The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924102696634 This represents the Full Morocco Style, it is bound in a rich, dark red leather, stamped in fine gold, and with gold edges. The picture fails utterly to do jus- tice to its rare beauty and attractiveness. Price, $4*50 of DWIGHTLMOODY by This represents the Half Morocco Style, it is bound in dark, red leather with green cloth side. This is a dur- p • t^ 50 able and attractive style. The " Million " edition is not shown in the prospectus. It is bound in a cheaper grade of cloth, stamped in ink, with plain edges. RECORD OF CHRISTIAN WORK. COITCO SV w . n . MOOD V. EAST NORTHPIGLO, MASS. »mA cfu/r aMrtrmi. JmnU 4 ^^^^ QmyUmI' ^d-'-'^^^^^ (ff^^^ ^tA^jaJpMtK. Myi.^4^^ ^>fjbndA£t (Hi/f 1 '\^fl[ I^^^^^^^^^^^KihK *' '-^futt^ ■ k ''^^^hBHh^^H H B 1 ^^^^^^{ ^^HBvT«^^^ ^1 j^B '^S^^Hfi Bi ivHH ©fficial autbori5e^ EMtion 3JO VITA EjT LUX 0)0. OJO 0)0. 010 JB\2 Ibis Son Mi mam 1R. flDoob\) irilustratcC' witf) more tbaii ©nc IbunCtrc? IReproOuctions from ©riginal ipbotograpbB, maiiB of wbicb being tbe Ercluslve ipropertg of tbe ff amllg.wcre reserved solelg for tbls volume j» ^ ^ ^ Centuivi nDanufactunno *^o. IpbilaDclpbia, |pa. 1900 COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY AH lights reserved Some most interesting and valuable matters having l)een found among the family papers after this table of contents was put into type, the publishers reserve the right to rearrange, modify, or enlarge any chapter, or portion, so as to include such new material or otherwise improve the general arrangement and add to the value of the completed work. Contents CHAPTER I EARLY LIFE PURITAN HERITAGE Ancestry — Two hundred years in Northfield — Moody and Holton families — Family traits — Pioneer hardihood — Overcoming difficulties — Uni- tarian influences — ^The struggle of widowhood CHAPTER n EARLY CHARACTERISTICS Boyhood — Work on farm — Earning his first cent — A test of prayer — Love of fun — Practical jokes — Recognized leadership CHAPTER HI LEAVING HOME BUSINESS CAREER Leaving home for first time — A short business experience — Homesickness — A bright cent for each new boy — Going to Boston — Behind the counter — Boyish pranks — Conversion — Business methods CHAPTER IV FIRST ATTEMPT IN CHRISTIAN WORK Whole-hearted as in business — Anxious for work — Discouragements — Cold shoulders — A fire that could not be quenched — Further attempts at service CHAPTER V CITY MISSIONARY WORK Outgrowth of the mission Sunday school work — " Crazy Moody " — North Market Hall — Nightly mission — Transformed homes — Moody's body- guard — Friends and foes — How opposition was overcome — Illinois Street Church — The Potter's Field — The church and Sunday school cemetery — Revival efforts — Influence of Henry Moorehouse — God is love — Souls made captive — A union church CHAPTER VI v. M. C. A. WORK IN CHICAGO Outgrowth of the great revival — The first association — Noonday prayer meetings — Giving up business — Short rations — Enlarged field — Open- air work — Prison work — Opposition — ^^Farwell Hall — Fire — Second Hall — Makes friends with the archbishop Contents CHAPTER VII THE CHRISTIAN COMMISSION IN THE CIVIL WAR Breaking out of the war — Considering enlistment — Formation of Christian commission — Army experiences — Evangelistic work in camp — In the hospitals — Touching incidents — Messages from dying men — Major D. W. Whittle — General O. O. Howard — Other Christian heroes CHAPTER VIII HOW MR. MOODY AND MR. SANKEY CAME TOGETHER Indianapolis Convention — Mr. Sankey a government officer — "You'll have to give up business " — Open-air preaching — The power of song — Going to Chicago CHAPTER IX SERMON MAKING How Mr. Moody prepared his sermons — First attempt at Bible readings — Topical study — Envelope compilations — Word studies — Answering excuses — How to think on one's heels — Should a sermon be repeated — Freshness of style — Three first books CHAPTER X THE GENESIS OF THE INQUIRY ROOM Mr. Moody's idea — Personal dealing — Authority from Scripture — Peculiar cases — Not a confessional CHAPTER XI MR. Moody's question drawer Primary object — Difficult problems — Practical responses — Sample ques- tions — Effective results CHAPTER XII THE CHICAGO FIRE Last sermon in Farwell Hall — An acknowledged mistake — A night of terror — Church, school, and home in flames — Hasty retreat — Striking incidents — A ludicrous scene — Struggle with the elements — Love wins — Among the ruins — Rebuilding — Great opportunities CHAPTER XIII A TIME OF TESTING A test of faith — Invitation to Great Britain — Perplexities — Expenses of the trip — Arrangement with Mr. Sankey — Arrival in Liverpool — Startling news — The courage of faith — Divine approval Contents CHAPTER XIV THE BIRTH OF THE " MOODY AND SANKEY " HYMN BOOK An interesting experience — Reaching England — Lack of American hymns — No publisher willing to assume risk — Mr. Moody's prints his own — ■ His last dollar expended — A penny hymn book — Immediate success- Anxious publishers — New arrangement — Large royalty earned — What shall be