Prayer Evangelist: The Ministry of Edward M. Bounds

Introduction

As an evangelist he would not be judged as greatly successful by any worldly means of measuring success. He did not preach to millions, lead a worldwide evangelistic association, or attract a wide following during his lifetime. He constantly lived on the margin of poverty,¹ wrote down insights gained in three-hour prayer sessions on scraps of paper, and relied on God to meet his material needs. Edward McKendree Bounds was a small, quiet man who, at times, seemed overbearing and reclusive. He was misunderstood by most of his contemporaries because his words could be stronger than those which most pastors dared speak. He was thought strange by his south Georgia neighbors because it appeared that he could not provide for his own family and lived off of his wife’s relations. As one learns more about this man who toiled endlessly in prayer and devotion to Christ one realizes how insufficient standard measures of success are for determining the kingdom impact of a life so otherworldly as Edward Bounds’.

The purpose of this work is to present a brief but full biography of Brother Bounds, while exploring significant vignettes from his pastoral and evangelical ministries. Following this, the theological views of conversion contained in the editorials and articles Bounds wrote in the Christian Advocate will be examined. Finally, contributions made to the work of evangelism and the continuing legacy of E.M. Bounds will be examined.

If it was not for the profound influence Bounds came to exercise upon Homer W. Hodge, from whom he secured a pledge to edit and publish his writings, most of his books would have remained unknown.² In his writings he affirmed the doctrines that were under attack by the modernist tendencies rising within his own Methodist Episcopal Church South while exhorting all who read them to establish personal piety in a central position of their own Christian faith. He was appalled by the lack of devotion he observed from layman and clergy alike. His passion for Christ caused him to rise at four in the morning and kept him in prayer until seven a.m. everyday.³

E. M. Bounds was born on August 15, 1835, the fifth of six children,⁴ to Hester A. Purnell and Thomas Jefferson Bounds. Thomas J. Bounds had moved his family west, seeking to secure land and improve his family’s place in the world. He and his wife were faithful Methodists who worked hard. He designed the town of Shelbyville, Missouri, and was elected and reelected as County Clerk. He prospered in the new town and his family grew; by all measures their move west had paid off. The family was prosperous enough that his father could afford to rent the services of two slaves, a mother and daughter, to help Mrs. Bounds with household duties. Then, at the age of forty-eight, Thomas J. Bounds died; Edward was fourteen.⁵ The same year of his father’s death, he and his nineteen year old brother Charles, sought their fortunes in the California Gold Rush of 1849. It was said that they were “the only two boys who went across the plains—and carried their religion with them.”⁶ What Bounds learned of human nature and greed during his experiences in the mines was likely used later by God to enable him to never be swayed by the transitory riches of this world.⁷

Upon returning from the gold mines of California, he studied law, and at the age of nineteen, he took and passed the bar. For five years he practiced law in Hannibal, Missouri. His law practice blossomed due in part to the good name his father had within Shelby County and his own diligence. From 1857-1858 America was experiencing a great spiritual awakening. During this time a Methodist Episcopal Church just north of Hannibal, in LaGrange, began a brush-arbor meeting with the evangelist Smith Thomas preaching.⁸ The spirit of God moved mightily in these meetings, and either during these meetings or shortly thereafter E.M. Bounds experienced a second blessing through which the Holy Spirit empowered him to tell others about Christ.⁹His Call and Early Pastorates

Shortly after his experience with the Holy Spirt he quit the law and for two years studied at the Centenary Seminary of the First Methodist Episcopal Church South in Palmyra, Missouri. After he completed his courses he was accepted for trial approval in 1860 and became pastor of the Monticello circuit.¹⁰ The first shots of the Civil War were fired at Ft. Sumter on April 12, 1861, ushering in four bloody years of war.¹¹ Later that fall Bounds was given an assignment that amazed him. He was to pastor the Brunswick Station Methodist Church. This was one of the larger churches in the area, and he was shocked that someone with his limited experience would be assigned to such a church. Brunswick, Missouri, was a growing town which sat on a hill overlooking the Missouri River and was the hometown of Confederate General Sterling Price. With Bounds’ two eldest brothers, Thomas and Charles, having joined the Union Army shortly after the war began, and his own pastoral duties demanding that he perform funerals for Confederate and Union families alike, his allegiances were torn.

Having been reared in the border state of Missouri where slavery was legal, Bounds had seen its cruelty first hand. His family had treated the slaves who helped his mother kindly, but he knew that there were other slaves whose owners were less considerate, even cruel. President Lincoln had sent Union forces into Missouri to prevent it from seceding and joining the Confederacy. Under the strain of these days there were abuses committed by Union forces, the most notable of which was the St. Louis massacre¹² that occurred on May 10, 1861. Soon persons who had been neutral in their leanings were forced to decision, and most began to sympathize with the South. By September of 1862, the situation had so destabilized that martial law was declared. During this heightened sense of hostilities, because South was in the name of his denomination, Bounds’ name appeared on a list of two hundred and fifty men who were to be apprehended and given an opportunity to pledge allegiance to the Union. Seeing no reason why his allegiances should be questioned, he made up his mind to refuse to take the oath. Soon after this list was published, while working in the church at Brunswick Station and having made no attempts to resist, he was arrested under the suspicion of holding southern sympathies.¹³

