[‘I don’t care where I get to if I am only inside the gate’: Thomas De Witt Talmage, prominent American preacher.] Autograph Letter Signed to an English preacher (‘brother’), describing his hard work preaching and converting.

In his 1902 biography L. A. Banks quotes Dr David Gregg of Brooklyn: ‘There is but one man in the American pulpit that can draw, and hold, and thrill, twice every Sabbath the year round, an audience of 8,000. There is but one man on the globe that preaches the Gospel every week through the press to 25,000,000.’ 3pp, 8vo. Bifolium, with the final page written lengthwise on the reverse of the first leaf. In good condition, on discoloured paper, with remains of stub adhering to blank reverse of second leaf, which also carries a pin hole to one corner. The recipient is unidentified. Addressed to ‘My dear brother’ and signed ‘T. De Witt Talmage’. After thanking him for the ‘pleasant things’ he has said about him, he responds to his request for news of ‘how we prosper’: ‘We are in the midst of a Pentecost. Every Sabbath night after sermon we have a prayer-meeting to which 2000 & 2500 persons have remained. The place is dreadful with the presence of God. About 300 conversions in the past few weeks, & the work [dispensing?]. Among others my two children converted so that you may know we feel very happy.’ Talmage and his followers enjoyed the recipient’s visit to Brooklyn. ‘Your sermon was timely & helped us [as?] greatly in our work. Wish that we might have had you at my house. Now you are home out toiling in the same harvest field. How blessed is the work. Who would not serve the Lord?’ He ends: ‘I thank you for the invitation to come to your house. I hope some day to come to England, but I don’t care much where I come out if I only get to heaven. They tell me there are different degrees of glory there, but I don’t care where I get to if I am only inside the gate.’