^ JUL 8 - 1327
THE LIFE AND WORKS
WORLD'S GREATEST
EVANGELIST
DWIGHT L MOODY
A COMPLETE AND AUTHENTIC REVIEW OF THE MARVELOUS
CAREER OF THE MOST REMARKABLE RELIGIOUS
GENERAL IN HISTORY
BY
REV. J. W. HANSON, A.M., D. D.
Author of " Religions of the World," " Manna," "Cloud of
Witnesses." and other religious works.
INTRODUCTION BY
REV. H. W. THOMAS, D. D.
The Celebrated Pastor of People's Church, Chicago.
EULOGY BY
HON. J. V. FAR WELL
The Millionaire Philanthropist and Co-Worker of Mr. Moody.
CHICAGO
W. B. CONKEY COMPANY
1900
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1900
By ROBT. O. law,
In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C.
Publishers' Preface.
Spurgeon was called the pastoral evangelist;
Chalmers, the parish evangelist; Finney, the
revival evangelist; Howard, the prison evan-
gelist; Whitefield, the field evangelist; Shaftes-
bury, the philanthropic evangelist; Bliss, the
singing evangelist; McCaiiley, the evangelist
of the outcast, but Dwight L. Moody was
the evangelist of the people.
For forty years his name was known among
the English speaking people. For nearly forty
years his sa3'ings have been household words;
for nearly forty 3"ears his stories have been
told at almost ever}^ Christian fireside. His
life, with its peculiarly fitting ending, is known
in a general way to the great mnjority of the
people, but few of them realize what a great
man he was. Born in New England poverty,
but with an indomitable spirit, he made his
mark as a boy even in wise old Boston. As
a young man in Chicago, he demonstrated his
stability in commerce as well as in religion.
He founded, by his energy, one of the largest
Sunday-schools in the world out of apparently
the poorest material to be found on the Ameri-
can continent.
A few years later, he electrified Europe with
his methods and thousands of people turned
6
6 -PUBLISHERS' PREFACE.
from ways of sin to ways of righteousness. He
came home and founded the great schools at
Northfield where thousands of young men and
women can procure an education at a nominal
figure. Thirty buildings stand as a monument
to him there. In Chicago, the great Bible
Institute, with its auxiliary features, where
thousands of young men and women, desirous
of greater insight into the Holy Scriptures daily
assemble and listen to explanations of the
Bible.
The present work was commenced early in
1898 and is the result of months of careful
research and many interviews with personal
friends of Mr. Moody. It embodies a com-
plete account of the great evangelist's marvel-
ous career from his birth to his death, enliv-
ened with anecdotes contributed from all parts
of the world. The labor of arranging, select-
ing and condensing the vast amount of material
gathered during the past two years, was very
great and it was found necessary to omit a
large amount of very interesting and valuable
matter in order to keep the work within the
lines of a popular life of Mr. Mood}'. Many of
the illustrations were taken specially for the
work by our own photographer; others were
redrawn from designs furnished our special
artist.
INTROD UCTION
By H. W. THOMAS, D. D.,
Pastor of People's Church, Chicago.
D WIGHT L. MOODY would have been a
marked man in almost any field of active
affairs, and simply because of his large
natural abilities. That he was great as an
evangelist was owing mainly to his special
adaptation to that form of work ; his glad and en-
tire consecration to it, and his wonderful power
to use others, to marshal and control forces
to inspire minds and hearts with his own pur-
pose and earnestness.
Brother Moody understood well the power
of numbers, of large assemblies, and the value
of sympathetic emotion. Hence he did not go
forth alone to gather and reach the outside
world, as did Wesley; but sought and secured
the united action of the preachers, the mem-
bers and choirs of the evangelical churches, and
this he could do sincerely because he saw
nothing vital in the lines that differentiated the
denominations, and felt that their coming to-
gether would be helpful to each; that the com-
8 INTRODUCTION.
mon life of all would be quickened and en-
larged.
No one, perhaps, has done so much to lessen
the lines of separation, and so much to unite all
in the great law and life of love. Had he
sought to found a new denomination, this united
action would not have been possible, for the
movemer^t would naturally have been looked
upon as competitive. Brother Moody did not
wish to found another denomination; he
thought there were too many already; but he
did, and wisely, too, look to the perpetuation of
his own spirit and work in one central church
and through the educational power of training
schools, and in this was successful through
his singular ability to reach men of large
means, and to bring other workers into the
field.
There will not be another Moody; as there
will not be another Beecher, Simpson or Philips
Brooks; it is not Nature's God's way of work-
ing. Brother Moody filled a needed place in
his time; other minds and hearts will come forth
for the needs of new conditions.
We all loved and honored Brother Moody,
and pray that his inspiration, his consecration,
his great love for man and God, may be caught
up and carried forward to bless a world.
H. W. THOMAS.
DWIGHT L. MOODY.
By JOHN V. FARWELL.
I never felt so small as when requested to
give in words, as an observer from its begin-
ning until his translation, some sort of a digest
of Dwight L. Moody's character.
While lying in his coffin in the Northfield
church, that gust of wind that opened enough
of one window blind to let in the light of the
sun on his kindly face, suggests to my mind
that only the mind of God — the only source of
light of life — can measure a mind and heart
aflame with the inspiration of the Almighty,
from whence he drew his power for dail}' use
in his work.
Environment and want of education under
such a heavenly ray of light, was no obstruc-
tion to his being lifted out of weakness into a
power sufficient to confound the mightiest
men, who had any less communion with God.
Look at yonder dirty pool, too foul for use.
We expect nothing from it to help mankind.
Look again. The sun, with its silent chem-
istry, has in due time drawn it up into heaven's
10 DWIGHT L. MOODY.
blue, and on t'he very spot where it cursed the
earth, is a garden of flowers, watered by its
dew drops, and in the heavens above is God's
rainbow of promise, painted by its mystery of
heavenly art while on its way to earth, to
water that garden of the beautiful, and fields
plowed and planted by man, that the earth may-
bring forth bread for the hungry.
The natural man with his earthly lusts and
passions is that dirty pool, only needing the
potentialities of heaven's light and heat to trans-
form its stagnant elements into the beautiful
and useful.
Mr. Moody was thus transformed by his own
deliberate choice, placing himself under the
hands of the Almighty, to be used in His
vineyard.
Thus equipped, his works were well done,
and it may be well said of him, "Blessed are
the dead which die in the Lord, for their works
do follow them."
A mighty man has finished his work on
earth. The oldest book in existence records,
"There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration
of the Almighty giveth him understanding."
Moody's spirit — or mental ability — was natur-
ally of a superior order. Had he taken up
politics he would have made an exceptional
statesman. Having taken up with Christ as
DWIGHT L. MOODY. 11
Lord for his life work, the inspiration of the
Almighty gave him a power in Christian work
second to no one in the apostolic succession
from Saints Peter and Paul until December
22d A. D., 1899, measured by the results of
his ministry, practically surrounding the globe
in its influence, and nearly so in his travels.
The key to the understanding of all this is
that Moody's body, soul and spirit, by his own
deliberate choice, were consecrated to that
ministry. He once heard a man say, "The
world has yet to see how much one man,
wholly consecrated to God, can accomplish in
this world for Him." "Then," said Moody,
"I will be that man, for I can consecrate my all
to Him."
He began his work as a mission Sunday-
school drummer, and from that graduated in
regular succession into Superintendent of one
of the largest mission Sunday-schools in the
city, President of the Young Men's Christian
Association, and the world's exangelist, the
highest office in Christ's ministry.
When he left a successful business for this
calling, he had accumulated about $12,000, all
of which was invested in mission enterprises at
the time he was most busy with the work of
the Y. M. C. A. A little prayer meeting of
three asked for wisdom to procure a building
12 DWIGHT L. MOODY.
for that association, and in answer Mr. Moody
began and finished the first building ever erected
for the use of a Y. M. C. A. on earth, represent-
ing Christian union, and in his work in Chicago,
after returning from his London mission, he
raised the money to free it from debt, after
having been twice burned to the ground, but
for this timely effort of his the present magnifi-
cent temple of the Y. M. C. A. would not be
one of the world's best material monuments of
Christian unity (for which he stood) that was
ever erected.
The lineal descendants of his first enterprise,
the North Market Hall Mission Sunday-school,
are the Bible Institute and the Chicago
Avenue Church, now filled to its utmost capa-
city twice every Sunday to hear the plain testi-
mony of Jesus, which theangelsaid to John was
"the spirit of prophecy," or preaching; and
conversions follow every service as a rule, and
some times scores and hundreds attend the
second meeting which follows the evening
service.
Being dead, he yet speaks through these in-
stitutions as clearly as did the angels when
they sang "Glory to God in the Highest" and
"On earth Peace and Good Will to Men," at
the birth of Christ, through whose Life more
abundant now given to men, that song is to be
DWIGHT L. MOODY. 13
perpetuated through the agency of such men
to the end of time.
The meaning of the removal of such work-
men from the harvest field at such a time as this
is beyond our ken, when, instead of one re-
moval a regiment of them seems to be needed for
fields white for the harvest, and the world one as
it never was before by the power of steam and
electricity, as well as the power of Christian
civilization in the strongest nations on earth.
Yea, and when there are calls on Moody's
desk from Europe and America that would re-
quire months, if not years, to fill if he were
here to do it.
Why.'' God only knows.
List of Illustrations.
PAGE.
Dwight L. Moody Frontispiece
"The Sower" 20
Moody Family Gathering, 1867 29
Period Pictures of Mr. Moody 39
The Old and the New 49
Mr. Moody's Missionary Pony 59
North §;de Tabernacle 77
P. P. Bliss 87
Ira D. Sankey 97
Mr. Moody's Characteristic Attitude 115
Mr. Moody on a Morning Drive 125
Free Church. Assembly Hall, Edinburgh 135
Exhibition Hall, Dublin 153
Haymarket Opera House 171
Characteristic Page from Mr. Moody's Bible 182
Farewell Meeting at Glasgow 189
Chicago Avenue Church 207
Interior of Chicago Church 225
The Empty Chair 243
The Bible He Preached From 261
Moody Bible Institute 279
Bible Institute Library 297
A Music Lesson, Bible Institute 315
Pastor's Study, Chicago Avenue Church 333
Colportage Cottage 351
The Funeral Bier 367
Congregational Church, Northfield 387
Recitation Hall 405
Marquand Memorial Hall 423
Mt. Hermon School 441
East Hall, Northfield Seminary 459
Auditorium, Northfield 477
Recitation Hall, Northfield 495
14
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER. PAGE.
I. Ancestors of Mr. Moody— Statement that every
other Moody family contained a preacher —
Three great Moody's, one in the seventeenth,
one in the eighteenth, and one in the nine-
teenth century 21-33
II. Moody's early life — Left to the care of his
mother at four — Eldest brother runs away —
Some early escapades — First trip away from
home 34-46
III. Life in Boston — Gets a place in his uncle's store
— Forced to attend church — His conversion —
Compelled to wait six months before being
admitted to membership 48-57
IV. Beginning of his career — Secures employment in
Chicago, and invents new methods of secur-
ing customers — His first Sunday-school — Some
hard experiences 57-67
V. President of the Y. M. C. A. for four years —
Agent of the United States Christian Commis-
sion—Comforts the wounded and dying on the
battle-field 68-72
15
16 CONTENTS.
CHAPTER. PAGE.
VI. First meeting with Bliss — Life of the great
singing evangelist — Some of the great songs he
wrote — His end at Ashtabula 73-8o
VII. Sermons on P. P. Bliss— The great evangelist
praises the dead singer — Corrects reports about
money received from song books 81-89
VIII. First meeting with Sankey — An attachment
formed which lasts through life — Story of the
great singer's early days 90-94
IX. Side lights on the character of Mr. Moody — His
likes and dislikes — Some men he admired — His
~ belief in advertising 95-111
X. English visit of Moody and Sankey — Great
awakening in England, Ireland, and Scot-
land 1 12-127
XI. The Birmingham meeting — New method of se-
curing attendants is successful — Described by
an English critic 128-139
XII. Meetings at Boston — Great gospel campaign at
Brooklyn 140-146
XIII. Mr. Moody's crisp sayings 147-168
XIV. Anecdotes 169-182
XV. Mr. Moody's Bible — Peculiar manner he had of
marking them — Death of his mother— Connec-
tion with Miss Willard 183-186
CONTENTS. 17
CHAPTER. PAGE.
XVI. The Kansas City meeting — Beginning of his
illness — He cannot understand his failing
strength 187-196
XVII. Death of Moody 197-204
XVIII. The last farewell 205-231
XIX. Eulogies by many eminent men in all parts of
the country 232-259
XX. Editorial comment — The leading newspapers of
the country discuss his place in history. . .260-277
XXI. Memorial expressions by ministers in different
cities, giving condensed accotmts of his life and
work 278-293
XXII. Last of the group — Splendid tribute by Dr.
Hillis 294-303
XXIII. The Northfield schools 304-306
XXIV. Great religious revivals 307-312
XXV. Revival sermon 313-336
XXVI. Sermon — Faith 337-355
XXVII. Sermon — Repentance 356-376
XXVIII. Sermon — Excused 377-401
XXIX. Sermon — No room for Him 402-418
XXX. Sermon — Their rock is not our rock 419-439
18 CONTENTS.
CHAPTER. PAGE.
XXXI. Sermon— Tekel 440-464
XXXII. Sermon — No difference 465-481
XXXIII. Sermon— Grace. 482-501
XXXIV. Sermon— Come 502-512
Copyright, 1900, by Robt. O. Law,
"THE SOWER."
Dedicated to Dwight L. Moody. "And behold a sower went forth to sow.'
CHAPTER I.
THE ANCESTORS OF MR. MOODY.
Dwight L. Moody descended from a line of min-
isters. It has been said that every other Moody
family contained a preacher. Some of them have
been men of great force and character, and have
made more than a passing impression on New Eng-
land history. The family has been noted for lon-
gevity, and the extent of the literary attainments of
its members; their bold persevering habits; their
spirit of enterprise, their independence of mind and
character, irrespective of the popular will, and for
the similarity and purity of their religious faith. The
average age of seventeen ancestors of Mr. Moody,
ranging from the year 1633 to 1847, was 67 years.
Mr. William Moody, the principal progenitor of
the Moody family in New England, came according
to the best records obtainable, from Wales, in 1633,
wintered at Ipswich, and removed to Newbury with
the-first settlers of that place in 1635. Here he was
admitted a Freeman and received a grant of ninety-
two acres of land. There is a tradition that he was a
blacksmith by trade, and another that he was a sad-
dler, and it is very probable that he did a little of
both. It is known, however, that he was the first per-
son in New England to adopt the practice of shoeing
oxen to enable them to walk on the ice, and he even
21
22 THE ANCESTORS OF MR. MOODY.
acquired the appellation "The learned black
smith. "
Since the Moody family came to America it has
never lacked an exceptionally great preacher of the
gospel. Joshua belonged to the Seventeenth cen-
tury, Samuel to the Eighteenth, and Dwight to the
Nineteenth.
Rev. Joshua Moodey, a son of William Moody,
although he spelled his name differently, was born
in England in 1633, about a year before his father
came to this country. He received his early educa-
tion at Newbury, and was prepared for admission to
college by Rev. Thomas Parker. He was a grad-
uate of Harvard in 1653, after which he began the
study of divinity and early began to preach. He
began his ministerial labors at Portsmouth, N. H.,
early in the year 1658, at which place he laid the
foundation and eventually gathered the first Con-
gregational church in that place. As a minister he
was considered zealous and faithful and for many
years the church flourished under his pastoral care,
during which time he distinguished himself by his
independent and faithful manner of teaching and
the strictness of his church discipline. Mr. Moodey
became involved in a dispute with Mr. Cranfield,
who was lieutenant-governor of the province, and
who did not like the minister because he thought he
stood in the way of his schemes for personal
aggrandizement. In 1684 a Scotch ketch had been
seized by a collector and carried out of the harbor
in the night. The owner, a member of the church,
swore upon the trial that he had not a hand in send-
ing her away and that he knew nothing about it,
but the circumstances were such that there was
THE ANCESTORS OF MR. MOODY. 23
Strong suspicion that he had perjured himself. He
found means, however, to settle the matter with
Cranfield and the collector, but Mr. Moodey judged
it necessary to do something to vindicate the honor
of his church, so he requested of the Governor
copies of the evidence for the purpose of instituting
an examination. Cranfield ordered the minister to
desist and threatened him with the consequences in
case of refusal, but Moodey would not be intimidated
and preached a sermon upon swearing and the evil
of false swearing. The Governor in order to wreak
his vengeance determined to put the uniformity act
into operation; by a statute then in force, ministers
were required to admit to the Lord's Supper all per-
sons who should desire it, who were "of suitable
years and not vicous. " Cranfield gave notice that
he and several others intended on the following
Sunday to partake of the sacrament. His demand
was not complied with, in consequence of which
Moodey was indicted and imprisoned for thirteen
weeks. After his persecution in Portsmouth he fled
to Boston and was received in open arms by the
members of the First Church. Even while at Ports-
mouth he took a great interest in Harvard college
and succeeded in raising a fund of sixty pounds a
year for seven years to erect a brick building on the
Harvard ground. On the death of President Rog-
ers, July 2, 1684, he was elected his successor, as
president of Harvard College. He modestly declined
the offer, preferring his situation as assistant min-
ister in the First Church. He was a strong oppon-
ent to superstition, was involved in innumerable
arguments and did much in securing the release of
persons who were arrested in Salem and Boston for
24 THE ANCESTORS OF MR. MOODY.
witchcraft. He w^nt back to Portsmouth in 1692
after many solicitations from his old flock. He died
on the 4th of July, 1697, in the 65th year of his age,
and his funeral sermon was preached by Dr. Cot-
ton Mather.
Rev. Samuel Moody of the First Parish of York,
Maine, was the fourth son of Caleb Moody of New-
bury, and a grandson of William Moody, who came
from England. He was born at Newbury on the
4th of January, 1675, ^.nd was a nephew of Rev.
Joshua Moodey. Of his early life little is known,
but he finished his education at Harvard when he
was twenty-two, and graduated with honors in the
year 1697. The next year he commenced preaching
in York and was regularly ordained, and settled
over the First Parish in that place in December,
1700, where he continued an eminently useful and
successful minister of the gospel for nearly fifty
years.
He was a man noted for his piety and was greatly
beloved and no less feared by the people of his
charge. He was distinguished alike for his eccen-
tricities, his zeal as a man of God, his remarkable
faith and fervency in prayer, and his uncommon
benevolence. Histories of religion in New England
place him as the equal of any gentleman of the
clergy of that day. Previous to his settlement at
York, the whole town had been destroyed by the
Indians, fifty people having been killed and one
hundred taken captive.
He petitioned the Earl of Bellemoiit, who was
then Governor-in-Chief, and through him the council
and representatives of the province assembled in
June, 1699, for a competent maintenance as a chap-
THE ANCESTORS OF MR. MOODY. 25
lain to the garrison at York, in which position he
had served for upward of a year, and the council
granted him twelve pounds out of the public treas-
ury.
He was a man of prayer, and remarkable for his
importunity at the throne of grace. An instance
of his power of prayer, is one cited against the
French fleet in 1746. France had fitted out a fleet
with the intention of destroying the British colonies.
This fact was known in this country, and as the col-
onists could not expect any aid from England, of
course they were very much exercised over the
event. Moody had recourse to prayer. He appointed
a day for the purpose, praying against this fleet, and
he brought to view the expressions made use of in
the Scriptures against Sennacherib; "Put a hook in
his nose and a bridle in his lips ; turn him back again
by the way that he came, that he shall not shoot an
arrow here nor cast up a bank ; but by the way he
came, cause him to return." By and by the old
gentleman waxed warm and raised his hands and his
voice and cried out, "Good Lord, if there is no other
way of defeating their enterprise, send a storm upon
them and sink them in the ship." It was found
afterward that not far from that time a tremendous
tempest burst upon that fleet, and foundered many
of them. A remnant of the fleet got into Halifax,
and the commander was so disheartened, thinking
all the rest were lost that he put an end to his own
life, and the second in command did the same, and
the third in command was not competent for the
undertaking. A mortal sickness prevailed among
the survivors, and great numbers of them laid their
26 THE ANCESTORS OF MR. MOODY.
bones in Halifax. They finally packed their all and
went back to France without striking a blow.
His faith was emulated in the Nineteenth century
by his descendant. A story is told of him that he
believed that if he asked the Lord, He would pro-
vide for every living thing. One morning his wife
told him the}'' had nothing for dinner. He replied
that this was nothing to her: what she had to do
was to set the table as usual when the dinner hour
came. Accordingly, when the hour came, she set
the table, spread the cloth and put on the plates,
and just then a neighbor brought in a good dinner
all cooked.
On another occasion Mrs. Moody told him on Sat-
urday morning that they had no wood. "Well," he
replied, "I must go into my study and God will pro-
vide for us." During the day a Quaker called in
and asked for Mr. Moody. Mr. Moody appeared and
the Quaker said to him, "Friend Moody, I was
carrying a load of wood to neighbor A. B. , and just
as I got opposite thy door my sled broke down, and
if thee will accept of the wood, I will leave it here. ' '
Mr. Moody told him it was very acceptable as he
was entirely out.
His daughter, who lived in Massachusetts, told of
the time when her father was officiating in the pul-
pit of her husband, . who was a minister. At the
time great ravages were being made by the canker
worm, which well-nigh destroyed everything green.
On Sunday morning when they went to the meet-
ing house, the canker worms were so numerous that
one could scarce set down his foot without crushing
them by the score. Mr. Moody's text was from
Mai. iii: 2, "I will rebuke the devourer for your
THE ANCESTORS OF MR. MOODY. 27
sakes. " As he wanned up he seemed filled with a
sort of prophetic fire and appealed to his hearers as
follows: "Brethren, here is the promise of God.
Do you believe it? Will you repose full confidence
in it? I believe it and feel an assurance in my soul
that God will bring it to pass. "
It was noticed that when the service, which was
long, had been finished, the destoyer had disap-
peared. Not one of the insects that had been so
multitudinous was seen around. Historians say
that they were seen lying dead in little windrows
on the shore of the creek, which ran through the
town.
In another particular the modern Evangelist
emulated his distinguished ancestor. The latter
refused to receive a stipulated salary, but rather
chose to live on the voluntary contributions of the
people. It has been said that he literally knew not
anything that he possessed. In one of his sermons
he mentioned that he had been supported for twenty
years in a way most pleasing to him, and that he
had been under no necessity of spending one hour
in a week in care for the world. Yet he was some-
times reduced to want, though his confidence in
God never failed him.
His benevolence was unbounded. His wife, as
well as others, thought he was too lavish of his little,
when anyone applied to him for assistance in dis-
tress. To put a check upon his liberality and give
him time to consider, she made him a new purse,
but when she had put the change into it she tied the
strings into several knots, so that he might have
time for reflection while untying them. Not long
after this a poor person asked him for alms. He
28 THE ANCESTORS OF MR. MOODY.
took out his purse and attempted to untie the
strings, but finding it difficult, he told the person he
believed the Lord intended he should give him the
.whole, so he gave the purse and change together.
The old lady's experiment on tl.is occasion was
rather a losing one.
Once when he was going to Boston to attend a
great convention or conference, he saw a poor man
in the hands of the officers, who were taking him
to jail for debt. Father Moody inquired the amount
for which he was to be imprisoned, and found that he
had sufficient to defray the 'debt, which he immedi-
ately did, and the poor man was liberated. He then
turned to one of his Elders who accompanied him
and said that he must depend upon him to bear the
expense of the journey, as he had nothing left.
The Elder ventured respectfully to question the
propriety and prudence of his conduct in thus ren-
dering himself so dependent, but the old clergyman
replied: "Elder, does not the Bible asy, 'Cast thy
bread upon the waters and thou shalt find it after
many days?' " Towards evening they reached the
city and the talent and piety of Boston came out
upon Boston Common to see the famous Father
Moody. The Elder related the morning adventure
and after they had retired to their lodgings, a
waiter brought Father Moody a sealed packet. He
opened it and found it contained the precise sun)
which he had given to the poor man in the morning.
He turned to the Elder and exclaimed: "I cast my
bread upon the waters in the morning and behold
it is returned to me in the evening."
His aptness for quoting and applying Scripture
was known to be proverbial. He had a habit when
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THE ANCESTORS OF MR. MOODY. 31
performing table service, of quoting some passage
of Scripture descriptive of the food provided; one
of his parishoners desired to know what he could
find in the Bible to suit Shell-fish, and provided a
dinner of clams and invited Mr. Moody to dine with
him. In returning thanks after the refreshment,
he blessed the Lord that he not only furnished sup-
plies from the produce of the fields and flocks and
herds, but permitted them to "suck of the abund-
ance of the seas and of the treasures hid in the
sand."
He was an extremely eccentric old fellow and
numerous anecdotes are related on this particular
phase of his character. At a certain time his church
got into difficulty. At a church meeting, finding
it difficult to get along, they concluded by his advice
to adjourn for a season and pray for light and direc-
tion. On the next Sabbath, Mr. Moody preached
from the following text : 2 Chron. xx : 1 2. "Neither
know we what to do, but our eyes are upon Thee."
After some introductory remarks, he stated this for
his doctrine: "When a person or people are in such
a situation that they know not what to do, they
should not do they know not what, but their eyes
should be unto the Lord for direction. ' '
On another occasion while the old gentleman was
on a journey to the Western part of Massachusetts,
he called on a brother minister one Saturday, with
a view to spending the Sabbath with him if agree-
able. The man appeared very glad to see him and
said: "I should be very glad to have you stop and
preach with me to-morrow, but I feel almost ashamed
to ask you." "Why, what is the matter?" said Mr.
Moody. "Our people have got into such a habit of
32 THE ANCESTORS OF MR. MOODY.
going out before the meeting is closed, that it seems
to be an imposition upon a stranger." "If that is
all, I must and will stop and preach for you," was
Mr. Moody's reply. When the Sabbath day came,
and Mr. Moody had opened the meeting and named
his text, he looked around on the assembly and said :
"My hearers, I am going to speak to two sorts of
folks to-day, saints and sinners. Sinners, I am
going to give you your portion first, and I would
have your good attention. " When he had preached
to them as long as he thought best, he paused and
said: "There, sinners, I have done with you now;
you take your hats and go out of the meeting house
as soon as you please. " But they tarried and heard
him through.
He was remarkably successful as a minister, and
many revivals were held in his church during his
ministry, and it is said to have contained between
300 and 400 members when he left it. His greatest
revival, perhaps, was in 1741. The exact number he
affiliated with his church will perhaps never be
known, as the records were destroyed when the
church was burned the next year.
The old man had as his guest that year the Rev.
George Whitefield, the celebrated young minister,
whose talents and fervent piety drew from the con-
gregation to which he preached the strongest
expressions of praise.
In 1745, two years before his death, he accotiipa-
nied the American army as chaplain of the celebrated
Cape Breton expedition. The old man, when Louis-
burg was taken, shouldered an ax and went up to
the images in the churches and actually cut them
THE ANCESTORS OF MR. MOODY. 33
down, as he had told his friends he would when he
left home.
He published several books, among which were
"The Doleful State of the Damned, especially Such
as go to Hell from under the Gospel," "Judas, the
Traitor, Hung up in Chains to give Warnings to
Professors that they Beware of Worldlimindedness
and Hypocrisy ; a Discourse concluding with a Dia-
logue," "A Sermon Preached to Children After
Catechizing in the Town of York (Me.) July 25,
1 72 1," "The Way to Get out of Debt, and the Way
to Keep out of Debt. "
Critics who have read these books declare that
they compare well with those of Baxter.
He died at the age of ninety, and the family were
assembled in the room at the time, his son Joseph
sitting behind him on the bed, holding him up in his
arms. When he had ceased to breathe, the people in
the room began to remark that he was gone, and his
son exclaimed in a loud voice: "And Joseph shall
put his hands upon thine eyes." He then put his
hands around and closed his eyes, and laid the life
less body back on the bed.
His remains lie buried in the common burying
place near the meeting house in York, and on his
tombstone is this inscription : ' ' For his farther char-
acter read Corinthians, 3d Chapter, and first six
verses. ' '
CHAPTER II.
MOODY'S EARLY LIFE.
Dwight Lyman Moody was born in the town of
Northfield, Mass., February 5th, 1837. He was the
sixth child of Edwin Moody and Betsy Holton, who
were married January 3, 1828. Nine children in
all blessed the union of this couple, seven being sons
and two daughters. The homestead consisted of
several acres of typical Massachusetts land, most of
which was of a stony character, and covered by a
mortgage. The father tilled his acres in their season
and at other times worked at his trade as a stone-
mason. According to the best accounts, he was not
a successful business man, and the latter part of his
life, as his family increased, was burdened with
debts. His crushed spirit and business reverses
caused his death after a few hours' illness. Dwight
was then only four years old, but the shock of that
death made an impression upon him which he de-
clared he had never forgotten. The death of the
father was followed soon after by the birth of a twin
boy and girl. Thus Mrs. Moody was burdened with
the care of a large family, the eldest of whom was
only fifteen years. The old puritan idea, coupled
with a mother's love, made her anxious to keep her
brood together, and she bravely set about caring for
them all, and contrived to have each of the little
34
MOODY'S EARLY LIFE. 35
hands earn something toward their support. They
were taught to till the garden and do odd jobs for
the neighbors. She was a strict Unitarian of the old
school, a creed much different from that professed
in that denomination in latter days. She was a firm
believer in the Bible and its teachings, and drew
therefrom the inspiration to make the life of her
children dearer to the great Creator. It was her
daily task and pleasure to teach them a little Bible
lesson, and the Sabbath morning found them wend-
ing their way to the church service and Sunday
school.
The eldest of the children was a boy of rugged
mien who had an inclination to break away from his
mother's apron strings. He had read the literature
of the plains, and wandered off into the world, as he
thought, to seek a fortune. This was one of the
great sorrows of the Moody family. The mother
never lost hope ; she was ever praying for the return
of her boy. As time went on, the preparations for
his home-coming were added to year by year. This
was especially true of Thanksgiving time, a festival
dear to the hearts of all New Englanders. For
years no tidings of the wandering boy reached the
mother; night after night her sleep was disturbed
by a dread vision of him lying somewhere in the
great cold world; perhaps suffering, while she had
enough for comfort. She was constantly sending
to the little postofiice for a letter ; sometimes two
or three times a day. She never stated that she
expected a letter from "him" — it was not necessary
that she should do so, as the children learned by
instinct that he was constantly in her mind. By
common consent, his name was never mentioned,
36 MOODY'S EARLY LIFE.
except in the mother's prayer, and then, when in
the family circle, only by inference.
Years afterward, when the widow was getting
old and the gray was replacing the black in her
hair and she had almost given up hope of ever see-
ing the lost one, a scene took place which changed
her sorrow into joy.
In the dusk of a New England summer evening,
a long-bearded stranger approached the humble
home and stood upon the porch gazing in the open
door with eager eyes. He had passed through the
village, looking to the right and left for familiar
faces and familiar scenes. He had wandered in the
village churchyard and visited the grave of his
father, to learn if there was another beside it. The
widow came to the door and bid the stranger in.
The old eyes which had watched so long for his com-
ing did not know him now. He was only a lank
boy when he ran away, now he is a big sun-burned
and whiskered man.
The stranger did not move or speak in response
to her invitation. He bowed his head and stood
there reverently and humble in the presence of her
whose love he had slighted and whose heart-strings
he had almost broken. The sense of his ingrati-
tude, and the memory of devotion and years of
anxiety which were plainly stamped on that
mother's face, caused the tears to run from his
eyes. These tears were the means by which his
mother recognized him.
"I cannot come in," said the son, "until my
mother has forgiven me. "
It may be surmised that he did not stand out very
long. It did not take that mother many seconds to
MOOUVS EARLY LIFE. 37
get her arms around the neck of that prodigal child.
She had forgotten the sorrow of years, in the joy
of seeing him once again.
The Pastor of the Unitarian church where the
Moodys worshiped was the Rev. Mr. Everett, and
he was a faithful friend of the widow and her large
family of children. They were on his regular visit-
ing list and he was constantly cheering them with
pleasant words. It was he who settled the quarrels
among the boys; it was he who gave them bright
pieces of silver urging them to good deeds; it was
he who bid the mother to keep on praying.
At one time the great evangelist was taken into
his home when but a mite of a boy, to run errands
in the Pastor's household. He was a vigorous lad
and was familiar with all the pranks known to all
the urchins of that period. The good minister's
patience was sorely tried on many occasions, but
his jolly good-nature stayed the use of the rod.
The old minister had quite an influence with the
boy, but it was not nearly so far-reaching as that of
his mother. She was almost the only one who
could command implicit obedience. In the winter
time young Moody attended the village school ; but
at that period of his existence he had little desire
for learning, and at the end of his six or seven terms
he knew but little. Mr. Moody, in speaking of his
school days, said:
"I remember, when a boy, I used to go in a cer-
tain school in New England, where we had a quick-
tempered master who always kept a rattan. It
was, 'If you don't do this, and you don't do that,
I'll punish you. ' I remember many times of this
rattan being laid upon my back. I think I can
38 MOODY'S EARLY LIFE.
almost feel it now. He used to rule that school by
the law. But after a while there were some parents
who were in favor of controlling the school by love.
A great many said you can never do that with
those unruly boys, but after some talk it was at
last decided to try it. I remember how we thought
of the good time we would have that winter when
the rattan would be out of the school. We thought
we would then have all the fun we wanted ; I re-
member who the teacher was — it was a lady — and
she opened the school with prayer. We hadn't seen
it done before and we were impressed, especially
when she prayed that she might have grace and
strength to rule the school with' love. Well, the
school went on for several weeks and we saw no
rattan, but at last the rules were broken, and I
think I was the first boy to break them. She told
me to wait till after school and then she would see
me. I thought the rattan was coming out sure,
and stretched myself up in warlike attitude. After
school, however, I didn't see the rattan, but she sat
down by me and told me how she loved me, and
how she had prayed to be able to rule that school
by love, and concluded by asking me if I loved her
to try and be a good boy. Her pleading reached
my heart, and I never after caused her trouble. "
Mr. Moody, one time, when talking of his early
childhood, said that before he was four years old,
the first thing he remembered was the death of his
father ; that he had been in business and failed, and
that soon after his death the creditors came in and
took everything. He said it seemed that one calam-
ity after another came along and swept over the
entire household; the coming of the twins in a
MOODY'S EARLY LIFE. 41
month after the death of the father, the rapacity of
the creditors, and the illness of the mother, together
with the demoralized state of the family, rendered
the household anything- but a congenial home. It
was at this time that the elder son became a wan-
derer.
Another incident of Mr. Moody's boyhood days is
related by him as follows: "I v/as in a field one day
with a man who was hoeing. He was weeping,
and he told me a strange story, which I have never
forgotten. He said that when he left home, his
mother gave him this text, 'Seek first the Kingdom
of God,' but he paid no heed to it. He said when
he got started in life, and his ambition to get money
was gratified, it would be time enough then to seek
the Kingdom of God. He went from one town to an-
other and got nothing to do. When Sunday came, he
went into the village church and what was his great
surprise to hear the minister give out the text, 'Seek
first the Kingdom of God. ' He said the text went
down to the bottom of his heart, but thought it was
but his mother's prayer following him, and that
some one must have written to that minister about
him. He felt very uncomfortable, and when the
meeting was over, he could not get that sermon out
of his mind. He went away to another village, and
at the end of the week, went into another church,
and he heard the minister give out the same text,
'Seek fir.st the Kingdom of God.' He felt sure this
time that it was the prayers of his mother, but he
said calmly and deliberately, 'No, I will first get
wealth. ' He said he went on, and did not go into a
church for a few months, but the first place of wor-
ship he did go into, he heard the third minister
42 MOODY'S EARLY LIFE.
preach a sermon from the same text. He tried to
stifle his feelings, he tried to get the sermon out of
his mind, and he resolved that he would keep away
from church altogether. For a few years, he
never entered a church door. 'My mother died,'
he said, *and the text kept coming into my mind,
and I said, "I will try to become a Christian.' " The
tears rolled down his cheeks as he said, 'I could
not. No sermons ever touched me. My heart is
as hard as stone. ' I could not understand what it
was all about ; it was fresh to me then. I went to
Boston and got converted, and the first thought that
came to me was about this man. When I went
home, I asked my mother about him. She said they
had taken him to an insane asylum, and to every
one who went there he pointed with his finger up-
ward, and told him to seek first the Kingdom of
God. I went to see him, and I found him in a rock-
ing-chair, with a vacant, idiotic look upon him. As
soon as he saw me, he pointed to me and said:
'Young man, seek first the Kingdom o£ God.'
Reason had gone, but the text was there."
One of Mr. Moody's brothers was employed in a
store at Greenfield, a short distance from the family
home, and it was so lonesome there for him that he
wanted young D wight to be near him for company.
So when he came home one cold Saturday night in
the month of November, he told the boy that he had
a place for him. Dwight didn't want to go, but
after the matter was talked over by the family, he
decided that the next morning he would visit the
man, and if the conditions were to his liking, he
might accept the place. In one of his sermons, Mr.
MOODY'S EARLY LIFE. 43
Moody tells that incident. He said that the brothers
started off in the early morning, and when they got
to the top of the hill, they looked back at the home,
and he thought that this would be the last time that
he would ever see it, and he cried as if his heart
would break. This he continued until he arrived
at Greenfield. There his brother introduced him to
an old man who was so old that he could not milk
his cows and do the chores, and young Dwight was
to run his errands and go to school. Mr. Moody
said that he looked at the old man, and thought
that he was cross, and that he looked at his wife,
and thought that she was crosser than the old man.
He said that when he had stayed there an hour, it
seemed like a week, and then he went around to his
brother and said :
"I am going home."
"What are you going home for?" asked his
brother.
"I am homesick," Dwight said.
"Oh, well, you will get over it in a few days."
"I never will, I don't want to," said the boy.
"You will get lost if you start home now, it is
getting dark. ' *
Dwight was frightened then, as he was only about
ten years old, and he said, "I will go at daybreak
to-morrow morning."
His brother then took him to a shop window
where they had some jack-knives, and jew's-harps
and dolls, and other things that boys are supposed
to like, with the idea of diverting his mind, but what
did the lonesome boy care for those old jack-knives,
or jew's-harps, or dolls? He wanted to get back
home to his mother and brothers. It seemed as
44 MOODY'S EARLY LIFE.
though his heart was breaking. All at once his
brother said :
"Dwight, here comes a man that will give you a
cent."
"How do you know he will?" the boy asked.
"Oh, he gives every new boy that comes to town
a cent, ' ' said his brother.
Dwight brushed away his tears, for he would not
have him see that he had been crying, and he got
right in the middle of the sidewalk, where he could
not help but see him, and kept his eyes right upon
him. He always remembered how that old man
looked as he came tottering down the sidewalk. He
remembered the bright, cheerful, sunny face.
When the man came opposite to where he was, he
stopped, took Dwight's hat off, put his hand on his
head and said to his brother :
"This boy is new in town, isn't he?".
"Yes, sir, he has just come to-day," said his
brother.
Young Moody watched to see if he would put his
hand into his pocket; he was thinking of that cent.
The old man began to talk to him so kindly that he
soon forgot all about it. He told him the story of God
and His only Son, and how wicked men had killed
Him, and how He had died for all. He talked only
five minutes, but he had him fascinated, and then
he put his hand into his pocket, and took out a brand
new cent, a copper that looked just like gold. This
he gave him, and the boy thought it was gold, and
he held it very tight. He never felt so rich before.
"I do not know what became of that cent," he said
in speaking of the affair. "I have always regretted
that I did not keep it, but I can feel the pressure of
MOODY'S EARLY LIFE. 45
that old man's hand upon my head to this day.
Fifty years have rolled away, and I can hear those
kind words ringing yet. I shall never forget the
act. He put the cent at usury, and that cent has
cost me a great many dollars. ' '
Mr. Moody used to tell a story in which he related
how he and the other boys in the neighborhood, in
the spring of the year, when the snow had melted
away from the New England hills, would take a
piece of glass, and hold it up to the warm rays of
the sun, and that these rays would strike through
the glass, and set the woods and grass on fire, and
that these escapades caused the neighbors much
trouble and anxiety.
Mr. Moody said that when he was a boy, his
mother used to send him out to get a birch stick to
whip him with, when it was necessary that he be
punished, which was quite often. He said that at
first he used to stand off from the rod as far as he
could, but that he soon learned that the whipping
hurt him more that way, and so after that he always
went as near his" mother as he could, and found that
she could not strike him so hard.
He said that among the other things which he did
on the farm, was the hoeing of corn, and that he
used to hoe it so badly in order to get over as much
ground as he could, that at night he had to put down
a stick so as to know next morning where he had
left off.
Mr. Moody said he had little faith in prayer in his
boyhood days, but that faith came to him in the fol-
lowing manner. He was creeping under a heavy
tence, and it fell down and caught him, so that he
tould not get away. He struggled until he was
46 MOODYS EARLY LIFE.
quite exhausted, and then began to cry for help, but
he was so far from any house no one heard him.
He then began to think that he should have to die
away up there on the mountain all alone, but then
he happened to remember that maybe God would
help him, and so he asked Him, and he said that he
was greatly surprised to see that he could lift the
rails so easily.
It was at the earnest entreaty of his mother that
in the latter part of his school days, he attempted
to do some hard studying. His last term at school
was in the winter of his seventeenth year, but his
resolution to gain a little knowledge came so late,
that although he studied very hard, it availed him
little.
Whatever religious impressions he had felt in
childhood, seemed to have been covered out of sight,
and he grew up to be a young man with no other
piety in him than the love of his mother and a
sturdy determination to be an honest and successful
man. He was endowed with a determination that
he would succeed somehow, and his deficiencies in
education were over-balanced by a bold push aided
by a ready wit, which carried him over many diffi-
culties, before which a wiser but less courageous
boy would have quailed in despair.
CHAPTER III.
LIFE IN BOSTON.
Young Moody at the age of seventeen left North-
field with his mother's permission to seek employ-
ment. He first went to Clinton, where he had a
brother who was a clerk in a store, but finding noth-
ing there to suit him, he pushed on to Boston. His
uncle, Samuel Holton, a successful merchant of Bos-
ton, had visited the old home a little while before,
and Dwight had asked him for a place in his boot
and shoe store. The uncle, knowing what a wild
young colt he was, had refused, fearing to take him
to a great city, where the chances were that he
would go straight to ruin. But the young man was
determined to show his uncle that he could find, or
make a place for himself without help from any
one. Accordingly, much to that excellent gentle-
man's surprise, his nephew one day made his
appearance in his store, not to ask for a place but
just as a visitor.
His uncle, Lemuel, a younger brother of his
mother, lived in Boston, and at his house young
Moody was made welcome. He at once began to look
for a situation, but did not succeed very well. The
odor and the air of the farm were upon him ; the
touch of the mountain breeze was still in his cheeks,
and these distinguished him from the dwellers in
47
48 LIFE IN BOSTON.
the city. His clothes were not of the fashionable
cut of the day. In some places they were shiny;
in others, seedy, and his trousers bagged at the knee.
At this time he was so unfortunate as to inherit a big
boil on his neck, which forced his head to rest on
one side, and gave him a comical, if not a grotesque
appearance, and of course this did not help his pros-
pects for obtaining a situation.
At the end of a week he was much disgusted, but
not discouraged; he began to think that nobody in
Boston appreciated him, and he did have a very fair
idea of his own worth. He came to the conclusion
that he must move on, and he picked upon New
York as the place to which he thought it would be
well to go. All his money was gone, and he knew
that he must make the journey on foot, if he went
at all, as he had nothing which he could sell to raise
more funds. His uncle Lemuel asked him if he had
called upon his uncle Samuel for aid to a situation.
"No," said D wight, "he knows that I am looking
for a place, and he may help me or not just as he
pleases."
His pride, however, was beginning to bend just a
little, but it was by no means ready to break. He
was adrift in a world which seemed to care for him
no more than the ocean waves care for a floating
piece of cork wood. His uncle Lemuel thought it
might be well to give the young man some advice,
so he gave him a good fatherly talk. He told him
that his self-will was greatly in his way, and that
modesty was sometimes as needful as courage, and
suggested that his uncle Samuel would no doubt be
glad to do something for him, if he should show
LIFE IN BOSTON. 51
himself a little more willing to be governed by peo-
ple who were older and wiser than himself.
Acting upon this advice, he was kindly received
by his uncle Samuel, who consented to give him a
place as a salesman in his store upon the following
conditions :
That he was to board at some place to be selected
by his uncle.
That he was not to be out in the streets after
night, or go to places of amusement, which his
uncle did not approve.
That he was regularly to attend the Mount Ver-
non (Congregational) church and Sunday-school.
His uncle was a successful business man. He,
too, had come to Boston in his youth, and knew of
the snares and temptations to which a young man
was subjected, and he was satisfied that if young
Dwight would adhere strictly to the code he had laid
down for him, that he would succeed. He had for
many years been a member of the Mount Vernon
church, and he knew that the young man would be
sure to find there good companions, a thing which
he considered of vital importance. To the three
conditions above enumerated, a general one was
added, which was that Dwight was to be governed
by the judgment of his uncle rather than his own;
or, in other words, that he was to give due obedi-
ence to his superiors.
Young Moody was in such a state of mind, and
was so thankful for the aid which his uncle had
offered him, that he readily agreed to all of the con-
ditions, and to his credit, it may be said that he
kept them faithfully. A home was found for him in
a Christian family, who lived in humble style, but
4
r.2 LII'^IO IN UOSTON.
llic nionil iitmosphcrc w.is such that it more than
foinpcnsatcd for any hick of bodily comforts. A
fcH'hii}; natural to one in his condition, sprunj^ up in
the breast of youn;^ Moody, and that was that the
people with whom he came in contact in liis church
and business life felt that they were just a little bit
better than he. He saw that he had nej^lected his
opportunities in the country school, and that his
meaj^re education had not fitted him to shine in cul-
tivated society, l^^or a time he was inihappy, but he
steadily held to his purpose of concjuerinj^ a place
for himself in the world, and he felt sure of ultimate
success.
He was a shari), shrewd boy, a keen observer of
man and thinji^^s, even at that early aj^e, and was
possessed after a short time, with a jud^tuent rare
in a boy who had been raised under such environ-
ments. What he lacked in knowledj^'c he made up
in shrewd ^iiessiny;, and within three months after
he entered the store of his uncle, he was the best
salesman in the house. Ilis idea of business was a
stru};;;li' with mankind, out of which the hardest
heads and the sharpest wits were sure to come with
llu^ larjjcst influence and the ionj^-er purse. His
uneles were ({uiet men and conservative. I)wij.jht
was opposetl to silence and conservatism. Their
i(U"as were not his ideas, althouj^h their aim may
have been the same. They were slow and method-
ical; he was l)rus(pie, impulsive ami a^^ressivc.
lie had a hi^jh sense of what he thouj^ht was right,
and was (piick to resent what he deemed any attack
upon his honor. These little tempests of passion
soon passed away, however. It may be imagined
that this peculiar char.ieleristic of the young man
Ml'MC IN l'.(JST()N. :,,{
somctinios created cuiisLcrnation in the conservative
old business house, anil it reiiuired S[)lendid diplo-
matic ability on the part of the superiors to keep
peace anion;^ the inferiors.
The church which his uncle rcipiired him to attend
was Congrejj^ational in its character, and was one of
the most orthodox and excellent in all that sc;ction
of the country. Its pastor, Dr. Kirl<, was a man of
magnificent physi([ue, of j^cat knowh-dj-.e, of cap-
tivatinj^' manners, and ;4reat oratorical |)owers. lie
was such a man as would naturally draw lo him a
character such as that of youn;j; Moody. No ordi-
nary preacher would have been able to have done
this. Younjj; iJwight saw in this minister a man
who was a success.
Mr. ICdward Kimball was the teacher of the l>ible
class, in which he was placed in the .Sunday-school.
His first visits to the class were by reason of iiis
aj^rc;enu'nt with his untd(^, but it was with evident
weariness and im[)atience that he listened to the
lessons and explanations. The teacher stated in
speal<in;j^ of the affair in after years that he did not
seem to be able to ^vX hold of the younj^' man, and
that he even felt tii.il h(^ wa:; failing'- to interest him,
but that one Sunday, the lesson ha])pened to be
about Moses, and that he noticed that the youn;jf
boy listened with considerabh; att(Mition, and was
at last so interested as to actually ask a (juestioji,
the first remark he had made. The teacher received
the question with much favor, and enlarjuMl upon it
nnich to the youth's satisfaction. Tiie boy soon
bej^an to take an interest in his teacher, but his dis-
like for the vSunday-school and the church seemed
to be j^aowin^. It seemed to him that the people
54 LIFE IN BOSTON.
were so rich, so proud and so pious, that they lived
in a different world from his. The youth of his age
wore better clothes, and spent a great deal of money,
and he felt that he could not imitate them. There-
fore, he considered himself a victim of misfortune,
and had a habit of revenging himself, as many peo-
ple do under like circumstances, by denouncing his
more fortunate fellov; creatures for their pride. It
was not long, hower er, before the spirit of God be-
gan to make itself manifest in his soul. His heart
gradually began to soften. He thought often of
the lessons taught him by his mother, and he began
again to pray the Lord to help him to be good. One
day his Sunday-school teacher came to him in his
place of business, and putting his hand kindly upon
his shoulder, inquired if he would not give his heart
to Christ. The question awakened him, and he be-
gan to seek the Savior in earnest, and in a little while
he began to feel that he had been converted. Years
afterward, he used to say: "I can feel the touch of
that man's hand on my shoulder yet." He carried
into his religion the same enthusiasm that he used
in his business, and he soon began to speak in the
meetings of the church, telling what God had done
for his soul, and sometimes adding a piece of ex-
hortion, which was not always flattering to the ele-
gant believers around him, and which was many
times received with disfavor.
It is related that one good lady, a member of the
congregation, one of those prim, stately old New
England damsels, who doubtless traced her ancestry
back to the Mayflower pilgrims, called upon his
uncle Samuel, and requested that he advise the
young man to remain silent until he should become
LIFE IN BOSTON. 55
more able to edify the meetings. His uncle replied
that he was glad his nephew had the courage to
profess his faith in such presence, and declined to
put anything in his way.
In the course of time, he made application to be
received into the Mount Vernon church, and went
before the deacons to be examined as to his faith
and doctrine. His early training in religious mat-
ters had been in a general way. He had not been
taught the catechism of any creed. His mother was
a believer in the Bible, and explained it according
to her light without reference to any particular sect.
Thus it was that when he came to pass the strict
doctrinal examination, he found himself illy quali-
fied. There was nothing lacking in his faith, but
his doctrine was lamentably weak. Orthodox the-
ology had made little impression upon him. He
was completely at sea on the questions propounded
to him by the deacons, but he was familiar with his
duty to Christ, to the church and the world, and he
was willing and anxious to do it. The deacons did
not take kindly to this kind of theology. In those
days, doctrine was one of the great things neces-
sary to a man's salvation, and he who had not doc-
trinal points at the end of his tongue, was not, in
their judgment, considered a fit candidate for full
church membership. They wanted the young man
to succeed, they wanted him to become a member of
their church, but they could not see their way clear
to accepting him at that time. They, therefore,
proposed to put him on probation. This the young
man accepted, and continued his heavenward course,
meanwhile imbibing a number of the doctrinal
points. After a time, he made a second applica-
56 LIFE IN BOSTON.
tion, and at the May communion, in the year 1855,
he was received into the church. Some years
afterward, Dr. Kirk, the pastor, was in Chicago,
and heard the young man preach, stayed at his
house, preached in his pulpit, and conversed with
the people about him, and when he returned East,
he called upon Moody's uncle Samuel, and said to
him:
"We ought to be ashamed of ourselves. There is
that young Moody, whom we thought did not know
enough to be in our church and Sunday-school, ex°
ercising a greater influence for Christ than any other
man in the great Northwest."
Mr. Moody never forgot the kind help of his
teacher, Mr. Kimball. He claimed it as one of the
sweetest experiences of his life when he had become
a successful evangelist. Many years after, when
Mr. Moody was holding some meetings in Boston, a
young man came to him after the service and intro-
duced himself as the son of Mr. Kimball. Mr.
Moody was, of course, delighted to see him, and at
once inquired if he was a Christian. The young
man answered that he was not.
"How old are you?" asked Mr. Moody.
"Seventeen," replied the young man.
"Just my age," said Mr. Moody, "when your
father led me to the Savior, and that was just sev-
enteen years ago this very day. Now, I want to
pay him by leading his son to Christ."
The young man was deeply impressed. They
went into a pew together. Mr. Moody prayed with
him, and received his promise to give his heart to
Christ. Soon afterward, he received a letter from
LIFE IN BOSTON. 67
his old teacher, in which he said that his son had
found peace in believing.
Mr Moody carried his business push into the
church, and Dr. Kirk was many times obliged to
put an extinguisher on the young man, who always
wanted to talk. He reminded one of a steam-engine
in his enthusiasm. His conversion seemed to force
him to want to do something more than was being
done in the church. He could not understand that
a man could be a conservative Christian. He
thought that he must always be fighting sin in
whatever guise he found it. He believed that the
old bones needed rattling up. He wanted to set the
church members to working, but they did not take
kindly to innovations. He began to think that a
change of scene was what he needed. He had heard
and read much of the West, and he believed that
there he would have better opportunities for fulfill-
ing his business aspirations, and a freer range for
his religious convictions. So, in 1856, in the month
of September, he left Boston, and a few days later
arrived in Chicago.
CHAPTER IV.
BEGINNING OF HIS CAREER.
When Mr. Moody arrived in Chicago, he carried
letters of introduction to a number of merchants in
the boot and shoe line, this being the only class of
business with which he was familiar, he had little
trouble in securing a situation with a Mr. Wiswall.
He conducted a flourishing store on Xake Street.
The young Yankee soon made his influence felt,
there was a hustle about him which pleased his
employer and caused his fellow clerks to look on in
astonishment. He earned every cent of salary that
was paid him and it was raised more than once in
a few years in which he remained in the business.
He introduced new ideas constantly. In those days
it was the habit of clerks to sit around and read the
papers when no customers were within, this young
Moody never did. If no buyers appeared at the
store he went out after them, he beat about the
hotels; depots and other places where he was likely
to fall in with merchants from the country. When
he found them he had a faculty of persuading them
that the goods which he sold were far superior in
every respect to the goods sold by other people in
the same line of business, and that the methods and
business integrity of his firm was the superior of
all. It is the general impression of all who knew
his early prospects, that if he had devoted his
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BEGINNING OF HIS CAREER. 61
life to business he would have become one of
the recognized commercial men of the United
States, and perhaps one of its wealthiest merchants.
His enterprise, organizing powers and- financial
ability were recognized and remarked upon at all
times. His friends tried in every way to persuade
him to stick to a mercantile career, but he was not
to be turned from his decision to devote his life to
the saving of souls. No better evidence of Mr.
Moody's business ability can be cited than the suc-
cessful operation of the splendid settlement of
schools at Northfield, and of the Bible Institute and
its attendant features here in Chicago.
One of the first acts of Mr. Moody, when he
removed to the West, was to join the First Congre-
gational Church of Chicago, and to hire therein not
one but four pews, he had determined that any
money which he received for his services, and which
was not necessary to the support of his mother and
her family in Northfield, and not necessary for the
defraying of slight expenses necessary for his own
support, should be applied to the spreading of the
gospel, he believed that as he gave so would he
prosper, that he could do more good for himself and
for others by giving a quarter instead of a tenth of
his income to Christ, so that one of the things that
he did with his surplus income was to expend it in
this unique manner of hiring four pews in a church.
Having secured the pews, the next thing was to fill
them, this, however, was not a difficult task. He
went into the highways and by-ways and brought in
the scum of the earth. Some of the good aristo-
cratic church members did not fancy this sort of
evangelism, but the minister was a godly man and
62 BEGINNING OF HIS CAREER.
believed that this young parishoner was on the right
track. This work, however, was too slow for this
Yankee enthusiast, he wanted to fill the church, but
as that was not to be thought of, he must find some
other method of satisfying his ambition for work.
He applied for the position of the teacher of one
of the Mission Sunday-schools, and was informed
that the school was well supplied. They said, how-
ever, if he could bring in his own class, they would
certainly not object to his teaching them and that
he would be given the best of support. They inti-
mated to him that it was not teachers that they
wanted, but scholars, that it was not much trouble
to find teachers, the trouble was to find some one to
teach.
On the next Sunday the new candidate for teach-
er's honors, appeared with a procession of eighteen
as ragged, rowdy, barefooted lot of young "hood-
lums" as ever crossed the threshold of a place of
worship. He had found his vocation, he was in his
element and he knew it at once. This must be his
life work. He became the church recruiting officer
in all the missions and Sunday-schools in the town.
He did not neglect his business, that went on the
same as before, his energy seemed almost tireless,
he worked hard all day in his business relations and
spent the evenings and Sunday working for souls.
The commerce of Chicago in those days was
largely transported by ships, and the busy docks
was consequently a meeting place for the toughest
characters, and he was to be seen in the lowest parts
of a great city among them, spreading tracts, and
offering consolation, many times to be rebuffed,
entreating men to give up their vicious practices
BEGINNING OF HIS CAREER. 63
and turn their attention in future to the great truths
taught in the Scriptures.
It was not long before Mr. Moody established a
mission Sunday-school of^his own. He saw that a
large territory on the north side of the river was not
looked after by Christian people, so he rented a
deserted saloon, the only available room to be had at
that time, which stood near the North Side Market.
The location was admirable for his purpose. It was
surrounded by fully 200 saloons and gambling dens,
and the streets, alleys and tenements swarmed with
men, women and children. His previous scout work
had made him acquainted with the habits of these
people and he did not fear but that he could soon
make his school a success.
A gentleman who visited this school in its first
days described it as being bare of chairs and tables,
most of the scholars being obliged to stand up along
the wall. Mr. Moody had an old box for a seat, and
his plan was to group the children around him, with
perhaps one on his knee, and read to them chapters
from the Bible any explain it according to his light.
It was about this time when he began to note his
own deficiency in education, and this caused him to
call upon people who were well equipped for Sunday-
school work to aid him.
One of Mr. Moody's best qualifications for this
work was his intense love for children; he never
seemed happier than when in the midst of a jolly
group of youngsters with whom he could romp and
play to his heart's content.
Mr. Frank Keefer, of Hammond, Ind. , who was an
attendant at the North Side Moody school, relates
that at one time Mr. Moody gave a picnic to his
64 BEGINNING OF HIS CAREER.
scholars out on the Des Plaines river ; the day was
an ideal one in the country, and everything was in
the full beauty of life, while the sun beamed bright
and warm. He remembers that Mr. Moody was
attired in a long linen duster and presented anything
but a distinguished appearance. During the day
Mr. Moody gave his boys what he called a treat.
He had secured several large sacks of apples and he
went through the crowd pouring them out to see
the boys scramble after them. He highly enjoyed
the performance, but when he had finished he did
not have much left worth speaking of in the way of
clothes.
One of Mr. Moody's plans was to approach his
intended scholars with candies, apples and toys, thus
gain their confidence, and finally get them into the
school. When he got them there once he had no
fear but that they would return. Several men are
now living who were members of that school, and
they state that although at the time they had no
deep religious convictions yet there was something
about Mr. Moody and his methods that drew them to
him and made the Sunday-school a desirable place
to go, although the outside attractions were certainly
very inducing in those days.
Thus early Mr. Moody realized the value of music,
and believed it to be one of the strong points
which would hold his Mission school together. He
secured the services of Mr. Trudeau, a musical
friend, and installed him as chorister. It was not
long before the school began to grow to such propor-
tions that Mr. Moody saw he must make other
arrangements to accommodate the crowd. He,
therefore, obtained permission of Mayor Haines to
BEGINNING OF HIS CAREER. 65
use the hall over the old North Market. This hall
had generally been used on Saturday nights for a
dance, and it took most of the forenoon on Sunday
to sweep out the debris, such as sawdust, tobacco
and beer stain. There were no furnishings in this
room, but Mr. Moody took it upon himself to do the
financial work and soon succeeded. Among those
whom he called on was Mr. J. V. Farwell, the mil-
lionaire merchant prince of Chicago. Mr. Farwell
succumbed to the blandishments of Mr. Moody and
subscribed money enough to furnish the hall. After
Mr. Moody received his subscription he asked Mr.
Farwell what he was doing in the way of personal
work for Christ. Mr. Farwell told him, and Mr.
Moody finding that all his time was not occupied,
suggested that he visit his Sunday-school on the
next Sunday. Mr. Farwell did so and was surprised
on his arrival there to learn that Mr. Moody had
nominated him as Superintendent. He hesitated
somewhat about accepting the office, but Mr. Moody
insisted, however, that he should try it, and he did,
and thus began a friendship which lasted throughout
Mr. Moody's life. The school grew from seventy-
five scholars to 200 in three months; there were 350
scholars in six months, and within a year the aver-
age attendance was 650. It was estimated that
fully 2,000 children passed through the school a 3^ear.
Mr. Moody not only did scout work for his Sunday-
school, but in his travels through the lowly districts
of Chicago he found many cases of want and his
energies were largely turned in the direction of
relieving the distress of such people as came under
his observation. In order to do this he had to call
upon his friends ; this circle he extended wider and
66 BEGINNING OF HIS CAREER.
wider each year until he knew every prominent
business man in Chicago, and it has been stated that
there was not a single one of them but had contrib-
uted more or less to Mr. Moody's plans.
During these labors at the North Market Street
Mission he attended to his duties of a traveling sales-
man. This made his work much harder, because he
would frequently be miles from Chicago toward the
end of the week, but he had made an arrangement
with his employers that he was to spend his Sundays
at home and he never allowed anything to interfere
with this. It is not to be supposed that he had
clear sailing in his Sunday-school work. There was
a strong Catholic element living on the North Side
at that time and among the boys were numbered sev-
eral who were certainly anything but saints. These
boys broke windows constantly in the old Market
Hall, and did other things which annoyed Mr.
Moody very greatly. He knew it would be of little
use to expostulate with the boys and less use to expos-
tulate with their parents, and he determined to go
to the fountain head and see what could be done.
He, therefore, called upon the Catholic Bishop of
Chicago and laid the matter before him. The Bishop
was surprised, of course, but Mr. Moody won him
over and the Bishop issued an order which prevented
any further disturbances.
After his school had been fully established, he de-
termined to give all his service to Christian work, and
the manner in which this was brought about is told
in another place in this work. He made it a prac-
tice to speak to one unconverted man each day, and
he has related many instances of his work in this
manner.
BEGINNING OF HIS CAREER. 67
On the 28th of August, 1862, he entered into mar-
riage with Miss Emma C. Revell, .who still survives
him. She is a sister of Fleming H. Revell, the well
known Chicago publisher. Two children were born
of this union while they resided in Chicago and one
child after they removed to Northfield, all of whom
survive.
With his work during the war, on the Christian
Commission, he found time, in 1863, to erect a large
building in Illinois Street, at a cost of $20,000, and
removed his mission and church from the North
Market Hall to that place when it was completed.
He did not give up his work with the Y. M. C. A.
by any means. He determined that the Association
should have a permanent hall and this he secured
for them. It was known as "Farwell Hall," and
was dedicated on September 29, 1867.
CHAPTER V.
HIS Y. M. C. A. WORK.
Mr. Moody was one of the first members of the
Y. M. C. A. of Chicago, in 1858, when that organ-
ization opened its room at 205 Randolph street. He
continued his work, and, in 1864, was made a mem-
ber of a special committee for the procuring of
ground and the erection of a permanent building.
As a result of this work, the first building of the
Association was dedicated at 148 Madison street, in
1867. He was president of the Association from
1865 to 1869. One of the principal reasons ascribed
for the success of the Y. M. C. A. was the daily
prayer-meetings and the religious efforts growing
out of it. Mr. Moody was the leading spirit, and
gathered round him a band of men who were win-
ners of souls. The very atmosphere of the rooms
of the Association was one of prayer and praise.
Although the appointments were very modest and
plain, the spirit of those who met in those daily ser-
vices was one of remarkable consecration.
The good effected by the Y. M. C. A. in connec-
tion with the United States Christian commission
during the civil war was altogether incalculable,
many of whom were among the first who responded
to the call for 75,000 men, and from that time to the
capture of Richmond the labor of societies were un-
68
HIS Y. M. C. A. WORK. 69
remitting to aid and comfort soldiers in camp and
on the battle-field.
A large chapel was erected in Chicago where there
was preaching and prayer-meetings every day. The
hospitals were visited by regular agents who sup-
plied all the needs of the soldiers during sickness
and convalescence. D wight L. Moody was the first
regular army agent of the societies.
Camp Douglas, in Chicago, was selected for a mil-
itary prison by the United States authorities, and
many men who had fought in the Confederate army
were brought there for safety. Mr. Moody and his
co-workers saw in this camp, which was tenanted
alike by Union and Confederate forces, a need of
spiritual instruction. He, therefore, put forth his
efforts to do all the good he could in the camp, and
held meetings there as often as his affairs and the
exigencies of the camp would permit.
From Camp Douglas he went to other camps of
the army, and for years his familiar face and pleas-
ant voice were seen and heard in many places where
blood ran in streams.
At the close of the war, there was organized what
was known as the American Christian Commission,
which held conventions in many cities of the country,
among the most notable of which were the ones held
in Boston, Minneapolis, and Des Moines, Iowa, in
1866; Leavenworth, Kansas; Minneapolis, Pitts-
burg, and Grinnell, Iowa, in 1867; St. Louis, Phil-
adelphia, Peoria, Detroit, Terre Haute, Columbus,
and terminating with the great national convention
held in Marble Church, New York, in 1868. At
each of these conventions Mr. Moody presided, and
was the moving spirit of the meetings. His work
70 HIS Y. M. C. A. WORK.
in the Christian Commission brought him more than
local fame, but his work in these conventions made
him known to people all over the United States, and
the culmination was in the New York meeting when
he answered the questions and expounded his views
on the Bible against Dr. John Hall and Rev. Henry
Ward Beecher. In the judgment of the contempo-
rary critics, he came out with the fullest of honors.
At the close of the work of the Commission, he
came back to Chicago, occasionally making visits
here, there and elsewhere, for the purpose of hold-
ing revivals. He began to be much sought after and
he thought that perhaps it would be best to give up
his local work in Chicago and vicinity, and traverse
more ground.
In a history of the First Congregational Church
of Chicago for the quarter-century ending in 1876,
appeared the following: "In closing the records of
this portion of our history a brief word ought to be
spoken respecting the peculiarly close relation sus-
tained by this church to the evangelistic work of our
honored brother, Dwight L. Moody, Major T, W.
Whittle, and P. P. Bliss. It is a matter of pardon-
able pride that when Brother Moody was canvassing
the question of duty as to his future work, when
some ridiculed his illiterateness, were offended at
his plain, blunt way of putting the gospel truth;
when some pulpits were shut against him, and some
Christian people were disposed to think him a clown,
not to say a fool, this church had, as a whole, only
sympathy, this pulpit only a welcome and a God-
speed. And I know that this hearty fellowship and
regard were most grateful and inspiriting to him.
"The first Bible-reading he gave in this city, or
HIS Y. M. C. A. WORK. 71
gave anywhere, as covering the new method of evan-
gelistic labor which was shaping itself before his
mind, he gave in the lecture-room of this church,
and the work of that series of twelve readings
greatly encouraged this dear brother to continue in
his chosen work. Church and pastor were one in
this. You never found fault with me for welcoming
him so heartily to this pulpit. You never sneered
at his broken, unpolished utterances, his faulty
grammar. You agreed with me, that taught in the
schools or taught only in the closet, ordained by the
laying on of men's hands, or ordained only by the
baptism of the Holy Ghost, whosoever he might be,
that evinces the seal of God's approval on his en-
deavor to lead men to Christ, he should have our
heartiest fellowship, our sincerest prayers.
"Brother Whittle is our rightful ambassador, for
he was converted under the ministry of this pulpit.
Brother Bliss, whom Brother Moody feels to be as
truly raised up of God in his service of gospel song,
as was Charles Wesley, is still one of our household,
and thank God for this fellowship. They all pray
earnestly for us as we do for them ; and may God
grant to endue both them and us with a double por-
tion of His vSpirit, and in the future exalt through
all onr labors, as never before, the gospel of salva-
tion through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ."
In speaking of Moody's Y. M. C. A. work, Rev.
F. G. Ensign, superintendent of the American
Sunday-school Union, says: "The services of
Dwight L. Moody in the early days of the Young
Men's Christian Association were of inestimable
value, and his influence has remained through all
these later years as a benediction. From 1861 to 1870
72 HIS Y. M. C. A. WORK.
no man was so constant and persistent in the work as
was Mr. Moody. He gave to it the first labors of his
early days, and the ripe thoughts of his mature
years. As a well-known business man, in whose
store Mr. Moody was once employed, said: 'Mr.
Moody would make quite a good clerk if he had not
so many other things on his hands. ' Those other
things were the eternal interests of his fellow men,
and such a spirit as his could not be long confined
even by the bounds that hold most men to the
appointed desks by which they earn their daily
bread. With an enthusiasm which could not be
dampened, and an energy which never abated, Mr.
Moody pursued his arrow- straight course.
"What he has done for communities and nations
during these latter years, he did for the Association
during his early days. It would be impossible to
estimate his usefulness to the Association, or to cat-
alogue the details of his successful work. The asso-
ciation claims him as its greatest single champion
and honors him for the work that he did while here
not less than for the work for the world's evangel-
ization, which he has since pursued with great suc-
cess. It rejoices that one whose training was in part
obtained in its service should be so manifestly called
of God to the great work in which he has since
engaged. ' '
CHAPTER VI.
FIRST MEETING WITH BLISS.
Mr. P. P. Bliss, who is known as the sweet singer
and great song- writer, tells of his first meeting with
Mr. Moody, in 1869. Mr. Moody at that time was
holding gospel services in Woods' Museum, Chi-
cago, which stood near the corner of Clark and Ran-
dolph Streets. Previous to his holding services in
the theater, he was accustomed to speaking in the
open air from the steps of the court house. Mr.
Bliss said that one Sunday evening, accompanied by
his wife, they went out for a walk, and passing up
Clark Street, they came to the open air meeting.
"I was at once attracted by the earnestness of the
speaker, who was Mr. Moody, and waiting until he
closed with an earnest appeal for all to follow him
to the theater, we decided we would go, and fell in
with the crowd. I spent the evening in his meeting
there. That night Mr, Moody was without his usual
leader for the singing, and the music was rather
weak. From the audience I helped what I could on
the hymns, and attracted Moody's attention. At
the close of the meeting, he was at the door shaking
hands with all who passed out, and as I came to him
he had my name and history in about two minutes,
and a promise that when I was in Chicago Sunday
evenings, I would come and help in the singing at
the theater meetings. This was the commencement
73
74 LIFE OF P. P. BLISS.
of our acquaintance. I sang at the theater meet-
ings often after that, and making longer stops in
Chicago in connection with writing music, I was
often at the noon meeting, and was frequently made
use of by Mr. Moody in his various gatherings."
