The Golden age. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1906-1915, October 25, 1906, Page 7, Image 7
A Conquerer and His Conquest.
(Continued from page 2.)
Therefore we believe that he would approve all
of the sunshine that can be scattered through this
hour of memorial. “ Brother Jones, how is it that
your hair is so much grayer than your mustache?”
asked a -good woman at Cartersville. “Why, my
sister,” he quickly replied, “that is easy enough
to explain; my hair is twenty years older than my
mustache.”
The Dynamite Road to Heaven.
During the great fight against bar rooms in At
lanta years ago, Sam Jones learned that some sa
loon men had threatened him with bodily violence
—possibly a bomb or dynamite. “All right,” said
he in one of his speeches, “let them blow me up if
they want to. I will be in heaven before the sound
dies out.”
And thus he was always ready, catching the
multitudes with his wonderful wit and then pour
ing into their hearts the truth of God.
And if he could speak we are sure he would say,
“Let these gay decorations for Dr. Broughton’s
home-coming remain—let the garlands hang, let
the flowers bloom—let gladness and triumph be
the dominant notes above the funeral dirge and
the anthems of sorrow!”
And let it be understood that while all hearts
who loved and honored Sam Jones have been in
vited today to mingle their flowers upon his sacred
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bier, this memorial does not intend, in the wideness
of its meaning, to lower the standards of his vir
tues or the bravery that made him great. It was
the “power of an endless life” that drew the
throng from shows and fairs, even as lie had drawn
them in his early life, on the day when his body
lay in state beneath the dome of Georgia’s capi
tol. It was a tribute to the faith that never fal
tered, to the love that never waned and to the man
hood that never cringed before the minions of evil,
that caused sorrowing thousands that' day to throng
the streets as if crowding to see a living president
and pass his bier as if eager to look on the face of
a king.
The Vacant Chair.
And as I look at that vacant chair on this plat
form and the draped picture that hangs above it,
I am thinking of that exquisite waif of mental
beauty whose author I do not know—“To a Pond
Lily”':
“0 Star on the breast of the river—
-0 marvel of bloom and grace!
Did you drop right down out of heaven,
Out of the sweetest place?
You are poor as the thoughts of an angel;
Your heart is steeped in the sun.
Did you grow in the Golden City,
My fair and radiant one?
“Nay, nay, I dropped not out of Heaven—
None gave me my saintly white;
I slowly grew in the darkness
Down in the depths of the night;
Sam Jones Tabernacle, Cartersville, Ga
The Golden Age for October 25, 1906.
Up, up, from the ooze of the river
I WON my glory and grace—
White souls fall not, 0 sweet poet,
. They RISE to the highest place!”
And ever since Sam P. Jones fell beneath the
burden of his conscious sins at the foot of the
Cross and arose as a miracle of regeneration—he
has been lifting upward with him the clinging re
tinue of his surroundings as he has surely and
grandly climbed.
Let two things be remembered in this marvelous
gathering of thousands today—such a tribute would
never have been paid to Sam Jones if he had not
met the Lord Jesus Christ in his wayward life in
1872. His life since then has been a crystal river
of beauty and blessing to the world. And before
a fact like this infidelity must stand forever dumb.
And the other fact is this—that even men who
deny in their sin-marred lives the truth he taught,
yet acknowledge that truth in the hearts that be
lieve in him and in the love that crowns him today.
You know and I know that next to the joy of
leading a soul to the Christ who had redeemed him,
he loved and crowned the Christian statesman and
the Christian citizen. It is therefore eminently
proper that a man who was a Christian statesman
and who is today, in the simplicity of his conse
crated, stalwart life the ideal Christian citizen,
should preside over these memorial exercises. I
have great pleasure in presenting to you Ex-Gover
nor Wm. J. Northen, who will act as chairman of
Atlanta’s memorial to Sam P. Jones—Georgia’s
beloved dead.