There is little doubt that during the eighteen months of incarceration Bounds was mistreated by his Union captors. On December 31, 1862, by order of Major General Curtis, he was released behind Confederate lines in a prisoner exchange. Within the order of the release was the stipulation that he not be allowed to return to Missouri for the remainder of the war.¹⁴ After taking an oath to the Confederate States, he was now officially a rebel, serving with the Third Missouri Regiment¹⁵ as chaplain. He saw fierce action at Vicksburg; Kennesaw Mountain; and Franklin, Tennessee.¹⁶ His chaplaincy occurred on the front lines where he believed the greatest need existed, leaving the rear echelon for the ministry of others. Chaplain Bounds’ interest in evangelizing the troops was illustrated by the fact that, when sent to Jackson, Mississippi, for the purpose of retrieving medical supplies, he also went to the local Methodist college where he spent the night and procured “a fresh supply of Bibles, tracts, and newspapers.”¹⁷ During the winter of 1863, Bounds’ Missouri regiment was camped near Greensboro, Alabama. He developed a friendship with the President of Southern University, a Methodist Episcopal South University, Dr. William May Wightman. He invited Bounds to preach in the university chapel. God greatly blessed this service and revival broke out and spread through the region.¹⁸ Soon, however, the lull in the war ceased and the Missourians moved north toward Franklin, Tennessee. Prior to this bloody battle Bounds was on the front line praying with anyone who wanted to pray. When the five-hour battle was over the Confederate Army had lost 1,500 men with another 5,500 were wounded or captured. E.M. Bounds was once more a prisoner of the Union Army. After the battle the Confederate dead were buried in mass graves. This time, when asked to take an oath of allegiance to the government of the United States, Bounds agreed. After a brief return home to Missouri, Bounds returned to Franklin to attempt to properly bury his fellow Missourians.

While in Franklin, he was asked to pastor the war-torn Methodist Episcopal Church, which he served for two years. He was able to convince the McGavock family to donate a plot of ground for the creation of a cemetery to properly bury the Confederate soldiers. They agreed, and soon thereafter John D. Miller accepted the task of building coffins and securing their internment. As news of the cemetery spread, money began to pour in to pay for its costs. In the midst of fund raising and administering the burial of the Confederate dead in this new cemetery, the Tennessee Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church South met and on October 28, 1866, they raised E.M. Bounds to the office of elder.¹⁹

When peace finally arrived he was assigned pastorates in Selma and Eufuala, Alabama. In the deep South after Lincoln’s assassination, radical Republicans exacted a high penalty during years of reconstruction. Often reaction to this retribution from carpetbaggers by southern peoples was, to say the very least, less than Christian. During these episodes of civil strife after the war, the record shows that E.M. Bounds worked to smooth over problems by acting as a peacemaker, reminding all who would listen to him of Jesus’ injunction to love your enemy, and placing himself in harm’s way ²⁰ when necessary.

While conducting a funeral at Eufaula, he first saw and fell in love with “the most beautiful woman in all the world,”²¹ Emma Elizabeth Barnett. Her father was the Methodist minister Dr. A.W. Barnett. As his relationship with Emma developed, he was reassigned to St. Paul’s Methodist Church South in St. Louis.

Back in Missouri, Marriage and Family

His Bishop realized while he served the St. Paul Methodist Church for four years²² “that he was gifted in building and reviving the church.”²³ “St. Paul’s . . . was a young church with a new building . . . The following year . . . Pictorial St. Louis noted that ‘it was a new organization, but increasing rapidly in numbers and influence.’”²⁴ While serving at St. Paul’s Bounds found that he continued to have thoughts and feelings for Emma Barnett of Eufuala. They were married in September almost one year after he moved to St. Louis, Missouri. All indications are that he and Emma were devoted to Christ and one another.

After four years at St. Paul’s, the Bishop next gave him the difficult assignment of pastoring the prestigious First Methodist Church of St. Louis. So strong was his emphasis on personal piety and reaching out to the poor that it may be surmised that this congregation, who expected some measure of social grace and accommodation from their pastor, were not unhappy when he was reassigned to another pulpit.²⁵ Bounds was not the accommodating type, and he served this congregation for only one year.²⁶ The Bishop’s experiment over, he moved Bounds back to St. Paul’s where he served for two more years until, in 1883, the conference called him to become the associate editor of The St. Louis Advocate.²⁷ In November of 1877, after fourteen months of marriage, Emma Bounds had a daughter, Celeste. Another daughter, Corneille, followed about two years later. Then, in February of 1884, a son, Edward, was born. All was not well in Bounds’ household, however; Emma was sick. She went south, back to Eufaula, to recover in the warmer climate but this did not help. On February 20, 1886, Emma Bounds died, leaving E.M. Bounds a single father of three children, ages eight, six and two.²⁸ When he returned to his post he wrote an article entitled “In Memory;” a brief excerpt follows.

She combined the artless purity of a child with the dignity and grace of a woman. A quick, acute, and playsome fancy, a strong tenacious will with no mixture of obstinacy or self. For nine years, she brightened my life and the shadows came at her going: shadows which are relieved but not lifted by the rich legacy of deathless, tearful, holy memories which she left.²⁹

Before Emma died, concerned about who would care for her children, she extracted a promise from her husband that he would marry her cousin, Harriet Barnett. On October 25, 1887, in a wedding ceremony conducted by Emma’s father, E.M. Bounds married Hattie Barnett of Washington, Georgia. She was twenty-one years younger than the now fifty-two-year-old Bounds. By all accounts this was a happy marriage. The next year, on July 4, 1888, Hattie had a son whom they named Samuel Barnett Bounds after her father.

Things were looking bright in the Bounds home; he and Hattie had been married for a little over two years and they had one son already, and she was expecting again. Bounds received an opportunity to advance his career by becoming assistant editor of the official paper of his denomination, the Christian Advocate. He accepted and soon was preparing to move his family from St. Louis to Nashville. Then, on July 11, Hattie had another son whom she named Charles Rees after E.M.’s brother. Within the month the brightness dimmed, as Bounds’ eldest son, Edward, died.³⁰ The death was a shock because he had been healthy only weeks before. The storm was not over, though, and the following year, just after his first birthday, Charles died³¹ just as suddenly and unexpectedly as his brother. Between February of 1886 and July of 1890, Bounds had lost his first wife and two sons. The pain he felt was not hidden. He expressed it in letters and articles, but the burden was borne always with faith and hope of heaven.³² As the couple dealt with their grief, other children were born. A boy whom they named Osborne Stone was born on February 29, 1892, and a girl, Elizabeth, on September 29, 1893. In May of 1894, with five surviving children ranging in age from seventeen and eight months, the fifty-nine-year-old Bounds would, over matters of conscious with his denomination, quietly resign his position at the Christian Advocate and move to the home of his in-laws in Washington, Georgia, to pray, write, and preach only occasionally.

