JESUS NOT "SISSY," SAYS BILLY SUNDAY.
Evangelist Declares Christ Was Vigorous Preacher, After His Own Heart.
A new Jesus -- a Christ militant -- was preached by Billy Sunday at the tabernacle last night.
"Away with those effeminate pictures of bowed humility and those stories of a sissy Messiah -- Christ was a man," Sunday declared. "When He stood in the presence of hypocrisy He bawled it out with a tongue that cut their thick hides like a lash.
"Jesus shot His preaching into the biggest guns of the synagogue of His day. When you read what He said in the Bible you read it in a sanctimonious tone that takes all the fire out of it.
"There's a lesson for the preachers in the way He preached. He said, 'Oh you scribes of Pharisees! You lobsters, you false alarms, you folly-flushers, you excess baggage, you vipers! You are little white sepulchers, all nice without but all rottenness and dead men's bones within. You're a fine bunch of guys! You rob the widows and the orphans and the whole bunch of you ought to be in jail.'
"That's the way Jesus preached, declared Sunday, shooting out his clenched fist over teh audience. "Don't you think He was a sissy, because some old granny of a religious pussy-foot told you He was. He was a man, every inch of Him, and you will recall how He stood with dauntless face when the mob crowned Him with thorns and spat in His face."
In spite of the rain, which fell continuously through the evening, 16,000 persons attended the night services. There were several hundred members of the Association of Post Office Employees and about 4,000 members of the Patriotic and Protective Order of Stags. Other delegations were from the Cochrane Packing Company, Social Outlook Club, Gillpatrick's laundry and the St. James hotel.
The Stags brought a brass band, which formed near the platform and played "Brighten Up the Corner" and other hymns.
"I am glad to welcome you Stags. I understand that you have the only club in town that won't allow a bar in your club house. I hope you will establish a second, too, in all coming to Christ at this meeting."
"We will!" shouted a member. And when the invitation was extended, 100 members of the Stags marched down the aisles.
