The Savannah morning news., 1901-05-29
A MAN MUST CHOOSE
LIFE OF GOOD on EVIL A MATTER
OF VOLITION.
JONES WILL SPEAK TO WOMEN.
SERVICE THIS AFTERNOON WILL
AVG EXCLUSIVELY FOR THEM

Tn hrs-w acle From Being fIiled.
The ~, mon without Sensational
Ynofd.,ss and With bat Little of tn e
Manneria and Character
Touche. a the Speaker 10 Dis
t;r.,uf.h II. "A Mans Life n Matter
AZ His own Choicc-What He Does
I. the Thing That Counts.
There were no :, nsational features and
bat few OF the spa ches that the public
has come 10 regard as Pecliarly charac-
7erjsrtc Of Rev. sam Aones in the sermon
the evangelist delivered in the Park Tab
ernacie last night. In essence and treat
r1ent il was a strong invocation TO right
thinking and right living.
1t had been raining, and raining
hard and fast, for an hour before
the crowds began TO assemble at the Tab
ernacle. and while the rain kept many
away. il still did not interfere very ma
terialIy either with the size or the com
position OF the audience. 1t filled the
Tabernacle almost COMP etely. and 1t COM
prised men. women and children. IT any
thing. the women were present in larger
proportion than is usual, Notwithstanding
the rain continued to fall in torrents.
The song service was concluded with
a duet by Messrs. Tillman and Ramsey
who sang one OF the favorites that have
caught the fancy of the tabernacle con-
sregations. The Broken Pinion.''
Mr. Jones began his sermon with the
announcements for to-day and tomorrow.
This afternoon at o'clock. he an
nounced, he will speak to the women Of
Savannah. the mothers wives and daugh-
tiers OF the city. Il shall expect the pas
tors who have assisted me in these ser
vices and the newspaper reporters to be
present, but otherwise l expect 10 ad-
dress an audience exclusively of women
OF course, l would not say anything to
an audience of women l would not say
were their fathers and husbands present,
but somtimes it does good TO huddle you
sisters up together and tell you some plain
facts
"Of course, this is not customary in Sa-
vannah, but l am not running after Sa-
vannah customs. l am not here to follow
the Savannah fashion, but TO set the
fashion of Savannah. I am glad to wei
come this great congregation tonight 1t
betokens an interest that is overwheim-
ing"
The preachers text was from the Book
of Joshua and the sermon proper begun
with scme illusions 10 the gifts of the
Almighty that had been showered during
his lifetime on Joshuas head. when we
read the book" said Mr.. Jones, we are
kept wondering constantly at the con-
tinued instances Of Gods favor shown 10
Joshua and marvelling if ever man had
been 50 favored and so blessed. We read
on end on, and instances Of Gods mercy
are multiplied and His favors increased.
And stih DOT a word OF thanks from
Joshua, not an expressing Of gratitude
We come to think he is an ingrate-the
most ungrateful man who ever lived. We
reach the last chapter and nearly the last
verse Of the book before Joshua opens his
mouth to voice such expression, but
when he did open his mouth he said
something. / wish everybody was that
way"
The text was from Joshua, xxiv:l5:
Choose We this day whom We will serve;
but as for me and my house. we will serve
the Lord
There is a ring Of manhood and indie
pendaace in the text that l admire said
the evangelist. Give me an independent
man a man who is not afraid to follow
what his own corRcience tells him is the
right The thing that is hurting old Sa-
vannah to-day is that the spirit of pure
manhoC1 and independence is dying out.
and you do what others do.
You go with the crowd and when in
Savannah you do as Savannah does
When you are in church in the morning,
you follow the church fashion, and when
YOU are at the Yacht Club in the after
noon you follow the Yacht Club fashion.
You are sheep or goat, according 40 the
company you hapen to be keeping
Give me a man who dares do what he
knows to be his duty. no matter what
others say or what others do. Give me
the man who says that. If there are only
twelve men In Savannah who will follow
the path of duty and of right, l wills be
one of che twelve; If there are only six
men in Savannah who will do this, / will
be one Of the six; If there is only one
by the grace and help of God, l will be
that one. 1t has come to be the best
possible excuse for man to say, Why
everybody does that
Say what you think yourself, bud
I've read OF a roguish fellow who adver'
tised his willingness to teach the priu
ciples of oratory in a single lesson 20 any
man who would send him five dollars
Some people sent him the money and re
ceved in reply a slip of paper. bearing the
following directions: First. get some
thing to say; second. say it; third si
down" There was a good, loud laugh
at this and the speaker added:
well you know that's sense and it,
worth more than five dollars to some
preachers ! know. l mean some Soutl
Carolina preachers" he amended.
Don't you 20 around doing things jus
because they're customary. 1t amt nee
essary. It's customary to drink whisk!
a. Savannah. but I've been here some tim
and ] amt drunk any. And | amt COINS
10, either. It's customary to cuss, bu
haven't cussed / won't do it; l won
follow any of your customs.
There amt but two Savannah Gus
toms that I'm going to follow and they
eating and sleeping. I've got to eat anC
always sleep whenever l can find any
thing to roost on
Mr.. Jones turned again upon the club
of the city, which he denounced as no
better than saloons. The only difference
between them, he said. was that in ont
a man had to stand up and get his owl
drink and in the other he sat down in
handsome leather-cushioned chair ant
had Il brought to him.
IF you've got money you can get n
any Of them, and money is all that vol
need. As I've said before, the real diff
ference between the dude and the bum Il
matter OF clothes and perfume
with one they are imported and with thu
Nf4fi II