Bounds would live out the remainder of his life in his wife’s childhood home. Preaching engagements were few, but he seems to not have despaired. He rose at four and prayed until seven as usual, but now, following the family’s devotion, he would return to pray for the lost and write, sometimes long into the night. It was not until his seventieth year that Bounds met Homer Hodge. In Hodge, Bounds found someone to whom he could teach the lessons he had learned in prayer over the years, and from Hodge, Bounds secured a commitment to continue to publish his books after his death. He would live to see only two of his books published, Preacher and Prayer and The Resurrection, in 1907. On August 9, 1913, E.M. Bounds died. Contained in the last notes he sent to Hodge were words of encouragement like, “Let your mind live in the spirit of Prayer”; “God will manage your affairs if we will be filled with His affairs,” and then a final note written in Hattie’s hand, “Tell him he is on the right line; press it. Have a high standard and hold to it.”³³

His Ministry

E.M. Bounds pastored eight churches between his initial call and his becoming assistant editor of the St. Louis Christian Advocate. While records are incomplete for the churches he pastored before the war, we have enough records from his churches following the war to establish that churches grew under his care. Three pastorates stand out: Franklin Methodist Church, in Franklin, Tennessee; First Methodist Episcopal Church South in Eufaula, Alabama; and First Methodist Church of St. Louis, Missouri.

Bounds as Pastor

As soon as he was released by Union forces Bounds came in contact with the church in Franklin. He found them in great need of spiritual leadership. Bounds was able to persuade the Union Colonel Opedyke to vacate the church and grounds which he had occupied since March of 1862.³⁴ During his ministry in Franklin the church was blessed by a great revival in which one hundred and fifty people were converted. This revival occurred as the result of God-honoring prayer.

What Bounds immediately did was search out a half dozen men who really believed in the power of prayer. With these fellows the young pastor met every Tuesday night. They got on their knees together and prayed for revival—for themselves, the church, and the town. For over a year this faithful band called upon the Lord ‘until God finally answered by fire. The revival just came down without any previous announcement or plan, and without the pastor sending for an evangelist to help him.’ The revival lasted for several weeks.³⁵

Also while serving in Franklin, the young man B.F. Haynes, who would become the third president of Asbury College, “went forward at altar call, made a ‘public confession of committal to Christ, was accepted, and on the following Sunday assumed the vows of church membership.’”³⁶ He later wrote of Bounds . . .

When I was only a lad there came to Franklin, Tennessee, where we lived, as pastor of our church, the Reverend E. M. Bounds whose preaching and life did more to mould and settle my character and experience than any pastor I ever had. His preaching profoundly impressed me, his prayers linger until today, as one of the holiest and sweetest memories of my life, his reading of hymns was simply inimitable. Nothing was sweeter, tenderer, or more enrapturing to my young mind than the impressive, unctuous reading of the old Wesleyan hymns by this young pastor . . .. I never hear these hymns today or think of them that the scene is not reenacted of the little black-eyed, black haired pastor with voice of ineffable tenderness, and life of immaculate purity, and heart of divine love standing in the pulpit, of the old Methodist Church . . . reading one of these matchless hymns in a spirit, tone and manner that simply poured life, hope, peace and holy longings into my boyish heart.³⁷

In the fall of 1871, Bounds was assigned to pastor the First Methodist Episcopal Church South of Eufaula, Alabama.³⁸ While pastoring in Eufaula, Bounds received an invitation to preach in a meeting of the La Place Methodist Church. He agreed to do so for three days. The power of God was so mighty in these meetings that, by the third night the meetings were moved outdoors to accommodate the crowds. The meeting then had to be moved to the much larger First Church of Tuskagee, where it was extended for two weeks. When his duties as pastor in Eufaula pressed him to leave, many were distressed that the revival would cease. He responded to their concerns by saying, “If it is of God, it will last, for God will abide in His meeting. If it is not of God, it should end, and it will.”³⁹ Apparently the meeting was of God because they continued to meet for weeks.

At some point following his return to Eufaula, Bounds raised eyebrows among the residents of this south Alabama community when,

With great personal rejoicing, on August 29, [1872], Bounds performed the wedding ceremony of Mr. Washington Poison and Miss Mary Sayers. The community was astonished that the pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church South would perform the wedding for two Negroes. But Washington was a dear man who had served Bounds very diligently. And although it was not socially acceptable, Bounds felt it was scripturally and spiritually proper to honor this man and his bride by marrying them.⁴⁰

His ministry in Eufaula grew, and soon the congregation was in need of a larger building. As they began to build, services were moved to a local hall where they began a protracted meeting. During this meeting “forty-seven people had ‘connected themselves’ with the church.”⁴¹ Within the year the building was completed and dedicated. During his ministry in Eufaula, the adult membership increased by a factor of four.

