The mob leader killed on the way

 

 

Rev. I. G. Martin has furnished the writer with the following incident: "Residing in Jackson, Miss., is a colored preacher by the name of C. P. Jones. He has the experience of holiness and the blessing of the Lord accompanies his work, and [he] is one of the leaders of the holiness work of the South, among the colored people.

"One time while he was conducting revival services in a Mississippi city, the opposition and the excitement grew intense. A regular mob was organized with a captain, to drive him out of town. He was accordingly notified that on a certain night he would be mobbed; that they would take him out of the church and kill him.

"Instead of leaving the city, he went to the woods and prayed all day. In the evening the Lord gave him the words of a song which has stirred many hearts since. The history of some of our great songs would be very interesting reading. The words which came to this precious, persecuted man at that lonely spot are as follows:

 

I'm Happy With Jesus Alone

 

There's nothing so precious as Jesus to me;

Let earth with her treasure be gone;

I'm rich as can be when my Savior I see;

I'm happy with Jesus alone.

 

CHORUS:

I'm happy with Jesus alone,

I'm happy with Jesus alone;

Tho' friends all forsake me, thank God I can say,

I'm happy with Jesus alone.

 

When sinful and doomed to a life of despair,

No light on my pathway to shine;

'Twas Jesus who found me and made me an heir,

To mansions of glory divine.

 

'Twas Jesus who called me and showed me the way,

To peace upon earth and in heaven;

'Tis Jesus who teaches me daily to pray,

And walk in the light He has given.

 

Should father and mother forsake me below,

My bed upon earth be a stone,

I'll cling to my Savior, He loves me I know,

I'm happy with Jesus alone.

 

"On an envelope he wrote down the words and hummed off a tune, carrying the tune in his mind.

"At the appointed hour he went to the church as usual and sang his new song, and had the congregation help him.

"While they were singing, a colored man rushed in with a note in his hand. The preacher opened the note and read the contents. It stated that the captain of the mob while on the way to mob the preacher, had just been killed. He was carrying a revolver in his hand, when it dropped to the ground and went off, the bullet piercing his heart. The revival went on, and before it closed he received another note which said, 'By the time you receive this note, I will be in hell.' He went on to say that he was a member of the mob who threatened the preacher's life."

 

From: SIN, THE TELL-TALE By William Edward Shepard, God's Revivalist Press, Ringgold, Young and Channing Sts. Cincinnati, O.

 

 

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