done with it ? — A practical answer CHAPTER XV THE FIRST CAMPAIGN IN GREAT BRITAIN Invitation to Scotland — Meeting with Professor Drummond — Growing in- terest — Other cities also — Call to London — The great campaign — Agricultural Hall — Congregations of twenty thousand souls — Spurgeon sympathy — Dean Stanley — Mr. Gladstone — Earl Shaftesbury — Hay- market Theater — Islington — Visit to Eton — Visit to Ireland — Dub- lin — Belfast CHAPTER XVI THE FIRST CAMPAIGN IN AMERICA 1875-76 Return to the United States — A welcome waiting — Introduction to Eastern audiences — Thurlow Weed — Philadelphia — Old Pennsylvania depot — Sea of humanity — Remarkable conversions — " Great joy in that city " — Permanent results— New York — The Hippodrome — Substantial helpers — Reaching all classes — -Striking incidents — Great interest — Special excursions from neighboring cities CHAPTER XVII NEW ENGLAND EVANGELISTIC TOUR A year in the smaller cities — Burlington, Vt. — Hartford — New Haven, etc. — Effect on the smaller cities — Effect on the churches — Among the Young Men's Christian Associations — Stories and anecdotes of these days , CHAPTER XVIII BEAUTIFUL NORTHFIELD Need for a spot called home — Love for scenes of his boyhood days — The old homestead — Nature's lavish gifts — Typical New England village — The trail of the savage — Old settlers — Grand avenues of elms — Mountain scenery — A transformed town — Attitude of old residents.. . CHAPTER XIX THE MOODYS' HOME Birthplace — His last home — A modest structure — The library — Simplicity — The worker's tools — Practical equipment for effective service — Vegetable garden — The barnyard Contents CHAPTER XX THE NORTHFIELD SEMINARY FOR YOUNG LADIES 1879 Its humble conception — Sympathy for neighbors' children — A large need developed — Remarkable growth — A larger outlook — Added friends and added buildings — The purpose of the schools defined — Use of the hymnbook fund — " Buildings sung up " — Nationalities repre- sented — What has become of graduates — A remarkable record — " What hath God wrought!" — Permanency of these schools — Endowments.. CHAPTER XXI .^ THE MOUNT HERMON SCHOOL 1881 A later venture of faith — Providential happenings — " The hand of our God was upon us for good " — First efforts — Learning by experience — Modification of plans CHAPTER XXII THE GENESIS OF THE NORTHFIELD CONFERENCES 1880 Neighborhood meetings in the home — Dr. Blaikie's visit — First conference of Christian workers — College students of Mt. Hermon — Student volun- teer movement — Henry Drummond's visits — Young women's con- ferences — Large results from small beginnings — Widespread influence - — Northfield Echoes the organ of the movement CHAPTER XXIII THE CHICAGO BIBLE INSTITUTE 1887 Representative of Mr. Moody's special work — Gradual growth — Plan, method, and purpose — Need of training — Demand for men — Zeal not according to knowledge — Giving direction to consecrated effort — Able helpers — Continuous terms — Summer sessions — Special drills — Missionary gatherings — Fields occupied by graduates CHAPTER XXIV THE SECOND CAMPAIGN IN GREAT BRITAIN — 1881-84 A winter in Scotland — Edinburgh — Glasgow — Eminent helpers — Carruber Close mission — On the Continent — A visit to Paris — Campaign in Wales — Among the English cities — Old-time friends and helpers CHAPTER XXV AMONG THE COLLEGE STUDENTS Influence at Oxford and Cambridge — The American interest CHAPTER XXVI GREAT CITIES AND THEIR NEED Age of great cities — A cosmopolitan city — Strategic points — The bitter cry — Great problems Contents CHAPTER XXVII MR. Moody's anxiety for the city City evangelist — United effort — One need for all — Compelled to listen — ■ Extraordinary efforts — Can a city be saved? — "All the world" — Heroic faith CHAPTER XXVIII THE world's fair CAMPAIGN A great opportunity — The man for the hour — Planning ahead — Securing lieutenants — -^Generalship — A vow taken — Burning zeal — The war on Christendom — Aiding by prayer — Marvelous interest— Great results.. CHAPTER XXIX MR. Moody's anniversary fire sermon CHAPTER XXX WITH THE gospel WAGON New conditions call for new methods — Carrying the Gospel to the people — A pulpit on wheels — Into the highways and hedges — A mixed multi- tude — In " Little Hell " — Thrilling experiences CHAPTER XXXI later CAMPAIGNS IN AMERICA From city to city — Work in churches — Christian conferences — Help from abroad — Use of home talent — Inspirational and quickening CHAPTER XXXII VISIT to THE HOLY LAND Few real holidays — Invitation to visit Bible lands — With St. Paul in Rome — Arrival in Joppa — Palm Sunday in Jerusalem — Preaching on Cal- vary — Hebron — Bethany — Mount of Olives — Makingfriends with native children — Constant questions — Learning from all classes — Easter in the holy city — Visit to Egypt — Italy — Back to England CHAPTER XXXIII FACING DEATH ON THE ATLANTIC Leaving England on S. S. Spree — "Going home" — A glad heart — A terrible shock — A sinking vessel — Terrified passenger's suicide — An awful night — Seven hundred souls awaiting their doom — Danger signals — Gen. O. O. Howard — A steamer in sight — Rescue — Eight anxious days — Safe in port — Thanksgiving CHAPTER XXXIV THE GOSPEL IN PRINT Dearth of religious literature in small cities — The country districts worse — A heroic plan— The colportage library— Far-reaching effects Mr, and Mrs. Moody with Grandchildren. Mr. Moody as he Appeared as Chairman of the Northeield Conferences. Mk. Moody as a Grandfather: With his First Grand- child. The Life of Dwight L. Moody CHAPTER I Early Life "Some day you will read in the papers that D. L. Moody, of East Northfield, is dead. Don't you believe a word of it ! