Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1885-06-18
SAM JONES, THE REvIyALJST.
EOm Sermons of the
preacher who is Stirring
Up Georgia,

| -: iAiSS before beginning his cam
palgn IN that city he paid preliminary
WISH to Nashville, and his two sermons
were rather disappointing, causing savage
crltlclsm and comment on the roughness
Oh ms language. Some of the clergvmen
openly denounced him. His friends.
however, went ahead with their work
and 1t was decided to hold a revival
FOR TINS purpose nearly 81 900 was raised
the contributions coming mostly from
business men. He was engaged for
twenty days, thirteen of which he filled
| hoIdlng the three services day.
From hive to ten thousand have heard
MN at each service. Many well-known
men, given up as hopeless cases. have
been converted. Leading gamblers have
avowed their intention of never again
touching card, and of becomincg church
members. Leading business men have
oeen most earnest in aiding his work.
committees have waited on him and
urged his acceptance of checks of $500
and 81 900, all Of which he refused, saw
ing that the good he does is all the re-
ward he wants. One Jealous convert
has rendered him lot, and the money
is ready for building him a house if he
will consent to remain there
Mr.. Jones was born in the town of
Gainesville, Ca, in the year 1849. His
grandfather was Methodist preacher,
as were also several of his uncles, promi-
nent among them being Col. Robert H.
Jones, who, after valiant services as a
soldier, entered the ministry. and is now
member of the North Georgia
Conference.
Samuel received a good academic edu-
cation, and besides was a studious reader.
Early in life he displayed preference
for the legal profession, which he adopted,
and in the courts of his native county
practiced some three years, and was
looked upon as A. very successful and
rising member of the Bar. During
his early life, and while practicing
in the courts, his life was far from ex-
emplary, and he was addicted to several
bad traits. The death of his father in
1870 awakened within him sense of his
religious duties, and shortly afterward,
under the ministration OF General
Clement A. Evans, the renowned
Georgia preacher, who was at that time
conducting protracted meeting near
the Jones homestead, the wicked young
man was converted and joined the
church
His first evangelistic work outside of
his native State was in the year 1881, and
the scene of his labor was in the State of
Alabama. He then at different periods
visited the States of Florida, Mississippi,
Kentucky, Texas, Tennessee, South Car
DINA and New York. In the city of
Brooklyn, in January of the present year,
he held a four weeks meeting in
| Talmage's church. The doctor has fire.
quently since stated that it was the most
successful ever held in his church, and
the immediate result was 1873 accessions
to his own membership, besides a large
number added to other congregations.
This preachers style when preaching
to the sinners of Tennessee is particularly
rugged and forcible. He appears to have
/ the courage of his convictions. He is
not afraid to attack vice in high places.
He speaks like man who believes he is
divinely commissioned to war against sin
wherever found. Wealth, power, influ-
ence, reputation and the customs of So
ciety have no terrors for him. He de-
nounces the most popular institutions OF
! the land if he believes those institutions
are at war with Christianity. He re-
! Dukes the actions of men that are not in
accord with his ideas of Christian duty.
4 moral man without the graces of the
! Christian religion is his abomination.
! These he regards as stumbling blocks in
the path of religion. In his sermons he
declares that he was gambler, a drunk
ard, and the worst of men until his con-
version twelve years ago. Among the
Jest known of his converts is General
/ William H. Jackson, proprietor of Bell
| Mead stock farm, the home of Bonnie
! Scotland, Luke Blackburn, Great Tom
and other racers.
The following sentences from his SER
mons, as reported in the Nashville news
papers, show what manner of preacher
| he is:
"Well," says man, 81 gamble,
drink, 1 swear, or this or the other, and l
can't give it up" tell you | have been
along there and know, and / tell you l
would rather do anything than be
damned. A man said to me: 81 couldn't
do ANYTHING because l had such an awful
temper" | said 81 had rather have a
bad temper in heaven than good one IN
hell" One fellow says: 81 will never
swear again" You black-mouthed rascal,
what right had you ever to swear?
There are men in this town who have
whisky on hand and say they would get
rid of it if they only knew how. tell you
would rather empty $4,000 worth OF
whisky in the Cumberland river than be
in he'll with the barrels sitting around
me.
Another fellow says: 81 am going to
quit drinking" God bless you, you ought
never to have drank at all. And you
ought to have 900 lashes for the way you
have treated your wife about it.
Another says: 81 am never going to
dance any more" You ought never to
have begun. Nobody ever will begin un-
less they are light-headed. That's my
judgment.
Thank God, any of us can turn tonight,
but would not be any mans security
that he can turn tomorrow. The best
thing a man can do is to say, " here, !
many a fellow with a whitewash brush
trying to clean up little before he goes ICES
TO God. There are many men IN this
town who think that their nelghbors 90
Il 1innnfInIlC