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S.D. Gordon -- Biography
In the early 1900s, S.D. Gordon was a widely traveled speaker in high demand. A prolific author, he wrote more than 25 devotional books, most with the phrase "Quiet Talks" in the title. His first book sold half a million copies over 40 years! He died in 1936.
E.W. Kenyon said that "S.D. Gordon is a sporadic outburst of divine grace. He is unusual, as are all of God's rare tools... he is perfectly balanced in the Word and in the Spirit. He represents that rare but vanishing class of spiritually minded men of the last generation."
"The Treasury of Quiet Talks Selections from S.D. Gordon" (1951) by John W. Bradbury gives this brief biography (adapted): "Samuel Dickey Gordon ministered the deep things of God, he was not an ordained minister, He could boast no academic degrees, he was never doctored [he never received an earned or honorary doctorate]. Theological concepts he obtained from his Bible. A plain man, controlled by a deep desire to edify God's people, he won the respect of the learned and at the same time the affection of the simple.
"Gordon lived a long and useful life. He was born in Philadelphia August
12, 1859 and died June 1936. A public school education was all the
academic training he had. But, as a young man, he was hard working ,
consecrated and sought the best God had for him. He served as assistant
secretary of the Philadelphia Young Men's Christian Association in
1884-86 so efficiently that he became state secretary for the YMCA in
Ohio, serving from 1886 to 1895. In this period he developed a quiet
style of devotional speaking which was quite the opposite of the
powerful forensics which dominated the pulpit style of that period.
"Gordon then took four years to visit the mission fields of the Orient
and to tour Europe on speaking missions. His quiet manner, simplicity,
illustrative quality and gentle spirit won for him a great following
wherever he went. "Quiet Talks on Power" was his first book, published by
Fleming H. Revell in 1901. Gordon was then forty-two. His "Quiet Talks on
Prayer" followed in 1904, "Quiet Talks on Service" and "Quiet Talks about
Jesus", in 1906. The demand for his books had grown so great that he
could produce two in a year and follow thereafter with one series of
Quiet Talks each year until 1915 when the first World War disrupted everything. After the war he resumed his Quiet Talks in books but not at the same speed.
Altogether he produced twenty-five books, twenty-two of which belonged
to the Quiet Talks series.
"An incessant and tireless itinerant, Gordon never lacked for
opportunities to preach. He never called himself a preacher, preferring
the title of lecturer. In a real sense he was unique. His manner of
speaking, never dull, always illustrated by parabolic stories, had
gripping power to hold the attention and stir the heart."
His brother, James Logan Gordon, was an ordained minister, and served three pastorates in Canada and then at the First Congregational Church in San Francisco.
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This page Copyright © 2002 Peter Wade. The Bible text in this publication, except where otherwise indicated, is from the King James Version. This article appears on the site: http://www.peterwade.com/. Would you like your own copy of books by Peter Wade and other authors? Go to our Catalog. | |
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