goodbye.
Completely worn out, Mr. and Mrs. Sunday were conducted from the tabernacle to the automobile to es- cape thousands, who wanted to say their last word of farewell. The evan- gelist feared to permit, however, be- cause of his weakened condition and the heat of the tabernacle.
Satisfied With Results.
The campaign in South Bend and Mishawaka was satisfactory to all and the evangelist is glad to leave. The evangelist had hoped for a some- what larger number of converts but days before the close, it was plain to be seen the population of the two cities, South Bend and Mishawaka, was not sufficient to hope for a larger number at the close. The amount of the special collection met the approval of all.
The baseball evangelist expressed himself as deeply thankful for the amount, which was given him as some estimate of how the people appreciat- ed his efforts in the St. Joe valley. Although neither the number of con- verts or the amount of offerings was a record breaker, South Bend’s standing was generally regarded as an excellent one in comparison with the population of other cities where Sun- day worked, it ranked very favorably with the highest.
As High in Comparison.
The number of converts was much lower than at Columbus, O., and WilkesBarre, Pa., as was also the offering, but the population of both cities and their suburbs is much larger than that of South Bend. Wilkes-Barre and its suburbs has a population of considerably more than 150,000 people, it is estimated, while Columbus has 200,000 population within its corporate limits.
Wilkes-Barre had 16,584 conversions and Columbus 18,137, which number is little larger than the figures for the South Bend revival, when the questions of the comparisons are considered.
Was Remarkable Day.
Beyond a doubt the final day of the revival was the most notable of the seven weeks despite the fact it was the hottest day thus far of the summer, and a portion of the time the great tabernacle on Vitulus avenue, was so warm that it was almost unbearable.
It was estimated 32,000 or 33,000 people attended the three meetings of the day, with another 1,500 coming next morning after two services for them were held. It was the largest daily attendance of the campaign and there can be no doubt but the number of converts would have been increased to 35,- 000 or 40,000 but for the terrible heat.
Eleven thousand people packed the tabernacle in the morning, 8,000 then went there in the afternoon, and last night a crowd estimated at 12,000 filled the great tabernacle space, while thousands beside lining the streets and filling the structures on the opposite side of the street, and the river bank.
Some There at 9 O’clock.
As was expected, the crowd began arriving at the tabernacle in the morning almost as soon as the meeting was up. Several men were pounding for admission at 6 o’clock in the morning, and the crowd had increased to nearly 100 men, women and children by 7 o’clock. An hour later the tabernacle had begun to fill rapidly and people were scrambling for seats by 9 o’clock. When 10 o’clock came, it was hard to buy seats in the building, although a few men and women did succeed in purchasing tickets a few minutes before the hour.
A great number of men remained in the tabernacle from the morning until the afternoon service, and there was a crowd of 500 people clamoring for admission to the tabernacle when the men’s meeting closed about 3 o’clock. There were few desirable seats left in the building at 6 o’clock 700 Converts in Day.
Practically 700 people accepted christianity in response to the evangelist’s earnest pleas during the day. One hundred and ninety men responded to the invitation at the morning service; 173 men went forward to grasp the evangelist’s hand in the afternoon, and the largest number of the day responded at the night service.
The final meeting for men only was held at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. He responded to one of the most stirring sermons of the campaign, which was preached from the text, “He Said To-Morrow.” Much of the evangelist’s voice was so filled with emotion he appeared to choke over his words. The tears in his eyes were not confined to those in his audience and he closed in a touching farewell prayer, which appeared to make a deep impression.
He prayed earnestly for people in all walks in life in South Bend and Mishawaka, naming the various bodies and institutions which had helped to make his campaign here so successful one.
Sunday’s Final Prayer.
In his prayer he said: “Jesus I don’t like to pray, because I know it will be the last prayer I’ll ever make in South Bend in connection with these meetings. I don’t like to pray, but it useless to keep the meetings going longer. I’ve remained three times now than I intended. I’m glad I did, Lord. But now Lord, we’re going to close these meetings.
I want you to take care of the salvation. What more can we, Jesus, give you? You know it is the desire of my soul that no one can say that I ever said anything to injure Your cause. I love You and the people of South Bend. I have never had but one motive, and that is to see the city filled with people seeking after Jesus. I feel especially drawn close to the people of this city, Lord, because I love the individuals. We’re not so far away, Lord, but we could be heard if we were to speak.
Asks Blessing.
“God bless South Bend and Mishawaka, the newspapers, the choir, Lord, and the ushers; the police and all that have come to Christ during these meetings.
“And now, Lord, we must say good bye.” “Lord, speak to us and the people that they will press down these aisles. Speak to them Lord, that they will not say as the old king did, ‘To-mor- row.’ Don’t say ‘To-morrow.’ Speak In South Bend to-night. Say ‘I Will.’ And who will.”
Hundreds of people responded to the beautiful prayer and the brilliant sermon. A demonstration similar to that on the night he preached the sermon on “The Unpardonable Sin” followed. Men and women of all ages, and in every walk of life, came down the aisles, all apparently eager to take their places among the converts.
Women Bother Him.
One convert, a woman, came forward screaming hysterically, and supported on the arm of a woman friend. The antics of this woman appeared to annoy the evangelist not a little and he requested her to be seated. In a husky voice to her and he said he would promise the platform if possible. Many prominent men and women were among the number of converts yesterday.
Taking the Collections.
The taking of the collection for Billy Sunday proved one of the most important features of the Sunday services. The largest collection reported at Billy Sunday in any of the three meetings was that of the men’s meeting in the afternoon. The subscriptions amounting to $1,500 in cash and pledges of $1,500 additional. The men’s meeting in the afternoon also was contributed to the collection. The small subscriptions of the women and children contributed to the total. The collection of the women and children amounted to $1,000. The Auditors announced the total subscriptions amounted to $4,000. The subscriptions at the First Presbyterian church were announced and Rev. Charles Arganbright, pastor Charles W. Goheen, Hon. Marvin Campbell, E. C. Williams and others who worked untiringly from the time the meeting opened yesterday morning until long after the close of the service last night, counting the money that was contributed and straightening out the affairs of the association. A report was made before the people left the tabernacles. Even then it was necessary for the men to work late into the night and this morning until a few minutes before the evangelist left South Bend to make a correct count of the finances on hand.
People Show Appreciation.
Everywhere throughout the final hours of the revival was displayed indications of the popularity South Bend and Mishawaka people felt for Billy Sunday and the members of his party.
Mr. and Mrs. Sunday were greeted with thunderous applause every time they entered the building during the day and they were frequently cheered while the meetings were in progress. Just before the opening of last night’s services, Homer Rodeheaver, the leader of the great tabernacle chorus, was greeted with a magnificent shower of roses, which was thrown by the nearly 1,000 members of the great aggregation. For five minutes the shower continued, much to the embarrassment of both Mr. Rodeheaver and Pianist B. D. Ackley.
Farewell songs were sung by singers with the Sunday party and a quartet from the South Bend Conservatory of Music.
“And He Said To-Morrow.”
Sunday made an impressive appeal in his farewell sermon last night to the people of South Bend and Mishawaka who are not Christians to fall into rank before it is too late. “And He Said To-Morrow” were the words of the text taken by the evangelist and he told of the results of procrastination and delay both in religion and other things.
“When I think that this is the last service of this great effort on the part of God and the Holy Spirit to bring you men and women to repentance,” cried Sunday, his voice choking with emotion, “I tell you my heart nearly breaks. You may think you listen! I am going to make you listen! Think of the sermons you have heard since you were old enough to attend Sunday school until you sit here to-night.
Continued on Page Five.
RESULTS IN BRIEF
Conversions
Previous conversions ………. 5,400
Saturday and Sunday ………. 983
Grand total ………. 6,383
Attendance
Previous attendance ………. 519,550
Saturday and Sunday ………. 46,050
Grand total ………. 566,053
Collections
Special offering for Billy Sunday ………. $10,500.00
Collections for local institutions ………. 737.98
Fund for campaign expenses ………. 18,500.00
Grand total ………. $24,737.98
The taking of the offering for Billy Sunday was one of the features of the closing day of the campaign. Seventeen or more different people and concerns of South Bend and Mishawaka gave donations of $100. The largest was $200, given by Samuel Murdock, of Lafayette, Ind., one of the owners of the Chicago, South Bend & Northern Indiana railway. The donations of $100, which have been recorded thus far, are from the following: South Bend and Mishawaka Ministerial association; Mrs. George Wyman; Mrs. M. V. Belser, citizen of Kingston, Pa., by George L. Newell; Folding Paper Box company; Stephenson Underwear mills; E. B. Eberhart; Stephenson Manufacturing company; C. C. Shafer; Col. George W. Studebaker; Mrs. Clement Studebaker; J. Friend; Clement Studebaker, Jr.; J. D. Oliver; Mrs. George Ford; C. A. Carlisle and the Mishawaka Woolen Manufacturing company. The $50 donations which have been reported thus far to those in charge of the campaign, are from the following: Mrs. C. C. Billworth; W. O. Davies; F. H. Badet, Mr. and Mrs. H. A. Thompson; J. O. Bowher; McFarlin & Jackson; S. P. Stults and Mrs. Ida M. Stull, and the U. B. Memorial church.