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now. I shall have gone up higher, that is all; out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal — a body that death cannot touch, that sin cannot taint, a body fashioned like unto His glorious body. 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." Those are the words of D. L. IMoody — his autobiography com- pressed into a few sentences. Between his birth in the flesh on Feb- ruary 5, 1837, and his departure to be with Christ on December 22, 1899, there were crowded more and more varied experiences than are the general lot of men, but he firmly believed to the last that the opening portals of heaven would only admit him to a larger and truer service for his God and Saviour in unseen worlds. By the grace of God he was what he was; but his mother's influence was a large God-given factor in this work of grace. Betsy Holton was born February 5, 1805. She came of old Puritan stock that had settled in Northfield, Mass., as early as 1673. She married Edwin Moody on January 3, 1828. Fie was a mason by trade. They had a comfortable home in Northfield, with an acre or two of land. Seven children were born to them — of whom Dwight Lyman Ryther was the sixth. On May 28, 1841, young Dwight was at school. A neighbor put his head in at the window and asked if Ed Moody's son was there, I Early Life saying that his father had just died suddenly. That morning he had gone about his work as usual, but a pain in his side sent him home to rest. About one o'clock in the afternoon he staggered to bed, and was found dead a few minutes later, kneeling beside it as if in prayer. The death of his father was the earliest thing that Dwight could remember. He could recall nothing about the funeral, but the shock of the sudden death made a lasting impression on him. The widow was left in trying circumstances, which, however, only served to develop her sterling and heroic character. Her eldest child was only thirteen years old. Twins were born a month after her hus- band's death. The father died a bankrupt. She had no one on whom she could lean heavily for support. When the neighbors would come in and tell her to bind out her chil- dren she would say : "Not as long as I have these two hands." "Well," they would say, "you know one woman cannot bring up seven boys. They will turn up in jail or with a rope around their necks." She toiled on, and none of her children went to jail, and none has had a rope around his neck. "If everyone had a mother like that mother," said Mr. Moody on the occasion of her funeral, "if the world was mothered by that kind of mother, there would be no need for jails." The creditors swept away nearly everything, even the kindling. Once, when there came on a snowstorm, she had to make the children stay in bed next morning until schooltime for want of wood to make a fire. She was always bright and cheerful in the presence of her children, but that first year after her husband died she wept herself to sleep every night. Her sorrows drove her to God, and she claimed His promises for the fatherless and the widow. In spite of all its privations, home was the sweetest place on earth to the Moody children, and as long as that mother remained on earth, occupying that same home, but with all the comforts she desired, Dwight and her other children were drawn thither by the strong bands of love. Dwight's early life differed little, in the main, from that of the 2 Early Life ordinary New England boy. He continued to go to scliool in a winter, and learned the three r's and a little algebra. In the summer he "hired out." The first thing he did to earn money was to turn the neighbor's cows out to pasture on a mountain near by, receiving a cent a day as \\-ages. Many anecdotes are told that prove that Dwight was full of fun and loved practical jokes — a characteristic that he retained undimin- ished to the end. They indicate, also, those qualities of leadership which were so marked all through his later career. On one occasion he had to recite Mark Antony's oration over Cjesar in the schoolhouse. He took some of the other boys into league with him, and they caught a tomcat and put it into a sort of coffin, which he insisted was a necessary adjunct of the oration. At a certain point he kicked the coffin, and out jumped the tomcat, causing great uproar. Dwight got a good thrashing from his teacher. One fast day he brought a number of the boys into a neighbor's barn. At a given