THE DANBURY REPORTER.
VOLUME XXXIII.
Sam Jones' Last Sermon
*
"He that Being Often Reproved and Hardeneth His
Neck Shall Suddenly be Destroyed and that
Without Remedy.
Tbe great Addison used to say :
"Men sometimes upon tbe hour of
departure do speak and reason
above themselves, for then the
soul, beginning to be freed from
the ligaments of the body, reasons
like herself and discourses in a
strain above mortality." A super
natural insight and a presentment
•of the future has been claimed by
many good men as they stood on
the brink of the grave, and if we
believe that God ever enterprets
His purposes in dreams and vis
ions we dare not doubt these ex
traordinary manifestations. Sam
Jones made no prediction. That
he felt tbe shadow of the death
angel hovering near him seems to
be clear from the remarkable ser
mon he preached in Oklahoma
City on the night immediately
preceding his sudden call, and
from the still more remarkable
reference to himself, his wife, his
home, his prayer that he might
"go home easily." God had per
haps sent His angel to break the
secret to this noble warrior before
the clarion should summon him
finally. At any rate his work was
done, and multitudes who owe to
him a Saviour can thank God that
he performed his part so v The
following sermon is his remark
able effort on the night of October
14,1906 :
We have seleoted as the text for
this occasion these words from the
twenty-ninth chapter of Proverbs
and the first verse :
"He that being often reproved
and hardeneth his ueck shall sud
denly be destroyed and that with
out remedy."
The bare announcement of this
text is enough to bring every one
of us to our feet with this ques
tion : "Unto whom does God
speak in those fearful words ?
Unto whom does God address him
self in that fearful language?"
There are in this audience hun
dreds of people who ought to re
main standing and announce an
other fact, and that is, "Surely
God means me. for I have been
often warned, I have often been
reproved and have often heard
His Word. Surely He means me."
"He that being often reproved and
and hardeneth his neck shall sud
denly be* destroyed and that with
out remedy." I announce strictly
a fact when I say there have been
more sudden deaths in the last
twelve months of this world's his
tory than any year since the even
ing and morning of the first day of
this world's life. More men in the
last twelve months have suddenly
gone into the presence of God
than in any twelve months in all
the world's history. You hardly
pick up a leading daily newspaper
in the United States that there is
not from fifty to 5,000 persons that
have been swept away suddenly
and have eome into the presence
of God. By earthquake, by fire,
by tidal waves, by accideuts on
railroads, by storms at sea, by ap
poplexy, by paralysis, by heart fail
ure; day by day the register has
gone way up; and, mark my words
just as God gives the warning to
men so is that proportion of sud
dentdwUl multiplied in all the
earth. More men have hardened
tbeiiukearts and more men have
been swept into tbe presence of
God, an t as you hear me tonight
I shall recall illustrations of these
fearful facts that lie back in my
brain and which have been gather
ed from all parts of the country.
I want to say to you that I have
preached to thousands and tens of
thousands of people who have been
■wept suddenly and awfully into
the presence of God soon after my
voioo died out in their ears. I
was preaching at that memorable
meeting at Nashville, Tenn., some
years ago. On the second Tues
day night Captain Ryan, a man
who owned all the steamboats
along the river, came forward and
asked to be prayed for. Shortly
one of tbe pastors walked up to
my side and said, "Mr. Jones, that
man, Captain Ryan, is the most
wicked man in this city and a very
great sinner." That night Cap
tain Ryan was converted, and he
walked up to me after the service
and said, "I want }ou to come to
my bouse and I want you to see
my wife and children." I ans
wered, "I cannot come before a
certain date." He said, "I will
come for you on that day." On the
morning of the day arranged he
was at the service, and after that
service we got into a buggy and
rode up to his splendid home.
When we got out of the buggy he
introduced me to the mayor of the
city and three of the captains of
boats which he, himself, owned ;
also to lawyers and other influen
tial men of Nashville.
Presently Mr. Ryan's wife walk
ed in and I was introduced to her,
and after a few moments of con
versation, she said, "now, gentle
men, dinner is ready." As we
crossed the hall into the large din
ing room the captain took my arm.
"Mr. Jones," he said, "not one of
these four men are religious and I
want tbe last one of them brought
to Christ." He put me at the head
of the table. The mayor of the
city sat directly on my right and
at his side was one of the captains.
Immediately on tbe left side were
tbe other two captains—four
great, big, stalwart men. I ad
dressed my conversation right to
those four men, pressing Chris
tianity and the question of relig
ion on them with all the force I
oould, incidentally mentioning the
fact that within twelve months
there would be sudden deaths am
ong those sitting at the table.
