Morning journal and courier., 1885-07-29
IN THE SOUTH.
The Religious Awakening in the SOuth-Sam JOnes-His ExtraOrdtna. ny Methods-Genuine Conversions- Ills Work In Nashville.

ny Methods-Genuine Conversions
 Ills Work in Nashville.
 NASHVILLE, Tenn, July IS. To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 may have referred in previous letters to the extraordinary religious quickening which ! has been witnessed in different parts of the South during the last few months. When I left Atlanta the city was 8 ferment of spirit ual excitement born of the national Y. M. o. A. convention, which was held there a number of weeks ago. I found summer re- vival services being held in the white church es of Montgomery, Ala, Memphis, Chatta- nooga and other principal cities just below Mason and Dixon's line. Qt seems strange to us, this southern custom of conducting revivals during the hot months of the year The religious awakening among the celored people has been no less pronounced, as revi- vals at Tallsdega, Tuskegee and Tongaloo at test. Indeed, the revival in Talladega lapsed because there was actually no more material to work upon.
 Now have come to Nashville to contem- plate the greatest religious movement of all, the late revival conducted by Rev. Sam Jones' Sam Jones is most remarkable pro- duct to come from the South. If he belonged to the North should almost expect him to
 join the Salvation army. It is hard to arrive at any definite conclusion touching the man.
 He is spiritual anomaly. Of course had
 read good deal about him before coming here, and felt as if I had rather satisfacto- " notion of the material out of which he is
 made through perusal of his sermons. But
 r Loa, ofh ic in
 vile the less settled is my estimate of the
 man. He is study. In the first place he
 is spiritual dictator. He foists his own
 convictions-and even his own judgments in
 matters of pure taste-upon the public with
 sThus saith the Lord" which startles you
 into something almost akin to acqu1eseence, even when your reason assures you that the
 dictum thus uttered is only the fallible opin. ion of the man Sam Jones. It cannot be de nied and doubtless will not even by his warmest friends, that Sam Jones is narrow and bigoted in the matter of religious views. But at the same time I think that even his foes will admit the terrible earnestness and sincerity of the man. It is this all-domina- ting sincerity of the man which enlists for him the cooperation of all classes, even the cultured and refned-yes, even those who find many of his peculiar notions decidedly offensive to them. If there are any who doubt Mr. Jones' sincerity they are perhaps
  the matter of grammar and other methods employed It is averred that he is not as l slangy and ungrammatical in ordinary con- versation as he is in the pulpit. Odious to
 me as is MT. Jones' pulpit style, I am obliged | to coneede the propriety and wisdom of his l methods as pursued in the special field in which he is called to labor. MT. Jones is | evidently "fisher of men," and no bungler 1 at the business either. This is not saying l that his methods would be wise or successful | in the North doubt if they would.
 It is we'll to take MT. Jones' own explana-
 ton of his literary style. He says: "l have 1 adopted the language of the people-the Ian guaee of the street, the office and the shop. l When a man means business he takes all the nigh cuts, even in his language, and so do l. I am always in 8 hurry" Certainly the | slang and even the buffoonery of this fear l less preacher are far more tolerable than the | vapid sentiment, the unnatural methods and
 the general namby- painbyism that character ize a great many city pulpits Yet preach,
 CT should be estimated by his usefulness.
 Measured by this standard, MT. Jones
 would command the respect and admiration
 of Christian people everywhere. It is esti
 mated that two thousand persons were con
 verted during his recent work in this city
 That these conversions have been in many
 instances radical and thorough am conf l dent I passed one of the leading grocerie!
 in town the other day and found that wher'
 sign boards were wont to hang advertising the proprietor's choice wines and liquor ! there is now only open space. Upon lnqulr. | I learned that the bar had actually been abol
 ished, thus cutting off large percentage O l the owners profit I am sure. I was tolt 1 that the man had been reached by one o Sam Jones' sermons, and after mature delib l eration he had sent a note to those conduct l ing the revival to the effect that he wished
 1 committee might be appointed which woult | take charge of his entire stock of liquors an' dispose of it as they thought best. I believ ' | the liquors were consigned to the mudd 7 Cumberland river have learned of seve ral other saloonists who have permanentl abandoned lucrative business on account o } their convictions, and of one or two sportln
 1 men who have completely changed thei , manner of life in view of MT. Jones' minis
 trations.
 This Nashville revival was very remarks 1 ble on many accounts, and l marvel tha ) more detailed reports of it have not foun their way into the columns of the norther press It was during the progress of thi
 great work that Sam Jones won his chief It nown. Up to that time he had figured COT
 | spicuously in religious movements at Men 7 l phis and in some of the second rate cities ( : the South. Necessarily his slangy, senss r tional style would attract attention. But l l no place had he scored such hit as he ws = destined to make here. His converslo
 dates back to '72 or thereabouts, when f. l was a Georgia lawyer some twenty-five yea a | of ape When converted he promptly to f | sock the bar in both senses of the work fc d he had been addicted to the liquor hab1t) an a entered the Methodist ministry. His succes . locally made him in demand for revivals, an D the demands thus made upon him soon col IT stunned such large amount of his time tn | he gave up his special charge and became
 professional evangelist. Coming to Mas ;, vile, he preached with marked success for ' few times in one of the leading city churc ' es. Then he left town, saying that the fac e ities were not equal to the important wo 'S which he saw opening up before him, al that if the Christian people of Nashv1l wanted him to labor there they must provl = some very large auditorium and give him fl u I sweep, Up to this time there had been on l bitterest hostility for him on account ot Q reputation The State Gazette had printed t
 following paragraph, which accurately voic
 the almost universal prejudice against hi1
 ssThe notorious Sam Jones boldly proclail !. | that there is not real Christian in this ci
 (Nashville) of 10000 inhabitants. We su
 pose the modest and immaculate Sam Jor
 is now the only Christian in that place, 'o the venerable Barbee, the classic Stricklan er nor the eloquent Witherspoon dared to co to tradict that audacious assertion. Even of ready Fitzgerald, always a Christian adv or cate, consents by silence to this imputati to l upon the fair fame of our capital city" ae none the l6SS Q1O the VeuerdUle DdfOoe, y. classic Strickland, the eloquent Witherspo a and the ready Fitzgerald' rally to the St i- port of 'sthe notorious Sam Jones'" securi of from him during his absence a tent u y, would hold 5000 people, for which the bu
 ness men of Nashville subscribed $1 800, a oy gracing the platform at every one of his sr r's sequent meetings. Moreover, they cri ,e, samen" enthusiastically every time MT. Jol ,s- turned around and told them to. They ey ed cried "amen!" when he abused them m id vigorously. This was remarkable feat' ng of the work here,-that even the most dai1 ,le divines of the city cooperated in it, the WI tie they must have found many features O he that were distasteful to them personally. he The policy which so won all hearts V inc one of fearless hostility. MT. Jones anta
 nized almost everybody in some way on another. He naturally deferred to the popu mt sentiment on the race question, setting ap to separate portion of the tent for colo ms people, and fixing the line of demarcation or rope. It was inability to submit to s1 he an arrangement without protest which of kept MT. Moody away from the South in ere past. Yet MT. Jones preached special les mons to the colored people, and is even las record as having once invited inquirers if ward with the remark: ''You've got to mir led promiscuously some day in one future we uld or the other; and you might as well be ep- now and here. So come up front all toge ent er." This was rather rare proceeding, h