St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-06-27
SAM ZONES,

Theirs is no name more familiar to the
American people to-day than that of the
strange young Southern evangelist who
has been conducting the services at Red
Rock camp ground during the past week.
He has been talked about in the press, in
the pulpitS and by the firesde for the last
two years, until there il scarcely mall,
woman or child in the whole country VIII,
has not heard of SAM JOKES. Criticisms
concerning the man and his work have
vailed. There has BEEN & great deal of
good said of him, and some things
that were not so good. Now that
he has been here and his preaching has
been listened to by thousands, the people
of st. Paul can form their own estimate of
the evangelist. SAM ZONES is not the first
preacher who has created a sensation in this
country. We have had our BEECHERs and
TALMAGEs and HARRIsoNs and MooDYs,
and yet SAM JONES differs from them AL.
He discards all ordinary pulpit methods.
He is careful to impress his au-
dienceS with the fact that he is
not an educated man. He makes no pre-
tensions to high intellectual gifts, and vet
he attracts audiences that 10 other preacher
can attract and sways multitudes that no
other pulpit orator can move. Why is it
that this little sallow-faced Georgian. as he
calls himself, eXerts such an influence, and
what is the secret of his power? Already
the inquiry has been made and is being dis
cussed by theologans of eminence: Is SAM
JONES an incident, or does he mark
an epoch? If the SAM JONES style
is the symptom of an epoch near
at hand the new age will be
one of earnest. practical preaching,
the center of Which will be this life and its
duties. The secret of SAM JONES' power
and popularity is no secret, after all. He
talks directly to the conscience Of every
man in language so plain as to admit of no
misunderstanding. 1t is because he
breaches the human side of the gospel that
human beings go to hear him preach it.
The crowds who attend his services do not
behold reed shaken by the wind, but they
listen in rapt attention to man like unto
themselves made eloquent by the
message he has to deliver. His
preaching is alive with the glow
of personal magnetism. He may
toIh W Ills duulence Ill slang, yet IN every
slang word or expression there is homely
truth bundled up, which the nearer takes
home to ponder over. While his slang
may read vulgar it does not sound so to the
listener. There is an earnestness about the
evangelist's style of preaching which amply
cOmpensateS for the lack Of rhetorical fin
ish. No man, whether saint or sinner,
ever heard SAM JONES preach who did not
feel benefited. The heaven that he breaches
OF IS not some far away place that wor-
rieS the imagination to locate, but
IS ''heaven here in Minnesota"
He tells them to recognize good
ness wherever it is found. whether in the
church or outside of it, as from God. He
doesn't bother his head about heavenly
recognition. 1t is earthly recognition that
he longs for. He teaches doctrine that it
is more Christ-like to stop at home to rock
the baby's cradle and relieve poor worm
out wife than it is to lead a prayer meeting
at the expense of wife and baby. That is
the kind of Gospel seed which when scat
tered broadcast finds lodgment in receptive
hearts. That is why the multitudes flock
to hear SAM JONES. The lesson of his I'M
varying popularity might be studied profit
ably by preachers and teachers who wonder
why it is that he moves the multitudes so
nightly.