In 1886, when Rev. Sam P. Jones was holding a meeting in Cincinnati, he said of Mr. Holcombe:
"Mr. Holcombe's work is finer than anything done since the death of Jerry McAuley. He is fully consecrated to the work of rescuing the perishing and saving the fallen. Hundreds of men, dug by him from the deepest depths of dissipation and degradation, are to-day clothed in their right minds. Some of the most efficient Christian men have passed through his Mission, at No. 436 Jefferson street, in Louisville. I feel that in helping Steve Holcombe, I shall be able to say, at least: 'Lord, if I did not do much when I was on earth, I did what I could to help Steve Holcombe, the converted gambler, in his mission work among men who never hear preaching, and to whom a helping hand is never extended.'
"There are mighty few men like Steve Holcombe to take hold of poor fellows and bring them back to a purer and better life."
In 1888, during a great temperance meeting in Louisville, Mr. Francis Murphy said of Mr. Holcombe:
"Of all the noble men I know, he is one of the noblest, and Louisville may well be proud of the grand, big-hearted Christian man, who, in his quiet, unassuming manner is doing such a world of good here."
Mr. D. L. Moody, during his great meeting in Louisville, in the months of January and February, 1888, said of Mr. Holcombe:
"I have got very much interested in a work in your city conducted by a man you call Steve Holcombe. I don't know when I met a man who so struck my heart. I went up and saw his headquarters and how he works. He is doing the noblest work I know of. I want you to help him with money and words of cheer. Remember, here in Louisville you make so many drunkards that you must have a place to take care of the wrecks. Steve Holcombe rescues them. Let us help him all we can."
And Mr. Holcombe's work is not done. He is in the vigor of life, with fifteen or twenty years of life and service, God willing, before him. He is only beginning to reap the results of these ten years of study and these ten years of Christian living and working. He knows the Gospel better than he ever did before, and he preaches it better. He knows himself and God better than he ever did before, and he lives nearer the Source of Power. He knows men good and bad, better than he ever did before, and he deals with them in all states and stages more wisely and successfully.
He is of that nervous and Intense temperament which can not rest without getting something done, and he is always doing something to advance his work. And though so intensely in earnest, he is singularly, it is not at all too strong to say, entirely free from fanaticism. He is in high esteem, with large influence at home and abroad, and this he does not prostitute to selfishness, but uses for usefulness.
And, best of all, he has tokens, not a few, in the form of discipline on the one hand, and success on the other, that God is guarding and guiding his Life and Work.