signal they all jumped and stamped on loose boards just over the cow stalls, and scared and scattered the animals. On another occasion he wrote a notice summoning a temperance meeting in the schoolhouse on a given date, and signed a certain deacon's name in disguised handwriting. There was a crowded at- tendance, but no speaker appeared. He "hired out" one summer with a family where there were two old women. One day he caught a squirrel in the field and put it into his dinner pail. When they opened the pail to wash it their shock can be easily imagined. Another time he was working for a neighbor in the hayfield some dis- tance away from the homestead. The farmer drove out in the evening to fetch the men home. Before starting back he told young Moody to bring him the jug of buttermilk, that he could have a drink. As he sat on the seat in the wagon, with the jug lifted to his mouth. Moody threw a clod at the horse and made him jump, with the result that the farmer was thrown backward into the wagon. He was a large man, and as he could not take the jug away from his mouth without drench- ing himself, he cut a sorry figure lying in the bottom of the wagon. In that school district there were two parties. One party said that boys could not possibly be controlled without the cane, and they kept a 3 Early Life schoolmaster who acted on their plan; the other party said they should be controlled by love. The struggle went on, and at last, on one elec- tion day, the first party was put out, and the other ruled in their stead. The boys said to each other that they were going to have a grand time that winter. There would be no more corporal punishment; they were going to be ruled by love. The new teacher was a lady, and she opened the school with prayer. The boys hadn't seen that done before, and they were impressed, es- pecially when she prayed that she might have grace and strength to rule the school with love. School went on for several weeks, and they saw no rattan. Dwight was one of the first to break the rules. The teacher asked him to stay behind. He thought the cane was coming out again, and was in a fighting mood. She took him alone, sat down, and began to talk to him kindly. That was worse than the cane; he did not like it. She said : "I have made up my mind that if I cannot control the school by love, I will give it up. I will have no punishment. If you love me, try to keep the rules of the school." Love conquered him, and he became a firm ally of that teacher. His elder brothers used to try to make money by "trading" things, chiefly horses ; and Dwight caught the fever. The most famous trans- action that is now recalled vi^as his contract to work for a neighbor for a month, in return for which he was to receive the skin of a dead horse. When earned the skin was worthless. When he was about ten years old an incident happened that he ever afterward spoke of with gratitude. One of his elder brothers went to the town of Greenfield, twelve miles away, to work in a store for his board and attend school. He was so lonely that he found a place for Dwight. The incident can be best related in Mr. Moody's own words : "One cold day in November my brother came home and said he had a place for me. I said I wouldn't go, but after it was talked over they decided I should. That night was a long one. "The next morning we started. We went up on the hill and had a last sight of the old house. We sat down there and cried. I thought that would be the last time I should ever see that old home. I cried all the way down to Greenfield. There my brother introduced me to an 4 Paul Moody; Younger Son of U. L. Moody. Early Life old man who was so old he couldn't milk his cows and do the chores ; so I was to do his errands, milk his cows, and go to school. I looked at the old man and saw he was cross. I took a good look at his wife and thought she was crosser than the old man. I stayed there an hour, and it seemed like a week. I went around then to my brother and said : " 'I am going home.' '"What for?' " 'I am homesick.' " 'O, well, you will get over it in a few days.' " 'I never will. I don't want to.' "He said, 'You will get lost if you start for home now; it is getting dark.' "I was frightened then, and I said, 'I will go at daybreak to-morrow morning.' "He took me to a shop window, where they had some jackknives and other things, and tried to divert my mind. What did I care for those old jackknives? I wanted to get back home to my mother and brothers; it seemed as if my heart was breaking. "All at once my brother said, 'Dwight, here comes a man that will give you a cent.' " 'How do you know he will ?' I asked. " 'O, he gives every new boy that comes to town a cent.' "I brushed away the tears, for I wouldn't have that man see me crying, and I got right in the middle of the sidewalk, where he couldn't help but see me, and kept my eyes right on him. I remember how that old man looked as he came tottering down the sidewalk. O. such a bright, cheerful, sunny face he had ! When he came opposite to where I was he stopped, took my hat off, put his hand