Samuel Porter Jones
1847-1906
American evangelist. Sam Jones was born at Oak Bowery, Ala-
bama, and reared at Cartersville, Georgia. He studied to be a
lawyer, but drinking and gambling soon brought him to the
brink of ruin. At his father's deathbed, he fell on his knees
and repented of his sin and trusted Christ. He preached his
first sermon one week later and was licensed to preach in the
Methodist Church after only three months.
He served several pastorates but gained fame as a
lecturer and evangelist. Soon he was conducting campaigns in
some of America's largest cities. Wherever he preached, liq-
uor stores closed, theaters and jails emptied, and cursing
was reduced to whispers. His life was threatened on several
occasions. But these did not deter his strong preaching. He
died en route to an evangelistic meeting in Oklahoma. Much of
the wit of Will Rogers is traceable to Sam Jones. Well over
500,000 people were converted to Christ as a result of his
ministry.
ARTIST'S NOTE: Earth colors dominate the entire picture, as
this is the outstanding thing about Sam Jones' ministry--it
was down-to-earth. The homey wit and droll country stories in
his messages were earthy and true to nature.
Ruckman '66
Samuel Porter Jones{SCT} Oak Bowery, Alabama
DIED: October 15, 1906
Perry, Arkansas
LIFE SPAN: 58 years, 11 months, 29 days
{SCT} drunkard," but the one most prized was "Sam Jones, the
evangelist." And, evangelist he was, with some 500,000 decisions
made out of estimated audiences of 25,000,000.
His father, John J. Jones, felt the urge to follow four
other brothers into the Methodist ministry but decided that he
could make a more secure living as a lawyer and businessman. His
mother, Nancy, died in 1856 saying to her nine-year-old son,
"Sam, I will never be able to return to you, but you can come to
me." He was greatly touched and never forgot her dying words. For
three years he, and his two brothers and sister, lived with their
pious grandparents, with his godly grandmother exerting more
influence on his life than any other member of his family. When
Sam's father remarried and settled in Cartersville, Georgia, the
children relocated there in 1858. Sam's father set up law
practice and was a man of outstanding reputation as a Christian.
The Civil War broke out and the father became a captain in the
Confederate army.
As a schoolboy, Sam was clever at reciting pieces in class.
His formal education came through private tutors and boarding
schools.
When the Union armies marched through Georgia, the family
was separated and, in January 1864, young Sam Jones was swept
into Kentucky. There he met Laura McElwain of Eminence, whom he
later married.
Returning to Cartersville, he concluded his education,
graduating from Euharle High School in June, 1867. At the
graduating ceremony, he delivered the valedictory address
reflecting the outlook of his generation which came of age in the
ashes of the Southern Confederacy.
His father intended to give him a college education, but
Sam's health broke down. Having nervous dyspepsia, he decided to
study law at home. Thinking that alcohol would help his "nervous
stomach," he soon became a regular alcoholic.
Nevertheless, Sam showed great promise of success in legal
endeavors. He was admitted to the Georgia Bar in 1868 after only
one year of legal study. He married one month later on November
24, 1868. When he was sober, Sam tried cases as a brilliant
lawyer; when drunk, he was worthless as an attorney and as a
husband. Gambling also helped bring him to the brink of ruin.
During this time he moved to Texas, to Alabama, and finally
back to Cartersville. By 1872, the only job he was able to get
was that of a furnace stoker in a factory near Cartersville where
he shovelled coal for twelve hours a day. The pleas of his wife
and the births of two children did not change him. A daughter,
Beulah, was born October 31, 1869, but died in August of 1871.
Mary was born in September of 1871. Other children born to the
Joneses were Annie (May 11, 1873), Sam Paul (May 31, 1875),
Robert (Dec. 24, 1876), Laura (October of 1881), and finally
Julia (April of 1885).
In August, 1872, there was a dramatic change. News came
while he was on a six-week drinking binge that his father was
seriously ill. On his deathbed, his father's words pierced the
heart of young Sam. "My poor, wicked, wayward, reckless boy. You
have broken the heart of your sweet wife and brought me down in
sorrow to my grave. Promise me, my boy, to meet me in Heaven."
Overcome with emotion, Sam fell to his knees and took his dying
father's hand, and shouted "I promise, I'll quit drinking and set
things straight. I'll meet you and mother in heaven." The father
died and Sam kept his vow. He tells about his last encounter with
drink:
{BQT} I went to the bar and begged for a glass of liquor. I
got the glass and started to drink and looked into the mirror. I
saw my hair matted, the filth and vomit on my clothes, one of my
eyes totally closed, and my lips swollen. And I said, "Is that
all that is left of the proud and brilliant lawyer, Sam Jones?" I
smashed the glass on the floor and fell to my knees and cried,
"Oh God! Oh God, have mercy!" The bartender ran to my side and
thought I was dying...and I was. I said, "Just let me alone." I
picked myself up and staggered to my cheap rooming house and said
to the ladies running it, "Would you do me a favor?" They
answered in the affirmative. I asked them to bring me a pot of
black coffee. I went through three days and nights of hell, but
when the morning came, something had happened to old Sam Jones. I
went down to the clothing store and said, "I want you to give me
a new suit. I got saved last night. Sam Jones is coming back."