The following article appeared in The South Bend Tribune. November 7, 1935.
Sunday Heard by Big Crowds Here in 1913
Rev. William Ashley Sunday, who died suddenly Wednesday evening in the home of a friend in Rogers Park, a suburb of Chicago, conducted in South Bend in 1913 what probably was the greatest series of evangelistic meetings ever held in Indiana. His campaign began Sunday, April 27, and continued for seven weeks.
For two months before the famous Billy Sunday opened his meetings in South Bend workmen were engaged in the construction of one of the largest buildings ever erected in the city which became known as the tabernacle. It was built of wood on vacant land between Vistula avenue, now Lincoln Way East, and the St. Joseph river, with Monroe street on the north and South street on the south. The tabernacle had a seating capacity of about 10,000. Reservations were made for the largest musical organization ever assembled in the city, a chorus of more than 1,000 voices. The ground floor was covered with sawdust and fine shavings, making a soft, thick carpet and the outstanding celebrated sawdust trail.
4,000 at Dedication.
Mr. Sunday and his party were quartered in three houses at 515, 517 and 519 South Carroll street. His housekeeper, Mrs. J. W. Foults, of Cleveland, O., had charge of the households. The tabernacle was under the supervision of Fred Seitz, a close friend of the evangelist, who had charge of his tabernacles in the various places where services were held.
The tabernacle was dedicated on Sunday evening, April 20, more than 4,000 persons presenting many denominations in South Bend and elsewhere being present. Rev. Dr. Henry L. Davis, pastor of the First M. E. church, chairman of the tabernacle building committee, presided. He then introduced to E. C. Miller, chairman of the executive committee for the St. Joseph County Evangelistic association, which was largely instrumental in bringing Mr. Sunday to the city. Mr. Miller told of the purpose for which the tabernacle was built. The invocation was by Rev. Peter Moredyke, pastor of the First Reformed church, now out of existence.
Rev. C. V. Mull, pastor of the United Brethren church, led the responsive reading. The scripture lesson was read by Rev. J. C. Tomes, pastor of the Christian Church, of Mishawaka. Rev. Thomas W. Powell, pastor of the Quincy Baptist church, preached, his subject being “Divine Urgency.” Rev. A. C. Ormond, pastor of the Presbyterian church in Mishawaka, spoke on “God’s Victories,” praising Mr. Sunday’s work and saying that if Christian people could operate 40,000 souls in South Bend and Mishawaka could be saved. The benediction was by Rev. Dr. C. A. Lippincott, pastor of the First Presbyterian church.
Nursery Provided.
Marvin Campbell, chairman of the finance committee, announced that in addition to this the association would pay half of the salaries of Mr. Sunday’s co-workers. Mr. Sunday was not to receive anything until the last Sunday of the services when the entire collection was to go to him. Rev. C. A. Decker, pastor of the First Baptist church, told of preparations for handling the big crowds.
A nursery where parents left their children while the parents attended the meetings was situated near the tabernacle and was in charge of Miss Babcock, head of the city’s kindergarten training schools. Children under five years of age were not allowed to attend the services.
Before the tabernacle was completed South Bend business men began the erection of large and small billboards near the entrances to the tabernacle. This aroused the indignation of religious people to a point of battle and vigorous protests were made against the signs.
Nearly 20,000 Listen.
Members of the Sunday party arrived in South Bend previous to
The_South_Bend_Tribune_1935_11_07_1
SUNDAY SPOKE IN CITY IN 1913
Continued from Page One.
Saturday, April 26, and prepared for the great Sunday opening. Mr. and Mrs. Sunday arrived Saturday afternoon and the evangelistic services began the following day. The great evangelist’s first utterances were made before an enormous gathering. Hour after hour on the opening day nearly 20,000 upturned faces watched and listened in the great tabernacle. The morning crowd was estimated at 7,000, the afternoon at 4,000 and the evening at 8,000. Favorable weather, leaders of the movement believed, would have swelled the crowd to nearly 25,000. The morning collection amounted to $184, the afternoon to $70.28 and the night to $167.93, making a total for the day of $425.51. From the first meeting to the last seven weeks later Mr. Sunday had great crowds.
The great evangelist’s services closed on Sunday, June 15. On that day the collection amounted to approximately $10,000. The collection was given to Mr. Sunday. The total of collections for the seven weeks was $24,227.98, the total attendance was 600,050 and the total conversions 6,389. The taking of the offering for Mr. Sunday was one of the features of the closing day of his great campaign. A number of persons in South Bend and Mishawaka contributed $100 each. The largest individual contribution was $200 given by Samuel Murdock, of Lafayette, Ind., a well known and devout Catholic and one of the owners of the Chicago, South Bend & Northern Indiana railway of South Bend.
After Rev. Mr. Sunday completed his services and left the city the great frame tabernacle was torn down and the lumber was removed. The site is now covered by some of the best residences in South Bend and is known as Edgewater place.
As reported below in the Palladium-Item. Mon, May 29, 1922 ·Page 1
GIVE SUNDAY $10,718 ON FINAL NIGHT
“Fine, That’s Dandy, You Did Great” Evangelist Declares as Total Amount Is Read by Chairman.
5,007 ARE CONVERTED
REVIVAL DATA
Sunday’s offering $10,718.04
Campaign expenses $17,000.00
Trail Hitters 5,876
Attendance 247,250
Tabernacle sermons 75
Total sermons 76
Prayer meetings 352
Richmond presented Billy Sunday with $10,718.04 as a result of the final collections on Sunday, and the donations were received during the week from persons who did not expect to be in Richmond on Sunday.
“Fine, that’s dandy, you did great,” Sunday said as the total amount was read by Ed Wilson, treasurer of the campaign, who handed a draft for that amount to Mr. Sunday.
“I saw more tears tonight than I ever seen in any town for a long time, and if we could just continue for two weeks more we could just more than make things hum” Sunday said.
On the last Sunday in Charleston, the collections were announced as $34,658.
“The papers in this town have done better in covering this campaign from every angle than any other city I have been in.” – Billy Sunday
Thanks Local People
Thanks for the services of the men and women who had taken part in the campaign, were given before and after the sermon.
“If the other people had stood behind the campaign here with the enthusiasm and loyalty that the newspapers have shown and the committees have taken their part, the campaign here would have been a big success,” Rev. E. Howard Brown, pastor of the East Main Street Friends meetings, said in asking for the envelopes.
“I have envelopes here showing that most of the different churches did not get in their reports, and we have a number of men and women who came forward and signed cards saying that they accepted Jesus as their personal savior, and the denominations probably have their records.”
Creates Big Racquet
Will Romey, junior, on behalf of the boys who had been singing in the choir, presented Mr. Sunday with a record the chorus leader with a record of the boys’ singing, and the audience applauded.
Before the sermon all of the members of the party were called to the platform to say goodbye to the audience. Only Albert Peterson was absent, he having left last Wednesday to attend the funeral of his grandmother at Ottumwa, Iowa. “Pete’s all right, pure gold,” Sunday declared.
As the members of the party were leaving the platform Mrs. Sunday placed her hand on Mr. Sunday’s shoulder, and said, “If you see the members of the party are pure gold too, from here down through the list.”
The audience applauded.
Thanks Newspapers
Mr. Sunday said, “The papers in this town have done better in covering this campaign from every angle than any other city I have been in.”
He continued, “If it hadn’t been for the automobiles that they loaned to the party during the campaign, Mrs. Asher, George Sunday, and Bob Matthews, sang their final punctuating melodies, and the audience joined in singing the last hymn of the other musical number of greatest interest was Mr. Brown’s singing of “I Am Praying for You.”
The chorus sang the first and second phrases while the big, long floor of the tabernacle sang the second and last phrases. The music that echoed down the longer stretches of the tabernacle, was like a choir in a huge cathedral, and the music seemed to chance to carry through long rows of columns.
Billy Sunday preached 75 times in the tabernacle during the six weeks of his Richmond campaign (April 16 – June 4), and at least another 15 times outside the tabernacle, in surrounding towns close to Richmond. He sometimes preached four times in one day.
As reported in The Richmond Item. Sun, May 28, 1922 · age 7:
NINETY SERMONS TO LAST NIGHT
Old Man Statistics Gives Some Interesting Figures to The Item Reporters
Old Man Statistics dropped into The Item press box, yesterday, and when the reporters were not there, left a bundle of facts. He said Billy Sunday would preach his ninetieth sermon Saturday night, since the day he arrived at Richmond.
That seemed rather too many for the reporter who checked up on it. Yep! Old Man Statistics was all right, it appeared. With the sermon last night Mr. Sunday, has preached 90 at the tabernacle, if one counted the afternoon that Mr. Sunday spoke to the children when the Sunday school convention was held there.