on my head, and said to my brother : " 'This is a new boy in town, isn't it?' " 'Yes, sir, he is; just came to-day.' "I watched to see if he would put his hand into his pocket. I was thinking of that cent. He began to talk to me so kindly that I forgot all about it. He told me that God had an only Son, and He sent Him down here, and wicked men killed Him, and he said He died for me. "He only talked five minutes, but he took me captive. After he had given me this little talk he put his hand in his pocket and took out a 5 Early Life brand-new cent, a copper that looked just like gold. He gave me that; I thought it was gold, and didn't I hold it tight ! I never felt so rich before or since. I don't know what became of that cent. I have always regretted that I didn't keep it; but I can feel the pressure of that old man's hand on my head to-day. Fifty years have rolled away, and I can hear those kind words ringing yet. I never shall forget that act." Before Dwight had been in Greenfield many days he got into trouble for ringing a doorbell. When questioned as to his motives he said he had never seen a doorbell before, and wanted to see if it would ring in the street. Naturally the reader will inquire if Dwight showed any special apti- tude in a religious direction during these early years. The answer must be, "No." His mother was a religious woman — that quiet home religion that characterizes New England. She was then a Unitarian, but of a mild type, differing very little in her beliefs from orthodox Congregation- alists. Northfield is not far from the scene of Jonathan Edwards's re- vival labors, but the wave of his influence did not reach the Moodys. About the only books in the home were a Bible and a book of devo- tions. Every morning Mrs. Moody read to her children from these. On Sunday all the children were sent to the Unitarian church, over a mile away, and they staj'ed through Sunday school. It was never a debatable question whether they should go or not. The boys used to go barefoot, carrying their shoes and stockings in their hands, and only putting them on when they came in sight of the church. Mr. Everett, pastor of the Unitarian church, was very kind to the widow Moody in the days of her trial. At one time Dwight boarded with him and did his chores. But attendance at the Sunday services was irksome. Dwight could not understand the sermons. In fact, Sunday was a day the boys disliked, and at sundown (they began to observe Sabbath at sundown on Saturday in those days) they would run out and throw up their caps and let off their jubilant spirits. The only baptism D. L. Moody ever received was at the hands of this Unitarian minister, but it was in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Once, when he was about six years old, a rail fence fell over on him. He could not extricate himself, and his cries for help were in vain, as Leaving Home CHAPTER III Leaving Home As Dwight grew older, he became ambitious for a change. The con- fines in which he found himself were too narrow. He began to appre- ciate the value of education and tried to make the most of his schooling opportunities. One day in the spring of 1854, when he was up in the woods cutting and hauling logs, he said to his brother Ed, who was with him : "I'm tired of this. I'm not going to stay round here any longer. I'm going off to get some other work." He had two uncles in the boot and shoe business in Boston, of whom he sought work, but with little encouragement. Finally Dwight left Northfield, and went to Clinton, Mass., where one of his brothers was emploj'ed. Dwight got a job in a bookstore, but he wasn't satisfied, and went on to Boston. Failing to find other work, he again ap- proached his uncles, and was probably in such a condition that they were able to make their own terms with him. They agreed to take him into their store if he would promise to board at a place selected by them, to attend the Mount Vernon Church and Sunday School, and not to drink or gamble. Dwight accepted the terms, and became installed as a boot and shoe salesman. His ambition now was to make $100,000, and be a success- ful merchant. Although he was little acquainted with city ways and city manners, it soon became evident that young Moody made up for deficiencies in polish in externals by a natural wit and brightness that brought him to the front as a salesman. Letters that he wrote home at this time show that his boyish heart turned constantly toward Northfield. A postscript to a letter written to his mother on August 22, 1854, is characteristic of his correspond- ence. "Ho, George," he wrote, addressing his elder brother, "tell me what kind of a crop of corn this vear, and potatoes also." '36 Leaving Home Nor did business so engross his attention as to crowd out the old tendency and liking for practical jokes. Before he had been in the store long he settled on a tall cobbler to plague him. One day he slit the leathern seat of this cobbler's box, and placed a basin of water un- derneath. When the cobbler sat down, of course he got wet. This was repeated three