Steve P. Holcombe, the Converted Gambler Part 12

LOUISVILLE, KY., November 15, 1886.

_Dear Brother Dalton:_

I receive no letters that touch my heart more deeply than those I receive from you. Our work is more quiet now. The papers do not notice it so much, but we are doing a good work. It is now more among the unfortunate business men of the city some of whom, were fallen very low. Some who have recently been reclaimed are now first-cla.s.s business men. The old converts are all right and doing well, but they don't stand by me in the work as I wish they would. Oh, for "consecration and concentration."

That is my motto.

My married daughter has got one of the best of husbands and I think they are the happiest couple I know. The rest are all well. I hope you will be blown back this way by some favoring breeze, so we can have your help in our work.

Yours,

S. P. HOLCOMBE.

TO THE SAME.

LOUISVILLE, KY., January 6, 1887.

_Dear Brother Dalton:_

Our work is going on grandly again. You can see from the papers I am kept as busy as a bee. You must know from the number that come that my time is all taken up in nursing them. Hence, I can not write long letters, however much I would like to.

Hope to see you soon.

Yours,

S. P. HOLCOMBE.

TO THE SAME.

LOUISVILLE, KY., October 28, 1887.

_S.P. Dalton, Cleveland, Ohio:_

DEAR BROTHER DALTON: Yours of the 17th is received. I am glad you are an active worker in the church, and that they have shown their appreciation of you by making you a steward in the church.

I believe you will render a good account of your stewards.h.i.+p.

The main thing for you to guard against is _care_. Remember, always when you think you are too busy to pray in secret, read the Bible, go to the meetings, etc., what Jesus said to Martha: "Thou art careful and troubled about many things."

I am trying to be a faithful servant. G.o.d is blessing my humble efforts. The converts are sticking and the work is growing. Most of the converts are prospering in business. Some that were in the gutter are now making from fifty to two hundred dollars a month.

Your friend and brother in Christ,

S. P. HOLCOMBE.

TO THE SAME.

LOUISVILLE, KY., May 11, 1888.

_Dear Brother Dalton:_

Yours of the 9th to hand. Glad to hear of your continued success in business. You are a great man, but a man who is so prosperous in business must keep his eyes open.

Remember to give to the Lord all that belongs to Him of every dollar you earn. John Wesley's motto is hard to improve on: "Make all you can, save all you can, give all you can." And oh!

what sweetness there is in giving. Never get too busy to do some Christian work. We have just had Murphy at Louisville, for a month.

Good-bye,

STEVE P. HOLCOMBE.

[3]LETTERS TO MR. HOLCOMBE.

[3] A few of the letters to Mr. Holcombe have been selected out of several hundreds.

_Mr. Holcombe:_

I have heard and read so much of your influence and prayers for men leading dissolute lives, that I am going to ask you if you won't find my husband and stay and pray with him until he is saved. The other night, when he was drinking very hard, he appealed to me to send for you to pray for him. He has much confidence in your prayers, and believes in your life; I have often heard him say so. He has a n.o.ble, loving disposition, and forgiving; so you need not be afraid of offending him. His whole heart would forever offer thanksgivings for his delivery from drink; for it is that that he prays for. I have thought that, perhaps, G.o.d intended salvation to come to him through you; and how earnestly I pray that it may. So much has been done, and so many prayers offered for him, won't you please, at your next opportunity, find him and talk and pray with him? You would make a miserable, lonely woman's life happy again. We have been so happy together, so congenial, so well mated; and if G.o.d will answer all our united prayers, happiness will return to our hearts tenfold. Oh, Mr. Holcombe, pray the prayer of faith, and my heart will ever turn in grateful acknowledgment to G.o.d for making you the humble instrument of my much-loved husband's salvation. Won't you go now immediately and wrestle for and with him in prayer?

Believe me, most earnestly, your co-worker in prayer for his salvation.

MRS. H.

BIRMINGHAM, ALA., May 12, 1888.

_Dear Brother Holcombe:_

I hope you will not think hard of me for asking you to write once more to my husband. I feel so confident it will stir up a remembrance of his conversion. Oh, brother, don't give up helping me. Try to save my husband. It nearly kills me to see him come home full of the destroying thing called whisky; and it seems to have such a strong hold on him. All the imploring I can do will not change him at all. I have grieved until my life is almost grieved away. But oh, G.o.d will surely hear my cry after a while. If I could give my life to save my husband's soul, I would willingly, yes, gladly, do it. Brother Holcombe, what do you think about this plan? If you can get one of the converts whom my husband knows, and one who has been a great drunkard, to write a friendly, brotherly letter to him, don't you think that might do some good? Oh, I have thought of so many plans and ways to try and get him back to the Lord. I am sorry to say that the city of Birmingham is the most wicked place I have ever seen; so few Christians, and they are not working. I do fervently hope G.o.d will send some one here who is like yourself, not ashamed to work for the lost. I hope you will write, Brother Holcombe. Pray for me; and oh, do ask all the friends there to pray for my husband.

Mrs. P.

LOUISVILLE, KY., December 3d.

_Brother Holcombe:_

Will you ask the prayers of your people in behalf of my skeptical son-in-law. He is a talented man, but he is using his influence against his best friend. My poor child is suffering the penalty for marrying an infidel. If I dared tell you how desperate the case, I am sure your heart would be troubled to its depths. Do pray that this man may be led into the light of the Gospel, and become a better husband, father and citizen.

A SUFFERING MOTHER.