Jump Start # 3991
Matthew 22:37 “And He said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
Throwback Thursday: an article written from the past
The Singing Evangelist
Knowles Shaw was one of Indiana’s famous preachers. His life as an evangelist was relatively short but in the nineteen years he preached, he became nationally known and was one of the most popular preachers in his day.
Shaw was born in 1834 in the state of Ohio. His family moved to Rush County, Indiana. W.D. Frazee, another preacher from this time period wrote the following about Shaw: “Raised in the dense forest of Rush County, Indiana, with a very limited education, noted only as a fiddler, he would go for miles to play for a dance. While playing one night for a party, he suddenly ceased playing…he then said, ‘Boys, never ask me to play again; I intend to lead a different life.’ On the following Lord’s Day he went to the Flat Rock church and at the close of a sermon by George Campbell, he made the good confession” (Reminiscences—Sermons, pg 80-81). Knowles Shaw was baptized in 1852. He preached his first sermon in 1858.
Shaw turned his musical abilities to hymn writing and singing. He wrote 114 hymns, including, We saw Thee not, I am the Vine, Tarry with me O’ my Savior and Bringing in the Sheaves. “He was a fine musician, sang melodiously, and was proficient as an organist” according to Frazee. Shaw stood six foot three inches tall and had a flashing eye and an eloquent voice. Frazee said, “His eccentricities, and the wonderful amount of magnetism he possessed, made him one of the most popular preachers of the nineteenth century. He drew larger audience than any preacher of any denomination.” At one time he informed the Frazee that he had more than 100 letters requesting him to hold meetings. G.I. Hoover, writing about Knowles Shaw in the Christian Standard said, “In the decade from 1860 to 1870 he probably held more successful meetings than any man in the rank of the disciples” (Jan 13, 1940, pg 29).
Shaw, who probably had no peer as a religious showman in his day, in his nineteen years as an evangelist, had preached in nearly all states and baptized 11,000 (Ecksteind, History of Churches of Christ in Texas, pg 183-184). In the book, Hoosier Disciples, Shaw is reported to have converted 20,000 people (Pg. 200). During a meeting in Tipton, Indiana in 1864, Shaw baptized 132 people. The following year at the Jonesville church (Bartholomew County) 138 were added as a result of his preaching. C. M. Wilmeth, editor of the Christian Pioneer after listening first hand to many of Shaw’s sermons, had this impression: “He reasons like Paul; is as bold as Peter and as tender as John; He is natural like Shakespeare; witty like Swift; pathetic like Burns. He is as independent as Beecher; as idiosyncratic as Talmage; and as indefatigable as Moody…During his discourse, you may see him pacing the platform singing some thrilling song of Zion, or seated by the organ, playing some touching sentimental ballad. You may behold him on bent knee, before some cruel king, in tender tones imploring mercy; or perched upon the end of a bench, off in the amen corner, still as a poker and cold as a midnight spook…You may behold the audience baptized in tears…or you may see them convulsed with laughter” (Ecksteind, pg 183-184).
From 1865-1867, Shaw edited a small Sunday School paper called, The Christian’s Friend. Shaw went with the digressive movement which introduced mechanical instruments into worship. In 1875, while in a meeting in Dallas, Shaw introduced the organ into the worship service.
Knowles Shaw lived in Edinburgh, Indiana, for a period of time. It was in Edinburgh that Shaw while helping men harvest wheat, got the idea for the hymn, “Bringing in the Sheaves.” In 1878, having finished a gospel meeting in Dallas, Texas, Knowles Shaw while on the way to McKinney, Texas was killed in a train accident. His body was returned to Rushville, Indiana for burial. The Rushville Republican reported that 2,000 citizens attended the June 13th memorial service for Knowles Shaw.
He goes down in history as “The Singing Evangelist.”
Roger
June, 1992