Mr. Bliss was engaged in holding revival services
in different cities in connection v^^ith Major Whittle
for several years and was very successful. His
music is still used in Sunday-schools.
Phillip Paul Bliss was born in Clearfield County,
Pa., July 9, 1838, in the usual log house occupied
by the English settlers of the mountain and forest
region of northern Pennsylvania. In February,
1844, the family moved to Kinsman, Trumbull
County, Ohio, where they resided three years. In
1847, the family returned to Pennsylvania, residing
in Esterville, Crawford County, and, in November,
1848, they removed to Tioga County. Mr. Bliss was
one of sixteen children, all but two of whom died in
infancy. When about ten years of age he had his
first piano, and he thought it was the sweetest music
that had ever been produced. He worked on a farm
in his early days, that is, from the time he was
eleven until he was sixteen years of age. A portion
of this time, however, he was enabled to obtain a
little schooling. He was converted by a Baptist
minister in 1850, and was immersed in a creek near
his own home by a minister of the Christian church,
who was holding meetings in that neighborhood.
In 1855, he spent the winter in a select school at
East Troy, Bradford County, Pa. In 1856, he
worked on a farm in the summer, and taught school
in the winter at Hartsville, Allegheny County, N.
Y. The following winter he passed at Towanda,
LIFE OF P. P. BLISS. 75
Pa. , and at Towner Hill. Here he met for the first
time J. G. Towner, who was afterward associated
with him in concerting. The same winter he at-
tended the musical convention at Rome, Pa. This
did much to strengthen his growing passion for
music. In 1858, he was at Almond, N. Y., and in
the winter of that year he taught in the Rome
Academy, at Rome, Pa. He became acquainted
with O. F. Young, whose family were singers. He
fell in love with the eldest daughter, Lucy, and, on
June I, 1859, they were married at the little town of
Wysocks ; the year after his marriage he worked on
the farm for his father-in-law, and received for his
support $13 a month, the amount usually paid to
farm hands. In the winter he commenced teaching
music at Bradford County for $2 an evening and
board. His first musical composition was written in
1864, and published in 1865 by Root & Cady. It
was called "Lora Vale," From 1864 to 1876, for
twelve years, his pen was usually giving expression
to songs that came thronging through his mind.
He was twenty-six years old when he wrote his first
song, and thirty-eight when he wrote his last.
His first meeting with Mr. Geo. F. Root, of Chi-
cago, was in 1863 or 1864. When he went to Illinois
to hold musical conventions and give concerts, he
connected himself with the musical publishing firm
at that time, and took editorial charge of the "Musi-
cal Visitor." Mr. Bliss continued to hold revival
meetings first with the Rev. D. W. Whittle, and
then with Mr. Moody. Among his famous 5ongs
was "Hold the Fort, for I Am Coming," which was
taken from the message sent by General Sherman
to the command which was holding Kenesaw mouu-
76 LIFE OF P. P. BLISS.
tain during the civil war. This was written m 1870.
In September, 1876, he visited Mr. Moody at North-
field, and spent a week with him there. He accom-
panied him during that visit to Greenfield, Brattle-
boro, Keene, and adjacent towns, and sang at the
meetings Mr. Moody conducted. In October of that
same year, he was present at the Moody and Sankey
opening service in Chicago. He did not participate
in any of the Chicago meetings in a public way, but
for three weeks was a constant attendant. On Octo-
ber 2ist he went to Kalamazoo, his wife accompany-
ing him. He sang at the Young Ladies' Seminary at
the Baptist College. From the nth to the 21st of
November, 1876, he was at Jackson, Mich., holding
meetings. On the 25th of November he went to
Peoria, and held a meeting. On the 14th of De-
cember the meeting was closed, and Mr. Bliss went
to Chicago. He left on that same evening for To-
wanda, Pa. , where he spent Sunday with his mother,
and sister, Mrs. Willson. It was his intention to
return to Chicago on December 31st, when he and Mr.
Whittle were to take up the work in that city. He
attended nearly every meeting in the little town
where he was visiting, his last one being on Wed-
nesday evening, December 27th. He was full of
the holy spirit, and sang with more than usual
power, among the songs being "In the Christian
Home in Glory," "Hold Fast Till I Come," "Fa-
ther, I Am Tired," and "Eternity." He prefaced
his remarks on the song, "Hold Fast Till I Come,"
by saying that it was one of the first occasions of its
being sung, and it might be the last song he should
ever sing to them. This seemed afterward in the
light of a premonition of his approaching end.
LIFE OF P. P. BLISS. 79
Thursday morning, December 28th, he took his lit-
tle boys into a room by themselves, and prayed with
them, and bade good-bye to all. His tickets read
to Chicago by the way of Buffalo, on the Lake Shore
road. He took the afternoon train at Waverley,
and expected to be in Buffalo that night, but the
engine of the train on which he was going was de-
tained three hours. Upon arriving at Hornellsville
late in the evening, they decided to wait over and
have a night's rest. Mr. and Mrs. Bliss left there
Friday morning, December 29th, taking the train
which connected at Buffalo with the Chicago train,
wrecked at Ashtabula, Ohio. There were eleven
cars on the train, consisting of two engines, three
baggage, one smoker, two coaches, three sleepers,
one parlor car — probably 250 on the train. A blind-
ing snow storm was raging when the train pulled
out of Buffalo an hour late. Just before reaching
the bridge at Ashtabula, the snow was very heavy,
and the prospect was that the train would be snowed
in. There were two passenger cars in front of the
smoker, which did not come in the regular way, and
next behind the smoker came the parlor car in which
were Mr. Bliss and his wife. When the train fell,
Mr. Bliss succeeded in crawling through a window,
supposing he could pull his wife through with him,
but she was jammed fast, and all efforts proved un-
available. She was caught in the iron work of the
seats, and finding he could not save her, hs staid
with her in an attempt to put out the fire and rescue
her, and perished with her.
Some of his best known pieces were: "Hold the
Fort," "Pull for the Shore," "Jesus Loves Even
Me," "We Are Going Home To-morrow," "More
80 LIFE OF P. P. BLISS.
to Follow," "The Light of the World Is Jesus,"
"Let the Lower Lights Be Burning," "Almost
Persuaded," "What Shall the Harvest Be?" "Hal-
lelujah, It Is Done."
CHAPTER VII.
SERMONS ON P. P. BLISS.
One of Mr. Moody's most touching sermons was
that preached at the Chicago Tabernacle, Sunday,
Dec. 31, 1876, in memory of P. P. Bliss, who, with
his family, perished in the Ashtabula disaster a few
days previous. Mr. Moody's subject was "The
Return of Our Lord." He stood in his place, and
with manifest trouble to keep back the sobs and
tears, he repeated those words of David, "Know ye
not that there is a prince and a great man fallen in
Israel." Then, almost unable to speak for weeping,
he said: "Let us lift up our hearts to God in silent
prayer." A long period of silence followed, broken
by the voice of a member of the congregation, who
gave thanks to God for eternal life. The congrega-
tion then joined in singing "In the Christian's
Home in Glory there remains a land of rest, ' ' after
which Mr. Moody arose and said :
"I was to take up the subject of our Lord's
return, but I cannot control my feelings so as to
speak as I had intended. I will take up that sub-
ject at another time. When I heard last night that
Mr. Bliss and his whole family had perished, at first
I could not believe it, but a dispatch from a friend
who was on the train took away all hope and left me
face to face with death. For the past three months
81
82 SERMONS ON P. P. BLISS.
I have seemed to stand between the living and
dead, and now I am to stand in the place of the
dead. Mr. Whittle and Mr. Bliss were announced
to hold the four-o'clock meeting in the Tabernacle
to-day, and now Mr. Farwell and Mr. Jacobs and
Mr. Whittle, with other friends, have gone to see if
they can find his remains to take them away for
burial. I have been looking over his hymns to see
if I could find one appropriate for the occasion, but
I find that they are all like himself, full of hope and
cheer. In all the years I have known and worked
with him, I have never once seen him cast down,
but here is a hymn of his I thought we might sing.
"Once after that wreck of the steamer at Cleve-
land, I was speaking of the circumstance that the
lower lights were out, and the next time we met
he sang this hymn for me. It is the 65th in our
collection.
"Let us sing it now. It begins 'Brightly beams our
Father's mercy, ' but still more brightly beams the
light along the shore to which he has passed. It
was in the midst of the terrible storm' he passed
away, but the lights which he kindled are burning
all along the shore. He has died young, only about
thirty-eight years old, but his hymns are sung
around the world. Only a little while ago we re-
ceived a copy of these hymns translated into the
Chinese language.
"In spite of the mourning it is sweet to think that
this whole family passed away together, father,
mother, Paul, only four years old, and little George,
only two years old, all gone home safe together.
There comes a voice to us saying 'Be still and
know that I am God,' but we know that our Father
SERMONS ON P. P. BLISS. 83
doeth all things well. My heart goes out for his
mother. He was an only son and his mother was a
widow. Let us just put up a prayer for his mother.
And there was dear Mrs. Bliss who was not an inch
behind her husband. She taught him how to pray
and encouraged him with his music. I have often
heard him say, 'All I am I owe to that dear wife.*
"Now about that charge of his singing for money.
The royalty on this little book has amounted to
about sixty thousand dollars, which has been devoted
to charitable purposes. I once asked Mr. Bliss to
take $5,000 for himself, telling him I thought he
needed it, but he would not take one farthing. Chi-
cago never had a triier man. He will be appreciated
hundreds of years hence, like Charles Wesley and
Doctor Watts. He was raised up to sing in the
Church of God. God be praised for such a woman ;
God be praised for such a man."
On this occasion the only collection ever taken in
the Tabernacle was at the suggestion of Mr. Moody
for the erection of a monument to Mr. Bliss, and he
requested that as so many would want to contribute,
that the largest contribution should not exceed
$1.00.
That same morning Mr. Moody preached a sermon
at the Chicago Avenue Church, and referred to the
work of the church, which was built in the hope
that Messrs. Moody and Sankey would return and
labor in Chicago through its means. Mr. Moody
said:
"It seems as if God is calling us to other fields,
and I cannot help believing that if our Christian
frie ds will just come together and pray earnestly
to God, that the work will go on just as well without
84 SERMONS ON P. P. BLISS.
us as if we were here. Some people get discouraged
and think the work will not go on because we are
not coming back. That is not the fact. Bear in
mind that God is willing to labor through any one in
the church who will consecrate himself to His cause.
I cannot help believing that the best days of this
church are in its future and not, as some think, in
its past." Thinking of workers, Mr, Moody's
thoughts were drawn to Mr. Bliss, concerning whom
he said:
"Why he was so dear to all of us and why we
loved him so much was because he was always cheer-
ful. We never saw him discouraged or cast down;
he was all the time singing about gladness. 'I am
so glad' was the key note of all his songs. How
pleasant it would be if every man and woman were
full of the joy of the Lord because He is our
strength.
"This being the last day of the year, I have been
looking forward to it as one of the most solemn days
of the year, and I had pi-epared some thoughts to
bring out on this occasion. But little did I think
that it would be as solemn as it is. My thoughts
have been drifted into another channel entirely. A
text came into my mind when I heard of the sudden
death of Mr. Bliss and his family. He was coming
to the city to fill an appointment here to-day. He
was to have been with us this morning and it seems
almost as if I am standing in the place of the dead.
It is always solemn to stand between the living and
the dead, as a preacher does, but it is always more
solemn to step into dead men's shoes, as I feel I
have done to-day. The text that occurred to me is
in the 24th chapter of Matthew and the 43d verse,
SERMONS ON P. P. BLISS. 8S
'Therefore be ye also ready. ' Death often takes us
by surprise, but it did not find Mr. Bliss unprepared.
He and his wife had been ripening for heaven for
years, and I have been thinking of that family before
the throne this morning, singing the sweetest song
they had ever sung. They should profit by this
awful calamity. God was coming very near to this
city. There was never before such an inquiring
after God as there is now, and this last stroke of
Providence ought to be a warning to every one
to get in readiness to meet the Lord. It might be
said that I am taking advantage of this catastrophe
and preaching for effect. If people do not take this
warning, I do not know what will move their hearts.
There are three things every man and woman ought
to be ready for: life, death, and judgment. Life
is uncertain ; no man can tell at what hour nor in
what manner death may visit him. Accidents like
the one which occurred Friday are by no means un-
common and might strike down any one of us. It
therefore behooves every man to place his trust in
Christ, so that he may be prepared to meet Him at
any moment."
The Evangelist was greatly moved during the
sermon and he pleaded earnestly and tearfully that
the audience should heed this terrible warning and
accept Christ as their Savior. There were few dry
eyes in the congregation when Mr. Moody resumed
his seat.
In the afternoon he preached again in the Taber-
nacle from the text, ' * Therefore be ye also ready, ' '
which he said had been ringing in his head all
day. He called upon those who had heard him
preach for three months to bear him witness that
86 SERMONS ON P. P. BLISS.
he had said nothing about death, confining him-
self to life, but it might be that before long God
might lay him away and send some one to take his
place, and he could not forbear saying a word urg-
ing on all the necessity of regeneration and prepara-
tion. His voice was more subdued than usual, and
in all he said and all the reading from the Scriptures
it came tremulously and mingled with tears. He
spoke painfully and with difficulty, the words some-
times utterly unintelligible.
" 'Be ye therefore ready.' Do not put it ofif.
There are some who may say I am preaching for
effect and making use of this good man's death to
frighten you." Satan might even say that of him
and say it truly. He zvas preaching for effect, and
he hoped the effect would be to save the soul of
every human being before him. He felt he must
warn them, and would warn them of the wrath to
come and the death pursuing. That death had sent
many a warning during the year, and now an awful
one had come. Many of them had looked down
upon the dead faces and open graves of departed
friends. Would they not heed those warnings?
Would they not heed this last warning, which might
be even nearer to themselves than any before.
Death had taken them by surprise and had taken Mr.
Bliss at the very time the speaker was writing out
the notice of Mr. Bliss's appearance to-day. He
and his wife were snatched from life but they were
ready. They might have suffered for a few minutes,
it may be for an hour, but when they reached heaven
there was none in all the celestial choir that sang
sweeter or played better on his golden harp than
P. P. Bliss.
Copyright, 1900, by Robt. O. Law.
P. P. BLISS.
The "Singing Evangelist" and song-writer, whose music was used in Mr. Moody's
meetings with wonderful success.
SERMONS ON P. P. BLISS. 89
" 'Be ye therefore ready:' no matter how or when
a man may die, if he is only ready. Little did Mr.
Bliss and his wife look for what was coming and it
seems to me that no man or woman should ever go
on a railroad train again until they have made their
preparation to die. We may be called upon to die
at any time the death of martyrs. I would rather
die like Stephen than die like Moses. I would as
lief die like P. P. Bliss as die like Stephen. Were
they ready? Those who went on that train saw the
the sun go down for the last time. Many in this
house may have seen it go down for the last time as
they came here. Are they ready? You may fall
down and break something, or you might have dis-
eases of the heart that would carry you off before
morning. Are you ready? There was no time to
repent when they were rolling down that bank into
that awful chaos and confusion. Some men were
dead before they knew what had happened. God
help the man who waited for a catastrophe before
he repented.
"Look at that young girl. She had a deceptive
cough. It was all right, the doctor said, or would
be in the spring. He said this when he knew that
spring grasses and flowers would wave over her
grave. How much lying is done in sick chambers
and by death-beds!
"I would rather have been on that train and taken
that awful leap and died like P. P. Bliss and his wife
than have them go as they did, and every man
should feel so who knows God and is ready to die.
"O that you might profit by the calamity!"
CHAPTER VIII.
FIRST MEETING WITH SANKEY.
Mr. Moody's meeting with Mr. Sankey took place
in June, 1871, at Indianapolis. Both were delegates
to the national convention of the Young Men's
Christian Association held there at that time. It
was at an early prayer-meeting; the singing was
dull and doleful until Mr. Sankey was called for-
ward to act as leader. His sweet voice and fervent
spirit at once brought the bold evangelist to his
side.
"Where do you live?" asked Mr. Moody, bluntly.
"At Newcastle, Pa.," was the answer.
"Are you married?"
"Yes,"
"How many children have you?"
"One."
"I want you with me to help me in my work in
Chicago. ' '
"I cannot leave my business."
"You must. I have been looking for you for the
last eight years ; you must give up your business
and come to Chicago with me. ' '
"I will think of it; I will pray over it; I will talk
it over with my wife."
With painful reluctance Mr. Sankey severed the
associations so dear to him at his home, and in the
90
FIRST MEETING WITH SANKEY. 91
spirit of faith joined Mr. Moody in his vast labors as
an evangelist in Chicago, and here they worked to-
gether in harmony and were blessed with many
souls as their hire.
Then came the great Chicago fire, which not only
devastated Mr. Moody's mission and home, but
almost the entire city. Mr. Moody was one of the first
relief workers. He toiled day and night, forgetful
of self, forgetful of everything except the safety of
his family, and the rebuilding of a city in which
had been wrought such ruin. One of his first
thoughts was the rebuilding of his place of worship,
and when once the thought was fixed in his mind,
it did not take him long to execute it. Even before
the ashes had cooled, and smoke was yet issuing
from the embers, Mr. Moody began to clear away a
placC' to erect his tabernacle. His enterprise
brought him success, however, and his church was
one of the first rebuilt in the city. He was one of
the persons entrusted with the relief funds, and had
a hand in distributing more than $7,000,000.
Mr. Sankey now rejoined his family in Pennsylva-
nia, and set about singing in conventions again
until a telegram from Mr. Moody, three months
later, said, "Come at once, " and he returned to work
in the new tabernacle in Chicago.
Ira David Sankey was born on the 28th of
August, 1840. His birthplace was the village of Edin-
burgh, Lawrence County, Pa. On the paternal side,
he came from EngUsh stock, and on the maternal,
Scotch-Irish. His parents were natives of Mercer
County, and were members of the Methodist Epis-
copal Church. Out of their family of nine children,
only three sons and one daughter grew up to ma-
92 FIRST MEETING WITH SANKEY.
turity. David, the father, was well off in worldly
circumstances, and in such good repute among his
neighbors that they repeatedly elected him a mem-
ber of the state legislature. He was also a licensed
exhorter in his own church. Thus the means and
the character of this household were such as to in-
sure ample advantages for culture in general knowl-
edge and spiritual truth.
Ira, from his childhood, was noted for his joyous
spirit and trustful disposition. The sunshiny face
that is so attractive in his public ministry, has been
a distinguishing feature from early boyhood, and
very early won him the praise of being "the finest
little fellow in the neighborhood. ' ' His father
states: "There was nothing very remarkable in his
early or boyhood history. The gift of singing de-
veloped in him at a very early age. I say gift, be-
cause it was God-given ; he never took lessons from
anyone, but his taste for music was such that when
a small boy he could make passable music on almost
any kind of instrument." An old Scotch farmer,
named Frazer, early interested himself in the little
lad; and of his good influence Mr. Sankey thus
spoke, at a children's meeting held in the town of
Dundee, Scotland: "The very first recollection I
have of anything pertaining to religious life was in
connection wi^th him. I remember he took me by
the hand, along with his own boys, to the Sabbath-
school — that old place which I shall remember to my
dying day. He was a plain man, and I can see him
standing up and praying for the children. He had
a great, warm heart, and the children all loved him.
It was years after that when I was converted, but
FIRST MEETING WITH SANKEY. 93
my impressions were received when I was very
young, from that man."
Thus reared in a genial, religious atmosphere,
liked and respected by all who knew him and
accepted as a leader by his boyish comrades, Ira
lived on till past his fifteenth year before his soul
was converted to Christ. His conviction as a sinner
occurred while he attended a series of special serv-
ices held in a little church three miles from his
home, and of which Rev. H. H. Moore was then
pastor. At first, he was as gay as his curious com-
panions. But an earnest Christian met him each
evening with a few soul-searching words; and after
a week's hard struggle, he came as a sinner to the
Savior and found peace in acceptance. Soon after,
when his father removed to Newcastle to assume
the presidency of the bank, Ira became a member
of the Methodist church, and also a pupil at the acad-
emy at Newcastle.
This young Christian was richly endowed with a
talent for singing spiritual songs. His pure, beauti-
ful voice gave a clear utterance to the emotions of
his sympathetic, joyous nature, and was potent in
carrying messages from his heart to the hearts of
his hearers. It now became his delight to devote
this precious gift to the service of his Lord, and it
was his continual prayer that the Holy Spirit would
bless the words sung to the conversion of those who
flocked to the services to hear him. Before he
attained his majority he was appointed superintend-
ent of the Sunday-school, which contained above
three hundred scholars; and it was blessed with a
continual revival. His singing of the gospel invita-
tions in solos dates from this time. These sweet
94 FIRST MEETING WITH SANKEY.
hymns were sung in the very spirit of prayer, and
the faith of the singer was rewared with repeated
blessings. A class of seventy Christians was com-
mitted to his charge, and this weighty responsibility
made him a more earnest student of the Holy Bible.
He encouraged his class to tell him of their condi-
tiorh in Bible language, as texts abounded for every
state of grace, and every description of religious
feeling. The choir of the congregation also came
under his leadership. Young as he was, he insisted
on conduct befitting praise-singers in the House of
God, and on a clear enunciation of each word sung.
These congenial religious duties were suspended
for a time by a call for defenders of the flag upon
the fall of Fort Sumter. Mr. Sankey was among
the first to volunteer for three months and he
served out his term of enlistment. Even in the
camp, he gathered about him a band of singers and
was an earnest worker in the prayer meetings of the
soldiers. Upon his return home, he became assist-
ant to his father as collector of internal revenue and
held that position with credit, until his voluntary
resignation nearly ten years later. He was united
in mari'iage on the 9th of September, 1863, to Miss
Edwards, a helpful member of his choir and teacher
in his school.
He assisted in organizing a Y. M. C. A. , at New-
castle, and was elected president, and it was in this
connection that he attended the Indianapolis conven-
tion as a delegate.
CHAPTER IX.
CHARACTER INDICATORS.
Mr. Moody was an exceedingly heavy eater. He
was not capricious, by any means, as to the quality
of his food, although he appreciated good cooking
as well as anyone who had traveled as much as he.
Quantity was what he wanted, and it made no
difference how heavy a meal he ate, it never seemed
to bother him in the least.
One of the things which contributed to his endur-
ance was the fact that he never got nervous, although
many times he appeared to do so. He could lie
down after a heavy meal,- or at the close of a very
exhausting meeting, and sleep the sleep of a child.
It did not seem to make any difference whether at
home, on a railway train, in a boarding-house, or a
hotel, he appeared to sleep as well in one place as
in the other.
He was a bitter opponent of the church fair, and
other forms of amusement and entertainment. He
thought that a man could get enough pleasure in
walking, driving, conversing with people, or play-
ing with children. These were the sole amusements
in which he indulged, if amusements they might be
called.
His memory was remarkable. He seldom forgot
a face, and could usually tell on the spur of the
96 CHARACTER INDICATORS.
moment where he had met some acquaintance years
before. Many times he would remember the mi-
nute details of the meeting, and recall incidents that
the acquaintance had forgotten. The distinguishing
traits of his memory, however, were centered on
the Bible. He could quote passage after passage,
chapter after chapter. He seemed to know the book
by heart, and was seldom at fault in telling one
where to find certain passages. It has been said
that he never forgot an anecdote. He was an ex-
pert at handling every interesting phase of life which
came under his notice. He never tired his auditors
with useless explanatory words. He usually left
something of the anecdote for their imagination.
He had the happy faculty for selecting anecdotes to
adorn his text, and to fix a particular point which
he wished to impress upon the minds of his auditors.
When one listened to his sermons, he was reminded
of that peculiar trait in the character of Lincoln,
which has been so strongly brought out by the his-
torians.
Mr. Moody was a great admirer of Lincoln, and
in the latter part of i860 or early in 1861, Mr. Lin-
coln visited Chicago, and was importuned by Mr.
Moody to visit his North Side Sunday-school. Mr.
Lincoln complied with his request. The Sunday-
school building was crowded when Mr. Lincoln ar-
rived, and he was greeted with cheers by the schol-
ars. Mr. Moody insisted that Mr. Lincoln should
talk to his boys. Mr. Lincoln wanted to know what
he should talk about. Mr. Moody said: ''Any-
thing you like. " Whereupon the President pro-
ceeded to instill in the minds of his youthful audi-
tors that the greatest gifts of a nation — that the
Copyright, 1900,by Robt. O. Law.
IRA D. SANKEY.
The man 'who accompanied Mr. Moody for twenty-five years, and was intimately
associated with him in his best work.
CHARACTER INDICATORS. 99"
greatest honors which could be bestowed upon man
— vrere open to any American boy, who had ambi-
tion, and who would lead a proper course in life.
He referred incidentally to the great struggle which
was then coming on between the North and South,
and tried to impress upon their minds a reverence
for the flag and for their countr}'.
Mr. Moody was quite an admirer of Garibaldi,
the great Italian statesman, and while he did not
agree with him in all things, j^et he did admire his
enthusiasm. He said he never saw his name in the
newspapers or in a book but he read what was said
about him. He said he could not help but admire
a man whose advocacy of the cause of freedom was
stronger than his desire for his own comfort.
Mr. Moody could not sing a single note and could
hardly distinguish one tune from another. He was
a firm believer in music, however, in religious work,
as has been shown in several instances in this book,
and especially in Mr. Moody's eulogy of Mr. Bliss.
ilr. Moody was a great believer in advertising.
He thought it should be done judiciously. He said
one time that if business men conducted their busi-
ness in the same manner as churches, they would
fail inside of six months. He could not see the idea
of having millions of dollars locked up in church
edifices and furnishings, which were closed six days
in the week. He said he could conceive of no
greater waste of capital He said that almost the
only notice you could find on some churches was that
of the undertaker. He thought there should be
bulletin boards on every church.
Mr. Moody was a firm believer in the idea that
people wonld instantly know each other in heaven.
100 CHARACTER INDICATORS.
He said on one occasion that he did not think when
he got there that he would have any trouble in rec-
ognizing Paul or John or Elisha.
He expressed himself as being opposed to the the-
ater for various reasons, but among the principal
ones was that they had no regard for the Sabbath ;
that it was a place where fallen women frequented
and that in the building or near by could always
be found a saloon. That he did not think it was
elevating to associate in that connection with this
kind of people, and for that reason he believed that
one's time could be better employed elsewhere.
In speaking of Sunday newspapers, he said that
one of his friends one time made an analysis of the
Sunday papers of New York. This friend had been
advised that all of the Sunday newspapers published
sermons and that the character of the other matter
was such as might be safely taken into the home
and was considered very elevating and entertain-
ing. This friend found that a large per cent of the
matter was sporting, murders, suicides, divorces,
fashions, political, and foreign news, aggregating
something like nine himdred columns, and that the
religious news amounted to only three and a quar-
ter columns.
First impressions of the great evangelist were dis-
appointing. He was neither of commanding height
nor striking form. He was the appearance of the
substantial, prosperous business man of the world;
nor was the effect more marked after he began to
speak. His voice, while strong and pleasant, had
none of the magnificent qualities possessed by Henry
Ward Beecher. He had no polish of rhetoric, nor
elements of diction, and yet the people went in
CHARACTER INDICATORS. 101
crowds to hear him, and were turned from the doors
at every meeting. Some no doubt came to hear him
through curiosity, others were drawn because of the
interest in the work he represented, but the real
secret lay undoubtedly in the man himself. He was
tremendously in earnest. Rough in speech he might
be, but he impressed you with the sense that he be-
lieved every word that he said, that he considered
his ideas of transcendent importance. He told plain
truths and did not mince his words in the telling. He
talked face to face with ?iis audiences. He had no
new Gospel. Disciples of newer methods of scrip-
tural interpretation urged their views upon him, but
he said that he had no time to investigate such
things. He did not talk about the terrors of hell.
He gave warnings of the consequences of evil deeds,
encouraging to repentance.
His success from the beginning of his work in
getting such money as he needed for the purpose of
benevolence has been amazing. He understood the
secret of reaching the pockets of men of wealth.
'Last of all the beggar died also,' is the epitaph
which he laughingly said should be inscribed upon
his tombstone.
He died a poor man. Vast sums had been given
him by people whose hearts were warmed by him
into new life, but he accepted nothing for his own
use. Princely royalties received from the sale of
the popular Moody and Sankey Hymn-books have
all been used in the support of his public work.
Not a penny had been expended upon himself.
There isn't a good photograph of him in existence.
He would not permit them to be taken, lest some
should accuse him of using the proceeds of their sales
102 CHARACTER INDICATORS.
for private gain. He was careful to avoid every
appearance of questionableness. He inspired abso-
lute confidence in the integrity of his manhood.
A writer, in describing the meetings at the Hip-
podrome, New York, which stood on the ground
where the Madison Square Garden now stands, in
1876, says of Mr. Moody:
"He is a man of another and different class from
Mr. Sankey. Tall, stalwart, squarely, massively
built. At first the physique and general appearance
of the man seem heavy. The head is attached to
the body by a short neck. The forehead is rather
broad than high. The nose is not classical, nor are
the eyes large or lustrous, but the whole man is
illustrative of strength and thoroughness and seems
to have untold source of will and determination to
draw upon. Mr. Moody's features have been some-
what etherealized in the engravings, and none we
have yet seen resemble him. The head recalls
slightly the Socratic lineaments, and Socrates had
not a classical face. There is nothing ascetic in Mr.
Moody's appearance, for it is blunt and hardy. He
wears a long, flowing beard, and a heavy moustache,
which partly hide any emotional expressions. His
voice has its peculiarities. Naturally it must have
been what teachers of declamation call 'an impos-
sible voice,' but by dint of training it accomplishes
its purpose admirably. It can be heard anywhere
in the largest hall. If there is no grace in Mr.
Moody, there is no awkwardness, the gestures are
sober. He never thumps nor bangs nor forges out
the text on imaginary anvils. ' '
When John Wesley felt with grief that Whitfield
was drawing souls from his church, the grand old
CHARACTER INDICATORS. 103
man said: "Do men gather from his amorous way
of praying to Christ or that luscious way of preach-
ing his righteousness in real holiness?"
Mr. Moody's manner is heartless. It is not always
that he is at the highest point of tension. There
are lots of shadows in his preaching. The accu-
mulative power which puts him in close connection
with the thousands, and which imbues them with the
hold feeling, is not always foreseen, and for that
very reason is all the more impressive. It may be
that the first text chosen by him, which as a scrip-
tural trellis his tree is to grow on, is too scant and
restrictive. Incidentally he supplements this text
with new ones, and the inspiration comes. Then
suddenly issues forth a new growth, which bears
both its flowers and fruits.
Rev. H. W. Webb-Peploe, D. D., Vicar of St.
Paul's, Onslow Square and Prebendary, and St.
Paul's Cathedral, London, in writing to a religious
journal in August, 1896, of the great Evangelist,
said : ' ' Mr. Moody's work whether at home or abroad
has been up-reared upon three foundations, which
if anything can make a human work indestructible
will certainly guarantee the after results of his toil.
"First: Every stone has been laid upon the solid
basis of prayer; God's grace, God's gardens and
God's glory have been sought without ceasing, and
before another step has been taken, whether at
Northfield or Chicago, it has been made as certain
as prayer, and its wonderful answers can make it,
that the faith of the Almighty was upon the under-
taking. Let those who will scoff at the power of
prayer, Dwight L. Moody and his work are magnifi-
cent testimonies to all who have the humility and
104 CHARACTER INDICATORS.
the will to be convinced that God is, indeed, a
prayer-answering God, and that they who put their
trust in him shall never lack for wisdom or for sup-
plies. The first power in Northfield is the power
of prayer.
" Second : Upon every soul with whom Mr. Moody
has had to deal, he has unceasingly and with coura-
geous determination impressed his simple scriptural
capacity, which, tells of the infinite love of God, of
the perfect atonement wrought for sin, of the death
of Lord Jesus Christ, of the absolute knowledge of
the new birth by the Spirit, and of the wondrous
power of that Holy Spirit to sanctify all who receive
him into their souls.
"There is no uncertainty about Dwight L. Moody's
evangelism, and while Mr. Sankey and others
should be never forgotten, but honored and rejoiced
over as God's power and song, and while multitudes
hold to the sweet singer a debt of infinite gratitude,
it is quite certain that the rock upon which all
the educational and evangelistic results of these
brethren have been based, is that solid rock of the
atonement or gospel of substitution so freely
announced by Mr. Moody and his co-workers,
whether as preachers or singers of the gospel.
''But not only has the divine aid been sought and
the divine council been declared at every step of
Mr. Moody's work, but we must if we would learn
the real secret of its success, notice that.
"Third: The Divine Being has in everything and
at all times been acknowledged as the author or
giver of all good gifts, wisdom and money, power
and success. 'The Lord for whose glory every step
CHARACTER INDICATORS. 105
must be taken, and as the Master to whose guidance
every detail must be submitted. ' ' '
At Northfield no man is allowed to glory in men.
The work is the Lord's. He must rule at all points
and receive the full honor for all that succeeds.
Mr. Moody would be the first to acknowledge that
he owes an incalculable debt to his mother and to
his wife, who have so long been the blessing home
spirits of his life. In Mr. Moody's children the
father has living monuments of his wisdom and
power iri the home. And yet not for one moment
either in Northfield or Chicago is any ruler acknowl-
edged or spoken of but Jehovah. These are the
secrets or grounds of the success which God has so
generously given to his servant.
Mr. James H. Whiton, in August, 1896, said of
Mr. Moody: "Mr. Moody ranks as high in the
qualities of insight, prominence and energy, which
make great administrators of business, as in those
who make a successful evangelist. And these he
gave a splendid administration in the organizing,
financing and direction of the six months' evan-
gelistic campaign in Chicago during the World's
Fair, and yet no man ever had a more humble
estimate of himself. If he can get others to
speak, he prefers to listen. He values the printed
page also, and has been busy with his pen in produc-
ing quite a library of books or documents, some two
dozen in all, some of which have been sold far
above 100,000 copies. What General Booth's books
are to his army, these are for the masses Mr. Moody
has inspired. Some of them have been translated
into Swedish, German and Danish-Norwegian. Nor
are they allowed to wait for buyers. He has organ-
106 CHARACTER INDICATORS.
ized a colportage association to spread the sale of
these and similar books. The profits support the
workers in their work. One book in the list is
especially characteristic of the man, the Northfield
edition of Bagster's Bible, especially prepared
according to Mr. Moody's suggestion, for the use of
his students.
Rev. W. C. Gannett, in an address before the
Free Religious Society of Providence, R. I., in 1877,
said of Mr. Moody :
"I think the way to look at Moody and his work
is somewhat in this wise : Here is a great religious
phenomenon. We study the phases of history in
religion. We watch in the lands of the present the
Indian with his totems, the Buddhist at his shrine,
the Mohammedan on his praying-carpet in the des-
ert, the Roman Catholic before his ribboned and
jeweled Virgin, the Presbyterian with his Sunday
face — it is a family history. They are all our ances-
toi's or cousins. But here is something wondrous in
religious happenings in our day and in our midst.
We need not travel far in time or in space to watch
it. Two men have been going through the capitals
of the highest English-speaking civilization. Wher-
ever they come, the crowd gathers before their lips,
and light hearts grow heavy and then light again
with a new kind of joy, and many a selfish life grows
earnest for the time, at least, and many a drunkard
gives up drinking and struggles as he never strug-
gled yet before he falls again.
"In Boston, twice or thrice a day, four and five
and six thousand people fill a vast building to hear
them. What go they out to see? A man big-bod-
ied, short-necked, heavy- faced, harsh- voiced, of no
CHARACTER INDICATORS. 107
culture, such as colleges and books supply, poor in
grammar, poorer in pronunciation, and poverty is
not the word to describe his lack of grace in manner.
But here is the fact — six thousand people, men and
women, old and young, life-tired and life-jubilant
people, come twice a day to hear him. The edu-
cated ministers, their usual teachers, are his serv-
ants. He says to this man 'Speak,' and he speak-
eth ; to that man 'Pray,' and he prayeth. Here is
something not to be ignored or pooh-poohed away.
Can it be explained?
"The man strikes straight for your conscience, and
he deals with certain universal forms about the con-
science. Not all men carry ideas, not all men carry
feelings which can be moved by a word said to them
in common ; but every man who goes to the Taber-
nacle carries a conscience, and knows what Moody
means when he says straightforwardly: 'You are a
sinner; you need cure; you feel mighty little power
to cure yourself ; there is a power that can cure you ;
lay hold of it — here it is, and be well.' And Mr.
Moody cannot philosophize about this matter — sin;
he hardly tries to — is the last man to succeed if he
tried. Neither can his audience philosophize about
it. But that inability helps, not hinders, the effect.
That saves time, and keeps the aim to the target.
There is a clear track between his lips and your
conscience. He knows what he is talking about,
and you know, too, be the doctrine what it may.
"Another secret is an open secret. He preaches
in pictures and stories. A sermon of his is a cabi-
net of anecdotes, is a little picture gallery. He
states his point in a few words, and then, instead of
moralizing over it, he says: 'I remember a man in
108 CHARACTER INDICATORS.
Glasgow, ' and everybody listens to find out about
that Glasgow man. And when he is through with
him the Chicago man is ready, and when he is dis-
missed, you have Mr. Moody's point vividly etched
on your mind ready to be carried away in memory.
His anecdotes are anecdotes of the conscience, gath-
ered in his long experiences, most of them moulded
by truth into telling shapes. Not all, however.
Some of them are very wooden yet, and sometimes
they act like boomerangs, and lay the teaching flat.
But he can take a little Bible incident, and fill in
and fill in with details, until you have a special cor-
respondent's photograph instead of two or three
Bible verses. And this, till there is too much of it,
is fascinating, and many people can stand a great
deal of it. It is Sunday-school talk, and we all like
to be treated as children in this way. In the best
bred Temple as well as in the rough and ready Tab-
ernacle the anecdote is often the liveliest part of
the sermon. If I should begin right here, 'I re-
member a man, ' you would all look up, and I should
have you as long as I held on to him. Now, Mr.
Moody never lets him go beyond arm's length, and
as a consequence, everything he says is personal-
ized, living, dramatic, easy to understand, hard to
forget.
"Is not that self-surrender the supreme necessity
of here and now, if you have never made it? And
is it not 'new birth' when made? And is it not an
interior act that does precede all outward deeds?
And in that inward struggle between the higher
and the lower self, that wrestle between a conscience
and the lawful right, that knowledge that now and
here it must be settled. If you go off from that
CHARACTER INDICATORS. 109
moment of clear conviction without the self-surren-
der to the Highest, goes not your soul towards sui-
cide? And when, by the surrender you get upon
God's side, feel you not as if His entire Almightiness
were pledged to give you strength henceforth as his
co-worker? These are only facts that you and I
ought to be able to recognize under any symbol.
The poor drunkard, the light-living woman, the
selfish husband, the thieving merchant, the restless-
hearted boy or girl, know what he means. They
know very well that his 'Come to Jesus, ' whatever
else it means, means consecration to a new and bet-
ter life, that to believe in Him, to accept Him, means
a turning about — conversion.
"They are not utter fools. It is not a pantomime
of private theatricals — it is a conscience wrestling
with the living God. And shall we laugh or cavil
at the symbol? You do not laugh at the idea of con-
secration to the highest right you know? No, your
heart leaps and aches at the thought, your cheeks
flush with the yearning to do that heroism, your
tongue has no ha! ha! for that; but that is what
your Evangelical neighbor called 'Coming to Jesus. '
Are you going to call it cant? His symbol serves
him as yours serves you. Honor your own in hon-
oring his. Do I idealize Mr. Moody and his con-
verts by these words? They do not consciously
mean anything so intensely moral as this — I hear
some one protest. The consecration that you make
centrally in the 'Come to Jesus' may be these, in-
deed, but it is the incentive rather than the central
thing. The central thing with them is not charac-
ter, but salvation, that imputed righteousness that
buys off their punishment for sin, that indulgence
110 CHARACTER INDICATORS.
element of which the Roman Catholic indulgence is
only a lower form. I doubt not that it is so with
some, and that with still more — with very many,
although they fully mean a find of consecration,
and only sing —
'Till to Jesus' work you cling,
Doing is a deadly thing.'
That streets tend to make them feel that doing is a
comparatively indifferent thing, after they cling to
Him; in short, that the 'symbol' like idols every-
where, often gets the worship away from the inner
moral meaning. AVithout abatement of this kind,
I frankly own is exaggeration in the way I have put
the matter. But I believe that truer estimate of a
movement like the revival is gotten by making an
abatement from this way and looking at it, rather
than by approaching it in the opposite spirit and
with a little pity to abate our scorn. It is very easy
to pick out many a bit from Mr. Moody's talk that
seems to contradict all this. 'The Greatest Sin of
the world is unbelief. ' ' If I read my Bible right there
is no hope out of Christ,' and so on. But these are
to be interpreted by his prevailing method, not that
by these.
"That he confounds his symbol with his substance
utterly, that the two are one to him — is that any
reason why we should make the same mistake?
And he would laugh about all this talk about sym-
bols, nor understand a word of it. But get him to
tell you what he means by 'belief and 'out of
Christ, ' and in two minutes you will probably find
him deep in the morality, spite of himself, or rather,
because of himself, for that is what his Christology
is in his heart of hearts.
CHARACTER INDICATORS. Ill
"Can I not be large-natured enough and trust my
nature enough to entertain them all in my own soul,
and say to each with infinite sincerity, Brother? The
man or the party who does this most heartily and
fully is thereby fitted best to make his own light
shine. The only excuse for warning another man
to give up his thoughts and take on ours is our belief
that ours will bless him more — excuse, indeed, to
furnish missions and enthusiasm. The most of us
are so eagerly unselfish in our proselyting that we
call hard names and feel bitter against him if he
does not accept our friendly offer. Let us rather fall
back on our unity with him, make our own light
shine the better and wait.
"Best of all methods to recommend an unpopular
faith to acceptance is being brave in thought, yet
broad in sympathies. Not visibly brave and invis-
ibly broad, as some are apt to be. Not visibly broad
and invisibly brave, like certain other friends, but
brave, so that men will say 'He is a radical' ; broad,
so that men shall add: 'He is reverent,' and by
being so religious in actual life that, as far as one is
known, men and women shall be confronted by a
living proof that what they may call 'infidelity' is at
least fidelity to high morality and widely active
unselfishness. Live up to the motto, 'Freedom with
Fellowship in Religion, ' and then within some hum-
ble sphere, we cannot help being its missionary, for
as we go our whole bearing will preach it — it, the
Freedom with the Fellowship."
CHAPTER X.
THEIR ENGLISH VISIT.
After the Chicago lire, Mr. Moody received what
he termed a "call from on High" to visit England.
So, in 1873, accompanied by Mr. Sankey and their
respective families, they arrived in Liverpool. Mr.
bloody had previously received two invitations from
London clergymen to come and hold meetings
in that city, and it was with this in view that he
made the trip. On his arrival in England, what
was his surprise to learn that both ministers were
dead. The evangelists had taken but a small
amount of money with them, and they were conse-
quently about stranded. Mr. Moody's financial
genii, however, came to his aid, and he at once issued
an edition of song books, which brought them in
sufficient money to pay their expenses, and became a
wonderful success from the start, man}- thousands
of copies being sold and much revenue being
derived therefrom. Mr. Moody remembered that
he had had some correspondence with a minister at
York. He wrote to that gentleman of his arrival
in London, and of his disappointment in not finding
the two friends he had come to see, and suggested
that it might be well to start the meetings at York.
The York minister replied that he did not think the
time propitious for a re^^val, but this did not pre-
vent Mr. Moody and Mr. Sankey from going there.
112
THEIR ENGLISH VISIT. 113
Their reception was not the most cordial. Their
methods of advertising were so new and different
from what the conservative English church people
had been used to, that they were looked upon with
suspicion. They advertised their meetings in the
daily press, and placed large posters on the dead
walls.
At the first prayer-meeting, held on Sunday morn-
ing in a small room of the Association building, only
four persons were present; and Mr. Moody has char-
acterized that as the best service he ever attended.
The clergy looked coldly on the evangelists as
intruders, and most of the churches were closed to
them. They labored on bravely against these dis-
couragements for a month, and were comforted by
seeing above two hundred converts to Christ. Their
work at Sunderland began on Sunday, July 27th, at
the invitation of a Baptist pastor. The ministers
still held aloof, and even the Young Men's Christian
Association eyed them suspiciously for a week before
offering the hand of fellowship. But the meetings
steadily waxed larger.
The evangelists were invited to Newcastle-on-the-
Tyne by the chief ministers of that town, and were
heartily sustained by the leaders of the congrega-
tions. And now Mr. Moody confessed his hope.
"We are on the eve of a great revival which may
cover Great Britain, and perhaps make itself felt in
America. And why may not the fire bum as long
as I live? When this revival spirit dies, may I die
with it." His prophetic words met an immediate
fulfillment. All the meetings were thronged with
attentive listeners, and as many as thirty- four ser-
vices were held in a single week. A noonday prayer
114 THEIR ENGLISH VISIT.
meeting was organized, while special efforts were
made to reach the factory hands and business men.
An all-day meeting was held on September loth,
wherein seventeen hundred participated. One hour
was spent in Bible reading, another on the promises,
and the last in an examination of what the Scriptures
teach concerning Heaven. The town was wonder-
fully awakened, and every night sinners were drawn
to the uplifted Savior.
Edinburgh was prepared for the manifestation of
a signal blessing by a series of union prayer-meet-
ings held in October and November, which softened
and unified the hearts of Christians of various
names. Hence it was that the evangelists were wel-
comed in such a spirit of sympathy that captious
criticism was unthought of. The ministry of song
was an unheard-of innovation. Yet the rooted aver-
sion of the Scottish people to the singing of aught
but psalms, gave way quickly to the evident testi-
mony of the Spirit. to the spirituality of his messages
and the tenderness of his voice. On the first day,
Sunday, November 23d, the Music Hall was thronged
with two thousand auditors, and many more were
excluded. Five hundred met at noon on Monday
for prayer, and that attendance was soon doubled.
Meetings for inquirers was held after each service.
Three hundred in the first week confessed their
sins had been forgiven. Their ages ranged from
seventy-five to eleven. Students and soldiers, poor
and rich, the backsliding, intemperate, and skep-
tical, were all represented. The largest halls were
found to be too small to accommodate the eager audi-
ences. A striking case of conversion was that of a
notorious infidel, the chairman of a club of free-
Copyright, 1900, by Robt. O. Law.
MR. MOODY'S CHARACTERISTIC ATTITUDE.
This was a favorite'gesture of Mr. Moody when making a telling scriptural point.
THEIR ENGLISH VISIT. 117
thinkers. He declared his utter disbelief in the
value of prayer, and defied Mr. Moody to test its
power on him. The evangelist accepted the chal-
lenge in faith, and remembered him continually in
his petitions till he heard of his finding Christ,
months afterward. An impressive watch-meeting
was held on the last night of the year 1873, and a
special blessing was besought for the British people.
The week of prayer, from the 4th to the nth of
January, 1874, was observed throughout all Scotland,
as a season of united prayer for invoking the Lord
to visit the nation, and the entire world in mercy.
The most remarkable feature of this revival has
been described as "the presence and the power of the
Holy Ghost, the solemn awe, the prayerful, believ-
ing, expectant spirit, the anxious inquiry of unsaved
souls, and the longing of believers to grow more like
Christ — their hungering and thirsting after holi-
ness." Similar characteristics have marked the
advent of these yoke-fellows in every community.
Vhis mission in Edinburgh, which lasted till the 21st
of January, 1874, resulted in adding three thousand
to the city chiM*ches.
At Dundee, meetings were held in the open air,
at which from ten to sixteen thousand were present.
Four hundred converts attended the meeting for
praise and instruction. The city of Glasgow was
reached on Sunday, February 8th. The first audi-
ence consisted of three thousand Sunday-school
teachers; the prayer-meeting opened with half that
number. The Crystal Palace, which held above five
thousand, was always crowded, though admission
could only be had by ticket. To meet the emer-
gency, special meetings were organized for young
7
118 THEIR ENGLISH VISIT.
men and young women, inquirers, workingmen,
and the intemperate. Seventeen thousand signa-
tures to the pledge were secured here. So the
work of awakening went on for three months,
steadily increasing in power. On the last Sun-
day afternoon, a great audience of some twenty
or thirty thousand gathered in the Palace garden,
and hung on the words of Mr. Moody, as he
spoke from the seat of a carriage. More than
three thousand united to the city congregations, the
large proportion of whom were under twenty- five.
Short visits were then made to Paisley, Greenock
and Gourock. In the summer a tour was taken
through the Highlands, for the sowing of the seed
of the Word. Meetings were held in the open air at
Perth, Aberdeen, Inverness, and elsewhere; and
many souls were won. In Ireland, the common
people heard the preacher gladly. The good work
began at Belfast, on Sunday, September 6, 1874.
To reach as many as possible, separate sessions were
had for women and for men, for professing Chris-
tians, for the unconverted, and for inquirers, for
young men and for boys. Huge gatherings were
also addressed in the Botanic Gardens, a space of six
acres being filled with attentive hearers. On Mon-
day, September 27th, a remarkable meeting of eight
hours for inquirers was held, wherein above two
hundred young men came unto Jesus and took His
yoke upon them. And when the young converts
were collected into a farewell meeting, tickets for
2,150 were granted to such applicants.
Dublin, five-sixths of whose inhabitants were not
Protestant, awoke into a newness of religious life on
the advent of the evangelists. From the 25th of
THEIR ENGLISH VISIT. 119
October to the 29th of November, the whole city
was stirred in a wonderful way. The great Exhi-
bition Palace contained audiences in the evenings
and on Sundays of from twelve to fifteen thousand.
At the prayer-meetings and Bible readings, the
number often exceeded two thousand. Many
Roman Catholics were attentive listeners, and
parish priests as well. The stillness of these vast
assemblies was very marked. Truly the Lord was
faithful in answering the prayer Mr. Moody con-
tinually off ered in private: "O God, keep the people
still, hold the meeting in Thy hand. " These labors
ended with a three-days' convention, at which eight
hundred ministers attended, from all parts of Ire-
land. Above two thousand young converts con-
fessed their new-born faith.
Manchester for eight months had besought a bless,
ing on its people ; and these preparatory services.
were closed with a Communion in which two thou-
sand Christians united. The month of December
was devoted here to evangelistic work. In spite of
the wintry weather, the halls were crowded, and
overflow meetings had to be organized. Here, as
elsewhere, the large proportion of men in attend-
ance was noticeable. The city was mapped out into
districts, and the duty of distributing cards at every
dwelling was assigned to a large corps of volunteers.
On one side of these was printed the hymn *' Jesus
of Nazareth Passeth By;" and on the other, a
short address by Mr. Moody, his text being Rev-
elations iii. , :2o. The efforts of the Young Men's
Christian Association to purchase a suitable build-
ing met with a cordial indorsem.ent, and a fourth of
120 THEIR ENGLISH VISIT.
the entire amount needed was obtained at the first
public meeting.
In Sheffield, the scheme of house-to-house visita-
tion had to be abandoned in order to secure the co-
operation of the clergy of the Church of England.
The opening meeting was held on New Year's eve,
and the address in that watch-night service was
upon Work. The great congregation, in response
to Mr. Moody's request, finished the old year and
began the new on their knees. For a fortnight the
dwellers in this industrial town collected in such
numbers as to pack the halls and the sidewalks
about them, so that the evangelist had frequently
to speak in the open air. The work at Birming-
ham, "the toy-shop of the world, " was also limited
for lack of time. The spacious Town Hall was
crowded on January 17, 1875; and for the other
gatherings, even Bingley Hall, which held twelve
thousand, proved too small. Another Christian
convention was held, at which above a thousand
ministers attended. Sixteen hundred converts re-
ceived tickets to the special meeting for counsel.
After pausing a week for a vacation, these lay apos-
tles began their ministry of a month at Liverpool on
February 7th. Victoria Hall, a wooden structure,
able to shelter eleven thousand, was expressly
erected for their reception. It was crowded at all
the night services, while an average of six thousand
attended the Bible lectures and noon meetings for
prayer. These three services were held every day
except Saturday, when these devoted laborers took
the rest which their overtaxed energies so impera-
tively demanded. The house-to-house visitation
was resumed here, and efforts were niade to have a
THEIR ENGLISH VISIT. 121
personal talk with the non-churchgoers. The cor-
ner-stone for the new hall of the Y. M. C. A. was
laid, and a convention held for two days, which was
largely attended by ministers and laymen.
Four months were devoted to evangelizing the
gigantic metropolis of London. Four centers were
selected for preaching. Agricultural Hall, at Isling-
ton, North London, could seat 14,000 and give
standing room for 6,000 more ; Bow Road Hall, in the
extreme east had 10,000 sittings; the Royal Opera
House in the west end was in the aristocratic quarter
of Westminster; and Victoria Theater, in the south,
was used until Camberwell Hall was completed in
June. This gospel campaign — the mightiest ever
undertaken by any evangelist — was preceded by a
course of union prayer-meetings for five months, that
the Lord might prepare the way for a glorious man-
ifestation of His power by purging the hearts of
His own followers. A private conference was also
held in advance with fifteen hundred of the city
clergy, in order to explain the usual plan of proced-
ure, and remove any misapprehensions that might
exist. The whole city was parceled out for canvass-
ing, and countless bands of yoke-fellows were sent
out to leave at every dwelling the tract drawn up
by Mr. Moody, and to tender an invitation to the
services. Among these laborers was an old woman
aged eighty-five years, who fulfilled her duties faith-
fully, and met everywhere words of kindness. This
wonderful mission was opened on Tuesday evening,
the 9th of March, at Islington. For a time the ser-
vices were met with mockery and ribald speeches
without, by disorderly men and women. But these
demonstrations soon subsided, as the real piety of
122 THEIR ENGLISH VISIT.
the speakers became evident. Fully 80,000 attended
the services of the first three days, and 45,000 heard
the three addresses on the vSunday following. At
the Royal Opera House, the nobility and gentry of
England were directly reached by Bible readings,
and members of the royal family were frequently
present. The last gospel meeting was greater than
any preceding, and a great number arose to receive
the Lord Jesus Christ. The final meeting of thanks-
giving was held at Mildmay Park Conference Hall,
on July 12th. Seven hundred ministers were pres-
ent to say farewell to the evangelist, whom they
were so loth to see depart. Dr. A. Bonar testified
that the work of increase was still going on in Glas-
gow, with at least 7,000 members already added to
its churches. Other ministers bore witness to the
abundant fruit of the revival. Then, after silent
prayer, the two evangelists hastily withdrew, not
daring to expose themselves to the ordeal of part-
ing with so many dear associates. They had held
285 meetings in London; these were attended by
fully 2,500,000 people; the expenses were $140,000.
These companions came together at the final meet-
ings in Liverpool. They sailed homeward on the
6th of August, attended by many loving prayers,
and arrived in New York on the 14th.
It was during their first meetings in England,
that a rumor was circulated throughout the British
Isles, that Mr. Moody and Mr. Sankey were frauds
of the rankest order, and that they had no standing
whatever in America, and particularly in Chicago,
from whence they hailed. Mr. Moody did not pay
much attention to this at first, but it began to be so
widely circulated that it appeared as if the conse-
THEIR ENGLISH VISIT. 123
quences mig-ht be serious. vSo he cabled to his
friends in America, and the ministers of Chicago
endorsed him in the following resolutions :
"We, the undersigned pastors of the city of Chi-
cago, learning that the Christian character of D. L.
Moody has been attacked, for the purpose of de-
stroying his influence as an evangelist in Scotland,
hereby certify that his labors in the Young Men's
Christian Association, and as an evangelist in this
city and elsewhere, according to the best informa-
tion we can get, have been evangelical and Christian
in the highest sense of those terms; and we do not
hesitate to commend him as an earnest Christian
worker, worthy of the confidence of our Scotch and
English brethren, with whom he is now laboring;
believing that the Master will be honored by them
in so receiving him among them as a co-laborer in
the vineyard of the Lord. ' '
While holding meetings in Liverpool, an immense
audience was assembled one evening, which was
being addressed by the Rev. Chas. Garrett, a Meth-
odist minister of that city. Mr. Garrett, in his re-
marks, deplored the fact that there was no place in
Liverpool or any of the large English cities, where
workmen could find recreation without spending
their time in the saloons and drinking places. He
thought that it would be a splendid scheme if some
plan could be devised whereby the workmen could
be looked after. This gave Mr. Moody an idea, and
he was seen in a hurried whispered consultation
with a number of the gentlemen who occupied the
stage. Mr. Garrett finished his remarks while Mr.
Moody was still whispering. Mr. Moody requested
him to continue for ten minutes. Mr. Garrett con-
124 THEIR ENGLISH VISIT.
tinued, and at the close of his remarks, Mr. Moody
announced that he had just formed the British
Workmen Company — limited — with a capital of
$50,000. That Lord So-and-So — indicating one of
the gentlemen on the stage — had subscribed a thou-
sand pounds; Lord So-and-So, another stage occu-
pant, another thousand pounds, and so on, until
forty thousand pounds had been subscribed inside
of ten minutes. Mr. Moody then announced that
Mr. Garrett would take charge of the fund and pro-
ceed to the erection of coffee houses, as outlined in
his address, and also suggested that Mr. Garrett
raise the balance necessary to make up the total
capital. Mr. Garrett protested that the rules of his
church would not permit him to remain longer in
Liverpool, he having finished the three years' term
of his pastorate. Mr. Moody told him, he would
fix that, and he did. The coffee houses were estab-
lished in Liverpool and spread to all of the large
cities of England. They paid, in dividends, to the
stockholders, 25 per cent for many years, and never
less than 10 per cent. In this connection it may be
well to state that Mr. Garrett, who remained at the
head of the institution for many years, was the first
minister of the Methodist Church in England who
was ever allowed to remain in one place longer
than the stipulated three years.
In speaking once of the incidents of his European
visit, Mr. Moody told the following story :
"I went to London in 1872 just to spend three or
four months, and one night I spoke in a prayer-
meeting. I went into a Congregational church, and
I preached with an unusual power. There didn't
seem to be anything out of the regular line in the
■■■^>^ ^^^r"Mf ^^ .? ^Wa
THEIR ENGLISH VISIT. 127
service. In fact, I was a little disappointed. I
didn't seem to have much liberty there. That even-
ing, at 6.30, I preached to men. There seemed to
be a great power. It seemed as if the building was
filled with the glory of God, and I asked for an ex-
pression when I got through. They rose by the
hundreds. I said, 'They don't know what this
means;' so I thought I would put another test. I
just asked them to step back into the chapel — all
those that wanted to become Christians, but no one
else. They flocked into the chapel by the hundreds.
I was in great perplexity. I couldn't understand
what it meant. I went down to Dublin the next
day, and on Tuesday morning I got a dispatch
saying, 'Come to London at once and help us. ' I
didn't know what to make of it, but I hastened back
to London and labored there ten days, and there
were four hundred names recorded at that time.
For months I could not understand what it meant,
but by-and-by I found out. "
CHAPTER XL
THE BIRMINGHAM MEETING.
Moody and Sankey were at Birmingham in the
early part of January in 1874. Their first meeting
was held on Sunday morning, the 17th, at 8 o'clock,
in the town hall. The meeting was for "Christian
workers," and the admission was by ticket. The
morning was cheerless, damp and raw, but the
people were crowded in every part. In the after-
noon they held an open service in the hall, and
thousands went away unable to get in. The great
test, however, which they had excited came in the
evening. In October, 1873, when Mr. Bright
addressed his constituents after his return to the
cabinet, he spoke in Bingley Hall, a building used
for the annual cattle show, and as a drill hall for
the volunteers. Various estimates were made as to
the number of people who listened on that occasion.
It seems probable that most of them fell far short of
the truth. There were no seats on the floor of the
hall, and without se^s there is now reason to believe
that the hall will hold between 20,000 and 25,000
people. It was crowded in every part.
For the meetings, the "Moody and Sankey Com-
mittee" hired upwards of 9,000 chairs. On their
first Sunday evening, long before 8 o'clock, when
the services commenced, not only were all the
128
THE BIRMINGHAM MEETING. 129
chairs occupied, but several thousands of people were
standing, and thousands could not gain admission.
It is believed by those who are in a position to
judge, that there were fully 13,000 people present
every night. Through the first week the hall was
thronged in the same way, and there were vast
crowds outside.
On Sunday morning, January 24th, it was filled
with people who obtained admission by tickets, and
who, before they received their tickets declared that
they were not in the habit of attending any place of
worship. In the afternoon of the same day, it was
filled with women, and a second service was held in
the town hall for the overflow, and in the evening
it was filled with men. There was a break on the
Monday afternoon of the second week, when Mr.
Moody had an engagement at Manchester. He pro-
fessed to have met Christ on his visit to that city.
Mr. Bright spoke in the hall that night, and it was
most inconveniently crowded, but some people were
of the opinion that on several of the following eve-
nings the crowd that filled the hall for religious ser-
vice was denser than that which filled it for the
political demonstration.
Night after night, long before the hour of service,
long rows of carriages stood in the street filled with
persons who hoped that when the crowd about the
doors had thinned, they might be able to find stand-
ing room just inside, and thousands streamed away
because they found they had come too late to have
a chance of pressing in.
In addition to the evening service, there was a
prayer meeting every noon, at which Mr. Moody
gave an address of twenty or twenty-five minutes,
130 THE BIRMINGHAM MEETING.
and Mr. Sankey sang. The meeting was held at
first in the Town Hall, which was generally quite
full. On the last four days it was held in Bingley
Hall, and the attendance varied from four to six
thousand. At three o'clock, after the first day or
two, Mr. Moody gave a Bible lecture. He began
in Carr's Lane Chapel, which was soon found to be
too small. It was then transferred to Bingley Hall,
and the attendance varied from five to ten thousand.
The meetings had been well advertised. The
local newspapers published a series of articles on
Mr. Moody and Mr. Sankey before they came,
describing the impression they had produced in
Scotland and Ireland. The Morning News gener-
ally gave several columns each day to the reports of
the service. The Daily Post gave great prominence
to this news feature, and even the local Conservative
organ, the Daily Gazette, always had enough about
the evangelist to attract attention. The local com-
mittee, in addition to the newspaper notoriety, cov-
ered the walls of the town with placards, announc-
ing the services and these were constantly being
renewed. When the fact became known that Bing-
ley Hall, the largest in the city, had been filled to
hear the strangers, it created a certain measure of
popular excitement and curiosity, which made it
almost certain that the hall would be filled again.
These services were not deemed "hysterical."
The first sign of hysterical excitement was instantly
repressed by Mr. Moody, and it is a curious fact
that although the crowds were enormous, very few
women fainted. It is said there were only three or
four cases during the meeting.
Mr. Sankey had a great share in keeping up the
THE BIRMINGHAM MEETING. 131
interest in the meetings, and it is interesting at this
time to note that the songs which to-day have lived
and are popular in the church and evangelistic work
were the ones used by the great singer in his Euro-
pean meetings. The people were much in love with
such songs as "Hold the Fort for I am Coming,"
"Safe in the Arms of Jesus," and " I am So Glad
that Jesus Loves Me," but it was not the singing
only that made the services interesting. There
was great animation and variety in them. In the
evening they began with a hymn, which the people
sang together, but what would be the order of the
service no one knew before hand, and it has been
frequently said that Mr. Moody did not even know.
He had the instinctive perception to a remarkable
degree whereby he could easily tell if the people
were interested. After the first hymn somebody
generally offered a short prayer. If it was clear
that the heart of the attendance went with the
prayer, he would then read a chapter and make a
few remarks on it as he read. If not, he would ask
Mr. Sankey to sing a solo, or a solo with a chorus,
in which the people joined, or else one of the most
popular hymns ; then he would read a chapter and
perhaps have another hymn or offer a short prayer
himself. Then would come another hymn, and
then the sermon. Sometimes the sermon would be
followed by a solo from Mr. Sankey. Sometimes by
a hymn, in which all united. Sometimes by a prayer.
Everything was determined by what was felt to be
the actual mood of the moment. Generally the
whole service was over in a little more than an hour
and a quarter.
"One of the elements of Mr. Moody's power,"
132 THE BIRMINGHAM MEETING.
said a critic of the period, "consisted in his perfect
naturalism. He had something to say and he said
it, and said it as simply and directly to 13,000 people
as to thirteen. He had nothing of the impudence
into which some speakers are betrayed when they
try to be easy and unconventional, but he talked in
a perfectly unconstrained and straightforward way,
just as he would talk to half a dozen old friends at
his own fireside. The effect of this was very intel-
ligible. One would no more think of criticising him
than to think of criticising a man one meets in the
street who directs you to the shortest route to the
depot. There are some men who force one to be
critical. There is a tendency to test every sentence
they utter. Their words are received with a kind
of suspicion, yet this never occurred to the people
when they listened to Mr. Moody. Now and then
Mr. Moody quoted a text in a very illegitimate sense.
Now and then he advanced an argument which
would not hold water. Now and then he laid down
principles which seemed untenable, and there may
have been a protest, but if so, it was only moment-
arily. ' '
Mr. J. R. Creed, in an article published in Pear-
son's Magazine, in 1898, about Moody and Sankey,
now says, Though it is more than twenty years
since the Americans, Moody and Sankey, left this
country after their remarkable diatribe on British
morals; these names are not forgotten.
During their famous evangelistic tour over 2,500,-
000 people attended their meetings in London alone,
and when we consider the thousands that thronged
nightly to hear them in the Provinces and in Ireland
and Scotland, it is probable, that taking all in all,
THE BIRMINGHAM MEETING. 133
they addressed the greatest number of different
people that any other preachers have succeeded in
reaching.
Their names, therefore, have passed into a phrase,
and the memory has been kept green by the sale of
their hymn books, which have attained a circulation
of several millions, a secret the publishers will not
divulge.
And what wonderful men these two — orators and
solicitors — were, whatever may be our opinion of
their methods.
The friends who had invited them to this country,
and guaranteed to pay their expenses, were no
longer alive when they at last reached Liverpool.
To meet these predicaments, which left them com-
pletely stranded, an edition of their hymn book was
at once issued, part of the proceeds from the royalty
being sufficient to cover their personal expenses
from the first. Indeed, so ready was the sale that
on his return from Ireland, in 1875, Mr. Moody
announced in public his intention of ceasing to make
private use of the income so derived, and the bal-
ance, which, at the close of the London mission,
had amounted to nearly ^6,000, was devoted to the
liquidation of the debt incurred by the members of
the Chicago church, in which Moody was interested.
There were people who declared that Moody and
Sankey were over here "to make as much money
as they could out of the Lord, " But though fab-
ulous sums were collected on their behalf, fabulous
sums were also spent. In March, 1875, Moody
received an invitation to visit London. " If I come, ' '
was the preacher's response, "you will have to
raise ^^5,000 for expenses."
134 THE BIRMINGHAM MEETING.
The answer came at once —
"We have ^10,000 ready!"
As a matter of fact ^28,238 9s. 6d. was altogether
received, while the expenses amounted to ^28, 296
9s. 6d. , thus showing the deficit of ;^58.
Moody and Sankey's reputation had preceded
them, and London awaited their arrival with no
little curiosity. Who were these great men who
placarded each town they intended to visit with
vast posters announcing their arrival? "Moody and
vSankey are coming!" Was it a traveling show or a
circus, or some popular entertainers?
Wherever they went they engaged the largest
buildings, and, provincial theaters and public halls
were crammed each night from floor to skylight,
thousands who had waited for hours struggled vainly
for admission.
"To hear Moody and Sankey, " says a writer of
the day, in a London paper, "the theaters are
deserted, the gin shops emptied, the streets appear
depopulated, and the very nature and habits of a
work-a-day's world were seized and transformed by
them into something new. They came in scorn,
and left behind respect, surprise, new thoughts, and
whole communities stirred to the quick."
On March 16, 1875, over twenty-two thousand
people thronged the Agricultural Hall to hear
them, and more than ten thousand people were
turned away unable to obtain even standing room.
Such various characters of all ranks and all conditions
of men and women and children as could gather in
the largest buildings, London had never before seen
or known in the metropolis. During the addresses
the audience arose literally in hundreds and
THE BIRMINGHAM MEETING. 137
expressed their desire to be saved! "The cream of
the hour," Mr. Moody asserted, "was in the inquiry
room."
The Prince of Wales, Dean Stanley, and Lord
Cairnes honored the revivalists by going to hear
them. Already they had become popular heroes.
One thousand pounds was offered to Mr. Moody if
he would sit for a photograph, an offer which he,
however, unhesitatingly declined, declaring that he
would pay five hundred pounds to be able to prevent
portraits of himself to be sold. Thousands of men
and women, people of high life, who drove up in
their carriages, poor creatures who dragged them-
selves to the meetings on weary feet, professed to
"find Christ. " The converted were divided into
classes and placed under the pastors to whose con-
gregation they belonged.
In speaking of Moody and Sankey, the preacher
was always mentioned first. But to imply from this
that the singer played an inferior part in the work
would be both an unfair and a mistaken view.
Sankey had one of the finest tenor voices that had
ever been heard. When he sang he held the people
enraptured. Moody's eloquence it is difficult to
criticise. To address and entertain 20,000 people
night after night, month after month, was a per-
formance that only a great preacher could accom-
plish. Yet he made no attempt at rhetoric. Illus-
tration was employed to occupy the place of argu-
ment. Eloquence receded before a store of simple
anecdote.
It was Moody who knitted the attention of the vast
audiences, who held them spellbound, and Sankey's
wonderful voice which carried them away in a burst
138 THE BIRMINGHAM MEETING.
of spiritual enthusiasm, ceasing to leave them once
more, in the great hush that follows, in the convinc-
ing arguments of the preacher.
The most extraordinary event in connection with
Moody and Sankey's visit to this country was in con-
nection with their proposed visit to Eaton College.
From some of the boys, ,or some of the boys' parents,
they received a pressing invitation to visit the school.
The moment this became known there arose such a
storm in London as no similar event has ever called
forth.
The question came up before the House of Com-
mons. Thirty-four members arose to their feet. A
serious and animated discussion occurred in the
House of Lords; a remonstrance, newly signed, was
sent to the head master.
In spite of this a large tent, capable of holding a
thousand persons, was erected in the south meadow of
the College play field, and a public notice was given
of a service, especially addressed to the students.
At the last moment, however, an edict was issued
which emphatically prohibited this. Mr. Moody at
once appealed to the Mayor for the use of Round
Hall, a request that was at first acceded to. Shortly
before three, however, the hour at which the serv-
ice was to commence, a notice was posted on the
door declaring that no meeting would be held.