All of his pastorates were not such glowing successes. One in particular is notable for its lack of accomplishment. After serving the St. Paul’s Church with such good results, Bounds was placed in the exclusive First Church. While serving First Methodist of St. Louis, he did away with the pew rental system and advertised locally, “SEATS FREE. ALL ARE WELCOME IN GOD’S HOUSE.”⁴² He continued to reach out to the community and gave the following flier to his members;

TO THE MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH

If you would grow in grace give attention to the means of grace in the Church. Every member of the Church has covenanted to attend upon its ordinances and support its institutions. Give the Pastor your cooperation and your prayers. Attend to private devotion: Keep your heart right and your influence will take care of itself. Be attentive to the sick, the poor and to strangers. Speak to strangers in the congregation, and, if possible, introduce them to the Pastor. When you change residence notify the Pastor by card.⁴³

Apparently the congregation notified the Bishop that the pastor needed to change residences, because he was in this position for less than two years, when they returned to St. Paul’s. Even though all was not successful at this church, years later the St. Louis Annual Conference would commemorate his service stating;

His pastorate in St. Louis not only sifted out the sand and relaid the foundation of the faith of people, but set a new standard for his brethren in the ministry for holy living and faithful service. There were some triumphs in prayer in those days when he met each week with . . . , fellow pastors.⁴⁴

The best summation Bounds gives of his philosophy of ministry is given in an article appearing in the Christian Advocate. He wrote;

The pastor goes where the people live. He binds them to him by the mightest of attractive forces, the forces that are in the heart of a Christly preacher. He is one of them. His life’s current mingles with theirs. His presence and frequent loving visits creates an interest in religion and in the Church, . . . The interest thus created is contagious . . . God’s work cannot be done long range. God’s people cannot be saved at arms length. Close to the people, one of them in their homes, in their hearts, in their lives, must he be who saves them. . . . The people’s instincts and suffrages are toward the true man. A true man will draw them.⁴⁵

E.M. Bounds practiced what he preached.⁴⁶ Certainly the church of today and every age needs more pastors with this kind of character. Bounds would say that such men would “mold a generation.”⁴⁷Bounds as a Voice of Conscience

In the late eighteen hundreds German rationalism greatly affected Bounds Methodist denomination.⁴⁸ According to these German scholars the Scriptures contained, “the kernel of truth” which must be separated “from its outer covering of myth.”⁴⁹ Many within Bounds own denomination had been particularly led astray by this teaching. Others during this time placed more emphasis on the social aspects of the gospel while giving less emphasis to evangelism. Bounds was always willing to personally help the poor,⁵⁰ and never neglected evangelization.⁵¹ He did not write so vociferously against the social gospel movement as he did against rationalism. This was probably because he understood that rationalistic thought enabled those in the social gospel movement to de-emphasize the priority of evangelism.

Bounds used his position at the Christian Advocate, the official paper of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, to speak out forcefully and with great passion against the errors of these modern ideas. He wrote two articles in his final year at the Christian Advocate entitled “The Modern Idea,” that revealed his understanding of the dynamics involved in the rationalistic debate taking place within his denomination. He wrote;

The Modern idea is essentially rational. It has no special regard for revelation, no great reverence for authority. . . . rationalism, under the cover of modern ideas or thought, is affecting the granite foundations of God’s truth. . . . It is marvelously strange how widespread are false views of Christ, his atonement, the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgement. These pernicious views are found in literature, commentary, exposition; they are clothed in such attractive garb, and found in so many places that they fix themselves in thought before we are aware of it, and we have so little knowledge of the Bible that we cannot detect the counterfeit. It comes to pass that views always rejected by the great body of believers as unscriptural are deferred to without scrutiny or protest.⁵²

Bounds also wrote articles confirming the major theological tenets of his Wesleyan Holiness beliefs. Within these articles he also included his prescriptions for ridding the church of every vestige of these rationalistic beliefs. In an article entitled “Original Sin” he wrote;

. . . rationalism has swept over the land, and for a while hidden the truth. We admit the changed attitude toward this doctrine, but the change is no greater in regard to original sin than it is toward the inspiration of the Bible, the atonement, the resurrection of the Body, or the eternal punishment of the wicked. All these doctrines, for the time being are weakened, perverted, obscured, or denied . . . Every doctrine of the Bible that is not continuously preached dies out of the faith of the people . . . this age requires a loyal and militant campaign for God’s great truths. An unsheathed sword is the only preserver and defender of God’s truth . . . A militant ministry, aggressive at every point, with holy boldness, is the only conserving force for God’s revealed truth.⁵³

Having lived through the depravation of civil war and having served with men who had so courageously fought to defend a truth which they believed in, state’s rights, Bounds was disgusted by how docile his fellow ministers were at defending the greater truths of Christ’s church. He believed that monetary concerns and fear of losing the prestige of denominational office prevented many of his contemporaries from standing up for scriptural truths. Over and over again he wrote correctives prodding preachers to speak forcefully for the truth.⁵⁴ He wanted pastors to fight against these errors in their churches. He wrote;

Peace is a good thing, but it may cost too much. Many a Church buys a peace at a greater price. Many a pastor surrenders the crown jewels of Christ that he may not have trouble. A conflict is a painful thing. A Church trouble may be an evil, but the evils of conflict and troubles are not to be compared with the evils of a surrender to the worldly tendencies which are so rampant in many a Church.⁵⁵

Bounds wrote many articles reflecting his desire to embolden pastors to stand up for the truth of Scripture against these heretical views and to live holy lives completely committed to Christ.⁵⁶ The fierceness of Bounds’s passion for purifying pulpits is illustrated well in the article titled “Sensation Does Not Edify” wherein he takes on a Dr. Talmage⁵⁷ by name, writing;

The ministry that does not edify is a failure. No kind of polish or paint, no personal magnetism, no drawing forces can atone for the absence of this building up. This should be the chief object of every pastor. It is his hardest work. In whatever measure sensation is found in preaching, to that extent the gospel is vitiated. Sensation in the pulpit rots the spiritual seed and impoverishes the spiritual soil. Dr. Talmage draws, he has a large membership of 4,000; but the size of the crowd drawn is no token of the good done, drawing does not make character, nor are numbers the symbol of spiritual power . . . Crowds thus drawn have no taste for the real business of religion. Itching ears they have, but itching ears never pray or pay; this is too serious a business for them . . . The building of spiritual character is not done by gush or flush. It is a slow, painstaking, toilsome work. . . . The simple gospel draws mightily, and draws to save. The true gospel edifies; sensation does not. The pure gospel controls money; sensation cannot. The gospel edifies spiritual character; sensation dilapidates it.⁵⁸

Consider the subjects of the books that he would write in light of the editorial comments and many articles written in the 1890s, and it is clear how forcefully he felt that the truths of the faith should be defended. When he could no longer continue to work from his denominations paper, he did not cease his defense of the truth, but instead continued by writing books that defended these vital truths as well as his now famous books on prayer.

