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"LITE ANO SA LINGS OE SAN. P. JONES”
By His Wife, Assisted by Reb. Walt. Holcomb.
(The Franklin-Turner Co., Publishers, Atlanta, Ga., A. N. Jenkins & Scott, Sole Distributors, Austell Building, Atlanta, Ga.)
The salient and enduring qualities of a man’s
life and work correspond in a great measure to the
pertinent and significant facts in a nation’s history,
for while both are best judged from the standpoint
of a perspective created by time, both are also
best understood by the impressions made on those
whose lives have most closely touched the events
chronicled. Hence accurate historians always seek
to strengthen their facts by consulting the writings
or memoirs of those who live through historic
epochs, and the true biographer should, whenever
possible, be one whose own life has been in some
w’ay associated with that of the person under consid
eration. Dr. Johnson so well realized the phil
osophy of this truth that he is said to have himself
selected Boswell as his biographer and at once in
sisted on that gentleman's taking up a permanent
abode under his own roof.
When we consider, therefore, that contact with
the subject and a perfect comprehension of the mo
tives which influence his actions and form
his career are prime essentials of a biog
rapher, we at once recognize that in the
“Life and Sayings of Sam Jones,” which
is just off the press, the fact that it is written and
compiled by his wife and co-worker as well, forms
a combination of forces which can not fail to pro
duce a work of real value. This too, despite the
natural bias of affection and friendship which would
naturally influence both these writers, and it is
worthy of special mention that while the deep and
loyal devotion to her husband is breathed in every
line that Mrs. Jones writes, there is also a mass of
corresponding facts that can not fail to substan
tiate every claim that she makes for him.
Sam Jones as a Youth.
While in the work under consideration the ances
try and early influences of Mr. Jones are given due
consideration, these are in a large measure mere
facts obtained from others, but the early impres
sions which Mrs. Jones gives of the young man as
she first saw him are of value because they were
gained at a time before his conversion, when as an
undisciplined youth he first entered the horizon
of her life. In this connection she says: “It was
on a Friday afternoon in January, 1864, that, in
company with one of my young girl friends it was
my privilege to come home and spend the Sabbath
from boarding school in Newcastle, Ky., that I met
this young man. When I got home my mother was
full of praises of Sam Jones, the Georgia boy. *
* * My first introduction to him was by my
mother, who said, ‘Laura, this is Sam Jones, from
Georgia.’ I looked at him and saw a bright-faced
boy with large brown eyes, and my heart went out
to him in sympathy. * * * This was the first
sight of the boy who was in after years to become
my cherished companion and whose name was to
become a household word all over the land.”
Following this first impression, Mrs. Jones gives
a detailed account of her early acquaintance with
the young man, the correspondence which folio-wed
and the marriage which was the outcome of this
meeting.
Sam Jones as a Husband.
With a tender touch that defies all literary skill
and transcends all graces of rhetoric, Mrs. Jones
gives in simple words the story of her early married
life and of her husband’s character after his con
version. The shadews of the first years are touched
with a hand so light and so loyally loving that they
seem mere mists which disappeared forever before
the rising sun of religious faith that came to il
lumine the family life. She tells of Mr. Jones’
love for little children; of his grief when their first
bom passed away; of his tender solicitude when
illness assailed them and of his agony of mind
when at one time she herself lay ill unto death.
She tells of his unwavering faith in the
efficacy of prayer and of his triumph when
her own life was spared to him in direct ans
wer to his petitions. This first chapter of her work
The Golden Age for February 14, 1907.
is one which must ever remain as a monument to the
man she loved as well as an historic biography, the
accuracy of which is amply attested to in every
line and every word.
The Home Life of Sam Jones.
One of the significant incidents recorded is that
of the dedication of his new home to the Lord, on
which Mr. Jones insisted. Referring to this event
we quote the following from Mrs. Jones’ manu
script :
“Four generations of Mr. Jones’ family were
present, including his venerable uncle,
brothers, sisters, mother and my mother. His beau
tiful thoughts concerning home life and the bless
ing’s of God in the home were so sacred and sublime
that every one present saw him in an entirely dif
ferent light to what the world had known him.