To bring the total to 90, Old Man Statistics, mentioned two sermons at the country club, others at the high school, Earlham college or at the Pennsylvania shops. Then came trips to Portland, Anderson, Greenville, Bradford, O., and the morning sermons each day this week, at Liberty, Hagerstown, Spiceland and Cambridge City.
Oh, happy day when Billy came, To teach us faith in Jesus name He taught us how to work and pray, And live more closely every day. Chorus:Happy day, happy day When Billy came for a six weeks’ stay.
Oh, happy day when “Rodie” came And with his smile put gloom to shame, He taught us how to laugh and sing, And go home blessing every thing. Chorus:Happy day, happy day When “Rodie” came for a six weeks stay.
Oh, happy day when Mrs. Asher came, To sing the praises of our King. There’s Bob and Pete, Miss Kinney too Who teach us how to chase the blues. Chorus:Happy day, happy day When Rapp signed up for this six weeks stay.
Cited in: Palladium-Item. Thu, May 18, 1922 ·Page 1
Earlham College trustees yesterday paid $2,200 for the [Richmond] tabernacle as it stands at South Fifteenth and Sixteenth streets. The check was paid to Ed Wilson, treasurer of the Sunday campaign and chairman of the salvage committee, which committee closed the deal.
It will be removed after the campaign closes. The Charleston, W. Va. tabernacle was sold for $1,000 and the money divided among the members of the Sunday party.
When the Charleston tabernacle was razed, men and boys spent days turning over the sawdust and many dollars in nickels, dimes, pennies and quarters were found.
Cited in: The Richmond Item. Tue, May 16, 1922 ·Page 1
Evangelist Explains Why He Uses Language of Streets In His Sermons
“Richmond ministers are dead right when they declare that if they said in their own pulpits some of the things I say in mine, it would sound ridiculous,” Billy Sunday admitted yesterday.
“There is a time and a place for all things,” continued Sunday. “Staid old church people, reared in Sunday schools, prayer meetings and churches and familiar with elegant phraseology, do not need to have things told them in the plain language of the street in order to comprehend them. Richmond ministers preach to about the same crowd every Sunday and they understand them perfectly.
Short Over Heads.
“But I speak to multitudes whose fathers never darken a church door. If I put them to the usual pulpit terms it would be clouds over their heads. Some of my hearers never went to school, never received church training. Their vocabulary is often limited to 500 words—many of them idioms of the street and slang, and some of them bordering on cuss words. Now I do not use cuss words, but I use the slang or phrase of the street that I know they will understand and respond to—and they do.
“I saw a man seated in front of me in the tabernacle whose dress and appearance showed he was a sport. He was plainly no church-goer. When I said in my sermon, ‘Don’t pass the buck!’ his face lighted up immediately. He was all smiles and he quickly got the idea I was trying to convey. Had I used highfalutin terms they would have been wasted on him.
Never So.
“When Lincoln used the word ‘sugar coated’ in one of his messages, Secretary of State Seward said he would never do—it was not refined enough.
“All right, you put in a better word,” Lincoln told Seward. Next day Seward came back and said he couldn’t find a better word, and ‘sugar-coated’ remained in the message.
Lincoln said there never would come a time when the American people would not know what ‘sugar-coated’ meant.
The apostle said: ‘By their works ye shall know them’—and when I put it: ‘Show me! I’m from Missouri,’ the man of the street not used to going to church gets the idea in a jiffy.”
Cited in: The Richmond Item. Sun, May 07, 1922 ·Page 6
Say Jesus, bless this great throng that has come here from office and shop and store, our friends, the Friends, our friends, the Lutherans and your friends, the Friends and Lutherans, Baptists and Presbyterian and United Brethren and Episcopalians. Hear us, Lord. We are here tonight to praise Thy name and we are here to know what to do to please Thee and to displease the devil. The devil has never done any good for this old world. May we say to the devil, ‘You have made every jail and every penitentiary. You have been the blight on this earth.’ We do pray that the glory and the power of the Lord may fall upon this audience and upon this community and upon the country round about until God shall have glory and the devil shall be beaten back until heaven shall ring and shout with joy until hell will mutter and grumble and growl. O God, that the people may say with the help of the Lord, good bye to the devil and the devil call a conclave of all the lost spirits, and they say, ‘What can we do to check the great Bible talk, that we may tear the people away from the church, may they fall from the Bible, from Christianity and from truth.’ Hear us, our God, we beseech You, the Friends here and the Lutherans, and all may everybody walk down here and say, ‘Here is my hand, my heart, my pledge to live out and out for God, have family prayer in the home, to do the right, Lord, to be faithful in my attendance, to do everything I can to help the cause of the Lord. O Lord, with Your help, I will put out of my life everything that is a hindrance and a detriment to me. I will take my ground and I will live the way I ought to live.’ Hear us, bless and keep us, our Lord. Can we say, ‘It is well with Thee?’ Not if we are away from God. Is it well with my husband? Not if he is away from Christ. Is it well with thy child? Not if it does not know Jesus Christ. And it does not hear from your lips a prayer and if you do not try to turn it in the way it ought to live. Hear us Our God, for Jesus’ sake.
Cited from: The Richmond Item. Thu, May 04, 1922 · Page 7
Mr. Sunday’s Thursday Night Prayer
Say Jesus, this is Thursday, Lord and the third week. Thank You for them, thank You for the great interest of the people. Thank You for their attention, thank You for their gifts, thank You for their contributions which almost total enough for You to pay Your debts Lord, and the treasurer will pay them. We thank You for the hundreds who have pressed down the aisles, whether to renew their vows or take their stand for the Lord, we don’t know which. That is between them and the Lord. That is none of my business. We thank You for the help that has been given by the ministers, the ushers, the doorkeepers, secretaries and all, and the committeemen and the committeewomen and for the delegations that have been here from this city and from the country round about. And Lord tonight here are the Masons, here the Junior Order United American Mechanics and their auxiliary, and our friends down there from Campbellstown. They have been here once before, Jesus. I pray Thee they will come and take their stand. Wouldn’t it be great to have every Mason, Lord, tonight, just walk down and say, ‘Here is my hand. I want to take my stand for Jesus.’ They can’t enter the lodge without acknowledging Christ. They can’t even wear that white plume. They can’t draw that sword, can’t wear the badge of Knight Templar without believing in Jesus Christ and the Cross and the Resurrection and the empty sepulchre without looking heavenward. No sir. Over the threshold and over the entrance to every Knight Templar they say, ‘No infidel can come in here. No unitarian can come in here. Nobody who denies the deity of Jesus Christ or the resurrection of Jesus Christ can come in here. Help them Lord, to take this last degree. Some of them have taken the 32nd degree and some of them have taken the 3rd degree and some of them have taken the 33rd degree, Lord. We meet a few of them here and there, Lord. We have one here that God wants to bestow and when God gives that Lord, then they have the pass-word for heaven. Help them to walk down, even if they are in the church, Jesus, to say, ‘Here is my hand. I want to be the kind of a Christian so that wherever I go people will smile and they will forget their sorrows and their crosses and they will think, O God, that is the kind of a Christian I want to be. I want to come and openly and publicly confess my faith, Lord, because I want to be that kind of a Christian for God.’ Help the Junior order, Jesus, lead with that flag, standing for the principles for which they stand, for the Bible, Lord and for true Americanism, hundred per cent. And our friends from Campbellstown, help them to come. Wouldn’t it be great, God, just to see the members of the Masonic lodge that are here and the Junior order and the Masons, and friends from Campbellstown to walk down here and avow their faith in the Lord, and willing to serve Him and do his will. Help them our Lord, we pray. Hear us for Jesus’ sake.
Cited from: The Richmond Item. Fri, May 05, 1922 ·Page 7
Mr. Sunday’s Saturday Night Prayer
Say, Jesus, have I made it plain? If I have not I ask your forgiveness and pardon. I have tried hard to do it and tried to make it clear for this audience that have come because I know they wanted to hear. Say, Jesus, I believe I have preached what You have revealed in Your word, too, though there may be some that don’t agree. That is not my fault. There are a lot of people that don’t agree with God. There are a lot of people that don’t agree with Jesus. There are a lot of people say You are not the Son of God. That is not Your fault. That does not change the fact. You are, whether they believe it or not. We have preached Your truth and You have revealed it to the people.
Now Lord, here we are nearly in the closing of this third week. When we go out of here we will say good night for the third week, and on tomorrow, Lord, we will have the beginning of the fourth week with people coming from Columbus, Indianapolis, Dayton, Cincinnati, Charleston and places ’round about and out in the country, Lord, and people here in the city will pour from their homes, old, young, rich and poor, and will flock here Lord, and fill the building and we will try to preach for You three times if You will give us mental and physical strength.