Nothing daunted. Moody obtained permission to
deliver his address in the garden of one of the houses
in High street. At least seventy or eighty Eaton
boys were present. The meeting was very quiet
and orderly. It may be that a lasting impression
was made on these youthful attendants ; at all events,
THE BIRMINGHAM MEETING. 139
Mr. Moody's address and Sankey's melodies could
not have done them the slightest harm.
When the two finally quitted the country vast
crowds congregated at Liverpool to see them off.
At their farewell services both Moody's stand and
Sankey's organ was decorated with flowers and
costly bouquets ; their appearance was greeted with
tremendous applause ; nor is it surprising that orator
and melodist should both be broken down on that
occasion.
CHAPTER XII.
AMERICAN MEETINGS.
Mr. Moody, at the close of one of his great meet-
ings in Boston, gave a talk on finance and asked the
people there to give him $30,000. He said that
$20,000 of it would be used to defray the expenses
of the meetings that had been held there, and $10,-
000 was to secure the use of the tabernacle for one
year for gospel purposes. He stated that in the
meeting he recently held in Chicago not only had
they raised enough money to pay the expense of
that meeting, but had raised $80,000 additional to
pay the debt of the Y. M. C. A. He said that when
this big sum had been raised, people not in sympathy
with him or his work, stated that Moody and San-
key had carried off a large portion of it. He said
that if this had been true it would have been very
good pay for three months' work. He said if he
had taken the money the public would have a right
to know how they spent it. But as they were not
employed by the public, he did not see any reason
why he should give any statement, as there had
never been any collection for them. He said that
when he gave up his business in Chicago, after three
months of the severest struggle of his life, as to
whether he should go for dollars and cents, or for
souls, that from that day he had no more lived for
140
AMERICAN MEETINGS. 141
money than he had for water. He said he had been
offered $500 a night to lecture, and that when the
lecture was over he could go to his hotel and get a
comfortable night's sleep. But during his evangel-
ism he had worked all day and talked all night with
inquirers, and that when he was done he was so tired
and weak that he could hardly get to his room.
While holding meetings at Burlington, Ta. , a num-
ber of years ago the hall was crowded so densely
that women began to faint ; one woman in particular
fell down in a crowd in the aisle and it was with
difficulty that she could be removed. The weather
was bitter cold and the air inside the building was
very bad. Mr. Moody changed his plan of con-
ducting the meeting and would order hymns every
five or ten minutes, at which time the windows or
doors would be thrown wide open, allowing the air
of the place to become clear. This was quite a re-
lief and no bad effects were noticeable.
At the Christian convention held in Boston, in
1877, Mr. Moody was present and told of his own ex-
perience in his Christian work in Chicago, and when
his congregation was discouragingly small, he said
he found a way to success by putting the converts
to work trying to bring others into the fold. He
said that one man who was converted was unable to
speak English, and that when conversation took
place it was done through an interpreter. This
man wanted to do something for the cause and he
was put to work distributing religious bills. Mr.
Moody said that some people blessed him and some
cursed him, but it made no difference to the man,
for he could not understand English. But this man
was the means of converting a great many people.
142 AMERICAN MEETINGS.
Mr. Moody also advocated congregational singing,
as he believed this had done much good work. He
said that he had been able to reach many young
men by going to billiard halls and singing some
patriotic song followed by a religious hymn. He
said that the first signs of the breaking of the ice was
noticed in the men removing their hats and they
soon did not object to hearing the Scriptures read
or a prayer offered. He said that one time he took
sixteen men out of one saloon and nine of them
went to the inquiry room.
In this same Boston meeting Mr. Moody was
asked a number of questions, and among them was,
"Why don't you teach baptism?" He said in reply,
"If I should teach baptism by sprinkling, I would
lose the influence of one good sort of Christians.
Evangelists are just to proclaim the gospel, and
they should keep out of that controverted ques-
tion." He said the work of the evangelist was
always in proportion to the number of churches
interested in the movement. He said it was never
any good arguing with an infidel, the thing was
to pray with him. He was not a great believer in
books or tracts, but believed in the Scripture.
Somebody asked him how gambling in churches
could be cured. He said, have no festivals, there is
no gambling in prayer meetings. He said the first
thing was to get life in yourself. In the camp Sion
convention, held at the Hippodrome in New York
in March, 1876, Mr. Moody said in the course of
one of his talks on Evangelism that he believed the
secret of John Wesley's success was that he set
every man to work as soon as they were converted.
AMERICAN MEETINGS. 143
He thought the plan a good one, as idleness was
conducive to spiritual laziness.
He said that sometimes a convert would wake up
a whole community and that it was very natural
that the first thing a man was to do after he was
converted was to go out and tell somebody about it.
He was not a believer in the plan of changing
speakers each night, he said he had known of sev-
eral times when that had been tried and that there
had been no good results. He thought that the
proper way to hold a religious revival was to have
one or two men to preach continuously for two or
three weeks. He said that a great many meetings
were killed because they were so long. He said
that one of the troubles was that you preach the
people into the spirit and out again before the meet-
ing was over. He said that the proper thing was
to send the people home hungry and then they
would come again.
The gospel campaign in the Union began at
Brooklyn on Sunday, October 24, 1875, ^^^ contin-
ued there until November 19th. The Rink, on
Clermont Avenue, which had sittings for five thou-
sand, was selected for the preaching services, while
Mr. Talmage's tabernacle was devoted to praj'er-
meetings. A choir of 250 Christian singers was led
by Mr. Sankey.
In Philadelphia a spacious freight depot, at Thir-
teenth and Market streets, was improvised to serve
as a hall. Chairs were provided for about 10,000
listeners, besides a chorus of six hundred singers
seated on the platform. The expenses were met by
voluntary contributions outside, which amounted to
$30,000. A corps of three hundred Christians acted
144 AMERICAN MEETINGS.
as ushers, and a like number of selected workers
served in the three inquiry rooms. At the opening
service, early on Sunday morning, November 21st,
nine thousand were present, in spite of a drenching
storm. In the afternoon, almost twice as many
were turned away as found entrance. Henceforth,
until the close on January i6th, the attendance and
popular interest never slackened. A special service
was held on Thanksgiving Day, and a watch-meet-
ing on New Year's eve, from 9 to 12. Efforts were
made to reach all classes of the community, and the
meetings for young men were specially blessed. A
careful computation puts the total attendance at
900,000, and the converts at 4,000. Before leaving
the city, a collection was made on behalf of the new
hall of the Young Men's Christian Association, and
about $100,000 were obtained. A Christian conven-
tion was held on the 19th and 20th of January, and
pertinent suggestions about the methods of evangel-
istic work were given for the benefit of the two
thousand ministers and laymen in attendance from
outlying towns.
For the mission in New York City, the Hippo-
drome at Madison and Fourth Avenues was leased,
at a rental of $1,500 weekly, and $10,000 were ex-
pended in its preparation. It was partitioned into
two halls, one seating 6,500, the other 4,000, the
intent being to use the second for overflow meet-
ings, and so bring such large congregations more
completely under the speaker's control. A choir of
800 singers and a corps of lay workers were organ-
ized. The deep concern of the people to hear the plain
gospel preached and sung was as deep here among
all classes as elsewhere, and the attendance was un-
AMERICAN MEETINGS. 145
flagging from February 7th to April 19th. Again,
a Christian conference was convened for two days,
at which Christian workers from the North and East
took counsel together. At the final meeting for
young converts 3,500 were present by ticket.
Mr. Moody spent two weeks in May with his
friend, Major Whittle, at Augusta, Georgia, while
Mr. Sankey took a rest at Newcastle. He preached
with his usual fervor to large congregations. He
traveled northward to Chicago by way of Nashville,"
Louisville, St. Louis and Kansas City, holding
meetings on the way. His new church edifice on
Chicago Avenue, was opened on his arrival. It
was a large brick building with stone facings, meas-
uring 120 by 100 feet, and having a bell-tower 120
feet high. Its entire cost was ^100,000, all of which
was paid before its dedication. August and Septem-
ber were spent in a visit to the old Northfield home-
stead, and in little tours to Greenfield, Springfield
and Brattleboro.
Chicago gave the heartiest welcome to its own
Moody and Sankey in October, where they resumed
the mission work suspended by them three years
before. A tabernacle was erected which could
shelter 10,000, and a choir of 300 singers was organ-
ized. The city pastors gave a most cordial support,
and its populace, many of whom had seen their
homes twice burnt to the ground, were eager to lis-
ten to the earnest messages of free salvation. , The
great Northwest was now moved, as never before,
especially when tidings came of the sudden death of
Phillip P. Bliss and his wife at Ashtabula on De-
cember 29th. Within three months 4,800 converts
were recorded in Chicago.
146 AMERICAN MEETINGS.
The evangelical Christians of Boston had long
been waiting on the Lord for a special blessing on
their city. A permanent brick edifice was built on
Tremont Street, able to seat a congregation of six
thousand. Dr. Tourjee gathered a body of two
thousand Christian singers, and organized it into
five distinct choirs. The thoughtful addresses of
Rev. Joseph Cook were of use in preparing that cul-
tured and critical cit)' for the advent of the eavangel-
ists. And the result of the religious services was
almost beyond expectation. Instead of a single
noon meeting for prayer, seven or eight sprang up
throughout the city, with numbers varying from 200
to 1,500. Ninety churches co-operated in a house-
to-house visitation, and 2,000 visitors were enrolled
into these bands of yoke-fellows. Throughout all
New England the quickened activities of the
churches were unmistakable, and the evangelical
faith met a more respectful hearing from its think-
ing classes than had been witnessed for a hundred
years.
CHAPTER XIII.
MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS.
Personal dealing is of the utmost importance.
No one can tell how many souls have been lost
through not following up the preaching of the
Gospel by personal work.
People are not usually converted under the preach-
ing of the minister. It is in the inquiry-meeting
that they are most likely to be brought to Christ.
A doctor doesn't prescribe cod- liver oil for all
complaints.
What a man wants is to be able to read his Bible,
and to read human nature, too.
There are a great many church-members who are
hobbling about on crutches.
One backslider can do more harm in the world
than twenty Christian men can do good.
Every man should make a public confession if
his sin has been public.
When you tell an unconverted person who desires
to become a Christian that he is to live without sin,
you discourage him.
You can't offer a man a greater insult than to
accuse him of telling a wilful lie.
I challenge any infidel to put his finger on any
promise that God has not kept.
For 6,000 years the devil has been trying to find
out if God has broken His word.
147
148 MR. MOODY'S CRlSP SAYINGS.
What a jubilee there would be in Hell to-day if
they found God had broken His word !
Just preach Christ, and the Spirit of God will bear
witness.
We want to get the church up on a higher plain.
Let there be a teaching out of the Scriptures, and
the church will grow.
A great many churches in this country hardly ex-
pect to gain in numbers. If they hold their own
they think they are doing pretty well.
I don't believe a man can preach the simple Gos-
pel faithfully, anywhere in this country, and not
have inquirers inside of thirty days, and there will
be those added to the church daily of such as shall
be saved.
If you can get a man to walk across a church be-
fore all the people, and go into an inquiry-room, it
means a great deal.
There is nothing like keeping the people stirred
up all the time — full of courage — full of hope.
There is no trouble about getting the people to
attend the weekly prayer-meeting if it is made
interesting.
We don't hear of long prayers in the Bible, ex-
cept at the dedication of Solomon's Temple, and
that comes but once in centuries.
No one likes to hear a long prayer, and when a
man is making one, very likely the people are pray-
ing that he will stop.
Long prayers may have been all right in other
times, but they are not now. Men think quicker
than they used to, and act quicker.
If a man will pray fifteen minutes in a prayer-
meeting, he will pray all the spirituality out of it.
MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS. 149
Any minister that preaches twice on Sundays, and
then gives a long lecture in the prayer-meeting, will
kill any church in this country.
I believe the time is coming when in many of our
churches there will be a meeting every night in the
week.
Everything shouldn't depend on the minister.
What you want is to bring out all the talent you
have got in the church.
It helps a meeting wonderfully to introduce new
tunes as fast as the people will learn them.
There ought to be more effort made for good
music in all our churches and Sabbath-schools.
If a woman goes into a house she can sit down
with the. wife and family, and talk and pray, and
when the man comes home in the evening he won't
get mad and rage as he might ii a man had been
there.
I firmly believe that if we had to-day, in these
great cities, hundreds where we have one lady mis-
sionary, we would soon break up this Nihilism, and
Communism, and all such things.
When a young mother is just beginning to feel
her responsibility, it isn't very difficult to reach her
heart.
When I commenced to give Bible readings, years
ago, I used to give about forty quotations at one
time ; but I found the people got tired — the sermon
was too heavy for them. Then I cut the number
down to twenty. Now I have cut it to ten. If
I can bring out the meaning of ten passages, with a
story here and there to keep up the interest, I
think I get more truth lodged in their minds
than if I used a hundred passages. There is a dan-
150 MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS.
ger of giving too much ; the people won't stand it
We must give them homoepathic doses. It is better
to take a dozen passages and throw light on them
than to run over a hundred and not say a word be-
tween them.
I think there is no better place for people to begin
Christian work than right at their own homes.
If a man hasn't got a good enough record to have
any effect at home, he won't be of much account in
the foreign field.
If we keep at it three hundred and sixty-five days
in the year, there will be a good deal of work done
at the end of the year.
Money is a very small account in the sight of God.
The great trouble with many of us is, that we are
working for God without power.
There was a time when I thought the raising of
Lazarus was the greatest work ever done on this
earth. But I think the conversion of those three
thousand Jews on the day of Pentecost was more
wonderful still.
There are a great many men who had power five
years ago that haven't got it now. They are like
Samson robbed of his strength, or like fishermen
working with old, broken nets.
It is an awfully sad thing for a man to outlive his
usefulness, to be laid aside as a vessel no longer
meet for the Master's use.
There are a good many Christians God can't use
as He used them once.
Of all the skeptics I have seen, I have never seen
but one who claimed to have read the Bible through,
and I doubted him, because he could not tell me of
MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS. 151
but one verse in the Bible, and that was, "Jesus
wept."
As for the mysteries of the Bible I am glad they
are there, and that there are l;eights and depths
that I have never been able to fathom, and length
and breadth that no man has ever been able to dis-
cover. If I could take that book up and understand
it all it would be pretty good proof that it did not
come from God.
It is easy to talk against the Bible, but did you
ever think how dark this old world would be without
it?
Millions of men have gone down to the grave
because of their loyalty to the Bible. Some people
have tried to stamp it out, but God has raised up
witnesses for it. I thank God I live where it is read.
Anarchy, nihilism, socialism, would sweep this
whole country, your property and your life would
not be safe, if it was not for this old book.
If you do not like the Bible it is because it con-
demns your sins. So if you see a man to-morrow
talking against the good book you may know he
gets hit. Throw a stone among a group of dogs
and the dog that gets hit goes off yelping every
time.
Take the most faithful follower of Satan in Chi-
cago for the last five years, and take a most faithful
follower of Jesus Christ and let the two stand on this
platform and their very faces would tell the story.
There is a great joy in the service of Christ that
the world knows nothing of, and you never will
know unless you taste it.
If you find a man howling about hypocrites, you
152 MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS.
just look out for him, he doesn't live very far from
one himself.
Most people have the idea that a man has got to
join the church to be a hypocrite ; my friends, I will
find a hundred in the world while you find one in
the church.
No man can believe the Bible without purifying
his soul.
I don't think the prodigal son did much feeling
till he got his feet under his father's mahogany
table.
Let men act up to their convictions and what a
meeting we would show you.
A man who will let a saloon-keeper or a gambler
or a harlot keep him from what is right, I greatly
pity.
Life is very sweet to me, and I can conceive of no
sweeter work than that I am engaged in.
If your excuses will not stand the light of eternity
throw them to the four winds.
It is the work of the shepherd to seek the lost.
Who ever heard of a sheep seeking a lost shep-
herd?
I want to tell you, if your religion isn't saving you
and keeping you day by day from sin, it is a shame,
it is not the religion of Jesus Christ.
The Catholics have the same Savior as the Protest-
ants,— one shepherd, one Christ.
The difficulty with a great many churches is that
there are too many stumps in the way of the plough.
Knowledge is certainly better than feelings.
If you want results, just pray.
There is only one thing that will thoroughly sat-
isfy a longing heart, and that is Jesus Christ.
MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS. 155
You never saw a millionaire in your life, who was
satisfied.
You know sheep never lie down to rest until they
get enough to eat and drink.
I believe that where there is one sermon preached
to the unconverted, there should be one hundred
preached to the church members.
*I remember when I was a boy I tised to attempt
to jump over my shadow, but I never succeeded in
getting over it.
There are quite a number of nameless characters
in the Scriptures that have shone very brightly in
this world in the Scripture.
There are a good many who have an idea that
distilling whiskey is all right if they will only give
their money to the church.
A man may erect a synagogue and still be a black-
hearted villian.
Treat men as they should be treated, and see if
you do not win their esteem and respect.
Don't blow a trumpet and say that you have done
so much for your servants ; do it kindly and quietly.
If you find a man that has very high thoughts of
himself he will have very low thoughts of God.
I pity those men who hold on with a tight grip to
everything they have.
If you want to show kindness to a person, do it
while you are living.
Business men can reach the men employed by
them a good deal better than the minister.
If we are going to get victory over the world we
will have to get it through Christ.
I wouldn't think of talking to unconverted men
9
156 MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS.
about overcoming the world, for it is utterly impoS'
sible for them to accomplish anything.
Don't let any man think that he is going to over-
come his enemies without putting forth his strength
with God's power.
If you were to take a mill and put it forty feet
above any river in this country, there isn't capital
enough in the world to make that river turn the
mill ; but get it down about forty feet and then it
works.
When Abraham took his eyes off God he was weak
like other men and denied his wife.
It is a very singular thing to notice how the men
in the Bible, if they have fallen, have generally
fallen on the strongest points of their own charac-
ters.
Abraham was celebrated for his faith, and he fell
there ; but he lost that faith and denied his wife.
Moses was noted for his meekness and humility,
he lost his temper and God kept him out of the
promised land. Elijah was honored for his power
in prayer and his courage, but he became a coward.
Queen Jezebel scared the life nearly out of him.
Peter was noted for his boldness, and a little maid
frightened him nearly out of his wits.
The most objectionable characters one meets are
those who are attempting to walk by sight and not
by faith.
I believe that a great many Christians are over-
come because they don't know what a terrible fright
they have.
It is no sign because a man is a Christian that he
is going to overcome the world.
MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS. 157
The worst enemy one has to overcome, after all,
is oneself.
I have had more trouble with D. L. Moody than
with any other man who has ever crossed my path.
If one member of the family is constantly snap-
ping, the whole family will soon be snapping.
Christianity isn't worth the snap of a finger if it
doesn't straighten out characters.
If people ain't sure when you are telling the
truth, there is something radically wrong, and you
had better straighten it out at once.
There are a great many people who only want
enough Christianity to make them respectable.
There is only one royal way, and that is by the
way of Calvary.
There is more said in the Bible against covetous-
ness than against intemperance.
We think when a man gets drunk he is a horrid
monster, but a covetous man will often be received
into the church and be put up into office, who is as
vile and black in the sight of God as any drunkard.
You needn't be proud of your face, for there is
not one of you but that after ten days in the grave
the worms would be eating your body.
You must put off the mortal to put on immortality.
Every time we overcome one temptation we get
strength to overcome another.
I honestly believe we are down here in school ; in
training; and if we cannot overcome we are not fit
for God's service.
I am a joint heir with Jesus Christ, and you must
find out how much He is worth in order to estimate
my wealth.
158 MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS.
We are not only heirs but joint heirs, and all
Christ has I have.
What we want is a Christianity that goes into our
homes and every-day lives.
Some men's religion just makes me sick.
It is wrong for a man or woman to profess what
they don't possess.
If you are not overcoming temptations, the world
is overcoming you.
Your ministers may preach like Gabriel on Sun-
day, but that won't do any good if you live like
Satan during the week in your homes.
There are a good many people who are delighted
when you talk about the sins of the patriarchs, and
other Bible characters, but when you come here and
touch upon the sins of this city that is another thing.
Did you ever notice that all but the heart of man
praises God? If you look right through history, you
will find that everything but the heart of man obeys
God.
Now if you want to get near God, just obey Him,
Obedience is a matter of the heart.
He takes those into the nearest communion with
Himself who just obey Him.
The man or woman that is nearest to God is the
man or woman that is just obeying Him,
My dear friends, as long as we are living a dis-
obedient life, we cannot do a thing to please God.
What the Lord wants is not what you have got,
but yourself, and you cannot do a thing to please
God until you surrender yourself to Him.
I believe the wretchedness and misery and woe in
our American cities to-day comes from disobedience
to God.
MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS. 159
There is a great reward in keeping God's laws
and statutes, but a great curse upon them that will
disobey God.
People don't like to read legal documents; but if
you are mentioned in the will it becomes instantly
very interesting reading.
If you haven't any faith in a doctor, you don't
want him in the house, you wouldn't commit the
life of your child into his hands.
Faith is the foundation of all social intercourse.
You might as well ask a man to hear without ears,
see without eyes, walk without feet, as to ask a man
to believe without giving him something to believe.
A creed is the road or street. It is very good as
far as it goes but if it doesn't take us to Christ it is
worthless.
I don't believe any man is so constituted that he
can not believe God if he wants to.
Put your finger on a promise that God has made
to man that he hasn't kept, and then we will talk
about not believing Him.
When a man says he can not believe himself, but
can believe in God, then he is on the right road.
The trouble is, people who don't know what the
Bible says say they cannot believe it.
There are a lot of people running around who
haven't got any roots.
A good many people live on negations. They are
always telling what they don't believe.
The best illustration of faith is a little child. She
never bothers her head as to where she is going to
get her breakfast or supper.
I believe that faith grows like every other thing.
You only have to water and feed it.
160 MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS.
There is nothing to hinder you from being saved
but your own will.
There are a great many people living on a few
chapters and verses. They don't take the whole of
the Bible.
You cannot touch Jesus Christ anywhere that
there is not something supernatural about Him.
I don't like these gilt-edged Bibles that look like
they had never been used.
I earnestly believe that this old world has swung
out in the cold and dark and will never swing back
until the truth dawns upon it, that "God is love."
You take a man or woman and make them believe
that there is no one in the wide world that loves or
cares for them, and they would rather die than live.
That is the class that commits suicide.
The thing we prize above everything else in this
world is love, and that is what God prizes above
everything else.
There isn't a commandment that hasn't come
from the loving heart of God, and what He wants is
to have us give up that which is going to mar our hap-
piness in this life and the life to come.
There is no book after all that will draw people
like the Bible.
Don't get a Bible so good that you will be afraid
to carry it for fear you will soil it.
There are a great many people vPho know only
what they hear from other people.
A good way to study the Bible is to take one book
at a time. I know some people who never sit down
to read a book until they have time to read the
whole of it.
Justification is what turned Martin Luther inside
MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS. 161
out. The truth dawned upon him as he went up
those stairs in Rome.
I believe a man may come in here a thief and go
out a saint. I believe a man may come in here as
vile as Hell itself and go out saved.
I honestly believe that the greatest mistake we
are making in this country is that we don't have
more expository preaching.
I never saw anyone that kept the Sabbath and
reverenced God's sanctuary who didn't prosper. I
have never seen a man desert the house, the law, or
the statutes of God, but that he grew lean.
I believe the reason so many people are having
such hard times now is because they have wandered
into sin.
The kiss of Judas wounded the heart of the Son
of God a good deal more than the Roman spear did.
The wife that lets down the standard in order to
reach her husband always loses ground.
When you see a Christian minister making the
ungodly people in his congregation his society, look
out for him.
When you see a man or woman in your church
that would rather be with the ungodly than with
God's people look out for their piety. It isn't skin
deep.
Did you ever think of the yards and yards of talk
that you hear that doesn't amount to anything?
There are many Christians in the world about
waist deep, and then they wonder why they haven't
any power or influence.
Don't let the world get hold of you. Keep it
under.
Let every man use the talent God has given him.
162 MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS.
Don't be mourning because you haven't more,
but just take what you have and go to work.
If you can reach a man by taking him to the Epis-
copal church, take him to the Episcopal church. If
you can reach him by taking him to the Baptist
church, take him to the Baptist church. Never
mind about the creeds and doctrines. Never mind
about these names, they are nothing. What we
want is to get him above these party walls.
It is the work of the Holy Ghost to convict of sin.
I have seen people who, when the spirit of God
has been working mightily, would get up and go
out and slam the door after them in a bad passion.
Not a bad sign.
A great many are always trying to make them-
selves love God. You cannot do it. Love must be
spontaneous. You cannot love by trying to make
yourself love.
You never in your life saw a man full of God who
wasn't fullof Scripture.
I don't know what angel it was that got down to
the plains to tell the shepherds that Christ had come,
but I have an idea that it was Gabriel.
I believe John Wesley did as much good as Charles.
One preached and the other sung the gospel halfway
around the world in a very short time.
I don't believe that any four walls are going to
hold any man's influence.
I think one of the most lamentable things of this
day is that Satan can walk right into some of our
best Christian homes and families and haul the chil-
dren down into the deepest and darkest depths, and
we haven't got the power to reach them and bring
them back.
MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS. 163
A good many are trying to work with the anoint-
ing they got many years ago.
There are a lot of Samsons around who have lost
their hair. How many sermons have you heard of
which you cannot remember a single word?
When the Spirit of God is in a man the fire just
burns.
I have no sympathy with the idea if we ask God
to do a certain work He is going to give us chaff in
return.
Sometimes when I have prayed it has seemed as
if the Heavens were closed over me.
I have often said I had rather be able to pray like
Daniel than preach like Gabriel.
I am sometimes ashamed of myself to think how
fluent I am when I go into the presence of God.
As if God was on an equal footing with me, or
rather as if I was on an equal footing with God — as
if there was no difference between us.
One of the truest signs that a man is growing
great is that God increases and he decreases.
The next true element to prayer is restitution.
It is folly for us to ask God to do something for
us that we can do for ourselves.
Let us look out that we are not one of the class
who come to the Lord constantly for favors and
never thank Him.
This is one the sweetest promises Christ left for
us. "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose
mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in
Thee."
If I wanted to find a man who had rest I would
not go among the very wealthy.
10
164 MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS.
The man or woman that is looking after the last
fashion doesn't get rest to his soul.
Some people go back into the past and rake up all
the troubles they ever had, and then they look into
the future and anticipate that they will have still
more trouble, and then they go reeling and stagger-
ing all through life.
About the first thing a mother does is to teach
her child to look.
I tell you I had rather have ten thousand enemies
outside than one inside.
The moment we begin to rob God then darkness
and misery and wretchedness will come.
It is very easy to talk about revivals, but do you
know that there is not a denomination that hasn't
sprung out of revivals?
I venture to say there is many a church where
four-fifths of the members were converted during
revivals.
I believe whenever you see a Christian man's chil-
dren turn out wrong, a good deal of the fault lies at
his own door.
There is one thing about a back-slider, he is
always finding fault with church members.
I will challenge you to find a father or mother
that has back-slidden whose children haven't gone
to ruin.
I think the hardest people to reach are the sons
and daughters of back-sliders.
That Pharisee that went up to the temple to pray
with the poor publican, did he know anything about
meekness?
MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS. 165
You put a man that has been living in wickedness
and sin in the crystal pavement, and it would be
Hell to him.
You may look at your little innocent child, but
remember that a separation is going to come. If
that child dies in early childhood, the Master will
take it to Himself, and you will not be permitted to
sit in the kingdom with that child until you are
born again.
When God speaks you and I can afford to listen.
I pity any man that goes into the pulpit and picks
that old Bible to pieces.
I have noticed that when a man does begin to
pick the Bible to pieces it doesn't take him more
than five years to tear it all to pieces. What is the
use of being five years about what you can do in five
minutes?
I am not here to defend the Bible. It will take
care of itself.
I want to say to any scoffer that has come in here
to-day, you can laugh at that old Bible, you can
scoff at your mother's God, you can laugh at min-
isters and Christians, but the hour is coming when
one promise in that old book will be worth more to
you than ten thousand worlds like this.
It is an old saying, "Get the lamb and you will
get the sheep." I gave that up years ago. Give
me the sheep and then I will have some one to nurse
the lambs.
It has always been a mystery to me that a woman
can turn against the Son of God, for there is not a
country to-day where Christ is not preached where
woman is not a slave or a toy.
I said when I was in Jerusalem that if I had my
166 MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS.
choice, in a Mohammedan country, of being born a
woman or a donkey I would rather be a donkey, for
it is treated better than a woman.
Every day you put it off you are going back from
God, and are making it harder for you to be saved.
Nations are only collections of individuals, and
what is true of part in regard to character is always
true of the whole.
It is a great deal better to judge our own acts and
confess them, than go through the world with a
curse upon us.
It is not mere gush and sentiment this nation
wants, so much as it is a revival of downright hon-
esty.
A man once said he had a good well, only it would
dry up in summer and freeze up in winter. Some
Christians are just like that well, good at certain
times.
It is doing a thousand times more harm than all
the lectures of infidels to hear Christians say, "This
and this isn't inspired. "
We want to believe the whole Bible. We want
to take the whole of it, from Genesis to Revelation.
I believe that for years after the death of Christ
the air was full of the words which fell from His
lips.
I have a good deal of sympathy with that old col-
ored woman who said if the Bible said Jonah swal-
lowed the whale she would believe it; God could
make a man large enough to swallow a whale.
The best way to convert an infidel is to take him
to the prophecies fulfilled.
I'm glad there are things in the Bible that I don't
understand. If I could take that book up and read
MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS. 167
it as I would any other book, I might think I could
write a book like that, and so could you. I'm glad
there are heights I haven't been able to climb up
to. I am glad there are depths I haven't been able
to fathom. It's the best proof that the book came
from God.
I believe that God would have created a world
rather than that any prophecy should be unfulfilled.
Dozens of people have repented who don't know
what repentance is.
Lots of people think repentance is going to strike
them like lightning.
I have learned that sometimes the medicine people
don't like to take may be the very best medicine for
them.
Lots of people think they can go to heaven on a
good moral character.
Look at the parable of the prodigal son. I would
rather be the younger brother than the other. The
elder brother had what the world calls a moral char-
acter, and yet I think he was about the meanest case
in the whole Bible.
I think the best book on Assurance is the first
Epistle of John.
For men who have nothing but essays it is hard to
get pulpits, and it will be harder in years to come.
The reason there are so many pulpits vacant is
that there arn't men enough willing to give the word
of God.
A great many churches have mere exhortations
all the time, and it gets very tiresome.
I don't believe there is any place in the world
where error has such a slim chance of getting a hold
as in Scotland. The Scotch are a most wonderful
168 MR. MOODY'S CRISP SAYINGS.
people. You've got to be careful in preaching to
them, or the first thing you know some old woman
will come up with her Bible under her shawl, and
say: "Here; you said so and so. The Bible says
so and so." If you make a misquotation, a Scotch-
man will straighten you right up; but you might
make forty misquotations in American churches and
no one would know the difference.
In Scotland a minister doesn't think of preaching
till everybody has found the text.
If we had more of the word of God there- would
be fewer defalcations and scandals inside the
church.
It seems to me the time is coming when there
should be a change in the churches of God in this
land.
CHAPTER XIV.
TYPICAL ANECDOTES.
The following are some of the anecdotes related
by Mr. Moody at Cooper Union meeting, New
York, November 20, 1896.
A man went out of the jail at Chicago to go to
Joliet to serve a seven years' sentence,' and a friend
put a religious book into his hand, while he was in
the jail at Chicago. Some time after he had gone to
Joliet this friend visited him, and found that the
cover of his little book was nearly worn off, and he
had sewed it on with thread, and the book was pretty
well worn out. His friend noticed that he had nine-
teen names written on the back of the book, and he
inquired "What have you got those names there for?"
"Well," the prisoner replied, "those are the names
of prisoners who have read this book." "But here
is a cross against three of them; what does that
mean?" said his friend. "Oh," he said, "those are
my brothers." "What do you mean by that?"
"Well," he sajd, "I read that book in the jail in
Chicago and was converted, and I thought when I
came down here I would try and get some more con-
verts, and I have loaned that book to nineteen
prisoners, and when any prisoner tells me he is con-
verted, I put a cross against his name. ' ' Pretty good
investment, was it not? The book cost less than ten
""^''' 169
170 TYPICAL ANECDOTES.
My son was speaking down at Brockton, Mass.,
the other Sunday. You see I have got him stirred
up, and the secretary of the Christian Association
said to him when the meeting was over, "Perhaps
you will be interested in something that occurred in
our rooms a little while ago. A young man, quite
a nice looking fellow, came in and wanted to know
if I could not give him work. I told him I could not.
He was from out of town, and I thought if I could
find work for anyone I ought to put it in the hands
of some man of Brockton, and he turned away with
a look on his face that kind of haunted me, and so I
called him back and said :
"Look here, my friend, you seem to be quite dis-
appointed. I have some colporter's books here. I
want you to take them and go out on the street and
try to sell them. ' ' The young man colored up, and
I said, "Do you mean that you are ashamed to sell
those books?" He replied, "Oh, no; that very book
you hold in your hand was given to me in jail, and
it led me to Jesus 'Christ, and when I got out, I
thought I would leave my own country and neigh-
borhood and go among strangers and start life anew,
and when I went to your place and saw the Christian
Association, I thought maybe they could find some-
thing for me to do, so that I could get among Chris-
tian people." So that young man took the books
and went out on the street and sold them right and
left, and a business man noticed him and liked the
way he worked, and he hired him and gave him
steady employment; so you see, my friends, it is a
very good investment.
Some Englishmen went to Africa a good many
years ago to colonize. They came to a beautiful
o 5
TYPICAL ANECDOTES. 173
spot, and thought it would be a good place to estab-
lish a town, and after they had decided to stay there,
^they asked a native if there was plenty of rain there
the year round. The native said no, that there
were a few months in the year when everything
dried up, so they thought that would not do,
and they went on to another place that looked invit-
ing, and they asked a native how it was there about
the rain, and the native told them that in certain
months everything dried up. Well, that would not
do, and they went to a third place, and made the
same inquiry, and the reply was that the clouds
were pierced the year round and everything was
beautiful and green, and the Englishmen decided to
stay there, and they founded a town and flourished.
So we want to keep right under the pierced clouds
all the time.
I remember the first time I went to California. I
dropped down out of the Sierra Nevada mountains,
where the snow was forty feet deep, into the Sacra-
mento valley, where it was like midsummer, and I
saw ranches that were perfectly beautiful, every-
thing green and luxurious, and where everything
seemed to be flourishing, but sometimes right across
a fence I would see another ranch where there was
nothing green and everything seemed to have dried
up. I said to a gentleman in the train, "I do not
understand this, what does it mean? There is a
ranch that is green and flourishing, and there is an-
other that has nothing green about it. It looks dried
up." "Oh," said he, "you are a stranger here."
I said, "Yes, that was my first visit." "Well," he
said, "that man there irrigates and brings the water
down from the mountains, and in consequence he
174 TYPICAL ANECDOTES.
raises two or three crops a year, while the man that
owns the other ranch, does not raise hardly any-
thing, because he does not irrigate." In many,
churches you will find men and women as dry as
Gideon's fleece. Some people will come and go and
occupy the same pew for forty years and not move
an inch. Another man right close to him is active
and bright, and everything he touches seems to
grow ; the breath of God seems to be upon him.
When I was a young man and preached out in the
West — I was a commercial traveler then — I would
go into a little town and hold a meeting in a log
schoolhouse, when some old gentleman would say,
"This young brother from Chicago will speak here
this evening at early candle light," and the first
person that came would bring an old dingy lantern
and stick it up on a bench — even an old lantern with
old oil and a wick, you know, gives out consider-
able light after all on a dark night — and the next
person that came, an old woman, perhaps, would
bring along a sperm candle, and then would come
an old farmer with another candle, and they would
stick them up on the desks, and they would sputter
away there, yet all the time giving a good deal of
light, and do you know, by the time the people got
together there in that old school house we had plenty
of light. Now, it can be just so here in New York;
there are Christians enough here to light up the
whole city.
You remember that it was revealed to Elijah that
he should be caught up into heaven. He was with
Elisha at Gilgal, and he said to Elisha, "Let us go
to Bethel and see how the prophets are getting
along." They had a sort of theological seminary
TYPICAL ANECDOTES. 175
down there, as it were. Well, Elijah and Elisha
went to Bethel, and I suppose their arrival created
no small stir among those young prophets, for it had
been revealed to them that Elijah was to be taken
away, and one of them got Elisha off alone, as I can
imagine, and whispered to him, "Do you know that
your man is to be taken away?" "Sh! sh ! hold your
peace," said Elisha, "I know all about it. " Pres-
ently, Elijah said to Elisha, "You stay here now,
and I'll go down to Jericho and see how the prophets
are getting along there," for there was another the-
ological seminary down there, but Elisha would not
let him go alone, and went with him. When they
got down there, another prophet got Elisha to one
side and said, "Do you know that Elijah is to be
taken away?" "Yes, I know all about it," said Eli-
sha; "keep still, do not say anything. " Presently,
Elijah turned to Elisha and said, "Elisha, you stay
here with the prophets, and I will go over to the
Jordan and worship." Elisha said, "As the Lord
liveth and as I live, you will not go without me. ' '
He tried to leave him up there at Bethel, and he
would not be left, and I can imagine him locking
arms with Elijah and going along with him, as they
started to the Jordan together. I was in Palestine
some time ago, and oh, how I longed to see the
very spot where those two men crossed the Jordan ;
as they passed along down the valley and came to
the river, Elijah took off his mantle and waved it,
and the waters began to recede on either side of
them and piled up higher and higher, and they
stepped down into the bed of the river and crossed,
and climbed up the bank on the eastern side, and
passed out into the desert. And by-and-by the two
176 TYPICAL ANECDOTES.
men disappeared. I had wished that their whole
conversation had been put on record, but, alas, there
came a whirlwind which caught up the sand and dirt
and drove it into their eyes, and the two men got
separated, but before they were separated, Elijah
turned to Elisha and said, "What is it that you want?"
I tried to leave you back there at Bethel, but you
would not stay. Make your petition known. What-
ever you ask I will grant it. " I think if some of our
millionaires in New York should ask me to make my
petition known to them, that they would grant it,
I would draw on them for enough money to support
my schools at Northfield. I would not be afraid to
make my petition known, and I would get a big
draft.
But, as I said, this whirlwind separated the two
men. The Master was going to take Elijah away,
and I can imagine Elisha getting the sand and dust
out of his eyes and exclaiming, "Where is my mas-
ter?" and looking in all directions for him, and sud-
denly he looked up and saw a flame of fire , and he
cried out, "My Father, my Father," and "the cha-
riot of Israel and the horsemen thereof." Elijah
remembered his promise as Elisha called to him,
and he took off his mantle and threw it back, and
Elisha took off his old mantle and rent it.
When Mr. Moody was asked at the last service in
Cooper Union whether he was satisfied with his
New York campaign, he replied: "Satisfied, I am
not satisfied. I did not come to New York to reach
sinners, but to reach Christians. I wish them to
live on a higher plane, to be comforted to the image
of Christ. If that result has not been reached, my
work here will be of little avail, and the result will
TYPICAL ANECDOTES. 177
soon pass away like a cloud. ' ' For five weeks Mr.
Moody preached twice a day, five days in the week
in Cooper Union, to audiences which taxed the re-
sources of that large hall to its utmost seating capa-
city, and sometimes its standing capacity. In addi-
tion to these meetings, he preached every Sunday in
November and December in Carnegie Music Hall.
"Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy."
Now, I come to the Sunday newspapers. I would
not touch a Sunday newspaper any more than I
would touch tar. If there are any attacks on me
next Sunday I won't see them, for if anyone sends
me a Sunday newspaper, I always tear it up. Noth-
ing is doing more damage to the church and God
than the Sunday newspaper. The papers abuse
Tammany, but Tammany never did one-fourth as
much harm in this city as have the Sunday newspa-
pers. There are about twenty-five thousand divorces
every year in the United States. Many of them are
directly due to the Sunday newspapers, which pub-
lish accounts of divorces in all their details. The
Sunday newspapers are responsible for many sui-
cides and murders. All the theaters in Chicago are
open on Sunday, as the result of the Sunday news-
papers. In Chicago men are knocked down and
robbed in open daylight. Murders occur every
day. Masked men go into stores and rob them.
There is not a divorce case which is full of filth,
there is not a case of adultery which the Sunday
newspapers do not rake up and publish. The Angel
Gabriel could not be heard by the Sunday newspaper
readers. Now, how many will swear that they will
never again read a Sunday newspaper?
Once on a battlefield, Napoleon's horse became
178 TYPICAL ANECDOTES.
frightened, and a private jumped from the ranks
and grasped the bridle and quieted him. Napoleon
looked at the soldier and said, ' 'Thank you, cap-
tain." "Of what company, sire?" asked the soldier.
With a moment's hesitation, "The life guards,"
said Napol-eon. The soldier went at once to the life
guards and placed himself at the head of the com-
pany. The officers were going to put him under
arrest; but he told them he was captain. "Who
said so?" demanded the officers. "He said so,"
replied the soldier, pointing to Napoleon. If God
says a thing in this book, you lay hold of it and be-
lieve without question.
There is a man living in this city, who has a home
on the Hudson river. His daughter and her family
went to spend the winter Vvnth him, and in the course
of the season the scarlet fever broke out. One little
girl was put in quarantine, to be kept separate from
the rest. Every morning the old grandfather used to
go upstairs and bid his grandchild good-bye before
going to his business. On one of these occasions the
little thing took him by the hand, and leading him
to a corner of the room, without saying a word, she
pointed to the floor where she had arranged some
crackers, so they would spell out "Grandpa, I want
a box of paints. " He said nothing. On his return
he hung up his overcoat, and went to the room as
usual, when his little grandchild, without looking to
see if her wish had been complied with, took him to
the same corner v/here he spelled out in the same
way, "Grandpa, I thank you for the box of paints."
Don't you think the old gentleman was pleased with
the faith his little grandchild had in him?
I had a large Sunday-school in Chicago with twelve
TYPICAL ANECDOTES. 179
or fifteen hundred scholars. I was very much pleased
with the numbers. If the attendance kept up, I was
pleased, but I didn't see a convert. I was not look-
ing for conversions. There was one class in a corner
of the large hall made up of young women, who
caused more trouble than any other class in the
school. There was only one man who could ever
manage- that class and keep it in order. If he could
keep the class quieted, it was about as much as we
could hope for. One day this teacher was missing,
and I taught the class. The girls laughed in my
face. I never felt so tempted to turn anyone from
Sunday-school as those girls; never saw such frivol-
ous girls. I couldn't make any impression on them.
The next day the teacher came into the store. I
noticed that he looked very pale, and I asked him
what was the trouble. "I have been bleeding at the
lungs," he said, "and the doctor said I cannot live.
I must give up my class and go back to my wid-
owed mother in New York State. '"' As he spoke,
his chin quivered, and the tears began to fall. I
said I was sorry, and added, ''You are not afraid of
death, are you?" "Oh, no, I am not afraid to die;
but I shall soon stand before my Master. What
shall I tell Him of my class. Not one of them is a
Christian, I have made a failure of my work."
I have never heard anyone speak in that way,
and I said, "Why not visit every girl and ask her to
become a Christian?" "I am very weak," he said,
"too weak to walk." I offered to take a carriage
and go with him. He consented, and we started
out. Going first to one house and then to another,
the pale teacher sometimes leaning on my arm, he
saw each girl, and calling her by name, Mary, or
180 TYPICAL ANECDOTES.
Martha, or whatever it was, he asked her to become
a Christian, telling her he was going home to die,
and that he wanted to know that his scholars had
given their hearts to God. Then he would pray
with her, and I would pray with her; so we went
from house to house, and after he used up all his
strength, I would take him home, and the next day
we would go out again. Sometimes he went alone.
At the end of ten days .he came to the store, his face
beaming with joy. "The last girl has yielded her
heart to Christ. I am going home to New York.
I have done all that I can do, and my work is done. "
I asked when he was going, and he said, "To-
morrow night." I said, "Would you like to see
your class together before you go?" He said he
would, and I asked if he thought the landlady would
allow the use of her sitting-room. He thought she
would. So I sent word to all the girls, and they all
came together. I had never spent such a night up
to that time. I had never met such a large number
of young converts. The teacher gave an earnest
talk, and then prayed, and then I prayed. As I
was about to rise. I heard one of the girls begin to
pray. She prayed for her teacher, and she prayed
for the superintendent. Up to that time I never
knew that anyone prayed for me in that way.
When she had finished, another girl prayed. Before
we arose, every girl had prayed. What a change
had come over them in a short space of time. We
tried to sing, but did not get on very well. We
bade one another good-bye, but I felt that I must
see the teacher again before he left Chicago, and so
I met him at the station, and while we were talking,
one of the girls came along, and then another, until
TYPICAL ANECDOTES. 181
the whole class had assembled. They were all there
on the platform. It was a beautiful summer night.
The sun was just setting down behind the western
prairies. It was a sight I shall never forget. A
few gathered around us — the fireman, engineer,
brakeman and conductor on the train, and some of
the passengers lifted their windows as the class
sang together —
"Here we meet to part again,
But when we meet on Canaan's shore,
There'll be no parting there."
As the train moved out of the station, the pale-
faced teacher stood on the platform, and with his
finger pointing heavenward, said, "I will meet you
there." Then the train disappeared from view.
182
CHAPTER XV.
MR. MOODY'S BIBLE
Mr. Moody's Bible was a spectacle indeed, marked,
luiderscored, much of it defaced with hieroglyphics,
ragged with incessant use, but only one of many.
He was alwsvys wearing out bibles or filling their
margins and passing them on. It was a treasure,
indeed, for many to get hold of these and one was
welcome if they would give as much as they would
take.
Great interleaved Bibles are now in cir-
culation, to which he had contributed inany of his
gleanings from the stores of observation and
research, but he expected them to come back with
additions from those who had had the loan. And
he was quick to lay hold of any fresh point or strik-
ing illustration to incorporate in the address which
he was always engaged in preparing, re-modeling
or adding to. His process of sermon manufacture
was ver}^ original. There was something automatic
about it. The basis for each sermon was a big
envelope, labeled Repentance, Faith, Peter, Zac-
cheus, the Elder Son; into this envelope he put
clippings from papers, extracts from books, illustra-
tions and incidents, scraps of all kinds, which were
more or le'^s connected with the subject. When
this process had continued for some time, he went
]s;5
184 MR. MOODY'S BIBLE.
through the mass of accumulation, rejecting some,
laying hold of some, fitting it into a connecting
whole. Of this he took a few jottings in a large
hand to the pulpit or platform. The process of look-
ing through the envelope was constantly repeated
so the points that had been overlooked were brought
to his mind, fresh illustrations introduced and the
entire subject was entered anew in all its lights.
This secured freshness of delivery, and preserved
him from the monotony of perpetual repetition.
DEATH OF MR. MOODY'S MOTHER.
Betsey Holton Moody, the mother of the great
evangelist, died at her home in Northfield, January
26, 1896, aged ninety-one years. She left to mourn
her loss four sons and three daughters.
Mr. Moody made an address at her funeral and it
was the more remarkable, because he told not only
of her love and patience, but also of her stern dis-
cipline. "She was so loving a mother," he said,
"that when we were away we were always glad to
get back. But I never shall forget her old-fashioned
whippings. I believe in them to-day." He also
spoke of her way of making all her boys go to
church. He was strongly of the impression that the
teachings which he imbibed in those early days, in a
great measure, influenced his subsequent life.
Mr. Moody's mother was buried in a large plat of
ground contiguous to the cemetery. It was always
kept beautifully filled in with flowers placed there
by a young man at the special instigation of Mr.
Moody. Mr. Moody, in the summer after her death,
MR. MOODY'S BIBLE. 185
when standing by her grave with her friends, said :
"She made home so pleasant. I thought so much
of my mother and cannot say half enough. The
dear face, there was no sweeter face on earth. Fifty
years I have been coming back and was always glad
to get back. When I got within fifty miles of home
I always grew restless and walked up and down the
car. It seemed as if the train would never get to
Northfield. For sixty-eight years she lived on that
hill, and when I came back after dark I always
looked to see the light of my mother's window. It
was because she made our home so happy that she
started me thinking how to make homes happy for
others, and when God took mother he gave me
these little children. Here is one century that is
passed. And here is the century that's coming,"
and with this he beckoned for the little babes and
other children who were on hand in their mother's
arms, and they were brought into the circle and
dedicated to God in united prayers.
MOODY MEETS MISS WILLARD.
Miss Frances E. Willard, the celebrated temper-
ance advocate, was identified with Mr. Moody in
several of his meetings. Miss Willard said that she
would never forget a stormy Sabbath day early in
1877 when through a blinding snow 9,000 women
gathered at the Tabernacle in Chicago to hear a ser-
mon especially for them, from what she termed the
most successful evangelistic of the Christian era.
It was then she and Mr. Moody met for the first
time and he asked her to lead the meeting in prayer.
She said she never beheld a more impressive scene.
186 MOODY'S BIBLE.
At the close of the meeting in January of that year
Mr. Moody sent for Miss Willard to come to his
hotel, and he asked her to accompany him to Boston
and help in the women's meeting there. She said
she would be glad to do so, but that she wanted to
consult her mother about it. He asked her what
her means of support were and she told him that her
expenses were paid by the W. C. T. U. while she
worked for them, but that if she should devote her
time to revival meetings even that source of income
would cease. Mr. Moody suggested that they pray
for light; this they did and the interview ended.
Her mother liked the plan and early in February
she took up her work in Boston and devoted consid-
erable time each morning to the study of the Bible.
One day as Miss Willard was about to open her
new meeting in the Burkley Street Church, Mr.
Moody came rushing up the steps and said that he
had heard that she had been talking temperance all
around the suburbs. He asked her why she did this
and stated that he wanted her attention to the Bos-
ton meeting. She replied that she had no money
and that it was necessary that she should go out
and earn some. Moody seemed perplexed and
wanted to know whether he had given her nothing.
She replied that he had not. He then wanted to know
if certain people had not paid her way from Chicago
and sent her money for traveling expenses. She
said that they had not. Moody said that he guessed
that they had forgotten it and rushed away. That
night when she was going to a meeting he thrust a
generous check in her hand.
Miss Willard continued throughout the Boston
meeting, and then devoted herself to other work.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE KANSAS CITY MEETING.
On November 15, 1899, Mr. Moody told the min-
isters who were associated with him in the revival
which he was holding in the great Convention Hall
at Kansas City, that he was nearly exhausted, and
that he must have rest, and that he would not lead
the after-meetings in the church as had been his
custom previously. Mr. Moody had been holding
revival services in Kansas City for some weeks, and
they had been remarkably successful. The great
effort, however, in speaking in an immense hall,
was too much for his years and strength. The next
day a physician was called after he left the hall, and
went to his hotel, and the next evening he an-
nounced himself very much better; he said he did
not know just what was the matter with him, but
that he was under the impression that he had a lit-
tle cold and a little touch of malaria, but that he was
being brought around all right. He concluded that
in order to cure himself that he would only hold two
meetings each day in Convention Hall. The morn-
ing and afternoon prayer-meeting and the after
meetings, all of which were held in the Second
Presbyterian church, were led by someone else;
Mr. Moody was not present. In four days that
week some three hundred people had expressed
187
188 THE KANSAS CITY MEETING.
their intention of becoming Christians. The names
and addresses of all the converts were taken, with
their church preferences, if any, and these facts
were to determine who should look after them until
they were safely landed in the right path and to be
able to see their own way to salvation.
On the 17th of November, for the first time in
forty years as a preacher-evangelist, Mr. Moody was
obliged to give up and leave a meeting. Mr. Moody
found himself worse on Friday morning, and he kept
getting worse, until, by noon, his physician. Dr. E.W.
Schauffler, found his patient becoming so weak that
he informed him that it would not be advisable for
him to preach at the afternoon meeting. Mr. Moody
held out until the last moment, hoping his strength,
would revive, but finally was reluctantly compelled
to coincide with his physician in his views.
As the morning wore on, Mr. Moody's friends saw
that he kept growing weaker, and it was not long
before Mr. Moody himself decided that he must do
what he had never done before in his life, abandon
a series of meetings before its close, and go as soon
as possible to his home in Northfield, Mass. It
almost broke his heart to carry out such a decision,
but his rapidly waning strength warned him that he
should be at home where he could have the cheer-
ing and reviving influences which would come to
him from the ministrations of his wife and family.
Accordingly, arrangements were made for the
journey by the road which would get him to his
home in as short a time and in as comfortable a
manner as possible. No special or private car in
the city being available at that time, Mr. and Mrs.
Neil, the evangelists, tendered the use of their gos-
V-! *-> li
THE KANSAS CITY MEETING. 191
pel car, "The Messenger of Peace." This was
accepted, and it was attached to the Wabash train.
Mr. Moody left Kansas City at 9.15 o'clock on the
night of November 17th for the long journey to his
home, going by way of St. Louis and Buffalo. Mrs.
Neil accompanied the car to assist in nursing the
sick man, who was also accompanied by Dr. Robert
Schauffler, who, with his father, had been attending
Mr. Moody, and by Mr. Charles M. Vining, teller of
the Union National Bank, who went at Mr. Moody's
special request, Mr. Vining having been a classmate
and intimate friend of Mr. Moody's son at college.
Mr. Moody's friends say that he had shown much
physical weakness since his arrival at Kansas City,
and there had been a rapid running down in his
condition, and to this they attributed the fact that
he had seemed to fail to get the hold upon his audi-
ences which was usual with him.
His talks had appeared to lack the power and con-
vincing energy to which those who had heard him
frequently were accustomed, still there had been a
great awakening among religious people, and quick-
ening of the spirit, which had resulted in great good
to the church. The foundation had been laid upon
which great revivals in the individual churches
could be raised, while the way had been opened for
successful evangelical meetings, as they had been
previously advertised in nearly all the churches in
the city. The direct results in actual converts at
the meetings, however, had not been nearly so large
as was usual in his meetings.
Mr. Moody himself, nevertheless, did not appear
to have any fears but that he would be able to go
on with his evangelistic meetings after a few days.
11
192 THE KANSAS CITY MEETING.
He regretted very much to leave the Kansas City
meetings, and he cancelled an engagement which
he had for beginning a series of meetings at Roches-
ter, N. Y., on the following Wednesday.
He said that it was not the speaking in the hall
there that had brought on his illness. The speak-
ing, he said, did not specially tire him, as he felt no
pain or difficulty while preaching. It was in walk-
ing back and forth from Convention Hall to the
Coates House, where he stopped, that he felt pain
and difficulty in breathing.
Mr. Moody thought of the meetings up to the time
he left, sending a special word over to the evening
meetings, thanking the choir for their services, and
asking all to continue under the arrangement
whereby the meetings were to continue on to the
next Sunday evening as planned. He also thanked
the ministers for the cordial support they had given
him, and the reporters for their work, saying he had
never held meetings in a city where the newspapers
had reported his meetings with more appreciation
and cordiality.
Mr. Moody's last sermon was on the night of No-
vember 1 6th, was on the parable of a certain man
who made a great feast and invited his friends, but
when these friends all sent their regrets, he went
out into the streets and invited everybody, and into
the hedge rows and compelled people to come, de-
claring meanwhile that they who had been invited
and refused to come should not taste of his feast.
Mr. Moody took up the excuses of those who
refused to go to the feast, and showed how frivolous
they were. The man who had just bought a piece
of land surely knew what it was before he bought
THE KANSAS CITY MEETING. 193
it. So with the oxen and the man who married —
his bride would undoubtedly have been glad to go
to the king's banquet.
"These excuses do look pretty foolish now when I
hold them up to you," said Mr. Moody, "but I have
an invitation to-night to all of you to attend a royal
feast — the marriage supper of the Lamb — and your
excuses for not coming are even more frivolous and
false.
"Men at the present time are about all making
excuses. The habit is as old as Adam. Adam made
a mean, contemptible excuse; said it was his wife;
he even threw the blame back upon God, and said,
'This woman that Thou gavestme. ' But men all
have excuses. They have not the moral courage to
say they don't want to go to the feast; they lay
awake nights to make up excuses, and if I were to
tear up every excuse that you have here to-night
and then jump down off this platform and ask the
first man down there, he would have a new excuse
ready. I tell you excuses are the devil's cradles to
rock souls off to sleep in. ' '
Mr. Moody then took up the excuses men most
frequently give for not becoming Christians. " 'The
Bible is not true,' they say. They criticise the Bible
who have never read it, never study it, don't know
anything about it. Some say, 'I don't know as I
have been foreordained to be saved' ; others stay
out because 'there are so many hypocrites in the
church.' "
Said Mr. Moody: "I'll find a hundred hypocrites
in the world to where you will find one in the
Church. Of course, there are hypocrites in the
church — the tares and the wheat grow up together ;
194 THE KANSAS CITY MEETING.
but if you stay out of church because there are
hypocrites in it, why don't you quit your business
because there are hypocrites in that? Are you a
grocer? There are folks in this country who grind
marble up in the sugar. Are you a lawyer? Are
there any hypocrites among the lawyers? Are you
a doctor? Are there any quacks among the doctors?
Are you a Republican? Are there any hypocrites
there? Or a Democrat? 'But,' you say, 'I don't
belong to either; I am a Prohibitionist.' Are there
any hypocrites among the prohibition parties?
"Oh, I am about tired and sick of people trying to
live on the faults of others; you can't get very fat
on that ; look out for the men who are always howl-
ing about hypocrites; they are hypocrites them-
selves."
Other excuses which were given were treated very
much in the same manner by the speaker, who
finally said that there were two excuses which were
more universal than any, but which are seldom
avowed. "One is the lack of moral courage," said
he; "they are a pack of cowards waiting to enter
the kingdom of God if they would act up to their
convictions. The other excuse is sin. People have
some sin possibly they do not want people to know
about, but they don't want to give that sin up as
they would have to do if they became Christians."
Mr. Moody closed by stating that if an excuse was
written out by one of the reporters asking God, "I
pray Thee have more excuses from the marriage
feast," that no one in the house would sign it, but
those who go out of the house without accepting the
invitation virtually do the same thing. If the note
was written to go to God direct, "I will be there,"
THE KANSAS CITY MEETING. 195
all would want to sign it. -"Now," said the preacher,
"how many will accept this invitation? How many-
will say, 'I will?' "
Half a dozen, scattered through the audience, re-
sponded, and as Mr. Moody repeated the request,
there was as many more that had been stirred to
the heart by his resistless logic, and as he said, "I
will wait a few moments longer to see if any one
else, any man, woman or child, will say the word.
I could stand here all night and listen to those 'I
wills." "
The responses came from all parts of the great
hall until about half a hundred had responded to
the invitation held out by Mr. Moody.
Mr. Moody arrived in St. Louis the next day, and
after partaking of a hearty breakfast at the Union
Station, continued his journey home. In the morn-
ing he sent the following telegram to the Conven-
tion Hall meeting at Kansas City: "I thank the
good people of Kansas City for all their kindness to
me. Had best night in a week. Heart stronger
and temperature nearly normal."
Mr. Moody reached Northfield, Sunday, the 19th.
His wife and son, William R. Moody, had gone to
Buffalo to meet him, but as he did not stop in Buf-
falo, they missed each other. He went to Greenfield
over the Fitchburg road, where he was met by his
youngest son, Paul, with a pair of horses, and was
at once driven over the country roads to East North-
field, twelve miles away. The ride apparently did
Mr. Moody much good, and he expressed himself as
greatly pleased at having reached his home.
He sent the following telegram, which was read
at the opening of the last meeting of the revival in
196 THE KANSAS CITY MEETING.
Kansas City that night to ten thousand people:
"East Northfield, Mass., November 19th. Have
reached here safely; have traveled back and forth
for forty years, and never felt better. ' Regret
heartily that I had to leave Kansas City. Had I
been there to-night, I would have preached on 'They
are not far from the Kingdom. ' My prayer is, that
many be led into the kingdom under Mr. Torrey's
preaching. I want to thank the good people of
Kansas City for their kindness and prayers. Dr.
Robert Schaufifler and Mr, Vining have been of
great help, and I appreciate your kindness in send-
ing them. " (Signed.) Dwight L. Moody.
CHAPTER XVII.
DEATH OF MOODY.
With the words "God is calling me," Dwight L.
Moody, the evangelist, whose fame was world wide,
fell asleep in death, at his home in East Northfield,
Mass. , at noon, December 2 2, 1899. The passing of
his spirit from a body which had been tortured with
pain for some weeks, to the rest beyond, was as
gentle as could be wished for. His family were
gathered at his bedside, and the dying man's last
moments were spent in comforting them and in
contemplation of that reward for which he had so
long and earnestly labored. He knew that death
was near, but its sting to him was lost in the un-
folding to his mental vision of a beautiful scene,
judging from his last words.
The gathering of the family around the bedside
of the great evangelist was a scene that will be re-
ferred to many times in years to come, as Mr.
Moody's work is carried forward. Besides the fam-
ily there were present also Drs. Schofield and Woods,
and the nurse.
During the night, Mr. Moody had a number of
sinking spells. He was, however, kindness itself
to those about him. At two o'clock in the morning
Dr. N. P. Wood, the family physician, who spent
the night in the house, was called at the request of
197
198 DEATH OF MOODY.
Mr. Moody. He was perspiring, and he requested
his son-in-law, A. P. Fitt, who spent the night with
him, to call the physician that he might note the
symptoms. Dr. Wood administered a hypodermic
injection of strychnia. This caused the heart to
perform its duties more regularly, and Mr. Moody
himself requested his son-in-law, Mr. Fitt, and Dr.
Wood to retire. Mr. Moody's eldest son, Will R.
Moody, who had been sleeping the first of the night,
spent the last half with his father.
At 7. 30 in the morning Dr. Wood was called, and
when he reached Mr. Moody's room found his
patient in a semi-conscious condition. When Mr.
Moody recovered consciousness, he said, with all his
old vivacity:
"What's the matter; what's going on here?"
Some member of the family replied: "Father,
you haven't been quite so well, and so we came in to
see you. ' '
' A little later he said to his boys: "I have always
been an ambitious man, not ambitious to lay up
wealth, but to leave you work to do. ' ' In substance
Mr. Moody urged his two boys and his son-in-law,
Mr. Fitt, to see that the schools in East Northfield,
at Mt. Hermon and the Chicago Bible institute should
receive their best care. This they assured Mr.
Moody they would do.
During the forenoon, Mrs. A. P. Fitt, his daughter,
said to him: "Father, we can't spare you." Mr.
Moody's reply was: "I'm not going to throw my
life away. If God has more work for me to do, I'll
not die."
As the noonday hour drew near the watchers at
the bedside noted the approach of death. Several
DEATH OF MOODY. 199
times his lips moved as if in prayer, but the articula-
tion was so faint that the words could not be heard.
Just as death came Mr. Moody awoke as if from
slumber, and said with much joyousness:
"I see earth receding ; heaven is opening. God is
calling me."
And a moment later he had entered upon what
one of his sons described as "a triumphal march
into heaven."
Dr. Wood says that Mr. Moody did not have the
slightest fear of death. He was thoroughly con-
scious until within less than a minute of his death.
Dr. Wood says the cause of his death was heart fail-
ure. He adds that the walls surrounding the heart
grew weaker and weaker. While it is true that Mr.
Moody had symptoms of Bright's disease a few days
ago, his death was due, the physician says, to dila-
tion of the heart. There had been dilation in a
gradual way for the past nine years. The family
had been told some time ago that Mr. Moody might
get out and about, but still he was liable to drop
away at any time.
There were present in Mr. Moody's chamber when
he died his wife, his daughter, Mrs. A. P. Fitt, and
her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Will R. Moody, Paul
Moody, the youngest son ; Dr. N. P. Wood and Miss
Powers, the nurse. Mrs. Moody had carried herself
during the sickness of her husband with the greatest
bravery and patience, but when death came she was
prostrated. As soon as Mr. Moody's death became
known in the village the utmost sorrow was shown.
The death of Mr. Moody was not unexpected,
although his temporary recovery from illness was
hoped for, not only by his friends near at hand, but
12
200 DEATH OF MOODY.
by those who had listened to his words and teachings
on both continents. In the family there was fear
that death was not a long way off. The cause of
death was a general breaking down of his health,
due to overwork. His constitution was that of an
exceedingly strong man, but his untiring labors
had gradually undermined his vitality until that
most delicate of organs, the heart, showed signs of
weakness.
Mr. Moody's exertions in the West during the
month of November brought on the crisis, and the
collapse came during the series of meetings at Kan-
sas City. An early diagnosis by eminent physicians
made it evident that Mr. Moody's condition was
serious and cancelling his engagements he returned
to his home in East Northfield, so near the greatest
achievements of his later life.
On reaching his home the family physician, Dr.
N. P. Wood, took charge of Mr. Moody, and for
some days bulletins as to the patient's condition
were issued, all having an encouraging tone, seem-
ingly, but unerringly pointing to the fact that the
evangelist's work on earth was about finished.
During the week previous to the one in which his
death occurred, a change for the worst prepared
immediate friends for what was to come.
In the last week, however, the patient improved
steadily, until the day before his death, when he
appeared very nervous. This symptom was accom-
panied by weakness, which much depressed the
family, who were anxiously watching the sufferer.
Mr. Moody's failing health, or, rather, his appre-
ciation that he must guard the vitalities of his life,
unless he wished to have his work cut short even
DEATH OF MOODY. 201
before it was, came when he was in England some
years ago, when physicians cautioned him. And it
appeared that he took some heed, but the zeal that
was in him must find its outlet, and his ceaseless
work had done the rest.
At Kansas City, after beginning a short series of
meetings there, he found that the hand of prostra-
tion, if nothing more, was laid upon him, and he
returned to his home to rest and recover. The physi-
cians and specialists had ofEered encouragement,
but coupled it with the reservation that, with his
vitality impaired by such excessive calls upon it,
there was a chance that he might recover and be
ready for more work. They felt, in the light of the
great efforts of the past, it could not be told with
surety that this favorable turn would come. The
end came and the great man passed from earth.
Mr. Moody made, in his will, provision for his
wife, but the sons receive a legacy of their father's
work to continue, and they modestly say they look
upon it with some tremulousness, realizing that the
mighty will and intense personality of their father is
absent. However, the school work at which Mr,
W. R. Moody is practically the head as representing
his father's plans and ideas will be continued. The
outside work they make no pretense of repeating.
From many sources Mr. Moody received large sums
of money, and, after the devotion of it to the school
work, where so directed, was careful and prudent
with the rest. On his own account, he acquired
large sums, too, and, after proper provision for his
home and those nearest him, he gave the rest to his
work. With many legitimate opportunities to be-
come a wealthy man, he never used them, and his
202 DEATH OF MOODY.
estate is unknown, not large, but presumably large-
enough for the purposes he devised.
A quiet night followed the day that brought
bereavement to the Moody family and the town of
which Mr. Moody and the institutions founded by
him were such prominent figures. The inmates
of the Moody home, after a restful night, were astir
early. Mrs. Moody seemed to be considerably
refreshed, and the other members of the family had
gained new strength for their experience during the
intervals of sleep which came to them.
Messages of condolence, which began to come in
the first day, were received in increased numbers
the next day. Nearly one hundred telegrams from
all parts of the United States were received during
the day. A number of cablegrams were also
received.
The Rev. F. B. Meyer, of London, who has been a
prominent speaker at Northfield, and who, with Mr.
Moody, held meetings in several of the large cities
of the country last fall, cabled from England his
condolence.
Some of the expressions of sympathy follow :
Deepest sympathy and Christian love. Our
hearts bleed for you. H. M. Moore,
C. A. Hopkins,
Boston.
Sad news just received. Will be there to-morrow.
Ira D. Sankey, Brooklyn.
Our entire household bereaved with you.
H. C. Mabie, Newton.
Deepest and most affectionate sympathy. A
wonderful life and a triumphant entrance to the
Father's house.
William E. Dodge, New York.
DEATH OF MOODY. 203
The whole world seems to be incomplete without
our dear Moody. God bless and keep you all.
J. Wilbur Chapman.
Tenderest sympathy in this overwhelming- sorrow.
Mr. and Mrs. John Wanamaker,
Philadelphia,
Please accept and extend to all the family my
deepest sympathy at the time of this great bereave-
ment. William H. Haile,
Springfield, Mass.
My deepest sympathy. It has been given to few
men to live a life of such characteristic service as
did your noble father. Anson P. Stokes.
Lord and Lady Overton send loving sympathy in
our common sorrow. All Scotland mourns. Ten-
derest sympathy with you all.
George B. Studd, California.
Profound sorrow. Deepest sympathy. I loved
Mr. Moody. George F. Pentacost, '
Yonkers, N. Y.
Your loss is great, but it is for time. Mr. Moody's
work will live for all eternity. The vSalvation Army
throughout the whole world prays for you.
Booth-Tucker.
Permit me to extend sympathy to your family.
Uppermost in my heart and mind is gratitude to
God for Mr. Moody's life. J. Willis Baer.
All Christendom mourns with you. Our prayers
are that you may be mightily comforted.
T. De Witt Talmadge.
You have the deepest sympathy of my race in
your affliction. Your husband's work is of lasting
value to both races. Booker T. Washington.
I profoundly sorrow and sympathize with you and
rejoice with him who has gone. F. E. Clark.
204. DEATH OF MOODY.
Please accept my friendly sympathy in your sad
bereavement in the death of your good husband,
Fr. Quaille, Northfield.
I beg you to accept for yourself and family my
sincere sympathy in your great loss.
Marshall Field, Chicago.
Mrs. Sage unites with me in deepest sympathy
for you and your family in your sad bereavement.
Russell Sage.
We stand by in deepest sympathy. The blank is
awful ; but our beloved is with the King. God com-
fort you. C. G. Morgan, London, Eng.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE LAST FAREWELL.
The funeral was held at Northfield, December 26
During the morning the members of the Moody
family were with the body, which has lain in the
death chamber since Mr. Moody's death, Friday.
Soon after ten o'clock the body was placed in the
heavy broadcloth casket and removed to the parlor
of the Moody home, where a simple service of prayer
was conducted by Mr. Moody's pastor, the Rev.
C. L Schofield, and the Rev. R. A. Torrey, of Chi-
cago.
At the close of the service the casket was placed
on a massive bier, and thirty-two Mt. Hermon stu-
dents bore it to the church, where it was to lie in
state. The funeral cortege was led by the Rev.
Messrs. Schofield and Torrey, and followed by the
members of the various institutions with which Mr.
Moody was connected, friends, and Christian work-
ers from all over the United States, and some rep-
resentatives from foreign countries.
One of the touching incidents of the morning was
the appearance on the lawn outside the Moody home
of the son, Will R. Moody, who stood in the keen
December air, without hat or overcoat, as the pro-
cession passed out of the house, until the last
mourner had left the door; then the young man
205
206 THE LAST FAREWELL.
leaned against a tree and gave vent to his long-sup-
pressed grief.