After the meal was over we
parted and not one of tbe four
men were Christians or came to
the meetings. I had not been
away from Nashville three months
until the steamboat captain who
sat next to the mayor on my right
hand side walked up to his home
one day and when his feet struck
the front porch of his home he fell
with a heavy thud and was dead
when his wife aud children reach
ed him. Not three months more
had passed when the man who sat
on my left, just as he stepped on
to his boat and as the boat started
to move off, fell on his face and
never spoke another word. Not
two months more had passed when
Captain Ryan sent me a paper
from Nashville in which I noticed
that tbe steamboat captain whosnt
second to my left went suddenly
into the presence of God. A few
days later I saw where the mayor
of the city had beeq out hunting
and when loading his gun the gun
went off, putting the whole load
of shot into his head. He fell for
ward and never breathed another
breath; and before I had been
away from that town twelve
months those four stalwart men
had all been suddenly called into
the presence of God.
"He that being often reproved
and htrdeneth his neok shall sud
denly be destroyed and that with
out remedy."
I was preaohing at a Tennessee
camp meeting a few years ago and
we were having great orowds there.
On a certain t'ay a young man who
had been in the back of the tent
standing up while I was preach
ing (and I was "saying things"
that night) tamed on his foot with
DANBURY, N. C., MARCH 28, 1907.
an oath on his lips and said, "I
have had enough of that." He
went out and went toward the rail
road station. There was a freight
train passing at the time which
was going about eight or ten miles
an hour. That young man grab
bed at the side irons on the side
of the train, lost his grip and roll
ed under the wheels and was in
the presence of God almost before
I was done speaking.
"He that being often reproved
and hardeneth his neck shall sud
denly be destroyed and that with
out remedy."
I was preaching at Gainesville,
Miss., some three or four years
ago. There were only a few days
left in the meeting and I said to
the men who were helping : "Let
us all get down to work." Next
morning Pastor Brown came up to
me and said that he had passed
two saloonkeepers on the street
that morning as he was coming
down and had asked them
to close up their saloons and come
down and hear Sam Jones. They
said, "does Jones think that we
can close up our business and go
down to hear a man like him
talk?" I mentioned this incident
in the meeting and said that two
saloonkeepers of that town had
cursed on the street and said they
could not close up their places of
business to hear the Word of God.
I said, "I have seen doors closed
with black crepe tied on the door
knob; they had better look out."
The morning I left Gainesville
one of the saloonkeepers who had
said this came down-town in the
early morning to open his saloon,
and just as he unlocked the door
and pushed it open he fell in the
doorway and lay there dead when
the first policeman came around
on his beat that morning. Dead
before his wife and children could
say "good-bye !" Mr. Brown sent
me a marked copy of the paper a
few days later which said that the
other Baloonkeepeer went up to
his home and fell on the floor as
he was going in and was dead
when his wife got to him. There
was black crepe on the doors of
those two saloons, and, mark my
words, there are men in this town
that are cursing this meeting and
cursing, on the street, who will
suddenly be struck down. lam
not a prophet nor the son of a
prophet, but yon will have deaths
in this town that will startle it be
fore the last day of this very
month. Mark that! God hath
said it. There are people in this
town that are turning against God
and despising His mercy, some of
them in the last sixty days of their
lives, and every time you turn your
back on God and walk on from
His mercy you are refusing the
greatest offer that a man can ever
have.
"He that being often reproved
and hardeneth his neck shall sud
denly be destroyed and that with
out remedy."
Yearsagoa corps of civil en
gineers came to a little town in a
valley in Pennsylvania and went
up into the mountains and exam
ined the dam which controlled the
waters of the stream which flowed
down into the vally. They came
back to the valley and said to the
people of the town, "that dam is
unsafe. The people in the valley
are in constant danger." The peo
ple said to them. "You can't scare
us." That fall the men came back
to the valley and examined the
dam again and said to the people
in the valley, "we warn you peo
ple again, you are in danger every
hour." They laughed at them
again aud said, "scare us if you
can." The men went up again in
the spring and warned the people
again, but the people said, "that is
a farce. VVe have been hearing
that so many times. Scare us if
you can."
It was not fifteen days later, that
a boy with his horse on the dead
run came down into the valley
shouting, "run for your lives !
