ELDER JACOB KNAPP.

Elder Jacob Knapp, the famous evangelist, was so endued with power from on high that his name at one time was almost a synonym for spiritual power. So many people professed conversion in his meetings that he finally lost count of them, and he gave up the effort after he passed the hundred thousand mark.

Elder Knapp was a pioneer in evangelistic work. He was probably the first man, at least in the Northern part of the United States, to devote his entire time to evangelistic work. There were few evangelists in those days. This important New Testament office was well nigh neglected. This was no doubt partly owing to the prevalence of Old School Calvinism. Calvinists of the Old School believed that God would save His own elect in His own way and in His own time, without the urgent appeals of evangelists. They were afraid that evangelists would persuade those who were not God's elect to make a profession of religion. Many would not even pray for the salvation of their own children for fear that they might not be among God's elect. This belief has been one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of all hindrances to evangelistic work. The labors of Wesley, and of the great evangelists, Finney and Moody, did much to overthrow this fatalistic belief. But Elder Knapp met with much opposition from his well-meaning but deluded hyper-Calvanistic brethren, and yet his labors were so richly blessed of

God that great multitudes were converted to Christ under

his ministry.

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Jacob Knapp was born in the State of New York, Dec. 7, 1779. His parents were in moderate circumstances. They were Episcopalians, and Knapp was brought up to attend church and was taught the Creed and Catechism from his infancy. "My mind," says he, was early, and at times, deeply impressed with divine truth. From the first of my remembrance I had seasons of secret prayer, and of deep anxiety about the future welfare of my soul; but I was not led to hope in Christ until the summer of my seventeenth year, when it pleased God to take from me my dear mother."

The death of his mother made a deep impression upon him and drove him to prayer, studying his Bible, and to the house of God, with more earnestness than he had ever felt before. He was under so deep conviction of sin that he could find no rest of soul. "I often repaired to the barn or grove in the silent hours of the night, and poured out my soul in prayer to God," says he. He was so distressed about his soul that his health began to decline. "At length," says he, "one Lord's day morning, I took my Bible and hymn-book, and repaired to the woods, with a determination never to return without relief to my soul. I went some distance from human sight or hearing, laid myself down on a grassy knoll, and prayed and read, and read and prayed." He prayed earnestly and suffered much agony of soul. "But," says he, "to the joy and rapture of my soul, after a short space of time passed in this condition, my load of guilt was gone. I rose up quickly, turned my eyes toward heaven, and thought I saw Jesus descending with His arms extended for my reception. My soul leaped within me, and I broke forth into singing praises to the blessed Saviour. The sweet melodies of the

birds seemed to make harmony with the songs, and, as I looked around, the sun shone with a lustre not its own, the majestic trees, swaying to the gentle breeze, appeared to bow in sweet submission to the will of heaven. All nature smiled, and everything, animate and inanimate, praised God with a voice (though unheard before) too loud and too plain to be misunderstood."

Even after so bright a conversion, Knapp relapsed into a back-slidden state, after ten months or a year, and became so wicked as to make sport of religion. But conviction of sin often pierced his heart like a dagger and he often had great compunctions of conscience. Finally he promised to attend a dance. There was a prayer-meeting in the Baptist Church on the same night. He became so overwhelmed with the thought of his sinfulness that he went to the prayer-meeting instead of to the dance, and there, within hearing of the dancing music, he and several companions wept and prayed their way back to God. This was the means of bringing about a revival in the place, and sixty of the young people were led to Christ. Knapp was then baptized and united with the Baptist Church, and soon became an earnest worker for the salvation of souls. He organized prayer-meetings in the neighborhood of his home, and a number of souls were won to Christ.

When he was about twenty years of age, his father wanted to give him a farm and means to start life for himself, but Jacob had great desires and ambitions for an education. He felt that God was calling him to the work of the ministry. By doing chores and working hard during vacation, and after many severe trials from poverty and ignorance he at last managed to obtain a fair education. He had prayed much in secret that God would discipline his mind and provide for his daily needs. During