Not only did I get a suit, but shirts, ties, coat, everything I
needed and as I left, the merchant stuck a $100 bill into my
hand. I went to the barber for I had not had a shave in over a
month. I asked for a bath, a shave, a haircut. I put on my new
clothes, looking pale and weak. I left to go to my wife whom I
had beaten till she was black and blue. She didn't even recognize
her own husband. I said, "Honey, God has given you a new husband
and the children a new daddy, and I wonder if you will forgive me
and start all over again." She grabbed me in her arms and cried,
"Hallelujah! Hallelujah! I have been praying for this!" And I
have been going round the country bragging about Jesus ever
since.
{EQT} Sam was twenty-four years old. A week later in the
agony of keeping his vow, he walked down the aisle of the little
country church where his grandfather, Samuel G. Jones, was
preaching and said, "Grandfather, I take this step today. I give
myself, my heart, and life, what is left of it, all to God and
His cause." He felt an immediate call to the ministry. A week
after his conversion, Sam preached his first sermon in his
grandfather's pulpit. In November, 1872, he was licensed as an
itinerant preacher for the North Georgia Conference of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He was called "the Mountain
Evangelist" in his early days, perhaps because he "put the fodder
down low where the poor folks can reach it."
The North Georgia Conference assigned Jones to a rural
circuit which had five churches scattered in four different
counties. This was the Van Wert Circuit, one of the poorest in
Georgia. He was soon being asked by nearby pastors to help them
with their annual revivals. Because of his growing fame, he was
shifted from one circuit to another. By 1880, he was spending
only 50% of his time preaching in his own circuit. The other half
of the time he was conducting revivals for other pastors in
nearby towns.
In December, 1880, the Conference decided to free him from
the restraints of pastoral responsibilities and made him the
fund-raising agent for the Methodist Orphan Home in Decatur,
Georgia. The orphanage had a debt of $20,000 and Jones was
encouraged to go anywhere he felt he could raise money for the
institution. Starting in small towns, he was soon in the big
churches of the State. He preached and took offerings for the
orphanage. Sam was also given permission to hold revival meetings
for Methodist ministers and even help in "union meetings" if a
Methodist church was among the denominations that sponsored him.
His fame spread beyond his State. In 1883, he conducted a two-
week series of meetings for the Methodist churches of Louisville,
Kentucky, which received some attention from the secular press.
At a meeting for men only in the local Masonic Temple, he
delivered a blistering attack on such sins as profanity, Sabbath
breaking, gambling, licentiousness and intemperance.
By 1884, Sam Jones, as an evangelist, was well established.
It was this year he first attempted a large-scale, city-wide
revival in Memphis, Tennessee. Thirteen pastors of five different
denominations united to sponsor him. Jones estimated 1,000
decisions for Christ here including 400 public professions of
faith and 100 joining the churches by the end of the meetings.
Later, a crusade was held in Chattanooga, Tennessee with another
1,000 decisions for Christ. He was invited to Jackson and
Knoxville, Tennessee; to Waco, Texas; and to T. DeWitt Talmage's
tabernacle in Brooklyn in January, 1885. This crusade was a great
success and now the largest cities of both the South and the
North were seeking his services.
A campaign that really pushed Jones to the top of his
profession, second only to Moody during these days, was the 1885
Nashville, Tennessee, meeting. In a city of 50,000, the
ministerial association invited him to erect a tent for 5,000 and
preach. People packed it three times a day for four weeks, while
the evangelist berated them, amused them, and compelled them to
come forward pledging their lives to Christ. The meeting opened
in May and before it was over a month later, some claimed that
10,000 were converted. This was his largest crusade. He made such
an impression that he was invited to address the State
Legislature. He told the legislators about the evils of the
liquor traffic and also offered them some suggestions on how to
reform the prison system. Other 1885 crusades were: St. Joseph,
Missouri (2,220 converts); Birmingham, Alabama (1,800 converts);
St. Louis, Missouri (1,600 converts). In St. Louis, he came with
an invitation from just one pastor, but others soon cooperated
once he got there. There was a real revival. The St. Louis Globe
carried his sermons, sometimes six columns of them!