At the church, the body was placed directly in
front of the altar, and the casket immediately
opened. Then began to file in the neighbors and
friends from Northfield and surrounding towns,
who had known Mr. Moody as a neighbor and per-
sonal friend, as well as a spiritual helper.
The casket and the oak burial case which was to
receive it bore plates with the inscription —
" D wight L. Moody, 1837 — 1899."
Around the casket were banked the numerous and
beautiful floral offerings, among them being a pil-
low from the trustees of Mt. Hermon School, bear-
ing the inscription, in purple and white, "God is
calling me"; from the trustees of Northfield Semi-
nary, an open book ; from the faculty of the Bible
Institute, in Chicago, a spray of cycas leaves; from
the girls of Northfield Seminary, a spray of roses ;
from the Mt. Hermon students, white roses and
laurels; from the teachers of the schools, bouquets
of violets and hyacinths.
While the body lay in state in the Congregational
Church, between 11 and 2:30 o'clock, fully three
thousand persons looked upon the face of the man
whose name is known the world around and who, it
was stated by several here to-day, spoke during his
life-time to billions of people.
For a small country town, this gathering seemed
large ; but, in comparison, this number was an infin-
itesimal delegation from the vast throngs which had
been influenced by the voice and life of a wonderful
man.
THE LAST FAREWELL. 209
The church services over the remains of Evan-
gelist Moody were simple but unusually impressive
The services began at 12:30 o'clock, at which time
the family arrived, Mr. Will R. Moody with Mrs. D
L. Moody, Mr. Paul Moody and Mrs. A. P. Fitt, Mr.
A. P. Fitt, and Mrs. W. R. Moody Following these
came other relatives — Mr. and Mrs. Isaiah Moody,
Mr. and Mrs. George F. Moody, Mr. and Mrs. C. M.
Walker, Mrs. L. C. Washburn and Mr. Edward
Moody. Following these were the grandchildren and
members of the faculty and trustees, the}^ having
come in and taken seats directly behind those occu-
pied by the family. The Rev Mr. Schofield and
the Rev. Mr. Torrey, the honorary pallbearers,
and several clergymen, and the Hon. John Wana-
maker followed.
The services opened with a hymn, "A Little
While and He Shall Come," and Dr. Schofield fol-
lowed with prayer. The Rev. A. T. Pierson read
the Scripture lesson, from II. Corinthians iv. 11 —
"For we which live are always delivered unto death
for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be
made manifest in our mortal flesh. ' ' This was fol-
lowed by prayer, by the Rev. George C. Needham,
after which the congregation sang "Emanuel's
Land," the music being directed by Prof. A. B
Phillips, professor of music in the Northfield Insti-
tute.
The Rev. Mr. Schofield then pronounced the
eulogy, saying:
" ' Weknow. We are always confident. ' That is the
Christian attitude toward the mystery of death.
'We know,' so far as the present body is concerned,
that it is a tent in which we dwell. It is a conve-
210 THE LAST FAREWELL.
nience for this present life. Death threatens it, so
far as we can see, with utter destruction. Soul and
spirit instinctively cling to this present body. At
that point revelation steps in with one of the great
foundational certainties and teaches us to say : 'We
know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle
were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. '
"There is a natural body and there is a spiritual
body. But that is not all. Whither after all shall
we go when this earthly tent dwelling is gone? To
what scenes does death introduce us? What, in a
word, lies for the Christian just across that little
trench which we call a grave? Here is a new and
most serious cause of solicitude. And here again
revelation brings to faith the needed word : 'We are
confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from
the body and to be at home with the Lord. '
"Note, now, how that assurance gives confidence.
First, in that the transition is instantaneous.
To be absent from the body is to be at home with
the Lord. And secondly, every question of the
soul which might bring back an answer of fear is
satisfied with that one little word 'home. '
' 'And this is the Christian doctrine of death. 'We
know. ' 'We are always confident. ' In this tri-
umphant assurance Dwight L. Moody lived, and at
high noon last Friday he died. We are not met,
dear friends, to mourn a defeat, but to celebrate a
triumph. He 'walked with God and he was not,
for God took him. ' There in the West, in the pres-
ence of great audiences of 12,000 of his fellow men,
God spoke to him to lay it all down and come home.
He would have planned it so.
THE LAST FAREWELL. 211
"This is not the place, nor am I the man to pre.
sent a study of the life and character of Dwight L.
Moody. No one will ever question that we are lay-
ing- to-day in the kindly bosom of earth the mortal
body of a great man. Whether we measure great-
ness by quality of character or by qualities of intel-
lect, Dwight L. Moody must be accounted great
' 'The basis of Mr. Moody's character was sincerity,
genuineness. He had an inveterate aversion to all
forms of sham, unreality and pretense. Most of all
did he detest religious pretence or cant. Along
with this fundamental quality Mr. Moody cherished
a great love of righteousness. His first question
concerning any proposed action was: *Is it right?'
But these two qualities, necessarily at the bottom of
all noble characters, were in him suffused and trans-
figured by divine grace. Besides all this, Mr. Moody
was in a wonderful degree brave, magnanimous and
unselfish.
"Doubtless this unlettered New England country
boy became what he was by the grace of God. The
secrets of Dwight L. Moody's power were: First, in
a definite experience of Christ's saving grace. He
had passed out of death into life, and he knew it.
Secondly, Mr. Moody believed in the divine author-
ity of th,e Scriptures. The Bible was, to him, the
voice of God, and he made it resound as such in the
consciences of men. Thirdly, he was baptized with
the Holy Spirit, and he knew it. It was to him as
definite an experience as his conversion. Fourthly,
he was a man of prayer; he believed in a divine and
unfettered God. Fifthly, Mr. Moody believed in
work, in ceaseless effort, in wise provision, in the
power of organization, of publicity.
212 THE LAST FAREWELL.
"I like to think of D. L. Moody in heaven. I
like to think of him with his Lord and with Elijah,
Daniel, Paul, August, Luther, Wesley and Finney.
"Farewell for a little time, great heart; may a
double portion of the Spirit be vouchsafed to us who
remain. ' '
The next address was by the Rev. H. B. Weston,
of Crozier Theological Seminary, Chester, Pa., who
said:
"I counted it among one of the greatest pleasures
of my life that I had the acquaintance of Mr.
Moody : that I was placed under his influence and
that I was permitted to study God's words and work
through him.
"He was the greatest religious character of this
century. When we see men who are eminent
among their fellows, we always attribute it to some
special natural gift with which they are endowed,
some special education they have received, or some
magnetic personality with which they are blessed,
Mr. Moody had none of these, and yet no man had
such power of drawing the multitude. No man
could surpass him in teaching and influencing indi-
viduals— individuals of brain, of executive power.
I am speaking to some of such this afternoon. Mr.
Moody liad the power of grouping them to himself
with hooks of steel, and many of them were good
workers with him many years; and they will carry
on his work now that he has passed away.
"Mr. Moody had none of the gifts and qualifica-
tions that I have mentioned. No promise, and
apparently no possibility in his early life, no early
promise, if he had any promise, of the life he had
to lead. What had he? There was never anything
THE LAST FAREWELL. 213
as interesting in Northfield, as Mr. Moody to me. I
listened to him with profound and great interest
and profit, as the one who could draw the multitude
as no one else in the world. He entered fully into
the words, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but
by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of
God. ' So he fed upon that word ; his life was in-
stantly a growth, because he fed on the word of
God, so that he might have it ready for every emer-
gency
"All this was not for himself, but for others. He
did not study the Bible for himself alone, but that
he might add to his stock of knowledge. He did
not study his Bible in order to criticise, but to make
men partakers of that light which had enlarged his
own soul, and that, I appeal to you, was the first
desire of his heart, that other men might live.
"With this one conception in his heart he dots his
plain all over with buildings which will stand
tmtil the millennium. His soul was full of joy, and
that definite joy finds its expression like the Hebrew
prophet. I don't think he sung himself, but he
wanted the gospel sung, and I used to listen to song
after song and I remember all the time this was
simply the expression of that joy that welled up in
his heart, and the joy of the Lord Jesus Christ.
'You remember last summer how hopeful he
was, constantly, as he compared himself to 'that old
man of 80 years, and I am only 62, and I have so
much before me to live for. * Because D. L, Moody
had mastered, or the power of Christ had so mas-
tered, every fibre of his being ; because of that — ^well,
you'll pardon me in saying, I hardly dare say it —
put Jesus Christ in the same body, the same metal
214 THE LAST FAREWELL.
calibre and surroundings, and he would fill up his
life much as Moody did, and that is the reason to-
day that I would rather be Dwight L. Moody in his
coffin than any living man on earth.
The next speaker was the Rev. R. A. Torrey, who
said:
"It is often the first duty of a pastor to speak
words of comfort to those whose hearts are aching
with sorrow and breaking underneath the burden
of death, but this is utterly unnecessary to-day.
The God of all comfort has already abundantly com-
forted them, and they will be able to comfort others.
I have spent hours in the past few days with those
who were nearest to our departed friend, and the
words I have heard from them have been words of
' Rest in God, and triumph. '
"As one of them has said: 'God must be answer-
ing the prayers that are going up for us all over the
world, we are being so wonderfully sustained,'
Another has said : 'His last four glorious hours of
life have taken all the sting out of death,' and still
another, 'Be sure that every word to-day is a word
of triumph. '
"Two thoughts has God laid upon my heart this
hour. The first is that wonderful letter of Paul in
I. Corinthians xv. lo — 'By the grace of God I am
what I am. ' God wonderfully magnified His grace
in the life of D. L. Moody. God was magnified in
his birth. The babe that was born 62 years ago —
the wonderful soul was God's gift to the world.
How much that meant to the world ; how much the
world has been blessed and benefited by it we shall
never know this side of the coming of Christ.
God's grace was magnified in his conversion. He
THE LAST FAREWELL. 215
was bom in sin, as we are, but God by the power of
His word, the regenerating power of His Holy Spirit,
made him a mighty man of God. How much the
conversion of that boy in Boston 43 years ago meant
to the world no man can tell, but it was all God's
grace that did it.
"God's grace and love was magnified again in the
development of that character. He had the
strength of body that was possessed by few sons of
men.
"It was all from God. To God alone was it due
that he differed from other men. That character
was God's gift to a world that sorely needed men
like him. God's grace and love were magnified
again in his service. The great secret of his suc-
cess was supernatural power, given in answer to
prayer.
"Time and time again has the question been asked,
'What was the secret of his wonderful power?' The
question is easily answered. There were doubtless
secondary things that contributed to it, but the
great central secret of his power was the anointing
of the Holy Ghost. It was simply another fulfill-
ment by God of the promise that has been realized
throughout the centuries of the church's history :
'Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost
shall come upon you. '
"God was magnified again in his marvelous tri-
umph over death, but what we call death had abso-
lutely no terrors for him. He calmly looked death
in the face, and said, 'Earth is receding. Heaven
is opening. God is calling me. ' Is this death? It
isn't bad at all. It is sweet. No pain. No valley.
' I have been within the gates. ' It "is beautiful. It
216 THE LAST FAREWELL.
is glorious. ' Do not call me back. God is calling
me.'
"This was God's grace in Christ that was thus
magnified in our brother's triumph over that last
enemy, death. From beginning to end, from the
hour of his birth until he is laid at rest on yonder
hilltop, Mr. Moody's life has been a promulgation
of God's everlasting grace and love.
"The other thought that God has laid upon my
heart in these last few hours are those of Joshua i. 2
— 'Moses My servant is dead. Now, therefore
arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people,
unto the land which I do give to them. '
"The death of Mr. Moody is a call to his children,
his associates, ministers of the Word, everywhere
and to the whole church : 'Go forward. * Our leader
has fallen. Let us give up the work, some would
say. Not for a moment. Listen to what God says:
'Our leader has fallen. Move forward. Moses My
servant is dead, therefore arise, go in and possess
the land. As I was with D. L. Moody, so I will be
with you. I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. '
It is remarkable how unanimous all those who
have been associated with Mr Moody are upon this
point. The great institutions that he has estab-
lished at Northfield, Mt. Hermon, Chicago, and the
work they repsesent must be pushed to the front as
never before. Many men are looking for a great
revivial.
"Mr. Moody himself said when he felt the call of
death at Kansas City: 'I know how much better it
would be for me to go, but we are on the verge of a
great revival, like that of 1857, and I want to have
a hand in it.' He will have a mighty hand in it.
THE LAST FAREWELL. 217
His death, with the triumphal scenes that surround
it, are part of God's way of answering the prayers
that have been going up for so long in our land for
a revival.
"From this bier there goes up to-day a call to the
ministry, to the church: 'Forward.' Seek, claim,
receive the anointing of the Holy Ghost, and then
go, forthwith, to every corner, preach in public and
in private to every man, woman and child the infal-
lible word of God. ' '
After Mr. Torrey had finished. Bishop Mallalieu
said:
' ' Servant of God, well done. Thy glorious war-
fare passed, battles fought, the race is over, and
thou art crowned at last.
•'I first met and became acquainted with him
whose death we mourn, in London, in the summer
of 1875. From that day, when he moved the
masses of the world's metropolis, to the hour when
he answered the call of God to come up higher, I
have known him, esteemed him, and loved him.
Surely we may say, and the world will indorse the
affirmation, that in his death one of the truest,
bravest, purest, and most influential men of this
wonderful nineteenth century has passed to his rest
and his reward.
"With feelings of unspeakable loss and absolute
regret we gather about the casket that contains all
that is mortal of Dwight L. Moody, and yet a
mighty uplift must come to each one of us as we
think of what his character and achievements were.
He was one who never turned his back, but breasted
forward, never doubting the clouds would break,
never dreaming that, though right was worsted,
wrong would triumph.
218 THE LAST FAREWELL.
"In bone and brawn and brain he was a typical
New Englander. He was descended from the
choicest New England stock. He was born of a
New England mother, and from his earliest life he
breathed the free air of his native hills, and was
carefully nurtured in the knowledge of God. It was
to be expected of him that he would become a Chris-
tian of pronounced characteristics, for he consecrated
himself thoroughly, completely, and irrevocably to
the service of God and humanity.
"The heart of no disciple of the Master ever
breathed with more genuine, sympathetic and
utterly unselfish loyalty than did the great, gener-
ous, loving heart of our translated friend, because
he held fast to the absolute truth of the Bible, and
unequivocally and intensely believed it to be the
inherent word of God ; because he preached the gos-
pel, rather than talked about the gospel; because
he used his mother tongue, the terse, clear-ringing,
straightforward Saxon; because he had the pro-
foundest sense of brotherhood with all poor unfor-
tunate and every outcast people; because he was
unaffectedly tender and patient with the weak and
the sinful; because he hated evil as thoroughly as
he loved goodness; because he knew mightily how to
lead a penitent soul to the Saviour ; because he had
the happy art of arousing Christian people to a vivid
sense of their obligations and inciting them to the
performance of their duties; because he had in his
own soul a conscious, joyous experience of personal
salvation.
"The people flocked to his services, they greeted
him gladly, they were led to Christ, and he came to
be honored and prized by all denominations, so that
THE LAST FAREWELL. 219
to-day all Protestantism recognizes the fact that he
was God's servant, an ambassador of Christ, and
indeed a chosen vessel to bear the name of Jesus to
the nations.
"We shall not again behold his manly form, ani-
mated with life; hear his thrilling voice, or be
moved by his consecrated personality ; but if we are
true and faithful to our Lord we shall see him in
glory, for already he walks the streets of the heav-
enly city, and mingles in the songs of the innumer-
able company of white-robed saints, seeing the King
in his beauty and awaiting our coming. May God
grant that in due time we may meet him over
Jordan."
J. Wilbur Chapman, of New York, the next
speaker, said:
"I cannot bring myself to feel this afternoon that
this service is a reality. It seems to me that we
must awake from some dream and see again the
face of this dear man of God, which we have so
many times seen. It is a new picture to me this
afternoon. I never saw Mr. Moody with his eyes
closed. They were always open, and it seemed
to me open not only to see where he could help
others, but where he could help me. His hands
were always outstretched to help others. I never
came near him without his helping me.
(At this point the sun came in through a crack in
a blind, and the rays fell directly on Mr. Moody's
face, and nowhere else in the darkened church did
a single beam of sunshine fall.)
' 'The only thing that seems natural is the sun-
light now on his face. There was always a halo
around him. I can only give a slight tribute of the
220 THE LAST FAREWELL.
help he has done me. I can only especially dedicate
myself to God, that I, with others, can preach the
gospel he taught.
"When a student in college, Mr. Moody found me.
I had no object in Christ. He pointed me to the
hope in God; he saw my heart, and I saw his Savior.
I have had a definite life since then. When perplex-
ities have arisen, from those lips came the words,
'Who are you doubting? If you believe in God's
word, who are you doubting?' I was a pastor, a
preacher, without much result. One day Mr. Moody
came to me, and, with one hand on my shoulder and
the other on the open Word of God, he said : 'Young
man, you had better get more of this into your life,*
and when I became an evangelist myself, in per-
plexity, I would still sit at his feet and every per-
plexity would vanish just as mist before the rising
sun. And, indeed, I never came without the desire
to be a better man, and be more like him, as he was
like Jesus Christ. He was the dearest friend I have
had. If my own father were lying in the coffin I
could not feel more the sense of loss.
The Rev. A. T. Pierson spoke next, saying:
"When a great tree falls, you know, not only by
its branches, but by its roots, how much soil it drew
up as it fell. I know of no other man who has
fallen in this century having as wide a tract of
uprooting as this man who has just left us.
"I have been thinking of the four departures dur-
ing the last quarter of a century, of Charles Spur-
geon of London, A. J. Gordon of Boston, Catherine
Booth, mother of the Salvation Army, and George
Muller of Bristol, England, and not one made the
worldwide commotion in their departure that Dwight
Moody has caused.
THE LAST FAREWELL. 221
"Now, I think we ought to be very careful of
what is said. There is a temptation to say more
than ought to be said, and we should be careful to
speak as in the presence of God. This is a time to
glorify God.
"Dwight L. Moody was a great man; that man,
when he entered the church, in 1856, in Boston,
after ten months of probation, was told by his pastor
that he was not a sound believer. That pastor,
taking him aside, told him he had better keep still
in prayer meeting. The man the church held out
at arm's length has become the preacher of preach-
ers, the teacher of teachers, the evangelist of evan-
gelists. It is a most humiliating lesson for the
church of God.
"When, in 1858, he decided to give all his time,
he gave the key to his future. I say everything
D. L. Moody has touched has been a success. Do
you know that with careful reckoning he has reached
100,000,000 of people since he first became a Chris-
tian? You may take all the years of public services
in this land and Great Britain, take into considera-
tion all the addresses he delivered, and all the audi-
ences of his churches, and it will reach 100,000,000.
Take into consideration all the people his books
have reached and the languages into which they
have been translated, look beyond his evangelistic
work to the work of education, the schools, the
Chicago Bible Institute, and the Bible Institute
here. Scores of people in the world owe their exist-
ence to Dwight L. Moody as a means of their con-
secration.
"I want to say a word of Mr. Moody's entrance
into heaven. When he entered into heaven there
222 THE LAST FAREWELL.
must have been an unusual commotion. I want to
ask you to-day whether you can think of any other
man of the last half-century whose coming so many
souls would have welcomed at the gates of heaven.
It was a triumphal entrance into glory.
"No man who has been associated with him in
Christian work has not seen that there is but one
way to live, and that way to live wholly for God.
The thing that D. L. Moody stood for and will
stand for for centuries to come was his living only for
God. He made mistakes, no doubt, but if any of us
is without sin in this respect, we might raise a stone
at him, but I am satisfied that the mistakes of D.
L. Moody were the mistakes of a stream that over-
flowed its banks. It is a great deal better to be full
and overflowing than to be empty and have nothing
to overflow.
"I feel myself called to-day by the presence of
God to give the eye that is left to me more wholly
to him. Mr. Moody, John Wanamaker, James
Spurgeon (brother of Charles), and myself were
born in the same year. Only two of us are still
alive. John Wanamaker, let us still live. wholly for
God."
Mr. H. M. Wharton of Baltimore, spoke in behalf
of the Southern States. He said :
"I am sure, dear friends, that if the people of the
South could express their feeling to-day they would
ask me to say we all loved Mr. Moody ; we did love
him, with all our hearts. It seems to me that when
he went inside the gates of heaven he left the gates
open a little, and a little of the light fell upon us
all.
"As I go from this place to-day I- am more con-
THE LAST FAREWELL. 223
vinced that I desire to live and be a more faithful
minister and more earnest Christian, and more con-
secrated in my life. We will not say 'Good night,
dear Mr. Moody, ' for in the morning we will meet
again."
As Mr. Wharton ceased, Mr. Will Moody rose in
the pew, and said he would like to speak of his
father as a parent. He said:
"As a son I want to say a few words of him as a
father. We have heard from his pastor, his associ-
ates and friends, and he was just as true a father. I
don't think he showed up in any way better than
when, on one or two occasions, in dealing with us
as children, with his impulsive nature he spoke
rather sharply. We have known him to come to us
and say: 'My children, my son, my daughter, I
spoke quickly ; I did wrong. I want you to forgive
me. ' That was D. L. Moody as a father.
"He was not yearning to go; he loved his work.
Life was very attractive; it seems as though on
that early morning as he had one foot upon the
threshold, it was given him for our sake to give us a
word of comfort. He said : 'This is bliss ; it is like
a trance. If this is death, it is beautiful. ' And his
face lighted up as he mentioned those whom he
saw.
"We could not call him back; we tried to for a
moment, but we could not. We thank God for his
home life, for his true life, and we thank God that
he was our father, and that he led each one of his
children to know Jesus Christ."
Dr. Schofield then called upon the Hon. John
Wanamaker of Philadelphia, who said:
"If I had any words to say it would be that the
224 THE LAST FAREWELL.
best commentary on the Scriptures, the best pictures
of the Lord Jesus Christ, were in our knowledge of
the beautiful man who is sleeping in our presence
to-day. For the first time I can understand better
the kind of a man Paul was, and Nehemiah, and
Oliver Cromwell. I think of Mr. Moody as a Stone-
wall Jackson of the Church of God of this, century.
But the sweetest of all thoughts of him are his
prayers and his kindnesses. It was as if we were all
taken into his family and he had a familiarity with
every one and we were his closest friends.
"It is not alone in Northfield these buildings will
stand, but over a hundred million buildings that
owe their standing to his efforts. Christian associa-
tions and churches that are erected for use both
Sundays and week days. There is not any place in
this country that you can go without seeing the work
of this man of God. It seems to make every man
seem small because he lived so far above us, as we
crept close to his feet. It is true of every one who
sought to be like him.
"I can run back into the beginning of his manhood
and there have the privilege of being close to him.
I can call itp personal friends that were at the
head of railroads, that were distinguished in finance
and business, and I declare to you, great as their
successes were, I don't believe that there is one of
them who would not gladly have changed places
with D. L. Moody.
"The Christian laborer I believe to-day looms up
more luminous than any man who lived in the cen-
tury. It seems as if it were a vision when the one
who has passed avfay stood in Philadelphia last
month, when on his way to Kansas City, and, with
THE LAST FAREWELL. 227
tears in his eyes, he said to me with a sigh: 'If I
could only hold one great city in the East before I
die, I think it might help other cities to do the same. '
Still trusting God, he turned his back on his home
and family and went a thousand miles carrying that
burden, and it was too much for him. A great
many of the people of the sixties are quitting work,
and if anything is to be done for God it is time we
consecrate ourselves to him."
The service closed with the singing by the male
quartet of "Blessed Hope of the Coming of the
Lord." The music for this selection was recently
arranged by Mrs. William R. Moody. Those in the
church immediately left the building and the casket
was closed.
At 4:40 the casket was taken outside and the cor-
tege started for Round Top. The Rev. Messrs.
Schofield and Torrey were first, followed by the
bier, escorted by thirty-two Mt, Hermon students.
Then came the honorary pallbearers, and Ira D.
Sankey, George Stebbins, Dr. Wood, Col. Janeway
of New Brunswick, N. J., C. A. Hopkins of Boston,
H. M. Moore of Boston, Gen. J. J. Estey of Brattle-
boro, R. C. Morse of the international committee,
many ministers and friends, and then the carriages
containing the family and mourners.
At the grave all sang "Jesus Lover of My Soul. "
Dr. Torrey offered prayer, and Dr. Schofield pro-
nounced the benediction. After the people had
left the grave the casket was opened, and the family
took a last look at Mr. Moody.
The following tribute and analysis of his char-
acter and work appeared in "The Independent" of
December 28, 1899:
13
228 THE LAST FAREWELL.
Succeeding generations call out each its own
great evangelist. For the generation that is past
that man was Dwight L. Moody.
Mr. Moody was an example of the broadening
educational power of earnest religion, for that was
about all the education he had. But nature had
endowed him with a sound mind and great com-
mon sense. All his schooling was a few years in a
district school; and forty- four years ago, like so
many other boys, he quitted the farm at North-
field at the age of seventeen to seek his fortune in
Boston. To assume the obligations of Christian
life and to join the Mount Hermon Congregational
Church was to him a speedy pleasure and duty, and
it was his conviction that this meant a life of doing
and not of receiving good. From Boston the boy
went to Chicago, and immediately threw himself
into Christian work. At first it was thought that
he was too ignorant, too ill-trained to teach in the
Sunday-school or take part in prayer meetings; but
he brought in his own ragged scholars, and by the
time he was twenty-three he was running a mission
with sixty teachers and one thousand pupils in the
Sunday-school, and had found it his duty to give
himself wholly to religious work.
Mr. Moody was two men; an evangelist and an
organizer. He was the best known, the most
impressive and simplj'' eloquent of all our evangel-
ists. Millions have flocked to hear him speak. The
month before he died he was listened to by audi-
ences of ten and fifteen thousand. His influence
has been immense in Great Britain and in this
country. Tens, if not hundreds, of thousands have
been converted in his meetings. He was simple,
THE LAST FAREWELL. 229
unaffected, direct, idiomatic, full of story and
equally of epigram, but always in deep earnest.
Those who heard knew that they were listening to
a great earnest soul, one who believed with inten-
sity in what he said, who felt he had the Lord's
commission. He educated a school of evangelists,
men of great ability and great success, but they all
looked up to him as their leader. They were men
of collegiate and theological education ; all he had
learned was from reading his Bible. But such a
Bible as his was! It was margined all over with
the notes of his study and the substance of his
addresses. That was one Dwight L. Moody.
The other Moody was the organizer. He was the
builder of churches and Christian Association halls
and the founder of schools. He had the gift of
finding men of wealth that would support his work,
and a great institution has risen up in Chicago as
the fruit of his labor, while Northfield has become
famous as his birthplace and the seat of the North-
field Seminary for girls and the Mount Hermon
Academy for boys and the Bible Training School for
the instruction of Sunday-school teachers and relig-
ious workers. The work of the evangelist fades from
sight as men die, and the impulses they have gained
pass into the life of other men ; but the institution
lives, and in the generations to come Mr. Moody
will be knov/n as the founder of flourishing Christian
schools that rest upon the Bible, and whose great
purpose is to develop the evangelistic spirit in those
who attend.
We have said that a chief characteristic of Mr.
Moody was his stiotig common sense. As a plain
student of a plain Bible, no scholar in history or
230 THE LAST FAREWELL.
criticism, he was of course a conservative. As a
literalist he was naturally led into Premillena-
rianism, and many of the speakers at his summer
Bible conferences at Northfield were chosen from
those who believed with him. But he would never
allow this to be made a fad. Just so the Keswick
school of believers, with which he sympathized,
could never make him their mouthpiece. He
would give their better men place with gladness,
but he understood what was the breadth of Christian
life and faith, and there was no bitterness in his
soul for those who held a more liberal faith than
he. What he wanted was Christian life, and,
above all. Christian service. The man that would
preach the Gospel and bring souls to Christ was
the man he wanted and in whom he believed. His
heart was too large, his purposes too grand to be
confined in narrower limits than those of the Church
of Christ. For denominations he cared nothing;
for Christianity he would give up his life. Every
one believed in him, no matter of what faith or
unfaith ; all knew that Dwight L. Moody was an
honest, sincere, devoted Christian.
Mr. Moody's great evangelistic successes have not
been during the past ten years. He has had great
meetings, but those who attended were mainly
church members. It would seem as if, for the
present at least, the era of revivals was ^waning.
Perhaps Mr. Moody himself saw this, and gave
himself with the greater zeal to Christian education,
for the better Christianity and the better hope of
the Church is found rather in the education of the
young than in the conversion of the old. It will
be a blessed time for the Church when revivals are
THE LAST FAREWELL. 231
no longer needed, when children are taught and
expected to take upon themselves the obligations
of Christian life, not in the way of a formal con-
firmation at a given age, but with a serious and
settled purpose to be followers of our Lord. This
is what is meant by the developing work of the
Sunday-school and especially of our various Chris-
tian Endeavor societies. When such influences as
they foster in the Church pervade the community
there will be no longer need for the first Mr. Moody,
only for the work of the other Moody, who under-
stood the coming age and the essential importance
of Christian education.
Mr. Moody's life teaches us that, while the Church
needs scholars, what she needs most of all is the
impulse of Christian devotion, that force which
compelled St. Paul, and has compelled a thousand
others in all branches of the Church on whom was
laid the burden of a lost world, and who have said,
"Wo is me if I preach not the Gospel." Mr.
Moody's life was well filled out with work nobly
accomplished, and his death was the fit end of a
life of faith and service. His memory is one of
the treasures of the Christian Church.
CHAPTER XIX.
EULOGY.
In connection with the passing of the world's great
evangelist, Dwight L. Moody, many instances of his
great labors are brought to mind. The kingdom of
heaven receives into its membership many who are
humble in life, of limited faculties, but it also has
a place for men destined to take their places in
the world's history. To this class belonged Mr.
Moody,
Moody was a product of the Christian church.
That he was incidentally a product of the Congre-
gational church is of little moment. It is, however;
a significant fact that he was a product of the
Christian church.
The story is told of a young man who left a
country home to enter a wholesale shoe house in
New York city. Every Sabbath morning he was
seen in the balconj'- of the church, over which Dr.
Kirk was at that time pastor. His head was often
times bowed in sleep when the sermon closed, but
one day he awoke in time to hear the closing words.
"For His sake, Amen." He went away thinking,
and as a result of that thought the world had
Dwight L. Mood}^, whose earthly ministry closed
last Friday. He was a product of the Christian
232
EULOGY. 233
church and the finest example of the possibilities of
consecrated labor.
If "minister" means "a man set apart," if it
means one who has passed through some educa-
tional institution, then Moody was not a minister.
But if you go back to the first use by the church of
the word then you will find that he was a minister.
His services stirred both worlds. Across the
water he shook the church into a new life, and in
this country his work resulted in the redemption of
myriad souls. We are told that as the result of his
consecrated labors we have had the greatest Chris-
tian work this world has ever seen. Compare him
with the greatest pulpit orators, men prominent in
all denominations, and Dwight L. Moody towers a
little above them all.
What was the secret of his power? In the first
place. Moody was a most profoundly educated man.
He was never in a college, never entered the halls
of a divinity school, never even had an academy
education, yet he was an educated man. He had
the power to think upon large themes and he was a
student of the Bible. The man who will study this
book forty years will become an educated man. I
would not under-estimate the learning of schools.
Go to school, go to college just as much as you can,
but let me remind you if you are studying this book
you are getting a university education.
Mr. Moody was a man of splendid poise. An
evangelist necessarily has a tendency toward undue
emotionalism; to attract the public by working
upon their emotions. Moody balanced the emo-
tional side by the educational side, in establishing
the schools at Northfield.
234 EULOGY.
Evangelists are apt to go to extremes, to have
some peculiar hobby, some different doctrine.
Moody was surrounded by a lot of religious cranks,
men who held peculiar views in abnormal propor-
tions. Through it all he never lost his poise.
Another temptation of the evangelist is narrow-
ness. Into his life comes unconsciously this spirit
of narrowness. Yet Dwight L. Moody was as broad
a man as the country held. George Adams Smith,
the great liberal thinker of Scotland, was invited
by Mr. Moody to speak at Northfield. At once a
great hue and cry arose and some of the leading
evangelists of the country went to him and pro-
tested. Moody took time to pray over the matter
and finally decided that Smith should come. Moody's
broadness was based on character.
He was a man who depended utterly on God.
When asked when he was born he answered: "I
was born in the flesh in 1837, but I was born in the
spirit in 1 85 1."
Moody never had that smirk of boundless self
conceit. He once said: "I am thoroughly tired
of the man who is so good he can save himself."
Nobody knows how much money Moody collected,
but he gathered an immense amount. It has been
estimated as high as $10,000,000. He had a chance
to be a wealthy man, yet he died poor. He lived
what he preached. He called upon men to sacri-
fice, to live the life that Jesus lived.
Out in the little white farm house in the Berk-
shire hills, amid all the beauty and grandeur of
nature his life fluttered out and the angels came
and took his soul to the heaven above. That was
EULOGY. 235
the end of Dwight L. Moody. — Rev. R. W. Mc-
Laughlin, Kalamazoo, Mich.
We are accustomed to think of Paul as great,
and so he was. I venture to believe that there are
tens of hundreds all around us that are easily his
equals — men, therefore, that would be just as
mighty in their apostleship if they had the same
measure of God's spirit upon them, had allowed
themselves to be made as divine as he— men who
would be able to give an equal impulse to the pro-
gress of Christian civilization. *
The world has lost very much such a man in the
person of Mr. Moody. We hear a good deal said at
present about his exceptional tact, and about his
phenomenal good sense and other striking features
that are supposed to have been part of his original
endowment. As for his native abilities, the story,
I believe, still remains uncontradicted that when he
first applied for church membership it was proposed
to receive him on probation simply, as he appeared
insufficiently intelligent to appreciate the meaning
of the step he was taking. — Rev. Dr. Charles H.
Parkhurst, New York.
The death of Mr. Moody attracts the attention of
the Christian world. Though not an old man, his
vast influence for good had continued for half a
century, reaching into every English-speaking
country.
To have seen and heard a really great man for a
single time is a permanent gain to every young
person; and such opportunity should be sought at
the cost of trouble and expense if need be.
It was my good fortune to have been somewhat
14
236 EULOGY.
familiar with Mr. Moody's work during his earlier
years. Most young and middle-aged people now
think of Mr. Moody as an evangelist only, as that
work has, during the past twenty-five or thirty years,
largely overshadowed his earlier efforts. His prior
activities that attracted attention were in the Sun-
day-schools and Young Men's Christian Associa-
tions. Little is now said of these, but I am not
sure that they were not more far-reaching in results
than even his noted evangelistic work in later years.
They set in motion a new set of workers and new
methods, the results from which are now difficult to
fully appreciate. When Mr. Moody first went to
Chicago, Sunday-schools were largely composed of
children of church-going people, conducted in a
formal manner not especially inviting to children.
There had not been much of the "going out into the
byways and hedges and compelling the wayward to
come in, "done at that time. His great Sunday-
school, gathered almost exclusively from the worst
city element, including young and old, attracted
attention the country over. Then followed great
gatherings of children from the churchless classes,
like that at Akron, Ohio, built up by the late great
manufacturer, Lewis Miller, so long the president
of the Chautauqua Assembly, and in Philadelphia
by John Wanamaker, the noted merchant and recent
Postmaster-General, and others of national renown,
manned by the best lay talent from every calling.
The evangelical modern mission Sunday-schools, if
not commencing with, was given a wonderful for-
warding impetus by Mr. Moody's early work. For
years he was the leading and inspiring spirit in the
great Sunday-school assemblages of the land.
EULOGY. 237
His vivifying influence on the few Y. M. C. A.
Associations then struggling along under the preju-
dices of conservative churches and many good men,
was even more marked. His desire to help young
men living sinful lives seemed unbounded. He had
been there himself. I have often heard him give his
experiences before conversion, speaking of himself
as a "miserable wharf rat on the docks of Bos-
ton. ' ' He seemed confident that every young man in
like condition could be reached and reclaimed if
Christians cared to make the effort. He developed
a wonderful faculty of doing this himself and inspir-
ing others to attempt it. He found the Y. M. C. A.
the most efficient means for accomplishing the de-
sired object. Under his influence the organization
in Chicago became a great power. He had a faculty
of getting moneyed persons interested in his projects.
Such men as Marshall Field supported his work lib-
erally, not only with their money, but by their influ-
ence as prominent business men. His efficiency in
organizing these associations was soon recognized,
and he was in demand all over the country. He
was the life and directing power in all their greet
meetings. As representative of one of the more
active associations in Ohio, I had opportunity to
note his seemingly unconscious leadership during
several years, in both state and national conven-
tions, which aroused great admiration for the man.
When I first commenced hearing him, he was but
an indifferent speaker, so far as ordinary eloquence
goes; but his earnestness was so transparently
genuine that he was always listened to by all classes
with great interest. The entire absence of any
semblance to cant, his good sense and evident hon-
238 EULOGY.
esty of purpose were conspicuous in all his addresses.
His tact in managing difficult or delicate business
never failed him. I remember what promised to be
a most painful incident at an international conven-
tion being held in Portland, Me. It was at a morning
business session, but the great hall was crowded.
Delegates were present from nearly ever state, and
several from England and Canada. Discussing
some matters that brought opinions sharply differ-
ing, unguarded, harsh words from some of the hot-
headed delegates threatened a disgraceful scene.
Mr. Moody quickly and without occasioning any
dissent, secured immediate adjournment, and called
a prayer meeting for delegates only in a smaller
room. It was soon filled, and the meeting opened,
as I now remember it, with one of the most impress-
ive prayers I have ever heard. Men who a few
moments before faced each other with sullen looks
and angry words followed in the service, and at the
next session, the unfortunate business was disposed
of in the best of feeling.
His eloquence and power as a speaker improved
rapidly, and the desire to hear him was remarkable.
At the state and national meetings of the Y. M. C.
A. whenever he was announced for an address,
however large the hall, provision was always made
for one or two overflow meetings. It mattered not
how distinguished speakers were provided, for these
supplemental audiences, they always insisted on re-
maining till Mr. Moody appeared and spoke to them,
after the principal meeting adjourned.
He spoke without notes, and v/ith such readiness
and ease that the common notion was that he neither
made nor needed any special preparation. I had
EULOGY. 239
occasion to know that at least at that time this was
a mistake. Whatever the character of the audience
he expected to meet, he made the most careful and
laborious preparation time would allow.
Personally, he was a plain, cheerful, easily
approached, kindly-hearted man. Though commen-
cing without position or special training, he did well
an important part of the world's most important
work of the last half of the nineteenth century. ^-
J. H. Reed, Riverside, Cal.
A great man has fallen — not a great scholar or
thinker; not a great writer or theologian — but still
a great man. Mr. Moody was great in his influence
over men ; great in the work he accomplished ; great
in that power which lives and shapes other lives
which come after. He has made his mark upon the
nineteenth century as but few men have done. His
influence in all directions has been healthy, pure
and always on the right side. The effect of his
preaching upon preachers has been inspiring and
helpful There were those who criticised him, but
when his critics heard his glowing words, so full of
the divine love, they could but acknowledge his
sincerity and also his power. There are some les-
sons which the Christian churches should learn
from the life work of Mr. Moody.
He has shown what a layman without great learn-
ing can do to advance Christianity. Mr. Moody
had great administrative ability. He might have
become a C. P. Huntington or a John Wanamaker
in the business world. He chose to use his ability
in doing God's work directly. In work for young
men, in founding schools where those without money
240 EULOGY.
could secure an education, and in training workers
for Christian service he has accomplished much.
He has made the fact plain that the gospel of
Christ, preached simply^ and earnestly, will com-
mand a hearing and will transform the lives of those
who accept it. He did not defend Christianity; he
preached it. He did not prop up the cross of Christ
lest it should fall ; he pointed men to it and to Him
who died upon it. With absolute faith in the teach-
ings of the Bible, it was his mission to present a
living Savior to dying men. He believed that in
preaching there should be less art and more heart.
Mr. Moody was a man of tender heart and of great
faith in God, and these gave him great power w^th
men.
"Sen'ant of God, well done.
Rest from thy loved employ;
The battle fought, the victory wonj
Enter thy Master's joy."
— Rev. E. A. Woods, First Baptist Church, San
Francisco, Cal.
Wh^n death comes, as a rule, it is like an arrow
pass Ag through the air, which soon closes upon it,
and all is tranquil again. But when such a great
life and ornament of the church as the late Mr.
Moody was, is quenched, such an event somewhat
resembles the apocalyptic vial poured into that
element named and which changed its temperature
and produced fearful commotions.
Well do I remember how his visits to England
were looked for by the churches with prayerful ex-
pectancy, and how his ministrations there stirred
up the religious life of the whole country'', and re-
sulted in a glorious spiritual harvest. I shall never
forget the pleasure it gave me while living in South
Africa, when I read the reports of the wonderful
EULOGY. 241
work which the Lord was doing through His honored
ser%*ant in this country. Often was my soul
refreshed in the midst of the depressing influences
of an x\frican life, when I read some of his sweet
evangelical utterances. He was a great personality,
and a mighty religious force. His labors created
an epoch in church life. There was but one Mr.
Moody, though there are hosts of feeble imitators;
as in England there was but one Mr. Spurgeon,
though there were many who aped him.
No one can estimate the amount of good that was
accomplished by that one man, whose death is sin-
cerely mourned by English-speaking people to-day,
throughout the world. He was no fiery recluse
trying to preach the people into a new crusade ;
but like a mild and earnest seer, while he moved
about among the people, he bore about with him a
reverent consciousness that he dealt with the
majesty of man, and by the magnetic force of spir-
itual life, drew around him all grades and condi-
tions of human life, which he directed with mar-
velous power and clearness of thought and simplicity
of language, to the only refuge for guilty men.
Thank God for the life and labors of Mr. Moody.
— Rev. James Hughes. Scranton, Pa.
I was converted through Mr. Moody's preaching,
fourteen years ago, at Chicago. He was preaching
at the Chicago Avenue Church, known as "Mood^-'s
church." I was an infidel prior to hearing Mr.
Moody, and used to swear by Bob Ingersoll, who
was my patron saint. I dropped in on Mr. Moody
one evening, just out of curiosity, knowing that he
was preaching at this church. It was the first time
^-
242 EULOGY.
I had heard him, and I was impressed from the
start. I went there to study the speaker and the
philosophy of what he said, as I always did when I
heard an evangelist. That night he preached the
first sermon on "The Love of God" that I had ever
heard — and I was forty- four years old. The thing
that took hold of me was the man's intense earnest-
ness. His subject was "The Prodigal Son." He
dwelt on the wonderful love of a father, and I got
hungry to learn of that kind of love, and as a result
of what I heard that night, I went away and was
converted a few days afterward.
At that time I was living at Liberty, in this State,
owned a fine farm and had everything on it that
comfort required. I immediately sold my farm —
threw it away, in fact — did not stop to get a bargain
out of it, and went to preaching.
I got out a new book, about a month ago, on the
Lord's Prayer, which I have dedicated to Mr.
Moody. — Mr. Brown, Editor Ram's Horn.
What are the secrets of Mr. Moody's power and
success? I answer: First, an overwhelming passion
to serve Jesus Christ and redeem human souls.
Second his teachableness. While a preacher and
teacher, he was always in the attitude of a learner.
Third, modesty and humility. He shrank from being
the subject of flattery or even commendation. Once
he said: "Strike me rather than praise me."
Fourth, practical common sense. He always fished
in the pools where the fish were. His greatest
power consisted in his ability successfully to set
others at work. His commendation of a worker,
"She sees things to do," applied emphatically to
Cop7right, 1900, by Robt. O. Law.
THE EMPTY CHAIR.
Mr. Moody always occupied this Chair in the pulpit at' the Chicago Avenue Church
when preaching theie.
EULOGY. 245
Mr. Moody. Fifth, his entire consecration. The
story of his great yearning and waiting for months
for the power of the Holy Ghost was one of the most
fascinating of the confidential communications which
he made in the Northfield gathering of Christian
workers. He had power with God, and so had
power with mankind beyond any other Christian
leader of his time.
His death-bed scene was a touching and fitting
close of his noble life. Knowing he was about to
depart he gave tender and thoughtful counsel to his
wife and children with reference to the continuance
and development of the departments of Christian
work which he had begun. As he grew weaker,
and his vital forces ebbed, he suddenly exclaimed
joyously: "I see earth receding ; heaven is opening;
God is calling me!" And this vigorous, aggressive,
successful herald of Christianity was gone from
earth to heaven. Shall we not yearn more than
ever before, to so live that we, too, may see the
earth receding, heaven opening, and hear God call-
ing us to greater service and reward? — Rev. Dr.
Howard H. Russell, M. E. Church, Delaware, O.
While Henry Ward Beecher preached for many
years to the largest congregation in America (about
5,000), and Charles Haddon Spurgeon addressed the
largest in Great Britain (about 6,000), yet Dwight
Lyman Moody has spoken to a much larger number
of people in his wandering evangelistic work than
either of the other distinguished divines, and per-
haps to a larger number of persons than any other
speaker of this or any other generation.
His scholarship and oratorical ability have been
246 EULOGY.
questioned, but there can be no doubt that he pos-
sessed a wonderful and magical power. At his last
appearance in Los Angeles the capacity of Haz-
■7.ard's pavilion was not only tested to the utmost,
Dut the doors had to be closed against the throng
that could not be accommodated. It has been so
everywhere. The very last sermon he preached
was listened to by 15,000 people in Kansas City.
But, while Mr. Moody was not a polished orator,
he possessed a faculty for condensing the substance
of doctrines into pointed paragraphs and striking
apothegms, and was decidedly fertile in apt and
homely illustrations drawn from the common occur-
rences of life. He had an inexhaustible fund of an-
ecdote and personal experience which, being related
with detailed particularity, seemed very real, but so
far as their verity was concerned, they often partook
more of the nature of parable than fact. But the
great Master has set the precedent, and doubtless
Mr. Moody felt justified in embellishing the facts
when he could thus make more effective use of his
material.
Mr. Moody held a series of meetings in Boston
two years ago. Great audiences filled Tremont
Temple throughout his stay. His methods, intellect-
ual, spectacular, and musical, were studied to ascer-
tain the secret of his drawing power. Both secular
and religious press analyzed and criticised his work.
While the pews were crowded, cultured Boston lis-
tened coldly if not cynically. While the people
appreciated his wit, eloquence, and home thrusts,
they were unemotional, and at last the preacher be-
came exasperated, and indulged in some vigorous
remarks that seemed to have a local flavor, and did
EULOGY. 247
have the effect of arousing their slow susceptibil-
ities.
After enlarging upon the sins of church members,
Mr. Moody asked: "Why are your prayer-meet-
ings so dead that you can hardly breathe in them?
It is because of those things, my friends. If there
is a man or woman here who has his property rented
for anything disreputable, you have got to get out
of it, or the curse of God will fall upon you. When
you do a thing of that kind you are sure to have
trouble in 5^our families — your son or your daughter
going wrong." At this point, the reporters state,
there were such obvious signs of dissent or dislike
in the audience that Mr. Moody was forced to notice
them. "I dare say," he said, "that this kind of a
talk throws a coldness over the meeting, but you
have got to have a little coldness before you get
warmed up. What we want is the revival of right-
eousness or nothing."
Proceeding, he said: "There is a class of church
members who labor under the delusion that if they
are worldly Christians they are going to make the
most of both worlds. That is a terrible delusion."
The following passage is almost Emersonian:
"Let us have done looking at obstacles; is there
anything too hard for God? Think of this world.
Think of the great mountains, its rivers, its inhab-
itants. Yet it is only a little ball thrown from the
hand of Jehovah!"
Speaking of respectable people, and he looked
straight into the faces of the well-dressed men and
women in front of him, he exclaimed: "I suppose
if you had gone to Sodom a week before its destruc-
tion, they would have told you that Lot was one of
248 EULOGY.
the most influential men in the city — perhaps had
the best turnout, and owned some of the best corner
lots. A good many men, no doubt, thought that
Lot was long-headed. You hear a man called long-
headed and the best business man in Boston — and
his family is going to ruin. He is long-headed, isn't
he? The Lord pity him. "
The Boston Transcript, reviewing the work of the
evangelist, commented as follows: "The truth is,
Mr. Moody is an intensely practical man. He
preaches against sin — not as an abstract thing, but
as something concrete, here, on the spot. He treats
Christianity, not as a collection of beautiful aphor-
isms, but as affording a standard and a rule of every-
day life. Therefore, it is that Tremont Temple
hears him coldly."
Though Mr. Moody did not of late years dwell
upon the pangs and anguish of the lost, as was his
wont in the earlier period of his work, when he was
known as a revivalist rather than as an evangelist,
yet to the very last he was sturdily orthodox. A
few months ago he was in Denver, and preached as
usual to crowded houses. Vehemently defending
the church dogmas, he said: "Take atonement:
I'd leave my Bible right here — wouldn't take it
home with me if I didn't know it was full of atone-
ment. Take justification: Martin Luther found
iustification in the Bible, and he roused the world.
Take the prophecies and follow them out. There
are two hundred prophecies in the Bible, every one
of which has been fulfilled or is in the state of be-
ing fulfilled now. There has never been anything
done in this world that hasn't been prophesied in
the Bible."
EULOGY. 249
"Christ will take the burden of your care and sor-
row as well as of your sin. Christ can bear them
all. A good many people think he takes sin alone.
Did you ever think how many volumes it would take
to hold the account of the sorrows of the people
here? A horse could not haul the record away.
Every heart here has a sorrow, and many a man
could get up and tell you a story to make you cry.
"The fact is God made our hearts too big for this
world, and you can roll the whole earth into them
and yet they are empty. This world is too small to
satisfy our hearts. "
"One day a young lawyer sought the kingdom of
God and found it, and when he went home that
night, he said: 'Wife, I'm going to serve the God
of heaven. I'm going to confess Jesus Christ, and I
want to have a family altar, so to-night we'll gather
all the children and the servants into the dining-
room and we'll have prayers there.' And the wife
said: 'Well, that's all right, John, but you are not
used to praying, and you know we are going to have
some lawyers to tea to-night, and you might make
a mistake before them. Hadn't you better wait
and have a little service in the kitchen after the
company's gone?"
" 'No, wife,' said the young man, 'this is the first
time I've asked Christ into my house, and I guess
I'll take Him into the best room.'
"And he did it. He got out his Bible and he read
it, and he got down on his knees and prayed like a
man, and I tell you that man was a hero."
Mr. Moody had a wonderful faculty for getting
money, whether it was a simple collection to meet
current expenses, or some large subscriptions to
250 EULOGY.
carry on the work of his schools at Northfield and
Chicago. In the early part of 1898 he sent notice
that his schools needed money, and before his per-
sonal appeals were all distributed, he received a do-
nation of $100,000 from a single person whose name
was withheld. In an address delivered in one of
the educational halls, he alluded to a neighboring
hill as "Temptation Point." When, after the ad-
dress, he was asked why he called the hill by that
name, "Oh, " he replied, "I thought some one might
be tempted to erect a chapel for us on that point."
The hint was taken, and the chapel was built.
It is a fact, however, and cannot be denied, that
Mr. Moody sometimes showed a partiality for cap-
italists— when they responded liberally to his de-
mands for funds. A large donation seemed to offset
a multitude of imperfections in a donor's life and
character. And having come into personal contact
with some of the great millionaires, and having
been treated with genial courtesy by them, he not
only hesitated to criticise their questionable busi-
ness methods, but has been known to go out of his
way to apologize for them and their unsavory trans-
actions. Yet this statement is not made to detract
ungenerously from the fame of the great preacher.
It simply shows that he, like all the rest of us, had
a great deal of human nature.
Mr. Moody was president of "The Bible Institute
for Home and Foreign Missions of the Chicago
Evangelization Society." From that headquarters
he wrote the following characterstic fund-soliciting
letter to a friend in California. This letter is in the
possession of the writer, and is dated September 15,
1893, the year of the Chicago World's Fair:
EULOGY. 251
"For several months I have been in Chicago con-
ducting a World's Fair evangelistic campaign. The
work has had God's richest blessing and has gone
far beyond my expectation.
"Some of the most prominent ministers, evangel-
ists and workers in the world are assisting me in
this work. During the time remaining in Septem-
ber and October, I desire to push the battle to the
gates. I want to make a personal appeal to your
young people to assist me.
"The cost of hiring halls, theatres, advertising,
etc., is very large, and, on account of the hard
times, it is difficult to get money from the ordinary
sources. Will you please see what the young peo-
ple in your organization can do by personal collec-
tion, or personal subscriptions, and send to us as
soon as possible?
"The need is great and the opportunity one of a
lifetime — to spread the gospel to the corners of the
earth. ' '
We may be sure this appeal was not in vain. As
a matter of fact, this and like appeals sent to other
localities were responded to with surprising liberal-
ity.
Mr. Moody was fond of a joke, but did not always
get the best of his victim. He started out in life as
a drummer, and during Lincoln's administration
was traveling through southern Illinois, when, as
the train drew up to a station, he spoke to a man
passing the car window, and asked if he knew that
Lincoln was on the train. The man showed great
interest and said: "No; is he?" "I think not,
answered Moody, "I only asked if you knew that he
was." The man said nothing, but presently rcr
252 EULOGY.
turned and remarked that the little town had been
experiencing considerable excitement. "What's
the matter?" asked Mr. Moody. "The authorities
wouldn't let some folks bury a woman," was the
reply. "What was the reason for refusing?" Moody
asked. "She wasn't dead," was the laconic reply.
Talking to his class of girls one day against the
practice of card-playing, theater-going and dancing,
one young lady asked if he could not modify his
statements and permit dancing among family
friends, as the exercise tended to add grace to one's
figure. Mr. Moody replied: "My dear girl, I
would a thousand times rather have 5''ou get more
grace in your heart and less in your heels."
Moody recognized the power of the press. He
once remarked: "I believe that the press and the
pulpit are the two great agencies to purify the
world." But he had no exalted opinion of certain
metropolitan papers of which he once remarked:
"I don't believe that the newspapers of Sodom and
Gomorrah (if they had any) were guilty of worse
things in their worst days. If a minister bored a
hole in a man's head who had been reading that
stuff, he could not inject a serious thought of eternal
things."
Undoubtedly much of the phenomenal success
attending the evangelistic efforts of Mr. Moody was
due to the association with him of the hymn-singing
Ira D. Sankey. The newspapers heralded the com-
ing, not of Mr. Moody, the preacher, but of Moody
and Sankey, the evangelists, and Mr. Sankey's part
in the service was an important part of the program.
Indeed, the music, both solo and congregational,
was to many persons the most attractive feature of
EULOGY. 253
the Moody and Sankey meetings. When one's
emotions are stirred by grand old hymns, sung with
unction by an immense audience, sweet and cher-
ished memories of earlier years throng the mind,
which are calculated to awaken whatever is solemn
and reverent in one's nature. The average person
is then peculiarly receptive to religious influences.
— Wm. H. Knight, in Los Angeles Herald.
These post-graduates of theological knowledge
were suspicious and jealous of this man, Christ,
who, without the commonly accepted mental cul-
ture, sprang among them and at once showed them
that He was their Master. But he had not been
trained in the orthodox fashion. He had not been
through the regularly prescribed curriculum. He
had no collegiate diploma. And to this day men
are shy of anyone who dashes into any line of work
and shows himself a master, unless he has received
that training that the world contends a man must
have to gain success.
The world was shy of Moody at first, and the the-
ologians especially, but he deservedly stood in the
first rank of Christ's descendants, and the world has
long since so greeted him.
In all kinds of people there are common, generic
attributes that produce a democratic level, and on
this level we find believers and unbelievers. All of
both classes agree as to Moody's greatness and use-
fulness. Collegians, educators, politicians, the com-
mon people, join unanimously in proclaiming him
great. What made him great, pre-eminent among
his fellows?
God gave Moody the necessary physical virility
254 EULOGY.
and build for greatness. He was given wonderful
mental clearness, large "rationality," another name
for common sense. Those so endowed often go off
at a tangent, into some vagary, and become and are
properly termed cranks. Not so with Moody. No
particular school or church could claim him, yet all
claimed him. All said he was orthodox.
He had marvelous sagacity and tact. He read
men quickly and accurately. He was a blunt man ;
had no time to exchange compliments. His will
power was supreme. Like St. Paul, he was a divine
egotist. Christ's will was behind him.
His moral qualities were always noted for their
sincerity and genuineness. He was a teacher and
liver of righteousness. He was a learned man,
not of the cloistered class. His school was real life,
and from this he secured the deepest form of edu-
cation. Books were not his source of learning. A
great man precedes the great book, for without
the great man there can be no great book.
One book, however, he knew to the highest de-
gree of perfection — the Bible. All his technical
knowledge was drawn from this. It was his stock
in trade. This book, with human life, as it prac-
tically exists, he knew from lid to lid. He had a
Shakespearean power of knowing and telling of
men.
Spiritually, Moody possessed a superlative faith —
glad, free, spontaneous. He was never haunted by
any questionings as to the inspiration of the Bible.
Christ's divinity, the reality of the cross or the fu-
ture meeting of his Master. His was a conquering
faith. His heart was purity itself, and consecrated
beyond man's knowledge.
EULOGY. 255
Moody with Sankey was the force that drove back
the tide of agnosticism which some years ago seemed
to be about to overwhelm England. He was another
Wesley, Wakefield, Luther. And all this great
power was because Christ lived in Moody. His
belief in Christ was not a mere intellectual, casual
belief. He really lived in Christ and Christ in him.
Moody belonged to Christ. He was captured, mas-
tered by Him and was his bond slave. He was
eaten up with ambition, surpassing that of Alex-
ander, but Moody's ambition was the saving of souls
for Christ.
Moody has gone to the unseen, but let us rejoice
for his life and that now he is at rest, a victor of
victors in life's battle. Be not discouraged; the
mold for great men is never broken, and God will
raise up another such leader who will win still
greater victories for the cause of righteousness. —
Rev. J. Kinsey Smith, Louisville, Ky.
So pre-eminently Christ-like was this great worker
for the Lord and his fellow-men, that out of many
times that I have heard him speak I could not dis-
cover a trace of sectarianism. He was first of all
a Christian, then a Methodist. He was essentially
a religious teacher, and not a theological exponent,
and measured by the Christ standard, 'By their
fruits ye shall know them,' he did a work great and
marvelous. The life of Moody was not consecrated
to the attacking of the beliefs of others or the
defending of his own personal theology, but the
inspiring of men and women with the hope of a
sweeter and better life here and hereafter.
He seemed to have a power to encourage the
256 EULOGY.
despairing- and to inspire the hopeless ones. He
seemed to be a living reservoir of faith, hope and
inspiration, which he could impart to those about
him. For who can doubt that the soul filled with
hope can impart hope to others, or that the brave-
hearted can inspire the weak or down-hearted ones?
The burden of this great man's preaching was to
make men and women good, pure and Christ-like.
To show them the loving plan of God in human life
and destiny, which they all had the power to defeat
or realize by their own lives and actions,, the key
note of his preaching was so often sounded in that
favorite text, ' ' Be not deceived. God is not mocked,
for whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap."
Mr. Moody never tried to frighten men into the
kingdom of God but he rather plead with them and
persuaded them, holding before them a vision of
the loVe of God in the parable of the prodigal son,
and the tenderness of Christ towards the Magdalen,
and His sympathy for the weak and sinful. He
preached powerfully to men's hearts and consciences,
but seldom to their fears and never to their super-
stitions. To him, there was no mystery in religion
save the mystery there is in the transformation of a
hard, selfish, sinful soul into a soul gentle, sweet,
unselfish and Christ-like. He had a great convic-
tion that his Bible and his Christ could transform
and save the world, and this glowing conviction
especially displayed itself when he went to Henry
Ward Beecher and earnestly pleaded with him to
join with him in evangelistic work. "Other men,"
said he, "can carry on a pastorate; leave your pulpit
and join with me ; together we will sweep the coun-
try for Christ." We can not now estimate what
EULOGY. 257
would have been accomplished had these two great
apostles of the religion of faith, hope and love joined
together, at that time, in such a powerful itiner-
ancy.
The religious soul feels the loss of this great soul
and vast religious power, for we never listened to
his voice without feeling that the Spirit of God was
back of it ! The Christ life of the man beamed in
his eyes and throbbed in his pleading voice. He
did not pretend to be a scholar in the higher sense
of the word. He was a man of the people and the
fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man was
the cornerstone of his convictions. He once declared
that "that the man who talks from a deep thought
basis may get the twentieth man, but I am after the
other nineteenth men."
Perhaps the greatest evangelistic work that was
ever done in the world's history was when Ira
Sankey sang and Mr. Moody preached all over Eng-
land, Scotland and this country. Thousands of
people were often led to determine upon a better life
in a single city. Many a poor, burdened soul —
downcast and discouraged — heard his ringing words,
"Be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee," felt
the power of the Holy Spirit and went away happy
and hopeful. The power of such a life no pen can
ever describe nor imagination put into language.
Though dead, he still lives, not only in the more
Christ-like thought he has scattered broadcast and
the thousands of lives he has started heavenward,
but in the great schools he founded for boys and
girls at Northfield, Mass. Prof. Drummond once
wrote that "Scotland would not be to-day what it is
had it missed the year of Moody and Sankey !" Such
258 EULOGY.
a great soul has left this life to be hailed, and wel-
comed into God's spiritual kingdom. — Rev. Von
Herrlichs, Kansas City, Mo.
I have nothing but good to say of Mr. Moody. Of
late years he was growing rapidly in the right
direction. The tolerance which he recently evinced
towards the higher criticism and his friendship for
men like Prof. Henry Drummond and George Adam
Smith, showed him to be a man of broader sympa-
thies than one would suspect from his earlier rec-
ord. His devotion to education and his recognition
of its necessity were clear indications of a growth in
the man himself. It would be rash in any man to
suspect Mr. Moody's entire sincerity, and as an
expounder of the spiritual sense of the Scriptures he
had few, if any, equals. As an evangelist, he had
no equal whatever. Mr. Moody had the almost
unerring instinct of a great commander of men. I
sat one night during Mr. Moody's hippodrome cam-
paign in New York in the audience at the after-
meeting. After a time I observed him beckoning
in my direction and I looked about to see whom he
had in mind. I concluded after a moment that he
was beckoning to me, so I stepped up to him and
found that he desired that I should speak to a cer-
tain flaxen-haired German-looking man in another
part of the audience. I did as he requested, and it
appeared that it was a wise bringing together of
two men, for the man seemed to me to want to hear
precisely what I had to say. There could have
been no explanation of the choice of me for that
service, except a wise intuition on the part of the
great preacher from the sight of the two faces before
EULOGY. 259
him, that I was the man for that particular part of
the service. I have heard of many instances of this
display of Mr. Moody's clear intuition and his ability
to adapt particular means to specific ends. His
judgment was nearly without fault in such cases.
While Mr. Moody was of a theological school to
which I do not belong, and while I often felt com-
pelled to criticise some of his methods, I have always
had the profoundest respect for him as an honest,
earnest and remarkably efficient preacher of the
gospel of Christ. He was a great organizer and
would have made as equally a great field general as
a leader of the forces of the church. — Rev. Judson
Titsworth, Milwaukee, Wis.
CHAPTER XX.
EDITORIAL COMMENT.
A notable life has ended with the departure of
Dwight L. Moody to the other world. Few men,
no matter what their opportunities or resources,
have been able to do anything like a fair proportion
of the good for their fellow creatures that has been
wrought during the past twenty-five years or over
by the dead evangelist. His life was an inspiration
to those who knew him to do good for their fellows.
His religion was broad enough to embrace human-
ity. His daily exertions were ever in the direction
of promoting the happiness of his fellow-man, both
here and hereafter.
The keynote to the success of this wonderful man
is found in the last words spoken by him. They
were : "I have always been an ambitious man ; not
to lay up wealth, but to find work to do." If that
were generally the animating principle of men's
conduct, the world would be a much happier place
than it is. The character of the work which Mr.
Moody was ambitious to do furnishes the secret of
his wondrous control of men. Those who met him
knew by instinct that his work was done with a single
thought of their good. He gave freely of his won-
drous powers, and when death presented to him a
notice that the end was not far off he treated the
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EDITORIAL COMMENT. 263
warning with a smile and a langh. It was nothing
he said. He would be all right in a little while,
and he would go on with his work. It was his work
which concerned him, and he refused to see or count
on anything that might take him away from it.
The religion of this man was happiness. He was
a living demonstration of the truth that he who lives
rightly, for others rather than for himself, is most
certain of happiness. He stirred men's souls deeply,
because he approached them through all the best
promptings of their nature. To get them to lead
good lives, rather than to be faithful in the profes-
sion of their religion ; to bring them to the doing of
good for others as well as for themselves, represented
the end and aim of his labors. His wondrous suc-
cess attests at once the innate disposition of ordinary
men and women to fulfill their duty toward God
and their neighbors and the splendid powers, splen-
didly utilized, with which he was endowed.
The world needs a good deal more of the religion
of the deceased gentleman than is expounded to it.
He cared very little for religious precept. He held
a good story above a Scripture text in its capacity
for appealing to the understanding and conscience
of those with whom he had to deal. The outward
symbols of religion had but little thought from him.
He taught that happiness came more from well-
doing than from well-being or from the strict
observance of religious precept. Religion embraced
with him happiness here and hereafter. Few such
men appear in a generation ; but they leave behind
them effects and influences v>'hich advanced mater-
ially the ends of the Christian religion. — St. Paul
Globe.
15
264 EDITORIAL COMMENT.
One of the hard features of a soldier's life is the
fact that his heart must be like adamant toward
foes, no matter how innocent, and even sometimes
toward his friends. He rushes like a bloodthirsty-
field upon men against whom he has not the slight-
est feeling of personal animosity, and for whom
tmder other circumstances, he would gladly do any-
kindly service in his power. He must leave a
brother to bleed to death, or perhaps must charge
over him, trampling out his life. He must relent-
lessly shoot down the comrade of a score of battles
because he fails in the pinch or proves false in a
crisis. Call it cruel and wicked if you will, yet it is
the way that our great world has gone struggling
upward for 6,000 years and more; and we to-day
enjoy so much as we have of the protection of just
laws, keep our holiday festivities in safety and wor-
ship God as our conscience bids us in peace, because
men have done these things in the years of the
past.
The "knight of the better era" — the man who
fights with the pen rather than with the sword, and
sends words and ideas instead of bullets and cannon
ball crashing against his fellow-men, has often a lot
no less hard than that of the soldier of the sword.
Often must he speak words that seem harsh and ter-
rible because he must be "as harsh as truth."
Often must his face be like a flint toward those
whom he would gladly recognize as friends because
he must be "as uncompromising as justice."
Kind, tender-hearted people are wounded as he
goes charging by or over them and never perhaps
recognize him in any other light than that in which
EDITORIAL COMMENT. 265
he momentarily appears to their lacerated sensibil-
ities.
Dwight L. Moody, the great American evangelist,
died on Friday last. We have criticised him in
these columns — sometimes with a terrible severity.
We are filled with regret to-day, not that we crit-
icised him, but that it was necessary to do so, and
we regret it now not a whit more than when we
wrote the most severe of the sentences. He was a
great man, and, measured by ordinary or even by
extraordinary standards, he was a good man. Along
certain lines of service for his fellow-men, he wrought
magnificently. But when a great door of opportu-
nity for a service broader and more beneficent than
any that he had ever rendered, opened before him,
he failed of the stature of manhood necessary to
enter. Many great duties came to his life and he
performed them bravely. But when a supreme
duty appeared, when it was within his power to
have spoken the word that would have meant a
mighty moral uplift for the national life of the
whole American people ; when, as we believe, the
call came to him to lead forward for the civic regen-
eration of the race, he flinched, lacked courage, and
turned his back upon the duty.
We called attention to the fault, and, so long as
there was hope that a severe remedy might bring a
cure, we spoke with the fierceness and ruthlessness
demanded by the exigency. Now that the life with
all its successes and, what seems to us its one great
failure, is closed, we record the facts only that wis-
dom may be justified, and we have not in our hearts
nor on our pen an unkind word concerning him.
Let the man who never failed, let the man in whose
266 EDITORIAL COMMENT.
life there never was a fault, undertake the task of
criticism. Until such a critic is found we are silent.
Mr. Moody, as we believe, paid a terrible penalty
for his mistake. A trumpet that has never sounded
anything but advance will never sound just the same
again after it has once blown retreat, and from the
hour that Mr. Moody failed to grasp the opportunity
that would have made him the greatest Christian
citizen of the world, and, instead of leading forward
the good men of the nation, became content to fol-
low the bad almost as blindly as their worst follow-
ers— from that hour his power dwindled, until in
these latter days he has gone up and down the
country great only as a reminiscence. Mr. Moody's
meetings of late have not lacked numbers, have not
lacked a certain sort of enthusiasm, but they have
lacked POWER; and the loss of that power that he
used to wield was a penalty awful to contemplate.
But he died with beautiful words upon his lips.
"I have always been an ambitious man," the papers
tell us he said, "not ambitious to lay up wealth,
but to find work to do. ' '
It was a great thing to have had such an impulse
in life, a great thing even if it was not always fully
followed. It was grand to march through the world
to that tune, even if he sometimes did break step.
Our faces have been stern against him. He failed
us when the need was sore. But in the marchings
of the future and around the bivouacs of nights to
come, we will think of him kindly and speak of him
gently. And some day mayhap when we have all
been put upon with "the powers of an endless life,"
we shall serve again shoulder to shoulder. — New
Voice, Chicago.
EDITORIAL COMMENT. 267
Dwight L. Moody, who passed from life yester-
day, was a remarkable person and a man of many
friends. Much of his life was so intensely public in
its character, and so devoted to the public's good,
that a more than passing notice is required as he
moves from the stage of life's activities to the
shades of a perpetual rest.
It is difficult to criticise Mr. Moody with justness,
when one is not in entire sympathy with the
methods he employed, with some of the teachings
he encouraged and the customs he inaugurated.
The first thing, however, to do is to give Mr. Moody
credit for sincerity, for generosity, for conscientious
devotion to what he believed. No one doubts his
Christianity ; no one would intimate that he failed of
doing a vast amount of good in the past quarter of
a century and in many parts of the world.
Mr. Moody is understood to have been a man who
could not, and who would not, work save as an
independent. The recognized avenues of church
effort, the instituted agencies already at hand,
meant little to him, save as he could make use of
them for the introduction of what was striking and
novel in his own plan of work. He was a great
preacher because he preached to the masses. He
cut loose from tradition, from established usages,
and as a result these have in a measure been less
available than formerly. He preached a simple,
easily understood gospel. He made the Christ to
seem real, and Christianity to appeal as something
to be not only desired, but essential, absolutely
necessary; and thousands were led through the
personality of the man and the earnestness of his
appeals to reform their lives.