O Lord, I don’t know tonight, there must be hundreds of men and women here who will say, ‘I will tell You what I will do, I will join You in a promise that I will be ready if Jesus Christ comes before I die and I am transformed while I am alive, I will be ready to be transformed. If I am in the grave I promise You that I will so live that I will be among the first that will arise. That when He bursts on the earth that I will have lived so that I will have a part in the first resurrection. I will not live the life so that I will not be left in the grave, for there will be nobody left in the grave but sinners. I will promise You I will pledge You so that I will be transformed if I am alive and I will be resurrected if I am dead.’ Hallelujah to God! Comfort one another with these words. Help us, Jesus, help us, we pray. I will promise, Lord, with all my heart and soul.
Cited in: The Richmond Item. Sun, May 07, 1922 ·Page 7
Mr. Sunday’s Sunday Night Prayer
Say, Jesus, I don’t know what more to say. Lord, I know I haven’t said it all. No, no. But I don’t know what more to say. I don’t know what argument to use, or simile or metaphor. If men and women are not willing to accept this great salvation and this promise of life and mercy when we see all He has done and all He can do for us, and stop to think of His leaning from heaven to look at us, to send the Holy Spirit, to send preachers, to send the tabernacle—O God, what am I going to do? I don’t know. Multitudes of people are here. People have come from this town and ’round about by the thousands—and our good friends here—take them back safe, as You brought them, so help the train despatcher that no flange may break, no side rod, or any trouble, Lord. Help them all along the highway of life from here until heaven, that they may have no breakdown. Help the bridge of salvation to hold when they cross over the river of temptation. Help them, Lord, as they pull into the dark tunnel of death. Bless them, God, that the glimmering eye of God’s love can shine at the other end and say: ‘Come on, I am with you. There are two ends to it, you don’t stop here.’
So Jesus, be with us, we pray, this great throng of men and women who know what the way of death is. Lord, we can write that whole thing and go out of here saying: ‘O know what the end is. It will be heaven, salvation, Jesus Christ, God, angels, wife, mother, the redeemed. Hallelujah!’
Cited in: The Richmond Item. Tue, May 09, 1922 ·Page 6
Mr. Sunday’s Tuesday Night Prayer
Say Jesus, I don’t know what more to say. I don’t know but what I should just say, ‘Well now, you let me go, because what more could I do?’ Every sermon I preach, Jesus, I have come to the point where I say, ‘Now are you willing and ready to accept Jesus the best you know how and serve Him and keep His commandments?’
Lord, I believe there are people here tonight, hundreds of them, who will say, ‘Yes, I pledge and I am going to do my best for God.’ As the scriptures saith, ‘Not according to what a man hath not, but according to what he hath.’ The best I can do may not be the best that man out there can do and the best for that man may not be the best I can do, or any other.
We pray for our friends from Lewisville. We pray for our friends, the Spanish-American War Veterans. We pray for the Rotary club. We pray, Lord, for all the delegations that have come. And the Methodists, we pray Lord Jesus, they will all say, ‘I will do God’s will from now on the best I know how,’ in their homes, in their offices, in their stores, wherever the providence of God calls. May they say, ‘I want not only the good, but I want the best, not going to be satisfied with what I have, I want something beyond where I am. I am for you, God.’ So Lord, the great blessing will come to us if we will do Your will.
Cited in: The Richmond Item. Tue, May 10, 1922 ·Page 6
Mr. Sunday’s Afternoon Prayer
Dear Jesus, I don’t want to lie; I don’t want to swear; I don’t want to steal; I don’t want to get down on my knees to tell you about those things. I want to be positive. Help us today; help them tonight; help the people to walk down here tonight and help us all as long as we are here. Oh Jesus, we are now on the fourth week and we are amazed and staggered at things. Soon we will be talking in the past tense; the tabernacle will not be standing here. Lord bless the Rotary who we spoke to at the hotel today. They will be here tonight with their wives. The clerks will be here and for those who are now present hear and help us. Then the Methodists will be here tonight. And those from all over the country, Lord who have shown such great interest. So many came from so far away. They had a good thing and they wanted to tell the others about it Lord. Lead us all for Jesus’ sake, amen.
Cited in: The Richmond Item. Tue, May 10, 1922 ·Page 7
Mr. Sunday’s Wednesday Night Prayer
Say, Jesus they have been trying. Bob Ingersoll tried it, Tom Paine tried it, Dideraux tried it, Strauss tried it, Mills, Tyndall, Huxley, Darwin, Spencer, they all tried it. There have been millions of them tried it, but none can ever do it, none of them in the world, because there is no fault there. But Jesus, when you look down from the battlements of heaven, You can find fault with us, You can find fault with me, You can find fault with Hirget (of Cincinnati), You can find fault with Rae (Presbyterian minister), You can find fault with Brown (Friends minister), You can find fault with all the bishops, You can find fault with all the presiding elders, You can find fault with the deacons, You can find fault with the elders and stewards. You can find fault with the prudential committee men, You can find fault with the Sunday school officers and teachers, You can find fault with the memberships of the churches, You can find fault with the choir, You can find fault with the ushers, You can find fault with the doorkeepers, You can find fault with Rody, Bob, Mrs. Asher, Rapp, Miss Kinney and Pete, You can find fault with all of us Lord. There is no fault in You, Jesus, not a fault. There never will be. Help this mass of people to be willing to say, ‘Lord, help us to pray. I will be what You want me to be, full of zeal for You, because I believe in You. I believe in God. I believe in salvation by faith in Christ. I believe in the judgment. I believe in a blessed God.’ Say Lord, I want to see men and women saved in the church. I want to see them zealous for the Lord. Wouldn’t it be great, Lord, to see every man and woman, here present, the Presbyterians, whether United, or First or Second, whether they come, Lord, down from Portland or wherever they come from, College Corner, wouldn’t it be great to see them all walk down and say, ‘There is no guesswork in it, I know. You cannot find any fault in Him. I know You can find fault with me because I have sinned. I want to be the best man You can make me, so I give You my heart.’ So, Jesus help us all tonight to pledge ourselves to live for God. We know, that no matter who we may be, if we grudged against, no matter what our sin may be, if we come and are willing to confess, He says, ‘I will forgive it.’ So, Jesus, we can’t ask for anything better than that. You don’t condemn us absolutely. We condemn ourselves. You have forgiven me, You have set me. Now I want to come up and give myself to You and try to get other people to give themselves to the Lord. So, Lord, help us tonight. May many of this throng say, ‘I find no fault in Him.’
Cited in: The Richmond Item. Tue, May 11, 1922 ·Page 6
Mr. Sunday’s Thursday Night Prayer
Say Jesus, this is the fourth week of the campaign and it is Thursday. Friday night will be farmers’ night. Help Lord, the different delegations, our friends, the Baptists, the United Brethren, the Disciples and those from Dayton. Help them, Lord, in the office, factory, store and choir. Help them, we pray on the street, the farm, wherever we are. O-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h Jesus, hear us that we may beat the devil to it and when he comes to accuse us we will be able to say ‘Too late it is all fixed up.’
Cited in: The Richmond Item. Tue, May 12, 1922 ·Page 6
Mr. Sunday’s Prayer Sunday Morning
Say Jesus, say blessed Holy Spirit, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, here we are in Richmond this beautiful, beautiful May morning that you made especially for us, it seems to me. It is not hot. It is not cold. The sun is shining and everything perfect, Lord. Fine for the farmer, fine for the business man, fine, Lord God, for the educator and for people of all classes.
Oh, God, we all depend upon the sunshine and rain. We depend upon the farmer to plant and to harvest, Lord, and without that we would starve. We depend upon You, Jesus, for all our food.
Lord, keep in check the potato bugs and the blight and the chinch bugs that eat up the wheat and the boll weevil that eats the cotton and help to ward off every insect everywhere, Lord, and the green aphid which will attack the apple. Don’t let the boll weevil destroy the cotton crops of the South and don’t, we pray, the chinch bugs and rust cut down the wheat fields of North Dakota and Minnesota. Don’t allow the insects to come and destroy the corn and grain. We are perfectly helpless. Don’t allow the potato bugs to eat the vines so that when we pull up the vines there will be nothing whatever to eat. Don’t allow the cholera to slay the hogs. Don’t allow the lion jaw, Lord, to carry away the cattle.
We are perfectly helpless and let us say, ‘Don’t allow the devil to carry the manhood and womanhood of Richmond, the young men and women.’ Don’t allow men to damn men with their lies, deceptions and outrage. Oh, God, hear us, we beseech Thee.
It seems to me the devil has dug enough graves. It seems to me he has made enough drunkards. It seems to me he has made enough prostitutes. It seems to me he has made enough whore-mongers. It seems to me he has made enough infidels. It seems to me he has dug enough graves. It seems to me he has carved enough epitaphs on tombstones. It seems to me he has drawn blood enough from human hearts to make another sea.