In 1886, Sam Jones was in Cincinnati, Ohio (2,000 converts);
Chicago, Illinois (1,500 to 3,000 converts). In Chicago, he was
sponsored by the South Side ministerial association. A renovated
skating rink seating 7,000 was used and the five-week meeting
drew some 260,000 people. He also went to Baltimore, Maryland
(1,200 to 2,500 converts) as well as Indianapolis, Toronto, St.
Paul, Kansas City, Minneapolis and Omaha.
In 1887, he preached in Kansas City and Boston among many
others. In 1889, his meetings included Los Angeles, Sacramento
and San Francisco, where 1,200 made decisions. The years 1890-91
saw meetings in Chattanooga, Little Rock, Wilmington, among
others.
The Jones crusade in Memphis in 1892 had 2,500 conversions
and this was also the year he gave up his connection with the
North Georgia Orphanage in Decatur.
Although he passed the peak of his career by the middle of
the 1890's, he continued to return year after year to certain
cities. He conducted eighteen revival sin Nashville alone.
Between visits to larger cities, he preached in almost every city
with a population of over 10,000 in the South. In 1897, Sam went
back to Boston at the request of the Methodist preachers with
many Baptists cooperating also once he was there. Some 2,500
decisions for Christ were made.
The 1899 revival in Toledo, Ohio, was perhaps his most
unique. The city had recently elected a mayor, a man who actually
claimed to live and administer the law according to the Golden
Rule. The name of the mayor was Sam Jones! (Actually, Samuel M.
Jones.) The confrontation of Mayor Sam Jones, known as "Golden
Rule Jones," against evangelist Sam Jones, became a full-fledged
battle and one of the classic events of revival history. The
crusade began on March 5, with the next mayoral election to be
held April 3. At the opening session in the city Armory, the
mayor, Samuel M. Jones, introduced the evangelist, Samuel P.
Jones. The mayor, ignored by his party, the Republicans, decided
to run as an independent. Although a moral man with good
intentions, his "let everything be done with love" philosophy had
kept open 700 saloons and 150 gambling dens. On March 12, at a
meeting for 6,000 men, the evangelist let them have it, mayor and
all! Headlines in the Republican Toledo Blade, read,
"Evangelist's Hot Shot," "Jones batteries turned on municipal
authorities; declares if the Devil were mayor, he would not
change a thing!" In the Democratic Toledo Bee, the headlines
said, "Sam P. Jones rips up Toledo's administration; he prefers
rule of hate to rule of love that keeps saloons open." (The mayor
was reelected later by a high majority.)
Sam Jones usually stayed three weeks in an area, sometimes
five. Auditoriums were usually around 5,000 seating capacity with
some 150,000 attending for the series. The choirs were around 400
and the ushers around 40. His income averaged around $30,000 per
year (that was 100 years ago!). Much of it was given away to
worthy causes.
He preached with such zeal that his health finally broke.
For some years he rested from evangelistic preaching and turned
his skill to lecturing, primarily against the liquor traffic. He
spoke about the "moral issues" of the day and sought reform in
corrupt cities. In some cities, especially in the South, he was
able to persuade the citizens to outlaw saloons and drive out the
other enemies of the Christian faith.
Eventually he resumed evangelistic preaching. It is said
that when Sam preached, liquor stores closed, theaters and jails
emptied, and cussing was reduced to whispers. His life was
threatened on several occasions. His crude wit, coarse stories,
and rural life drollery captured his hearers everywhere. Like
Billy Sunday, his eccentricities of speech, his unconventional
ways and manner probably contributed to his popularity. Jones
spent every summer after 1885 touring Chautaugua circuits. Much
of the wit of Will Rogers is traceable to Sam Jones. This wit is
illustrated by some of the following stories:
One time a committee complained that they brought him to
town to preach to sinners but that he ended up preaching at them!
He said, "Never mind, I will get to the sinners. I never scald
hogs until the water is hot."
Once, when asked why he didn't attack the Catholics, he
replied, "When I get through with the Methodists, it's bedtime."
In one revival, the pastors, feeling Jones shouldn't be so
negative in his preaching, gathered for a prayer meeting one
afternoon to pray for him. Jones, driving by the tabernacle, was
overjoyed to see a group of ministers conducting a prayer
meeting, so he slipped in to join them. He heard their prayers
about him..."Help him to have more tact, change his mannerisms,"
etc. Then it was his turn to pray:
{BQT} Lord, I hope you won't listen to a one of these
preachers. They don't preach against sin. They don't visit from
door to door. They don't weep over sinners, and they don't win
souls. And they want You to change me until I'm just like them. O
Lord, help these preachers to have enough sense to realize that
if You were to answer their prayers, I would be just as worthless
and no-account as they are. I'd be too lazy to work too. I'd be
afraid to fight sin and too cold to cry over sinners and too
indifferent to win souls. Please God, don't make me like any of
these fellers.