268 EDITORIAL COMMENT.
No doubt many who started under the impulses
born of his dominating potential personality fell out
by the way when that influence had passed; but
that has been demonstrated in every reformatory
work since the ancient times when first "A sower
went forth to sow. ' '
Mr. Moody's work paved the way, in no small
measure, and we believe in this country much more
so than in Great Britain, where he also labored, for
the onward sweep of the Christian Endeavor
Society's movement, and for the introduction of that
era of a better feeling of toleranjce between churches
of different denominations that has grown and de-
veloped more freely during the past twenty years
than ever before.
The theologian who delights in theology, the
schoolman who has always a use for the graces
taught in the schools, the musician who finds some-
thing in music more than rhythm and jingle, the
poet who notes the finer meaning and reads between
the lines, — to these Mr. Moody's personality does
not appeal strongly. They respect his Christian
purpose, his untiring zeal, his unfaltering hope;
they rejoice in all the good he has done. But they
work differently. They ma}'- do Christ's work for
Christ's sake, as he did it, but not in his way.
In the long run, it is conceded that the churches,
not the individuals, win. Spasmodic, individual
efforts outside of them do not long survive the alert
personality that founded them, and when a man is
dead who shall take up the man's work? The
church never dies and in her mission and her scope
there is room for every form of service, opportunity
for reforms made necessary by changing customs in
EDITORIAL COMMENT. 269
civilization, in tastes, in natural prejudices, but
never in morals, in sacred teachings or in the great
ends to be reached, — the uplifting of humanity and
the salvation of the race. — Providence Telegfram.
The fear felt that the work, of D. L. Moody, the
evangelist, was ended when the news came of his
break-down in Kansas City, has been confirmed.
Brought back to his birthplace at Northfield, his
physicians held out hopes of his rallying, but med-
ical attention and the loving care bestowed on him
by his family have counted for nothing as against
the results of years of arduous, unsparing work.
The pressure under which he had labored for so
long had its inevitable effect in undermining his
constitution, and although the news of his death yes-
terday came with a shock of suddenness, it was not
unexpected. To those who knew the man in his
numberless activities, the wonder is that he was
spared for so many years of life.
Mr. Moody was a great evangelist, and he did a
great work. An unordained and essentially popu-
lar preacher, who felt that his commission to win
souls was in his love for Christ and his desire to
serve Him — he reached thousands who were not.
likely to come under the influence of any church,
and working in and through churches he appealed
to thousands of others, whose belief in Christianity
he quickened from a dull acceptance of doctrine
into a living power. Earnest in his own convic-
tions, and gifted with a remarkable talent for enlist-
ing the interest and sympathy of his hearers, he was
a speaker of unusual effectiveness. Direct and sim-
ple in his utterances, not always grammatical, fond
270 EDITORIAL COMMENT.
of anecdote and homely illustration, emotional,
sometimes to an extreme — such was Dwight L.
Moody as the leader of countless public meetings.
He filled churches and audience rooms because the
people believed he had a message to deliver ; as for
himself he believed that that message was of tre-
mendous consequence. His methods have been
criticised, but, certainly, he was not open to the
charge of being insincere. His whole life was given
to doing what he felt to be his highest duty. To
this task he brought native ability, and a constantly
increasing knowledge of the ways to make that
ability count for the most.
Mr. Moody's cornerstone was the Bible. A de-
voted student of that book, he stood for its accept-
ance in its entirety. An unlettered man, as com-
pared to the present day exponents of the "higher
criticism," he did not hesitate to preach his faith,
and to live it. A man of the people, he understood
how to appeal to the people; he touched human life
at many points, in his career, and from his own ex-
periences he drew many a striking lesson. No
respecter of persons, or seeker after favor, his
independent attitude attracted rather than repelled,
and he had a marked faculty for enlisting in his
enterprises those who, he thought, would help him
in the greatest measure. He welcomed co-workers.
Men of prominence in this country and from abroad
were asked by him to address his Northfield meet-
ings, and felt honored in being asked. For young
men and for young women he had a special interest,
and on them he had a special influence. He attracted
them, and held them. His college conferences, in
Northfield, that beautiful Massachusetts town, have
EDITORIAL COMMENT. 271
been positive sources of inspiration. From the
"Auditorium" or "Round Top" meetings many
have gone, with strength and courage, to missionary
fields, or to engage in Christian work in their home
communities. And of the hundreds of attendants
on these conferences, there can surely be but few,
who have not been impressed with Mr. Moody's
personality, and helped by contact with him.
Mr. Moody was a man of essentially practical
aims. He believed that he could do things, and he
had remarkable success in doing them. His School
for Boys at Mount Hermon and his School for Girls
at Northfield are evidences of what his persistent
efforts have accomplished; his other enterprises
apart from his evangelistic work included Bible and
normal training schools and conferences for Chris-
tian workers and for students. Up to the time that
he was stricken, a few weeks since, he continued
his widely extended speaking tours. A whitening
beard was the only apparent mark of his advancing
years. At his last meetings in Kansas City he
appeared at his best. His addresses were full of
power, and as effective as ever in making converts.
Mr. Moody did not die an old man. Born in
Northfield in 1837, it was only two years ago that
he passed his sixty-first birthday. His father, a
stone mason and farmer, died when Mr. Moody was
a child. The mother was left in poverty, and the
eldest son ran away. But Mrs. Moody was a woman
of pluck. She kept the rest of her family together
and provided for their support. When seventeen
years old Dwight L. Moody went to Boston to earn
his living. He found employment in an uncle's
shoe shop, and early became interested in church
16
272 EDITORIAL COMMENT.
work. But it is related that his associates thought
him unlikely ever to become "a Christian of clear
and decided views of gospel truth ; still less to fill
any extended sphere of public usefulness."
In 1856, when he was nineteen, he went to Chi-
cago, and obtained a place in a shoe store. He
joined a church and at once rented four pews for
young men whom he intended to bring in. He
offered to teach in a mission school, and was told
that his services would be welcome, if he would
bring his own pupils. The next Sunday he walked
in at the head of eighteen ragged urchins whom he
had found in the streets. He frequented the
wharves, trying to convert sailors, and he did mis-
sionary work in the saloons. His great Sunday-
school was started in a room that had been used for
a saloon. He soon had a thousand pupils; the
saloon building had been found to be too small, and
the sessions were held in a hall, Mr. Moody being
janitor as well as instructor. All this time the
young man kept up his business, which had come to
be that of a traveling salesman. In i860, when
twenty-three years old, he made up his mind to take
up evangelizing work exclusively.
During the civil war Mr. Moody was employed by
the Christian commission, and later by the Young
Men's Christian Association of Chicago, as a lay
missionary. When he first gave up his regular
business it was necessary for him to keep his ex-
penses as low as possible; he slept on a bench in
the Y. M. C. A. rooms, and ate the plainest food.
Such success attended his work with the soldiers
and in Chicago that a church for his Chicago con-
verts was built, and he became its unordained pas-
EDITORIAL COMMENT. 273
tor. In 1873 Mr, Moody and Mr. Sankey, the
singer (with whose name that of the evangelist is
inseparably associated), decided to make a trip to
Great Britain on the invitation of two friends.
When they arrived they found that their friends
were dead; the evangelist and the singer were not
known, and, at their first meeting, which was held
at York, four persons were present. Mr. Moody
afterwards said that it was one of the best meetings
that he and Mr. Sankey ever held.
The tour was a wonderful success. The meetings
increased in attendance and interest; at Glasgow
30,000 people gathered in the open air to try to hear
the evangelist, and the London meetings lasted
four months, the total attendance being estimated
at 2,500,000 people. On his return to the United
States a series of great meetings were held in New
York, Philadelphia, Boston and Mr. Moody's home
city, Chicago. During his absence his church,
which was burned in 187 1, had been rebuilt. He
took up his work there again, making evangelistic
trips to different parts of the country and going
abroad a second time. He finally left Chicago for
Northfield, where a house was given him by friends,
and in Northfield he continued to make his home
till his death. Of late years he had been occupied
more exclusively in the development and conduct
of his successful schools, and in the direction of his
conferences, but he spoke in various places from
time to time ; his activity was incessant.
Mr. Moody's tastes were simple; he lived in his
work. He never received a salary, and he did not
ask contributions for himself. His reputation as a
speaker ensured a wide sale for his sermons and
274 EDITORIAL COMMENT.
other writings, in book form. Mr. Moody married
a Miss Revell, and she and two sons and a daughter
survive him.
Dwight L. Moody put his great forces into the
work of redemption. He wanted to help men ; to
save them. He wanted to increase the opportu-
nities for Christian education, and he wanted to
inspire others with the desire to aid in the spread
of Christianity. How he accomplished his ambi-
tions his life story shows.
What he put his hand to he did with his might ;
the results of his work live after his death. The
summons that his career was at an end came to him
undoubtedly as he would have wished — when he
was in active service. — Hartford (Conn.) Courant.
About the only criticism of Mr. Moody that has
appeared in print is that of Justin D. Fulton, D. D.,
in his book on the Life of Charles H. Spurgeon, the
great English preacher. He says:
"Moodyism is a growth rather than a policy. It
is the name of a movement rather than an organiz-
ation. It is an attempt to evangelize the millions
without instructing them in regard to church obli-
gations, and the necessity of observing the ordi-
nances Christ instituted. At this point Moodyism
allies itself with Romanism, and claims the right to
take away from the words of the prophecy of this
book without regard to the utterance, 'God shall
take away his part from the tree of life and out of
the holy city, which are written in this book. '
"To prosecute this work as an evangelist, Young
Men's Christian Association buildings have been
constructed, with reading-rooms and social parlors,
and in some instances billiard rooms, where games
EDITORIAL COMMENT. 275
are indulged in, and almost anything calculated to
attract, is permitted, to be followed by consecrated
efforts to woo and win.
"Moodyism, with its unsectarian 'Young Men's
Christian Associations, Christian Endeavor Socie-
ties,' thousands of lay evangelists and its mission-
aries, in all parts of the world, becomes withoiit ap-
pointment and without control, either an extraordi-
nary help or a tremendous peril to the church life
of the world. As at present organized it is almost
as much outside the church life of Christianity as is
Romanism. Is it in an alliance with Romanism in
fact if not in theory? Moody adopts gospel methods,
as does not Romanism ; depends on the Holy Spirit
for converting power, while Romanism trusts to
baptismal regeneration, sacraments, priestly absolu-
tion, and purgatorial fire for salvation. But Moody-
ism, working with the rich, the cultured, and the
influential, and the Salvation Army with the very
poor, alike ignoring the ordinances Christ instituted,
deserve reproof for not obeying Christ. The believ-
ing in Christ thoy should do, and not leave the other
undone.
"Mr. Moody believes in immersion as New Testa-
ment baptism, and, it is said, was immersed in the
Jordan, and yet by influence and example sanctions
infant baptism, the tap-root of baptismal regenera-
tion on which Romanists rest for salvation. Thou-
sands and millions imitate him. Is it safe to do so?
Pentecost in India is an evangelist for Moodyism.
"Shall Christians forget that the necessities of the
times call loudly to Christians to bestir themselves
and take the place and hold it which does not belong
to Young Men's Christian Associations or any other
276 EDITORIAL COMMENT.
unsectarian movement. A barrel without hoops is
as valuable as are Christians unharnessed or un-
trained in church life. Shall the churches step to
the front and take what belongs to them? Shall
they let the light shine which Christ has entrusted
to their keeping, remembering 'that the Lord's
hand is not shortened, that he cannot save, nor his
ear heavy that he cannot hear?' We are not to
pray that Mood5asm may do less, but that the
churches as Christ organized them may do more
than ever before, and measure up to the untold re-
sponsibilities which are committed to their keeping.
Moodyism, without asserting it and, perhaps, with-
out designing it, is as antagonistic to the system of
faith that makes belief and baptism the source of
its power and the feature of its life, as is Romanism.
"Recently it has come out that Mr. Moody gave
money to build a Roman Catholic house of worship
in Northfield. Some knew this years ago, and there
were those who went and saw the evangelist in his
home, and endeavored to persuade him to turn his
attention to the need of telling the unvarnished
truth concerning Romanism. In vain. No distinc-
tive anti-Romanist has been welcome to Northfield.
It is because Moodyism averages the public Christ-
ian sentiment of the hour, that truth-telling is not
in order.
"There is need of Mr. Moody's enthusiasm and
generalship in this work for Romanists. Let him
realize their ruin without Christ, and it would stir
him. It IS not the evangelist alone that is needed,
but all that he can influence, and all that influences
him Let prayer arise that the Holy Spirit will
cause him and others to realize the value of the
EDITORIAL COMMENT. 277
souls of Romanists, and give them no rest until the
outpouring shall come upon undone Roman Catho-
lics, causing them to cry out, 'Men and brethren,
what must we do to be saved?' God can do this in
answer to prayer, and can cause the great evangelist
to lead in the work of rescuing the lost from the
night of their thraldom and bring them to the light
of an eternal day."
CHAPTER XXI.
MEMORIAL.
An eloquent and touching sermon was delivered
by Rev. Henry H. Stebbins, at Central Church,
Rochester, N. Y., as a memorial to D wight L,
Moody, December 31, 1899. The songs and psalms
were the same as those used at the evangelist's
funeral, and the entire service was a memorial to him
who with his last breath said: "Is this dying?
Then death is bliss!" Dr. Stebbins said:
"I take for my text this morning the first words
that occurred to me, when I learned that Dwight L.
Moody had gone hence to be here no more. His
death, like a magnet, has attracted numerous ex-
pressions of Scripture singularly pertinent to the
man whose departure we mourn.
"We associate with him words like these: 'Stead-
fast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of
the Lord.' He 'went about doing good.' 'He had
compassion on the multitude.' 'A friend of sin-
ners.' 'I know that my Redeemer liveth, ' 'I
know whom I have believed. ' ' By the grace of God
I am what I am.' 'Though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. *
"They tell us that among the floral designs at
Mr. Moody's funeral was that of an open Bible on
the one side of which was 'Victory, I Corinthians
278
Copyright, 1900, by Rubt. O. Law.
MO(JDY BIBLE INSTITUTE, CHICAGO.
Hundreds of Bible students assemble here daily for the purpose of gleaning scriptural
knowledge.
X
MEMORIAL. 281
15:55-57,' and on the other side: 'II Timothy,
4:7-8.'
"So we might go on, enumerating passages of
Scripture suggested by Mr. Moody's death because
Mr. Moody's life was in such close touch with so
much of the spirit and the letter of God's Word.
And this brings me at once to what appeals to me
as one of the four cardinal features of Mr. Moody's
phenomenal life — his attachment to God's Word.
Right here the conviction smites me of how he must
have reveled in the 119th Psalm, which plays so
many variations on the theme of God's Word.
" 'Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light
unto my path. My heart standeth in awe of Thy
word. '
" 'I rejoice at Thy word as one that findeth great
spoil. Thy word is very pure ; therefore Thy ser-
vant loveth it. Oh, how love I Thy law ; it is my
meditation all the day. How sweet are Thy words
unto my taste ! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth. '
"Mr. Moody's creed about the Bible was that all
Scripture was given by inspiration of God and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for instruction
in righteousness. And he believed that holy men
of God spake as they were moved by the Holy
Ghost. He held fast the faith once delivered to
the saints.
"In the handling of the Bible — and how intelli-
gently, skilfully, reverently and affectionately he
handled it — in handling the Bible he was a literalist
rather than a believer in the allegory and fable
theories of Scripture. He believed that the whale
swallowed Jonah; that the serpent tempted the
woman. He believed the story of the deluge. He
16
282 MEMORIAL.
believed that the water was turned into wine. And
he believed so, not because he was artificial in his
understanding of the Bible, nor because he was not
learned in all the wisdom of the schools. Indeed
some of the most learned men kept company with
Mr. Moody as a literalist. I recall one, an eminent
scholar, who was on the American committee of
revisers of the Bible, and who to the day of his
death believed that the world was created in six
days of twenty-four hours each. Mr. Moody's atti-
tude toward the Bible is well illustrated in the fol-
lowing bit of experience he related: 'A man came
to me with a difficult passage in the Bible the other
day and said: "Mr. Moody, what do you do with
that?" ' I do not do anything with it. ' " How do you
understand it?" 'I do not understand it. ' "How do
you explain it?" 'I do not explain it. ' "What do
you do with it?" 'I do not do anything.' "You do
not believe it, do you?" 'Oh, yes, I believe it.
'There are lots of things I do not understand, but
I believe them. I do not know anything about
higher mathematics, but I believe in them. I do
not understand astronomy, but I believe in astron-
omy. Can you tell me why the same kind of food
turns into flesh, fish, hair, feathers, hoofs, finger-
nails, according as it is eaten by one animal or
another? A man told me a while ago he could not
believe a thing he had never seen. I said: "Man,
did you ever see your brain? Did you ever notice
that the things men cavil most about are the very
things on which Christ has set His seal?"
"Doubtless one secret of Mr. Moody's power as a
preacher was his unshaken faith in God's word.
His motto seemed to be: 'I believe, and therefore I
MEMORIAL. 283
speak.' His 'Thus saith the Lord' was freighted
with such intense, absorbing conviction, that the
people heard and wondered and were under convic-
tion, were converted unto God or confirmed in the
faith.
"One reason why such unprecedented multitudes
thronged to hear him — it is said that for nearly six
years Mr. Moody's audiences, afternoons and eve-
nings, averaged five thousand — one reason, I say,
why so many thronged to hear him was that he
spake as one having authority.
" 'Why do you go to hear Moody?' said a lawyer
scornfully to a fellow club member; 'you don't
believe as he does?' 'No, but he believes what he
preaches with all his heart, and it is well to meet
such a man in these days of doubt and uncertainty. '
"The second cardinal feature of Mr. Moody's life
was his devoti( n to prayer. Much as he set by the
Bible, he seemed to set more by prayer. For
prayer seemed to bring him face to face with God.
His prayer was talk with God, even as friend talks
with friend. Far into the night, or rising a long
while before day, he communed with God.
" 'They that seek the throne of grace,
Find that throne in every place. '
"It was singularly true of him. He took every-
thing to God in prayer. He lived in an atmosphere
of prayer that fulfilled Paul's precept: 'Pray with-
out ceasing. ' He was an impressive illustration of
the assurance: 'They that wait on the Lord shall
renew their strength. They shall mount up with
wings as eagles ; they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint. ' Prayer was Moody's
vital breath.
284 MEMORIAL.
" 'Twas Moody's native air;
His watchword at the gate of death,
He entered heaven with prayer.
"A third feature of Mr. Moody's life was his pro-
digious activity. He was active in season, out of
season. He outworked any and all who were
associated with him. For more than forty years he
has been indefatigable in the promotion of the
Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. We think of
him, and justly, as the great evangelist of the
century. It is interesting to trace the evolution of
his evangelistic spirit from the germ of his thorough
conversion to God, to godliness and to godly ser-
vice.
"It was in May, '56, that he joined the Mt. Ver-
non Congregational church in Boston. In the fall
of that year he went to Chicago and served as sales-
man in the shoe business. Diligent in business, he
was fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. He joined
the Plymouth Congregational church of Chicago,
and his entrance into that church was abundant.
"He rented four pews and kept them filled with
young men and boys — a splendid idea for some
young man or young men of this church. Mr.
Moody asked for a Sunday-school class. He was
told he woiTld be welcome to teach any class he
chose to collect, ^he next Sunday he marched into
the school at the head of eighteen ragged boys.
Later he opened a mission of his own in an empty
tavern. The school grew so that more commodious
quarters had to be secured. Mr. Moody procured
over sixty teachers for the school, the average
attendance of which was 650. In i860, Mr. Moody
gave up all other business and concentrated his
MEMORIAL. 285
energies upon distinctly Christian work. He lived
on as little as possible. He had no home. His bed
was a bench in the Y. M. C. A. Shortly he became
a city missionary, and as the fruit of his labors, in
1863 a church building was put up. In 1865 he was
elected president of the Chicago Y. M. C. A.
"Mr, Moody's evangelistic work during the war
was conspicuous and prolific. In 1867 he went abroad
for the first time, and again in 1873. You know, in
general terms, of his blessed work, aided by Mr.
Sankey, whom he called into the service about 187 1
— in England, Scotland, and Ireland. Mr. Moody's
ministry abroad marks an era in the religious life
and in the Church of God of Great Britain. Then
there were the great hippodrome meetings in New
York and the evangelistic campaigns in Boston,
Cleveland, Brooklyn, Chicago, San Francisco, St.
Louis. Indeed, nearly every city of any size. North,
South, East and West, in this country has its record
of Moody meetings. It is estimated that Mr.
Moody, during his evangelistic work, addressed not
fewer than 100,000,000 persons.
"We further associate Mr. Moody with the sum-
mer conferences at Northfield, that had their origin
in his invitation to a few friends to his home for
prayer and Bible study. His evangelistic influence
has been reinforced, extended and made permanent
by the press.
"Three or four years ago he established a colpor-
tage association for the dissemination of good liter-
ature, and hundreds of thousands of books have been
sent to prison cells, home and foreign missionary
fields and army camps, in addition to a large circula-
tion in city and country homes. He also started
286 MEMORIAL.
two maoazines devoted to evangelistic work. I
count more than a score of books, the fruit of his
labor on the platform, in his spiritual sanctum and
elsewhere.
"But Mr. Moody, plain man as he was, not versed
in the wisdom of the schools, has been a great edu-
cator. The summer conferences at Northfield have
been in the best sense educational for college men,
young women, and the laity in general. Four institu-
tions were under his immediate direction. Besides,
the influence of Mr. Moody upon the pulpit, upon
theology, upon the religious life, upon a broad-
gauged Catholic Christianity has been immeasur-
able. Not only was Mr. Moody the greatest evan-
gelist since Whitefield, and a most aggressive and
practical educator, but a great builder.
"I find the following statement in a recent number
of the New York Tribune: 'His first building was
the Illinois Street church in Chicago, erected about
1858, for the shelter of his mission school, and the
church which grew out of it. His second building
enterprise was the Young Men s Christian Associa-
tion building in Chicago, erected in 1866, the first
commodious edifice for Young Men's Christian Asso-
ciation purposes in this country. His third enter-
prise was the re-erection of the first Young Men's
Christian Association building, destroyed by fire.
This also was destro^'ed in the great fire of 1871,
and again rebuilt, mainly through Mr. Moody's
efforts. The other Young Men's Christian Associa-
tion buildings in America, for which money was
raised by Mr. Moody, and in whose erection he was
more or less conspicuous, were at New York, Bos-
MEMORIAL. 287
ton, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Baltimore and
Scranton.
" 'In Great Britain there were erected by Mr
Moody's personal efforts, or from the inspiration of
his works; Christian Union building, Dublin; Chris-'
tian Institute building, Glasgow; Carubber's Close
mission, Edinburgh ; the story of which is not only
interesting, but romantic; Conference hall, Strat-
ford; Down Lodge hall, Wandsworth, London, and"
the Young Men's Christian Association building,
Liverpool.
"'In addition to the above are twenty or more
buildings at Northfield, Mass. ; the Chicago Avenue
church and Bible Institute buildings, Chicago. '
"Such, in barest outline, is a memorandum of the
work and labor of love in which he was always
abounding, and that, too, notwithstanding that of
late years he was compassed by the infirmity of a
weak heart.
"When challenged to run a foot race at a Sunday-
school picnic in Northfield a few years ago he said :
' I have heart disease, and would fall dead if I should
make such an effort. ' At the same time he was
administering the multiform interests that absorbed
mind and heart and time.
"The fourth cardinal feature of Mr. Moody's life
was his fellowship with the Father, with His Son
Jesus Christ, and with the Holy Ghost. This was
the supreme reality in Mr. Moody's life. Enoch
walked with God; so did Moody. His conversation
or citizenship was in heaven. That fellowship was
the mainspring in the mechanism of his character
and career. It was that that made him so devoted
to God's Word that stimulated him to pray and that
288 MEMORIAL.
it was made him abound so in the work of the Lord,
and made him so assured about the great salvation
" 'My mind is made up,' he said one time, 'on the
question proposed namely, the relative merits of
Christianity and infidelity. Somebody once asked
Charles Sumner to hear the other side of slavery.
"Hear the other side?" he replied. "There is no
other side. I would as soon discuss the merits of
Christianity and infidelity. ' ' ' No one who studied his-
tory,' said Mr. Moody, 'need hesitate in answering
the question. I know what the Lord Jesus Christ
has done for me during the last forty years since I
trusted Him Let the members of your club accept
Christ as their personal Saviour, and they need not
waste time discussing such a question. If I had a
remedy that never failed to cure disease for forty
years, I should not stop to compare its merits with
another remedy.'
"It was his fellowship with Christ that made him
determine to know nothing save Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. It was because the Spirit taught
him and brought all things to his remembrance that
He was so instructed, unto the kingdom of Heaven,
that He was able to bring forth out of the treasury
of truth things new and old. It was his nearness to
Christ that brought him so near to the Christian,
and that raised him so far above the plane of denom-
inationalism. It was his fellowship with Christ that
inspired him with such a perennial passion for souls.
His fellowship with Christ kept him humble.
"By contrast to the ineffable holiness of the Lord,
he exclaimed with Peter: 'Depart from me, for I
am a sinful man, O Lord. ' His fellowship with God
made him to an almost unparalleled degree fearless,
MEMORIAL. 289
unconstrained and at home in the presence of
princes, or of men mighty for wealth, wisdom or
social rank. His attitude was never apologetic.
He was a righteous man who, in the delivery of his
message, however faulty it might be judged by the
canons of rhetoric or good literary form, was bold
as a lion. He walked before God as God told Abra-
ham to do. No man came between him and God.
He saw no man save Jesus only. To his own loving
and beloved Master he stood or fell. Consummate
achievement!
"This was what Dr. Pentacost meant who wrote
me in a letter from Northfield :
" 'Dear old Moody is under ground. During his
life I have never known a man so very much above
ground as he. Peace be to his soul. '
"It was Mr. Moody's fellowship with God that
kept him so true to himself. He was simply and
grandly natural. His tact, his rare sagacity, his
wealth of saving common sense, his superb adminis-
trative ability stood out in the bolder relief because
of the God who wrought in him. Let God have free
course in a man's life as he did in Mr. Moody's and
that man's personality is wonderfully developed.
He wears no affected air, he does 'not talk in one
tone and preach in another and pray in another.
He is not one sort of man on Sunday and another
sort of man the rest of the week, but he is simply
natural all the while. The man who lives near-
est Christ lives nearest to his own individuality.
He who is likest to Christ is most unlike other
Christians is truest to himself as distinguished from
other men. This was why, from first to last, Moody
was Moody. At home or abroad, in private or in
290 MEMORIAL.
public, before ten or ten thousand, he was simply
Moody.
"The picture you have seen of him in the papers
since his death is not that of the preacher but of the
man in his wagon with reins and whip in hand,
wearing a soft hat and in everyday negligee dress.
There was but one Moody in the world. It was
God working in him that wrought out his individu
ality.
"Such was the man — devoted to the Bible, a man
who prayed to God always, who wrought inces-
santly, diversely, unweariedly, and with superlative
fruitfulness, and whose life was hid with Christ in
God.
"Then came the end, the end of the beginning.
'God is calling me,' he said. He had the ear to
hear. And he had the eye to see. 'I see earth
receding. Heaven is opening. If this is dying, it
is bliss. '
"The following account of the funeral was sent
me by one of the honorary pall bearers :
" 'The entire services at the funeral of Mr. Moody
was full of a spirit of triumph. Within a few
moments of his departure he had exclaimed : "Is
this death? This is bliss!" He was indeed an exult-
ant victor over the last enemy. As thirty-two Mt.
Hermon boys carried what was mortal of him
through the streets of Northfield from his home to the
church and later from the church, past the house
where he was born and where his mother not long
ago died, to his place of rest on Round Top, the same
consciousness of victory — the victory of faith in
Christ — was strongly felt by every spectator. '
"During the funeral service in the church, as his
MEMORIAL. 291
pastor, Dr. Schofield, President Weston, Dr. Chap-
man, Dr. Wharton, Dr. Pierson and John Wana-
maker followed one another in impressive testi-
mony concerning the friend, the guide, the teacher,
the comforter, the revealer of Christ whom they
had found in this man, the note of sorrow and of
mourning was lost in the loftier note of the triumph-
ant life of faith and love and unselfish service, which
these addresses vividly presented.
"The venerable President Weston pronounced
him the greatest religious character of the nine-
teenth century. What most contributed to give him
this pre-eminence was the possession by him — so far
beyond others — of that life, concerning which Jesus
said: 'I am come that ye might have life and that
ye might have it more abundantly. '
"Dr. Chapman said:
" 'It was through Mr. Moody's agency that I be-
came a Christian, through his influence I entered
the ministry and when my ministry was poor and
unfruitful he was the messenger from God through
whom I received the spiritual impulse and blessing
which has given any fruitfulness to my work as
evangelist, minister and pastor. Very often I have
sought him at critical times for counsel and always
received from him the brotherly sympathy and help
I needed. '
"Mr. Moody's death appeals to me as a change of
base from one scene of service to another. Accord-
ingly it is, as I said at the outset of this sermon, that
the words that first came into mind after hearing of
Mr. Moody's death were : 'They serve him day anci
night. '
292 MEMORIAL.
"Tennyson in his Ode on the death of the Duke
of Wellington, sings :
" 'We doubt not that for one so true,
There's other nobler work to do
Than when he fought at Waterloo.*
"So with Mr. Moody.
"Indeed, I remember his saying, 'By and by you
will hear people say, Mr. Moody is dead. Don't
you believe a word of it. At that very moment I
shall be more alive than I am now. I shall then
truly begin to live. I was born of the flesh in 1837.
I was born of the Spirit in 1856. That which is
born of the flesh may die. That which is born of
the Spirit will live forever. '
"I have thought of Mr. Moody as seeing Jesus
face to face, whom having not seen, he so dearly
loved. I have pictured the great multitude whom
no man can number, whom he has been instru-
mental in saving and serving, as greeting him and
as sitting down with him in the Kingdom of God on
high.
"I have thought of him as paying his public trib-
ute to the Christ to whom he was so beholden, and
as renewedly consecrating himself to his service. I
have thought of him as telling to the saints in glory
what the grace of God has done for him and through
him.
"I have imagined a mammoth testimony meet-
ing presided over by Mr. Moody, at which new
songs of redemption have been sung, and where
hearts out of their abundance have testified to what
God, through dear Mr. Moody, has done for them.
"And if the old, old story has yet to be told any-
where in God's universe except on this earth, by
MEMORIAL. 293
those who have passed from earth to heaven, I am
sure that D wight L. Moody's commission will not
long be delayed.
"His career, so remarkable as evangelist, edu.
cator, builder, above all, and through all, and in all,
as man of God and servant of Jesus Christ, will
make him fitter than ever to engage in the service
of heaven. His new environment, the presence of
the King, his fuller, clearer vision, the glorious
freedom he enjoys from all restrictions, must make
of the old, old story of Jesus and his love, which he
delighted so to tell on earth, the new, new story of
redemption it will be his supernal satisfaction to
relate.
"Would that the young men of Rochester might
have had their heart's desire gratified by hearing
him as they confidently anticipated. But their loss
is his gain and the gain of all to whom he has yet
to minister.
"May God bless to us the departure out of this
life of His good and faithful servant, by intensifying
our devotion to the Bible, by making us more prayer-
ful, by stimulating us to more fruitful service, and
by attracting us to a closer walk with God. And
may what we are and what we do on earth qualify
us for higher attainment and larger achievement in
heaven ''
CHAPTER XXII.
THE LAST OF THE GREAT GROUP.
BY REV. DR. NEWELL DWIGHT HILLIS IN -'THE
INTERIOR."
When long time hath passed, some historian, re-
calling the great epochs and religious teachers of
our century, will say, "There were four men sent
forth by God: their names — Charles Spurgeon,
Phillips Brooks, Henry Ward Beecher, and Dwight
L. Moody." Each was a herald of good tidings;
each was a prophet of a new social and religious
order, and each made a permanent contribution to
the Christian church; while of all it may be said
their sermons were translated into many tongues
and their names known in every town and city
where the English language is spoken. For our
instruction, reb.uke and inspiration God hath raised
up other preachers, representing a high order of in-
tellect, marked eloquence, and permanent influence ;
but as to the first order of greatness, there have
been perhaps these four — no more. God girded
each of these prophets for his task, and taught him
how to "dip his sword in heaven. " In characterizing
the message of these men we say that Spurgeon was
expositional, Phillips Brooks devotional, Henry
Ward Beecher prophetic and philosophical, while
Dwight L. Moody was a herald rather than teacher,
294
LAST OF THE GROUP. 295
addressing himself to the common people — the un-
churched multitudes. The symbol of the great Eng-
lish preacher is a lighted lamp, the symbol of Brooks
a flaming heart, the symbol of Beecher an orchestra
of many instruments, while Mr. Moody was a
trumpet, sounding the advance, sometimes through
inspiration and sometimes through alarm.
And our sorrow to-day is the more, in that the last
of these giants has gone down to the valley and dis-
appeared behind the thick shadow. Oft in hours of
gloom and doubt, full oft in days when wickedness
seemed enthroned in high places, when the rich
seemed to be selfish in their strength, and the poor
without an advocate in high places, when good men
seemed weakness and leaders seemed a lie, in our
depression we have turned our thoughts toward the
three prophets, in the English Tabernacle, in Trin-
ity and in Plymouth, or toward the evangelist and
friend of the people, and have been comforted by
the mere thought that things were a little safer be-
cause these four men were in their appointed places.
The first three were commanders, each over his
regiment, and worked from a fixed center, but the
evangelist was the leader of a flying band, who
went everywhither into the enemy's country, seeking
conquests of peace and righteousness. Be the rea-
sons what they may, the common people gladly
heard the great evangelist. In his death, the un-
churched classes have lost their best friend. Fallen
now their tower of strength. Changed, too, the
very face of our moral landscape. For nearly forty
years the multitudes have pressed and thronged into
the great halls and churches to hear this herald
296 LAST OF THE GROUP.
speak of duty, sin, salvation, and God's love in
Christ. But disappearing from our sight he is not
dead. While life continues, for multitudes he will
remain a cool spring flowing in a desert, the covert
of a rock in time of sorrow.
For Lne republic, the roll-call of self-made men is
long and brilliant. Orators like Clay come in from
the corn-fields, statesmen like Webster come from
the bleak hillsides of New England, presidents like
Lincoln come forth from the universit)' of rail-split-
ting, the inventors, merchants, and editors come in
from rural districts and villages, and all are the
architects of their own fortunes. But among all this
group of men whose life in low estate began on a
simple village green, none is more thrilling in its
struggles, more picturesque in its contrasts, and more
pathetic in its defeats and victories than that of the
great evangelist. An orphan at four, one of the
props of the family at nine, at nineteen a clerk in a
shoe store of Chicago, at twenty-three the founder
of a Young Men's Christian Association, where he
slept on the benches because he had no bed, and
bought 4 loaf at the bakery because he had no money
for board. At twenty-four, the superintendent of a
Sunday-school in a deserted saloon, where his pupils
were drunkards, tramps, ragamuffins, mingled with
street waifs and boys from a newsboys' home. At
forty, the most widely-talked-about man in Great
Britain, where his friends were college presidents
and professors, authors, editors, statesmen, scien-
tists, like Drummond and Lord Kelvin. Returning
home, in Philadelphia, he found that merchants had
erected for his meetings a building seating ten thou-
sand people, an event that was repeated in New
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York, Boston, Chicago, and many other great cities
in our land. At fifty-three he founded a training
school for young men and women in Chicago that
has sent out fifteen hundred workers, a school for
young men at East Northfield, and for young women
at Mount Hermon, institutions that now have for
their work more than a score of great buildings.
Thrilling, indeed, this story. It repeats the expe-
rience of young David, who passed from the sheeps-
cote to the king's throne, and the scepter of uni-
versal sway.
"Where were the hidings of his power?" you ask.
From nothing, nothing comes. Blood tells. A
great ancestr}^ explains a great man. The time was
when men thought God called the prophet. But
when God wants a John the Baptist, he calls not the
son, but the father and mother, and they ordain the
child in the cradle, and before the cradle. When
the Hebrews were in bondage in Egypt, one mother
there was, brave enough to dare the king, and hide
her babe in an ark, amidst the bulrushes, and the
mother's courage repeated itself in the greatest of
jurists, Moses. Hannah was a dreamer who loved
solitude, and walked the hills alone with God ; whose
eyes "were homes of silent prayer," and her relig-
ious genius repeated itself in her son Samuel, one of
the greatest of the judges. What was unique in
Timothy, Paul tells us, was first of all unique in his
mother Lois, and his grandmother Eunice. And the
greatest evangelist since Whitefield had his power
through the ordainment of a great ancestry. He
was of the best old New England stock. His father
had the fine old Puritan fiber, and his mother, wid-
owed with her little flock about her, exhibits almost
17
300 LAST OF THE GROUP.
unparalleled heroism, courage, and hope in the hour
of suffering and trouble. For the tides of power in
this man flow down from the ancestral hills. Among
his birth gifts was the gift of perfect health and a
perfect body, with stores of energy that seemed well-
nigh inexhaustible.
His, also, was the gift of common sense, a mind
hungry for knowledge, a reason that saw clearly or
saw not at all; moral earnestness, sincerity, self-
reliance, courage, wit, humor, pathos, an intuitive
knowledge of men, the genius for organization.
Like Isaiah, he had a quenchless passion for right-
eousness. Like Daniel, he had the courage of his
convictions in the face of fierce opposition. Like
Paul, his enthusiasm for men made him the herald
of righteousness to foreign nations. Like Bernard,
his was the crusader's heart, organizing his hosts
against passion, ignorance and sin. Without the
eloquence of Spurgeon, without the fine culture of
Phillips Brooks, without the supreme genius of Mr.
Beecher, Mr. Moody was a herald, a man sent forth
from God, who called the unchurched classes to re-
pentance, who flamed forth on them the love of God
in Christ. For nearly six years, it is said that Mr.
Moody's audiences averaged five thousand, each
afternoon and evening. A record that has never
been surpassed in all the history of evangelism.
"Our bishops, " said the London Telegraph, "have
back of them a state income, great cathedrals, a
small army of paid helpers and musicians, but where
our bishops have reached tens this man has reached
hundreds."
If preaching is man making and man mending,
then Mr. Moody was a veritable prince among
LAST OF THE GROUP. 301
preachers. In view of the great audiences of fif-
teen thousand people that thronged into, or about,
the hall in Kansas City, where he preached his last
sermon, all must confess that no preacher in the
land since Mr. Beecher's time was comparable to
Mr. Moody in personal popularity, or in power to
hold the masses. Any student skilled in the art of
reading human nature, who has been upon the plat-
form beside the great evangelist, and while -listen-
ing to his words has noted their effects upon the
faces of the vast audience before him, must make
haste to affirm that Mr. Moody knew the human
mind and heart as a skillful musician knows his in-
strument, and sweeps all the banks of keys before
him. In the addresses that were given no element
of great speech was lacking. Mr. Moody moved his
audiences from tears to laughter; for laughter and
tears are outer signs of inner thoughts and feelings.
Life is determined by the emotions of the heart
quite "as much as by the arguments of the head. No
matter how scholarly or intellectual the preacher
may be, he is at best a second-rate preacher whose
truth burns with a cold, white light. Truth in the
hands of an intellectual philosopher who has found
his way into the pulpit, cuts with a keen edge, in-
deed, but truth in Mr. Moody's hands has been
heated red hot, and the edge of his sword burns as
well as cuts ; like the Word of God, dividing be-
tween the joints and marrow, and separating the
sinner from his evil deeds.
No misconception can be greater than to suppose
that Mr. Moody has succeeded in spite of his lack of
theological preparation. My old professor of dog-
matic theology criticised me harshly during my
302 LAST OF THE GROUP.
studefit days for going to hear Mr. Moody on Sun-
day morning. Because the great evangelist was a
layman, and unordained, this distinguished theolo-
gian said that he declined to attend any of Mr.
Moody's meetings during his great campaign in a
city in which this professor had formerly resided.
It is true that Mr. Moody had never crossed the
threshold of college or theological seminary. More-
over, in his enthusiasm he often used the vernacu-
lar, homely idioms, and in every sermon broke some
of the laws of grammar or of rhetoric. But noth-
ing is risked in the statement that it was a great
good fortune for him that he never found his way
into a theological seminary. Nevertheless, he was
a past master in his chosen art. He reached men,
not because he knew so little about preaching, but
because he knew so much. Could some scholar take
a volume of Mr. Moody's sermons, and condense his
thoughts, methods, appeals and illustrations into a
volume of homiletics, the book would be so large
and comprehensive that the ordinary work on the
art of preaching would not make an introduction
thereto. Taken all in all, for the work of an evan-
gelist, this man represents more culture, and more
thought about the methods of reaching the common
people than any other man in his generation. To
him it has been given to meet all the great preach-
ers of the day, and to work with them. His was
also the power of selection from each Spurgeon, or
Maclaren, or Brooks, or Beecher, and from each he
selected his special gift and excellence. Having
spent eight months of each year in working with
the foremost pastors at home and abroad, he has
had four months in summer for study and confer-
LAST OF THE GROUP. 303
ence. Those who have seen Mr. Moody's library-
know that this man has been a student of books as
well as men. Superficial, indeed, the judgment of
those who think that Mr. Moody was without edu-
cation, or training, or logic, or knowledge of preach-
ing as a science. With him preaching became a
fine art, an art that conceals the art. Did our the-
ological seminaries multiply their three years of
study by two, they could not hope to equip their
students as long study and experience with men and
books have equipped Mr. Moody. The methods the
great evangelist adopted gather up the experience
of twenty years of working with the greatest preach-
ers of England, Scotland and America. Perhaps of
all the arts and occupations in our age, not one is
comparable to the art of preaching. It demands the
highest talent, the deepest culture, tireless practice
and complete consecration And happy the gener-
ation to whom God gave this herald of good tidings,
this friend of the common people, this messenger to
the unchurched multitudes, who followed him as
their leader along those paths that lead to prosper-
ity and peace, to Christ, man's Saviour, to God,
man's Father.
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE NORTHFIELD SCHOOLS.
The vicinity of Northfield, the seat of Mr. Moody's
labors, was first settled in 1673, and twice within a
few years the town was depopulated by raids and
massacres by the Mohawks and other Indian tribes.
The third and permanent settlement was made in
1 7 13. The natural resources of the town were de-
veloped. Bricks were made from the clay, a grist
mill erected and tar kilns established. A malt house
was erected in 1721. The people were constantly
menaced by Indians, but the settlement, notwith-
standing all that, had an average of healthy growth.
When the Chicago fire destroyed Mr. Moody's
church and home, his plans were changed and he
went to England. On his return from Europe he
visited the old homestead of Northfield and deter-
mined to make his future home there. While
enjoying the contentment which came from seeing
old friends, recalling old memories, and surveying
as beautiful a pastoral picture as can be seen in that
section of the country, he developed the plans for
his school at that place. His principal idea was to
plan a school where the girls in the isolated homes
on the mountain sides might receive a careful train-
ing in the Bible at a moderate expense. The first
^ract of land for this purpose was bought by Mr.
304
THE NORTHFIELD SCHOOLS. 305
Moody in 1878 and consisted of 270 acres, and to this
was added 16 acres opposite Mr. Moody's house,
that same year. The next year the work was begun
on a school-house. The school opened November
3, 1879, with twenty-five pupils. In 1880 the first
dormitory, known as East Hall, was opened and
was at once filled with girls. Banar Hall was erected
and shortly after was burned. Marquand Hall was
dedicated in 1885. Other buildings followed until
the school reached its present proportion.
Northfield has been greatly improved since Mr.
Moody began his work there. The desolate and
rock-covered hills have taken on a coating of velvet
turf. Well built roads wind through the grounds
and between the different buildings, and shade trees
and shrubbery have been planted where they would
improve the view.
The land not utilized for lawns, building purposes
and roads, has been placed under the care of practi-
cal farmers, who have made it yield sufficient pro-
ducts to furnish a large portion of the supplies used
in the schools. There are also a number of horses,
of which Mr. Moody was very fond, he being consid-
ered an excellent judge of horse flesh. For this
reputation he has frequently been assailed by his
critics, and at one time the story went the rounds
that 'he had paid as much as $2, 800 for a finely gaited
animal that caught his admiration. He allowed the
story to go uncontradicted for some weeks imder the
impression that people would not believe it, and
when he did refer to the matter he said that he had
not paid $2,800 for the horse but had only paid a
little less than one-tenth of that amount.
The expenses of boarding and tuition at the Semi-
306 THE NORTHFIELD SCHOOLS.
nary from the time of its founding has been $100.00
a year. All the housework is done by the students,
still the sum paid for tuition only can pay about
one-half the expenses, the other half is met by the
income of a small endowment, and by royalties from
the sale of books and by contributions.
The principal text book is of course the Bible, and
one of the obligations of attendance there is that a
pupil must recite from it twice a week.
Immediately in front of the porch where Mr.
Moody used to sit so often and chat with his friends,
is an oval sweep of grass land descending to the
river, and up the valley far away the eye rests on
the mountains. Within the house it is roomy, spa-
cious and comfortable. On the right of the pas-
sage a library, on the left a reception room, and be-
yond it the dining room. Up- stairs was Mr.
Moody's private and special den, the walls of which
were lined with books, all of them bearing upon the
Scriptures.
CHAPTER XXIV.
GREAT RELIGIOUS REVIVALS.
Religions revivals have ever been a source of
interest to students of sociology, history and religion.
There have been times in the past in this country
when different sections were interested in religious
matters, but there have only been a few times when
all parts of the country have been awaked at the
same time. These events have been designated as
periods of great religious awakening, and are admir-
ably described in a paper by Rev. James Brand of
Oberlin, Ohio, read before the World's Congress of
Religions, held in Chicago in 1893. Dr. Brand says:
"The first century of religious history in this
country was largely devoted to church polity and
the relation of religion to the state. Spiritually it
was a rather barren period. There had been some
revivals from 1670 to 171 2, but they were local and
limited in extent. The first great movement which
really molded American Christianity was in 1740-
1760, called "The Great Awakening," under the
leadership of Jonathan Edwards Whitefield, Wesley
and the Tennants, of New Jersey. This movement
was probably the most influential force which has
ever acted upon the development of the Christian
religion since the Protestant reformation. In 1740
the population o£ New England was not more than
18 307
308 GREAT RELIGIOUS REVIVALS.
250,000, and in all the colonies about 2,000,000.
Yet it is estimated that more than 50,000 persons
were converted to Christ in that revival — a far
greater proportion than at any other period of our
history. This movement overthrew the so-called
"half-way covenant," a pernicious system which
had filled both the churches and pulpits with uncon-
verted men. In 1740 men without any pretense of
piety studied theology, and "if neither heretical or
openly immoral were ordained to the ministry,"
and multitudes of men were received to church mem-
bership without any claim to Christian life. The
great awakening reversed that stage of things.
Students of theology were converted in great num-
bers, and prominent men to the number of twenty,
who had been long in the pulpits in and about Bos-
ton, regarded George Whitefield as the means,
under God, of their conversion to Christ. This
revival was not confined to New England or to any
one body of Christians. All denominations in New
York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and the South were
equally blessed. The movement awakened the pub-
lic mind more fully to the claims of home missions,
especially among the Indians. It likewise gave a
great impulse to Christian education. The found-
ing of Princeton college was one of the direct fruits.
Dartmouth college, founded in 1769, also sprang
from the same impulse. The proposition that in the
preaching of the gospel the distinction should be
maintained between the regenerate and unregener-
ate, and that the church must be composed of con-
verted souls only, has been accepted by substantially
all evangelical demoninations since that time. The
great doctrines made especially prominent in this
GREAT RELIGIOUS REVIVALS. 309
religious movement were those required to meet the
peculiar circumstances of the times, viz. , the sinful-
ness of sin, the necessity of conversion and justifica-
tion by faith in Christ alone. These doctrines were
the mighty forces wielded by the leaders of that
time, and resulted in the recasting of the religious
opinions of the eighteenth century.
"The second general evangelistic movement, 1797-
18 10, generally called the revival of 1800, was hardly
less important as a factor in our Christian life than
its predecessor. It, too, followed a period of form-
alism and religious barrenness. It was the epoch
of French infidelity and of Paine 's "Age of Reason,"
from which this revival emancipated America
while France was left a spiritual wreck. Up to
this time almost nothing had been done in the line
of foreign missions, and there were hardly any per-
manent institutions of a national character for the
spread of the gospel apart from the churches and
three or four colleges. From this movement sprang,
as by magic, nearly all the great national religious
institutions of to-day. The "Plan of Union" in
1 80 1 to evangelize New Connecticut — Andover Sem-
inary in 1808 to provide trained pastors; the Amer-
ican Board, representing two or three denomina-
tions, in 1 801; the American Baptist Missionary
Union, 1814; the American Education Society, 1815;
the Methodist Episcopal Missionary Society, in
1819; the Yale Theological Department, in 1822;
American Temperance Society, in 1826; American
Home Missionary Society, 1830; East Windsor
Theological Seminary, in 1833. Here, again, all
religious bodies were equally enriched and enlarged
by the stupendous impulse given to religious
310 GREAT RELIGIOUS REVIVALS.
thought and activity by this revival. The leading
characteristic of this movement, so far as doctrines
were concerned, was the sovereignty of God. The
success of the colonies in the Revolutionary war, the
establishment of national independence, the awaken-
ing forces of material and industrial development,
together with the prevailing rationalistic and athe-
istic influence of France, had produced a spirit of
pride and self-sufficiency which was hostile to the
authority of God, and, of course, antagonistic to the
gospel. To meet this state of the public mind,
evangelistic leaders were naturally led to lay special
emphasis upon the absolute and eternal dominion of
God, as the infinitely wise and benevolent Ruler of
the universe, and man as His subject, fallen, de-
pendent, guilty, to whom pardon was offered. Here
was found the divine corrective of the perils which
were threatening to overwhelm the country in barren
and self-destructive materialism.
"The third great movement was in 1830- 1840.
The tendency of the human mind is to grasp certain
truths which have proved specially effective in one
set of circumstances and press them into service
under different circumstances, to the neglect of
other truths. Thus the severity of God, which had
needed such peculiar emphasis in 1800, came to be
urged to the exclusion of those truths which touch
the freedom and responsibility of man. When,
therefore, this third revival period began, the truths
most needed were the freedom of the will, the nature
of the moral law, the ability and, therefore, the
absolute obligation of man to obey God and make
himself a new heart. Accordingly, these were the
mighty weapons which were wielded by the great
GREAT RELIGIOUS REVIVALS. 311
leaders, Finney, Nettleton, Albert Barnes and
others, in the revival of that period, '^hus a counter
corrective was administered which tended not only
to correct and convert vast multitudes of souls, but
also to establish the scriptural balance of truth.
"The fourth pentecostal season, which may be
called national in its scope, was in 1857-9. At that
time inordinate worldliness, the passion for gain and
luxury, had been taking possession of the people.
The spirit of reckless speculation and other immoral
methods of gratifying material ambition had over-
reached itself and plunged the nation into a financial
panic. The Divine Spirit seized this state of things
to convict men of their sins. The result was a great
turning to God all over the land. In this awakening
no great leaders seem to stand out pre-eminent. But
the plain lessons of the revival are God's rebuke of
worldliness, the fact that it is better to be righteous
than to be rich, and that nations, like individuals, are
in His hands.
"The latest evangelistic movements which are
meeting this new era and are destined to be as help-
ful to American Christianity as any preceding ones
are those under the present leadership of men like
Messrs. Moody and Mills and their confreres. These
revivals, though perhaps lacking the tremendous
seriousness and profundity of conviction which came
from the Calvinist preachers dwelling on the nature
and attributes of God, nevertheless exhibit a more
truly balanced Gospel than any preceding ones.
They announce pre-eminently a Gospel of hope.
They emphasize the love of God, the sufficiency of
Christ, the guilt and unreason of sin, the privilege
of serving Christ and the duty of immediate sur-
812 GREAT RELIGIOUS REVIVALS.
render. If men said, 'Is not the Gospel being over-
grown?' They said, 'No, that cannot be.' If
they said, 'Is the doctrine broad enough and deep
enough to lead the progress of the race in all stages
of its development and be the text-book of religious
teaching to the end of time?' "
CHAPTER XXV.
REVIVAL SERMON.
Delivered at Cleveland, Ohio, October 5th, 1879,
and considered by many to be one among
Mr, Moody's best efforts.
I have selected to-day a subject rather than a
text. We have come to this city to preach Christ,
and I want to commence the services by just asking
this congregation what Christ is to you. And now
if we can get right home to ourselves to begin with,
we will save a good deal of time. One of the most
difficult things we have in preaching the gospel is
to get people to hear for themselves. They are
willing to hear for other people. I once read of a
colored minister Who said that a good many of his
congregation would be lost because they were too
generous ; and the way he explained it was that they
were so very generous with the sermon that they
generally gave the sermon to their friends and
neighbors, and did not take it home to themselves.
And there are a great many white people, I think,
who are just as generous as the colored people. They
are always generous with the sermon. They are
willing to give it to any one. It is always good for
some one else. They are willing to lend their ears
for some one else, but it is very hard for them to
take it home to themselves.
313
314 REVIVAL SERMON.
Now, to-day, we want, if possible, to have every
man, woman and child in this congregation ask him-
self this question, "What is Christ to me?" Not to
ny neighbor, not to the world, but what is He to
me? Who is He and what is He? I wish I could
just lodge the subject right into your hearts to begin
with. Now, don't think that will be good for some
one behind you. Don't pass the text over your
shoulder to some one back of you ; he will pass it to
some one behind him, as is often done; pass it along
out doors and away it goes, they forget all about the
text, the sermon and everything.
Now, let the question come to each one, "What is
Jesus Christ to me?" I would like to tell you what
He has been to me since I have known Him. And I
think if any man here to-day wants to know Christ,
he must first know Him as a Savior. ' ' His name shall
be called Jesus, for He shall save His people from
their sins. " It is the only name given under heaven
— it cannot be said of any other man ; it is not said of
Moses; it is not said of Elijah; it is not said of the
prophets or patriarchs or apostles that they shall save
men — not any other name among men under heaven
that can save the sinner, but the name of Jesus.
And if we are to know Him as our Redeemer,
and if we are to know Him as our Deliverer, and if
we are to know Him as our Shepherd, and our great
High Priest, and our Prophet, and our King, we
must first know Him as our Savior. We must meet
Him on the cross first. We must see him at Cal-
vary putting away sin, and when we have seen Him
as our Savior, then we go on and He unfolds Him-
self to us, and we see Him in a great many other
liehts.
REVIVAL SERMON. 317
Now He is more than a Savior. I might see a man
drowning. I might plunge into the stream and res-
cue that man. I might save the man from drowning,
but then I would leave him there on the banks, and
he would have to make the rest of the journey of
life without me. But the Son of God is more than
a Savior. After He has saved. He not only is with
us, but He delivers us from the power of sin. He
is a deliverer from sin. I believe there are a great
many people who have gone to Calvary. They
have seen Christ as their Savior, but they forget
that He is a deliverer, and wants to deliver them
from the power of sin. I don't believe that He
comes down here and pardons us and then leaves us
in prison. I don't believe He comes down here and
snaps the fetters and then leaves us in the bondage.
When the children of Israel were put behind the
blood, down there in Goshen, God said, "When I
see the blood, I will pass over you." The blood
was their savior, the blood was their salvation. But
then He did something more when He took them out
of Goshen, and when He took them out of Egypt,
and away from their taskmakers, and out of the land
of bondage. Then He was their deliverer.
When they came to the Red Sea, and the moun-
tains were on each side of them, and Pharaoh with
his hosts coming on in the rear, and the Red Sea
before them — then it was that they wanted a deliv-
erer. And I venture to say a good many of the
children of God have known what it is to come to
the Red Sea. You have known what it was to be
where you could only look up and cry to God to
deliver you. You could not turn to the right ; you
could not turn to the left ; you could not turn back ;
318 REVIVAL SERMON.
and the Almighty God has come and opened the Red
Sea, and you have passed over dry shod.
But when He delivered them from the hands of
the king and from their taskmakers, and brought
them out of the house of bondage, and brought
them through the Red Sea, He became something
else to them ; He became then their way.
Now, you very often hear people say, "I don't
know as I will become a Christian. I don't know
really what church to belong to. ' ' They will give
that as an excuse. I have heard more men give
that as an excuse, than anything else. They say
there are so many different denominations now, and
there are so many different churches, that they
don't know what to believe. I am very thankful
that the Lord has not left us in darkness about that
at all. It is no excuse at all. A man can't stand up
at the door of heaven and say, "I didn't become a
Christian because I did not know the way."
Now, people say there are so many denomina-
tions. "There are the Methodists. John Wesley
was a little nearer right than the rest of you. I
will join the Methodists. " Then there are our good
Baptist brethren. They say their way is the best
way. "You had better be immersed and come in
through our door. ' '
And there is our Episcopal brother. He says, "If
you want to come into the true apostolic church, you
have got to join the Episcopal Church. "
And up steps a Roman Catholic, and says, "If yon
want to come into the true apostolic church, you
have got to become a Roman Catholic."
And then there are the Presbyterians, and they
REVIVAL SERMON. 319
tell you that John Calvin is better than any of them,
and you must go the Calvin way.
And so they say there are so many different de-
nominations, so many different ways, that they don't
know what church to join.
Now, my friend?, listen to what the Son of God
says: "I am the way." And if I follow Hini I
will be in the right church ; He will not lead me
into error: He will not lead me into darkness; He
leads out of bondage. He leads into liberty, and
into light, and He is the only man who ever trod
on this earth that it is safe to follow in all things.
If I follow any man but Jesus Christ, I will get into
darkness and bondage. If I follow the isms of the
day and nothing else, they will lead me out into
black darkness. But if I follow the Son of God, He
leads me into life and light immortal out of dark-
ness.
As I walked through this hall yesterday morning,
I stood and looked up there and I saw a text, and I
said, "That is a good text for me." It says, "I am
the way." There is life in those words. "I am
the way," says the Son of God. Follow Him and
you will be in the right church. And when a man
is willing to bow his will to God's will and say,
"Lord Jesus, I am willing to follow Thee, to receive
Thee," then he will be in the right church; there
will be no trouble then. He submits his will to
God's will and submits his way to God's way, and
takes God's way.
You know that God knows a great deal more
about this earth than you and I do. God knew a
great deal more about the pitfalls in the wilderness,
and knew all about that perilous way when He led
320 REVIVAL SERMON.
the children of Israel. He led them by a pillar of
fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day ; and all
they had to do was to keep their eye on that cloud.
When the cloud moved, they moved; when the
cloud rested, they rested.
Now, all we have got to do is to keep our eye on
the Master. Follow Him. He don't ask us to go
where He has not gone Himself. He don't go
around and drive you and me; but He says, "Fol-
low thou Me." And if a man will become His dis-
ciple and follows in His path, he may put his feet
right in His footprints and follow Him.
You know out on the frontiers you will find there
the Indian trail ; and I am told by some of those
men who have been in that country there, that even
over the Rocky Mountains it looks as though only
one man had trod that path. The chief goes on
before, and the rest follow and put their feet right
in the foot-prints of the chief. So the Captain of
our salvation has gone, before in the path, and if I
follow Him I will have the life and the peace that is
promised to every child of God.
But then He is more than the way. You know
He might be the way, and the way might be very
dark, but He says, "I am the light of life, and if any
man follow Me, he shall not walk in darkness, but
shall have the light of life."
Now, it is impossible for any man to be in darkness
while following Jesus Christ. Why? Because He
is the light of the world. What that the sun is in
yonder heavens to the solar system, so Christ is to
the spiritual world. There is a picture in some of
your homes — if a man should giye it to me, I don't
know what I would do with it; I would have to put
REVIVAL SERMON. 321
it up the wrong way, the face toward the wall. I
don't know what the artist was thinking about when
he got that picture up. It is a beautiful work of
art, a beautiful steel engraving, and represents
Jesus Christ standing at the door of a man's cottage
with a lantern in His hand, knocking. What does
Christ want with a lantern? You might as well
hold a lantern to the sun. He says, "I am the light
of the world." What we want is to keep our eye
right upon Him. He will give us light.
There is no such thing as a man being in darkness
that is following Him. If there is a man or woman in
this audience to-day that is in darkness about spirit-
ual things, it is because they have got away from
Him ; it is because they have not followed Him ; it
is because they have not got their eye upon Him.
That is what brings darkness, and what He wants is
to have each one of us just to keep our eye upon
Him and follow Him.
But then I can imagine I hear some of you say,
"If you had the trouble I have had, you would not
talk in that way. If you were in my condition you
would not talk in that way. ' ' I remember during
our war, I was attending a meeting ; it was the first
year of the war. Our armies had been repulsed in
the West; had been repulsed in the East, and it
looked very dark. It looked as if this republic was
going to pieces. Every one that got up to speak at
that meeting had his harp upon the willow. It was
a doleful meeting. But at last an old man got up ;
he had a beautiful white beard, and he gave us
young men a lecture. Says he, "You don't talk
like the children of light, don't talk like the sons of
the King. We belong to the kingdom of God,"
322 REVIVAL SERMON.
Says he, "There is no darkness there. If it happens
to be dark right around you, it is light somewhere
else. If it is dark down here, look up; there is the
light. Our home is up there. ' ' After rebuking us
for our want of faith and our finding fault, he said
he had just come from the East; that he had been
induced by some friends to go to one of the Eastern
mountain peaks to see the sunrise. He said he
went to the half-way house and made arrangements
with the landlord to take him up before daybreak,
to get into the mountain to see the sunrise. The
guide went before, holding the lantern. He said
they had not been gone a great while before a
storm came up, a.nd it began to thunder, began to
rain, and he said to the guide, "The storm will pre-
vent my seeing the sunrise this morning, and you
had better take me back." The guide smiled and
said, "I think we will get above this storm." And
sure enough we got above the clouds and the storm.
On the mountain peak it was as calm as any sum-
mer evening in his life. As he looked down into the
clouds, he saw the lightning playing up and down
the valley, but he said it was all calm on the moun-
tain peak, and turning to us, he said:
"Young men, if it is dark in the valley, look
higher up ; climb a little higher up and get on the
mountain peak." And as the highest mountain
peaks catch the first rays of the morning sun, so
those who live nearest to heaven, nearest to Christ,
get the first news from heaven. It is the privilege
of every child of God to walk in an unclouded sun,
in perpetual light. I believe it has done more to
retard the cause of Christ and Christianity, than any
one thing, our being so despondent, looking on the
REVIVAL SERMON. 323
dark side, leaving the Author of life, light, and
going the by-ways with our heads down like a bul-
rush. Let us remember, my friends, that Christ is
the light of the world. If we follow Him we shall
not be in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
It is said of some men away out on the frontier, that
when they want to go off in the wilderness hunting,
where there is no road or path, they take an ax or
hatchet, and they cut off the bark of a tree, and they
call that blazing the way. So the Son of God has
been down in this dark world. He has "blazed the
way," led captivity captive. He has traveled this
wilderness and gone up on high. All we have to
do is to follow Him. If we keep our eye right on
Him, we will have light all the while.
I remember when I was a boy, I used to try to
walk across a field after the snow had fallen, and
try to make a straight path ; and as long as I kept
my eye on a point at the other side of the field, I
could make a straight path, but if I looked over my
shoulder to see if I was walking straight, I would
always walk crooked — always. And where I find
people turning around to see how others walk, they
always walk crooked. But if you want to walk
straight through this world, keep your eye on the
Captain of your salvation, who has gone with you
in the vale. Just keep your eye on Him, and you
will have peace and lights
I remember when I was a little boy, I used to try
to catch my shadow. I used to try to see it. I
could not jump over my head. I ran and jumped,
but my head always kept just so far ahead of me.
I never could catch my shadow, but I remember
I was running with my face toward the sun, and I
324 REVIVAL SERMON.
looked over my shoulder and I found my shadow
coming after me.
And I find since I became a Christian that if I
keep my eye on the Son of Righteousne'ss, peace and
light and joy and everything follows in the train;
but if I get my eye off Him, I always get in dark-
ness and trouble. So if you want to keep in the
light, keep your eye fixed on the Son of Righteous-
ness and follow Him.
Now, we have Him as, our Savior; we have Him
as our Deliverer; we have Him as our Way; we
have Him as our Truth, because He is the truth.
If you want to know what is truth, Christ is the
embodiment of truth ; if you want to know the truth,
know Him. There is no error in Him. He taught
no false doctrine. He taught truth. And if you want
to know the truth, know Him. He says, "I am the
truth," He is the very embodiment of it. And if
people say, "But I have not got life, I have not got
spiritual power." Well, He is the life, and if you
have not got spiritual power, it is because you have
not got enough of Christ. If you want spiritual life
more abundantly, let Christ come into 3^our heart
and reign without a rival. He is the life of the
world, and when man goes away from Him, he goes
away from the life and power.
But then He is something else. Perhaps some of
you have come to a fork in the road sometimes, and
you have not known just which way to turn. I was
going to a little town last month to preach the gos-
pel, and I came over a bridge, and I came to a road
that ran right across mine, and which way to turn I
did not know. There was no guide-post there, and
I did not know which way to go. Well, I am talk-
REVIVAL SERMON. 325
ing, perhaps, to a good many in this audience that
have come to such a fork in their spiritual life.
You have come to a place where you have not known
which way to turn. Well, right in here we have
read that Christ is a teacher. God sent Him down
to be a teacher, to be our counsellor, and to be our
guide, and if we will have Him, He will guide us
and teach us the right thing. He did not teach as
the scribes did ; He taught with the authority God
had given Him. He did not teach opinions. Men
come along now, and they teach their opinions. I
would rather have "Thus saith the Lord" than all
their opinions. It is not what man says, and when
He teaches us, my friends, He will teach us the right
way. Therefore, we want to take Him as our
teacher — our guide. I have never known a man, I
don't care how skeptical he has been, if he is will-
ing to let the Lord teach him the way, but what the
Lord has taught him. If a skeptic has come in here
to-day, just out of curiosity, I would like to get his
ear for about five minutes ; I would like to say to
him that the God that has made you can teach you
if you will let Him. Infidels are so conceited that
they think they are wiser than the Almighty God;
they are not willing to let the God who created them
teach them. They forget that when man fell in
Eden his reason fell with him. They forget that
the God of heaven and earth is greater than their
reason.
I was in a little town in Illinois a number of years
ago, when I first commenced to work for the Lord.
I could not preach, but got up a liitle meeting and
talk. There was a lady came to me just as the
meeting was breaking up, and says, "Mr. Moody, I
326 REVIVAL SERMON.
wish you would come and see my husband and talk
with him about his soul." Well, I consented. I
saw she was greatly burdened. I went to take down
his name. She gave me the name, and I said to
her, "You will excuse me; I can not go to see that
man." She says, "Why not?" "Why, he is a Book
infidel; a graduate of one of the Eastern colleges,
and I am a mere strippling — a boy; I can't go to
meet him." "Well," she says, "I would like to
have you go, Mr. Moody, and talk to him about his
soul." "Well," I says, "you had better have some
one older; I can't meet him in argument." She
says, "It is not argument he wants; he has had
enough of that ; he wants some one to invite him to
Christ." She urged so hard, I went down to see
him. I went into his office ; I shook hands, intro-
duced myself, and after I did so, I told him my
errand. He laughed at me, thought I had come on
a foolish errand. He did not believe in Christ or
Christianity; he didn't believe in the Bible. I
talked to him a little while, and brought out some
of his infidel views. I said, "Judge, I will be hon-
est with you ; I can't argue with you ; I cannot meet
you in argument," and the man seemed to grow
two inches right off. It is astonishing how these
men do grow when they find somebody they can
handle in argument. I said, "I can't meet you; I
will be frank with you." He had been one of our
leading men ih the country, and I knew about his
intellect. He had a very brilliant mind. He had
been one of our supreme judges; he had been mayor
of the city he lived in, had been a member of the
State senate a good many years, and he was a public
man ; and I said it was impossible for me to bring
REVIVAL SERMON. 327
forward the arguments that I would like to, and,
therefore, he would have to excuse me, and I says,
"Judge, there is just one favor I would like to ask
of you." Says he, "What is that?" "When you
are converted, let me know." "Well," says he, "I
will let you know when I am converted. I will
grant that request" — with a good deal of sarcasm.
I went out of his office, heard the clerks snickering
when I went out. I suppose they thought I had
made a fool of myself.
But a year and a half after that I was back in that
city. I was the guest of a friend, and while I was in
the sitting-room, a servant came and said there was a
man in the parlor that wanted to see me. I stepped
into the parlor, and there was the old judge. He says,
"When I saw you last I told you when I was con-
verted I would let you know. I have come to-day
to tell you I have been converted. ' ' I had heard it
from the lips of others, but I wanted to get it from
his own lips. Says I, "Judge, I wish you would
tell the whole story; tell all about it." He took his
seat, and he says, "Well, I will tell you; my wife
and children had gone out to meeting one night, and
there was no one in the house but the servant and
myself, and I got to thinking. ' ' I tell you it is a
good thing to get men to thinking; there is always
hope of reaching men if you get them to thinking,
especially in America. They are after money, and
they can't stop to think. They are on the dead
run ; if you can stop them on a corner and get their
attention five minutes, you are doing well in this
country. And he got to thinking and reasoning
with himself — and I tell you it is a good thing to get
a man to reasoning with himself. That is the best
328 REVIVAL SERMON.
kind of reasoning — and he said to himself, "Well,
now, supposing that my wife and my children are
right and I am wrong ; supposing they are all on the
way to heaven, as they profess to think, and I am
on my way to hell. Why," said he, "I just dis-
missed that thought at once." He said he did not
believe there was a hell. .
The next thought came. "Well, judge, do j^-ou
believe that there is a God that created you?"
"Yes," he said, "I believe that. This world never
happened by chance. Everything in this world
teaches me that there is an overruling power, and
there is a creator. This world was not thrown to-
gether. There must have been a creator. " Then
the next thought came. "If there is a creator, and
one that created you, the one that created you could
teach you." "Well," he said, "that is so. The
God that created me could teach me, " and he smiled
and said, "The fact was, Mr. Moody, I thought
nobody could teach me. I sat there by the fire. I
was too proud to get down on my knees. I said,
'O, God, teach me,' " It was an honest prayer.