Gov. Northen Presides.
In taking the chair, Ex-Governor Northen spoke
briefly but beautifully and in the course of his re
marks he said that Sam Jones stood for three
things: “First, for a strong conviction of duty;
second, for a great, grand and God-given purpose
and third, for an unusual and remarkable individ
uality. He labored for God and for humanity,”
said Gov. Northen, “and he labored in his own in
dividual way. He was always himself, and he
never tried to be anything but himself. He was
unique in the service of God and humanity.”
Gov. Northen then presented the first speaker on
the program, Rev. Walt Holcomb, Sam Jones’ latest
co-laborer, who was with him on the train when
he died. His address put something into the ex
ercises which no other man was prepared to say.
and so rich was it in spirit and reminiscence that
we give it in full in this issue.
Brief Addresses.
Following Mr. Holcomb’s address, it was ex
pected that Mrs. A. B. Cunvus of Cartersville,
daughter of Rev. Jon Jones, that beloved Baptist
preacher who died suddenly three years ago. would
sing, “I want to go there, don’t you?” bnt she
felt that she would break down if she were to at
tempt it. and in her place Mr. Edwin Smoot san-'
with thrilling effect this song which was composed
bv Dr. David Sullins, the father-in-law of Rev.
George Stuart, who labored with Sam Jones for
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years and who delivered in tears the funeral sermon
at Cartersville.
Col. Reuben Arnold, the leading criminal lawyer,
of the Atlanta bar, was the next speaker. In his
profession he had met so much of the opposite in
manhood from that which Sam Jones stood for that
he was prepared to view his value to the world
from another angle as compared with the other
speakers. His eloquent address appears elsewhere
in this issue.
Mr. J. K. Orr, speaking from the viewpoint
of the Christian business man, packed a volume of
truth in a three-minute speech.
Chief Henry Jennings, of the Alanta Police De
parment, a warm friend of the family, told in
brief but impressive words how the policemen loved
the great evangelist because he was always ready
to help them in word and deed.
Dr. Chas. 0. Jones, pastor of St. Mark’s Metho
dist Church, spoke only a few words, but they
were a prose-poem. Among other things he said :
“His heart was too small to hold a little impulse
and yet large enough to take in the whole world
and its needs.”
Dr. C. E. Dowman had known Sam Jones for
many years and labored with him in great revival
campaigns, especially in Columbus, Georgia, and
the fragrance of that fellowship only deepened
his sorrow now.
He Sang Like One Inspired.
Charles D. Tillman had been invited to sing at
the Sam Jones memorial in Chattanooga the same
hour, but he felt that, living in Atlanta, he must
Residence o f Rev. Sam P. Jones
be a. part of Atlanta’s tribute. He sang the song
of his own composition which Mr. Jones had so
often called for as they had worked together, “Un
answered Yet.” And he sang at the memorial of
his friend as he had never sung before. He sang
like one inspired.
Dr. Broughton’s Fitting Close.
The exercises had lasted over two hours when
the Tabernacle pastor arose. Thousands were sit
ting and hundreds were standing all this time, and
it is safe to say that no other living American could
have held that audience at such an hour as lie did.
The address was “Broughtonian.” That is enough
to say.
He spoke of “Sam Jones as he first impressed
me; Sam Jones as he last impressed me, and
Sam Jones as he impresses me now.”
He declared that the whole trend of his ministry
had been changed and moulded by hearing the fa
mous evangelist lecture when he (Broughton) was
.just entering the ministry. People will flock to
hear a man who DOES something—that had been
a key to victory with every man who has stirred
and blessed the world.
Ripples of innocent laughter swept the great au
dience—the kind of laughter that would have pleas
ed Sam Jones, and then hearts melted and tears
flowed on every side.
And just as the evening shades began to fall the
vast crowd began to thread the shadows home,
blessed and inspired by the greatest memorial ser
vice the South has ever seen since Henry Grady
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