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
Not only so, this unction from the Holy One is accompanied with a
practical wisdom and _insight_ which discerns, if not all things, yet,
at least, _many practical things_. It enables a man to see that the
first thing to be done in the way of saving a sinner is to convict him
of sin. To get him to admit theoretically that he is a sinner, is equal
to zero, amounts to nothing. But, in a way not to repel him, he must be
made to _feel_ that he is sinful, and so, wretched. It is wonderful what
tact some men have in this respect. Here lies, undoubtedly, the secret
of Sam Jones' power. He turns all classes of men, Pharisees in the
church and sinners out of it, inside out, and makes them see, in spite
of all spiritual apathy and all self-deception, what they are. He shows
them secrets which they thought nobody knew but themselves.
But a greater than he did the same thing--Jesus touched the _sore spot_
in the conscience of the Samaritan woman and compelled her to say: "He
told me all things that I have done." This revealing the secrets of the
heart is a thing that fascinates and attracts and wins a sinner; and he
feels, if you know so well without being told, all the particulars of
his inner life and all the desperate trouble of his case, you surely can
not make a mistake in pointing out the way of escape. Just as a patient
yields immediate and unquestioning confidence to the physician who can
tell him all his symptoms and describe his feelings better than he
himself can do it.
If preaching the love of Christ without convicting of sin would have
saved people, then most people in the United States would have been
saved long ago, for the love of Christ has been told and retold and
preached and re-preached, and it does not bring sinners to repentance.
To be sure there are some sinners who have found, by bitter experience,
the ripe fruits of sin, and these may be already prepared to accept a
deliverer and a deliverance as soon as offered to them.
The possession of this unction presupposes that a man is correct,
upright, holy in his life; for God would not give it to one who was not
so. I believe Mr. Moody was right when he said: "If a man's life is not
above reproach, the less he says the better." A friend of mine says he
knows a minister who, though no doubt a good man and a fine talker, will
_lie_ now and then. Of course, he would not call it lying, nor would his
admirers call it lying, but lying it is; and so he has no power. His
preaching is like a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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