And if there is an honest infidel here to-day who
will make that prayer out of the depths of his heart,
God will teach him more in five minutes than all
the infidels can teach him in twenty years. He
will teach you true wisdom. It is so reasonable that
the God that created the heavens and the earth
can teach mortal men. He said, God began to teach
him, and he began to see himself in a different
light. He had been, he said, a very righteous man
in his own estimation. He thought he was one of
the best men that ever lived. But he said he began
to see himself a sinner. That was something new ;
REVIVAL SERMON. 329
and he said there was a burden right here. He said
he had never felt any burden there before, and he
said things began to look very dark. Things had
always looked very bright before. And he said he
thought his wife might come home and see that
something ailed him — that he was troubled. So he
said he went to bed, and he pretended to sleep ; but
he did not sleep a wink that night; but before
morning he began to pray, "O God, save me; take
away this burden of guilt ; take away this load of
sins ! ' '
But he said he didn't believe in Jesus Christ; he
didn't want any day 's-man between him and God;
didn't want any mediator; he was going right
straight to the Father; he was going to settle the
question without Christ.
The load grew heavier, and it grew darker and
darker. He said when the morning came he got up
and dressed, and said to his wife he was not feeling
very well; he would not stay at home to breakfast.
He wanted to get out of the way, and went down
to his office. The old judge kept on crying, "O,
God, take away this burden; O, God, forgive me;"
he had waked up to the fact that he wanted forgive-
ness like other people. He went into his office.
Men came to see him on business, but he could not
do any business. He tried to tell his clerks what to
do, but could not tell them. He told them they
might take a holiday, and he locked the door of his
office and got down on his knees and cried, "For
Jesus Christ's sake, take away this load of sins."
He said there was a bundle rolled off when he arose
from his knees, and said his heart was as light as
air. Says he, "I wonder if this is not what my wife
330 REVIVAL SERMON.
has been praying for these years? if it is not what
the Christians call conversion? I will go and ask the
minister where my wife attends church if I ain't
converted." And he said on the way to the min-
ister's house a text of Scripture came to him that
his mother had taught him forty years before. O,
mothers, teach your children the word of God; it
may spring up after many years ; it may bear fruit
unto life eternal after you are dead and gone. That
text of Scripture that mother taught that little boy
in childhood was: "When you pray, believe you will
receive what you ask for, and you have it." And
he said, "I have asked God to forgive my sins, and
I am' going up to ask the minister if my prayer is
answered. I believe that is dishonoring God. I
am a Christian. " And he says, "I started home."
His wife saw him coming. She knew how he went
off, and thought he was coming home sick ; she met
him at the door, and said to him, "Are you sick?"
"No, I have been converted." He says, "Mr.
Moody, twenty-one long years that dear wife had
prayed for me, and she could not believe her ears
when I told her I was converted. She said,
'Come into the drawing-room. ' I knelt down and
made my first prayer with my wife." He erected a
family altar. That old infidel judge said, "Mr.
Moody, I have had more enjoyment in the last three
months than in all the rest of my life put together. ' '
If there is an honest skeptic here to-day, let God
Almighty be your teacher; ask Him to teach you;
ask Him to give you light beyond the grave ; He
has got the power. If you want true wisdom, go to
Him. He will open your darkened understanding
and cause you to understand wonderful things.
REVIVAL SERMON. 331
When I have been willing to let Him teach me, I
have had perfect peace. But whenever I have gone
against His counsel and against His teachings, it
brought me to captivity; it has brought me into
bondage and into darkness. When Nicodemus was
willing to let that rabbi teach him, he taught him
true wisdom, taught him the doctrine of the new
birth, taught him that he must be born again.
I might go on and speak of him as a shepherd. I
might have known him now upwards of twenty
years as a shepherd. He has carried my burdens for
me. Oh, it is so sweet to know that you have one
to whom you can go and tell all your sorrows ; you
can roll your burdens at his feet. Blessed privilege
we have, dear friends, to go to Him with all our bur-
dens and our sorrows. Surely, He hath borne our
griefs and carried our sorrows. Think of Christ as
a burden-bearer; what would this world do without
Him. How dark the grave would be without Him.
I remember making a remark a few years ago that
there was no burden we had but that Christ would
carry it for us if we would let Him. At the close
of the meeting a lady pushed her way through the
crowd and came up to me and said: "Mr. Moody,
if you had the burden I have got you could not have
said what you did to-day." "Perhaps not," I said.
"But have you a burden too great for Christ to
carry?" "Well," she said, "I would not say it was
too great for Christ to carry." But she said, "I
can't leave it with Him." "Well, it is your fault,
because He tells you to do it. He commands you to
cast your care upon Him, for He careth for you, for
he numbers the very hairs of your head, and a spar-
row can't fall to the ground without His knowledge.
332 REVIVAL SERMON.
Do you think He will not help you in the time of
trouble, that He will not bear your burden and
carry your sorrow if you will let Him?" "Well,"
she said, "just hear me, sir. I am the mother of
one child, and that is a wanderer. For years I
have not heard from him. Look at these hairs, they
are untimely gfray. I will soon go down to my
grave. It is crushing me down to the grave."
".Well," I said, "my good woman, don't you know
chat Jesus Christ knows where your child is, and
don't you know that you can reach him this very
hour by the way of the throne — that the spirit of
God will search him out, and that boy may be con-
victed and converted and brought home in answer
to prayer? Go tell it out to Christ. Go pour out
your heart to Him. Tell Him all your sorrows. ' '
I told that lady of a case in Indiana.
A boy went from the southern part of Indiana
to Chicago. He was a moral young man^— and a
great many parents are satisfied if their children are
moral ; but I tell you the temptations of city life are
too much for any man who has not got Christ as a
keeper. He will be swept away in the time of
temptation. This young man had not been in Chi-
cago a great many months when a neighbor came up
to Chicago on business, and found that young man
reeling through the streets drunk. When he went
back he thought he ought to tell that father, but he
knew it would about break his heart, and then he
felt as though he could not do it. He kept it locked
up in his heart for some time, but one day he
thought if that boy was his, and was becoming a
drimkard, he would want to know it. And so he
took that father off to one side, one dav, and told
S So
REVIVAL SERMON. 335
him what he had seen in Chicago. It was a terrible
blow to the father. He went home that night, and
after the children had been put to bed, and the wife
was sitting by the table at work, and he said to her,
"Wife, I have got some very bad news from Chi-
cago to-day. " The wife dropped her work and said,
' ' Pray, tell me what it can be?" ' 'Our boy was seen
on the streets of Chicago by Neighbor So-and-So
drunk." They did not sleep that night. They
spent that night taking that burden away to Jesus
Christ. They took that wandering boy in the arms
of their faith to the Son of God, pleading that their
boy might be saved, and that he might not go down
to a drunkard's grave. About daybreak the mother
said, "I don't know where, I don't know when, I
don't know how my boy is to be saved ; but God has
given me faith to believe that my boy is to become
a Christian." Her faith rested there. She carried
that burden to the Son of God, and at the end of the
week that boy came home, and the first thing he
said as he crossed the threshold was, "Mother, I
have come home to ask you to pray for me," and it
was found that the very night the father and the
mother were praying God to touch the heart of their
boy, he had become converted.
O, mothers, pray for your boys; fathers, cry
mightily to God for the children He has given you.
I wish I had time to take Him up as our shepherd,
I would like to take Him up as our Redeemer, as
our sanctification, as our justification, as our all in
all. I could not tell you in one short hour what
Christ is. It will take all eternity to tell you what
Christ is. I want to stand here to-day to tell you
that He is the best friend the sinner has got. He is
19
336 REVIVAL SERMON.
just the friend every man needs here. If you take
Him to be your Savior, your way, your truth, your
life, your shepherd, your burden-bearer, He will be
true to you, and He will carry all your sins, and all
your burdens, and all your sorrows.
CHAPTER XXVI.
FAITH.
SERMON.
Text. — Bring him unto Me. Mark ix. 19.
We find in this chapter that Christ had taken
Peter, James and John, and had been up in the
Mount of Transfiguration, and the first thing that
met His eye as He came down from that holy mount
was a great multitude gathered around His disciples
and rejoicing — the enemies of Christ rejoicing over
the defeat of the disciples; and when He made in-
quiry to find out what had caused the discussion,
one of the multitude spoke up and said, "I have
brought my son to Thy disciples that they might cast
out an unclean spirit, and they could not doit."
They had no faith.
Now it strikes me that that is the condition of the
church in this country at the present time. We
have not got power to cast out these devils. 1 be-
lieve men are possessed of devils now as much as
they were in the days of Christ. I think this rum
devil is about as great a devil as they had in the
days of Christ. And you will find a good many
possessed of the rum devil. And then this infidel
devil is as bad as it was in the days of Christ.
These unbelieving devils are possessing men, and
what we want is power to cast them out; and what
337
338 FAITH.
we want, it seems to me, is to learn this lesson : that
if we have failed it is not God's fault, but it is our
own fault; and we want to just get by these ob-
stacles and get right to the Master Himself.
Turn to Kings and you will find that in the days
of Elisha he saw that Shunammite woman coming,
and he says to his servant, "Go and ask her if it is
well with the child and well with the husband."
And she said it was well. Elisha could not under-
stand it. But she came and threw herself right at
his feet, and it was revealed unto Elisha what the
trouble was. The child was dead ; but that woman
had faith and believed that he should rise again.
There is faith for you ! So he said to his servant,
"Take thy staff, and go and lay it upon the child."
And they tried to send the woman away; but she
said, "As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I
will not leave thee!" She had got beyond the staff
and beyond the servant, and got right to the Master
himself, and it was well that she did, because the
old staff did not raise the dead child. It needed
Elisha himself, and that woman was very wise.
And what we want is to learn a lesson from the
Shunammite woman; but if the disciples can't cast
out those devils, what we want is to lift our eyes
higher up ; to lift our eyes to the One sitting upon
the throne, who is unchangeable, the same yester-
day, to-day and forever. Christ has got power ; and. if
the church will only have faith we will see signs and
wonders in this city. The Lord is wonderful to
save, my friends; He delights to save. But there
is one thing that He wants among His people, and
that is faith. Faith can do most anything with
Jesus Christ. When He was down here faith could
FAITH. 339
lead Him around anywhere and could get him to
do almost anything. And what we want in the
church to-day is faith to believe that the Son of God
has power to bless.
When these disciples failed, I can imagine they
reasoned something like this, "Why, it is a pretty
hard case." One of the disciples says, "I have
asked him how long he had been troubled with this
deaf and dumb spirit, and the father said he was
born so, and it is pretty discouraging. If he could
only hear us, why, then there woiild be some hope.
If he could only speak and tell us how he feels,
there would be some hope. He can't hear and he
can't speak. It is a pretty hopeless case. ' ' But see
what the Master said when He came down from that
mount: "Bring him unto Me." And I tell you if
the Master tells us to bring our friends and those
whom we are anxious should be saved to Him, let
us obey His command. Let us bring them in the
arms of our faith and lay them right at His feet.
But there is one thing I want to call your attention
to. That father got the "if" in the wrong place.
He says, Lord, if Thou canst do anything, and the
Lord just corrected him and put the "if" in the
right place. "If thou canst believe, all things are
possible;" 3^ou don't want to put any ifs in if you
are going to bring souls to Christ. Don't put in "if
Thou canst do anything. ' ' The leper we read about
in the fifth chapter of Luke got the "if" in the right
place. He says, "Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst
make me clean. " That pleased the Master. He
said, "I will; be thou clean." With a word he
cleansed him. But this father got the "if" in the
wrong place — "If Thou canst help us, we want
340 FAITH.
help. " See how quick he could help him when he
brought him to the Master. As he came the devil
tripped him up on the way, as he has done a great
many times since. When a man sets his face to
come to Christ, the devil trips him up — throws him
down. But bear in mind, devils, and disease and
death are to obey the voice of the Son of God. He
spoke and that unclean spirit came out of him ; and
not only that, He told him to come back no more.
I tell you, if the Lord sent him away he will never
come back. Some people are afraid if men are con-
veited they won't hold out. But when the Lord
casts out those devils, and gives them instructions
never to come back, they will hold out. What the
Lord does, holds through eternity itself. What
man does is very short and transitory, but when
God works He works thoroughly. He gave to that
devil instructions never to come back again, and he
had to obey. There was one thing that the devils
had to do when Christ was here — and He is here now
in Spirit — and that was, they had to obey Him.
You turn to the 5th chapter of Mark, and you
will find there the Son of God had power over devils,
over disease and death. In the fifth chapter of
Mark you will find three incurable diseases. If
they had them now-a-days, they would have them
in some incurable hospital. There are hospitals now
being erected in some parts of this country, and
there are a good many in Europe, for the incurable.
But there were no incurables when Christ was
here. He was a match for every case they brought
to Him. Here, in this fifth chapter of Mark, we
read of a man who was possessed of devils; he had
legions of them. No man could bind him. No man
FAITH. 341
could tame him ; for they had often bound him with
fetters and chains, but the chains had been plucked
asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces.
They had clothed him, but he would tear the clothes
from him, and they could not keep a rag on his
back; there he was — a maniac. But when Christ
met him, with a word He cast out those unclean
spirits ; with a word He restored him back to his
family. He said to him: "Go home and tell your
friends what great things the Lord has done for
you." And he went back and began to publish the
great things the Lord had done for him, and all men
marveled. I tell you there will be some marvel-
ing in this city when God begins to work. That is
what makes men marvel. What we want is to pray
God Almighty to come and work in this city, and
cast out these unclean spirits. And we read a little
further in the fifth chapter of Mark, of a woman
who had an issue of blood for twelve years. She
had suffered many things of many physicians; grew
worse all the while. When men are running to
earthly physicians they grow worse all the time.
When men are trying to patch up their old Adam-
nature — trying to make themselves better, they are
growing worse all the time. When men are trying
to save themselves and work out their own salvation
without the help of God — trying to work out this
great question, they are all the time making them-
selves worse. Why, this woman tried many physi-
cians. Perhaps she had been down to Damascus
and tried the leading physicians there, or had been
up to Jerusalem and tried the leading physicians
there, and if they had the physicians of the old
school and new school, she tried both schools, but
342 FAITH.
kept getting worse. If they had patent medicines
she would be trying every kind of patent medicine ;
but they did not help her — all the while growing
worse. But one day Jesus happened to be coming
in that part of the country. I can see her getting
down her garments, and the children trying to per-
suade her not to go: "Mother, we hope you are not
going to run after that physician. You have tried
so many, and we hope you are not going to waste
your strength by running after that physician." I
can see her put on her garments. I don't know what
they wore in those days, but if she had a shawl, it
was an old shawl. The doctors had got all her
money in the twelve years. She got down her old
faded bonnet and away she went. She is in the
crowd, elbowing her way, pushing her way toward
the great prophet. When she gets near enough to
touch Him, able bodied men push her back, saying
to her, "Don't you know there are other people
here who want to get near Him as well as yourself. "
She did not care what they said. She wished that
she might get near enough to touch Him. There
was faith for you. She had faith to believe that if
she could just touch the hem of His garment, she
would be made whole. I tell you when faith was
near the Son of God He knew all about it. And
again she elbows her way through that crowd, and
pushes her way up to Him, and, when near enough,
at last reaches out her thin, pale arm — nothing but
skin and bone. You can see that hand, that bony
finger; and at last she just touches the hem of His
garment, and lo ! in a minute, she is made well. Some
one has said there was more medicine in His gar-
ments than in all the apothecary shops in Palestine.
FAITH. 343
The moment she touched his garment she was healed.
That is faith. Some people say, "Oh, well, some men
have become so debased, so debauced, are such
drunkards, that it has become a disease with them."
Suppose it has become a disease, God is able to heal.
That woman had a disease for twelve years. But a
touch and the work was done ; and . he turned and
said, "Who touched Me?" and they said, "That is a
queer question." Why, look at the crowd that has
been thronging for hours. Look at the hands that
touched Him. They could not tell the difference
between the touch of the crowd and the touch of
faith. Some of the people came and looked all
around, just as some people have come here; they
will be casting around and they will go out as
empty as they came in. But there may be some
one that is seeking a blessing, and he will say, "Oh,
that I may touch Him to-night, that I may get the
power ; that I may be healed. ' '
And I tell you if faith is here. He will be here.
That is v/hat He wanted to bring out before those
people. He knew that faith had touched Him, and
virtue had gone forth.
He knew who the woman was, but He wanted to
get her confession. And she fell at His feet and
told it all to Him ; she had tried other physicians,
but the moment she tried the true physician she
was healed.
Then that other case in the third chapter of
Mark. That was more hopeless than the other two,
because the child was dead. There was no use send-
ing for any physician ; the child was too far gone.
But the moment Christ got in that chamber and met
20
344 FAITH,
death face to face, death fled before Him. He had
power to raise the dead.
And so there are some people here in Cleveland
who will say, "There is no use talking to that per-
son. He is dead to everything that is pure. He is
dead to everything that is righteous and holy. ' '
But, my dear friends, our Savior is a quickener.
And what we want is faith to believe that our
Father and Master can raise these dead souls if we
bring them unto Him.
Now, if you have got a son who has wandered far
away, and you have become discouraged, and said
that there is no use laboring for his salvation, my
dear friend, bear in mind, it is very dishonoring to
God. Instead of looking at these obstacles — looking
at the human heart so hard and thinking it cannot
be reached — let us lift our eyes to Him who sits
upon the throne, and remember that just as He left
the earth, He told us that all power is given to Him
in heaven and on earth; and if He has got such
mighty power, can't He save? Is there a man so
far gone in all Cleveland that Christ cannot save
him? Is there a woman so low, and so degraded,
and so depraved that Jesus Christ cannot save her?
Away with the doctrine ! My dear friends, He can.
He can save unto the uttermost. Let us hear the
voice of the Master coming from the throne to-night.
"Bring him unto Me." "Bring her unto Me." Let
us take them in the arms of our faith to the Son of
God, and have faith to believe that He has power
to cast out, to heal, to cleanse, to make whole, and
to raise even the dead to life.
Now, it seems to me, as He said that to that father,
that we might justly apply this to parents. I will
FAITH- 345
venture to say that half of this audience here to-
night are parents. Fathers and mothers, let me ask
you a question. Are you not anxious for that child
that God has given you, or for those children? May
1 not speak to some father here to-night who has
got a wayward boy? Perhaps this hour while you
are here in this gospel meeting, that boy is down
yonder in some brothel, or some gambling den, or
some drinking saloon. His feet are hastening on
down to death and ruin. Don't you want that boy
reached? Let us have faith to believe that God can
save our children. I do not believe God wants our
children lost. 1 believe that we can be co-workers
with Him. It is a great privilege, and it is a great
opportunity we have of a united effort — fathers and
mothers coming together to bring their children to
the Lord Jesus Christ. And I believe that if fathers
and mothers, during the next thirty days make up
their minds, God helping them, that they will bring
about this one result, that they will bring salvation
to their family, that they will ask the Lord Jesus
Christ to come into their homes and save every
member of their family, God will not disappoint
them. And I believe that if we hear His voice to-
night saying, bring him or bring her unto Me, and
obey that command, and we bring our children to
the Lord Jesus Christ, He will bless them.
I remember a few years ago hearing of a mother
who was dying with consumption, that had seven
children, and when the hour came for her to leave
this earth, she asked the father to bring the chil-
dren to her bedside, and the husband brought the
children in one by one. The oldest one was brought
in first, and the mother placed her hand upon its
346 FAITH.
head and gave that child a mother's dying blessing.
Then the next one was brought in and she did the
same, and gave it a message. At last a little infant
was brought in, and she took her little child and
hugged it and kissed it, and they saw that the excite-
ment was becoming too great for her, and they took
the little child away from her, and as they did it she
looked up into her husband's face and says, "I charge
you to bring all these children home with you. ' '
And so the Captain of your salvation and mine
charges us to bring our children home with us. The
promises are not only to us, but to our children ;
and what He wants is to have you and I have faith
to believe that He is ready and willing to do it, and
that He v,'ill honor our faith. We have got to work
as well as have faith. We must first have faith. We
must first have faith to believe that God will do it,
and then we must work for their salvation; we must
use every means in our power to bring them to a
knowledge of Jesus Christ. Let us not only bring
them to God and prayer around our family altars,
and in our closets, and in these public meetings;
but, my friends, let us talk with them ; let us try in
every way we can to bring them to the Son of God.
And then let me say another thing. Let us have
faith to believe that they can come early to Christ.
I believe that there is many a father and mother
that is skeptical on this point. They have got the
idea that their children ought to grow up to man-
hood and womanhood before they can be brought to
a knowledge of the truth as it is in Christ.
Many of them have got the idea that they must
have the seed of death sown in their hearts; that
they must have some of these tares sown in their
FAITH. 347
hearts before they can have the seed of the king-
dom ; that they have got to see some of the world>
and they have got to be tempted and led, you might
say, into bondage, into sin, before they can be saved.
I believe that is one of the delusions of the evil one.
I believe it is the privilege of every father and
mother to bring their children to Christ so early
that they cannot tell when they came. It is a priv-
ilege for us to take them in the earlier days of child-
hood, when they can just lisp the name of papa and
mamma, and teach them to lisp the name of Jesus
Christ, and teach them in their earlier childhood to
love Him and to serve Him.
I remember, many years ago, I was urging this in
the State of Michigan, an old man jumped up at the
close of the meeting and said, "I want to indorse all
that young man has said. Sixteen years ago I was
in a heathen country. My wife died and left me
with three little children. The first Sabbath after
her death, my oldest little girl — Nellie, ten 3'-ears
old — came to me and says: 'Papa, can I take the
children into the bed-room and pray for them as
mother used to do on the Sabbath?* " Let me say
to you my friends, there is the power of example.
If I should be called away and leave my children in
this cold, unfriendly world at an early age, I would
rather have them come to my grave and be able to
say I was more anxious for their eternal welfare
than for their earthly prosperity. Well, this old
man said, when the children came out from the
chamber where they had been praying, he noticed
that they all had been weeping, and he called to
his little girl and said, "Nellie, what have you been
weeping about?" "Why," she says 'we could not
348 FAITH.
help but weep. I made the prayer that mother
taught me to make, and (naming her little brother)
he made the prayer mother taught him ; but little
Susie didn't use to pray. Mother thought she was
too little to pray, and when we prayed, little Susie
made a prayer and we could not help but weep. "
"What did she say?" "She put her little hands
together and says, 'Oh, God you have come and
taken away my dear mamma. I have no mamma to
pray for me. Won't you please make me just as
good as my mamma was for Jesus' sake. Amen. ' "
That child before she was four years old gave evi-
dence of being a child of God. Fathers, do you
suppose your children can come that early?
Mothers, have you got faith to believe that you
can bring your children that early to the Son of
God? He will say to-night, as He did when on
earth, "Suffer the little children to come unto Me,
and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of
heaven. " And in this month, which I hope will be
a harvest time, let us bring our children to the Son
of God. Let us labor for their salvation. Father,
mother, hear the voice of the Son of God to-night
saying, "Bring them unto Me." He will not cast
them out. He will bless them.
And let me say to you, Sabbath-school teachers,
this a grand time for you to work. I never have
known a Sunday-school teacher in these special
efforts which we have made in cities, who has laid
herself or himself out to bring his class to Christ —
I have scarcely ever known it to fail. This is a grand
opportunity now for you to go and bring the chil-
dren in your classes to Him. Perhaps you will say
they are too young to be converted. They are wild,
PAITH. 349
it may be. They are thoughtless. They are care-
less. They are indifferent. O, let us not be look-
ing at them, but let us look above and remember
that the power is yonder, and Christ is the power.
You cannot tell what may be the result of bring-
ing your Sunday-school class to the Lord Jesus
Christ.
I remember being in a place a few years ago, and
I was the guest of a friend, and in his house there
was a young lady that had a Sunday-school class in
the afternoon, and I happened to have a meeting
the first afternoon I was there, and I noticed that
teacher in my meeting, and when I got home I said,
' ' How was it you were at the meeting this afternoon ;
I thought you had a Sunday-school class?" "Well,
so I have, Mr. Moody, but," she says, "I only have
five little boys, and as I thought it would not do
much harm I left them to-day." Whenever you
hear a Sunday-school teacher talking that way you
may believe that he does not understand the worth
of a soul. Five little boys ! Why, dear teacher, do
you know that in that class there may be a Luther?
In that little tow-headed German boy there may
slumber a reformation. There may come power
upon him that he may go out and be a blessing to
the world. You can't tell when you call a little boy
to Christ what he may become. He may be a White-
field, or a Wesley, or a Knox, or a Bunyan. Eter-
nity alone can tell what is to be done when we bring
a soul to Christ.
Now, Sabbath- school teachers, this is a golden
opportunity. Let us work together; let us pray
together, and not rest at night until we see those
we are responsible for brought to Christ. Let us
350 FAITH.
labor to bring them to the Lord Jesus Christ, and if
we labor faithfully, He will not disappoint us.
I remember the inspiration that I got for this work
the very first soul that I led to Christ. I can remem-
ber what a new life was awakened in me, and I
trust I have not been the same man from that day to
this, and I hope there will be a great many workers
in this city of Cleveland that will be roused to go
out and work for souls. It is the highest privilege
on earth. There is nothing like it to be a worker
with God; to be instrumental in bringing souls to
Christ.
I want to tell you just a little incident that roused
me. I was a nominal Christian for a number of
years ; but, my friends, I would rather die than go
back to that kind of life — having a name to live, and
no power, no life, and not able to say there is one
who has been led to Christ by my influence — to be
a professed disciple of Jesus Christ, and not be able
to say there is one solitary soul that has been led to
Christ by my influence. How does that professed
Christian live on year after year, when he had such
a glorious privilege to work for Christ and win souls
for Him? And I believe to-day what we want is to
get the laity aroused. What we want is to get the
pulpit and the pew united, until Christianity becomes
a living power on the face of the earth. I do not
fear your infidelity. I do not fear your false isms
cropping upon the earth half as much as I do these
cold formalisms coming into the church of God.
Let me tell you what awakened me. I had a large
Sunday-school in Chicago, and I was satisfied with
having large numbers interested. We were sowing
seed, and I said it was going to spring up sometime,
Copyright, 1900, by Robt . O. Law.
THE COLPORTAGE COTTAGE, CHICAGO
From this little building is sent out annually to all P^^^^^^^^^ world, millions of
tracts and tons of Bible literature.
FAITH. 353
but I did not know when. There are a great many-
people who are all the time sowing seed. What
would you say of a farmer that was always sowing
seed and never harvested? You want to sow with
one hand and reap with the other, and if we look
for an immediate harvest we shall have it.
I was just in that condition. I was sowing and
sowing. I had a hall over a meat market, and over
in a corner I had a class of wild, thoughtless, friv-
olous young misses. I had more trouble with that
class than with all the other classes of the school ;
but I had, I thoiight, the best teacher in the school
in that class. He was there every Sunday, and held
their attention pretty well. But one Sunday he was
absent, and before I could get around to his house
to find out what was the matter, he came down to
my store. He was pale. He took a seat upon a
box, and he said, "I have been bleeding again at
my lungs, and Kave got to give up business. The
doctor tells me I can't live much longer, and I have
closed up my business, and am going home to my
mother in the East to die." Then he began to
weep. "Well," I says to him, "you are not afraid
to die?" "No,"hesays; "Mr. Moody that does not
trouble me, but my Sunday-school class; I will meet
them on the day of judgment; not one of them is
converted. If I had been faithful, some of them
might have been saved ; biit now I am called away
from them. I never shall meet them again in this
world. What will I say when I meet the Judge?"
The poor man's heart was broken. I said: "Sup-
pose we go and see them." He said when he had
strength he did not go, and now he had lost his
strength and could not go. I said, "I will take you
354 FAITH.
in a carriage. ' ' I took that man out in a carriage ;
we went from house to house. He was so weak he
reeled on the sidewalk. When he got in the house,
he would say to Margaret, to Mary or to Jane, call-
ing them by their first name, "I have come to talk
to you about coming to Christ;" and then would
plead with them as a dying man. When his strength
gave way I took him home, and the next day we
started out again, and at the end of ten days the
last one was converted. We had a meeting at his
house, and it was at* that meeting that I caught a
new inspiration. It was at that meeting that God
gave me to see the worth of a soul. I do not know
that I ever spent such a night before that time.
The whole class was gathered into the fold. That
teacher got down on his knees and prayed that the
Lord might give His angels charge over them.
When we got through, one of the young converts
began to pray, and another and ariother prayed for
their teacher — that they might be kept faithful, and
that the Lord might be with him in his sickness ; and
we bid him good-bye, after singing "Blest be the
tie that binds our hearts in christian love. ' ' It was
a joyful meeting with all its sadness. The next
night he was to leave our city about sundown. I
went to the station to bid him good-bye, and without
speaking to anybody about it or expecting it, I found
at the depot before the train started the whole class
was there. Standing on the platform, the class
gathered around him. It was the most beautiful
sight ever I Saw. They sang, "We meet to part
again, but when we meet on Canaan's shore there
will be no parting. " And as the train started, with
his pale finger he pointed to heaven, until the
FAITH. 355
wheels rolled him out of the city ; but, my friends,
his influence lives in Chicago to-day. Let us work
and bring our children to Christ and our influence
will be felt hundreds of years hence. What we do
for God is forever. It is eternal and everlasting.
So let us be up and about our Master's work. Let
us hunt up and bring some soul to Christ. Now,
my friends, do you believe that you can be instru-
mental in God's hands in leading one soul to Christ
during the next thirty days? I do not believe there
is a man or woman in this house but may be instru-
mental in leading some one soul to Christ if he tries.
Hear the voice of the Master to-night — "Bring him
unto Me." Let us pray.
CHAPTER XXVII.
REPENTANCE.
But now commandeth all men everj-where to repent. —
Acts xvii, 30.
You will find my text to-night in the 17 th chapter
of Acts, a part of the 30th verse: "Commandeth
all men everywhere to repent. " That must take all
in. It is another command. Then in the next verse
he tells us why: "Because he hath appointed a day
in the which He will judge the world in righteousness
by that man whom He hath ordained; whereof He
hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath
raised him from the dead. ' '
The day is appointed. We do not know anything
about the calendar of heaven. God has kept that
appointment in His own mind. We do not know
just the day, but the day is appointed, the time is
fixed, and God is going to judge this world. So He
sends out a proclamation and commands all men now
everywhere to repent. And if you do not want to be
brought into judgment and be judged, you had bet-
ter repent; turn to God, and let Jesus Christ be
judged for you, and escape the judgment. It is a
great thing to get rid of the judgment. "There is
no condemnation to him that is in Christ Jesus. "
That is, there is no judgment. Judgment is already
past to the believer — to the man that has repented
356
REPENTANCE. 357
of his sins and confessed them, and turned away
from them, and God has put them away. They
never again shall be mentioned. We read in Ezekiel
that not one of our sins have been mentioned ; that
they have been forgiven ; therefore God calls upon
all men everywhere now — not some future time —
but now, right here to-night, to repent.
As we look at the beginning of the gospel of this
dispensation, you will find that John the Baptist,
the forerunner of Christ, that his voice just rung
through the wilderness of Judea, and that he had
but one text; you might say his text was one word,
"Repent, repent, repent." That was his cry. He
kept it up until he met Christ at the Jordan, and
then he changed the text, and he had but one text
after that: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world. ' '
He first called to repentance, but when Jesus
Christ commenced His ministry, he took up that
wilderness cry and echoed it again over the plains
of Palestine — "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand." When He sent out the twelve, He
told them to go into every town and make this
proclamation: "That the kingdom of God was
coming nigh, and men must repent. If they wanted
to get in His kingdom, they must eriter through
that door of repentance. " When He sent out the
seventy, two by two, He gave them instructions
that they should just say, "Repent, for the king-
dom of heaven is at hand."
Then we find, after Christ had ascended again into
glory, Peter took up that cry on the day of Pente-
cost, and as he preached through Jerusalem to sin-
358 REPENTANCE.
ners that they must repent, the Holy Ghost came
down and testified to what Peter was saying.
Now, we find in this text Paul is here in Athens
raising that wilderness cry again, and commands
men now and everywhere to repent. There is no
such thing as a man getting to heaven until he
repents. You may preach Christ and offer Christ,
but man has got to turn away from sin first, as we
tried to show you last night. "Let the wicked for-
sake his way, the unrighteous man his thoughts, and
turn unto the Lord." Repentance is turning.
Before I commence to preach about repentance, I
want to tell you what it is not. The fact is, I be-
lieve this great truth that has been talked so much
in the church that every school-boy ought to be
acquainted with it, is the very thing we are in dark-
ness about.
It seems to me as if Satan has thrown dust in the
eyes of the people ; that the god of this world has
blinded us to these things. I find a great many
people have a false idea of what repentance is.
Now, repentance is not fear. Mark that. I may
stand here to-night, and I may perhaps picture to
you the judgment, and I might alarm some people
here, and you may get scared and it would look as
if it was true work, but it would pass away like a
morning cloud. I might hold a revolver to your
head and say, ' ' Repent, or I will blow your brains
out," and you would say, "I will repent, I will re-
pent," but when the revolver was taken away, you
would forget all about it. That is taking place all
the while. Some people think they have got to be
wrought up. Something has to be said to alarm
them. You go out to sea, or out here on Lake Erie,
REPENTANCE. 359
and let a storm come up ; fifteen minutes before the
storm the sailors, and perhaps the captain, are
cursing and blaspheming. A storm comes up and
they go to praying. You would think they were
saints. The storm passes away, and they are out of
danger and they are swearing again. That is fear.
That is not repentance. It seemed as if the king
of Egypt was really coming to the Lord, to hear him
talk when he heard the thunderings, and judgments
of God upon him. The king was alarmed. It
looked as if he was coming to the Lord, but he was
only scared. The moment those judgments were
off he forgot all about it. That was not repentance
at all. A man may be scared and not repent. A
man may be alarmed and not repent. Many men,
when death comes and takes a look at them, begin
to be alarmed. They get well and forget all about
it.
Repentance is not feeling. Mark that! There
are hundreds and thousands of people in Cleveland
who just have their arms folded and they are wait-
ing for some queer kind of feeling. They think
repentance is a certain kind of feeling; that they
have to feel very bad, very sorrowful — got to weep
a good deal, and then they will be in a condition to
come to God. Repentance is not feeling. A man
may feel very bad and not really repent. I venture
to say if you go down to Columbus to the state pen-
itentiary you cannot find a man in there that does
not feel sorry he got caught, awful sorry — shed a
great many tears in court on his trial. The trouble
is they are sorry they got caught. That is all.
They feel very bad they got caught. But there is
no true repentance ; no turning to God. Feeling is
360 REPENTANCE.
"not repentance. Last winter I preached seven
months to the convicts in the Maryland peniten-
tiary. I found men just the same under lock and
key that they are out. There were a great many
there in that prison who had passed through their
trial, been sentenced ten years or five years to the
penitentiary, that had no signs of repentance there
at all. They were very sorry they got caught.
They would like to get out very well, and perhaps
they would do the same thing right over when they
got out. That is not repentance at all.
A man ma}^ be dishonest in some business
transaction, and bring ruin upon himself and his
family; he may weep bitter tears for weeks and for
months, and yet not repent. But he is very sorry
he got caught. These defaulters are all sorry they
got caught. I do not know how many of them truly
repent. If they truly repent, God forgives them
whether man does or not. They may shed a great
many tears and not repent.
I tell you we have got to wake up to the fact that
repentance is not feeling. It is something higher,
deeper, broader than just mere sentiment or feel-
ing. A man may weep, and brush away the tears
and forget all about it.
And then repentance is not remorse. Judas had
remorse. He did not repent towards God. He was
filled with remorse and despair, and went out and
hung himself. That was not repentance. There is
a difference between remorse and repentance.
Then repentance is not penance. Some people
think they have got to put that in the place of re-
pentance. They think if they just do penance
they are all right. Suppose I go down to Lake Erie
REPENTANCE. 361
and stand all night up to my neck in the water till
daylight, is that repentance? Will I be more ac-
ceptable to God to-morrow night because I have
been down there in the lake all night and stood in
the water up to my neck? That is not repent-
ance.
Conviction is not repentance. A man may be con-
victed that he is wrong and not repent. I may re-
main for years under conviction and not repent.
Repentance is not praying. A great many peo-
ple think they are going to settle this question by
going off to pray and asking God to forgive them,
and they go right on living the same way they have
been living.
Repentance is not forming a few good resolu-
tions. It is not resolving that we will be better and
do better in the future and just go right on.
Repentance is not breaking off from some sin.
That is not repentance. Suppose a vessel has sprung
a leak. There are three holes in it. You stop up
two of them and leave one of them open. Down
goes the vessel. That is enough to sink it. And so
some men say, "Well, I will break off part of my
sins." Suppose you are guilty of a 'hundred and
break off ninety-nine of them and leave one, and go
on committing that one. That one is enough, my
friends.
If God drove Adam out of Eden on account of one
sin, do you think He will let you into the Paradise
above with one sin upon you? If God would not let
Adam stay in Eden — that earthly paradise — with
one sin upon him, do you think He is going to allow
sinners into that heavenly Paradise above with one
sin upon them? So, it is not just breaking off part
362 REPENTANCE.
of our sins and leaving part of them, but it is leav-
ing the whole of them.
Perhaps you say: "Then what is repentance? If
it is not fear, if it is not feeling, if it is not prayer,
and if it is not forming a few good resolutions and
doing penance, what is it?"
Listen, my friends. Repentance is turning right
about — in other words, as a soldier would call it,
"right about face." As some one has said, man is
born with his back towards God. When he truly
repents he turns right around and faces God. Re-
pentance is a change of mind. Repentance is an
after-thought.
Now, I might feel sorry that I had done a thing,
and go right on and do it over again. You see re-
pentance is deeper than feeling. It is action. It is
turning right about. And God commands all men
everywhere to turn.
Let me read to you here a verse or two from the
twenty-first chapter of the gospel according to
Matthew: "What think ye?" These are the words
of the Lord Jesus Christ. "What think ye? A
certain man had two sons ; and he said to them :
'Go work in my vineyard.' One of them said, 'I
will not go.' The other said, 'I will go, sir,' " and
went not. But the man that said he would not go
repented and changed his mind — an after-thought,
you see — and turned and went and did it. "Now,"
says Christ, "which of the two sons did his father's
will?" "Well, the man that repented." And
Christ just held that right up to the people. That
is what the Lord wants — to have a man turn right
about — not try to justify himself in his sin, but
acknowledge his sin, confess his sin, and turn from
REPENTANCE. 363
it; and the moment a man is willing to do that, that
moment God is ready and willing- to receive him.
Now, I think I can use an illustration that you can
get hold of. Suppose I want to go to Chicago to-
night. I go down to the depot. I do not know
much about the trains in Cleveland. I see a man
there whom I take to be connected with the depot,
and I ask him, "Is this train going right to Chi-
cago?" "Yes." I take my bag and jump right
aboard that train. I get comfortably seated and
my friend, Mr. Doan, comes down and he says:
"Mr. Moody, where are you going?" And I say,
"Going to Chicago." "Well, you are on the wrong
train. That train is going off to New York." "I
think you are wrong, Mr. Doan ; I just asked a man
who is a railroad man, and he told me this train was
going to Chicago." "Well, sir, I tell you you are
wrong. That train is not going to Chicago at all ;
it is going to take you right in an opposite direction.
That train is going off' to New York, and if 5^ou
want to go to Chicago, you must get out of that
train and get aboard another." 1 do not believe
him at first. "Well," he says, "but I have been here
in Cleveland for twenty-five years. I know all about
these trains. I go to Chicago and New York a dozen
times a year. I am constantly taking these trains.
I am having friends nearly every week that take
these trains, and I come down here, and I tell you
that I am right and you are wrong, sir. You are on
the wrong train." At last, Mr. Doan convinces me
that I am on the wrong train. That is conviction.
But, if I do not change trains, I will go to New
York in spite of my conviction. That is not repent-
ance. I will tell you what is repentance; grabbing
364 REPENTANCE.
my bag and running and getting on the other train.
That is repentance.
Now, you are on the wrong train, my friends, and
what you want is to change trains to-night. You
are on the wrong side of this question. You are for
the god of this world, and the world claims your in-
fluence. God commands all men now everywhere
to repent. Change trains! Make haste! There is
no time for delay ! It is a call that comes from the
throne of God for every man, woman and child in
this audience. Repent! If you die without repent-
ance, whose fault is it? God has called you; God
has commanded you, and if you will not obey that
command, if you will not repent, and you die in
your sins, no one is to blame but yourself, mark
that ! No one is to blame but yourself, for God has
commanded you.
Now, the question is, what will you do with this
command? Will you repent? Will you this very
night, and this very hour, change trains?
I will give you another illustration. There is go-
ing to be an election in this State to-morrow. Sup-
pose you belong to a party up till to-night and you
thought you were right; but to-night you become
convinced that the party you are in is wrong. You
become thoroughly convinced that if the party suc-
ceeds it is ruin to your state government. You are
a patriotic man and you love the government.
Now, some men say, "Can a man repent all at
once?" I say he can. A man may come in here
to-night a strong democrat, or he may come in here
a strong republican, and he may change inside of
twenty-four hours. You know that, don't you? If
you belonged to a party and you were thoroughly
REPENTANCE. 365
convinced to-night that you were in the wrong
party, do you tell me you could not change to-night
and join the other party and go out to the polls and
go to work to-morrow and be on the other side of
the question? You can do it if you will.
Now, my friends, we will not bring up this ques-
tion of parties. I have nothing to do with that, I
only use it as an illustration. There is one thing I
do know ; you are on the wrong side of this ques-
tion. If you are away from God, and if you are
fighting against the God of heaven, you had better
change trains at once, hadn't you? Do it to-night.
Make up your mind to-night that you will cast your
lot with God's people — that you will, just change
trains.
Look at that train the other night on the Michi-
gan Central road near Jackson. Do you tell me a
man cannot repent all at once? Do you tell me that
the engineer of that train could not have whistled
down brakes and turned that train back if he had
had three minutes? He could if he had had time.
He didn't have enough time. Look at that steamer
on the ocean. It is bearing down upon an iceberg.
It is going at the rate of twelve knots an hour in a
fog ; they cannot see a rod ahead. All at once they
reverse the steam. In a minute more they would
have gone on the iceberg, and all on that vessel
would have gone down. There was a minute when
they could have reversed the steam, and they just
seized the opportunity and saved all on board.
And so there is a moment, my friends, that you
can repent and turn to God, and there, is such a
thing as being a minute too late. Look at that
White Star Line steamer when five hundred were
366 REPENTANCE.
lost off the coast of Newfoundland. There was a
minute that they just crossed the line, as it were.
It was too late.
So you may neglect your soul's salvation, and you
may neglect to repent one day too long, and it will
be too late. God commands you to do it now. He
says "Except a man repent, he cannot see the king-
dom of God. " "Except ye repent, ye shall all like-
wise perish. " "Except ye repent." We have got
to enter through the door of repentance into the
kingdom of God. There is no other way. The
highest and the lowest, the richest and the poorest,
have all got to go in in the same way — on their
hands and knees.
I had a friend during the Chicago fire who got
into one of those lanes there, and he became so
stifled with smoke that he lay down to die. But as
he lay on the ground, he got beneath the smoke and
crawled out on his hands and knees. And I tell you
when a man gets on his knees and says, "God be
merciful to me a sinner," God will forgive him and
bless him. And so, if there is a person to-night in
this house that wants to be saved just now while I
am talking, say, "God helping me, this night I turn
my face toward heaven;" and if need be, God will
send legions of angels to help you fight your way up
to heaven.
Some men say they are afraid they will not hold
out. But God says, "My grace is sufficient for
thee." "As thy faith, so shall thy strength be."
God is not a hard master. "My yoke is easy and
my burden is light." When men make deep and
thorough work, and are willing to forsake all sin
and turn to God with all their hearts, God helps
REPENTANCE. 367
them ; then there is no trouble. God is not a hard
master.
Now, it is left to you, as I said last night. You
can turn if 5'ou will. The will comes in again. I
read some time ago an account of some wealthy man
who had an only son, who was a wild, reckless boy ;
but, although he was a wild, reckless boy, his father
loved him. When the father was dying, he had his
wiil made out, and he willed that boy all his property
on one condition, and that was that that boy should
repent of his sins. If the boy turned away from his
evil associates, and his past life, and became a
sober and an upright man, he should have all his
estate. All he had got to do was to enter into it.
The father put it in the hands of trustees on these
conditions, and all that boy had to do was to turn
from his past life, and his evil associates, and enter
into it. He loved his sins so he would not do it,
and he died in his sins. I do not know as I could
have a better illustration than that. We have got
an inheritance, incorruptible, kept in reserve for us,
and the moment a man is willing to turn from his
sins he can enter into that inheritance. God keeps
it in store for all that want it. But do not think for
a moment that you are going to enter into that in-
heritance— into those mansions Christ has gone to
prepare, with sin upon you. It is utterly out of the
question. In 5"our sins it is impossible for you to
enter into that inheritance. "Except ye repent ye
shall all likewise perish." We cannot get into the
kingdom of God without repentance, without turn-
ing from sin, without laying hold of His righteous-
ness and giving up our own.
So the question comes for us to settle, and it is a
368 REPENTANCE.
question we can settle if we wil]. We need not wait
for this kind of feeling or that kind. It is to obey.
Do you think God would command us to do some-
thing we could not do, and then punish us eternally
for not doing it? Do you think God would com-
mand all men now everywhere to repent, and not
give them power to do it? Do you believe it?
Away with such a doctrine as that! He would be
an unjust God if He commanded me to do some-
thing I could not do, and then punished me for not
doing it.
Suppose I should command my boy to leap a mile
at one leap, and if he did not do it that I would flog
him, and then because he didn't do it I flogged him,
what would you people in Cleveland say? You .
would not allow me to preach. You would say I
was an unjust man. There is one thing, we must
do as we preach about the love of God and mercy
of God; we have also to stand up for His justice.
He is a God of justice. God is not an unjust God.
He does not command us to do anything we cannot
do, and then punish us for not doing it. With the
command comes the power to obey. He said to the
man with the withered hand, "Stretch out thine
hand." The man might have said, "Well, Lord, I
have been trying to stretch out that hand for thirty
years, but I could not do it. ' ' But with the com-
mand came the power. He said, "Stretch out thine
hand," and out came the old withered arm, and
was made whole before it got out straight from his
body; and so men are blessed in the very act of
obedience. Not for just feeling or sentiment.
What God wants is to have us obey. What is it to
obey? It is to repent and bring forth fruit meet for
s °
M >p
REPENTANCE. 37I
repentance. What does that mean? If you cheat a
man out of five dollars, don't keep that five dollars.
Give it back. If you are going to repent and turn
to God, out with it! It don't belong to you. If
some young man cheats his wash-woman by not
paying his wash-bill, or goes off without paying
his boarding mistress, don't think you can repent
and turn to God without paying up every dollar,
and bringing forth fruit meet for repentance.
In John Wesley's day, there was a hard case that
came in among the Wesleys. He was one of the
wildest men in Wales. He had been a drinking
man for years. He used to take great pleasure in
defrauding men. He would drink and not pay for
his drinks. He would gamble, and not pay what he
had lost. He owed debts to nearly everybody. But
he was converted, and soon after he was converted
he had a little legacy left him, and he bought a
horse and saddle and he started, and went from
town to town and hunted up his old creditors and
paid them dollar for dollar. Then he would preach
in those towns, and tell them what great things God
had done for him. But he hadn't enough money
to go around and he sold the horse and saddle, and
he paid up the very last dime. It is to pay the last
dime — that is repentance. We want a revival of
righteousness here in the West. If we want any-
thing we want right living. We want a revival of
honesty. When the Bible says, "Bring forth fruit
meet for repentance," it means to make restitution.
If you ruin a man, do what you can to help that
poor fellow. If you have helped to pull any down,
do all you can to help him up. If it takes the last
21
372 REPENTANCE.
dollar 5'ou have got, you must pay it, where you
have taken from men dishonestly.
When Mr. Sankey and I were in a town or city
some time ago a man came to the inquiry room,
and great drops of perspiration stood upon his brow.
He was greatly excited and says, "Sir, I don't want
to talk with you before these people. Can't we get
off alone?" I took him off alone and he says, "The
trouble with me is I am a defaulter." "Well," I
said, "can you make restitution?" "No, sir; not
for the whole amount. " "How much is it?" "Fif-
teen hundred dollars." "How much can you pay
back?" "About nine hundred dollars. But," says
he, "if I pay that back, I will not have anything to
support my wife and children. ' ' I says, ' ' Well, it
don't belong to you, anyhow. You don't want it.
No man can prosper with stolen money. " Says he,
"I want your advice ; I have a chance to go into busi-
ness, and if I do not give back that money and go
into business, I think I can soon make up the $1,500
and pay it back." I said, "No, that is the devil's
work. Don't take that stolen money and go into
business. You will not prosper. God will turn
your way upside down. He will hedge it up. 'He
will turn the way of the wicked upside down.'
What you want is to go to the root of the matter.
Do right and God will bless you; but you can't ask
God's blessing with stolen money." I believe that
is the reason so many do not flourish — they can't ask
God's blessing upon their business on account of
some dishonest act; they have lied in selling goods
or something else. Says he, "I will disgrace my
wife and children if I come out and confess." I
said, "Not necessarily. You can do it through a
REPENTANCE. 373
tnird party. Not only that, but I think those men
you defrauded would forgive you if they saw true
signs of repentance." He said the terms were too
hard. I said when he went off, "The spirit of God
has hold of you. You will not sleep any. You will
not have rest until you pay back that money. It
will not only burn in your pocket, but burn in your
soul. " He went off, and the next day he came back
again, and he says, "Is there no other way?" Says
I, "There is no other way. You don't want any
other way. The right way is always the best
way." Still he wanted to take some other
way. Says I, "Do right, and let the consequences
be what they will." He says, "I am afraid if I go
back to those men they will just put me in prison."
I says, "You had better go into prison with a clear
conscience than be out with a guilty one. You won't
have any peace with a guilty conscience. I have
never heard of a man being put in prison that
wanted to do right. Now, let me get those two men
together and talk with them — see how they feel."
He slunk from that ; he said he could not do it. I
said, "You can if you will." Finally, he consented,
and we sent for the two men and got them in a room
alone. He brought to me a great, long envelope,
with $980.40 — took the last penny out of his wife's
pocket-book. "It is all there, is it?" says I. "Every
cent ; it is all there. ' ' Those two men were sitting
there in the room, and I took out the money and
laid it down and told them the story, and great
tears trickled down their cheeks. They said they
would like to forgive him, and I went down and
brought him up. It was one of the sweetest sights
of my life. Those two men got down and prayed
374 REPENTANCE.
with that man. The question was settled. Then
friends gathered around him and helped him. He
is now a successful business man. God forgave him
and his employers forgave him. He brought forth
fruit meet for repentance.
I believe the reason we do not have better work
in this country is because there is so much sham.
We do not go down to the bottom of things. O,
may God give us a revival of honesty ! Downright,
upright honesty! That is what we want — right liv-
ing! If it costs the right eye, out with it! That is
what repentance .means. It is not just mere senti-
ment— going to meeting and singing and praying
and having a good time, not squaring our life
according to Scripture. God is going to draw the
plummet line by and by, and He will have it right.
We may deceive our friends and deceive one an-
other, but let us keep in mind we cannot deceive
God. If we attempt to cover up some sin, some
dishonest act, and come to God with our prayers,
He will not accept them. They will not go higher
than our heads.
Some people say they cannot get an answer to
their prayers. If they would get down to the bot-
tom of things, they would find out the reason. They
would find that there was something not correct in
their lives. They have not made the work deep and
thorough. Let us pray for one thing in Cleveland,
let me ask the Christians in this house to-night to
pray for one thing, and that is that the Holy Ghost
may convict us all of sin. Let it begin in the pul-
pit. If there is any one thing that I want more than
anything else it is that God may show me everything
in my life that is contrary to His will, and that He
REPENTANCE. 375
will give me grace enough to turn from it. I would
rather do it — I would rather live so that God should
be pleased with me than to have the applause of the
world. I would rather live so that God could say,
"Well done, good and faithful servant," than just
to accumulate a little wealth down here and have
the applause of men for a few short years, and then
know that I had not pleased Him. When will we
wake up to the fact that it is more important to live
to please God than man?
And then how sweet our life will be, how pure
our conscience will be, if God has forgiven every-
thing, if we have brought everything to light, and
turned from our sins, and the work has been deep
and thorough!
■ But one thought more before I close, and that is,
what produces repentance? Paul says in the second
chapter of Romans, and the fourth verse: "Or de-
spisest thou the riches of His goodness and for-
bearance and long suffering; not knowing that the
goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?"
O, that the Lord may open our eyes to-night and
show us how good He has been to us all these
years!
Now, the world has a false idea of God. I will
venture to say there is not an unsaved man or
woman in this audience to-night, but has a false idea
of God, and the reason you cannot repent is because
you do not turn from that false idea. You have got
an idea that God hates you — is an enemy. That is
as false as any lie that ever came out of the pit of
hell. There is not any truth in it. God loves the
sinner. He so loved the world, He gave His only
begotten Son to save sinners. Christ died for the
376 REPENTANCE.
ungodly, not the godly ; for the sinner, not for the
righteous. I want to say to every poor lost soul in
this audience to-night : God loves you with an ever-
lasting love, although you may have hated Him,
and trampled his laws under your feet. He loves
you still. May the love of God to-night lead you to
repentance.
There is a story in English history of King Henry
and his rebellious son, who rose up in arms against
his father. The king was at last obliged to take his
army and pursue that rebellious son. He drove
him into a walled city in France, and while the poor
fellow was in that city the father was besieging it
for weeks and months. But the son fell sick, and
while he was sick he began to think of the goodness
and kindness of that father. At last it broke his
heart, and he sent a messenger to his father to tell
him that he repented of his past life in rebellion
and asked his father to forgive him. But the old
sire refused. He did not believe he was sincere.
When the messenger brought back that message
that his father would not forgive him, he requested
them to take him out of his bed and lay him in
sack-cloth and ashes and in that condition he would
die. When they told " his father of it and he went
to look at that boy and saw him in sack-cloth and
ashes, he fell on his face and cried as David did,
"O, my son, would God I had died for thee."
That father made a mistake. He did not know
that boy's heart. But God never makes any mis-
take. O, sinner, if you ask Him to-night for par-
don. He will pardon you. If you want the love of
God shed abroad in your heart turn away from sin
and see how quick He will receive you and how
quick He will bless you.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
EXCUSED.
I pray thee have me excused. Luke xvi. ig.
These three men that we read about to-night were
not invited to hear some dry stupid sermon or lec-
ture, but they were invited to a feast. The gospel
in this parable is represented as a feast, and there
was an invitation extended to these three men to
come to the feast. "And they all with one consent
began to make excuse." It does not say that they
had an excuse, but they made excuse — manufactured
one for the occasion.
Now excuses are as old as man. The first excuse
that we hear of was in Eden. The first thing we
hear after the fall of man, was man making excuse.
Instead of Adam confessing his guilt like a man,
he began to excuse himself — justify himself. That
is what every man is trying to do — justify himself
in his sins. Adam said, "It is this woman that thou
gavest me." He hid behind her — mean, cowardly
act. And it really was charging it back on God.
"It is the woman that thou gavest me." Blaming
God for his sin. From the time that Adam fell
from the summit of Eden to the present time, man
has been guilty of that sin, charging it back on God,
as if God was responsible for his sin and God was
guilty.
377
378 EXCUSED.
Now, I venture to say that if I should go down
among the congregation here to-night, every man
that has not accepted this invitation would be ready
with an excuse. You have all got excuses. You
would have one right on the end of your tongue.
You would be ready to meet me the moment I got
to you. If I met that excuse, then you would get
another and you would hide behind that. Then, if
I drove you out from behind that, you would get
another. And so you would go on, hiding behind
some excuse — making some excuse; and if you
should be cornered up and could not think of
one, Satan would be there to help you make one.
That has been his business for the past six thousand
years. He is very rjood to help man make excuses,
and undoubtedly he helped these three men we read
of here to-night. No sooner do we begin to preach
the gospel of the Son of God than men begin to
manufacture excuses. They begin to hunt around
to see if they cannot find some reason to give for
not accepting the invitation. Excuses are the cradle,
in other words, that Satan rocks men off to sleep in.
He gets them into that cradle of excuses that they
may ease their consciences.
But let me say to you, my friends, there is no man
or woman in this assembly to-night that can give an
excuse that will stand the light of eternity. All
these excuses that men are making are nothing but
refuges of lies after all. We read in the prophecy
of Isaiah that God shall sweep away these refuges
of lies. When a man stands before God he will not
be making excuses. His excuses will all be gone
then, and he will be speechless.
We read of that man that got into the feast with-
EXCUSED. 379
out a wedding garment, and when the Lord of the
feast came in he saw the man there. That man
perhaps thought he could get in with the crowd.
Some people say, "O, I will go with the crowd. "
He thought he could get in with the crowd, and he
would not be noticed. But that eye was keen to
detect one that had not on the wedding garment.
Do not think for a moment that God's eye is not
upon you?. He knows how all these excuses are
made. You cannot hide any thing from Him. You
may make excuses and put on a sort of garment, and
think you are justif}nng yourself in living away from
God and not accepting this invitation ; but really it
is nothing that will stand the light of eternity.
Things look altogether different when you stand
before Him,
Did you ever stop to think what would take place
in a city like Cleveland if God should take every
man and woman that wants to be excused at their
word, and should say, "I will excuse you." God
took those three men that we read of at their word.
He said, "Not one of them that were bidden shall
taste of my supper. " They spurned the invitation;
they turned their backs upon it; and then God
withdrew the invitation. "Not one of them that
were bidden shall taste of my supper. " ' Suppose
that that should take place in Cleveland, and then
by a stroke of Providence he should sweep every
man and woman in Cleveland that wants to be
excused from this feast into eternity. Suppose that
every man and woman that wanted to be excused
from this feast should die inside of twenty-four
hours. I think there would be plenty of room in
this tabernacle to-morrow night for all that want to
22
380 EXCUSED.
come. There would be a good many of your stores
closed to-morrow. There would be no one to open
them. Merchants, employes, clerks would all be
gone. Every saloon in Cleveland would be closed
up. Every rum-seller wants to be excused from this
feast. He can't get into the kingdom of God with a
rum bottle in his hand. "Woe be to the man that
putteth the bottle to his neighbor's lips." He
knows very well that if he accepts this invitation he
has got to give up his hellish traffic. Eyery blas-
phemer in Cleveland wants to be excused from this
feast, because if he accepts this invitation he has
got to give up his blasphemy. Every drunkard in
Cleveland, every harlot, every thief, every dishonest
man, every dishonest merchant would be gone.
They want to be excused from this feast. Why?
Because they have got to turn away from their sins
ii: they accept of this invitation. The longer I live
the more I am convinced that the reason men do
not come to Christ is because they do not want to
give up sin. That is the trouble. It is not their
intellectual difficulties. It is quite popular for
people to say that they have got intellectual diffi-
culties ; but if they would tell the honest truth it is
some darling sin that they are holding on to. They
are not willing to give up the harlot; they are not
willing to give up gambling ; they are not willing
to give up drinking, the lust of the flesh, the lust of
the eye, and the pride of life. That is the trouble.
It is not their intellectual difficulties as much as it
is their darling sin. The grass would soon be grow-
ing in your streets in Cleveland if God should take
every man at his v/ord and excuse him from this
feast and take him away. Things would look alto-
EXCUSED. 381
gfether different in your city inside of a week if God
should excuse you that want to be excused. And
yet the moment that God sends out His invitation
excuses just run right in. "I pray thee have me
excused. ' ' That is the cry to-day. Man prepares
his feast, and there is a great rush to get the best
seats. God prepares his feast — and what a feast it
is ! Think of it ! It is not often that common people
like you and me get an invitation to a royal feast.
There is many a man that has lived in Windsor
Castle for fifty years, and has never got sight of
Queen Victoria. There are men in London that
stand high, men of wealth, men of position who
never were invited into her palace. Men think it is
a great honor to be invited into a king's palace or
the palace of a queen. But here we are invited to
the marriage of the Lamb. We are invited by the
Lord of glory to come to the marriage of His only
begotten son, and men begin to make excuses. "I
pray thee, have me excused."
Now let us look for a moment at the excuses that
these three men gave. The first man might have
been very polite. wSome men are very polite. Some
are very gruff, and treat you with a great deal of
scorn and contempt. The moment you begin to talk
to them they say, "You attend to your business and
I will attend to mine. ' ' But I can imagine this man
was a very polite man and he said, "I wish you
would take back this message to your Lord, that I
would like to be at that feast. Tell him there is not a
man in the kingdom that would rather be there than
myself, but I am so situated that I can't come.
Just tell him I have bought me a piece of ground,
and that I must needs go and see it." Queer time
382 EXCUSED.
to go and see to land, wasn't it? Just at that supper
time. They were invited to supper, you see. But
he must needs go and see it. He had not made
a partial bargain and wanted to go and close
the bargain. He did not have that good excuse.
He had bought the land, and he must needs go
and see it. Could he not go and see this land the
next morning? Could he not have accepted this
invitation and then gone and seen his land? If he
had been a good business man, some one has said,
he would have gone and looked at the land before
he bought it. But the land was already bought, and
the trade made. He did not say, "I want to get
the deed on record, because I am afraid some one
else will get a deed of it, and get it on record first,
and I will lose it." He had not got that good an
excuse. The only excuse he had was, "I have
bought me a piece of ground and I must needs go
and see it." You will see it was a lie right on the
face of it. It was just manufactured to ease that
man's conscience. He did not want to go to the
feast, and he had not the common honesty to come
out with it and say, "I don't want to go to the feast,
but just take back word that I have bought me a
piece of ground and I must needs go and see it,"
and away he went. How many men are giving
their business as an excuse for not accepting this
invitation! You talk to them about things pertain-
ing to the kingdom of God, and they tell you they
have got to attend to business; that business is very
pressing. It does not say that this was a bad man.
He might have been as moral as any man in Cleve-
land. He might have held as high a position as any
man in Cleveland. He might have ridden in his
chariot. He might have been a very liberal man to
EXCUSED. 383
the poor. He might have been a very benevolent
man. He might have given his substance, but he
neglected to accept this invitation, and Christ teaches
us plainly that if we neglect this salvation how shall
we escape the damnation of hell.
People say, "What have I done? I have not got
drunk ; I have not murdered ; I have not lied ; I have
not stolen. What have I done?" I will take you on
the ground that you have not done anything — I will
not admit that for a moment, but suppose I take you
on that ground. If a man neglects salvation he will
be lost. You see a man in yonder river, his oars
lying in the bottom of his boat, and he is out there
in the current, his arms are folded, and the current is
quietly drawing him toward the rapids. Some one
warns him: "Say, friend, you are hastening toward
the rapids." "No, I am doing nothing, sir. My
arms are folded. What have I done?" "But you
are drawing toward the rapids." "I tell you, sir, I
am not ; I am doing nothing. ' ' You may try to
convince him but he will be blind. So indeed he is
not doing anything, but that current is quietly draw-
ing him toward the cataract, and in a few moments
he will go over. Many a man is flattering himself
that he is not doing anything, but let him neglect
salvation and he is lost.
The next man's excuse was one manufactured for
the occasion. It was not one whit better than the
excuse of the first man: "Take back word to thy
Lord that I cannot come. I have got pressing busi-
ness. I have bought five yoke of oxen and I must
needs go to prove them. " As if he had to prove his
oxen that night at supper time He had plenty of
time to prove his oxen. He had bought them.
384 EXCUSED.
They were in his stall. But the fact was, he was
like the first man ; he did not want to go and had not
the common honesty to say so, and so he says, "I
have bought five yoke of oxen, and I must needs go
and prove them. ' ' He must go right off that night
to prove them. That is his excuse. There is not a
child five years old that cannot see that that excuse
is just manufactured.
These men began to make excuse. They did not
have one — they manufactured excuses to ease their
consciences. It was nothing but a downright lie ;
that is what it was. Let us call things by their right
names. People think if they can make a sort of
plausible excuse they are justified. But these ex-
cuses are nothing but refuges of lies.
The third man's excuse is more absurd than the
others; "I have married me a wife, and therefore I
cannot come. ' ' Who likes to go to a feast better
than a young bride? He might have taken his wife
with him. He had no excuse. That was the ex-
cuse he was hiding behind. "I have married me a
wife, and therefore I cannot come. ' ' If his wife
would not go with him, he could let her stay at
home, and he could go. This has got to be a per-
sonal matter. We are not going to heaven in fam-
ilies, as I said last night. It is a thing between you
and your God. The invitation was extended to that
man as the head of his own house. He was priest
over his own household, and he had no excuse ; but
he just made up that excuse.
Now, there is nothing on record, you might sa)'',
against those three men. You might say there
were a good many things noble about those men.
It does not say that they were licentious; it does
EXCUSED. 385
not say that they were drunkards ; it does not say
that they were dishonest ; it does not say that they
were thieves, but they only made excuses so as not
to be at that feast. They did not want to accept of
the feast.
I notice some of you smile as I take up those three
excuses ; but I would like to ask this congregation
this question: Have you a better one? Come! I
see a young man laughing down there. Have you
a better excuse yourself? Come ! Eighteen hun-
dred years have rolled away, and they tell us we are
living in a very wise age, that we are living in a
very intellectual age, that men are growing much
wiser, and that we know a good deal more than our
fathers did; but with all men's boasted knowledge,
can you find a man to-day who has a better excuse
than those three men had? During the last three
years I have spent most of my time talking to peo-
ple about their salvation — their individual difficult-
ies, and I have yet to find the first man or the first
woman that can give me a better excuse than those
three men had. I tell you that man or that woman
cannot be found to-day. I will defy any man to
come forward to-night and give me a better excuse
than those three men had. The excuses men are
hiding behind to-day are fearful. There is not an
excuse that you would dare to give to God. Things
look altogether different when you come to stand
before Him.
Take a piece of paper, if you have it in your
pocket, and a pencil and write down, "Why should
I serve the God of this world? Second, Why should
I serve the God of the Bible?" Then put down
your reasons why you should serve the God of this
386 EXCUSED.
world, and your reasons why you should serve
the God of the Bible, and see how it looks; because
it is clearly taught that we either serve the God of
this world or the God of heaven. We cannot be
neutral. There is no neutrality about this matter.
We are either for God or against him. We cannot
serve God and mammon. We are either serving the
God of this world — that is, Satan — or we are serving
the God of heaven. The line is drawn. You may
not be able to see it, but God sees it. God knows
the heart of every man and woman in this assembly.
He knows all about us, and He sees right through
the excuses we make. He looks at the heart. He
does not look at the excuses you make. Those are
only from the tongue. They are only manufactured
in the head. He knows that the difficulty lies down
in the heart. It is because you will not come unto
Him It is not because men cannot come ; it is be-
cause men set their wills up against God's will, and
are not willing to yield.
One of the popular excuses of the present day is
this good old book, the Bible. It is amazing to hear
some men talk. I have touched upon this a num-
ber of times since I have come to Cleveland, but I
find as I come out West a good deal of infidelity ;
men profess to be infidels. It is astonishing to hear
them talk about the Bible — something they do not
know anything about. I can find scarcely one of
them that has ever looked into it and read it, and
who knows anything about it. They have heard
some infidel lecture — some scoffing, sneering man
come along caviling at the Bible, and they have
heard some few things that man has said, and they
bring them out on all occasions. They will not look
ta to
EXCUSED. 389
into that Book and ask God to help them to under-
stand it. If a man will be honest with God, God
will be honest with him. There is no trouble about
this Book ; the trouble is with the life.
Wilmot, the great infidel, as he lay dying, put-
ting his hand upon that Book, said, "The only thing
against that Book is a bad life." When a man has
got a bad record against him, he wants to get that
Book out of the way, because it condemns him ; that
is the trouble. The trouble is not with the Book ;
it is with your record and mine. Because that Book
condemns sin we want to get it out of the way. Men
do not like to be condemned; that is the trouble.
Then men say they cannot understand it. Well,
you and the Bible agree exactly. A man was tell-
ing me some time ago that he could not understand
the Bible. I said, "You and the Bible agree ex-
actly." He said, "I don't agree with the Bible at
all." "Well," I said, "you agree exactly," and I
referred him to a passage in the prophecy of Daniel
— "Many shall be purified and made white and tried;
but the wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the
wicked shall understand." That is what Scripture
says. If a man is living in sin, God is not going to
reveal to that man his secrets.
I would like to ask those men who are giving this
Bible as an excuse for not becoming Christians, who
wrote that book? Did bad men write it? It is a
very singular thing that they should write their own
condemnation, isn't it? How that book condemns
bad men ! Bad men would not write their own con-
demnation, would they? They do not do it nowa-
days, do they? They are the last ones to write their
390 EXCUSED.
own condemnation. Well, if good men wrote a bad
book, they could not be good, could they?
Now, it seems to me, that if a man will stop to
think a moment he will see that the trouble is not
with the book. The trouble is with himself. And
when a man bows to the will of God, that book be-
comes food to his soul. He can feed on it, then ;
there is something to feed on. He gets life from
it ; he gets power, and he gets something that tells
him how he can get victory over himself. I con-
sider that the greatest triumph a man can have in
this world. A man that knows how to rule himself
is greater than he that taketh a city. Look at the
misery and woe that has come into the world
through that one door — men and women that cannot
control themselves, that cannot control their tem-
pers, their lusts, their passions, and their appetites.
That book tells me how I can get victory over my-
self; and it is the only book in the wide world that
can tell a man how to get victory over himself. I
haven't time to dwell upon that excuse any longer.
There is another very common excuse, and I have
heard it in Cleveland as miich as any: "Why," they
say, "Mr, Moody, you know it is a very hard thing
to be a Christian — a very hard thing." When they
tell me that I like to ask them, "Which is the hard-
est master, the devil" — for we will call him by his
right name, because every man that serves not the
Lord Jesus Christ, and will have nothing to do with
the God of the Bible, is serving the god of this
world. "Now, which is the easiest master?"
Christ says that His yoke is easy and His burden
is light. Now, you go right along and say, "That
is a lie." You don't say it right out in plain Eng-
EXCUSED. 391
lish, but we may as well talk plainly to-night. When
you say it is hard to be a Christian you say that God
is a liar ; that it is an easier thing to serve the god of
this world than it is the God of the Bible. Now, I
want to say that I consider that one of the greatest
lies that ever came out of the pit of hell; and how
Satan can stand up in this nineteenth century and
make men believe he is an easier master than the
God of heaven, is one of the greatest mysteries of
the present day.
"The way of the transgressor is hard. " Blot it
out if you can. Close up that book, and you will
see the evidence of that fact all around you. There
is not a day passes but you can read upon the pages
of the daily papers, "The way of the transgressor
is hard. ' ' I wish I could drive that lie back into
hell where it came from.
You go over to the Tombs in New York city and
you will find a little iron bridge running from the
police court where the men are tried right in the
cell. I think the New York officials have not been
noted for their piety in your time and mine ; but
they had put up there in iron letters on that bridge,
"The way of the transgressor is hard. " They know
that is true. Blot it out if you can. God Almighty
said it. It is true. "The way of the transgressor is
hard." On the other side of that bridge they put
these words, ' ' A bridge of sighs. ' ' I said to one of
the officers, "What did you put that up there for?"
