Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1891-07-17
Two Criticisms on Sam Jones
MADE FROM DIFFERENT STAND POINTS OF
OBsNRYATIoN.
w. Il. Gregory of Augusta CoHnty.l

Nv. L. Gregory of Augusta CoHnty.l
| The Rev. Sam Jones has come and gone
That there decidedly Objectionable fea-
lures about the man, goes without saying.
| No wise man proposes to swallow him
| whole" as he would put it.
The only sensible query is: what as q
trisote is the outcome OF his work? ''
| do not hesitate to say that it is great and
| permanent influence for good.
| 1t is an easy task to harp on the objection
able features and to minimize or ignore every
thing else. Fortunately the animus of that
style of criticism is so transparent that its in
| iluence is confined to those who are in SVmDa-
| thy with it.
Every person of large experience, knows
that the great danger to the church and to
society is not SO much i'll the outbreaking
evils we behold, as in the moral and spiritual
apathy that allows them to develop, and any
instrumentality that opens the eyes of the
community to this great fact and arouses the
general conscience to action, is a great and
lasting blessing. Better arouse a freezing
man from his stupor, even by a rough and
tumble fight, than allow him to sink into
ply steal death, and the same rule applies to
the moral and spiritual apathy around us.
MI. Jones is a man who cannot be measured
| by ordinary rules.
Even his Objectionable expressions sound
quite differently in cold type than when conf
Ing from his own lips. colored by his pc
culiar tone and manner; SO that no one is a
competent critic even of these till he has heard
him for himself. One thing is clear, 5e; that
the expressions in Which his criticisms of men
and things are conveyed, often 90 far beyond
| his real meaning, with the evident intention
of conveying the truth more fOrcibly to his
hearers. That this is the case, and that he
assumes that his hearers SO understand it, is
evident from his remarks upon the same per
SONS and subjects, at other times and Whcn he
i has a different object in view
Then, we get the measure of most men by
one or two hearings. But to form any correct
Judgment of Mr.. Jones, it is necessary to hear
HIM through whole series of sermons. While
there are many intellects more profound [ do
not know OF one OF so great versatility, OF SO
wide range OF powers.
Then, his logical powers are good and his
mental discipline exceptional. Perhaps
twenty times in the course of a sermon he
Will start off at a tangent, and run through a
variety of ubiects and style SO Dewildering,
that the average speaker would be all at sea
but without an apparent effort he will quiet
ty take up the thread of his thought exactly
where he left it, and proceed with his logical
line OF argument.
lie ranges from the drollest humor, the
) keenest wit, the most cutting sarcasm, the
1lercest lnvective, up to as noble and sublime
thoughts were ever uttered from the ulpit
OF the platform.
by Il flash of wit or humOr, Bit of sarcasm
OF short terse sentence, he makes some great
truth transparent and impresses it indellibly
upon the mind and heart. Asan illustration:
L don think that any one over seven or eight
years of age, who heard the sermon, will
ever he 0ble to forget what repentance is, and
what it is not.
1t all comes 50 naturally from his lips that
: the average nearer is apt to think it all a
very simple matter The Boston Port
Laws" had in the course OF years become so
complicated that they were a continual source
} OF legal squabbles bstweeA the lawyers and
the Judges. Daniel Webster took hold of
them and reduced them to such transparent
simplicity, that The school boy wondered
that it took a man to do it,
Let any one undertake i'll MI Jones style,
or in @ny otter style, to put in few words,
great truths as clearly and forcibly before the
minds of an audience, and he will be dismay-
ed at the size of his contract, and get a new
idea of the genius it requires to do it.
In speaking to large assemblies, MI. Jones
possesses the great advantage of an eXcep-
tionally clear and penetrating voice. The
latter quality is femarka bic. 1t seems to
reach with equal distinctness those near and
those at a great distance. Prof. Excel, his
has much heavier voiee, but in penetrating
power there is no comparison
Then, back Of ALL and giving effectiveness
TO all, Is the intense earncstneSS of the man.
throws lis whole soul into its delivery. If he
hits you, he hits hard there is no child's play
about it; it hurts and that is why some Of the
hit ones kick back so vigorously.
II Whole SOuled earneStncSS, backing such a
variety of gifts as Mr.. Jones possesses, will
i always command a large measure OF success.
) l think that the greatest and most perma-
nent results for good from MI Jones labors
cannot readily be seen OF measured. He has
impressed great moral and spiritual truths SO
clearly and powerfully upon the minds and
hearts of this whole community that they will
work like leaven, and, long after the dress
III which some of them were clothed is for
gotten, they Will be an uplifting force in tho
lives OF thousands.
If it We're possible, we should Of course pre-
fer TO have all this blessing quite apart from
any Objectionable features. But we all re
member the good deacon Mr. Jones tells of
who thought if the Objectionable features
were removed he would have SO much greater
blessing, and so prayed all night that the
Lord would remove them. Toward morning
he heard the Lord saving to him. eff [ shou Id
take away those things from Sam Jones he'd
be OF no more account than you are"
30, il there must be some briars and thorns
with the hay, let us, as Mr.. Jones says, III
Least be us sens5bLe as IN old cor Les US pick
out the hay from the briars, and thank the
Lord for sending us SO much good nourishng
4 food
! -HSAaIedroo&, Aagatsta, JuLy9M,
w. E. Christian in Basic City Advanced
This man has been holding big meetings at
Stanton. He has the grace of a snake. His
eye is as steady and as charming as a snakes
eye. lie has the velvet tread OF a panther and
| the plainneSS of an old shoe Last Sunday he
wore short-tailed, sheep colorca cassimer
sack coat. 1t looked like four-dollar coat,
1t did not cover tins s-ai Of his trousers. Ills
| trousers were ''kleea, and looked like they
had been slept in. They were haggard, and
! loated all over his shoes. Sans hair seemed
grnyish about the temples, and he was thin
ner and more worn-lnoking than when the
writer last saw him. There seemed to be fYe
thousand present the opening Sunday The
| Bodley Wagon Works had been equipped.
There was plain pine stand, on the scantling
I railing of which Sam sat and swung his legs
and pulled his dropping, thin, black, TUX