times before the cobbler kicked the box over to see what was the matter. Immediately he grabbed a knife and started for young Moody, who was waiting on customers in the front part of the store. Moody was taking it all in, and rushed out into the street when he saw the cobbler coming. One evening, when Moody was aching for fun, a young man about his own age came along the sidewalk just as he was leaving the store. Moody stepped to his side and walked along with him, looking into his eyes all the time. The young man hurried; so did Moody. Finally the other commenced to run, and Moody kept up with him until the young man was thoroughly scared. His first definite spiritual experience came to him during his stay in Boston — his conversion. We have seen that attendance at church and Sunday school was ob- ligatory, under agreement with his uncle. But it was merely formal at first. There was many an Eliab, Abinadab, or Shammah on whom the anointing of the Spirit would more likely come than on this David. Mount Vernon Church was organized as a revival church, particu- larly to retain in Boston the fiery eloquence, holy zeal, and glowing fervor of Dr. Edward N. Kirk — just such a church as we can imagine Moody's own church in Chicago later became. But the earnest, cul- tured addresses of Dr. Kirk did not reach young Moody. It is said that he chose a seat in one of the obscurest pews in the gallery, and that, wearied with the hard work of the week, he used to sleep most of the time during the Sunday service. In the Sunday school he was placed in a class taught by Edward W. Kimball. The teacher handed him a Bible, and told him the lesson was in John. Moody took the book and hunted all through the Old Testament for John. The other young men (among whom were some Harvard students) detected his ignorance and nudged each other. The teacher saw his embarrassment and found the place for him. "I put my thumb in the place and held on," said Mr. Moody afterward. Z7 Leaving Home "I said then that if ever I got out of that scrape, I would not be caught there again" — an incident that exhibits not only his ignorance of the Bible, but also his dogged purpose to learn from his mistakes. Moody gave close, respectful attention to his teacher from the first, and his demeanor in class was always earnest, quiet, and attentive. He seldom said anything. Once when Mr. Kimball was teaching about Moses, trying to show that he was a man of self-control, wise and statesmanlike, who would have been at the head of affairs in any age or nation. Moody asked, with hesitancy : "Mr. Kimball, don't you think Moses was smart?" This word from his limited New England country vocabulary truly expressed Mr. Kimball's idea, and proved that Moody was anxious to grasp his meaning. Before long Air. Kimball determined to speak to his new scholar about his spiritual condition. He went to Holton's shoestore one day and found Moody in the back part of the store wrapping up shoes in paper and putting them on the shelves. Mr. Kimball told him of Christ's love and sacrifice. Evidently the young man was ripe for the Gospel message, although he had not felt he had a soul till then. The light of heaven flashed into his soul and never afterward grew dim. How tenderly Mr. Moody used to refer to that transaction between himself and his Saviour ! Preaching in Tremont Temple early in 1898, he said : "I can almost throw a stone from Tremont Temple to the spot where I found God over forty years ago. I wish I could do something to lead some young men to that same God. I wish I could make people understand what He has been to me. He has been a million times bet- ter to me than I have been to Him." At other times he used to say : "The morning I was converted I went outdoors and fell in love with ever^^thing. I never loved the bright sun shininp- over the earth so much before. And when I heard the birds singing their sweet songs I fell in love with the birds. Everything was different." The natural zeal and energy of the man at once sought to find ex- pression in service for the new Master whose service he had entered. One of the first things he did was to go before the church committee, with a view to joining the church. He was then only eighteen years 38 Leaving Home old. He had been in Mr. Kimball's class only a few months. The committee was composed of earnest, sympathetic men (among them Mr. Kimball), who made the examination very carefully and gently, knowing young Moody's limited knowledge and hesitation. The ques- tions had to be shaped so that the answers would be simply "Yes" or "No." At length one of the deacons asked : "Mr. Moody, what has Jesus Christ done for you and for us all that specially entitles Him to our love and obedience?" The question embarrassed him. It was too long and too wordy for him to answer promptly, but he said : "I think He has done a good deal for all of us, but I don't think of anything He has done for me in particular as I know of." Nothing, therefore, was elicited at this examination that could be considered satisfactory evidence of conversion. Under