He said that most of the young men (for most of
the criminals are young men. "The wicked don't
live out their days" — Put that in with it) — he said
most of the young men as they passed over that iron
bridge went over it weeping. So they called it the
392 EXCUSED.
Bridge of Sighs. "What made j^ou put that other
there — 'The way of the transgressor is hard?' "
"Well," he said, "it is hard. I think if you had
anything to do with this prison you would believe
that text, 'The way of the transgressor is hard.' "
If a man will just look around him and keep in
mind this one truth, "The way of the transgressor
is hard," he will be thoroughly convinced inside of
twenty-four hours that that passage of Scripture is
true. It is not that God's service is hard. The
trouble with men is they are trying to serve God
with the old Adam nature. They are trying to
serve God before they are born of God. Now^ to
tell a man in the flesh to serve God in the spirit,
who is a Spirit, I would just as soon tell a man
to try to jump over the moon and expect him to
do it. He cannot do it. The natural man is not
subject to the law of God and neither indeed can
be. You are not to try to serve Gou until you are
born of God, until you are born again, born from
above, until you are born of the Spirit ; and when a
man is born of the Spirit the yoke is easy and the
burden is light. I have been in the service upwards
of twenty years, and I want to testify to-night that
my Master is not a hard Master. What say you
ministers here to-night? Do you find him a hard
Master? Speak out. I thought you would say so.
Ah, my friends, He is not a hard Master. I want
to have you remember that. No, He is not a hard
Master. That is one of the lies coming from the
pit. "My yoke is easy and my burden is light. "
When a man submits his heart and will to God —
takes Christ into his heart and lives a life of faith,
it is delightful.
EXCUSED. 393
Now, I will tell you a good way to get at this.
Put you people into a jury box. Just imagine you
are on a jury to-night. I will take the most faithful
follower the Lord Jesus has got in Cleveland. I
don't know who the person is, it may be a man or
woman that the papers, perhaps, have no record of.
God knows where His loved ones are. It may be
some poor person off in some dark street, but it is
one who has great faith and walks with God, whose
life is as pure and spotless and blameless as any per-
son that you can find; one that has been living with
Jesus Christ, say fifty years. Let that person come
up on this platform to-night and speak out and
testify. You will see in his face that he has not had
a hard Master. There will be no wrinkles in that
brow. There will be light in the eye, there will be
peace stamped upon that brow, joy beaming from
that countenance. He need not speak; let that per-
son stand here and by his face he will show he has
had a good Master and an easy Master.
Now, find the most faithful follower that the devil
has got in Cleveland. Let him or her come up here.
Ah! you need not speak. I think you would say
"that is enough." You can tell by the looks, for
the devil puts his mark upon his own. He stamps
the mark deep. Men may try to get rid of it, but
they carry the mark. And the Lord Jesus puts his
stamp upon his own. You take the two and draw
the contrast and see if that lie that has come from
Satan is not as great a lie as ever was told — that
our Lord is a hard Master. When people say they
would like to become a Christian, but it is a hard
thing to be a Christian, they virtually say God is a
hard Master and Satan is an easy one.
394 EXCUSED.
Now do you think it easy to go against your own
convictions? Because that is what men do. They
have to stifle conscience to serve the god of this
world and turn the back on the God of the Bible.
Do you think it is an easy thing to go against your
own judgment? For if a man will just stop and con-
sult his judgment, his judgment will tell him that
the safest, and wisest, and best thing he can do is
to believe on the God of the Bible. Is it an easy
thing to go against the advice and wishes of the best
friends you have got? There is not a person in this
congregation to-night that has got a true friend that
would not advise him to serve the God of heaven.
A man or woman that would advise you to serve the
god of this world would be the worst enemy you
could have. They would make the world dark and
bitter. Is it an easy thing to trample a mother's
prayers under your feet? to break a mother's heart
and send her dov/n to an untimely grave? That is
easy, is it? Ah ! many a man has done it. You call
that easy. Is it easy to go against the very best
counsel and advice you have from the best and most
loved friends you have got? Hear what the Master
said to Saul: "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
It is hard for thee" — he did not talk about its being
hard for the disciples that Saul was going to put in
prison, and, perhaps, have them stoned to death like
Stephen. It was not as hard for Stephen to be
stoned to death as it was for Saul to persecute him.
"Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard
for thee to kick against the pricks." It is hard for
a man to contend with his Maker. It is hard for a
man to fight against the God of the Bible. It is an
unequal controversy. It is an unequal battle, and
EXCUSED. 395
God is going to have the victory. It is folly for a
man to attempt to fight against the God of that
Bible.
Mr. Spurgeon uses this parable of a tyrant order-
ing a subject into his presence and saying to him :
"What is your occupation?" "I am a blacksmith."
"Well," says he, "I want you to go and make a
chain a certain length, ' ' and he gave him nothing
to make it with, "and on a certain day I want you
to bring it into my presence." That day came.
The blacksmith appeared with his chain. The
tyrant says: "Take that chain and make it twice
that length." He took it, worked a long time and
made it twice the length, and brought it back. The
tyrant says: "Take that chain and make it twice the
length." He made it twice the length and he had
to get friends to help him get in the presence of the
tyrant, and when he brought it back the tyrant says
to his men standing around, "Take that man and
bind him hand and foot and cast him into a dun-
geon;" and, says Mr. vSpurgeon, "That is what every
man that is serving the god of this world is doing
— forging the chain that is going to bind him. ' ' A
man goes into a saloon and takes a social glass.
You step up and tell that man of his danger ; that
he is binding himself, and that by and by he will be
bound hand and foot, and he will laugh you to
scorn and mock you ; but he goes on adding link
after link to that chain. By and by the tyrant has
got him bound, and he says: "Now, let us see you
assert your freedom. " Men say they don't want to
give up their freedom. There is no freedom until
a man knows the Lord Jesus Christ. A man is a
396 EXCUSED.
slave to sin, to his passions and lusts until Christ
snaps the fetters and sets him free.
There was a man I used to know in Chicago that
I talked to a great many times about drinking. He
was a business man. He used to say: "I can stop
when I please." One night I went out, and my
family heard a strange noise. We lived on the cor-
ner. They heard him coming down the side street
and he made an unearthly noise, and my wife said
to the servants, "Are the doors locked?" He came
around to the front door and tried to burst the door
open. My wife says, "What do you want?" "Oh,"
he says, "I want to see your husband." "Well, he
has gone down to the meeting. ' ' Away he started.
I was walking down to the church and he went by
me. He was running so fast he could not stop.
He went on a rod or two and came back. The poor
fellow was nearly frightened out of his life. He
says, "I have got to die to-night." "Oh, no, you
are not going to die. " "I have got to die to-night. ' '
"Why," says I, "what is the trouble?" and I found
the man had drank so much that he was under the
power of the enemy. I saw what his trouble was.
"Why," he says, "Satan is coming to my house
to-night to take me to hell," and says he, "I have
got to go. " I begged of him to let me stay till one
o'clock. He told me at one o'clock he will be back
after me. I said, "He. will not come after you."
"He will; there is no chance of my getting away
from him. He is coming!" Well, I couldn't con-
vince that man. Poor man ! He had been serving
the god of this world, and now he was reaping what
he had been sowing. On that night I had six men
come to that man's house and at one o'clock those
EXCUSED. 397
six men could not hold him. "Look there! see
him! There they are! They are after me! He is
taking me ! He is going to take me to hell ! He is
after me!" I thought that man would really die.
Poor man! He is one of those men that thought
God a hard master and the devil was one that was
easy. That is the way the devil serves his subjects.
Reaping time is coming. Poor man, he suffered
untold agonies that night. Yet men, with all these
witnesses around them, will go on drinking. A
young man will go from this Tabernacle to-night,
and go down to a saloon and order a glass and drink,
and go on drinking, until by and by delirium seizes
him and the snakes crawl around his body, and
would seem as if death would lay right hold of him.
I can't describe it. It would take some of these men
that have been there to tell you about it. Oh, tell me
that the devil is an easy master and that God is a
hard one! Away with that lie; away with that
excuse. My friends, never give it as long as you
live. It is false.
When I was in Paris I saw a little oil painting,
only about a foot square ; it was at the Paris Exposi-
tion in 1867. I was going through the Art Gallery,
and on that painting there was a little piece of
white paper that attracted my attention. I went
and looked at that white paper, and it said, "Sow-
ing Tares," and there was the most hideous counte-
nance I think I ever saw. A man was taking out
a handful of seed, sowing tares all around him, and
wherever a tare dropped there grew up some vile
reptile, and they were crawling up his body and all
around him. Off in the distance was a dark thicket,
and prowling around the borders of that forest were
398 EXCUSED.
wild beasts, and that hellish and fiendish look!
What a fearful thing it is for a man to sow tares
when he is going to reap them. And yet man
goes on sowing with a liberal hand, and laughs and
scoffs when we warn him and tell him what he is
coming to by and by. The papers are full of it. I
sometimes think these papers ought to preach the
Gospel to the people — ought to warn them to flee
from the wrath to come.
Look at that case we have just had in a court in
New Jersey. Look at that poor man. For four
long days the jury has been out. I don't know
when my heart has been more touched than when I
read that scene in court, when those little children
climbed up on their father's knee and said, "Papa,
papa, come home. Mamma cries so much now you
are away." The law had him. Poor man! He
reaped what he sowed. He had an uncontrollable
temper. He took his weapon and shot down a
coachman because he got mad with him. He never
will get over it. He never can step back into the
place where he was. The jury may acquit him.
Poor man ; he has got to reap a bitter, bitter reap-
ing; what an awful thing sin is; and yet men will
stand up with all these facts around them and tell
you God is a hard master and the devil an easy one.
Let us look at the scene in the court. A young
man just coming into manhood, twenty-one, promis-
ing, talented, gifted, beautiful young man, an only
son ; but he has been out drinking, and in a drunken
spree helped, kill a man, and now he is on trial for
his life. In that court sit his father and mother
and three lovely sisters. That is the only brother
they have got. That is the only son they have got.
EXCUSED. 399
The jury bring in the verdict, guilty; the man is
sentenced to the penitentiary for life.
And with all these facts people stand up and say
God is a hard master and the devil is an easy one.
O, that the God of heaven may open our eyes
to-night to show us how wicked it is to give these
excuses, and that we will have to answer for them
at the bar of God — for a person with an open Bible
to say that God is a hard master and that Satan is
an easy one.
I remember of closing a young men's meeting in
Chicago a few years ago, when a young man got up
and said, "Mr. Moody, would you allow me to say a
few words?" And I said, "Say on." "Well," said
he, "I want to say to these young men, that if they
have friends that care for them, and friends that
love them, and that are praying for them — I want
to say you had better treat them kindly, for you
will not always have them. I want to tell you some-
thing in my own experience. I was an only son,
and I had a very godly father and mother. No
young man in Chicago had a better father and
mother than I had ; and because I was an only child,
I suppose, they were very anxious for my salvation^
and they used to plead with me to come to Christ.
My father many a time at the family altar used to
break down in his attempt to pray for his only boy.
At last my father died, and after my father died,
my mother became more anxious than ever that I
should become a Christian. Sometimes she would
come and put her loving arms around my neck and
say, 'My boy, if you were only a Christian, I would
be so happy. If you would take your father's place
at the family worship, and help me worship God, it
400 EXCUSED.
would cheer your mother. ' I used to push her away
and say, 'Mother, don't talk to me that way; I don't
want to become a Christian yet, I want to see some-
thing of the world. ' Sometimes I would wake iip in
the night and hear my mother praying, 'O, God,
save my boy'!' and it used to trouble me, and at last
I ran away to get away from my mother's influence,
and away from her prayers. I became a wanderer.
I did not let her know where I went. When I did
hear from home indirectly, I heard that that mother
was sick. I knew what it meant. I knew it was
my conduct that was crushing that mother and
breaking her heart, and I thought I would go home
and ask her forgiveness. Then the thought came
that if I did I would have to become a Christian,
and my proud heart would not yield. I would not
go. Months went on, and I heard again indirectly.
I believe that if my mother had known where I was
she would have come to me. I believe she would
have gone around the world to find her boy. And
when I heard that she was worse, the thought came
over me that she might not recover, and I thought
that I would go home and cheer her lonely heart.
There was no railway in the town, and I had to
take the stage. I got into town about dark. The
moon had just begun to shine. My mother lived
back about a mile and a half from the hotel, and I
started back on foot, and on my way I had to go by
the village grave-yard. When I got to it I thought
I would go and see if there was a new-made grave.
I can't tell why, but my heart began to droop, and
as I drew near that spot I trembled. By the light
of the moon I saw a new-made grave. For the first
time in my life this question came stealing over me.
EXCUSED. 401
Who is goinjj to pray for my lost soul now? Father
has gone and mother is dead. They are the only
two that ever cared for me, the only two that ever
prayed for me. I took up the earth and saw that
the grave was a new-made grave ; I saw that my
mother had just been laid away; and, young men, I
spent that night by my mother's grave. I did not
leave it until daybreak ; but as the morning sun
came up, right there by my mother's grave, I gave
myself away to my mother's God, and then and
there settled the great question of eternity, and I
became a child of God. I never will forgive myself.
I murdered that sainted mother."
Poor man ! He was reaping what he sowed. Tell
me that the way of the transgressor is easy ! Tell
me that God is a hard Master, and that the devil is
an easy one! Young men, take the God of your
mother; take the God of the Bible to be your God.
Set your faces like a flint towards heaven to-night,
and it will be the best night of your life. I wish I
could say something to induce you to come to
Christ. I wish I could see souls pressing into the
kingdom of God. May the God of all grace touch
every heart here to-night.
CHAPTER XXIX.
NO ROOM FOR HIM.
And they laid him in a manger, because there was no room
for them in the inn. — Luke ii. 7.
For four thousand years the Jews had been look-
ing for this child. Away back in Eden before
Adam and Eve were driven out, God had promised
that the seed of the woman should bruise the ser-
pent's head. And from Adam, all along down the
ages, they had been looking out into the mist and
into the future for this child. The prophets had
prophesied of his coming and the nation had been
in expectation. They were studying at that very
time the prophecies to find out when he would ap-
pear. And the first thing that we hear when He
comes to this country, there was not room for Him
in that little inn at Bethlehem. He might have
come with all the pomp, and the glory and grandeur
of the upper world. Perhaps if He had come with
the glory of the angels, and the glory of the Father,
and His own glory as He will by and by, the nation
would have received Him then, because there would
have been something that would have pleased the
flesh. • But the idea of His coming in such lowli-
ness, the idea of His coming in such humility — the
natural man did not like it.
Just think for a moment what He came for : He
402
NO ROOM FOR HIM.' 403
came to give rest to the weary ; to seek and to save
that which was lost ; to give sight to the blind ; to
help those that needed help ; to reveal the Father ;
to bring peace where there was trouble ; to heal the
broken-hearted. And yet there was not room for
him!
When the Prince of Wales visited this country, a
few years ago, there was plenty of room for him.
There was not any part of this nation that was not
glad to give him a welcome. Every city was anx-
ious that he should visit them. Every town and
village and hamlet was open, and would have given
him a royal welcome if he would have come to their
place. When the princes of Europe have come to
this country, what a welcome they have had. 'Al-
though this is a republican government, yet we have
been willing to give the princes of earth a welcome.
And yet when the Prince of Heaven came down
into this world, what a welcome did He receive?
They laid Him in the manger, because there was no
room for Him in the inn. But I can imagine some
one says: "They did not know Him. If they had
known who He was they would have given Him a
welcome." I think you are greatly mistaken, be-
cause we read that when the wise men arrived from
the East in Jerusalem, and said to the king, "Where
is He that is born King of the Jews?" not only Her-
od, but all Jerusalem was thrown into trouble.
Herod told those wise men to go down into Bethle-
hem and inquire diligently about the young child,
and bring him word, that he, too, might go down
and worship the child. A lying hypocrite! He
wanted to slay the child.
Not only Jerusalem closed her doors against Him,
404 NO ROOM FOR HIM.
but when He went back to Nazareth, where He was
brought up, and brought the best news that was
ever brought to any town — when He went back to
Nazareth with the glorious gospel of God, Nazareth
did not want Him. They took Him out of the Syn-
agogue ; they took Him to the brow of the hill, and
they would have hurled Him into perdition if they
could. They did not want Him. There was not
room for Him.
But, my friends, it is a very common saying now
that the world has grown wiser and better, that we
have been improving, and that if Christ should re-
turn, things would be different, that we are in light,
and that He came in a dark age, that He was not
then welcome, but He would be now.
But I would like to ask you to think for a little
while. What nation would give Him a welcome
now? Do you know of any? They call America a
Christian nation, but has America room for the Son
of God? Does America want Him? Suppose it
could be put to a popular vote ; do you suppose this
nation would vote to have Him come and reign?
He would not carry a ward in this city; you know
it very well. He would not carry a town or a pre-
cinct in the United States; you know it very well.
A great many of your so-called Christians would
say, "We don't want Him, we are not ready."
Things would have to be straightened up, and there
would be a great change if Christ should come.
The way men are doing business, I think, would
have to be straightened out. Business men don't
want Him. You put it to the commercial men of
the present day, and do you think they would want
Him? Do you think all the tricks in trade would
NO ROOM FOR HIM. 407
be carried on if He were here? Do you think all
this rascality that is going on at the present day
under the garb of commerce — a great many very
noble men are engaged in it — but do you think they
want Him to come? When He comes He is going
to reign in righteousness. I would like to have you
tell me to-night of any class of people that would
like to have Him come back. Do you think your
politicians would want Him? Do you think the
Republican party would want Him? Do you think
they would give Him a welcome? Do you think
the Democratic party would want Him? What
Vv^ould they do with Him? They have not got room
for Him; they do not want Him. All this rascality
that is carried on in politics would have to be done
away with if He came to reign in righteousness.
Does your fashionable society want Him — what
they call the "upper ten" of the present time? Go
up on one of your avenues to some fashionable
party, and see it they want Him. Begin to talk there
about a personal Christ, and how precious He is to
the soul, and you will not be invited a second timxe.
They do not want Him, and they do not want you
if you live godly in Christ Jesus.
The fact is, there is not any room down here for
the Son of God. Let a man get up in Congress and
say, "Thus saith the Lord," and they will hoot him
out of it. Do you think all this trickery and rascal-
ity that is carried on in halls of legislation would go
on if Christ should reign in righteousness — men
selling their votes, men buying votes?
If you will stop and think a little while you will find
that not only this country, but no other country, wants
Him. Do you think England wants Him? I think
23
408 NO ROOM FOR HIM.
that hellish traffic of liquor would have to be given
up ; the opium trade with China, and a great many
other things would have to be given up. That is
called a Christian nation. Let a man get up in Par-
liament and say, "Thus saith the Lord," and he
would be hooted down. The cry of the nation is,
"Who is the Lord that we should obey Him?" The
voice of the king of Egypt has been echoing through
the world ever since. The world has not room for
Christ.
When He was here and went from village to vil-
lage, and from town to town. He did not receive a
welcome ; they did not want Him.
Eighteen hundred years have passed since then ;
His Gospel has been proclaimed over hill and dale ;
men have gone across seas and deserts and into all
lands proclaiming the Gospel of Christ Jesus, and
yet there are a great many people right within the
sound of the Gospel that do not want Him. The
moment that you begin to preach about the Son of
God they put on a long face, as if you had brought
them a death warrant ; makes them gloomy. Oh !
how the devil has deceived the world! How men
are under the power of the god of his world!
Jesus Christ did not come to cast us down, but to
lift us up. He did not come to make life dark and
gloomy; he came to make life sweet and beautiful;
and when people make room in their hearts for the
Son of God he will light them up. The heart that
is sad and cast down will be light and joyful. He
came to bless the world. He that was rich became
poor for your sake and mine. He might have come
with all the pomp and glory of that upper world.
He might have been born in a palace and fed with
NO ROOM FOR HIM. 409
a golden spoon. But He passed by palaces and
went into a manger, that He might get down into
sympathy with the poorest and the lowest. His
cradle was a borrowed one. The guest chamber
where they instituted the supper was a borrowed
one.
The beast upon which He rode into Jerusalem
was a borrowed one. The only time we hear of
His riding was on a borrowed beast. We find also
that the sepulcher that they laid Him in was a bor-
rowed one. The house He lived in was a hired one
or a borrowed one. He that was rich and had all
the glory of that upper world, who Himself created
the world, became poor for your sake and mine.
He laid aside all the honor and glory He had in
that upper world; He laid aside those robes and
came down here and tasted of poverty for your sake
and mine, and yet the world turn up their noses
and say, "I have no desire for Him; I don't want
Him." There is a passage in the 7th of John — I
think the 7th and 8th chapters never should have
been divided — the 7th chapter closes up in this way
— he had been lifting the standard very high that
day, and many of his disciples left him. "Every
man went into his own house, and Jesus went to
the Mount of Olives," the opening of the 8th chap-
ter says. I can imagine that night was one of those
lonely nights. He came into the world to bless the
world, and the world didn't want to be blessed.
He came to do men good, and they didn't want to
receive any thing from Him. "And every man
went into his own house. ' ' Every door in Jerusalem
that night was closed against Him. At one time he
said, "The foxes have holes, the birds of the air
410 NO ROOM FOR HIM.
have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to
lay His head." Think of it — the little bird you see
flitting by you has its nest — its home ; the fox has
its hole, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay
His head. I used to think I would like to have
lived in that day. I would like to have had a
home in Jerusalem to have invited Him to be my
guest, and to sit at His feet as Mary did, and let
Him talk to me. But I suppose if I had lived at
that day my door would have been closed against
Him. But I remember thinking over it some time
ago, and the thought came stealing over me: There
is one place I can give the Son of God a welcome —
just one place, and that is my heart. It is the only
place He wants to dwell. Now if we make room in
our hearts for Him, He will gladly come and dwell
with us.
There was a woman right in the midst of this
darkness, when many disciples left Him, who came
and invited Him to her home — a woman by the
name of Martha. I can imagine Martha coming
from Bethany one day, and going to Jerusalem to
the temple to worship, when the great Galilean
Prophet came in, and she listened to His words,
who spake as never man spake. And as the words
fell from his lips they fell upon Martha's ear, and
she says: "Well, I will invite Him to my house. "
It must have cost her something to do that. Christ
was unpopular. There was a hiss going up in Jeru-
salem against Him. They called Him an impostor.
The leading men of the nation were opposed to
Him. They said He was Beelzebub, the lord of
filth. They said He was an impostor, and a de-
ceiver. And vet Martha invites Him to her home.
NO ROOM FOR HIM. 411
I hope there will be some Martha here to-night who
will invite Him to her home, to be her guest. He
will make your home a thousand times better home
than it has ever been before.
Martha invited Him home with her. We read of
His going often to Bethany. That one act will live
forever. The noblest, the best, the grandest thing
Martha ever did was to make room in her home for
Jesus Christ. Little did she know when she invited
the Son of God to become her guest who He was;
and when we receive Jesus Christ into our hearts,
little do we know who He is. He is growing all the
while. It will take all eternity to find out who He
is.
There was a dark cloud then over that home in
Bethany. Martha didn't know it. Mary did not
see that cloud. It was fast settling down upon that
home. It was soon going to burst upon that little
family. The Savior knew all about it. He saw
that dark cloud coming across that threshold. We
read that He often lodged there. But a few months
after He became their friend and guest, Lazarus
sickened. The fever laid hold of him. It might
have been typhoid fever. You can see those two
sisters watching over that brother. The family
physician is sent for to Jerusalem, and he comes out
and does everything he can to restore him to life
and health ; but he sank lower and lower. Some of
us know what it is when the doctor comes in and
feels the pulse, begins to look very serious, and takes
you off into another room, away from the patient,
and tells you it is a critical case. Martha and Mary
passed through that experience. There was no
hope, and Lazarus must die. They thought if Jesus
412 NO ROOM FOR HIM.
were only there he would rebuke this disease. He
might keep death from taking away their only
brother. They sent a messenger a good ways off to
tell Jesus his friend was sick, and this was the mes-
sage: "He whom Thou lovest is sick. " They do
not ask Him to come. They knew Jesus loved
him, and He would come if it was for their good.
The messenger at last returned. He found Christ
and delivered his message. When he got back, he
found that that cloud had burst upon that little
home; that Lazarus was dead and buried. I see
those two sisters as they gather around the messen-
ger. They said, "Did you find Him?" "Yes, I
found Him." "What did He say?" "He said the
sickness was not unto death, and He would come
and see him;" and for the first time I see faith
beginning to stagger. Mary says, "Are you sure
you understood Him? Did He say the sickness was
not unto death?" "Yes." "Are you quite sure?"
"Yes." "Well," says Mary, "that is strange. If
He is a prophet, He should have known that he was
dead. Elijah would have known it. If He was a
prophet, why He must have known it. You hadn't
been away from the house an hour before Lazarus
died. He was dead when you met Him." "Well,
that is what He told me. He said He would come
here and see him." I see those two sisters as they
kept watching for that friend to come and comfort
them. How long those nights must have been as
they watched and waited. I can imagine they did
not sleep through the night. They listened to hear
a footfall. The next day they watched and He did
not come. The second night passed and He did not
come. The third day came and He did not come.
NO ROOM FOR HIM. 413
The fourth day came and a messenger came run-
ning in and says, "Martha, Jesus and His Apostles
are just outside of the walls of the city. He is com-
ing on toward Bethany." Martha runs out and
says, "If Thou hadst been here my brother had not
died. Thou wouldst have kept death away from
our dwelling. " Jesus answered, "But thy brother
shall rise again. ' *
I would give more for such a friend than all the
infidels in America. I would rather have such a
friend than have the wealth of the world. When
death has come and taken my wife and taken my
children, to have a voice say to me, "I am the
resurrection and the life. He that believeth in Me,
though he were dead, yet shall he live. " Little did
Martha know whom she was entertaining when she
invited Christ into her home. The world has been
sneering at Martha ever since, but it was the grand-
est, the sublimest and noblest act of her life. Oh,
my friends, make room for the Son of God in your
homes. Let the world go on mocking and scoffing.
The hour will come when the cloud will burst on
your homes, when death will come down in your
dwelling and take away a loved mother, a loved
child, a loved father. Then what is your infidelity
and atheism? But the words of the Son of God,
how they comfort then: "Thy brother shall rise
again." "Yes, I know that," says Martha. He
had probably taught them of the resurrection. "I
know he will rise again, for he was such a good
brother. He will rise at the resurrection of the
just." Says the Son of God, "I am the resurrection
of the just. I carry the keys with Me. I have the
keys to death and the grave." And He says,
414 NO ROOM FOR HIM.
"Where is Mary? Go call her." I hope there is
some Mary here that will hear the voice of the Son
of God call to-night. They ran and told Mary Jesus
was there. I suppose Mary and Martha talked it
all over, for Mary came out and said the same
words: "If Thou hadst been here my brother had
not died." "Thy brother shall rise again." "Yes,
I know he will rise in the resurrection of the just."
"I am the resurrection of the just. Where have
you laid him?" Look at that company as they
went along towards the grave-yard. These two sis-
ters are telling about the last words and last acts of
Lazarus. Perhaps Lazarus left a loving message
for Jesus. You know what that is. When you go
to see friends who are mourning, how they will
dwell upon the last words and the last acts of the
departed one. You see Martha and Mary weeping
as they went along toward the grave, and the Son
of God wept with them. He had a heart to weep
with those who wept, and to mourn with those who
mourned. He is touched with a feeling of our infir-
mities. He can comfort us in a time of sorrow.
He said, "Where have you laid him?" And they
said, "Come and see." And they led the way.
He said to his disciples, "Take away the stone. "
And again those sisters' faith wavered, and they
said: "Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he has
been dead four days." They did not know who
their friend was, and when they rolled away that
stone, Christ cried with a loud voice to his old
friend: "Lazarus, come forth?" and Lazarus then
leaped out of that same sepulcher and came forth.
Some old divine said it was a good thing He singled
out Lazarus, for there is such power in the voice of
NO ROOM FOR HIM. 415
the Son of God that the dead shall hear his voice
and if He had not called Lazarus by name all the
dead in that grave-yard would have come forth. O !
what blindness and downright folly for a man or
woman to be ashamed of Jesus Christ ! O ! make a
friend of Him who has the keys of death ; who has
the power to raise our dead friends ! Your own time
is coming. The hour is coming when the dead
shall hear the voice of the Son of God and come
forth. It seemed to just pain the heart of the Son
of God when he was down here, to find so few people
that wanted Him. We read of his looking toward
heaven, sighing as he looked toward that world
where all honored and loved Him, and it seemed as
if He just sighed for home. As He looked around
Him, He could see what death was doing. He
could see what sin was doing. There was death
behind Him, on the right hand and on the left; yet
they were so few that wanted Him, so few cared for
Him. He seemed to look toward that world and
sigh — just longed for the time that God's will should
be done on earth as it is up there in heaven.
I would like to ask this congregation, did you ever
have this feeling come over you that no one wanted
you? I had it once. I remember, when I left my
mother and went off to Boston. I want to say, if a
man wants to feel that he is alone in the world, he
don't want to go off in the wilderness where he can
have himself for company, but let him go into some
of these metropolises or large cities, and let him pass
down the streets where he can meet thousands and
have no one know him or recognize him.
I remember when I went off in that city and tried
to get work and failed. It seemed as if there was
24
416 I^O ROOM FOR HIM.
room for every one else in the world, but there was
none for me. For about two days I had that awful
feeling that no one wanted me. I never have had
it since, and I never want it again. It is an awful
feeling. It seems to me that must have been the
feeling of the Son of God when He was down here.
They did not want Him. He had come down to
save men and they did not want to be saved. He
had come to lift men up, and they did not want to
be lifted up. There was not room for Him in this
world, and there is not room for Him yet.
Oh ! my friend, is there room for Him in your
heart? That is the question. There is room for
pleasure. There is room for lust. There is room
for passion. There is room for jealousy. There is
room for the world. There is room for everything but
the' Son of God — no room for Him. When he made
these hearts of yours and mine. He made room enough
for Himself, but a usurper has come in and taken
possession of His place. When He made this world
He made room enough for you and me and for
Him, but when He came there was not any room
for Him. The only place they could make room for
Him was on the cross, and put Him there. The
world to-day is a no greater friend of Jesus Christ
than it was when He was down here, but if His
disciples will only make room for Him, how He will
come and dwell with us, and bless us, and lift us
up; and He says to us, "If you will make room for
me down here, I will make room for you up there.
If you will honor and confess me down here, I will
honor you in the courts of heaven, and confess you
up there in the presence of the Father and the
angels."
NO ROOM FOR HIM, 417
O! my friends, make room for Him to-night!
Do not go out of this house until you have made
room for the Son of God.
I saw some time ago an account of a lady that
went in to see her neighbor whom she found weep-
ing as if her heart would break. She said to her,
"What is the trouble?" "Well," she said, "there
is my child. It is fourteen years old to-day. For
fourteen years I have watched over and provided
for that child. I have not allowed my servants to
take care of it. During the past fourteen years
there has not been a night but that I have been up
some part of the night with that child. I have left
society and spent my time at home with that child. "
The child had not a mind. "But," she says, "if
that child would just recognize me once it would pay
me for all I have done; but that child don't know
me from a stranger. ' ' Her heart was just breaking,
and as I read I thought : How many of us treat God
in the same way?
My friends, God has blessed you with health, and
a home in a Christian land. He has blessed yoii
with a good wife; He has blessed you with chil-
dren ; He has blessed some of you with property,
and you never have looked up once and recognized
His loving hand, and said, "Thank you. Lord
Jesus. ' '
O! this base ingratitude! May God forgive us,
and may we to-night make room in our hearts for
the Son of God ! Just now when He is knocking at
the door of your heart, just pull back the bolt and
say "Welcome! Thrice welcome!" and see how
quick he will come in. What is he saying? Listen !
Hark! Does the heart throb? That is Christ
418 NO ROOM FOR HIM.
knocking! "Behold, I stand at the door, I will
come in to him and sup with him, and He with me."
O! sinner, just unlock the door of your heart
to-night. Just throw that door wide open and say
"Welcome! thrice welcome. Son of God, into this
heart of mine ! ' ' and see how quick he will come and
dwell with you. He will never leave you; He will
never forsake you. In the time of trouble He will
be your counselor. In the time of sorrow He will
be your deliverer. If you want "a friend that stick-
eth closer than a brother" make room in your heart
for the Son of God. If you want a friend that will
help you in the time of temptation and trial, make
room in your heart for the Son of God.
CHAPTER XXX.
THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK.
For their rock is not as our rock, even our enemies them-
selves being judges. Deut. xxxii. 31.
This was Moses' farewell address. He was about
to leave the children of Israel in the wilderness.
He had led them up to the borders of the Promised
Land. For forty long years he had been leading
them in that wilderness, and now, as they were about
to go over, Moses takes his farewell; and among
the good things he said, for he said a great many
very wise and very good things on that memorable
occasion, this is one: "For their rock is not as our
rock, even our enemies themselves being judges. ' '
There was not a man on the face of the earth at
that time that knew as much about the world, and
as much about God, as Moses. Therefore he was a
good judge. He had tasted of the pleasures of the
world. In the forty years that he was in Egypt he
probably sampled everything of that day. He
tasted of the world, of its pleasures. He knew all
about it. He was brought up in the palace of a
king, a prince. Egypt then ruled the world, as it
were. He had been forty years in Horeb, where
he had heard the voice of God ; where he had been
taught by God; and for forty years he had been
serving God. You might say he was God's right
419
420 THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK.
hand man, leading those bondmen up out of the
land of Egypt, and out of the house of bondage, into
the land of liberty ; and this is his dying address — •
you might say, his farewell address. This is the
dying testimony of one that could speak with
authority, and one that could speak intelligently.
He knew what he was saying, "Their rock is not
as our rock, even our enemies themselves being
judges."
Now, to-night I want to take up the atheist, the
deist, the pantheist, and the infidel ; and I want to
show, if I can, and I think it is not a very difficult
thing to show, that their way is not as our way.
I know there is a good deal of dispute now about
the definition of these words. So, to avoid any
trouble, instead of going to the Bible I went to Web-
ster's dictionary, and I have got the meaning. I
suppose you will give in, most of you, that Webster
is wiser than yourselves. There are a few men that
are a little wiser than Webster, for infidelity is gen-
erally very conceited. One of the worst things
about infidelity is the conceit. You seldom meet
an infidel that is not wiser in his own estimation
than the God who created him, and he wants to teach
God instead of letting God teach him. But to those
that are willing to bow to Webster we will refer
these definitions of these words.
An atheist is "one who disbelieves or denies the
existence of God." I am thankful to say that they
are very scarce. You meet them now and then.
I am sorry to say that you will occasionally meet a
young man that will tell you that he is an atheist.
He believes there is no God; he believes that there
THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK. 421
is no hereafter ; that when he dies, that is the end
— that ends all.
I don't know of anything that is darker; I don't
know of anything that is colder, bleaker, than
that doctrine ; for, of course, an atheist has feelings
like the rest of us. If he is a father, he has love for
his children. Here is a boy that has gone astray ; he
has been taken captive by Satan ; he has become a
victim to strong drink, we will say, and strong
drink has got the mastery ; and you can see that boy
as he is going down to a drunkard's grave. He says
to that father that believes there is no God, and no
hereafter, "Father, is there no deliverance for me?
Is there no way that I can become a free man?"
"Yes," says the atheist, "assert your manhood.
Resolve that you will never drink anymore. " "Ah,
but, father, I have done that a thousand times, and
I can't keep those resolutions. The tempter is too
strong for me. My appetite is stronger than my will
power, father? Is there no God that created me
that can help me?" "No, my son, no; nothing
outside yourself." "And if I die in this condition,
what is going to become of me?" "Oh, that will be
the last of you. " "And shall we never meet again
in the universe of God?" "No, never." Pretty
dark, isn't it? And the atheist sees that boy go
down to a drunkard's grave. There is no arm to
deliver, no eye to pity. There is no help.
Look again. He has got a beautiful little child.
It has lived long enough to twine itself around that
father's heart, and the cold, icy hand of death is
feeling for the chords of life, and that little flower
is going to be plucked. You can see that little child
wasting away upon a bed of pain and sickness. The
422 THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK.
child calls the father to its bedside and says,
"Father, is there no hereafter?" "No, my child."
"Shall we never meet again?" "No, my child."
"When I die, is that the last of me?" "Yes, my
child." Pretty dark, isn't it? That atheist goes
and lays away that child without one ray of hope —
without one star to relieve the midnight darkness
and gloom.
A prominent infidel of this country stood at the
grave of a member of his family. He is an orator
— an eloquent man ; and he said he committed him
back to the winds and the waves and the elements;
it was the last they would ever see of him. Pretty
dark, isn't it?
And yet there are some men that want to go over
to atheism. They want to believe that there is no
God. I can not for the life of me see where you
get any comfort in it. I turn away from it, and I
say from the very depths of my heart, "Their rock
is not as our rock. " I thank God I have got a bet-
ter foundation than that ; I thank God I have got a
better hope than that. If my boy is led astray, I
can preach to him Jesus Christ, and I can tell him
that God Almighty has got power to deliver him
from sin, and from its mighty power; and if God
should take my child from me, I can say to that dear
child, ' ' I will meet you on the glorious morning of
the resurrection. It won't be long. We may be
separated for a little while, but the night will soon
pass, and the great morning of the world will dawn
upon us. " Yes, "their rock is not as our rock, even
our enemies themselves being judges."
But I must pass on. That is the definition of an
atheist — one that believes there is no God. I want
THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK. 425
to say if there were many atheists in this country
we would have a great many more suicides than we
have. These men that have got tired of life, if they
thought that death ended all, they would quickly
put themselves out of the way, and you could not
blame them for it. But I think there is something
down in man's heart that tells him there is a here-
after; that there is not only a God, but there is a
judgment to come.
Now a deist. A deist is one that believes in one
God only. He denies Christ and revelation. Deism
is not much better, I think, than atheism, for I
never yet knew a deist that knew anything about
his God. He believes there is a God, and that is all
you can get out of him.
Deists live on their doubts. They live on what
they do not believe — on negatives. You meet a
deist and he would tell you, "I don't believe this,
and I don't believe that, and that," and he is all the
time telling you what he don't believe. You sel-
dom, if ever, find a deist who will tell you what he
does believe, because he knows nothing about his
God. If a man denies revelation, how is he to know
anything about God? How are we to know our God
if we are only deists, and just close that book, and
not believe in the book? Is he a God of mercy?
We know nothing about it. Is he a God of truth,
and equity, and justice? We know nothing about it.
How are we to know anything about God, if we cast
away the Bible, and say we don't believe in revela-
tion; that we don't believe that Jesus Christ came
down here to declare His Father, and believe that
that book is not written by inspiration, and doubt
that blessed word of God? I would like to have a.
426 THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK. „
deist come forward and declare to us his God — and
tell us who and what he is.
The Pantheist. Let us see what Webster's defi-
nition of a pantheist is. He believes that the uni-
verse is God. He believes that God is in the wind,
God is in the water, God is in the trees, and all the
God we know anything about is the god we see
about us. A pantheist will say, "Why, yes, I be-
lieve in God. You are God and I am God. We are
all Gods. ' ' That is their idea — that God is in every-
thing. I strike that board and strike the pantheist's
god, because that is as much a god as the god he
knows. I stamp upon the floor, and I stamp the
pantheist's god. That is all he knows. God is in
everything ; God is everywhere ; God is nowhere :
that is the summing up of pantheism. Now, you
will find a great many of these pantheists that will
tell you they believe more in God than we do* be-
cause they believe God is in everything all around.
But when you ask a deist or a pantheist if his God
answers prayer, he will tell you no. "Does he hear
the cry of distress?" "No." "Does he hear the
cry of the humble?" He will tell you that the Lord
of the universe and the God of the universe has just
made this world, and has wound it up as a clock,
and it is going to run ; that His laws are fixed ; that
you need not pray; you can't change God's mind;
that he never answers prayer. If your child has
gone astray, you can't pray to Him, because He has
no mercy. There is no mercy but in the wind, and
you may as well go out and pray to the thunder, to
a storm, or a shower, to the moon, the sun, the stars,
because God is everything and everywhere, and
yet is nowhere, They don't believe in the person-
THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK. 427
ality of God. You may just take pantheism, deism
and atheism, put them all together, and there is not
much difference. I would as soon be the one as the
other, because they are in midnight darkness and
gloom. They know nothing about the God of love
and the God of the Bible.
But now we come, perhaps, to the most difficult
class, because I think that there are a great many
infidels, and don't like that name. I suppose that
saying they were infidels has offended quite a num-
ber of Cleveland people. They stand up and deny
it. But when you come to put the question right to
them according to Webster's definition of infidelity,
they are nothing but infidels. Now, an infidel is
one that does not believe in the inspiration of the
Scriptures.
I am sorry to say that we have got to-day a good
many infidels. The first step towards atheism is
infidelity. The first step towards pantheism is infi-
delity. The first step towards deism is infidelity.
The moment you can break down that word in
one place and make out that it is not true, then, of
course, the whole word goes. Now, you ask an in-
fidel if he really believes in the Bible, and he says,
"Well, I believe part of it. I believe all that cor-
responds with my reason, but I don't believe any-
thing supernatural. I don't believe anything I
can't reason out."
Now, if a man takes that ground he might as
well throw away the whole Bible and go over to
atheism at one leap. He need not be weeks and
months going, because that is where it is going to
bring him. If you take out of that book all that is
supernatural, you might as well take out the whole
428 THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK.
of it. From beginning to end it is a supernatural
book. Look into Genesis. You ask an infidel if he
believes in the flood. No, sir; not he. Then throw
out Genesis ; because, if the man who wrote Gene-
sis put in one lie, why is not the whole of it a lie?
If he did he must have known it was a fraud when
he wrote it, so that condemns Genesis. You ask a
man if he believes the story of the Red Sea — about
bringing the children of Israel throiigh the Red Sea.
Not he. That is contrary to reason, contrary to
man's intellect. Out goes Exodus. That throws
out the decalogue — throws out the commandments.
It all goes together. If the man who wrote Exodus
told a lie in the beginning of Exodus and that the
children never went through the Red Sea, then away
goes the whole book.
Then take up Leviticus. It is said in Leviticus
if we will do so and so He will come down and walk
with us, would be among his people, and the shout
of the king is heard in the camp. "Do you believe
that?" "No, sir," the infidel says, "I don't believe
anything of that kind." Out goes Leviticus.
Throw it all out.
Do you believe God told Moses to make a brazen
serpent, and that all the bitten Israelites that
looked upon it shall live? The skeptic turns up his
nose and says with a good deal of contempt, "No,
you don't think I am fool enough to believe that?"
Out goes the whole book of Numbers; throw it out
because if the man that wrote that book, put that
lie in, the whole of it is a lie. You just prove that
I tell a wilful lie here to-night and my whole ser-
mon is gone. You go into court and testify to a lie
and let it be proven that you have told a wilful lie,
THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK. 429
(and untrue in one thing untrue in all), out goes your
testimony. The jury won't take it. Now, if the
man that wrote the book of Numbers put down that
lie — if he never did make a brazen serpent for the
children of Israel, then the whole book of Numbers
is gone. Throw it out. Then we come to Deutero-
nomy, Do you believe Moses went up into the
mountain and his natural force was not abated, his
eye had not grown dim, and he died there and God
buried him ; God kissed away his soul, as some one
has said? The infidel says, "I don't believe one word
of it ; that is supernatural ; that is against reason.
Then throw out the whole book of Deuteronomy.
There goes the first five books of Moses.
Then go into Joshua. "Do you believe Joshua
took Jericho by going around Jericho blowing ranis'
horns?" "Don't believe a word of it. " Tear it to
pieces. Throw it away. Out it goes. If the writer
of that book would tell a lie like that at the begin-
ning of the book he lied all through it — why not?
That is what an infidel is — one who does not believe
in supernatural things.
'*Do you believe that Samson took the jaw-bone
of an ass and slew a thousand men?" "No, I don't
believe it." Out goes the book. Because from the
beginning of Judges to the end it is all supernatu-
ral.
"Do you believe God called Samuel when he was
a little boy— that God called him?" "Why, no,"
says the infidel, '"I don't believe any thing that is
contrary to my reason. I don't believe any thing
supernatural. ' ' Out goes the two books of Sam-
uel.
"Do you believe that David went out and met
430 THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK.
Goliath and slew him?" "No, I don't believe it."
Out goes the two books of Kings. And so I can go
on through the whole Bible. Take out the super-
natural in it and you have to throw away the whole
Bible. You can't touch Jesus Christ from His birth
until He went up into glory, but what He was
supernatural. The work that is going on now is
supernatural. Things are happening every day that
are supernatural. Every man that is born of the
Holy Ghost, born of God — it is supernatural. Yet
an infidel will stand right up and tell you to-day
that he will not believe a thing in that book that
don't correspond to his reason; therefore the infidels
are just tearing the Bible all to pieces. That is
where we are drifting to. "Their rock is not as our
rock, even our enemies themselves being judges."
Now, I would like to ask the infidels what earthly
motive could the early Christians have had in writ-
ing that book? What motive could Jesus Christ
have had in coming down here and living such a
life as he led? Some of you accuse us of working
for gain. You say that we are after your money
and that we don't care anything about your soul.
You cannot accuse our Master of that, can you? He
didn't carry off much money, did He? His cradle
was a borrowed one. The only time that He rode
into Jerusalem, that we have recorded. He rode in on
a colt, the foal of an ass. It would be a strange sight
to see him coming into Cleveland in that way. You
would not own Him. And He did not own this
beast. It was a borrowed beast. It w^as a borrowed
guest chamber in which he instituted his supper.
It was a borrowed grave in which they laid Him.
He that was rich became poor for our sakes. What
THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK. 431
motive could He have had in coming down here if
He had not been true and real — if he had been an
imposter, a hypocrite, coming down here and teach-
ing us a falsehood? If Jesus Christ was not God
manifest in the flesh, he was the greatest imposter
that ever came into this world, and every Christian
throughout Christendom to-day, is guilty of idolatry,
of breaking the first commandment, "Thou shalt
have no other god before Me. " He comes and says
unto the world, "Come unto Me and I will give you
rest." Elijah never said that; Moses never said
that ; no man that ever trod this earth dared to have
said it ; and if Jesus Christ had not been divine as well
as human, it would have been blasphemy, and the
Jews ought to have put him to death. They had a
right by the Jewish law to put Him to death. He
an impostor! He a deceiver! He a fraud! Away
with such doctrine ! And yet people will stand right
up here in this community and tell you it is all a
fiction about his conception by the Holy Ghost, and
at the same time they will stand right up and say
they are Christians. They don't like that word
infidel. They say that they are no infidels. But,
ah, my friends, if we break down the testimony of
Jesus Christ, and make him out a fraud and deceiver,
it all goes.
Now, when people tell me that that book is not to
be relied upon, I tell them that I will throw it away
when they will bring me a better one. I am ready to
throw it away to-night if you will bring me a better
one. But where is there any book to be compared
with it? Bring it on will you? When you bring on a
better man than Jesus Christ I will follow him.
But don't ask me to follow these skeptics and infi-
432 THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK.
tJels down here who are trying to tear down the
works of Jesus Christ when they have no better to
leave in their place.
Now Jesus Christ was without spot or blemish.
You can find no fault with Him or in Him. We
don't want to follow any one else until we can find
a better man. If these men that are scoffing and
sneering at Christ will bring on a better man we
will follow him. If they will bring on a better book
we will take it. But until they do, let us cling to
the Bible, and defend it and stand by it, and let us
stand by Jesus Christ and let us defend Him.
Infidelity takes everything away from us and gives
us nothing in return. When Lord Chesterfield went
to Paris he was invited out to dine with Voltaire,
the leading infidel of that day. Lord Chesterfield
was a Christian man. A lady at the table, when they
were at dinner, said: "Lord Chesterfield, I am told
that you have in your English Parliament five or six
hundred of the leading men of thought in the
nation." Well, he said he believed that was so.
She said, "then why is it that those wise men toler-
ate Christianity?" Well, he said he supposed
because they could not get anything better to take
its place.
Do you ever stop to think what you would put in
the place of Christianity? It is easy enough to tear
down, or at least try to tear down. There are some
people that spend all their lives in trying to tear
down things that are good, but they give us nothing
in the place of them. Now the trouble with infidelity
is it gives us nothing in the place of what we have
got. The Bible holds out a hope to man. It holds
out something that is beyond this life, and gives him
THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK. 433
hope. Infidelity gives him no hope. It tears down
all the hope he has got. He has got nothing to
build on. If this book fails, what have we got?
Now, just think a moment. Take the Bible away
from us, and what have got? I would like to say to
the people here to-night, if you step into a church
— for I am sorry to say some of these infidels have
got into the pulpit — if you step into a church and
hear a man talking about Jesus Christ not being
divine, if you take my advice, you will get out of
that church as quick as you can get out. But you
say, "My father and mother belong to that church. "
Suppose they do. You get out, as Lot got out of
Sodom. Make haste. You think a man who would
sell you poison and kill your children is a horrid
man; but I tell you a man who would plant infidelity
in the mind of my child is worse than a man who gives
it poison — to have their young minds poisoned and
infidelity taught them under the garb of Christ and
Christianity; and yet there are some men who pro-
fess to be friends of that book who are all the time
trying to tear it to pieces, and make out that it is
not written by inspiration — that it is not from God,
and that it cannot speak with authority.
Now, to show that their rock is not as our rock,
our enemies themselves being judges, I want to tell
you a thing that happened some time ago. I was
in the room with a man, and he said he wanted to
have a talk with me, "but," he says, "I wish you
would let that man go out." "O!" I said, "he is
here to take care of the things." We had some of
our things in the cloak-room back of the platform,
and he was there so that no thief should come in
and steal what we had. And this man said, "I
434 THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK,
would like to have him go out." "Well," I said,
"he belongs here. I will ask him to go out if you
insist upon it, but," says I, "I will talk at this end
of the room." "Well," he said, "I would like to
have him go out." I spoke to the man and asked
him to leave the room, and he hadn't more than
got out before he opened his lips, and such a tirade
against Christianity! I said to him, "My friend,
why did you want that man to go out?" "Well,*'
he said, "I thought it might hurt him." I said, "If
it is good for you why is it not good for him?" Well,
he said he did not like to have his children know his
views. He said his wife was a Christian and he
wanted his children brought up differently. "Their
rock is not as our rock, our enemies themselves being
judges. ' ' I want my children to believe as I believe.
I want them to be taught to live and fear and honor
God. If these infidels think infidelity is good for
them, why is it they don't want it taught to their
children, why is it, that so many infidels want their
children to be taught the Lord's prayer?
Very often when I have been in an infidel's house
he Jias wanted his wife and children to leave the
room, and then he has gone on and talked his infi-
delity. "Their rock is not as our rock, our enemies
themselves being judges." That proves it.
A man ordered his servant out of his dining room,
and after his servant went out he began to talk his
atheism to a Christian man that was there. The
Christian man said to him. "Why did you order out
your servant?" "Well," said he, "I'm afraid if he
held my views he might cut my throat some time,
for my money "
You laugh at it, but if there is no God, why not?
THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK. 435
If there is no hereafter, why not? If this country
is as bad as it is with all the religion we have, what
would it be without it? Let this country go over
to infidelity, what would become of the nation? It
was not a great many years ago that, in a conven-
tion at Lyons, France, they voted that the Bible
was a fiction, that it was not true, and that there
was no God; that there was no hereafter; that death
was an eteral sleep ; and it was not very long before
blood flowed very freely in France. And you let
atheism, and pantheism, and deism, and infidelity go
stalking through this land, and life and property
won't be safe. You know it very well.
Lord Lyttleton and Gilbert West were going to
expose the fraud of Christianity. One was going to
take up the resurrection and expose that. The
other was going to take up Saul's conversion and
expose that. And they went about it — went to
studying up those two facts. The result was they
were both converted. The testimony was perfectly
overwhelming. If a man will look at the testimony,
I can't see for the life of me how he can doubt these
are facts. What did Paul have to gain by his con-
version? Would you call such a man as Paul a fraud?
What did he give up for the gospel's sake? Repu-
tation, position, standing — every thing he had.
What did he get in return? Hunger, persecution,
prison, stocks, stripes, and death. He died the
death of a common criminal. He died at Rome as
a poor and miserable outcast in the sight of the
world. What earthly motive could he have had, if
these things are not true? Why, we have all the
proof that any man could ask for, that Jesus Christ
rose from the dead. He was seen ten different
436 THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK.
times, and was here among us forty days, and then
He was seen by the holiest and best men on earth
at that time ascend and go up into heaven. They
went and looked into the sepulcher and found it was
empty. There was no doubt about His body coming
out of the grave. Some men say they believe in
Christianity, but they don't believe Christ's body
came up. Do you think they could have stolen that
body and palmed that fraud off on the world for
these eighteen hundred years? Do 5^ou think those
keen Jews of Jerusalem would never have found out
the fraud and deception? Away with such a delu-
sion. Christ rose ; He burst asunder the bands of
death. He has come out of the sepulcher and passed
into the heavens and taken His seat at the right
hand of God. We don't worship a dead Savior.
Our Christ lives. He is on the throne to-night.
Let us look up: for the time of our redemption is
nigh. Let us gird up our loins afresh. Let us
buckle on the whole armor and fight for Christ.
Let us hold to the faith. Let us not be influenced
by the infidelity around us, but let it drive us to the
Bible. Let us cling to this good old book. It will
be darker than midnight ere long if we let our con-
fidence go in that book. I saw an account some
time ago of an infidel who was dying. So many
infidels recant when they die. Did you ever hear of
a Christian recanting? I never did. Did you ever
hear of a Christian dying that was sorry that he had
served the Lord Jesus Christ? I never did. I have
heard of a good many that regretted that they had
not served Him a good deal better than they had ;
that they had not lived more like Him. The infidel
friends of this infidel gathered around him. They
THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK. 437
were afraid he was going to recant, and if he did
the Christians would make capital out of it. They
gathered around him and said, "Hold on, hold on
to your principles; don't give up now." The poor
dying man said, "What have I got to hold on to?"
You answer the question, will you? What has an
infidel got to hold on to?
Some time ago I was drawing a contrast between
the end of that talented man, Lord Byron, and Paul.
Byron died at the early age of thirty-six. The time
allotted to man is three score years and ten.
A fast life — a life of dissipation carried him off
early. These are about the last lines he penned :
My days are in the yellow leaf,
The flower and the fruit of life are gone ;
The worm, the canker, and the grave
Are mine alone."
That is all he had at the close of life. But look
at Paul's farewell. He writes to Timothy: ''I have
fought the good fight. I have kept the faith;
henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of
righteousness." There is a good deal of difference
between the death of a skeptic and an infidel, and
the death of the righteous. "Their rock is not as
our rock, they themselves being judges." How
often you have heard men say, "I wish I could be-
lieve as you do." What do they want to believe as
we do for, if they are satisfied with their rock? "I
wish I had your hope. ' ' What do you want our
hope for if you are satisfied with your rock? "Oh,
I wish I had the assurance you have." What do
you want our assurance for if you are satisfied with
your rock? The fact is, "their rock is not as our
438 THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK.
rock, our enemies being judges." We will bring
them in as witnesses and let them testify. Let us,
my friends, hold on to the Word of God. When
these skeptics and infidels talk against the book, let
us love it all the more. Let it drive us to the Word.
Let us say we will give up life rather than
that book. We will hold on to that, let it cost us
what it will. The world may call us fanatics and
fools, and all that, but they cannot give us any
worse name than they gave the Master. They called
him Beelzebub, the Prince of Devils, and we can
afford to be called fools for Christ's sake for a little
while, and by and by we will be called home, and,
if we will hold right on, the end will be glorious.
A soldier, during the war, got up in one of our
meetings in Chicago. He had just come from the
battle of Perryville. He said his brother came
home one day and said he had enlisted. He went
down to the recruiting office and put his name next
to his brother's; there was no name between them;
he said they had never been separated one day in
their lives, and he said he did not mean to have his
brother go into the army without him.. He said
they went into the army, and they went into a good
many battles together. The terrible battle of Perry-
ville came on. About lo o'clock in the morning
his brother was mortally wounded. A minie ball
passed through his lungs. He fell by his side, put
his knapsack under the head of his dying brother,
pillowed his head and made him as comfortable as
he could, bent over and kissed him, and started
away. The dying man says, "Charlie, come back
here. Let me kiss you upon your lips. " He came
back, and his brother kissed him on the lips and
THEIR ROCK IS NOT O JR ROCK. 439
said, "There, take that home to my dear mother,
and tell her that I died praying for her." And he
said as he turned away, and his brother was wal-
lowing in his blood, and the battle was raging all
around him, he heard him say, "This is glorious."
He turned around and went back, and said, "My
brother, what is glorious?" "Oh," he said, "it is
glorious to die looking up. I see Christ in heaven. "
It is glorious to die looking up. But if we die
looking up, we have got to live looking up. We
have got to live trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh, in this dark day of infidelity, when it is coming
up all around, let us hold onto the glorious old Bible,
and to the blessed teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ.
CHAPTER XXXI.
TEKEL.
Tekel. Daniel v. 25.
I want to have you get the text to-night. It is
so short I am quite sure you that have short memo-
ries can carry it away with you, if you will listen to
it ; and if some one asks you after the meeting is
over, I hope you will be able to give my text and
the meaning of it.
In this short chapter of thirty-one verses we get
all we know about Belshazzar. His history was
very brief. We are told that he had a feast for his
lords; he had a thousand of his noblemen, his lords,
his mighty men, gathered there at Babylon. How
long that feast lasted we are not told. Sometimes
those Eastern feasts used to last for six months.
We are told that this young king was praising the
gods of gold, of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood and
of stone ; and all at once silence reigns in that ban-
queting hall. The king had sent out into the
heathen temple, and had had the golden vessels
that had been taken by his grandfather Nebuchad-
nezzar, that had been brought down from Jerusa-
lem, brought into that impious feast, and while they
were rioting and drinking and carousing, judgment
came suddenly and unexpectedly. And I think if
you will read the Word of God carefully, you will
440
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TEKEL. 443
find that judgment always comes suddenly and un-
expectedly. While that feast is going on and all
is merry, over on the wall, over the golden candle-
sticks, is seen a hand, and there is a finger writing
the doom of that king. He sends for the wise men
of Babylon to come in and read that writing. He
offers the man that can read the writing shall be
clothed in fine linen and in purple ; he shall have
a golden chain around his neck, and shall be made
the third ruler in the realm. Those wise men tried
to read it, but they were not acquainted with God's
handwriting. That is the reason these skeptics and
infidels don't understand the Bible — they don't know
God's handwriting. With all the wisdom of the
Chaldeans they could not make out that handwrit-
ing. They failed — utterly failed. The king and
all his lords were astounded. They never had seen
it on that fashion before. It was a strange hand-
writing. The Queen comes in, and she tells the
Monarch that there is a man in his kingdom — he has
not been heard of for fifteen years; where he has
been we are not told; but she tells Belshazzar that
when Nebuchadnezzar reigned and the wise men
failed to tell him his dream, and the interpretation,
there was a man by the name of Daniel that could
tell the king his dream, and the interpretation, and
if Belshazzar would send for this prophet he might
be able to read that handwriting on the wall. Dan-
iel is sent for and the king says to him, "If you read
that handwriting and tell me what it is, I will give
you great gifts, and I will make you the third ruler
in the realm." When that prophet looks up there
you can imagine how silence reigns through that
audience. Every eye is upon him. The king looks
25
444 TEKEL.
at him, and as he makes this offer to the prophet,
the prophet says, "Let your gifts be to others, but I
will read to you the handwriting. ' ' He knew his
God's writing. It was very familiar to him, and
without any difficulty he can read, "Mene, mene:
tekel, upharsin. " "What does it mean?" cries
the king. "Mene, mene: Thy kingdom is num-
bered and finished. Tekel : Thou art weighed in
the balances, and art found wanting. Upharsin:
Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes
and Persians. " And that night Belshazzar's blood
flowed with the wine in his banquet hall. That
very night they could hear Cyrus coming with his
army up through the streets of Babylon. He turned
the Euphrates out of its channel and brought his
army under the walls of the city, and that very
night Belshazzar's army was defeated, the men
around the royal palace were driven back, Belshaz-
zar was slain, and Darius took the throne.
But, it is not my object to-night to talk about
that king that reigned twenty-five hundred years
ago. I don't want to take you back that far. I
want to get down to Cleveland if I can. I
want to get into this audience to-night, and I want
to ask every man and woman in this assembly, if
you should be summoned into eternity at this hour,
or at the midnight hour, what should be said?
"Thou art weighed in the balances and art found
wanting. ' '
The other night I preached from the text, "There
is no difference, ' ' and I tried to measure men by
the law. To-night I propose to weigh them by the
law. We find here this illustration of the balances
used by God himself. Tekel means, "Thou art
TEKEL. 445
weighed in the balances and art found wanting. "
Let us imagine there were scales let down into this
building — not of our making — God i* going to
weigh us; we are not going to weigh ourselves.
The great trouble with men is they are trying to
weigh themselves all the while, and they are mak-
ing balances of their own. When we are weighed
we are to be weighed in God's balances — not man's.
The God who created us is going to weigh us. Let
us imaine that the scales are fastened by a golden
chain to the throne of God, who sits yonder in the
heavens — a God of equity, a God of justice; and
those balances come down to-night into this build-
ing, and here they are right before us, and every
man, woman, and child in this assembly has to be
weighed. Now, the question is, are you ready to
be weighed? A man begins to look around to his
neighbors and other people, and says, "Yes, I am
ready to be weighed. I am as good as the aver-
age." But that, is not the way to look at it. What
we want is to look at the law. We are to be
weighed by the law of God. The God that created
us has given us a law, and among all the skeptics
and infidels that I have met, I have not found any
that complained of that law. The trouble is not
with the law. The trouble is with ourselves.
Now, I have to-night some weights. You know
when you go into a store to buy goods they take
weights and weigh out your goods. Now, I have ten
weights. I am going to put them in the balances,
and I want this audience to come up and get in.
As I put the weights in on one side, you come up
and get in on the other side and see if you are ready
to be weighed by the law of God.
446 TEKEL.
We will now put in the first weight, "Thou shalt
have no other gods before me. ' ' People who live
in America think there is no such thing as idolatry.
They think they have to go off into China, Japan or
some heathen country to find idols. Don't flatter
yourselves. We have idols in America. You have
not got to go far from Cleveland to find them. You
will find a thousand idolaters, I was going to say,
where you will find one true Christian that worships
the God of the Bible. Anything that a man thinks
more of than he does of God is his idol. A man
may make an idol of his wealth. A man may make
an idol of his wife or children ; a man may make
an idol of himself; a good many do that. They
think more of themselves than of anything else in
the wide world. They worship themselves. They
revere themselves. They honor themselves. Self
is at the bottom and top of every thing they do.
Then there are a good many that worship the god
of pleasure. Look at your young men to-day and
your young ladies that bow down to the god of pleas-
ure. "Give me a night in the ball-room and you
may have heaven with all its glories. What do I
care? Give me a night that will satisfy me in this
world and I care nothing about the world to come. "
There are a good many gods. It would take all
night to enumerate the gods you have got here in
Cleveland. There are a good many that bow down
to that god of gold, that golden calf we read of in
Aaron's day. "Give me money" is the cry of the
world. "You may have the Bible with all its offers
of mercy and heaven. You may have everything
else if you will only give me money, and give me a
nice house up here on the avenue and a good turn-
TEKEL. 447
out and all the money I want. That is all I ask
for. I will just be willing to trample the Bible and
all its commandments and all its offers of mercy
under my feet. That is my god." "Thou shalt
have no other gods before me."
Now what is your god to-night? What do you
think most of to-night? Oh, that the Spirit of God
may wake us up to-night. If we are trusting any
idol, if we have some idol in our heart, may God
tear it from us, because God says, "Thou shalt have
no other gods before Me." The sin of idolatry is
one of the worst of sins. In that Book there is
more said against idolatry, perhaps, than any other
sin. God will have the first place or none. Yet
there are a great many men trying to give God the
second place. They say, "Business has got to be
attended to, I have got to attend to business, and if
I have a little time after attending to business, I
will attend to my soul's wants. " Instead of giving
the soul the first place they give the body and this
life the first place. We take a good deal better care
of our bodies than we do of our souls. You know
that very well. Most people think a great deal
more of this life than of the life to come. They
think a great deal more of the gods around them
than of the God of the Bible and the God of heaven.
The next weight is very much like it We will
put that weight right in the balances, "Thou shalt
not bow down thyself to any graven image or any
likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that
is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under
the earth." "Thou shalt not bow down to any
image." I am not to even worship any cross or
crucifix. I am not to bow down to anything but the
448 TEKEL.
God of heaven. I am not to worship any pictures,
even if they are pictures of Jesus Christ — not any
graven image. I think it is a great mistake that
artists try to make pictures of the God of heaven
and earth. It is a fearful thing. We are not to
make any graven image of anything and then bow
down to it.
But I must pass on rapidly. "Thou shalt not take
the name of the Lord thy God in vain. " Blasphem-
ers come on now and be weighed. We will put that
in the balances. You step in and see how quick
you will go up — how quick the balance will
kick the beam. If every blasphemer in this house
was to be weighed to-night, what would become of
his soul?
"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy
God in vain. " It is astonishing to hear men blas-
pheme and curse God, and when you talk to them
they say, "I don't mean anything by it." Well,
God means a good deal when He says He "will not
hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain."
Do you know that profanity is just man's showing
his enmity to God? If God hadn't told man not to
swear, I don't think he would have thought of it,
but just because God has said, "Thou shalt not
swear, ' ' he wants to show his contempt of God by
trampling His commandment under foot and spurn-
ing the grace of God. They say they can't help it.
Yet these very men, when their mother is around,
seldom if ever swear. That shows they have more
respect for their mother than they have for the God
of heaven. If the wife happens to be around, or
the children very often, they will not swear. Yet
they will curse God, and swear to God's face — chal-
TEKEL. 449
lenge God, as it were, to do his worst, and blas-
pheme. Yet when you. talk to them about it they
say, "Oh, well, I can't help it." It is false. Man
may not of his own strength be able to turn from
that sin, but God will give him grace. If a man has
a new heart, he will have no desire to swear.
If a man is born of God he will not want to take
God's name in vain. Let the blasphemers in this
house to-night remember that God is not going to
"hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain."
If every blasphemer in this assembly should be cut
down to-night with cursing and blasphemy upon his
conscience and upon his heart, what would become
of his soul? It is a fearful thing. You look upon a
thief as a horrid monster, many of you, and think
he is a curse to the community, but is it not as bad
to break God's laws as to break the laws of the
state? You elect men to your legislature to make
laws for you, and you think the laws which they
make ought to be revered and honored more than
the laws of high heaven. Here is a law from
heaven, and that law says "thou shalt not take the
name, of the Lord thy God in vain." Man shows
contempt for God and his laws and goes on blas-
pheming.
The next weight we will put in the balances is,
"Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." As
it looks to me, we are drifting into a dark age. We
thought when we had slavery in this country that it
was a great curse to the land ; but we have some-
thing worse to-day. If this nation gives up its Sab-
bath, we are not going to see blood flow in a few
Southern States, but it will not be long before it will
flow in all our cities. It won't be long before we
450 TEKEL.
will see a darker day than this nation has ever seen.
No republic can exist without righteousness. If
men are going to violate the law of God; if you
teach men to break God's law, how long will it be
before they will take the laws of man in their hands
and tear them, as it were, to pieces and throw them
to the winds and trample them under their feet?
We have to teach men to honor God's law if we
expect them to honor the law of man. We see this
desecration of the Sabbath increasing every year,
giving up a little here and giving up a little there.
A few years ago in Chicago we did not have a theater
open on the Sabbath, but now every theater is open.
Every Sunday night those theaters are crowded. I
want to say to the working men, if you give up the
Sabbath, you give up the best friend you've got, and
it will not be long before these capitalists will take
your Sabbath and make you work seven days in the
week, and you will not earn a dollar more than you
do now in six days. God is our friend ; he would
not have given us one day in seven unless it was for
our good. Man needs it, beast needs it. So let us
honor the Sabbath day and keep it holy. If we have
to give up our business and get some other business,
let us do it even if we don't make quite so much
money. It is a good deal better for us to be right,
to know we are honoring God, and to have God on
our side, than it is to be breaking God's law. If a
father teaches his child not to observe the Sabbath,
takes him out riding on Sunday, teaches him not to
go to the house of God, it will not be long before
that boy will break his father's commandments.
You teach him to dishonor God's law and he will
dishonor yours. Is not that so? Does history not
TEKEL. 451
teach you that? Look around you. Have you got
to go to the Bible to find that out? Is it not so?
You take a man that goes around on the Sabbath,
who don't teach his boy to go to Sabbath-school and
to church, but teaches him to play marbles, and it
will not be long before that boy will break that
father's heart — if he has a heart.
Throw this commandment into the balances and
Sabbath- breaker, step in. If you do, what will
become of you? You will find written on the wall,
"Tekel. Thou art weighed in the balances and art
found wanting. " If a man cannot keep one day out
of seven, what is he going to do with that eternal
Sabbath in heaven? He will not want to go there.
Heaven would be hell to him.
I must pass on. "Honor thy father and thy
mother." That is another thing that shows we are
drifting into a dark age. Men seem to be void of
natural affection. Now, I v/ant to call your atten-
tion to this fact ; wherever you see a young man or
young lady treating their parents with scorn and
contempt, you may just mark this, they will never
prosper. I am not an old man and I am not a prophet,
but I have lived long enough to notice that I have
yet to find the first case where a young man or
young lady has started out in life that has dishonored
father and mother, that has treated them with scorn
and contempt, that has ever prospered. I believe to-
day one reason why so many men's ways are hedged
up, and they do not prosper is because they have
dishonored their parents. I do not know of any-
thing that is more contemptible. I do not know of
anything that sinks a man lower in my estimation,
than to hear him speak disrespectfully of his father
26
452 TEKEL.
and mother, that cared for him in his childhood, that
watched over him in sickness and did everything
they could for him.
A young man that will go out and get drunk and
come home at midnight, or i or 2 o'clock in the
morning, knowing his gray-haired mother is sitting
up for him and weeping, is crushing that mother,
just breaking her heart, just murdering her by
degrees. I do not know why it is not just as bad to
murder your father and mother, break their hearts
and take months to do it and to kill them, as it is
to take a revolver and shoot them down at once.
There are hundreds of young men doing that to-day.
You haven't got to go out of Cleveland to find them.
I venture to say while I am talking here to-night
some young man is in a brothel or in some saloon
or billiard hall, who will go home to-night or to-
morrow morning beastly drunk and curse the
mother that gave him birth, and curse her gray
hairs, and perhaps lift up that great strong arm of
his and beat that mother. Or some husband will
go and be untrue to some wife and go home, and if
she says a word, down comes that right arm upon
her. Yes, it is only one, two or three murderer^
we have perhaps in jail at a time, but how many
walk the streets of Cleveland to-day ! I tell you a
young man that don't honor his father and mother,
need not expect to prosper in this life, or in the life
to come.
