Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-11-20
DR.. Dickinson on Sam Jones.
from the Lynchburg News.1

DR.. Dickinson on Sam Jones.
From the Lynchburg News.1
Rev. DR.. A. E. Dickinson, of the Re
Hgious Herald, has come up from Rich
mond to attend Mr.. Jones' meetings. Whel
asked his opinion yesterday of the great re
Ivivalist DR. Dickinson replied
II have known him for years and at
TENDED meetings held by him in half g
dozen cities and am prepared to say thai
he is one of the worlds great wonders
The reports in the Meas of his sermons and
sayings are very good; but Jones is the
hardest man to report that have ever
worked upon. One may report paragraphs
from him perfectly correctly and Jet make
a perfectly incorrect impression of the
spirit and aim of the preacher Before
saying harsh thing he brings you up to
it in a way that leads you to feel that
nothing can be more fit and appropriate
than the thing which, taken out of its con-
nectio2, seems an improper thing to he
said b any one. And it ought to be re.
membered too that he says these odd and
harsh things simply to draw the great out
lying multitude, who but for such methods
might never be drawn under religious in
flueEces. He makes men laugh that he
may make them cry-makes them mad
that he may make them glad. Ali of the
worlds great apostles do that. Spurgeou
d ,es it and has been doing it from the first
of his ministry. Fl. M. Wharton, who Is
nearer the equal of Sam Jones than any
other revivalist in America, does it. Whit
field held his vast audiences in the same
way. By the way, believe that one hun
dred years TO come Sam Jones will be rated
as far ahead of Whitfield. He will live in
history and tower up like some great
Alpine peak long after the men who have
tried to down him are forgotten. He is a
God-called man as much so as was Martin
Luther or was John Wesley or Adoniram
fully as they did theirs. Of course he
makes blunders Just as we'll as the rest of
us do the man who makes no mistakes 10
the dead man. But his work has stood the
test of time and it will stand until the end
of time and beyond that. He reaches
multitudes who but for him would not be
reached at all-he kindles the fire aud it
burns long after he passes on to another
field. Revivals all over Virginia will come
from this Lynchburg meeting. The reports
in your Neaos will be read and re-read and
do good. Your editorial in yesterdays
Neucs was one of the best have ever read
on this truly wonderful mau."
The following is the editorial article Of
the Lynchburg NeTs to which Rev. DR..
Dickinson refers -
SAM JONES.
The secular press, as general thing
perhaps, has less to do with the subject of
religion, 10 the Bible sense of that term,
than properly falls within its province
There are reasons for this that extenuate
the fault, if fault it be that measurably ex-
culpases the press from the charge of in
difference to the subject. The duty is gen.
orally recognized of preserving a decidedly
moral tone in the utterance of opinions or
sentiments that relate to religious matters.
This, however, must b5 done without a
tincture of fdenOminationalisn. The editor
must steer his course between Sylla and
Charybdis on doctrinal questions. 1t will
be perceived that the delicacies of the sit
uation will always dictate either entire si-
lenoe or great caution in referring to
strictly religious matters. just now there
is plausible pretext, if not valid reason,
in Justification of q departure from prevail
jones, at the time of this present writing,
is conducting religious Meeting in this
city, under the ausplces and conduct of the
Young Mems Christian Association. -
Crowds of our citizens, of all classes and
grades of society, by the thousands are
hocking to these meetings three times a
day. The absorbing topic of conversation
at the street corners, in business houses.
and everywhere relates to Sam Jones and
his meetings. Our local columns furnish
our readers with al account of the sermons
aud material incidents connected with the
services from day to day, 1t would be a
difficult task to furnish mere reader with
Just and rounded apprehension of the
power of Sam Jones as preacher. He is
uniune. He has no model in the books, in
the pulpit, or on the hustiDgs as public
speaker. His style is bis own. There 10
nothing lire it in literature. Nor can any
one, by verbal representation, convey to d
party who has not heard him any adequate
conception of what he says, and the i'm
preston he makes on his hearers. His
words may be reproduced, and yet they do
not have the significance we attach to them
when uttered by this nondescript, in his
public discours.s. Sam Jones must be
heard and seen on the platform to get the
import and significance of what he says
He is reckless at times of the elegances of
rhetoric, and the coilocation of his senten-
ces. Things not tolerated by some in
reading his sermons, as reported, are the
things, in part at least, that rivet attention,
and produce the most lasting impression
when heard from his lips. No one, how
ever free from the bias Of popular prejudice,
can form any juss estimate of Sam Jones
without hearing him more than once. He
is strictly SUI generis. There is no one like
him. BIS satire is keen; his humor is broad
and abundant. He is fertile in illustration.
Sometimes little coarse, it may be to
fastidious bearers, but always to the point.
He takes mis- hearers by surprise in the ap
positeuess of his illustrations. One cannot,
by possibility, anticipate him. Withal, he
is teuder even in the use of the surgeons
knife, when dssecting moral character
Passages of pathetic beauty and tenderness
iDterlard his most pungent sermons. He is
a curious compound, the like of which can
not be duplicated. That be is intensely in
earnest in bis preaching no one can doubt.
Then, he is fearless. He speaks what be
believes irrespective OF Consequences.
Worldiness in the ehuIch. and prevailing
wickedness among men aud women in
every department of society, he assails
with intrepid daring and merciess denuncl-
alton. That ne excites recruitment and in
vokes criticism is naturally to be expected.
And yet the consciences of his hearers are
on his side. It is not 10 our province to
speak of his doctrines. These we leave to
the learned clergy, but SO far as his
structures on public morals and bis caustic
fl ,gellations of worldly and inconsistent
church members are concerned we do not
hesitate to express our unqualified approval
and commendatioo. Sam Jones is the most
versatile, practical, common sense man
now before the public in this country. We
very m 1ch doubt if the like of him Is in the
world. He is regularly ordained minis
ter in the Methodist Episcopal Church,
South, and an honored member of the
North Georgia Conference, to which he is
held amenable for his doctrine and good
conduct in an annual examination of
character. Year after year be receives an
Endorsement Of his ministerial character,
aud receives his appointment as agent of
the Georgia Orphans Home. He cannot
r, in, q Of fha Iio ba