Oh—h—h—h—h, God, and Jesus, and Holy Ghost, make bare Your mighty arm and break the fires of hell. May the people of the churches say, ‘Me for God, me for salvation. Me for Christian salvation. I intend to be here, Lord, in these last two weeks, afternoons and evenings. Help me, God, to win others to Christ. As members of the Masonic lodge, we will win every man in the lodge. As members of the Kiwanis and Rotary clubs, and all others, here, the Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, the Commercial club, the men and women of society—may we win them all to Christ.’
Hear us, we pray for salvation for the people of the Starr Piano factory, for those of the McGuire lawn mower works, for those of the Atlas Underwear. For all those down at the City Hall, every member of the police department and fire department. We pray for Earlhurst, for every officer and member of the faculty, every student that they will come down here in delegations, and every member of the high school, every teacher, every boy and every girl will be won for Jesus Christ. May we pray every officer at the courthouse until every county official will be won for God.
Hear us, and we will praise Thee forever, in the name of Jesus, whom, having not seen, we love. Hallelujah.
Cited in: The Richmond Item. Tue, May 16, 1922 ·Page 6
Sunday Night Prayer
Say, Jesus, I feel so distressingly inadequate that I just feel like apologizing to You and to this audience for what I have tried to say, because any human being that tries to muster his or her wisdom, or knowledge, or eloquence, or voice, or personality to talk about You and Your plan of redemption, staggers back, and says: “Oh, how weak the combined efforts of man. How far beyond man’s greatest conception is the wonderful love of God to this old world.”
Oh, Jesus, I wish I knew of some argument, some metaphor, some simile, some illustration, comparison, Lord, something that I might be able to say or do that would lead men and women to accept of Jesus Christ, something that I might do that would bring every man and woman off this platform that is not a Christian, that is simply in a church but knows they are not Christians, that are not living for God, and the people down yonder, every usher, every doorkeeper, that everyone of them would walk down and take their stand for Jesus Christ and say, “Here is my life for God, my life for Jesus Christ from now on.”
Hear us, our Father in Heaven, as we swing into the fifth week of this campaign. Lord, You have done great things. This campaign is like a huge magnet. It has pulled thousands of people from the mountains of Virginia and West Virginia and away down in South Carolina. A man said to me today, “I have come 500 miles to hear you.” But I know some people in Richmond that haven’t come five blocks.
So, Jesus, help us for trying to do Your will. We have tried to let the people know of Jesus Christ the Lord, all through our life. We have never preached anything else. They can go back and check up on us, can’t they, Jesus? We have never done anything else but cry for world repentance. We never will do anything else, Lord, but cry for a world repentant until our friends will read in the Associated Press despatches, “Well, Bill has gone to the Lord.” When they do they may know that about the last thing I will know is: “Well, I have played the game of life fairly. I have tried to keep out of the error column. I have tried to make a few sacrifice hits. I have touched all the bases, and now I have reached home.”
Thank You, Lord, for the multitudes that are going to believe before we say goodbye to Richmond and hurry to the mountains of Tennessee to preach Jesus Christ to the people there that are waiting, and they say people have been converted now, already, in anticipation of the coming campaign just three weeks away.
So, hear us, lead us, guide us. Help hundreds of men and women to walk down the aisles tonight and take their stand for Christ, the people inside here. Lord, and the people outside here, every night, the people behind us here, and on the platform, and the people that have stood outside, and didn’t come in because it was a little cooler there. Help them all tonight to take their stand for Jesus Christ and say: “Here is my heart, here is my hand, to serve Him the best I know how from this time on.” Hallelujah.
Cited in: The Richmond Item. Tue, May 16, 1922 ·Page 7
Mr. Sunday’s Tuesday Night Prayer
Say Jesus, it is true that there is a heaven. There is a hell. It is true that You are the Son of God. It is true that God is God. It is true that the Bible is the Word of God. It is true that we cannot save ourselves. It is true that we must have a supernatural Saviour. It is true You are that supernatural Saviour. It is true that there is a day of judgment. It is true, Lord, that there is a heaven for the saved. It is true that there is a hell for the unsaved. It is true You are revealed to us in this Book we call the Bible. It is true that we have the freedom of our choice of accepting or rejecting You.
Oh God, surely people must be interested or they wouldn’t have come from New Paris in that great delegation and from Winchester, and those who came from Lynn. As we came through it today we looked out and saw the name there on the depot where we crossed that other railroad—I don’t know which one it is—and didn’t think they would be down here tonight. And every one of these other towns, “Eaton, is it Rodey?” “Yes”—(Rodey.) And the young men that came in there tonight, and the delegation of West Side people and those of the citizens of Richmond. Lord, help me pray, Oh God. Help us, we beseech of Thee, for the people here from these different delegations, that they are here to take their stand for God and “Whatsoever things are true.” All these things are true, that the Bible is the Word of God. It is true we must be saved by faith in Jesus Christ. It is true, Lord, so that being true may no man or woman go out, Lord, tonight, blessed God, and not come down here to take their stand. Help them, Lord, to come and our friends from New Paris and from Winchester, help them (and what other town?) Oh yes, Boston, Eaton, Lynn, the students and boys and the West Side and the people here from Richmond. Help them, Lord, that there may be scores of them walk down the aisle and take their stand for Christ and by so doing ally themselves on the side of God, on the side of righteousness, on the side of the church and Jesus Christ, and all that is right, and all that is noble in the world, the best in this world, then the best in the world to come.
Hear us, and we will praise You forever, through Jesus, our Saviour, who said, “Whatsoever things are true, think on these things.”
Cited in: The Richmond Item. Wed, May 17, 1922 ·Page 1
Mr. Sunday’s Thursday Night Prayer
Say Jesus, I wish I could make it plainer. I wish I could make it so plain that not a man or woman, Lord, from the Starr Piano, not a man or woman from any delegation, the farmers, merchants, bankers, school teachers, scholars, not a man or woman here tonight would go out without giving their hearts to Jesus. I wish I could do that, Lord, every time I preach. I try hard to do it, Lord. If I fail it is not because I haven’t the ambition nor desire, Lord, but it is because—well, I don’t know why, Lord. My head may not be equivalent, or my heart, or something, the stubbornness of the minds of men and women and they won’t yield to Jesus. Help them, we pray, to come for we know Thou art here. Though we can not see You, no, but You are here, Lord, in Your power and Your spirit. We can’t see the air but we know it is here. We wouldn’t argue for a minute to convince anybody that air is here, although we can’t see it, we are breathing it. We know, Lord Jesus, it is true that though we can’t see You we know You are here because You have said: ‘Where two or three are gathered together in My name I am with them.’
We pray for this vast throng that nearly fills the tabernacle and although the weather is threatening and a little inclement, we thank You, Lord, for keeping back the rain, and keep it back until they get home. Before they go home we pray that hundreds may walk down and give You their hearts and give their hands and say: ‘Here is my pledge and my promise to serve God through faith in Jesus from now on the best I know how.’
Alright, it is up to you. The Richmond Item. Fri, May 19, 1922 · Page 6
Mr. Sunday’s Friday Night Prayer
Say, Jesus, You have lighted the light by Your sacrifice on the Cross and by Your love and tenderness and Your great big heart. It is big enough for a world to hide in and shelter there, Lord, like the cove in the harbor when the storm drives the ship from her course to the shelter, Jesus, many a poor sinner has rushed in there and found shelter. I found it, Lord. I have hid in there myself. Lots of poor drunkards have crawled in there. Lots of thieves have crawled in there. Lots of men and women of all classes have crawled in there and we have all felt the cleansing power for all. Now Jesus, what can I do for You? You have given me all this. What can I do for You on this Friday night, the fifth week of this campaign? We pray You to bless these business women that have come, Lord, all the delegation. Jesus, help them to take their stand for Thee, so that therefore You will do for them here tonight in Richmond what You did for David thousands of years ago. Lord, if we will cry You will hear us. You will help us, just as You liked to help us of old. We know, God, if we will call to the Lord He will hear us and will take us out of our trouble. Not only that, but He will take us out of all our guilt, hallelujah to God. He will keep us away from what is bad, so that we won’t want to do it any more. Hear us, Jesus, here tonight.
Alright, it is up to you.
The Richmond Item. Sat, May 20, 1922 · Page 6
Evangelist’s Sunday Afternoon Prayer
Say Jesus, here is a wonderful crowd of people from office, shop, store and farm and countryside and village and city and town, from every nook and corner here. What did they come for? To look at Mary Pickford down at the movies? No. To look at Doug. Fairbanks, Bill Brady, Charlie Ray, Tom Mix? No. What for? They came down here to hear Bill Sunday and listen to him. Why? Because he was preaching Jesus Christ and their hearts want to hear the gospel.
We are glad the old gospel has not lost her power and she never will, hallelujah to God. Human beings are anxious and desirous to see and know about the Lord, so help us, Lord, that none of us may neglect this great salvation. You have provided it at the cost of Jesus Christ. It cost, God, Your great big heart of life and love. It cost suffering. It cost all that. You have offered it to us full, free, perfect and eternal through faith in Jesus Christ.