Bounds’ theological views. It is difficult to state the theology of E.M. Bounds unequivocally because he never intentionally wrote down his theological positions. One must glean his theological positions from his various writings. For the purposes of this discussion we will constrain ourselves to a brief summary of statements concerning conversion. He wrote that man was “depraved . . . man’s natural spirit and foundations are all crooked and warped when the straightedge of God’s law is laid to them.”⁵⁹ Bounds believed that the only hope man had for overcoming his nature was to be born again. He held that the self effort of humans was not enough to reform man’s nature, man needed nothing less than to “be born again.”⁶⁰ He also believed that “conviction is the first step in repentance” and that “the Holy Ghost [is] the convicting agent.”⁶¹ Guilt for sin would be felt by those truly converted. He wrote, the church had suffered because of those brought in “by pleasant methods, attractive inducement, and easy conditions, without conviction for sin, without sorrow for its guilt, and without experience for its pardon.”⁶²

Bounds was Wesleyan Holiness. One would expect, therefore, that he would hold a view of prevenient grace⁶³ and complete sanctification.⁶⁴ Thus far this researcher has not found Bounds’s views of grace clearly elaborated. He did write that “It belongs to God’s grace in our hearts to change our natural tendencies . . . This involves a change of desire, of feeling, and of taste. The real Christian loses relish for worldly ways, the ways of folly, of indulgence, and of sin.”⁶⁵ This brief snippet is clearly not enough from which to reconstruct Bounds’s theology of grace, but it does show that he believed God acted on the human heart, changing its desires. He wrote an article that positively presented the testimony of a Methodist woman discussing complete sanctification, and in the article’s conclusion he stated, “She got the genuine article with its genuine fruit. This seeking after God and more of him till he fills soul and life is what Methodism needs to prepare it for God’s greatness and crown its people with a religion that will separate them from the world”⁶⁶ While it cannot be said that E.M. Bounds revitalized evangelistic methodology, it may be said that he revived the passion for God in many which, after all, is the precursor for developing a passion for souls. His book Preacher and Prayer should be viewed by pastors and evangelists alike as a quality-control manual for their spirit. In his writings and through his example, he has provided every pastor and evangelist a standard of spiritual excellence. His meager lifestyle and conscientious voice stand in sharp contrast to the materialism and political correctness present in many pulpits today.

Bounds’ contributions to evangelism. Bounds would rebuke us today for not emphasizing the costs of discipleship and plainly presenting the consequences of refusing Christ when we seek to win the lost. He believed that “the Holy Ghost is the only drawing power that draws to save—a fact that the church is ever prone to forget and ever has to learn anew.”⁶⁷ He also believed that the fear of hell was a motivating force which too few preachers took full advantage of in their preaching. He wrote that

the first step heavenward must be made under the urgency of fear. We will not allow “a desire to flee the wrath to come” to have any place as a convicting force in our new religion of taste and sugar. The alarmed and trembling beginnings of an early Methodist saint, or of Bunyan’s Christian, are offensive to the gentilities of our civilization. The sinner must start to heaven as a gentleman and a scholar in a refined kid-glove way.  The necessity of fear is based on the depravity of human nature, that man is by nature wrong in his instincts and tendencies; that he is wrong, fearfully wrong, at heart, that it takes the strongest forces to restrain him.We are reaping some of the fruits of the insane and suicidal attempt to rule the world without authority, to make a God without justice, and to cultivate a religion without fear.⁶⁸

He wrote numerous articles on revival⁶⁹ was a close friend of Sam Jones, and often positively quoted Spurgeon⁷⁰ and Moody⁷¹ in the “Current Comment” section of the Christian Advocate. In his editorial paragraphs he gave reports about revival services being conducted throughout his denomination. In one instance, he reported his own attendance at one of Jones’s meetings in Nashville where there was standing room only in a new 4,000 seat tabernacle that had just been built.⁷² As he watched the theological priorities shift away from evangelism in his own denomination, he wrote that “to save the Methodist Church as a soul-saving institution is the imperative duty of the hour.”⁷³On Voluntary Location

In 1894 his denomination while in conference took actions, which effectively prevented the work of itinerant evangelists. This he could not support because he felt God had called him to do the work of an evangelist. Many within his denomination took this to be nothing more than “a response to evangelists like D.L. Moody and Sam Jones, who [some] felt were stripping the churches financially and had salaries that were much too large.”⁷⁴ Bounds resigned his position as a matter of conscience and lived the remainder of his life in virtual obscurity writing about these precious doctrines and attempting to raise up a militant ministry. All the circumstances surrounding his departure as Assistant Editor of the Christian Advocate are not known. The facts are that he did leave and it seemed unplanned due to the lack of acknowledgments given in the paper.⁷⁵ Also, he refused to receive any pension, even though he was entitled to one.⁷⁶ What is clear is that he moved his family to Washington, Georgia, temporarily to stay with his wife’s family but never moved out.

From his in-law’s home he was invited to preach in revivals and conferences from time to time. He would pray carefully about each invitation, and if he believed it was God’s will, he would accept the engagement. The invitations were not that frequent, however, because many in his denomination were afraid to be associated with him after his resignation from the Christian Advocate.

