Steve P. Holcombe, the Converted Gambler: His Life and WorkAlexander, Gross
Religion
Steve P. Holcombe, the Converted Gambler: His Life and Work
Alexander, Gross
Holcombe, Steve P., 1835-; Methodists -- United States -- Biography
I could not pray. I had got into that frame of mind I could not pray. I
did not believe in the efficacy of prayer. I had lost sight of Christ as
God, but I had great respect for Christ as a teacher. I lay there all
that day, Monday. I was then thoroughly sober; and I said, "I will just
see if there is any efficacy in religion, anyhow. I believe I will try
it." I had gotten up and dressed myself. I had not eaten any breakfast.
I drank some coffee. Not having taken anything to eat, I felt pretty
weak, and I said, "I believe I will take a drink." I went around to a
friend of mine on First street, and he was not there. Then I walked
around to a saloon on Third street. Several gentlemen were there that I
used to drink with. I stood around there for awhile, hoping that some
one would ask me to take a drink, but nobody asked me.
Finally I came up here to Mr. Holcombe's and found him here, and we got
to talking the matter over. I told him that I was tired of this kind of
life. I wanted to take a pledge. "I do not give pledges to anybody to
stop drinking." He said there was but one remedy--reliance upon Christ;
that Christ was all--Christ and the love of God. If I determined to live
up to the teachings of the Bible, if I was willing about it, that he
believed I would be cured. Well, I told him that I thought that my mind
was sufficiently prepared; that I had made up my mind to quit if I
possibly could; that if the Lord wanted to take me the way I was, I had
made up my mind to believe; that I had not believed anything for a long
time, and that if I did believe I would have to take it by faith, and
not by reason.
Finally, after talking it over, Mr. Holcombe prayed, and after prayer I
said I had better go down to my boarding-house. "No," he said, "you stay
with me awhile." I said I could not do that; I had to go down to my
boarding-house. He said, "No!" he thought I had better stay awhile; that
I could stay with him just the same, as I was around there; that I might
get out and get to drinking; that I was not strong enough. I concluded I
would stay with him, and I stayed with him for three weeks.
I went down stairs to the Mission meeting that night, and stood up for
prayer. After the prayer, I felt a great deal better--in fact, I felt as
much converted as I am now. Since then, I have had no trouble.
I never had made a prayer in public in my life; I never had talked
religion in my life, and I got up a week afterward and preached a sermon
an hour long. The second or third night I made a prayer. Before that
night I had never prayed in public. The only prayer I would say was,
"Our Father Who Art In Heaven."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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