Help the men and women who stand outside, Lord. I have preached so hard, Jesus, I can hardly stand up so my voice could reach out through the open doors and windows and the boards to the men outside, 15 to 20 feet deep, away out yonder in the street in the rear end of the tabernacle that they hear me preach about Christ.
Help them, we pray, Oh God, that scores of them may say, “Here is my hand, I promise and pledge You that I will live for God through Jesus Christ.”
The Richmond Item. Tue, May 23, 1922 ·Page 6
Mr. Sunday’s Sunday Morning Prayer
Say Jesus, I thank You for Your great love. There are men and women here this morning, who, as they sat or stood and listened to me may say, “Well, God, I am sorry I was ever under the right cross. I am sorry that I was ever in that side that represented meanness, enmity, hatred, lying, adultery, boot-legging, theft, cursing, blasphemy and everything that chill the heart of the Man on the Cross, everything that cheers hell and chills heaven.”
Jesus, I thank You that 34 years ago I was freed, Lord, and that I fell and cried, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.” Jesus freed me and kissed away the guilt from my soul. I accepted His redemption that He purchased there on that cross.
Now hear us, blessed God, because I am standing here trying to preach the cross to this vast audience who have come here from office and shop and store and home. They have thronged to this tabernacle, Lord, to hear me preach, to hear the story of Christ and to meet one another in worship and adoration of this great, wonderful God, who created the heavens and the earth, and Jesus Christ, the One altogether sinless who opened His veins on the cross and bathed the world with blood that we might be saved from our guilt, and rejoice in salvation here and the hope set before us in the future, Lord.
Bless us this beautiful day. We thank You for it.
Help this people, Lord God, to lay aside everything they possibly can. Certain things need to be done. We have to eat. We have to sow. We have to run the factories and we have to plow the fields. We have to feed the stock. We have to take care of ourselves—things that have to be done, no matter whether we are Christian or sinner,—because we become Christians, that don’t mean that we have got to stop plowing, that we have got to stop eating, that we can not run the store. No, we have to do that, Jesus, and You know that,—for a man that does not provide for his family is worse than an infidel.
Help them, Lord, when that is done to come to the tabernacle at night and help us, Lord, if we can just arrange things to come here in the closing days for these last meetings, and see wonderful things.
Help every man that wears the white plume. Help every Knight Templar to take a stand for Jesus Christ. I know many, Lord, are Christians, but God, it won’t hurt them to again renew their vow, renew their covenant with Thee, and take their stand for the Lord.
Help us, Lord and we will never cease praising Thee, in the name of Jesus, our Saviour.
The Richmond Item. Tue, May 23, 1922 ·Page 7
Mr. Sunday’s Sunday Night Prayer
Say Jesus, we are swinging into the last week now. I needn’t have told You that. You know that.
I want to thank You Lord, for the five weeks that have become history, and for what I may have been privileged to do in Thy name and for the cause of Jesus Christ. I have pleaded, Lord, and I have preached to the very limit of my physical and mental strength.
I wish I could quit, Lord, when I am through here in Richmond, and go and rest, but I have to go down in Tennessee and preach, Lord, there for a month, then go up to Winona for a few days before I can go out west to rest.
Lord—I know I will get by somehow but I don’t know how, but You have promised to renew my strength as the eagles, so Jesus, I pray that You will help and hear us.
This great crowd tonight, a great many have been here all day long, morning, afternoon and evening and they are planning to drive home, Lord. It would be sad to come and stay all day and then not go home a Christian—to make that journey and go back without Jesus Christ. So, Lord, help men and women to take their stand. People on their way home, when they have grit and courage to drop down into the street, with raiment scintillating in electric light or a million diamonds and with drawn sword uplifted, should stop the automobile and say, “Wait a minute—have you solved the problem, what will it profit a man if he gain the world and lose his soul? You have been up to the tabernacle and you had your chance and you didn’t accept it.”
Oh God, we pray Thou wilt help us here! It is appointed unto man once to die and after death the judgment. We can all settle it now so that in that time we will not be afraid of the judgment. I am not afraid, Lord, whenever the time comes, but I don’t want it to come any sooner than You have it planned out, Lord and I don’t want to go yet awhile. Let me stay longer, will You, Lord?
I am feeling good, Jesus. I’m hitting on all six, so help me to stay a little bit longer. I want to preach for You and I want to give the devil an awful run for his money, Lord. Let me stay—I don’t know how long, Jesus, and I will go for all the power I have for You, for Your cause.
Hear us tonight and help this crowd. I may not see some of them until next Sunday and I may not see any of them then. I may see their pictures in the newspapers. Then I will begin to wonder, Lord, did they take their stand when they were in the tabernacle. Is that man safe or that woman?
So Jesus, I have done my utmost. Now help them, Lord, tonight. Bless them, Spirit of God. Help them to have grit and courage to get up and come down, come from the platform. Help them to be brave enough to come on time. If any of the men or women in the audience have taken their stand yet, may they do it now, so the last week they can do so much for Jesus Christ. May they come tonight and may all of the ushers and secretaries that want to take their stand but haven’t yet done so, may come tonight.
The Richmond Item. Tue, May 23, 1922 ·Page 7
Mr. Sunday’s Tuesday Night Prayer
Our Father, here we are on Tuesday night of the sixth week and I have been preaching Thy truth; telling how the Pharisees, Lord, committed sin because they rejected all evidence that You brought them and how men and women are doing likewise today because they reject all evidence that God can bring them through sermon and mind and memory and conscience and all the various ways that God appeals to them.
Thank you for this great audience that came from near and far. Men have ploughed all day in the field, Lord, and they come to this tabernacle, some of them 15 or 20 miles. They will take an hour, maybe an hour and a half going home and will have to get up early in the morning while many of you are still asleep. They will go out into the field to plow, or to sow, or to the factory, wherever they go they will remember what I have said and the memory of that will ring through their ears.
Oh Jesus, I don’t know what more I could do. Holy Spirit of God, go up and down the aisles and in and out among the seats. Go to the people that stand. Speak to the heart of that old man. He won’t have many more chances, Lord. It won’t be very long before the sands in the hour glass of time will soon sift for him. Go to that old woman, Lord, go to that buoyant young man and young woman. Go to the business man. Go to the people, Lord, with the dew of youth on their brow in the very noon-tide of their prosperity and health and intellectual faculty and power.
Oh, Spirit of God, go—wait a minute. Don’t go back to heaven yet, because we hope and pray to God that You will take back with You the names of scores and scores of men and women who will accept Jesus as their Saviour and that the angels will be kept until midnight crossing off names from the old book of sin and transferring them to the Lamb’s Book of Life.
I expect there is a mother up in heaven looking down and saying, “Is that my boy standing to his feet?”
“Yes.”
“Is that my girl. Has she a desire? Praise God. If there is anything I can do, Lord, I would fly down from heaven. I would speak to her in my own voice, Lord. If I had that privilege I would do it.”
So, Jesus, they haven’t the privilege and they won’t do that. So help them to believe God and to accept of Jesus their Saviour. Hear us our Father in heaven.
The Richmond Item. Wed, May 24, 1922 ·Page 6
Mr. Sunday’s Wednesday Night Prayer
Say Jesus, this is Wednesday night. You know that I am in Richmond. You know that. I have been preaching the Truth and You know that, because You have checked up on every word. You have checked up on all I have said and it is written down, and when I get to heaven You will say:
“Bill, did you preach the truth?”
“Yes sir, I did.”
“Did you tell those people that God was God and that Jesus Christ was the Only Begotten Son of God?”
“I did.”
“Did you speak of the Holy Ghost, Bill?”
“I did.”
“That He died on the Cross and that salvation is won by faith in his substitutionary death?”
“I did.”
“Did you tell them there was a personal devil?”
“I did.”
“That he deceives people and is the cause of murder, lying, adultery, corruption and infamy that blight and scourge the world?”
“I did.”
“Did you tell them of the presence of the Holy Ghost to convict the world of sin and of judgment?”
“I did.”
“Did you tell them the Holy Spirit had no blood?”
“Yes.”
“Did you tell them there was a hell?”
“I did. Yes, Lord, You can check there on me in Richmond and You will find lots of hell in there. I believe there is a hell. I told them they would go to hell.”
“Did you tell them they would get out?”
“No, I didn’t. I told them they would stay there forever.”
“That’s right.”
“Did you tell them if they would think good thoughts, keep good company, do philanthropic deeds, it would save them?”
“No. I told them they were liars, that it wouldn’t save them.”
“That’s right.”
“Did you tell them that matter is non-existent. That there is no such thing in a body?”
“I told them that there is not such a thing.”
“Did you tell them that Christian Science is a fraud?”
“I did.”
“That’s right, Bill.”
“Did you tell them that there was a heaven?”
“Yes sir, and I told them it was a beautiful place that had twelve gates and that each gate was made out of pearls and I told them the foundations of the city were precious stones and I told them that there was a river flowed through and a tree and that the leaves were for the healing of the nations and that the streets were paved with gold. I told them if they ever got there they would never get out, and if they got to hell they would never get out, although if they got to hell they could look over into heaven and see its beauty there.”