He seemed to have enjoyed his family life and solitude. On occasion he would take one of his children along with him on a preaching engagement. On one such trip he made a lifelong impression on his youngest son Osborne. Years later Osborne recalled the incident;

Once when I was a boy, we were traveling on a train. My father did not have enough money for the fare, and I was worried as to how we were going to travel. When the conductor came by, my father reached into his pocket and pulled out a few coins and told the conductor to take us as far as the coins would allow. The conductor looked at my father in amazement and told him that he would have to put us out in a field. My father stated that he [the conductor] would have to do as he must, and proceeded to enjoy the train ride. After a while, however, a total stranger came up to my father, introduced himself, and offered to pay his train fare. ⁷⁷

This is vintage Bounds. Some of his children, however, did not respond as positively as Osborne, to being placed in such awkward situations by their father or having their guests roused out of bed at four in the morning for prayer and family devotions. Two of Bounds’ children refused the faith modeled before them by their father and quietly lived out their lives as agnostics.⁷⁸

Legacy

The legacy of E.M. Bounds is the lasting impact his books, especially those on the subject of prayer, have had and are having on Christians and the Church. His books continue to be printed and reprinted in several different languages. By way of these printed pages, he continues to reach beyond his own lifetime, challenging ministers today as he challenged Hodge to “have a high standard and hold to it.”⁷⁹ Bounds challenges us today by reminding us that

A desire for God which cannot break the chains of sleep is a weak thing and will do but little good for God after it has indulged itself fully. The desire for God that keeps so far behind the devil and the world at the beginning of the day will never catch up.⁸⁰

With words like these he cuts through the ambitions and career planning so common in modern ministry today and takes hold of the spirit, pressing his reader to remember that God will give the increase, but he must give himself to God. His words should be read over and over by ministers as an antidote against the pressures and concerns of the modern world. The world needs preachers who can mold this generation, as he said;

It is not great talents nor great learning nor great preachers that God needs, but men great in holiness, great in faith, great in love, great in fidelity, great for God—men always preaching by holy sermons in the pulpit, by holy lives out of it. These can mold a generation for God. ⁸¹

Not only does he remind us that God is mightier than our methods, he also prompts us to fully consider the stakes of our work. Bounds did not use images of war, which he had seen firsthand, merely for effect. He was serious about the eternal consequences of spiritually weak preachers whose work did not affect eternal change in the lives of their people. As he states so eloquently;

“There are preachers innumerable who can deliver masterful sermons after their order; but the effects are short-lived and do not enter as a factor at all into the regions of the spirit where the fearful war between God and Satan, heaven and hell, is being waged because they are not made powerfully militant and spiritually victorious by prayer. The preachers who gain mighty results for God are the men who have prevailed in their pleadings with God ere venturing to plead with men. The preachers who are the mightest in their closets with God are the mightest in their pulpits with men.”⁸²

The goal should be to become mighty in the closet, as Bounds was, so that the legacy of the service to God will increase and continue to bear fruit for the kingdom long after this man has left the scene.

End Notes

1. Lyle W. Dorsett, E.M. Bounds, Man of Prayer. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1991), 26.

2. Willis, Irvin Jr., The Prayer Warrior: A Mini-Biography of E.M. Bounds. (Augusta GA: n.p., 1983), 15.

3. Dorsett, Man of Prayer. 50. Also in the Foreword to , Edward McKendree Bounds.  Satan: His Personality, Power and Overthrow. (New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1922),  Letter from E.M. Bounds to Homer W. Hodge. “Washington, Ga, July 1, 1912: Pray more and more: keep at the four a.m. hour.  God will be for it; the devil against it.  Press on, you can’t pray to much, you may pray to little.  The devil will compromise with you to pray as the common standard, on going to bed, and a little in the morning.  Hell will be full if we don’t do better than that.  Pray, pray, pray, pray always, rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks”

4. Darrel D. King,  E.M. Bounds. (Minneapolis: Bethany House Publishers, 1998), 12.   So much of E.M. Bounds biographical information is sketchy at best. This researcher has had to make decisions as to which source seems most credible on numerous facts. Each time these assumptions have been made the  footnote given will contain the source as well as the conflicting data not used within this paper. In the case the number of E.M. Bounds’ siblings is given as twelve by (Willis, Irvin  Jr. The Prayer Warrior: A Mini-Biography of E.M. Bounds. [Augusta GA: n.p., 1983], 2). Lyle Dorsett does not give a total number of siblings.

5. Dorsett, Man of Prayer. 12-15.

6. Edward M. Bounds, The Ineffable Glory: Thoughts on the Resurrection. (New York:George H. Doran Co., 1921) Introduction by Homer W. Hodge, v.

7. Darrel D. King, E.M. Bounds. (Minneapolis: Bethany House Publishers, 1998), 17.  This resource contains a wealth of information on the life of E.M. Bounds, however, there are no footnotes.  Therefore this researcher is unable to verify all of his claims. Due only to the scant information available has this source of necessity been used.

8. Ibid.,19.

9. Dorsett, Man of Prayer. 16.

10. King, E.M. Bounds. 19-20.

11. Edward M. Bounds, Purpose in Prayer. (New York: Fleming H Revell Company, 1920) Introduction by Homer W. Hodge, i.

12. King, E.M. Bounds. 22.

13. Ibid., 21-31.

14. Department of the Missouri.  Office of the Provost Marshall General.  Major General Curtis. Special Order No. 163. (Cited in Willis, Irvin  Jr. The Prayer Warrior:, 23.)

15. War Department. Confederate States of America, Secretary of War. In Willis, Irvin  Jr. The Prayer Warrior, 25.

16. Darrel D. King, E.M. Bounds. 36-69.

17. Ibid., 42.

18. Ibid., 51.

19. Certificate of the Office of Elder, In Willis, Irvin  Jr. The Prayer Warrior, 22.

20. King, E.M. Bounds. 80. “On one occasion, racial conflict erupted in an armed confrontation. Bounds ended up in the middle of the crowd trying to hold both sides at bay. . . many in the crowd continued to encourage a fight. The black man who looked after Bounds placed himself in harm’s way and physically forced Bounds out of the conflict.”

