The Detroit times., 1911-01-10
SOCIAL WITHOUT
CHRIST IS HE'LL
MELVIN TRoTTER.
Grand Rapids Mission Worker Gives
Rapid-Fire Talk Before Members
of Pastors Union.
MELVIN TRoTTER.

institution. emphatically stated Mel
vim Trotter, OF Grand Rapids, Mich,
famous rescue mission worker, in a
rapld-hrt talk before the Pastors
union IN the Y. NJ. c. A. auditorium,
Monday morning. IL was an Osborn
esque address. inasmuch as Mr.. Trot.
ter talks With all the haste and i'm
pressiyeness OF Michigan's new chief
executive. The governor has been
termed human dynamo. and the
same term can appropriately be APP
piled TO Mr.. Trotter.
Mr.. Trotters address was an ex-,
position of the practical side. OF Har-
old Bigbies book, Twice Born Men"
The other side, the theoretical, was
presented by the Rev. A. II. Barr,
pastor OF the Jefferson-aye. Presby-
terian church.
Mr.. Trotter made IL clear to his
hearers that he was convinced they
should take Jesus into all their un-
dertakings. be they socials, prayer
meetings or any other kind of gath
ering.
Companion with Jesus at all times"
he said. Take Him with you wher-
ever you go. | travelled $4,000 miles
on the cars last year-on the cars,
said used TO travel under them.
have 80 rescue missions in the Uii-
ted States and IL requires some work
and travel 10 look after them, | can
tell you. | have saved some good
people, too. as we'll as the real bad
ones. In Grand Rapids | now have
some fine converts, men who hold re-
al nCfh lao,
big salaries. But | want TO tell you,
dear friends, that | never feel that
drunkard is saved as long as he uses
tobacco. II fellow quits whisky and
continues the use of tobacco. It is
quite likely he will go back to liquor
within five years. Tobacco and whis-
ky are sisters-in-law; if you marry
one. the other will come and stay all
night with you. Every drunkard in
the world uses tobacco, but every to-
bacco user doesn't drink whisky,
thank God. And | say to men who
use tobacco, II they can do their fell
low men any good by quitting the use
OF tobacco, thereby setting good ex-
ample, by all means let them quit it,
Mr.. Trotter gave a most pathetic
recital of his own conversion. He
related that he was a drunkard for
a number of years up to Ia years ago,
when he was saved in a Chicago mis-
sion while SO intoxicated that he was
suffering from the delirium tremens.
He recounted how, in Grand Rapids,
he led a drunkard's life. causing his
good wife many q heartache. One
night he came home and found MS
wife. suffering for want OF fuel and
food, carrying her dead baby in her
arms. On that occasion. placing his
hand on the dead chiId's head he
vowed he would never drink again.
But he was drunk again before the
funeral was over, he regretted TO
say.
His drinking habits continued nm
I'll he finally drifted TO Chicago. Here
he was thrown out of a saloon in a
drunken condition and, in despera
ton, resolved to commit suicide by
jumping into the lake. Instead OF
going to the lake his steps wore
turned towards the mission, in which
his conversion followed. At the time
Of his conversion he said he had a
vision of God, and he prayed for
strength to help him reform. That
kind OF revelation was what some
preachers needed. Were they to gel
il they would not be so much wor-
ried- about things dogmatic. More
prayer was needed for them to get
the divine vision, he said.
Mr.. Trotter said he worked as
barber in the winter time before his
oonv ersion and followed the races IN
Al. a.
and he was still fond OF them. He
knew almost every decent horse in
Grand Rapids and he could generally
tell a man by the kind OF horse he
owned.
Speaking of presentday methods OF
evangelism, Mr.. Trotter said the
clergymen were trying 10 be too prac-
teal
God doesn't love sin. but He loves
a sinner" said Mr.. Trotter in this
connection. IF you say that God
doesn't love a sinner, then you're a
liar. Ii was in that Chicago mission
that | heard about Jesus. The man
who led me to Jesus was a friend Of
mine--an lrishman, with a face SO
long that he could eat oatmeal out OF
a churn. But this man told me Jesus
loved me-the first time ! had ever
known that He loved sinner. And
| tell you. friends, | was glad 10
know that. There is not a man in
the world today who is drunkard
because he wants 10 be. | was a
drunkard because ! couldn't stay sob
er. My wife finally told me not to
come home when | was drunk, be.
cause she didn't want the baby TO
see me i'm that condition. | tried to
sober up. for realized that ! had a
drunkard's home. which is the next
thing to hell | finally tried the gold
cure. but It did no good, and I'm glad
1t didn't, for | might have just gone
through the rest of my life without
having the chance 10 save others. My
conversion. in the Chicago mission
gave me vision shall never forget
"a vision which has enabled me to
reform other drunkards. My CONVEX
sion also took the hog out of my
heart. The hog is the craving for
drink. II there is no hog in your
heart you will require no swill."
The Rev. A H. Barr, in presenting
the theoretical side CT Mr.. Bigbie's
book. said in part:
First OF all, the book places the
unqualified Endorsement OF the scien-
life investigator on certain concll.
sions long ago drawn by many whose
conthct with the suffering. sorrow