the circum- stances the committee deferred recommending him for admission to the church, but three of their number were appointed to take care of his case and to seek to open up to him the way of God more perfectly. When he came before the committee again no more doctrinal questions were asked of him than previously, but his earnest desire to be among God's people, and the feeling that he would get more good in the church than from being either refused or delayed admission, and the convic- tion that he would do no harm in the church anyway, although he was still unable to give any intelligent information as to his religious ex- perience—these reasons led to his being recommended for membership in May, 1856. Mr. Moody never complained of the action of the committee in this case. On the contrary, he thought they had done the wise and proper thing. He was very solicitous in later years aljout numbers being ad- mitted to membership in our churches without having really been "born again," and directed his efforts to bring men and women face to face with this question, to see not only if they had become partakers of the divine nature, but also that with Paul they should be able to say, "I knozv whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him." Stories are current — whether true or not it is impossible to verify in every case, althougli in some instances they are known to be false — of one and another trying to rebuke young Moody for speaking at prayer 39 Mr. Moody's Mother Her Ninety-first Year. J ■'" ' ^»\l«WJI ^^/V' ' " M »*^^^p^t^ 1 k./f/ll '^^bv Vf^^HR^*^^^^^^^^^B^9[^l ^:f/yi B.~-«--^1H *^**fSd s '#' ^^^ ^ M V^ f , ■** ^1 tt^ '*l^f " -'-'i^^^^^^l .A s oi O u- I- < o' o H Q D < I O Illinois Street Church, Chicago. First building erected by Mr. Moody. Scene of his efforts before Chicago fire. ' Ever welcome to this house of God are strangers and the poor. " — Motio on frojii of Church. Moody's Tabernacle. First building erected after Chicago fire. Occupied for two years. A scene of remarkable evangelistic effort. < Q o o Q < o c O CQ a C o Ira D. Sankei'. D. L. Moody's Mother. Taken in 1856. East Hall, Northfield Seminary. Mr. Moody and Mr. Sankey Inspecting Northfield Buildings. View in Main Street of Northfield. View in Main Street of Northfield. 158?** --«",- V^- ; .*;■■ SH^^^^^^^^^^^H 1 ^K ^^^^ 1 1 ■■ im^i m 1 Wanamaker Lake in Summer Dress. NORTHFIELD IN WlNTER DRESS. OvERTOWN Hall, Mount Hermon. Mount Hermon Buildings. • '■' ,; ^ ■ '.■• ■" ■ --'j ■ 1^^^ ^' ':■■■ M i^aHBS^?^J& # % . . ■"■ -« 'y--"mW: r ' ^^0■:! 1^hHhih&^ ^^^^ '^.A. i^^Ef^^^HIH JHyvsijHbi^^s^^ mnj i^^^^S^ ?,i ■^'j'- ■.■-■?3 AsHUELOT River and Road. One of the Many Charming Scenes in the Vicinity of Mr. Moody's House. View of Connecticut Valley from the Stone Chair. NORTHFIELD SEMINARY. The Camp at College Conference. < PJ I- z > O oi O f- '-Tj o CJ CO a O < Q o o DwiGHT L. Moody at the Time of Leaving Home for Boston. How Moody and Sankey Came Together CHAPTER VIII How Mr. Moody and Mr. Sankey First Came Together Mr. Moody's name is, throughout the world, associated with that of Ira D. Sankey more than with that of any other of his fellow-laborers in the Gospel. F.y many they are thought of as one person. They met for the first time in the year 1S70 at the International Convention of the Young Men's Christian Association, lield at Indian- apolis, Ind. They had heard of each other, but had never met. Mr. Sankey was already known for his ability to win souls by his singing of hymns, but neither figured very prominently as leaders of the exercises at the convention. At that time Mr. Sankey was a government officer in Newcastle, Pa., holding a commission in the internal revenue service. Pie was thirty years old, having been born, of English and Scotch-Irish stock, at Edinburg, Pawrence Comity, Pa., on August 28, 1840. Mr. Sankey was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, but his religious work had been conducted only during leisure hours, and from an early age had been in the direction of singin?. He had heard enough of ]\Ir. Moody to make him curious to see him and hear him talk, and when he went to the Indianapolis convention he immediately commenced to look for the young man from Chicago. Their first meeting did not occur until a day or so after their arrival, and then only under rather novel circumstances. It was announced that "Mr. Moody from Chicago" would conduct a prayer meeting on Sunday morning at six o'clock in a Baptist church some distance away from the Academy of Music, where the convention was held. Notwithstanding the early hour for the service, jMr. San- key determined to take advantage of the opportunity to see and liear the man whom, until that time, he had been unable to find. The distance to the church was much greater than he had anticipated, and the service was half through when he arrived and took a seat near the door. 96 How Moody and Sankey Came Together At the conclusion of a lengthy prayer a friend, the Rev. Robert Mc- Millen, urged Mr. Sanl^ey to start right in with a hymn, as there seemed to be no