21. Ibid., 80.

22. Edward M. Bounds, Purpose in Prayer. Introduction by Homer W. Hodge, i.

23. Ibid,. 32.

24. Dorsett, Man of Prayer. 31.

25. Ibid., 33.

26. Edward M. Bounds, Purpose in Prayer. Introduction by Homer W. Hodge, ii.

27. Dorsett, Man of Prayer. 33.

28. Ibid., 34.

29. E.M. Bounds, “In Memory” The St. Louis Advocate. March 3, 1886. In Darrel D. King.  E.M. Bounds. (Minneapolis: Bethany House Publishers, 1998), 93-96.

30. E.M. Bounds, “Personal”, Christian Advocate August 2, 1890, 8. The readers are informed of the loss of Bounds’ son Edward.

31. “Personal,” Christian Advocate (Saturday, July 25, 1891), 9.

32. Dorsett, Man of Prayer. 33-39.

33. Ibid., 60.

34. King, E.M. Bounds. 72.

35. Dorsett, Man of Prayer. 28.

36. Ibid.

37. Ibid.,

38. King, E.M. Bounds. 77.

39. Ibid., 79.

40. Ibid., 81.

41. Ibid., 81-83.

42. Dorsett, Man of Prayer. 33.

43. Ibid.

44. King, E.M. Bounds, 87.

45. E.M. Bounds, “True Drawing Force,” Christian Advocate, Nashville TN: March 30, 1893, 8.

46. King, E.M. Bounds. 88.

47. Bounds, Edward M. Preacher and Prayer. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House. 1952), 10.

48. Dorsett, Man of Prayer. 40.  “The liberalism of the late nineteenth century questioned such doctrines as original sin and faith in Christ as the only way to salvation. Many modernists likewise turned their guns on the doctrine of hell, especially on the concepts of eternal damnation and eternal punishment. Modernists hoped to redirect the Christian faith in still other areas. The social Gospel, that is, the emphasis upon the Great Commandment to serve and love our neighbor, was given much more emphasis than the Great Commission in which the emphasis is on making converts and disciples of Jesus Christ.”

49. Martin Marty, Pilgrims in Their Own Land. (New York: Penguin Books, 1984), 305.

50. Dorsett, Man of Prayer, 33.

51. King, E.M. Bounds. 122.

52. Bounds, Edward M., “The Modern Idea,” Christian Advocate: Nashville TN.(March 15, 1894): 8. The articles cited are not signed by Bounds. However based on Lyle Dorsett’s pattern of citing Bounds in E.M. Bound: Man of Prayer, it seems that page 8 of the Advocate was reserved for Bounds. This researcher has therefore only used articles and editorial paragraphs appearing on page 8 of the Advocate as the work of E.M. Bounds. Dr. Lyman Abbott, the editor of the Outlook, and pastor of Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, says:“I accept the Apostles’ Creed, though I give the phrase ‘resurrection of the body’ the modern interpretation.”  In explanation of the modern idea of the resurrection he says: “The modern doctrine repudiates the idea of a literal resurrection. . . In a sentence, then, the modern doctrine of the resurrection of the body, so far as that doctrine is in any form intelligently held, is that the spirit has in the other life a spiritual organism, and that this spiritual organism has some sort of connection, not by us understood, with the material organism which it possessed upon the earth.” We measure all that is old and all that is new by the infallible standard, and whatever is new or whatever is old which does not agree with that we say let it be accursed, and he who bids it Godspeed is partaker in the sin.  This doctrine of the resurrection of the body is not a mere inference from the Bible statement.  It is the statement itself.  The key of its arch.  The cornerstone of its foundation.  It is not a rich afterthought of the gospel, but coordinate “Jesus and the resurrection are the gospel.”  Is this modern idea the Bible idea? . . . The Bible declares that our bodies are parts of us, that they are included in the recovering scheme of grace, that they are partners with the spirit in its earthly course of faith or disobedience, and that they are to share is the honors or shame of the eternal future.

53. Edward M. Bounds. “Original Sin,” Christian Advocate December 20, 1890, 8.

54. In many of his articles and in his book Preacher and Prayer, Bounds exhorts preachers to fight against these errors and become men totally committed to God.  “God is in great need of men by whom he can revolutionize missions, circuits, stations, districts. ‘Give me’ said John Wesley, ‘one hundred preachers who fear nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen, such alone will shake the gates of hell, and set up the kingdom of God.’. . . nothing keeps us from revolutionizing things for God but our self-bigness and our faith-littleness ” (“Revolutionizing Preachers” Christian Advocate July 26, 1890, 8). “Preachers who are great thinkers, great students must be the greatest of prayers, or else they will be the greatest of backsliders, heartless professions, rationalistic, less than the least of preachers in God’s estimate” (Bounds, Preacher and Prayer. p.23).   “Preachers are not sermon makers, but men makers and saint makers, and he only is well-trained for this business who has made himself a man and a saint. It is not great talents nor great learning nor great preachers that God needs, but men great in holiness, great in faith, great in love, great in fidelity, great for God—men always preaching by holy sermons in the pulpit, by holy lives out of it.  These can mold a generation for God  (Bounds, Preacher and Prayer. p.10).

55. E.M. Bounds, “A Pastor in Trouble,” Christian Advocate. January 12, 1893, 8.

56. These are entitled, “Revolutionizing Preachers,” “Duty and Debt,” “Popularity,” “Backslidden in the Pulpit,” and “A Growing Evil.”