{EQT}His prayer continued and a great sweeping revival was seen.
In another town, a saloon keeper approached Jones when he
was walking down a street and asked if it was true that Jones
hated liquor, etc. He held up a ten dollar bill and taunted the
evangelist..."I bet you'd like to have that! I make my money
selling whiskey." He was totally surprised when Jones grabbed the
ten and said, "Yes, I'll take it! The Devil has had it long
enough."
In Sigourney, Iowa, three saloons were licensed for $300
each, or $900 in all. The town was only 2,000 in population, so
in his speech, Sam declared the liquor dealers might as well walk
up to the people and ask, "If you will let us damn this town, we
will give you 40 cents apiece." He asked how much a 200-pound hog
would bring. He was told $12. "So," replied the evangelist, "hogs
$12 apiece and people 40 cents apiece. Say, brother, don't you
wish you were a hog? For the pitiful sum of 40 cents each, you
turn your boys over to be debauched, the hearts of mothers are
crushed, and the town ruined...all for 40 cents! This is cheap;
but I suppose that is all you are worth, eh?"
To a tightwad Christian who complained about being asked to
contribute to the church, after being saved out of alcoholism, he
lashed out. "Well, you paid the Devil $250 a year for the
privilege of plowing with a steer on rented land, and now you
don't want to give God, who saved you, five dollars a year for
the privilege of plowing with horses on your own plantation.
You're a rascal from the crown of your head to the sole of your
foot!"
Jones made absolutely nothing of education, would not
tolerate stiffness or formality, was definitely informal, was
blunt and uncouth in his preaching, direct and child-like in his
praying.
His crude mannerisms would include, "I wouldn't wipe my feet
on" someone. He made much use of a phrase like, "put the hay down
low enough so that both the jackass and the giraffe can get to
it."..."Many a fellow is praying for rain with his tub bottom
up,"..."It tickles me to see an old sinner come in and pull out
an old, dwarfed member of the church, lay his down and measure by
him, and say, `Look here, boys. I'm as long, as broad, and as
good as this man'."
An eyewitness to a Jones revival might put him in his proper
perspective. Tom Watson tells about a revival in Thomson,
Georgia:
{BQT}How he did peel the amen corner. How he did smash their
solemn self-conceit, their profound self-satisfaction, their
peaceful co-partnership with the Almighty, their placid
conviction that they were trustees of the New Jerusalem. After
awhile with solemn, irresistible force he called on these
brethren to rise in public, confess their shortcomings, and kneel
for Divine grace. And they knelt. With groans, and sobs, and
tears, these old bellwethers of the flock fell on their knees and
cried aloud in their distress. Then what? He turned his guns on
us sinners. He abused us fore and aft. He gave us grape and
canister and all the rest. He abused us and ridiculed us, he
stormed at us and laughed at us, he called us flop-eared hounds,
beer kegs, and whiskey soaks. He plainly said that we were all
hypocrites and liars, and he intimated somewhat broadly, that
most of us would steal. After the meetings the community settled
back to business, but it has never been the same community since.
Gambling has disappeared, loud profanity on the streets was heard
no more, and the bar-rooms were run out of the country.
{EQT} D.L. Moody once attended a service to hear Sam preach.
After hearing him, he wrote him a letter:
{BQT}God has put into your hands the sledge hammer with which to
shatter the formalism of the Church and batter down the
strongholds of sin, and He is helping you mightily to use it. God
bless you.
{EQT} A year before his death, Jones was called to the
speaker's platform in Atlanta by President Theodore Roosevelt,
who said to him, "Sam, you have been doing as a private citizen,
what I have tried to do as a public servant."
Musicians who traveled with Sam Jones included E.O. Excell,
who composed many hymns, and Walter Holcomb, who led singing for
him and later married his daughter.
Death came suddenly. Coming home on a train from a campaign
in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and planning to celebrate his fifty-
ninth birthday back in Cartersville, he dropped dead. Earlier
that morning he complained about not feeling well, drank a glass
of water and toppled over. This was near Perry, Arkansas, twelve
miles from Little Rock. His funeral in Atlanta, Georgia, was a
state affair.
Books that came out after his death were Famous Stories of
Sam P. Jones (1908), Popular Lectures of Sam P. Jones (1909), Sam
Jones Revival Sermons (1912) and Lightning Flashes and
Thunderbolts (1912). His own works included Sermons and Sayings
(1883), Music Hall Series (1886), Quit Your Meanness (1886), Sam
Jones' Own Book (1887), St. Louis Series (1890) and Thunderbolts
(1895).

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Christian Biographies