“Did you tell them if they would accept Jesus they would be saved?”
“Yes. I told them everything, Jesus. I told them, Lord, all over this country, over these towns and cities, New York, Boston, Richmond, Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo, and in Washington and Baltimore and down in Chattanooga, Tenn., and at Atlanta, Ga., up and down the mountains of Virginia, all through—Richmond, Norfolk. Have preached out there in California. I have preached in Los Angeles, Frisco, Portland, St. Louis, in Dakota, down in Texas, Dallas and Fort Worth. Lord, I have gone up and down. I have preached it in Spartansburg, S. C., and wherever I have gone. I have preached it, Lord, up and down—Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Nebraska and Kansas, Lord. I have told them of Jesus Christ. I have preached to a bunch of Mormons out in Salt Lake City. I preached to them Jesus, in Seattle, Billingham and Tacoma and I told them that there was nobody but Jesus Christ could save. But I have never been up in Milwaukee yet. I haven’t told them up there yet. I hope I may get a chance to go up there in Columbus, Lord, and I am going to Dayton and tell them that Christ is God.”
“What can I do to be saved? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”
The Richmond Item. Thu, May 25, 1922 · Page 6
Mr. Sunday’s Thursday Night Prayer
Say, Jesus, this is Thursday night of the sixth week of the campaign. We all knew it would come if our lives were spared and You didn’t come. We preached about Your coming but You haven’t come and I didn’t tell them You would for I didn’t know anything about it.
Now Lord, we have come to Thursday. Here is a great delegation of men and women, Lord, and they have come from the country and towns round about, from labor in the fields, and labor in the factory, office, shop and store, and college and school—they are here tonight; old and young; rich and poor; black and white; native and foreign born; male and female; aged and decrepit; all conditions, Lord, of servitude of the devil. This man has his trouble. This woman has that trouble; and this one that one. No matter what they are, Jesus, You know all about it. You are able to forgive us our sin. Isn’t it wonderful!
Here are the Odd Fellows tonight, with their cardinal principles of Friendship, Love and Truth.
Say, Jesus, You know all about it. You showed them real friendship. What would the world be if we had no friends, Lord? Wouldn’t it be an awful hell?
Love sent Jesus into the world. Love called Him and caused Him to suffer on the cross. Love caused the hearts of men to turn unto Thee. Oh Lord, what a world we would have without love—wouldn’t it be different?
Then Truth—that is what I am preaching. I am preaching the doctrine of truth—the truth that God is God, and the only God; that Jesus Christ is the Son of God; the truth that the Bible is the Word of God; the truth that there is salvation for the saved and a hell for the lost; the truth of the personality of the devil and of the Holy Spirit.
Oh Lord, it is all there in the Bible—Friendship, Love and Truth. Help them to stand for it, our God. The band across their shoulders exemplifies the spirit of the Good Samaritan, Lord, of David and Jonathan.
Oh Christ, it ought to be that they, believing what they believe, every one of them ought to be in the church.
Why should any man be a member of the Masonic lodge, the Odd Fellows, Woodmen, the Junior Order United American Mechanics, Elks, or any lodge and then not be in the church? Oh God, the great principle of Christianity is what established every one of them.
Where did the Odd Fellows get their doctrine? Only out of the Bible. Where did Masonry if they didn’t get it out of the Bible?
Why not let us all link up our principles with the church and make this world a better world than we have lived in?
Lord, do great things in these last days for Richmond. Isn’t it a beautiful town, Lord? I don’t know if You would open the windows of heaven and tell the angels to jump down on the most beautiful spot in Indiana, the first would be Winona and the second, I think this side Richmond, they would jump down in the middle of Richmond. I think they would land right down here in the middle of this block across the street—I don’t know who lives there, but they would land right in the middle of that. That is a pretty spot.
If they missed that, I think the angels would jump right through the roof of the tabernacle as about the best spot in Richmond.
Help all the people here to take their stand for God and say, ‘Here is my hand and Here is my heart to serve You, Lord, from now to the grace of God.’
The Richmond Item. Fri, May 26, 1922 ·Page 6
Mr. Sunday’s Friday Night Prayer
Say Jesus, I don’t know what more I can say. I haven’t said it all. I know that much but I don’t know what argument I can use, or illustration, or metaphor, or simile. I don’t know, Lord, what I could do to appeal to reason, conscience, sympathy, emotion, Lord. I don’t know. I have tried from every angle, every viewpoint, Lord, that I know how. Jesus, if I have failed it is from the head, not the heart. Lord, I feel myself inadequate to the opportunity with this vast crowd in this inclement weather. But Jesus, they must have been greatly interested to leave home because the clouds were lowering and it was just spitting a little rain when they started, and Jesus, I am glad they were not afraid. I am glad they did not allow that to deter them from coming.
Oh, Christ, if there is anybody that ought to be a Christian it is the merchant, it is the banker, it is the lawyer, it is the doctor—the people we trust with our lives, trust them with our savings. Help them, if they are not Christians to turn to Thee.
Help this vast crowd. I don’t know who they are—the nurses and the crowd down here, Lord, in the front. I don’t know where these different delegations are from. (Do you know Rodey?) The business men, Lord, many of whom have been so faithful and helped so much.
Help them all to come, Jesus. Wouldn’t it be a great thing when the meetings are over, Lord, you will find the churches crowded with people who have not only become church members, but who have found Jesus Christ and they have come to back up the church. Help us tonight, our Father in heaven. Help them to come—the business men, bankers, nurses to come, and the other delegations that arose when Rodey asked them.
Be Thou with us, our Father in heaven. Lead us for Jesus’ sake.
The Richmond Item. Sat, May 27, 1922 · Page 6
Mr. Sunday’s Saturday Night Prayer
Say Jesus, this is Saturday night, the sixth week. Yes, six weeks ago tonight. Lord—this afternoon at 3:35 we got off of the G. R. & I. train. The mayor was down to meet us, the chief of police and the citizens, Lord, and our good friends, the American Legion with their band, went down the street and went to the Westcott hotel, where the people stood along the street, and, Lord, they bid us welcome to Richmond, knowing we had come for no other purpose than to hold up the form of Jesus Christ, and for six weeks, blessed God, we have been trying to do it.
If You would so will it I am willing to go to heaven tonight and stand before You and the people of this community and the country round about and tell them then as I tell them now that I have not failed to declare the whole counsel of Thine as I understand it, Lord, for the six weeks that have become history.
Oh, Jesus, there are many things that I would like to have had happen. There are multitudes of people I would like to have seen take their stand for Jesus Christ. There are many, Lord Jesus, that I would have been more than honored to have clasped in the six weeks that have come and gone. There are men and women whose faces I would have been glad to have known, Lord, and looked into.
So Lord Jesus Christ, we come to the closing point of the campaign almost. It, in a few hours now, will become a matter of history; the books of heaven will be closed, the building will be torn down. Earlham college has bought it. They will move it over there, Lord, for a gymnasium for the boys. As the people gather there for the basket ball games, the track meets, and all, Lord Jesus, every board of it will echo with the sermons we have preached and the songs that have been sung, and when the people walk into it, blessed God, they can see all this come back again, and every knot hole will seem to preach a sermon. Every board will seem to be precious, Our God, and every upright and every particle.
So we pray Thou wilt make bare Thy mighty arm, and scores and hundreds may walk down here tonight and take their stand for Jesus Christ and renew their vows and covenants for God, and even now if they have allowed six weeks to go by and haven’t done it, and if by failing to do that they have not been able to help anybody into the Kingdom of God they perhaps have not got so much of a blessing out of this as they might have gotten.
So, Lord, You know I have been preaching with all the power You have given me. I have not spared myself of energy, or zeal or anything to hold up the bleeding form of Jesus, and now Lord, I am standing here on this last Saturday night of the last week. And in the words of my text, ‘And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.’
I have stood here as the representative, as the ambassador of Jesus Christ, to tell them what You can do for them. Well then, we pray that there won’t be a man or woman go out of here tonight unsaved, Lord, but they will all come and say, ‘I will take it. I will accept it.’ Help them tonight that they may not wait until tomorrow night but do it now.
Bless the stewards and the prudential committeemen, vestrymen, and Sunday school teachers, any church official, Lord. Help them all, we pray. Oh God! Help them from the farm, help them from the railroad. Lord God, from the McGuire Lawn Mower company, help them from our good friend, Adam Bartel’s. Adam is a good scout and he has been with us all the way, and our friend, the superintendent of the railroad, Higginbottom, Lord, You know he is a good scout. He has been such a help. Help them from the Starr Piano company, Lord, if any of them are here. Help them from all of these various industries, down here at the Underwear works where Mrs. Asher has been working, down through the George Knollenberg company. They are good scouts. They have been coming in their automobiles and taking us about.