There was a young man who used to think con-
siderable of his parents. He was a very fine look-
ing young man. His father was a great drunkard,
and his mother used to take in washing just to give
that boy an education. She kept him at school and
TEKEL. 453
worked hard to do it. But one day he was out on
the sidewalk talking with that mother. She had
been washing and was -not dressed as well as some
ladies. He saw a school-mate coming towards him
and he walked away from that mother. The school-
mate asked him who that woman was he was talk-
ing to, and he said it was his washer-woman.
Ashamed to own his own mother. You laugh, young
lady. Shame on such a man as that. I think we
ought to be ashamed of a man that would speak that
way of a mother who is toiling day and night to
give him an education. "Honor thy father and thy
mother. ' ' Treat them kindly, you will not always
have them. By and by they will be gone. No one
in the wide world loves you like that mother. No
one in the wide world loves you like that father.
Treat them kindly. Make the evening of their
lives as sweet as you can. It will come back
again. You will have children by and by, perhaps,
and they will treat you kindly. But bear in mind
if you treat that father and mother with scorn and
contempt, by and by, after a few years have rolled
around you will be paid back in your own coin.
"Be not deceived. God is not mocked. Whatso-
ever a man soweth that shall he also reap. ' ' The
reaping is coming, and men will have to reap the
same seed that they sow.
You treat that aged mother of yours with scorn
and contempt and expect God to smile on you and
prosper you, and you will be deceived.
If there is a man or woman in this audience to-
night that is not treating father or mother with re-
spect or kindness, let him step into the balances
and see how quick they will strike the beam. You
454 TEKEL.
will be found lighter than dust in the balances.
You will find that word "Tekel" blazing out.
"Thou art weighed in the . balances and art found
wanting."
But I must pass on. "Thou shalt not kill. " I
suppose if you had said a few months ago to some
of those men that have been killing lately that they
were going to come to that, they would have said,
"Am I a dog that I should do it?" They thought
they would not; but when Satan takes possession
of a man you don't know what he will do; you can't
tell. When a man goes on step by step from one
thing to another, it will not be long before he will
be guilty of almost any crime. I have not got to
kill a man to be a murderer. If I wish a man dead,
I am a murderer at heart. That is murder. If I
get so angry with a man that I wish him dead, I
am guilty in the sight of God. God looks at the
heart, not at the outward man. We only look at
the acts of men, but God looks down in the hearts.
If I have murder in my heart, if I wish a man or
woman dead, I am guilty. "Thou shalt not kill."
As I said before, there are a good many men who
are not looked upon as murderers, that really kill
their parents, kill their children, kill their wives.
How many drunken men have murdered their wives!
They have literally killed them inch by inch. They
have gone to the altar and sworn before the God of
heaven they would love, cherish, protect and sup-
port that woman, and inside of five years they have
become horrid monsters, and beaten that defence-
less woman, until at last she has gone with a broken
heart into the grave. Nothing but a cruel husband
murdered that woman. "Thou shalt not kill,"' Do
TEKEL. 455
you think a God of judgment, a God of equity, a
God of mercy will not bring these men into judg-
ment?
But I must pass on. We will put these six
weights right up there, and come to the next. I
would pass over this commandment if I dared, but
when I see what the enemy is doing, when I see
the terrible, terrible state of things we are having
all around, in all kinds of society, high and low, I
feel that I must cry out and spare not. "Thou
shalt not commit adultery." It is a sin that is not
much spoken of. It is one of those things that we
like to pass over. We hear a good deal about intem-
perance, but the twin sister of intemperance is adul-
tery to-day. I want to read to you something that
will express what I want to say, perhaps, better than
I can myself — the seventh chapter of Proverbs.
I want to say to the young people in this audience
to-night, I do not know of a quicker way toa'uin, I
do not know of a quicker way down to hellnhan the
way of the adulterer. Do you know that the aver-
age life of a fallen woman is only seven years? It
is very short. How a woman can surrender her
virtue and take that road is one of the greatest
mysteries of the present day, when they can look
around and see how they have brought ruin and
blight upon their life, and made it dark and bitter.
Not long ago a scene occurred in Chicago, of a
mother that left her family in Iowa and a man that
left his, and they came to Chicago, and after getting
tired and sick of their life, and remorse, I suppose,
seized hold of him, at the hotel where they were, he
cut her throat from ear to ear, and as she fled from
him into the hall, he cut his own from ear to ear
456 TEKEL.
and fled into the hall and embraced her, and the
adulterer and adulteress died in each other's arms.
What a fearful ending ! That is occurring all the
while from one end of the land to the other. "Thou
shalt not commit adultery ! ' ' And I want to say to
these libertines — these men that think they can
commit that sin and cover it up, and think it will
never come to light ; some of them come to our pub-
lic meetings; some of them come into our churches,
and they sweep down the broad aisle, perhaps, with
their wives upon their arms; they take the best
seats, perhaps, in our churches, and they think the
crime is covered up — be not deceived. You ruin
some man's daughter, and some vile wretch will
ruin yours. You will find it out by and by.
Do you think that God is not going to bring men
to judgment for this thing? Do you think that men
can go on, and that they can get clear, and the
woman be cast out? They say the thing is unequal.
Well, it may be among men, but bear in mind there
is a God of equity sitting in the heavens, and this
thing is going to become straight by and by. Not
that the women are excused ; one is as bad as the
other. It is a sin, and it is a fearful sin. It is a sin
we must cry out against at the present time. Don't
let any adulterer or adulteress think he or she is
going into the kingdom of God. And I want to say
to the men here to-night, if you are bound to some
fallen woman, if you are to-night guilty of that
awful sin, give it up or give up heaven. If God
should summon you into those balances to-night,
what would become of you, vile adulterer, what
would become of you? And you, poor, fallen
TEKEL. 457
woman ! — you step in and see what would become of
your soul. "Thou shalt not commit adultery."
I want to say once more before I pass this com-
mandment, that people may cavil and laugh and
make light of it, as they do; but it is one of the
greatest evils of the present day. Many a man's
life is ruined, many a family has been broken up,
and many a mother has gone^down to her grave with
a broken heart, because a son or a daughter has
been ruined. It is a time that the church of God
should send up one cry that our children should be
kept. It is a day of temptation. It is a day of
trial on our right hand and on our left. We are liv-
ing in a day of decayed conscience, as some one has
said. Men are losing their consciences. It is
astonishing how a man can talk. I got a letter from
a man to-day — the first letter I got to-day. He
stated he was living this kind of a life, and he seems
to have no conscience about it, and he wanted to
have me pray that they may be separated, and he says
if there is a God they will be separated. He doubts
whether or not there is a God. Men get so steeped
in sin that they want to stifle conscience, they want
to deceive themselves, and they begin to reason
that there is no God at all. You will find out by
and by there is a God. Bear in mind God will bring
you into judgment by and by. Because sentence is
not executed at once is no sign He is not going to
execute the sentence. Because God don't bring
men to judgment a,t once is no sign he will not come
to judgment. He will come. Paul reasoned with
Felix of "righteousness, temperance 0x16. judgment to
come. " God has appointed a day when He will judge
the world. Men may cavil and laugh as much as
458 TEKEL.
they like, but the day is appointed, the hour is
fixed, and men have got to come to judgment, and
then sins which you have committed in secret, and
which you think are covered up, will come to light
and be made public, unless they are covered by the
blood of Christ; unless you repent and turn from
them and ask God to haye mercy upon you. They
will be blazoned out to that great assembled uni-
verse.
But I must pass on. "Thou shalt not steal. " Is
there a man here to-night that is a thief? Oh, no,
you can say there are no thieves here. Ah, don't
you flatter yourself. There is many a man that
thinks he is not a thief, that is a thief. When that
young man takes twenty-five cents out of his em-
ployer's till to go to the theater, he is a thief as
much as if he stole five thousand dollars and got
caught. When a man appropriates to himself one
dollar that belongs to some one else, he is a thief in
the sight of God. A drop of water is water as much
as Lake Erie is water; and the man that steals five
cents is a thief in the sight of God as much as if he
stole five hundred dollars. Some men think that
they are not thieves unless they get caught; and
they think if they cover up their tracks and don't get
caught they never will be brought to judgment.
God's eyes are going to and fro through the earth.
If you have a dollar that belongs to some one else,
I beg of you, as a friend, to make restitution before
you go to bed to-night. Pay it back if you want
the light of heaven to flash across your path, if you
want the smile and approbation of God to rest upon
you, pay it back. You will not prosper as long as
you have some one else's money. "Thou shalt not
hi^ ^ :p«!'
->»-v.;r-'.:
TEKEL. 461
Steal." Now go to thinking. Have you anything
that belongs to some one else? Have you cheated
any one? Have you jumped on to those horse cars
and not paid your fare sometimes when there was a
great crowd and the conductor did not come around
for it? That is stealing just as much as if you had
been a defaulter or a forger. Have you been on the
steam cars, and the conductor did not happen to
come around and get your fare, and have you said,
"I have got a ride for nothing"? You are a thief.
You laugh at it, but it is not to be laughed at.
What we want to-day is righteousness iu this nation.
What we want in the church to-day above every
thing else is downright honesty; and may God give
it to us! These things are not to be laughed at.
Do you know how men become defaulters? Just in
that way. They take a little to begin with, and
conscience comes up and smites them ; but the next
day they take a little more. Conscience don't
trouble them so much. By and by they stifle con-
science, and they can go on and do anything. That
is the way these forgers begin. That is the way
these defaulters begin. That is the way these great
noted criminals begin. It is just the entering
wedge. It is a little thing in their sight. But I tell
you what we want to remedy is sin, and sin is not
little. If there is a man here to-night who has com-
menced a downward course, commenced a dishonest
life, I want to beg of you to-night, before you sleep,
make up your mind, God helping you, that you will
straighten up any dishonesty of which you have
been guilty, let it cost you what it will. Make resti-
tution.
"Thou shalt not bear false witness. " I wish I had
462 TEKEL.
time to dwell on that, and the next: "Thou shalt
not covet. "
There are those ten weights. Now, you cannot
be weighed by one of them ; you must be weighed
by the whole. Is there a man or woman in this
audience that is ready to be weighed? Come. I
have heard so much about morals — is there a moral
man here to-night? Are you ready? Have you not
broken that decalogue? Is there a man or woman in
this audience that has never broken any of those com-
mandments? If you have broken one, you are guilty.
Those are not ten different laws, but one law ; and if
I have broken one of those commandments, I have
broken the law of God, and I am guilty.
Let the moralist come up to-night and step into
the scales, and see how quick he will kick the beam.
Bring on the moralist. He walks up to those golden
scales, and he sees written there, "Except a man
be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."
He says, "You will excuse me to-night, sir. I can't
be weighed. ' ' He don't like to step in over the text.
He knows very well he will be found wanting. He
knows very well it will be said, "Tekel: Thou art
weighed in the balances and art found wanting.''
He goes around on the other side of the scales and
he sees, "Except ye be converted, and become as
little children, 5^6 shall not enter into the Kingdom
of Heaven." "Well," he says, "I think I will not
be weighed to-night." He is not quite ready to be
weighed after all. You know these texts were given
by Christ to the moralists of His day. But, says the
moralist, "I will step in, I guess, on the other side.
I don't like to step in over this text, " and he goes on
around on the third side, and there he sees: "Ex-
TEKEL. 463
cept ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." He
says, "I will not go in on that side." He steps
around to the fourth side. "Except your righteous-
ness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the
Kingdom of Heaven." "Well," he says, "I tljink
I will not be weighed in those balances. ' ' But bear
in mind God is going to weigh you in them. You
have got to be weighed in them.
Let the rumseller step up to the scales and see if
he is ready to be weighed. As he steps up to those
scales, he finds written there in golden letters : "Woe
be to the man that putteth the bottle to his neigh-
bor's lips." "Well," he says, "I think I won't be
weighed to-night. ' ' He is not ready.
Let the drunkard come, rum bottle in hand. He
looks at those scales and sees: "No drunkard shall
inherit the kingdom of God." He says, "I will not
step in there to-night. I am afraid it will be found
written on the wall, as it was on Belshazzer's wall:
"Tekel. Thou art weighed in the balances, and art
found wanting, ' '
Where is there a man to-night that is ready to be
weighed. I can imagine a man up in the gallery
says, ' ' I wonder what Mr. Moody would do if he was
to be weighed. I wonder if Mr. Moody is ready to
step into those scales and to be weighed." I want
to tell you I am ; and I say it, I hope, without any
boasting or egotism. You may put into the scales
all those commandments, every one of them, and I
am ready to step in against them. Do you want to
know how? I will take Christ in with me. I took
Him as my Savior twenty odd years ago. I am
ready to step into those scales with Him at any
464 TEKEL.
time. He will bring it down. He kept the law.
He was the end of the law for righteousness' sake.
That is man's only hope. I would not dare to be
weighed without him ; but with Him, I am ready at
any time, day or night. If God calls me to step
into those scales to-night, I will step in ; and I will
step in with a shout, too, and I will not be looking
on the wall to see if it is written "Tekel: Thou art
weighed in the balances, and art found wanting, "
because Christ has kept the law, and I have got
Him. He offered himself to me, and I took Him.
He offers himself to every guilty sinner here to-
night. To every mai\ and woman who has broken
that law there is a Savioi offered, there is salvation
offered, and you can have it and live forever. But
without Christ, what are you going to do?
CHAPTER XXXII.
NO DIFFERENCE.
You will find my text to-night in the third chapter
of Romans and the 2 2d verse. "For there is no differ-
ence. " I will venture to say there are a good many
here to-night that will differ with the text. But I
didn't make it; and I am not going to quarrel with
you. If you don't like it you must settle it with
the Word of God. I just give it you as I have got it.
If I had a servant working for me and I should send
that servant to deliver a message, and he thought it
didn't sound right and should change the message,
I think I should change servants, I should want him
to deliver the message just as I sent it. If I am
going to be the messenger of God to-night — if I am
going to preach the gospel to you, I have to give
you the law as well as the gospel.
Now, we find in this third chapter of Romans,
Paul is bringing in the law to show man his guilt.
If a man wants to read his own biography he should
turn to the third chapter of Romans and he will find
it all there. A great many men are anxious to get
their lives written. Why, they are already written.
God knows more about you than you do about your-
selves. If you want to find out what a man is by
nature, all you have to do is to read the third chapter
of Romans. It is all there. If you want to find out
465
466 NO DIFFERENCE.
what God is, read the third chapter of John and you
will find that God so loved the world, even fallen
man, that He gave His Son to die for him.
Now, I do not know a text in the Bible that the
natural man dislikes any more than this one. I
have a great many people attack me for preaching
this doctrine of "No difference." I was led to take
it up to-night by what I heard last night in the
inquiry room. There was a moralist there — that is,
he said he was a moralist — and he could not under-
stand just how he was as bad as other people. Now,
the longer I live, and the more I mingle with men,
the more I am convinced that moralists are scarce,
after all. There are a great many who think they
are very moral ; but I venture to say, if your sins
and my sins — I won't leave out one now; I take
every man and woman in this audience — if all our
secret thoughts, and all that has been in our hearts,
should be written on yonder wall, there would be
the greatest stampede you ever saw. You would
get but of this hall as if you were struck with the
plague. You know very well that if your sins were
all brought to light you would not talk about being
moralists, or about being so very good. Now, man
is not so very good by nature after all. "The heart
is deceitful above all things. ' ' Man is being deceived
by his own heart. Man is bad by nature. I don't
think you have got to go inside of yourself to find
out that you are bad. If you will only get a look at
yourself, if man could only see himself as God sees
him, he would not be talking about his righteous-
ness. It would be gone very quick.
Now, just the moment we begin to preach from
this text man begins to strengthen up and say, "I
NO DIFFERENCE. 467
don't believe it." We think we are a little better
than our neighbors — a little better than other people.
The next verse throws light upon it. "There is
no difference, for all have sinned and come short of
the glory of God. " Every one.
It would be an absurd thing to make a law with-
out a penalty. I believe the state of Massachusetts,
a few years ago, did make a law without a penalty,
and that legislature became the laughing stock of
the whole state. What is a law without a penalty?
Suppose your state legislature should pass a law
that no man in the state of Ohio shall steal, and fix
no penalty to it, the thieves would be in your houses
before you got home to-night. What do they care
for a law that has no penalty? God's law has a
penalty to it. There are not ten different laws.
They are one law. Some people seem to think
the ten commandments are ten different laws. They
are one law. If you have broken one of them you
have broken the law, and are therefore guilty. I
need not break the decalogue to be a sinner ; if I
break one of these commandments I have broken
the law of God. You need not take up all the rails
on the railroad track between here and Chicago to
have a collision — only one rail. A man may say he
has a good fence around his pasture, but if he leaves
one gap the cattle get out. What is the fence good
for? Take one inch of pipe out of that gas pipe and
the gas is cut off from this building. You need not
take out all the pipe — take out one inch and there is
no gas. So if a man has broken the law of God he
is guilty; he is a criminal in the sight of God. That
is the teaching of the third chapter of Romans. You
will find it all through the teachings of Christ : he
468 NO DIFFERENCE.
that breake' i the least of the law is guilty of all.
Why? Because he has broken the law of God. He
has transg-' ""ssed the law of God and become guilty
in the sigl of a pure God. A perfect God could
give nothii^-'g but a perfect law — a perfect standard.
There is no trouble abouf the law. Your life and
property w^uld not be safe if it were not for the law.
The law is "ill right. Skeptics find fault with the
Bible. Yod seldom find an infidel attacking the law
of God. That is all right. We have to have law — •
could not live without law. The trouble is, man
has broken the law of God. If you have broken
one commandment you are guilty in the sight of
God. If I was hanging from yonder ceiling by a
chain of one hundred links and one link should
break, down I would come. The links do not all
need to break to let me fall.
When God put man in Eden he bound him to the
throne of heaven by a golden chain. When Adam
fell he broke that golden chain. Man is lost. He
is out of communion with God. Sorne men say,
"Well, do you pretend to say I am as bad as other
people?" I don't know but what you are worse.
The moralist straightens up and says, "I am not as
bad as that drunkard. Do you call me as bad as
that thief, that adulterer, and that libertine? Do
you call me as bad as that forger, that defaulter?"
I don't know but what you are worse; really, I
can't tell. God judges us according to the light we
have had. Suppose I have had nothing but light
from earliest childhood up ; that I have been nursed
in a religious family; I have heard all about God,
but I turn my back upon all His teachings, and I
praise myself because I think I am better than other
NO DIFFERENCE. 469
people, and call myself a moralist. Hert is a young
man who has a cursing father and a cursing mother,
and has heard nothing but cursings and blasphemies.
He has had no light. It may be I am w se in the
sight of God than that man. The idea f a man
drawing the filthy rags of self-righteousness about
him and thinking he is better than 9ther people!
The fact is, there is not any thing thai grows on
this Adam tree that is good. It is all btd. I will
admit that some men have more fruit than others.
Suppose you have two trees, both miserable, worth-
less, good for nothing. One has five hundred apples
and the other only five. One has more fruit, but
both bad. So one may be more fruitful in bringing
forth sin, but both bad.
A friend of mine went into a jail some time ago
and fell to talking with the prisoners. He began to
talk with one who was a murderer, and he tried to
rouse the man up to talk about his awful guilt, but
the man thought he was not so very bad after all.
"Why," said he, "you talk as if I was the worst
man in the world. There is a man down in the
other cell who has killed six men ; I have only killed
one." There he was trying to justify himself.
That is the cry all over the world at the present
time. Men are measuring themselves by men, and
they think that because they have not committed as
many sins as other people they are not so bad. If
they could just get a glimpse of their own hearts,
they would see that they were black and vile.
Now, God never gave the law to save any man.
The law was given that every man's mouth might
be stopped, and the whole world become guilty
before God. When a man gets a good look at him-
470 NO DIFFERENCE.
self in God's law, he does not try to make out that
he is better than other people ; he gets down in the
dust, and he cries, "God be merciful to me a sin-
ner. ' '
Suppose an artist should come here to Cleveland
and advertise that he could photograph men's hearts
— that he could get a correct likeness of what is in
a man's heart— do you think he would take a single
likeness in all Cleveland? People arrange their
toilets, go to the artists and get their photographs
taken ; and if the artist flatters them a little and
makes them look a little better than they really do
look, they say, "Yes, that is a very good likeness,"
and they send it to their friends and pass it around
by post. I got one to-night from a friend, and it
was a very fine one.
But suppose you could get a photograph of your
heart. Do you think you would send that around?
There is not a man in all Cleveland who would have
a photograph of his heart taken. You know it very
well. There is not any thing that will close a man's
mouth about his being so pure, and good, and
moral, as to get a look at himself in God's looking-
glass. The law is God's looking-glass dropped down
into the world that man may see himself as God sees
him. Or, in other words, the law is made that man
may see how he has fallen short of God's standard.
Just a little while before the Chicago fire, I said
to my family at breakfast that I would come home
after dinner and take them out riding. - My little
boy jumped up and said, "Papa, will you take us up
to Lincoln Park to see the bears?" "Yes, take you
up to Lincoln Park to see the bears." You know
that boys like to see animals. I hadn't more than
NO DIFFERENCE. 471
gone off before he began to tease his mother to get
him ready. She washed him, put a white dress on
him, got him all ready. Then he wanted to go out-
doors. When he was a little fellow he had a strange
passion for eating dirt, and when I drove up, his
face was all covered with dirt and his dress was
dirty. He came running up to me and wanted me
to take him up in the carriage to Lincoln Park.
Said I, "Willie, I can't take you in that state; I
have got to wash you. " "No, I'se clean!" "No,
you are not. You are dirty. I shall have to wash
you before I can take you outriding." "O, I'se
clean, I'se clean! Mamma washed me." "No," I
said, "you are not. " The little fellow began to cry,
and I thought the quickest way to stop him was to
show him himself. So I got out of the carriage,
and took him into the house, and showed him his
face in the looking-glass. -That stopped his mouth.
He never said his face was clean after he saw himself
But I didn't take the looking-glass to wash him
with. I took him away to the water. The law is
only given to show man his needs; to show man
his guilt — not to save him. The law is a school-
master to bring him to Christ. But the law never
saved a man, never will, and never can. The law
condemns me, shows me my guilt. But Christ
comes and saves me from the curse of the law.
Paul says, in this very chapter, that the law was given
that every mouth might be stopped ; and when men
will get done measuring themselves by their neigh-
bors, by their friends, and will begin to measure
themselves by God's law, they will see just where
they are. They will see how they have sinned and
472 NO DIFFERENCE.
come short of the glory of God ; and they will not
see it before.
Why, you may go to yonder prison at Columbus,
and you will find there, probably, a thousand prison-
ers, more or less, some of them are there for forg-
ery, some for rape, some for theft, some for man-
slaughter, some for murder; and you will find, per-
haps, a hundred different kinds of prisoners. But
the law makes no difference. They have all sinned,
and come short of the requirements of the law of
the state. They have broken the law. They have
transgressed and when they came to that prison
they all went in alike. Their hair was cut short
and they put on the garb of the prison and they are
there. "There is no difference. " The law of this
state recognizes "no difference." They are crim-
inals. They are guilty.
Not long ago one of these whiskey men was taken
up by the law — a man estimated to be worth a mil-
lion dollars — and he was sent to prison, and when
he got to the prison door and wanted to take his
trunk in, they said, "No, you can't take that."
"Well," he said, "I am afraid I can't get on with
the prison fare, and I have brought a few things
for my own comfort." "No," they said, "there is
no difference here. The law recognizes no differ-
ence. ' *
You may divide society into a hundred classes.
There are the rich and the poor, the learned and
the unlearned, men of culture, men of science. But
the law of God recognizes no difference. If a man
has broken the law of God, I tell you, my friends,
there is no difference ; and the quicker you can find
it out the better. A man up here on this avenue,
NO DIFFERENCE. 473
worth his millions, who dies without Christ, without
God and without hope, goes down to his grave like
a beggar, and there will be no difference one minute
after his death ; and ten days after he is in his grave
the worms will feed upon his body as they would
upon a beggar. We make a great difference, but
God does not look at things as we do.
Now, the object of this discourse is to get you
people to-night to give up measuring yourselves by
other people. If you want to get a correct meas-
urement, measure yourself by the law of God, and
see where you are.
A few years ago, when the city of Chicago was
incorporated as a city, they gave the Mayor power
to appoint policemen. When the city was small,
the plan worked very well, but when it got to be
large, it was too much power in one man's hands,
and he would use that power to secure his re-elec-
tion, and the thing worked disastrously for the city
government. Some citizens went to Springfield to
our legislature, and got through a Police bill that
took the power out of the hands of the Mayor, and
placed it in the hands of a Board of Police Commis-
sioners. The law provided that no man should be
a policeman unless he was of a certain height. I
remember there was a great rush to headquarters
to get appointments as policemen. Men were going
all over the city getting recommendations, because
it was said no man would get an appointment that
hadn't a good character. Now, for my illustration.
Suppose that Mr. Doane and myself want to get in
as policemen ; we are running around getting letters
from leading men of Chicago. We meet at the door
at the appointed time, and I say, "Mr. Doane, I
474 NO DIFFERENCE.
think I have as good a chance as any man in this
crowd. I have letters from United States senators,
representative in Congress, the mayor of the city
and judges of the supreme court." "Well," says
Mr. Doane, "I have letters from the same ones, and
I am sure they do not speak any more highly of you
than they do of me. ' ' I step up to the Commissioner
and lay down my letters, and the Commissioner says
to me, "Mr. Moody, those letters may be all right,
but before we read those letters, we will measure
you. The law says you must be of a certain height. ' '
I stand up and am measured, but I don't come
within the requirement of the law. The law says I
must be five feet and six inches — for illustration call
it that — and I am only five feet. I do not come
but within a half a foot of it, and he hands the letters
back to me and says, "Your letters may be all
right, Mr. Moody, but you have come short of the
standard ; the law says you shall be five feet and six
inches. ' ' Mr. Doane looks down upon me and he
says, "Mr. Moody, I am a little taller than you are."
I say, "Mr. Doane, don't say anything, wait until
you are measured." Mr. Doane steps up, and he is
five feet five inches and nine-tenths of an inch.
He has come short only one-tenth of an inch.
There is no difference.
The way to measure yourself is by God's require-
ments. Is there a man here who is willing to be
measured to-night? Are you willing to be measured
by the law of God, and not by your neighbors and
by your friends? That is working the mischief.
People are all the time measuring themselves by
their neighbors and friends. Be measured by the
law of God, and see where you are. I do not know
NO DIFFERENCE. 475
of anything that will stop aman's mouth quicker.
He will not be talking about being better than his
neighbors if he measures himself by God's law.
Have you kept it? That is the question.
I can imagine Noah leaving the ark and going out
to preach from this text: "There is no difference.
Every man that does not get into the ark shall per-
ish." Those antedeluvians would have laughed at
him; they would have said, " Noah you had better
get back into the ark and not talk that stuff to us."
"There is no difference. All are going to perish
alike," says Noah. "Every man that does not get
into the ark will perish. " They would have caviled
at him and laughed at him. I doubt whether or not
they would not have stoned him to death. But did
that change the fact? The flood came and took them
all away — kings, governors, judges, rulers, drunk-
ards, harlots, thieves all swept away alike. "There
is no difference, for all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. " I can imagine Abraham leav-
ing his tent and Lot going down into Sodom a few
days before Sodom was destroyed, and preaching
from the text. ' ' There is no difference, God is going
to rise in judgment upon these cities of the plain.
Every man that does not escape from this city God
will destroy. When he comes to deal in judgment
there will be no difference." Those Sodomites
would have laughed at him. They would have told
him he had better go back to his tent and his altar.
But the fire came and they were all destroyed alike.
The king of Sodom, princes, governors, rulers, all
perished alike.
I can imagine Christ preaching to those men in
Jerusalem. "God is going to judge Jerusalem, and
476 NO DIFFERENCE.
when God comes in judgment there will be no differ-
ence." And when God judged Jerusalem eleven
hundred thousand perished. There was no differ-
ence. All perished alike.
It seems to me I got a glimpse in the Chicago fire
of what the Judgment will be, when I saw that fire
rolling down the streets of Chicago, twenty and
thirty feet high, consuming man and everj^thing in
its march that did not flee. I saw there the million-
aire and the beggar fleeing alike. There was no
difference. That night our great men, learned men,
wise men, all fled alike. There was no difference.
And when God comes to judge the world, there will
be no difference. Because you are in a higher posi-
tion, or because you have a little wealth, because
you have a title to your name or some position in
this world, if you are out of Christ — out of the arl:,
it will make no difference. God has provided an
ark of refuge. God says, "Come in." God has
provided salvation. "The grace of God hath
appeared bringing salvation to all men. ' ' You spurn
the offer of mercy. You just turn aside from this
gift. Many a man is kicking this unspeakable gift
around as he would a foot-ball — as if it was not
worth picking up. Whose fault is it? God has pro-
vided salvation for all. M any a man turns his head
with a scornful look and says: "I don't want it."
Ah, my friends, if you refuse this gift you must
perish. There will be no difference when God comes
in judgment.
Wherever man had been tried without God he
has been a failure. God put Adam in Eden, sur-
rounded him with everything that heart could de-
sire, and Satan walked in and stripped him of every-
Q a
a a
X 1
o "
25 S
NO DIFFERENCE. 479
thing he had. I don't believe vSatan was in the
garden thirty minutes before he had everything
that Adam had. He was a failure. Then God
took man and made a covenant with him. He says
to Abraham, "I will multiply thy seed as the stars
of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea
shore." After that covenant man was a failure.
He turned away from God. What a stupendous
failure man was under the Judges ! Then we find
God bringing them to Sinai and giving them the
law. Who would have thought they were not going
to keep it ! Moses went up into the mountain to
have an interview with God and took Joshua with
him, and was gone but forty days. Those men
gathered around Aaron and said, "Where is
Moses? We do not know anything about him.
Make us a god to worship. " They brought gold to
him and he made them a golden calf. These very
men that were going to keep the law, inside of
thirty days were bowing down and worshiping a
golden calf, and their children have been at it ever
since. More people to-day bow down to the golden
calf than to the God of heaven. Man away from
God is a stupendous failure. Man was a failure un-
der the prophets. Now, we have been two thousand
years under grace, which means undeserved mercy;
and what is man under grace but a failure without
God? Pick tip 5'our daily papers and look at j'our
daily records. Look at that transaction in Cincin-
nati within forty-eight hours! Look at what is
occurring in all the towns, cities, and villages!
Man away from God is a failure. When will men
learn the lesson?
But I can imagine some of you sav, "Is there no
27
480 NO DIFFERENCE.
star to light this darkness? Are we to be left under
this law?" Right here conies this gospel. Jesus
came to redeem us from the law. Christ was the
end of the law for righteousness' sake. He has
atoned for sin. He has by the sacrifice of Himself
put away sin. The law cannot touch me. Blessed
truth. The law condemns me, but Christ saves me.
The law casts me down, but Christ lifts me up. If
you can afford to turn away from such a Savior and
go on in your sins and take the consequences, you
can take a greater responsibility upon yourself than
I would dare to do.
Perhaps I can illustrate this by an incident that
occurred during our war. When the war broke out
there was a young man in New England who was
engaged to be married to a young lady. He enlisted
for three years. Letters passed between them. He
wrote to her after every battle. The three years
were nearly up. She was counting the days before he
would return. The battle of the Wilderness came
on. She got no letter for some time. Day after
day she went to the little village postoffice, but got
no letter ; but at last one came in a strange hand-
writing, written by one of his comrades. She tore
it open. It stated that he had lost both of his arms
in that battle, and how he loved her, but as he
would be dependent upon the charities of a cold
world for his support, and as she was worthy of a
noble husband he released her from the. engagement
and she was at liberty to inarry whom she pleased.
She never answered that letter. The next train
that left that little village for the South she was on.
She went to the army, and her tears and entreaties
took her beyond the lines, and she got down to the
NO DIFFERENCE. 481
hospital in the Wilderness. She got the number of
the ward or the cot he was in. She went down that
long- line of cots and at last her eye fixed upon that
number. She rushed to that cot, and bent over and
kissed that armless man, and she said, "I will never
give you up. These hands will toil for you. I am
able to support you and care for you. " That young
man could have spurned her offer and turned her
away and said, "No, I will not carry out the engage-
ment. ' ' He was a free agent. But she came to
him in his helpless condition, and now they are
living a happy life. She has been true to her word.
She takes care of that man.
Ah, my friends, it is a poor illustration of what
Jesus Christ will do for every sinner in this hall to-
night. We are worse than armless. We are dead
in trespasses and sins. Christ came from the throne
of heaven and redeemed us from the law. "He
bore our sins for us in his own- body on the tree.'
"He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised
for our iniquity, and by His stripes we are healed. ' '
He took the penalty of the law into His own bosom.
He tasted death for every man. Christ was the end
of the law by giving up His own life. Sinner, will
you have Him as your Savior? Will you let Him
redeem you from the curse of the law to-night?
Will you to-night pass from death unto life? You
can, if you will, have Him. "He that hath the Son
hath life, and he that hath not the Son hath not
life." And when you and I stand before God, the
question will be: "What did you do with My Son?
I offered you eternal life through Him. What did
you do with Him?"
CHAPTER XXXIII.
GRACE
My subject is that we have just been singing
about, "Grace." It is one of those Bible words we
hear so often and know so Httle about. You hear a
great many people talking about their not being
worthy to come to Christ; they would like to come,
but they are not worthy, they are not good enough.
That is a sign they know nothing about grace at
all. Grace means unmerited mercy, undeserved
favor. Just because man don't deserve it, God deals
in grace with him. And when we see it in that
light we will get done trying to establish our own
righteousness and our own good deeds, and take
Christ as God would have us.
Now there is not any part of the Bible in which
you will not find God shining out in grace ; or, in
other words, He wants to deal with all men in grace.
Pie don't delight in judgment. He delights in
mercy. That is one of his attributes. He is anxious
to deal in mercy with every man, woman and child
on the face of the earth. But the trouble is, men
are running away from the God of grace, they don't
want grace, won't have it, won't take it as a gift.
In proof of this you will find that away back in
Eden, the first thing after the fall of man, God deal-
ing in grace with Adam. You find, as you read the
482
GRACE. 483
account of his fall, of his transgression, that there
is not any sign at all of repentance. When God
came to deal with Adam there is not any sign of
Adam asking for pardon. If he asked for pardon it
has not been put on record. There is no confes-
sion ; there is no contrition ; there is no prayer for
mercy; and yet we find the God of all grace dealing
with Adam there in Eden in love — in grace. He
had mercy upon him. If He had dealt in judgment
without grace, He would have hurled him out of
Eden, or Pie would have let Eden be his resting
place. He would have perished right there in Eden.
But we find God dealt in grace with Adam. He
pitied him, and He had mercy upon him.
You will find that, all through the Old Testament,
grace here and there shines out; but we don't see it
in its fulness until Christ came. He was the em-
bodiment of grace and truth.
In the first chapter of John's gospel and the four-
teenth verse it says, "And the Word was made flesh,
and dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of
grace and truth. For the law was given by Moses,
but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ."
Again, in the fifth chapter of Romans and the
fifteenth verse, we read, "But not as of the offense,
so also is the free gift." Emphasize that little word
free. It is ^free gift. "For if through the offence
of one many be dead, much more the grace of God,
and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus
Christ, hath abounded unto many."
Now, grace came by Jesus Christ and hath
abounded unto many. As we lost life in the first
Adam, we get life in the second Adam. We lost
484 GRACE.
everything, you might say, in the first Adam, but
we get it all back, and more, too, in the second
Adam. He came full of grace to have mercy on
man and to save. We cannot get the grace of God
except through His Son. That is the channel that
the gifts of God flow through. If a man thinks he'
is going to get by Christ and going right to the
Father and have God deal in mercy with him he is
deceiving himself. Christ is the anointed one, the
sent one. God sent Him to deal in grace with men ;
and if you want the God of all grace to meet you
and bless you, you must meet Him at the foot of the
cross; you must meet Him in Christ.
When the nations around Egypt went down into
Egypt to get corn, the king of Egypt sent them to
Joseph. He put every thing in Joseph's hands. So
the King of heaven has put every thing in Christ's
hands ; and if you want mercy you must go to Christ,
because He delights in mercy ; and there is not a
man or woman on the face of the earth who really
want mercy that cannot find it in Him. He is the
God of all grace ; that is what Peter says. Men talk
about grace, but the fact is we don't know much
about grace. If I went to a bank and had a pretty
good reputation for having money, if I was worth
consderable, and I could get another mart that was
worth a little more to endorse my note, I might get,
perhaps, five hundred dollars for a little while, but
I would have to give a note, and perhaps have to
secure that note, and it would read, "Thirty days
after date, or sixty days after date, I promise to
pay." Then they give what they call three days
grace, and they make you pay interest for those
three days; and if you are short a dollar they will
GRACE. 485
sell every thing you have to get that from you.
Men call that grace. They don't know anything
about grace at all. If they had grace they would
give you not only the principal, but the interest and
all. That is what grace is. I think the reason men
know so little about grace is that they are measur-
ing God by their own rule. Now, we love a man as
long as he is worthy of our love. When he is not
we cast him off. Not so with the God of all grace.
Nothing will give him greater pleasure than to deal
in mercy — to deal in grace.
Paul is called the apostle of grace. If you look at
his fourteen epistles carefully, you will find that
every one of them winds up with a prayer for grace.
Now, I want to call your attention to a scene that
occurred in the life of Christ. See how grace just
flowed out. There was a woman came to him who
had a daughter who was greviously tormented at
home. Perhaps some of you have children that are
possessed of bad spirits, possessed of a demon, chil-
dren that are just breaking your hearts and bringing
ruin upon your home and bitterness into your life.
Well, this woman had a child that was grievously
tormented, and she started off to Christ. He v.-as
coming to the coast of Tyre and Sidon, and she came
out to that coast. She was not an Israelite. He
had come for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
God sent him first to the Jews. But grace would
flow out. The apostles tried to keep it back, but it
would flow out. He came in the borders of that
country, and this woman had faith, and she came
and cried to the Lord to help her, and she kept cry-
ing. The Lord knew all about her, but He wanted
to teach those Jews around Him a lesson. He
486 GRACE.
wanted to teach them the lesson of grace. The
most difficult thing Christ had to do when He was
down here was to teach those Jews grace. The men
that were around Him, even those twelve apostles,
could not understand about this grace. They were
all the time going around establishing their own
righteousness. "We are of the seed of Jacob; we
are the descendants of Moses and Abraham. " They
thought they were better than the nations around
them. They called the nations around them Gentile
dogs, but they were the seed of Abraham. He was
trying to teach them grace. They could not under-
stand it. This woman comes to the coast of Tyre
and Sidon and begins to cry for help. The disciples
tried to send her away. She was terribly in earn-
est, and she kept praying right there in the streets.
She was hungering for something. I hope some, one
has come up to this Tabernacle to- day hungering
for something. You will get it if you are hunger-
ing and thirsting for it. She was terribly in earn-
est. She wanted the Lord to bless her. She put
herself right in the place of that child. At last one
of the twelve — perhaps it was Peter; he was gener-
ally the spokesman of the twelve — says: "Lord,
send her away; she is bothering us." Ah! Peter
did not know the heart of the Savior. He had a
blessing in His heart for that woman. But the
woman kept on crying. At last He thought He would
try her, and He says: "It is not meet to take the
children's bread and cast it to the dogs." Now, if
she had been like some women in Cleveland she
would have probably said, "What! you call me a dog,
do you? I won't take anything from you. I know
lots of women who are meaner than I am ; and worse
GRACE. 487
than T am. There's a woman lives down on the
same street I live, and she belongs to the seed of
Abraham, and she is a good deal meaner than I
am." How mad she would have got! But see
what she did: "Yes, Lord; but the dogs eat of the
crumbs that fall from his Master's table." Ah, it
pleased the Master wonderfully. He did not send
her away. "Oh, woman, great is thy faith. Be it
unto thee as thou wilt. " That is a blank check for
her to fill out. The whole treasury of heaven was
open to her, and she could walk in and take what
she wanted. She did not come with any work. She
did not come with any tears. She just came for
mercy. And that beautiful prayer — some people
tell us thoy can't pray; but this is one of the most
beautiful prayers on record. "Lord," — she called
hiin Lord ; He was divine ; He was not mere man —
"Lord, help me." Three golden links bound her
right to the God of all grace. You tell me you can't
pray! ^v'hy, that little child there can make that
prayer, "Lord, help me. " That is all she said, and
that is all she wanted. She wanted help. She had
come for that, and she got it. If you come to-day
to meet the God of all grace and want help, lie is
ready to help you. He delights to help. He likes
to give gifts to the sons of men. He says, "It is
more blessed to give than to receive. " He has gifts,
and He wants to give every one of us some to-day,
if we will receive them. He is full of grace. ,It
don't grieve Him to have us come too often. It
don't grieve Him to have us ask too great things.
The only way we can displease God is not to come
often enough ; and when we do come not to ask for
enough. This woman came for a blessing, and she
488 GRACE.
got it. She went right home and found that child
perfectly whole.
In the seventh chapter of Luke you will find an-
other case where grace seems to come out. A cer-
tain centurion's servant was sick, and when the cen-
turion heard of Jesus, he sent the elders of the Jews
to ask Him to come and heal his servant. And the
Jews came and said, "Lord, there is a centurion
whose servant is very ill, and he wants to have you
come and heal him ; and we want to have you come
at once, because he is worthy?" Nov/, mark this:
The Jews put it on the ground of his worthiness.
What had he done to make him worthy? Why, he
had built a synagogue. They thought Christ ought
to stop His work and turn aside at once and go and
heal that man's servant, because he was worthy.
They put it on the ground of works — because he
had built a synagogue. Do you know, I believe
that is the mischief with many of our churches. 1
believe that is the trouble with a good many people.
They think God is under obligations to them. They
think God owes them something. They think be-
cause they have built a synagogue, or helped build
some church, or endowed some college, that God
ought to deal in grace with them and ought to have
mercy upon them. Now, it is "to him that worketh
not, but believeth. " Now, Christ starts to go to
that centurion's house as if He was going to deal
with him in that way — as if He was going to put it
on the ground of works. But before He gets to his
house, the man sent friends to Him, saying, "Lord,
don't trouble yourself; I am not worthy that you
should come into my house; neither thought I my-
self worthy to ask you; so I sent these Jews." He
GRACE. 489
thought other people better than himself. And I
tell you when a man gets there, he gets in a posi-
tion where God can deal in grace with him ; he is
pretty near the kingdom of heaven. But the trouble
with us Americans is, we think we are a little better
than other people. We just reverse God's order,
and we think that other people are a little lower
down, and a little worse than we are. But this cen-
turion thought he was not worthy to come and ask
Christ to heal his servant. He sent men to Him
saying, "Now, you speak the word, and it will be
done." That pleased Christ. He turned around
and said to those Jews, "I have not found so great
faith, no, not in Israel. ' ' Here was a centurion.
He did not belong to the tribe of Abraham; but
among the Jews He had not found a men that had
such faith. The Lord said the word, and the serv-
ant was healed right then and there. He dealt in
grace with him. So when you and I are in such a
position that God can deal in grace with us, that
very moment God deals in grace with us. Well,
when is it? When we are just nothing, and are will-
ing to let God have mercy upon us, then He will
have mercy, not before.
Now, if you will turn to Ephesians you will find
that He deals in grace without works. You hear
people talk about trying to do better. They think
they can do something that will commend them to
God, and that God will have mercy upon them.
Instead of giving up all works and letting God save
them in His own way, they are trying to work their
way to God, and that is the reason that they do not
come. I believe to-day that works is one of the
great obstacles in the way. Men are trying to pnt
490 GRACE.
their good works in the place of a Savior. In the
second chapter of Ephesians, second verse, we read,
"That in the ages to come He might show the ex-
ceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward
us through Jesns Christ. For by grace are you saved
through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the
gift of God." Through grace are you saved. Now
mark the words. There is one lady that is not
listening. She has gone to sleep. I wish, friends,
if you sec any one asleep you would just hunch
them with your elbow and wake them. You may
save a soul in mat way. "For by grace are ye
saved through faith, and that not by yourselves! It
is the gift of God; not of works; lest any man
should boast."
There will be one thing we will miss when we get
to heaven, and that is boasting. We hear enough
of that down here. I am sure I don't want to heu,r
any more. You cannot go into any of these cities
hardly but what you find a lot of self-made men
boasting of what they have done — started poor and
got rich, and have done this and this. It is, I I —
boasting. I am sure there woiild be a good deal of
boasting in heaven, if men could get there by their
works. But you cannot get there in that way. If
you get there, you have to get there by the sover-
eign grace of God. Salvation is a gift. You must
take it as a gift. If a man could get to heaven by
works, he would carry boasting into heaven with
him. Suppose a man could work his way up to
heaven, what is he going to do when he gets there?
He could not join the chorus around the throne
singing the song of redemption. He would have to
have a little harp and get off in a corner by himself.
GRACE. 431
Then in the eleventh chapter of Romans and sixth
verse Paul says, "And if by grace, then it is no
more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace.
But if it be of works, then is it no more grace. " He
is there bringing out the point. He says, if men
are saved by works there is no grace about it at all.
Paul says in the fourth chapter of Romans and
fifth verse, "It is to him that worketh not, but be-
lie veth." We get salvation by faith and not by
works. Not but that salvation is worth working for.
It is worth climbing mountains, crossing rivers,
swimming streams, crossing deserts and lakes and
going round the world on our hands and knees for.
It is worth it, no doubt about it, but you can't get in
that way, you can't get it by works. "It is to him
that worketh not but believeth. " If I employed a
man to work for me all day and I gave him two dol-
lars for the day's work, and he goes home and his
wife says to him, "John, where did you get that two
dollars?" and he said, "I worked and earned it,"
there would be no grace about it at all. But sup-
pose he is sick and could not work, or suppose I did
not have any work for him and he was in distress,
and I gave him two dollars. He goes home and his
wife says, "John, where did you get that money?"
and he says, "Why, it is a gift; Mr. Moody gave it
to me."
Now, if you ever get salvation you have to take it
as a gift. You cannot buy it, and you cannot get it
by your good works.
Suppose I should say to this audience, if anybody
wants this Bible he can have it, and a man steps up,
I reach out the Bible, he takes it, puts it under his
arm and starts off home. He gets home, and his
492 GRACE.
wife says, "John, where did you get that Bible?"
And he says, "Why, Mr. Moody gave it to me."
That would be a gift. But suppose I should say I
will give the Bible to any one that wants it, and a man
comes up and says, "Mr. Moody, I don't just like
your terms. I don't like to be under obligations to
you," and that is about the way with sinners; they
do not like to be under obligations to God. So this
man says, "I would like to take it, but not on your
terms. I will give you twenty-five cents for the
Bible. ' ' I know it is worth a good deal more than
that; but suppose I take the twenty-five cents and
the man goes home with the Bible under his arm,
and his wife says, "John, were did you get that
Bible?" He says, "I bought it." It is no gift at
all. He bought it.
Now, don't you see that it is a gift? All through
the Bible it is called a gift. If it is a gift it must
be without works — it must be without money. It
would be no gift at all if you paid for it — if you paid
a farthing. It is a gift from God. But you can
spurn the gift. You can trample it under your feet.
You can say, "I will not have grace." Then you
must have judgment. If any man will not have
grace he must have judgment. If a man will not
have mercy he must have punishment. Is not that
the teaching of the Scriptures? God says, "I
delight in mercy ; I want to give you the gift of
eternal life." "The wages of sin is death. " Man
has got to take his wages whether he wants to or not.
"The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is
eternal life. ' '
Now, the question comes, To whom does He offer
this gift? — to the righteous? He offers it to the
GRACE. 493
world. He offers it to sinners; and if a man can
prove that he is a sinner I can prove that he has got
a Savior. If man can prove he was born into this
world I can prove that God has provided a Savior
for him. "God gave Him up," says Paul, "freely
for us all." I like these texts that have these
sweeping assertions that take us all in. "God gave
him up for us all. " Christ did not die for Paul any
more than He did for the rest of us. He tasted
death for us all. "That is what I believe," says a
man down there, "and every man will be saved."
Yes, every man that will lay hold of the cross will
be saved. "If ye die in your sins, where I am ye
cannot come. " If a man goes on sinning, violating
the law of God, trampling it under his feet, and
will not take the yoke of God upon him down here,
do you think he is going into the kingdom of God?
Do you think he will have any taste for heaven?
In the second chapter of Titus, eleventh and
twelfth verses, Paul says, "For the grace of God
that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. ' ' I
can imagine a man says: "Do you think that is
really true?" "Yes." "What! does that mean
drunkards?" "Yes, every drunkard in Cleveland.
"What! do you mean all these harlots that are walk-
ing the streets to-night?" "Every harlot. The grace
of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to every
man." "What! do you mean gamblers?" "Yes,
every gambler. " " And these murderers down here
in prison, and some that haven't been caught?"
"Yes; every murderer. The grace of God hath
appeared, bringing salvation to all men." If men
are lost, it is because they spurn God's gift. They
494 GRACE.
spurned His offer of mercy. It is not that God
don't offer it. It is as free as the air we breathe.
I remember preaching upon the grace of God
once in Chicago, to a fashionable congregation, and
I was just hungering for some souls. I was anxious
that the grace of God might find some one there,
and while I was preaching I was looking around to
see if I could see any one that was anxious to be
saved. At the close of the meeting I said, "If there
is any one here that wants to be saved, I will be glad
to stay and talk with him. " It was one of the cold-
est nights of the winter, and they all got up and
went out, and my heart sank within me. I looked
all around and did not see any one wait. I got my
overcoat, and was the last one to leave, as I sup-
posed; but as I got to the door, I saw a man behind
the furnace. He was crying as if his heart would
break. I sat down by his side and I said, "What is
the trouble?" He said, "Well, you said something
to-night that broke my heart." "What is it?" "You
said that the grace of God was for the likes of me."
I said, "That is good; I am glad it has reached
you." He thought he could not be saved. But it
was for the likes of him. I talked with him, and
found out what his trouble was. He was just one
of those poor tmfortunate men that liquor had got
the mastery of, and, although it was one of the cold-
est nights, he had no coat on. He drank that up.
He said that within the past six months he had
drank up twenty thousand dollars. "And now,"
said he, "my wife has left me, and my children, and
my own father and mother have cast me off, and I
expected to die here in the gutter one of these
nights. I expected this was my last night. " He
GRACE. 497
said, "I didn't come in to hear you; I came in to
get warm, but my heart is broken. Do you think
the grace of God can save me — a poor, miserable,
vile wretch like me?" I said, "Yes."
It was refreshing to preach the gospel of the Son
of God to that poor man. I prayed with him, and
after I prayed with him, he didn't ask me for any
money, but I took him to a place where he was pro-
vided for for that night, and the next morning I had a
friend go to the pawnbroker's to get his coat — got
his coat upon him, and in a little while he came out
a decided Christian; and when Mr. Sankey and my-
self went to Europe, I don't know a brighter light
in all the Western States than that young man.
The grace of God found him. The grace of God
saved him, and the grace of God has kept him.
That is what the grace of God is for. There is
not a man, woman or child in Cleveland so far
gone, but the grace of God can save him. What
we want is, as Christians, to be up and publishing
the tidings — proclaiming the glorious gospel of
Christ. It is a gospel of glad tidings. My friends,
make haste. Take the torch of salvation and carry
it down into the dark lanes, and dark alleys, and
dark homes, and light them up with the glorious
gospel of the Son of God. Jesus is mighty to save.
"His name shall be called Jesus for He shall save
His people from their sins. " He is a mighty Savior,
but the world don't know it. The world has been
deceived by the devil — has been blinded by the god
of this world. What we want is to tell them that
Christ is able to save, and that He is ready to save.
There is a story told of William Dorset, that
Yorkshire farmer. He was preaching one night in
28
498 GRACE.
London, and he made the remark that there was
not a inan in all London so far gone but that the
grace of God could save him. That is a very strong
assertion, for there are some pretty hard cases in
London, a city of four million inhabitants. You go
into the east of London and see that awful pool of
iniquity— the stream of death and misery flows right
on. But he made that statement, that there was
not a man or woman in all London so far gone but
that the grace of God could save them. It fastened
in a young lady's mind. She went home that night,
and the next morning she went to see the York-
shire farmer. She said, "I heard you preach last
night, and I heard you say that* there was not a
man so far gone in all London but that the grace of
God could save him." She said, "Did you really
mean it?" "Why," he said, "certainly I meant
it." "And do you think that there is not a man in
all London but that can be saved if he will be?"
"Why, certainly, " said Mr. Dorset, "not a man."
"Well," she said, "I am a missionary and I work
down in the East End of London, and I have
found a man there who says that there is no hope
for him. He is dying, and I can't make him believe
that there is any hope for him. I wish you would
go and see him. ' ' The man of God said he would
be glad to go. She took him down one of those
narrow streets until they came to an old filthy build-
ing. She said, "I think, perhaps, you can manage
him better alone." It was a five-story building.
He went up stairs to the upper story and found a
young man lying there upon some straw ; there was
no bed. Ah! the way of the transgressor is hard!
He had got clear down into great poverty and want,
GRACE. 499
and there he was sick and .dying. Mr. Dorset bent
over him, whispered into his ear and called him
friend. The young man looked up at him aston-
ished. "You are mistaken, sir, in the person. You
have got in the wrong place." "How is that?"
asked Mr. Dorset. "Well, sir, I have no friend ; I am
friendless." He said, "You have a friend." Then
he told him of the sinner's friend. He told him how
Christ loved him. The young man shook his head,
"Christ don't love me." "Why not?" "I have
sinned against Him all my life." "I don't care if
you have. He loves you still and He wants to save
you." And he preached Christ to him there. He
told him of the* glorious grace of God. He told
him that God could save him, and he read to him out
of the Bible. The light of the gospel began to dawn
upon that darkened mind, and the first sign of a
new life was, his heart went out toward those whom
he had injured, and he said, "If I could only know
that my father would forgive me I could die in this
garret happy. ' ' He asked him where his father
lived. He said, "In the West End of London."
Mr. Dorset said, "I will go up and see him and will
ask him if he will not forgive you." The young
man shook his head. "I don't want you to do that.
Why, sir, my father has disowned me. He has
disinherited me. My father has had my name taken
off the family record. He does not own me any
more as his boy. I am as dead, sir, to him. If you
go and talk to him about me he will get angry and
order you out of the house, and you have been so
kind to me I don't want your feelings hurt." Mr.
Dorset went up to the West End of London to a
most beautiful place and rang the bell. A servant
500 GRACE.
dressed in livery came to the door. INIr. Dorset
inquired if his master was in, and was told that he
was. He was taken into the drawing-room, and
while he was waiting there for the man of the
house to come down, he looked around him.
There was not a thing that heart could desire that
had not been laid out on that beautiful home. By
and by the man came into the room. Mr. Dorset
got up and went across the room to shake hands
with him. He said, "You have a son, sir, by the
name of Joseph, have you not?" The father's hand
fell by his side. His countenance changed. Mr.
Dorset saw that he had made him very angry. He
said in a great rage, "No, sir. And if you have
come here to talk to me about that worthless vaga-
bond I want you to leave my house, I don't allow
any one to mention his name in my presence. He
has been dead to me for years, and if you have
been to him you have been deceived. He cannot be
relied upon." He turned on his heel to go out
of the room, to leave him. Mr. Dorset said, "Well,
he is your boy yet. He won't be long." The
father turned again; "Is my Joseph sick" "Yes,
your boy is at the point of death, sir. He is dying.
I have not come here to ask you to take him home,
or to ask you to give him anything, sir ; I will see
that he has a decent burial. All I want is to have
you tell me that you forgive him, and let him die
in peace." The great heart of the father was
broken, and he said, "Forgive him? Oh, I would"
have forgiven him long ago if I had known he
wanted it. Forgive him ! Certainly. Can you take
me to him?" The man of God said he would take
him to him, and they ^ot into a carriage and were
GRACE. 601
soon on their way; and when the father reached
that garret he could hardly recognize his boy, all
mangled and bruised by the fall of sin. The first
thing the boy said to his father was, "Father, can
you forgive me? Will you forgive me?" "Oh,
Joseph, I would have forgiven you long ago if I
had known you wanted it. " He met him in grace
right there. The father said, "Let my servant
take you in the carriage and take you home. I
cannot let you die in this fearful place." "No,
father, I am not well enough to be moved. I shall
die soon, but I can die happy now that I know you
have forgiven me; for I believe that God, for
Christ's sake has forgiven me." And in a little
while, with his head on the bosom of his father,
Joseph breathed his last, and passed back to his
God.
Yes, my friends, that father was willing to for-
give him when he knew that the boy wanted grace.
Now God knows all your hearts, and if you want
grace to-day the God of all grace will meet you.
He will meet you in mercy. He will meet you
in pity. He will bless you to-day. He wants to
bless you. Sin ruins, sin casts down, but the grace
of God lifts up. O, may the grace of God lift you
up to-day out of the pit and place your feet on the
Rock of Ages.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
COME.
I want this audience to-night, while I am speak-
ing, to pray. I would like to ask you friends that
are not Christians to pray. I would like to give
you a little prayer, and I would like to ask you to
make it all the time I am speaking: "Lord, if
these things are so, show them to me." I don't
want you to believe one solitary word I say that is
not from God. If it is not true, I don't want you
to believe it. But if it is, you certainly ought to be
honest enough to want to know it. That is per-
fectly fair. No skeptic, no infidel, no deist, no athe-
ist really can object to making that prayer; but if
there is an atheist here, let him make this prayer:
"If there be a God, let Him show these things to
me, if they are true." Let us be willing to-night
to let the God that created us teach us.
Now, the text I want to call your attention
to is in the seventh chapter of Genesis, the first
verse. It is a truth that a great many of you, per-
haps, don't believe. A great many people have the
idea that no such thing ever took place. But if you
make that prayer we will find out. "If it is true,
Lord, show it to me. Rever 1 it to me. "
"And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and
all thy house into the ark." That word "come"
502
COME. 608
occurs all through the Bible. It begins in the first
book of the Bible and runs clear through Revelation.
The prophets took it up and their cry was, "Come,
come,"
When that blessed Master came, He took up that
same cry, "Come imto Me all ye that labor." V/hen
the apostles commenced to work after Christ left
the earth, they kept ringing out that word "Come. "
We find it in the last chapter of Revelation.
The first time it occurs in the Bible is in this text
I have to-night. God Almighty was the preacher,
and He was calling Noah in out of the coming
storm, out of the coming judgment that was coming
upon the earth. One hundred and twenty years
before that Noah had received the most awful com-
munication that ever came from heaven to earth.
God told him that He was going to destroy the earth
on account of sin. Sin sprang into this world full
grown. The first man born of woman was a mur-
derer. I suppose that we, at this age, know noth-
ing about the sins of the antediluvians. Men had
time then to carry out their plans, and their iniqui-
ties, and their sins. They lived a thousand years,
nearly. I don't know what would happen now if
men should live so long in sin. It says in the sixth
chapter of Genesis and the fifth verse, "And God
saw that the wickedness of man was great in the
earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his
heart was only evil continually. ' ' The wickedness of
earth had come up to God. God purposed that He
would destroy the earth. But He gave them one
hundred and twenty long years' grace— one hun-
dred and twenty long years to repent; and if
they had repented like Nineveh, God might have
504 COME.
spared the Old World, and might have spared those
antediluvians. But I can imagine they talked very-
much as men talk now, and when Noah brought
them that message they mocked him ; they laughed
at the idea; they scoffed at the idea. "God going
to destroy this world! You don't suppose we are
fools enough to believe that, do you? God going to
destroy His own world! God going against the law
of nature! Why, it is against our reason! It is
against our intellect! We don't see any reason for
it. God going to destroy the world? Away with
such a God as that! We won't have anything to do
with a God of judgment — a God who is going to
judge this world on account of sin."
Then there was another class of people, undoubt-
edly, that were atheists, that took the ground that
the world came by chance, that there was no God,
and that Noah was a fanatic. Some of them, per-
haps, went so far as to think he was out of his mind.
If they had had insane hospitals in those days they
would have tried to get him into one of them.
"Poor, deceived, deluded man! God going to de-
stroy the world ! God going to drown all in it — our
great men, our mighty men, our kings, our princes,
our rulers, our governors, and our wise men ! Away
with such a doctrine! We don't believe it."
Noah and his family stood alone on that dark day.
There was not a man to stand with him, and God
told him to build an ark, and the God of heaven was
the architect. He told him how to build it, and I
will venture to say that every dollar's worth of ma-
terial that went into that ark came out of Noah's
property. He could not get a man to help him.
When you built this church you got every man you
COME. 505
could to help you build it. But there was not a man
that would help Noah build that ark. He had to
pay the expenses alone. They laughed at the idea.
They mocked at the idea. They ridiculed the idea.
Why, the strongest thing against you, Noah, is that
no one believes with you ; the great men and all the
leading minds of the present day differ with j'ou.
They don't believe there is going to be a flood —
that there is going to be a deluge and a judgment ;
there are no signs in the heavens. The astronomers
look up in the heavens and they say, "We see no
sign of a coming storm or a coming judgment. It
is all a delusion, God is not going to destroy the
world. I don't believe it. And then we have a
majority with us. They all go with us, and you
stand alone. ' ' But the old man toiled on. Day after
day you can see him there at that ark. He must
have known when he received the commission to
build the ark, how much sport they would make of
it —how he would become the butt of ridicule, how-
he would become the song of the drunkard and how
he would become the laughing stock of that day.
If they had the theaters in those days I have not
any doubt but that they would have Noah's Ark on
the stage and make all manner of sport of it. Lec-
turers went up and down the country warning these
antediluvians against fanaticism, and to be careful
about being carried away with that delusion. If
they had newspapers in those days once in a while
there would have been a reporter coming around to
see how he was getting along, and he would write
up an article on "Noah's Delusion," or "Noah's
Ark. " If they had the telegraph in those days every
once in a while there would have been a telegraphic
506 COME.
dispatch sent around the world about Noah's Ark
and about the deluded man spending all his money
and all his time upon that ark. And then there was
that gray-haired old man and his family, his three
sons and their wives, only eight in all, and yet he
is building an ark large enough to accommodate
hundreds and thousands! Deluded man! Gone
clean mad ! Some one has suggested the idea that
Noah must have been deaf or he could not have
withstood the scoffs and the jeers of that day. But
if he was he had an ear to hear God. He communed
with God, and when God spoke to him, he could
hear and he obej^ed. Well, a hundred years passes
away. There is no sign of a coming storm, and
these men are increasing in their infidelity and in
their unbelief. They go on, scoffing and mocking
and ridiculing. And the men that helped Noah, his
carpenters there whom he hired, undoubtedly if
they went into a saloon and began to drink or play
cards, men would make fun of them. "Ah, you
are helping that-old lunatic there to make the ark. "
But I can imagine they would say, "Noah's money
is as good as any. We don't believe in his old ark;
we don't believe in the delusion, but we are after
his money, that is all."
There are a good many men to-day that talk in
the same way about the ark that God has provided.
The day of scoffing is not passed. The day of
mocking, and the day of ridiciile is not passed.
Many a man is kept out of the kingdom of God be-
cause he cannot stand the ridicule of some scoffing,
sneering, contemptible wretch, who would trample
his mother's prayers, and feelings, and her Bible,
COME. 507
and all of her precepts under his feet, and mock at
the idea of his mother's God.
Time passes on. The hundred and 'twenty years
have expired. The merriment increases. Noah
hag got his ark done. All the contracts are closed.
During the past hundred and twenty years many a
time has he stopped the work, perhaps, on the ark
and gone out and warned his countrymen. He told
them of the coming judgment. But they mocked
the old man. They didn't believe him. But now
the ark is finished. I don't know what time of the
year it was finished; perhaps it was in the spring.
In that spring Noah did not plant anything.
"Now, surely, he will come to want. Every year
he has planted ; like others he has provided for the
future, but now he has not planted anything. He
is preparing to go into that ark. He says that this
is the last year. The world is going to be destroyed.
What an absurdity." When we talk now about
God's burning up this world men scoff at the idea,
"God desti-oy the world! He is not going to do any-
thing of the kind. The world is improving, grow-
ing better all the while. What is God going to de-
stroy the world for if the world is growing better,
and if men are getting on so well, accumulating
wealth and great fortunes. Away with such a delu-
sion ! God is not going to burn up the world. There
is no God of judgment. God is not going to judge
the world for sin. To be sure, they put His Son to
death. But then he just winked at that. He is not
goino- to hold them responsible for that. It is all a
delusion." That is the talk of the world to-day.
That is the cry.
I can imagine when the last year expired— the one
508 COME.
hundred and twenty years were up, and the day of
grace was closing, those men just increased in their
scoffing and their infidelity.
Noah at last moves into the ark. That was just
the climax of the whole thing. A most absurd
thing. Why didn't he wait until the storm began?
There was time enough to move; then to build an
ark on dry land, as if the storm was going to get up
there ; and if it did, do you think that thing would
float? They made all manner of sport of it, and
ridiculed it. Visitors came to look at it. You can
see them looking around ; going up into the different
sories of it. If they saw Noah around, they would
say, "That's him, that's him there!" They would
just point the finger of scorn at him, "deluded
man!" The business men of that day undoubtedly
said that ark was not worth as much when J^oah
got it done as the nails they put into it. If it was
put up at auction it would not bring any more than
what it was worth for kindling wood. It was not
good for a house to live in, and you could not make
a barn of it. Yet that man had put all his wealth,
probably, in that ark. For years he had gathered
up all he had and put it in that ark. The world
looked upon it with scorn and contempt, but God
called him in, "Come, thou and all thy house, into
the ark. ' ' And, thank God, his children went in
with him. Noah lived so that his children had con-
fidence in his piety. I have great admiration for
Noah. If a man could live in that dark day, with
those scoffers and unbelievers all about him, and
command his children so that they followed him,
he must have lived right at home. He must have
been a true man, and he must have walked with
COME. 509
God Almighty. And after they had gone in, God
gave the earth seven days more of grace. He added
seven days to the hundred and twenty years. Un-
doubtedly he gave them that time to repent. If they
had repented then they might have been saved.
But they did not repent. They mocked at the idea,
and they said to Noah when he told them that he
had built that ark so large that he might preserve
his seed upon the earth, the fowls of the air, and
animal creation, they mocked at the idea. "How
are you going to get the wild fowls and beasts of
the desert into that ark? How are you going to
get the wild animals from their caves and dens
into that ark?" And they went on mocking at the
idea. It was a most absurd idea.
I can imagine that the first thing that alarmed
and aroused them was one morning to their surprise
they saw the heavens black with the fowls of the
air, coming from the corners of the earth, two by
two, mated by God, and as they came to that ark,
Noah took them in. And the animals came in from
their dens and caves, from the corners of the earth,
and they came up to the ark, two by two. The lion
and the lamb passed in side by side, and as they
looked down at the earth, they could see little in-
sects creeping up towards that ark two by two, as if
pushed up by some unseen hand, and they cried out,
"Merciful God, what does this mean?" They are
alarmed now. That was the first thing, probably,
that woke them up. Would to God they had re-
pented then, and cried for mercy. But undoubtedly
their wise men said, "We don't exactly understand
it, but there is no danger. Our astronomers tell us
there is no sign in the heavens; the old sun shines
510 ' COME.
as it did two thousand years ago, and the stars shine
at night as bright as ever; the lambs are skipping
on the hill sides as usual, the cattle are grazing on
a thousand hills ; business was never more prosper-
ous. The world never looked more promising.
There is no sign of a coming storm. We don't un-
derstand this strange thing; we admit we can't un-
derstand it, but then there is no sign; be quiet." If
some one was alarmed they would say, ' ' He is weak-
minded. " That is what young men say of their
mothers now ; that they are weak-minded women,
deluded, carried av/ay. Religion may be a good
thing for women and weak-minded people. O, may
God forgive the young man that speaks of his
mother in that way.
It may be the next thing that took place God shut
the door. Noah did not. shut it. The Almighty
shut the door. The last year had come, the last
month, the last week, the last day, the last hour,
the last minuute had come. When God shut the
door the day of grace was over ; the day of mercy
was ended. When once the master of the house is
risen up and shut the door, there is no hope. You
may cry for mercy then, but it is too late. A man
said that when he died he would go to heaven and
he would knock and ask for Mercy, and Mercy would
let him in. A man said you need not ask for Mercy
there ; for Mercy has not been at home for eighteeen
hundred years. Mercy is abroad in the earth. It
is too late to ask for mercy." This is the day of
mercy. This is the day of grace. This is the ac-
ceptable time of the Lord. This is the day the door
is wide open. God says, "Come in. " God calls you
COME. 511
in out of the coming- storm and out of the cominy
judgment.
I can imagine some of you say, "Moody, you don't
believe there was such a thing as a flood, and God
shut that door?" I believe it just as much as I be-
lieve that Jesus Christ came into this world. Listen
to what the Son of God has to say: "As it was in
the days of Noah, so shall it be in the coming of the
Son of Man; they were eating and drinking and
marrying and giving in marriage, until the flood
came and took them all away. " It came Suddenly.
Jesus Christ believed in the flood. But when once
the Master of the house had risen up and shut the
door, it was too late.
Men say, "lean repent any time." Do not de-
ceive yourself. There is such a thing as a man sin-
ning away the day of grace. There is such a thing
as a man going on rejecting and rejecting the Spirit
of God until the last hour and the last moment has
come, and it is too late.
Those antediluvians found it was too late. The
door was shut. I don't know when the storm broke
upon them. It might have been in the night. And
what a night it was! Did this world ever witness
such a night as that?
I can imagine as the sun went down, little did
they think it was the last time they were to look
upon it, as it shone upon that ark and the door was
closed. The day of grace was ended. The day of
mercy was over, and there was no hope. Their doom
was sealed. The door that shut Noah and his family
in shut them out. That night, perhaps at midnight,
they could hear in the distance the thunder. The
sound grew louder and louder, until the stoim
512 COME.
broke upon them. Perhaps the scoffers and the
triflers in those days began to mock and say, "Well,
now Noah will say this is his flood. Noah, now in
the ark, will begin to rejoice and say this is what he
was telling us about. ' ' But by-and-by their mock-
ing was all gone. There could not be a scoffer
found. And do you know there is a time coming
when there cannot be a scoffer found on the face of
the earth? There is a time coming when these men
that are mocking at the Gospel of Jesus Christ will
bow the knee to the Lord Jesus. They will cr)'' —
we have the prayer[on record — "They will call upon
the mountains and the rocks and the hills to cover
them from the wrath of the Lamb. ' ' Their cry for
mercy will be too late.
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