The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-05-24
GAVE THEM GOSPEL
SAM JONES EXPORTED HIS HEAR
ERs NOT TO WAIT TO BE SAVED.
GOD SHOULD BE THEIR HOPE.
HIS SERMON DROUGHT MANY FOR
WARD WHO GAVE THEIR NAMES.

Not of God Give for Not Joining
the Cburch-ToOk His Place With
Those Making Excuse and Consid-
cred the Questions From Their
Point of View-Time to Consider,
waiting for the Church to Get
Right and Complaint of Not Being
FIT Given ms Some of the Excuses
Onered.
The results for which the ministers
have been praying were apparent after
the meeting at the Tabernacle last night.
Evangelist Jones called for penbents, and
they came forward in throngs. They
were asked to shake hands with the min
listers who would take their names and
addresses and look them up later, to az
ford them what spiritual help and con-
ISOLATION they might.
Mr.. Jones told the penitents that they
were not joining the church by giving
in their names. 1t was merely to afford
the ministers an opportunity to meet any
who We're touched, and who might be In
huenced by them. For nearly haf an
hour, the ministers were kept busy TAX
ing the names, and the choir led alter
nately by Mr. Tinman and Mr.. Ramsay.
sang hymns that were not without effect
upon those who were seeking courage
to act upon the impulse that had come
into their hearts through attention to the
words of the evangelist.
After the service, Mr.. Jones was asked
when ne would conclude his services in
Savannah. He replied that he expects to
finish day after tomorrow night. That
was the limit originally set for the meet
ings, and Mr.. Jones said that there has
been no change in his plans.
The evangelist's sermon was straight
Gospel. 1t was without frills. Earnest
touching and practical, it went deep into
the hearts of his hearers, as was
evinced by the numbers that sought to
grasp his hand after the sermon and give
their names to the ministers. One
brother, with tears in his eyes and a
tremor in his voice, found Mr. Jones, s,f-
ter others had ceased TO press about him.
and told him that he wanted to take his
hand, he had heard so much about
him. Brother Jones'" he said, II want
to thank you for that sermon. II did me
good. 1 drove in with my little sister
here from my home. sixteen miles in the
country, just to hear you preach. 1 am
glad l came"
Comparatively little Of the temporal
tinge could be seen in the sermon Mr.
Jones probably kept as remote from To-
cal references and scsthing denunciations
of the administration of the affairs of Sa-
vannah, the gambling and other excuses,
as he had in any of has talks in Savan-
nah. He invited the patient hearing of
the congregation. which filled the Taber-
nacle, urging the people to determine in
their hearts that they would be religious,
for religion cannot come until one has
determined to get it.
What wait I for? my hope is in Cod
was the text. What the evangelist
asked in view of all the surroundings, do
men wait for? That is the question"
And the preacher considered it from the
point of view of those propounding the
question to themselves, becoming one of
them and seeking, with them, to formulate
answers to considerations that hold them
back from acknowledgment of God
" I'm waiting for time to consider
some of you will say" said Mr. Jones.
L don't want to be hurried into as
great a thing as this. l don't want to
rush into it and then have a great deal
of time on my hands to repent What
do you want more time to consider?
Whether it is better to do right than
wrong, to be good than bad, to go to
hell than to heaven? Some of you settled
this question ten, twenty and even forty
years ago. A sensible man ought to have
considered and settled ii before he was
ten years old. The Lord says the first
h i
Kingdom OF God. You can talk about
waiting until tomorrow. Did you ever
see tomorrow? No. and you never will.
You can see to-day and you can look
back on yesterday. You can't see to-
morrow, though. Neighbor, you don't
want any time What you want is to git
move on you. You want to git down
on your knees in this sawdust and Say
! God have mercy on me, a sinner, that's
what you want to do and stop goin'
round here talkin' about wantin' time"
Here comes a man talking to me about
wanting to wait until the church gifts
| right. oh, no. he don't want to mix up
with that gang that's in the church. No.
! sir; too many hypocrites in there for him.
| He wants the church to be what IL ought
TO be before he has anything 10 do with
| Il. Can't get him to mixing up with peo-
| pie like there are in the church. I'll tell
| you what old fellow, you'll be in he'll a
| million years before that happens. Don't
YOU sit down and wait for the church to
get right. Yours is just the sort of gang
| that furnishes those same hypocrites, too.
| There amt one of these sorry members
| of the church in Savannah that didn't
| come out of your gang. You can have
them back whenever you want them. TOO.
Now amt that a nice fix for you to
be in-waitin' for the church 20 git right.
You let them hypocrtes git in your way,
do you? Well, I'm sorry for that. If
they git in your way they git ahead OF
| you, for nobody can git in your way be-
! hind you. There you are, behind the hyp-
| ocrites While you stay out with that song
of yours about waitin' for the church to
| git right.
"Sifted down, the whole things this:
Every mans under obligations TO do
right church or no church. There was a
| hypocrite even among the apostles and
| II there's one in your church, Brother
Nisbet. you are only in the apostolic sue
cession. We've got more of that sort OF
| apostolic succession than any other. for
| you can count upon about one out Of
| every twelve OF the church members be-
| ing hypocrites Waitin' for the church
| to get right. God has called on
all TO work in His vineyard and. some
cussin' and some drinkin'. you are sitting
up on the fence you old sinners. you; and
you won't get down and take your hoe