A
WORK ON REVIVALS
AND SKETCHES IN THE
LIFE AND PREACHING OF
ELDER JAMES M. SMITH
,A BAPTIST MINISTER FOR THIRTY-FIVE YEARS.
INDIANAPOLIS: PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR. 1881.
CONTENTS.
- CHAPTER I.
A Brief Account of My Life and Conversion—Call to Preach the Gospel up to the Time of my Ordination, July 13, 18443 - CHAPTER II.
An Account of my Life and Work for the First Five Years after Ordination, Ending December, 1849"37 - CHAPTER III.
In Which I Give a Narrative of my Life and Preaching in Revival Work for the Five Years Commencing the 1st of January, 1850, and Ending December, 1854 58 - CHAPTER IV.
In Which I Give an Account of my Preaching and Labors in Revivals for the Period of Five Years Ending the Last of December, 185988 - CHAPTER V.
In Which I Give an Account of my Preaching and Labors in Revivals for the Period of Five Years Ending the Last of December, 1864 115 - page: [iv][View Page [iv]]
- CHAPTER VI.
In Which I Give a Brief Account of the Preaching and Revivals that I Labored in During the Period of Five Years Commencing January I, 1865, and Ending the Last of December, 1869 143 - CHAPTER VII.
In Which I Give an Account of My Preaching and Labors in Revival Work for the Period of Five Years Ending the Last Day of December, 1874173 - CHAPTER VIII.
In Which I Give an Account of my Preaching and Labor in the Period of Five Years Commencing the 1st Day of January and Ending the 31st of December, 1879203 - CHAPTER IX.
A Synopsis of the Preceding Pages, which Gives a Particular Account of my Preaching and Work in Revivals for Thirty- five Years, Ending the Thirty-first Day of December, 1879.232 - CHAPTER X.
An Article on and Narrative of the Primitive Revivals of Religion, how it is Obtained and Promoted, as Given by Christ and the Apostles237 - CHAPTER XI.
On the Subject of Missions249 - CHAPTER XII.
On the Subject of Revivals and How to Obtain Them, and the Blessings of Them to the Church and Communities256 - page: [v][View Page [v]]
- CHAPTER XIII.
On God's Cal! to the Unconverted263 - CHAPTER XIV.
On Some Sketches of the History of the Baptist Denomination in the United States of America, and the Men and Means They are Using to Carry on their Work270 - CHAPTER XV.
On the Subject of Temperance287 - CHAPTER XVI.
A Tribute to my Wife, Elizabeth J. Smith291 - CHAPTER XVII.
A Skeleton or Outline of a Sermon on the Text, Hebrews ii, 3: "How shall we Escape if we Neglect so great Salvation."293
PREFACE.
As I have kept a journal, or diary, giving an account of my travels, preaching and
labors, especially in over one hundred revivals of religion in Indiana, Iowa and Missouri,
I have been impressed and solicited by friends to write a book of about two hundred and
fifty or three hundred pages, giving an account of the most interesting meetings that I
have preached and labored in, showing the methods and means that were used to promote
revival work in the churches and destitute communities; and as I was one of the pioneer
preachers in Southwestern Iowa, commenced at Bedford, Iowa, in 1854, when there were but
three churches of Baptists in fifteen counties in Southwestern Iowa, and as I labored and
preached in that field for about seventeen years, and saw the church rise up and was
connected with it to a state of prosperity, from the little beginning to four associations
with about eighty churches and numbering about four thousand members, having a good
Baptist meeting-house in nearly all the county seats in all these fifteen counties, and a
great many in the villages and country places, hoping and praying that the following pages
may be a help in the future to revive religion and save sinners, even when I am dead and
gone.
JAMES M. SMITH.