The dam has gone and the water
is coming!" The people only
laughed at him; but he did not
wait to hear their laughter; he
went on down the valley still
shouting the warning. In a very
few minutes the dirty piling water
came and in less than thirty min
utes after the water struck the
town Johnstown was in ruins with
more t"han 3,701 of those who had
been in the town in the presence
of God. You have been reproved
many a time yourself, and fright
ened many a time yourself and
you sit out there and say, "scare
me if you can." "Get mo by
frightening me if you can," but on
God's judgment day you will run
and call for the rocks and moun
tains to hide from God's just fire,
your little soul. God gets closest
to the man who is closest to his
own soul and is in need of Christ.
God help you to pray about this,
"I am not to be frightened into
Christianity."
"He that being often reproved
and hardeneth his neck shall sud
denly be destroyed and that with
out remedy."
It is an awful thing to die, any
way, but to die without a moment
to pray, without a moment to
counsel the wife without a mom
ent to talk with the children; but
to be struck down suddenly.
I don't know when I shall die
or where I may go down, whether
in a railroad wreck, in storm at
sea, and I might even go down on
a wagon or I might drop dead
with heart failure; I don't know
how I shall die, but I know I pre
fer to die easily. I know I deserve
to die suddenly but I don't know
when or where I shall die. I may
be taken with a stroke of paralysis
and would have to be carried to
the train'and from the depot up to
the old home where I can live for
years, into the room where 1 have
sat and talked hours at nights with
my wife and children. I would
suffer and linger there for days
talking to them about the respon
sibilities that would rest upon j
them when I was gone, about j
right living, and, when the last
day would come and the last night
would come, and the doctor had j
packed up his stuff and gone; wife
and children would stand around
my couch and I would bid them
live good lives; at the last moment
I would turn to my wife and speak
the last words of my heart to her
and bid her be faithful to the end;
I would kiss them all good night
and go home as happy as any
school boy ever went home from
school; but to die suddenly and j
without preparation, without a
word of counsel to the wife, with
out a word of comfort to the child
ren, without a moment to utter
anything to this world. "Cut him
down, why cumbereth he the
i ground ?" God help me to go
home easily.
"Suddenly destroyed and that
without remedy." How we look
to remedies here. Millions of
dollars are spent in patent medi
cines, doctoring and all that sort
of a thing and it shows how men
dread death, and how they lean
upou remedies, and how they look
to remedies to heal and remedies
to effect the oure; but "without
remedy." The saddest hour that
I ever saw was after more than ten
weeks of suffering and hard work,
when my wife was very sick. That
night the doctor came to me and
said, "I now break to yon the sad
dest news that ever fell on human
ears. Your wife cannot live." I
looked at the doctor and said :
"Doctor, do you mean it ?" He
said, "the symptoms now say that
remedies are useless." I went in
to the upper chamber of my home
and turned my face toward God
and said, "O Lord Jesus Christ,
who raised Lazarus from the dead
when he had been buried four
J DEATH OK MR. GUS MARTIN.
One Of the County's Best Citizens-
Was Eighty-One Years Old.
Mr. Gus Martin, one of the
county's best and oldest citizens,
who resided at Brown Mountain,
died last Thursday after an illness
of several weeks. He had been in
feeble health for a good while and
his recovery was considered doubt
ful from the time he first took his
bed. Had Mr. Martin lived one
more day he would have been 81
years old.
Besides an aged wife the deceas
ed leaves four sons and and two
daughters, as follows : Messrs. W.
M., R. L., A. H. and Joseph Mar
tin, and Mesdames Myra Simmons
and Christina Webster.
The remains were intered at the
family burying ground last Fri
day, Rev. R. W. George, of Fran
cisco, conducting the funeral ser
vices.
Doctors To Meet April Ist.
The Stokes Medical Society was
to have held a meeting here Sat
urday but owing to the fact that
only four of the members were
present it was decided to postpone
the meeting until the first Mon
day in April, when it is hoped to
have a full attendance. So much
sickness over the county was
doubtless responsible for the small
attendance Saturday.
Petition In Bankruptcy For T. W.
Hylton.
As attorney for creditors, Mr.
W. W. King on last Monday, se
cured from Judge Boyd, at Greens
boro, an order of bankruptcy for
T. W. Hylton. The matter was
referred to Referee in Bankruptcy,
J. E. Alexander, of Winston.
An excursion will be operated
; from Winston to Rounoke, Va., on
I Easter Monday.
days, and said, "come forth Laz
arus," and he stepped forth and
drew the napkin from his jaws
j and the grave clothes off of him
and walked home with his sisters;
keep the words that you spoke
that day and spare my wife." She
lives today, cured by that only
remedy of God.