Some one who was present in writing of the re-ar
rangement of the home said: ‘I was struck with
something about Sam Jones’ home which is typical
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MRS. SAM P. JONES.
of his life. When he built his present home he had
the old home which was a one-story frame building
raised and a new portion built under it. The old
homestead is there, but it is elevated and made beau
tiful by the new part which is a handsome founda
tion. So it is with the life of the owner. The old
Sam Jones had been lifted up with a new man and
a firm foundation, the maker and builder of which
is God. While the entire structure is beautiful
to behold, yet the old Sam Jones is still there, with
the humour and boyishness and the love for all
mankind.’ ”
This portion of the work which depicts Mr. Jones
in his home, as a neighbor, a friend and a father
is of deepest interest for it shows the man not as
an inspired preacher bringing his thousands yearly
to the foot of the Cross, not as a great reformer
decrying the evils of the age, but as a man, tender,
true and loyal and seeking to apply the principles
he preached in the practices of his life each day.
Inherited Religious Tendencies.
To those who are willing to accept the theory of
heredity the conversion and latter religious life of
Mr. Jones is a powerful argument in favor of the
application of the theory. His forbears were
of deeply religious natures; his grandfather Jones
was famous in his day for his ardent religious life.
“To be with Grandfather Jones and to hear him
talk was to feel a holy inspiration,” says Mrs.
Jones. “His conversation was on high and holy
things . . . and in Mr. Jones we find some of the
characteristics of his grandfather.”
The wife of “Grandfather Jones” was a daugh
ter of Rev. Robert L. Edwards, one of the pioneer
preachers of Georgia and in this ancestor also some
of Mr. Jones’ own characteristics may be traced.
But although a man may be given a good founda
tion for spiritual grace he may find himself diverted
from spiritual paths just as was Sam Jones at one
time, and it lies with his own individual will rather
than any inherited strength to determine what his
own path in life shall be.
The Career of the Great Evangelist.
The conversion of Sam Jones, his first sermon and
the consecration of his life are facts dwelt on at
some length in the work of Mrs. Jones and Mr. Hol
comb. The impressions and expressions of the man
himself at the revival service conducted by his
grandfather, at which the young man publicly
gave his heart to Christ, make one of the most touch
ing chapters of the book.
In speaking of his first sermon, Mr. Jones is
quoted as having said: “I remembered only two
things: ‘God is good,’ and ‘I am happy.’ ” Even
at that first sermon “he extended an invitation to
penitents and many rushed to the altar and were
happily converted to God.”
While it is only possible to give here a brief
glimpse of this extensive work, we are impelled to
dwell on the early career of this man for the events
of his later life are so well known as to need no
repetition. However, the chapters covering his first
work in the conference, his labors for the Orphans’
Home, his experiences in Brooklyn with Dr. Tal
mage, the revivals he conducted in Chicago, Cincin
nati, St. Louis, Baltimore, Indianapolis, St. Paul,
Minneapolis, California, as well as in Toronto and
other points in Canada, hold a deep biographical
value not only as incidents in one man’s career but
as historic events in the spread of 'Christian spirit.
Last Tributes;
Yet another feature of this work whieh will make
it of value to the generations of the future is the
account of the closing scenes in the life of the evan
gelist and the tributes paid to him by such distin
guished Americans as Hon. William Jennings Bry
an, of Nebraska, John Temple Graves and Thos. E.
Watson of Georgia, United States Senator Edward
W. Carmack, of Tennessee, Prof. E. 0. Excell, of
Chicago, as well as numerous personal friends and
admirers of Mr. Jones. These tributes come from
sources so diverse and are the expressions of men
in so many different lines of thought that we quote
the following from representative addresses made at
the memorial services held in different cities just
after Mr. Jones’ death:
At the Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, Tenn., Hon.
E. AV. Gann ack spoke eloquently and truthfully of
Mr. Jones. He said: ‘ ‘ There can be no nobler ep
itaph written above the dust of any man than to
say that the world is better for his having lived,
and only the records of eternity can reveal the mag
nitude of the work he has done for his fellow men.”
This forceful address is given in full in the vol
ume under consideration as is also the scholarly
eulogy of Prof. E. 0. Excell, of Chicago, Which
was delivered at the memorial services held in
Chattanooga. In the course of his oration he said:
“He was not accidentally great; he was great by
the facts and qualities which make men great; . . .
he had a great mind; he was a great student, not
of books but of men; of current events and moving
social affairs ... He knew the great men of the
country, and the great moral movements and how
they were set in motion. ... A man who accepts
God’s conditions and God’s circumstances and
works out with God, God crowns with greatness
his efforts.”
The funeral services of Sam Jones were con
ducted by Bishop Chas. B. Galloway, who deliv
(Coneluded on Page 12.)