The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-03-13
SAM JONES SERMON.
The Kind of Talk He Is Giving the
Atlanta People.

! Il don't worry much about the mys-
teries of the Bible or Melchzledec's chill
dren or such things as that
THE hardest thing l ever found in The
| Bible was the ten commandments. They
are as plain as the hand before my face
but it's the steepest thing l ever tried TO
| climb TO come up with them.
| If understood all about the Bible, I'd
know that somebody that didn't have any
more sense than have wrote il.
| Il don't speak from theological, but
| logical standpoint. 1 never studied the
ology a moment in my life.
| If there's anything that makes me
sick it's little preacher fresh from
theological cemetery trying to preach a
sermon. I've seen them get up and split
a hair mile long on any subject that
| their congregation don't know anything
about
Now, I'm for common-sense preachers,
who preach salvation to mems souls.
If any of you here have attended a
theological seminary. why. L don't mean
to discount you, for II you had good sense
when you went there you may have got
out with It,
The word convert is from the Latin
| terms con and 'verto, turn altogether
| Now, used to think that every old sin
ner was in a wilderness of sin and that
| 1t would take him a week 10 find the road
| out. but I've found out now that when a
| mans converted all he has TO do is to
turn right about.
There Is but one road to heaven. It's
| straight one. Heavens at the other end
and the worlds at this
Nov, when a man wants to be con-
verified he mustn't just con- nor he
| mustn't just 'verto. He must 'converto'
turn altogether.
Now, you've had your back on heaven
and going hellward all your life.
do you want the illustration any plain
| er than that? Here's a man who has been
| drinking all his life. He is going to a sa-
| loon. lie is going to a saloon. He decides
| to quit. What must he do to be convert
ed? He must turn from liquor and join
temperance society, which is the anti
| podes of the saloon.
Its that way In everything. When you
| quit 'cussing,' you must go to prayer-meet-
/ ing, which is the antipodes of cursing, and
when you quit gambling you must turn
| to the Bible.
"A conversion isn't worth anything I'M
less IT double conversion A man must
be converted from something to some
| thing.
Some of you fellows are like the Dutch
man who came to me and said he was
| drinking himself to death, and he wanted
| to quit.
:" GO UP here and take the Keely cure
" oh, the devil he said. that would
| cure me altogether, and / want to quit
SO l can just drink three times a day.
There amt an old bum in this town
that doesn't wish he was a gentleman and
could take just three drinks a day, but
he can't do it,
But the fellow that takes three drinks
| and tries to act the gentleman is headed
| for where the bum is.
| Il like conversion that means quitting
one thing TO go to another. Take Fred
Wardes case. don't know whether he's
COL
religion here last year he went right
| straight to working for Christ and trying
to convert others.
why, the first week 1 got religion 1
| went to preaching.
You must leave one thing before Won
go to another. A fellow can't go to Ma
con from here unless he leaves Atlanta.
| He can't do it.
but when l see a fellow going through
| Griffin barefooted and hungry and 1 ask
| him where he is going and he says to
Macon then / know he's en- route and is
J forty-three miles on the way.
And when l see a man turn his back
square on sin then 1 know he's headed the
| right way.
THE way to heaven is as practical as
the way to Chattanooga from Atlanta. Je-
sus is the way.
where l got on the train. l walked under
the big grand central station called con-
vietion and got on the train.
The first station we reached was con-
version. 1t was such a beautiful place
that l thought 1 would like to stay there
always but the train pulled on out and on
to the next station called Brotherly Love.
From there we went to Obedience
The next place was Generosity. When
the porter stuck his head i'm the door and
yelled out the name of the station one
follow said; I've worked hard for what
| / h1 va nd 4 Avatf tK,so
The fellow jumped out of the window and
| broke his neck in three places
by the time we pulled in at the station
we could rec that the bones were ten
| feet deep on both sides where people had
jumped off. and when the train stopped
there We're only two people on the train
with me.
Il expect that that's the station where
most of this crowd jumped off, judging
| from the collections.
Il want to say, brethren, that I've
stuck to that old train, and, bless God, l
| hope some day to hear the signal for the
| pearly gates of heaven.
Il was converted from whisky to prohi-
| bltion-uncompromising prohibition
To think of the saloons being kept
| alive by members of the church
Il say it before God, there isn't a gem
tleman out of hell thatn go into a sa-
loon and take drink of whisky.
Il expect there are a thousand men
here tonight who do that, and who don't
like what say, but all you can do, young
man. IL to sit there in your seat and take
your medicine.
IF you don't like what say, why, I'll
tell you. Sam Jones said down at the
tabernacle, and he'll say IL to you any
where. I'll meet you at the corner of Ma
rietta and Peachtree streets in the morn
ing at o'clock and say it to your face,
or I'll meet you at Chamberlin & John
sons or Durants, or anywhere you want
me to go.
II say there isn't a man who'll pose as
gentleman and then go into saloon
and drink that isn't dirty, foul-mouth-
ed old hypocrlte.
Now, Bud, you're a pretty thing 10
be cracking yourself up to be a gentle
man. Why. Bud, you were never more
mistaken in your life than when you think
you're a gentleman.
III l had a man i'm my church who
would do like that, I'd turn the dirty,
lousy old rascal out.
why, you ANT At TO hang on the back