The Washington critic., 1885-07-20
SAM JONES SUCCESS.
The Peculiar Methods Of the Lat
est Southern Revlvalist.


A correspondent at Murfreesboro, Tenn,
writes aslollows to the Nashville Amcrjcdni.
| freely confess myself much less at
loss to make up my mind as to whether
Brother Jones is a great preacher than |
have been to determine whether Grant is
u great General. If he were not thor
oughly earnest and honest in his profess
sions he could not deceive not only the peo-
pie where he has preached abroad but
those at home who have known him (as
saint and sinner from infancy, as minis
ter for II or Is years. have just con-
resident of the county in which Carriers
vile (Jones' home) is situated. lie thinks
very much of this modern Jonah;
says every word is true of the story he
himself tells of his former revelry and
rapscallionism. That he drank, drank,
drank, and went down, down, down,
until he got to driving a dray for II
living. This may be true or not; if not,
| hope Brother Jones, in his next ref
erence TO the press, will candidly admit
| that not the newspapers, but the people,
are the champion liars of the age.
Newspapers are always honest, truth
| telling interpreters Indeed, they could
not be otherwise They reflect, just as n
mirror docs, that portion of the world
held before it, and if liars are abroad,
or lies, like lousy bats, encircle the air,
they must be represented in the faithful
news-gathcrcr Papers are invariably
truthful; it is you, sir and you, and you,
who are the liars.
No ordinary Georgia scrub could come
to Tennessee and take possession AS Brother
Jones has done. He is either the greatest
Tcnnessecans are the most consllmmate
asses living. So, indeed, are the Texans,
Mississippians and others, for he has
aroused the same excitement everywhere.
Colonel b. +. Lillard of this city pro-
nounces him the great pulpit commoner,
as Pitt Clay and johnson were the great
commoners of the political world. Picl;
out from the list of the converts the names
of the few "hardcncd sinners" at the head
of this letter. They are men of brains and
courage and convictions; men whom nc
ordinary breeze could move from any po
sition. Read his sermons. Are they not
for the most part, full of plain, practical
sense and theological orthodoxy? If the
Christians Bible is the foundation of hope
who could better testify to the common
people Tor the uncommon people, either
his faith in the divinity of the writer
word than when he says
81 believe the whale swallowed Jonah
believe it literally. ] only do not believe
that Jonah swallowed the whale simply
| . lao, ba Il Il
To the sinner who hesitates, who wait
for his feelings" to move him, who want
to "feel" that he is good enough to go be
fore he makes any change in his conduct
was there ever more homely or NOR,
convincing illustration presented than The
anecdotc of the man who sat down, axe il
hand ut the root of Il tree.one cold, frost,
morning, waiting for the sweat to breal
out before he went to work?
Brother Jones admits his natural weak
nesses. lie has the appearance of Il MAJ
of hasty and once violent temper.
must have been difficult at first to keep
lock upon his lips; he is no doubt Il man
brave, impulsivc, courageous-th he yer.
sort open to temptation. Was there eve
better illustration of one liable TO fall
yet determined to stand, than that mad
yesterday of himself?
~ don't care how often one err if he'll
honestly strive to restrain himself and re
cover his proper balance when he does err
: All along the way we meet with conflict
and temptations. When | stumble an,
fall, thank God | always fall like an lndi
rubber ball, | fall bouncing God vii
put his angels on half rations to keep a
honest man and his family from starving.
Withal, he reaches men of less impossi
BILE sympathes by mixing horse sense logi
with horse sense anecdotes and illustra
tons, for no one can more clearly establis
to the multitude his proposition that "re
ligion is a matter of principle and con
viction."
But the best answer to all his critics is I
point to results, What if Brother Jone
words are plain and blunt? What thong
he prefers to call the devil the devil rathc
than "his satanic eXcellency from tn
burned districtW Or likes unshirte
"help better than "sheop in purple and fin
linen? lie moves his hearers. lie hold
in his hand the assembled thousands, an
: whether he preach forty minutes or tw
hours they hang on, obedient to his will
Let results decide the issue.
---O----