May everyone come in the spirit of enthusiasm for the last day. May they come with open hearts that God Almighty can fill them with the benediction until tomorrow will be a red letter day, and it will be such a day that the devil will stagger back and he’ll be in the hospital and on his crutches saying, ‘I’ve got some solar plexis blows. I am about all in.’
Oh, Lord Jesus, help us that if I have said anything that has not been according to Your will in all of these six weeks, forgive me. If there is anything I should have said that I have not said let me know and I’ll make it up tomorrow.
So help us, and be Thou with us, I pray.
The Richmond Item. Sun, May 28, 1922 ·Page 6
Billy Sunday’s Farewell Prayer
Say Jesus, I am through. I would like to just be starting, Lord, where we are leaving off. Oh, God, You could re-write the history of Wayne county and every county, Lord that joins it. It would reach and spill over, Lord, into Winchester and Portland, away over to Newcastle, Lord, and to Hagerstown, over, Lord, to Eaton, down, Lord to these other towns around; over to Spiceland, down to Liberty, over to Campbellstown and in the country round about where there are people by the hundreds living and the country not saved who would be, Jesus, if we were starting where we are saying good-bye.
But say, Lord, we thank You, Lord, for what we have been privileged to do here. We thank You, Lord, for the honor of preaching Jesus Christ. I have not stood on Indiana soil for years to preach it since I was up in South Bend. Oh Lord, I thank You that I have had the opportunity.
And now, Lord God, help us, we pray, they that will stay and we that will go. Bless the ministers. They have been kind. Surely Lord, as Brown said, they did stand by magnificently and did everything in their power.
Bless our poor friend. Work, Lord, as he is taking his wife to put her in the grave and then come back with two little children without a mother, and he without a wife, to take up the duties of the church. My God, help them not to add to his burdens by being indifferent or critical.
Help us, we pray, and be with us, we beseech of Thee and bless this great audience. They have stood out there, Lord and I have torn my throat with the effort that the fellow out there might hear, with his ear glued against the window and his hand behind his ear, to hear the words as they rang out and clear across the street.
Lord, look at the automobiles, I expect a thousand of them here tonight and on the morning, Lord, as they drive down the street there will be none. Lord, I don’t know that the people will ever live to see so many flock in the town again. I don’t know what it will be, because nothing draws people like the gospel.
So we are about ready to say good-bye. God, we hear it so much. Good-bye, we say it when the children go away to school; good-bye when our friends come to visit us, we say it; good-bye when the ship swings out in the channel and steers for the open sea to lands we have never seen. They on the dock say, ‘Farewell, Bon Voyage,’ and they on the ship say, ‘Farewell, good-bye to you.’ We say it as the hearse goes away. We say it as the bridal carriage takes our boy or girl away. Lord, we say it as the train pulls out, we wave it from the rear, good-bye to those that stand and watch us. Jesus, good-bye, we have to say it, but in heaven we never will say it.
We have reached the point where we have to say it, preachers, secretaries, doorkeepers, ushers, newspapers, the good people of Richmond and the country round about—Indiana and Ohio, where they have all come and by their presents and their gifts to help pay the current expenses and contribute, Lord, to my offering, and whatever they may have given, Lord, bless them.
Help us, Lord. Lead us, guide us. And now, Jesus, in a few minutes before we say good-bye, we want to give them a chance to come and accept of Thee as their Saviour, Lord, in this last meeting tonight.
Cited in: The Richmond Item. Tue, May 30, 1922 · Page 6
Evangelist’s Sunday Morning Prayer
Say Jesus, we have reached the last Sunday morning. Men and women have come from near and far. I saw the names on the automobiles, Indiana, Ohio, Kansas and states round about, and Michigan too. They have come from near and far. Perhaps tourists journeying from New York and Pennsylvania, journeying on the highways, heard about the meetings and stopped to attend them and then hurry away with their wives and children to catch the beauty of this wonderful day, to live under the stars and stripes of liberty and freedom. Oh God, as they go along they will see no team in the fields today. They will see no tractors plowing the ground. They will see the scores of herds in the succulent grass up to their sauce and pepperino, Lord, up to the very last minute and when I macadamized highway of this great land were we live and which Thou hast loved enough to make all these wonderful things for us, and all the materials out of which they are made.
Oh blessed Jesus, perhaps some are here this morning that will not be this afternoon and I am preaching my farewell sermon to some man or woman. It may be the last sermon for them this morning, Lord. I don’t know. It may be that You will close their eyelids and You will stop their heart. The undertaker will come and crepe will flow from the door in the morning. I don’t know how soon it will be, Lord, but I do hope, before it ever comes to anybody, that they will not allow an opportunity like this to pass without accepting Jesus Christ.
I thank Thee, Lord, from the depths of my soul for the co-operation that the ministers have extended to me and the members of my party, for the assistance they have been and they have been good fellows. They have stood by me to the last ditch, blessed God, when it was dark and the clouds were lowering and it was hard and criticism was being hurled and people wouldn’t come, and all that, they have stood by.
Lord God, the people ought to thank You that they have as the pastors of the churches men that are willing to stand by in a cause like this.
Oh God, Richmond has not alone had the opportunity for people within her own borders. She has been given the opportunity to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. The people have come from the country round about, not simply has it been confined within the corporate limits of their own community. There is not a church, blessed God, in any city, village or hamlet within 50, 75 or 100 miles that has not felt the influence of these meetings.
Thank You for the ushers; thank You for the secretaries; thank You for the choir; thank You for all those that have done anything, that have given any help to the tabernacle expenses which are all paid. The bills have been paid. Thank You for it. For whatever they may give to help along Thy cause and to help us to go and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Wilt Thou be near. Bare Thy mighty arm and show Thy power to those who do not know Thee.
It won’t be very long, Lord, till the ventilators will be closed, the doors will be closed, the building will be closed and it will be ance and their prayers and their gifts to help make it a great success a gymn.
Oh, be Thou with us our God, hear us, help us, bless us, we appeal to Thee in the name of Jesus. If we have said anything we should not have said, forgive us, Lord. If we have left anything undone, let us know and we will do it.
Let us all have zeal for Christ, zeal for salvation. I don’t want anything less, Lord. I want to have the same vim, ginger, tabasco my hand to serve God better than I ever have. To do more for God am about ready to go, if you will just give me a little bit more strength, I will jump up and give the devil one more wallop and then stand on the coffin and sing, ‘Hallelujah for Christ.’
Oh Lord, be with us, lead us, and guide us and may there be men and women here this morning who will take their stand for Jesus and give themselves to Him to serve Him and do His will.
Hear us and we will never cease to praise Thee, in the name of Jesus, our Saviour.
Cited in: The Richmond Item. Tue, May 30, 1922 · Page 7
Mr. Sunday’s 2:00 P. M. Service Prayer
Say Jesus, here is a great crowd of folks. They have been good, standing by this campaign, Lord, and I thank them for standing by it until the end. What a great comfort it is to look into the faces of people to know they have given their attendance and their assistance, and say, “Surely God is good,” as they pass along the cess. Lord Jesus, bless them, for it won’t be long until we will hurry home for a little rest, then down to the mountains of Tennessee to preach Jesus, then out to the Pacific coast to have a littl rest, Lord.
Now, hear us Lord, today. There may be someone here today, Lord, that has not yielded to Christ. They have been making up their minds as they have come in time after time and have said, “This is the time, the last day.”
Lord, help us, that the people who stood out there to receive the words as they reached through the windows and doors. I hope they have reached them. I have strained my voice solely for their benefit. I am glad to do it. If they can only hear and heed the gospel. Help them to walk down here and say, “Here is my pledge and my vow to serve God and the Lord in the church. Here is turned over to Earlham college here. They will take it and make it church and the pastor and my neighborhood and community in my life. I am going to be a friend to it and I am going to help it along.
Oh God, hear us, we pray. Lead us, bless us for Jesus’ sake.
Cited in: The Richmond Item. Tue, May 30, 1922 · Page 7
The following note appeared in the Richmond Item, May 2, 1922:
To The Rev. William A. Sunday
Thou sendeth a man for race, creed and color
To the places where prayers are unsaid.
Thou sendeth a man for race, creed and color
To quote from the living to quote from the dead.
I wish that everybody would either read or go to hear Rev. Sunday preach his sermons. They are the first that have come out of the ice-box since the days of Crucifixion. I do believe his sermons are just as essential as a serum scratched into the flesh of the arm to keep one from taking small pox. So should Rev. Sunday’s sermons be scratched on the heart to prevent us from taking the devil’s itch.
Rev. Sunday is impartial. He is fearless in backing up what he knows about God, man, beast or bird. He is fearless in relating history and its rare fruit. In his comparisons he brings to light what is unseen.
None desire to dispute his thought for his inspiration comes from beyond his power.
The key which he handles is—Stop lying, stop stealing, stop cussing, stop living in adultery, stop quarreling at the table and clean Supremacy. This key in part unlocks everybody’s door. This truth has been crushed to rise again by a man within a man.
Evangelist Billy Sunday (1862-1935) 