57. Talmage referred to a pastor with a church of a membership of 4000. The church has burned down, he was known for sensational preaching, and is assumed by Bounds’ to be so well known that he need only use his last name when referring to him. While not 100% certain to the exact identity of the Dr. Talmage who Bounds is referring to, it is this researchers opinion, however, that Bounds is referring to Thomas De Witt Talmage (b. January 7, 1832 – d. April 12, 1902) a Dutch Reformed and Presbyterian minister whose “rhetorical gifts and dramatic flair” attracted attention.  During the time Bounds penned this Article Dr. Talmage was the pastor of Central Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn, New York, where he served for twenty-five years. His starting salary was $7,000.00 per year.   During his ministry the church grew and three times during his tenure the church burnt to the ground.  Each time it was rebuilt larger until the structure Bounds is referring to that seated more than 5,000.  “As a preacher Talmage strove for oratorical effect through vivid word pictures and sensational pulpit histrionics.  His critics in the Brooklyn Presbytery accused him of using falsehood, deceit, and ‘improper methods of preaching,’ and it was only by a close vote that he escaped . . . censure. His sermons were published in approximately 3,500 newspapers throughout the English speaking world. (Donald J Bruggink, in Dictionary of American Biography), 286.

58. E.M. Bounds, “Sensation Does Not Edify,” Christian Advocate. (Saturday November 1, 1890), 8.

59. E.M. Bounds, “Original Sin,” Christian Advocate, Nashville TN: December 20, 1890, 8.

60. E.M. Bounds, “Except a Man Be Born Again,” Christian Advocate, Nashville TN: August 23, 1890, 8.

61. Edward M. Bounds, “Feeble Convictions,” Christian Advocate. Nashville TN (April 14, 1892), 8.

62. E.M. Bounds, “The Two Beginnings,” Christian Advocate, Nashville TN: March 31, 1892, 8. See also Ibid., “Conviction for Sin,” April 19, 1894, 8.

63. “Prevenient grace is responsible for the goodness that is present to some extent in every society,. . .It functions to restrain evil in the world but does not lead unbelievers to faith.  For Wesleyans, prevenient grace may lead someone to salvation. . . The distinctive aspect of prevenient grace that is relevant for our discussion is that it provides the ability to choose salvation, an ability that was surrendered by Adam’s sin.”  Calvinism holds that common grace gives some measure of morality in society but that common grace cannot lead one to salvation. Thomas R. Schreiner. “Does Scripture Teach Prevenient Grace in the Wesleyan Sense?” The Grace of God The Bondage of the Will.

64. Simply stated this is a belief that Christian’s can and will be wholly sanctified to the point of perfection.  There is no record, as far as this research is concerned, that suggest Bounds believed that he had achieved the state of perfection, although it could be plausible to assume that its pursuit motivated him greatly. It is clear that Bounds did not hold the more radical views of Chadwick and his followers who would say that they “would rather see ten people entirely sanctified and filled with the power of the Holy Ghost, than a hundred converted.”  For more see; Ian M. Randall. “Full Salvation: Expressions of traditional Wesleyan Holiness in the Twentieth Century.”  Methodist History. 36 (1998): 178.

65. Edward M. Bounds, “Editorial Paragraphs,” Christian Advocate: Nashville TN.(March 15, 1894): 8.

66.Edward M. Bounds, “An Experience,” Christian Advocate: Nashville TN. August 8, 1893: 8.

67. E.M. Bounds, “Bringing the Masses to the Gospel,” Christian Advocate, December 13, 1890, 8.

68. E.M. Bounds, “The Uses of Fear,” Christian Advocate, March 15, 1894, 8.

69. See E.M. Bounds, “Revival that Stays,” Christian Advocate. December 6, 1890, 8. See also in the Christian Advocate, “Hindrances to Revival,” December 6, 1892, 8.  “The Revival,” December 14, 1893, 8. “Waiting for the Evangelist,” December 21, 1893, 8.  “The Old Fashioned Revival,” February 15, 1894, 8. and “After the Revival,” March 8, 1894, 8.

70. E.M. Bounds, “Current Comment,” Christian Advocate., November 15, 1890, 8. See also December 6, 1890, March 31, 1892 and April 14, 1892.

71. E.M. Bounds, “A Suggestive Change,” Christian Advocate., March 21, 1891, 8. See also February 28, 1891, 8.

72. E.M. Bounds, “Editorial Paragraphs,” Christian Advocate., July 2, 1892, 8.

73. E.M. Bounds, “A Great Danger,” Christian Advocate., January 11, 1894, 8.

74. King, E.M. Bounds. 116.

75. The Last edition of the Christian Advocate listing E.M. Bounds as Assistant Editor is dated May 31, 1894.  There is no mention that he is leaving, no acknowledgment of his service, nor announcement of his replacement. In the following edition the Editor has written a column in the place usually reserved for Bounds on page 8 of the paper. There is still no mention as to why Bound’s name no longer appears on the front of the paper. This is unlike Bounds’ predecessor, who wrote an article entitled ‘Farewell’ expressing his thanks that appeared in the first edition of Bounds’ assistant editorship, and was followed by a blurb from Bounds’ expressing his happiness in being selected to work at the paper and his desire to be on the job in the next edition.  The name of the new Assistant editor, J.D. Boswell appears in the July 12, 1894 edition.  This is the same man Bounds had replaced four years earlier. King explains that Bounds wrote a final article entitled “Loss of Conscience,” that appeared in the Advocate. (Darrel D. King, E.M. Bounds. (Minneapolis: Bethany House Publishers, 1998), 118-120).  This article was not found to be printed in the Christian Advocate by this researcher.

76. Dorsett, Man of Prayer. 46.

77. Irvin, The Prayer Warrior. 6.

78. Dorsett, Man of Prayer. 52-53.

79. Ibid., 60.

80. Ibid., 47.

81. Edward McKendree Bounds, Preacher and Prayer. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House. 1952), 10.

82. Ibid., 29-30.