The day will come to yon, fath
er, mother, man and woman, when
your doctor will pack up his
medicines and go, and when every
instrumentality shall leave; mark
my words, and you will turn your
; eyes toward humans and human
instruments and they will say,
; "there is no remedy," and then is
| the time when that man or woman
| shall turn his eyes from human
| remedy to God and God shall sit
upon bis throne and say, "no rem
! edy." There is no remedy in either
human or instrumental power and
there is no remedy in Heaven for
that poor fellow. "He that being
often reproved and hardeneth his
neck shall suddenly be destroyed
and that without remedy."
I want every man of you here
to settle this question tonight,
either surrender your life right
here tonight, or deliberately make
up your mind to run on to ruin.
You are daring God to His face
to execute His Word on you. If
yon feel that there is more im
portant business • than we have
here you may go, but I tell you
what I want to do. I want to take
the hands of you mothers 1 want
to take the hands of you fathers,
j I want you to stay and, let the
I other people do what they w ill. I
| want all the siuners here tonight
to say, "God help me, I will be a
Christian from this time on." I
want you to come up here and say i
"here is my band and I
every word you have said to
night," and I like the man with
courage to do what his convictions
j tell him to do. Come on now and
| give me your hand and let us pray
[ for you.
Briefs Adrift.
Drs. J. H. Ellington and L. H.
Hill were Danbury visitors Sat
urday.
Mr, J. H. Robertson, of Camp
bell Route 2, was here Friday
night.
Mr. W. W. Mcßrideand wife, of
Campbell Route 2, were in Dan
[ bury Friday.
Attorney J. D. Humphreys visi
ted Winston and Greensboro Fri
day and Saturday.
Mr. J. H. Carter, of Walnut
Cove Route 5, was a visitor at the
Reporter office Thursday.
Mr. D. S. Duncan, of Madison
Route 4, was a welcome visitor at
the Reporter offioe Thursday.
Mr. Dave Hodgin, traveling
salesman for the Odell Hardware
Co., spent Thursday night at the
Taylor Hotel.
Miss Floss Crews returned to
her home at Kernersville Friday
after visiting her sister, Mrs. A.
W. Davis, for several days,
Mrs. W. B. Rucker, of Stuart,
Va., accompanied by little Reaver
McCanless and Mary Noell, spent
the past week visiting relatives
here.
Messrs. C. W. Tilley, Jos. Mar
tin and J. T. Dawson, of Dellar,
were here Wednesday returning
from Winston where they sold a
lot of tobacco at very satisfactory
prices.
Mr. L. A. Duncan, of Dillard,
was here a short while Thursday.
Mr. Duncan has been teaching the
Beaver Dam school in the north
ern part of the county the past
winter.
Mr. J. A. Mabe, of Campbell
Route 2, was here on his way
home from the Winston tobacoo
market Thursday. Mr. Mabe re
ports the weed bringing a fairly
good price but the breaks are very
light.
As will be noticed elsewhere
in this paper Prof. J. T. Smith ex
pects to open school here on April
2nd. A special course for those
expecting to teach wiH be given.
There has recently been a great
scarcity of teachers in Stokes and
Prof. Smith's chief object in open
ing this school is to supply the
needed teachers for our schools.
former Stokes Man Killed.
News reaches here that Houston
Harrison, a former Stokes man,
who resided in the Rock House
section, was last week shot to death
over in Patrick county, Va., by a
man named Scales. The sheoting
occurred near a distillery. Other
particulars were not learned.
Old Board Of Education Re-Appointed.
The old Board of Eduoation for
Stokes was re-appointed by the
Legislature. The board is com
posed of Dr. E. Fulp and Messrs.
N. A. Martin and R. E. Smith.
The first meeting of the board
will be held on the first Monday
in July, at which time they will be
I sworn in and re-organize. A coun
ty Superintendent of Public In
struction will also be appointed at
this meeting. It is more than
| likely that the present incumbent,
Prof. J. T. Smith, will be re-ap
! pointed.
Two Deaths From Scarlet Fever.
Two of the small children of
Mr. and Mrs. Walter Booth, near
Danbury, aged respectively one
and three years, have died from
scarlet fever. The little three
year-old girl died on the 13th and
the other last Wednesday. One of
their other children has the dis
ease but is reported improving.
Mr. and Mrs. Booth have the
sympathy of the entire com
munity in their bereavement.
It is learned that two of the
children of Mr. Billy Lawson, at
Hardbank, are also ill with scarlet
fever.
No. 8