one in charge of the singing. Without waiting for further invitation Mr. Sankey rose and sang : There is a fountain filled with blood Drawn from Immanuel's veins; And sinners, plunged beneath that flood. Lose all their guilty stains. The congregation joined in. When the meeting was brought to a close Mr. McMillen asked Mr. Sankey to step forward, and he would introduce him to Mr. Moody. As Mr. Sankey drew near, Mr. Moody, recognizing the one who had led the singing, took him by the hand and said : "Where are you from ?" "Pennsylvania," replied Mr. Sankey. "Married?" "Yes. I have a wife and two children." "What do you do for a living when you are at home?" "I am in the government service." All this time Mr. Moody had been holding Mr. Sankey's hand. Looking down into his face with his keen black eyes, he said : "Well, you'll have to give up business !" Mr. Sankey stood amazed, and was at a loss to understand just what Mr. Moody meant by telling him he would have to give up what was to him a good position, and one affording a comfortable living. He was so taken back for a few seconds that he could make no reply. Mr. Moody, however, explained what he meant. "You'll have to give up your government position and come with me. You are the man I have been looking for for the last eight years. I want you to come with me and help me in my work in Chicago." Mr. Sankey had by this time partly recovered from his surprise, but the thought of giving up a good position for an uncertainty was too much, and he begged for time in which to consider the matter. Mr. Moody asked him if he would pray over the question, and Mr. Sankey said he would. That was Sunday. All that day and night Mr. Sankey thought over 97 How Moody and Sankey Came Together Mr. Moody's words, but the next morning found him still inclined to stick to the' government position, with his salary assured every month. Just at a moment when he was more inclined to be wavering than anything else a card was brought to him. It was from Mr. Moody, asking him to meet him at a certain corner that evening at six o'clock to sing. Mr. .Sankey wrote an acceptance upon the back of the card and re- turned it to Mr. Moody, saying he would be there. Together with a few friends he went to the appointed place at six o'clock that evening, and in a few seconds Mr. Moody came along. Without even stopping, Mr. Moody walked into a store and asked permission to use a store box for a pulpit. Permission being given, Mr. Moody rolled the large box out to the street corner, and, climbing upon it, asked Mr. Sankey to sing a hymn. After one or two hymns had been sung Mr. Moody commenced to preach. The workingmen were just on their way home from the mills and factories, and in a short time a large crowd had gathered. Mr. Sankey says that Mr. Moody preached that evening from that store box as he had never heard anyone preach before. The crowd stood spellbound as the words flowed from Mr. Moody's lips with wonderful force and rapidity. After he had talked for about fifteen minutes he leaped down from the box, announced that he was going to hold a meeting at the Academy of Music, and invited the crowd to accompany him there. Mr. Sankey and his friends marched down the street, four abreast, singing "Shall We Gather at the River?" It took but a few moments to pack the lower floor of the Academy of Music. Mr. Moody saw that the men in their working clothes were first seated before he ascended to the platform to speak. His second address was as captivating as the one delivered on the street corner, and it was not until the delegates had arrived for the even- ing session of the convention that the meeting was brought to a close. Mr. Sankey Avas still undecided when Mr. Moody again brought up the question of their going together. However, the impression made on his mind by these two services was so great that after a period of about ten months he accepted an invitation to spend a week with Mr. Moody in Chicago, and before that week was over he had sent his com- 98 How Mr. Moody Prepared His Sermons CHAPTER IX How Mr. Moody Prepared His Sermons For years Mr. Moody never expected to do any more in the way of preaching than to give ten-minute addresses to his Sabbath school chil- dren. By and by he procured a copy of the Topical Text-hook as a help in Bible study, and began to prepare an address on "The Bible." This was the subject of his first attempt at a Bible reading. His method was simple and suited to the needs of the case. He would call on some one in the audience to read a certain text. This would give him time to collect his thoughts, and he would then say a few words or relate an anecdote to light up the text. When he found himself running dry he would call for another text to be read, and on this he would offer a few comments in similar fashion. When his audience became larger, so that he had to read the text himself, he had to make better preparation beforehand, as there was less opportunity for impromptu comment. Before long Mr. Moody received an invitation from Dr. Goodwin, Pastor of the First Congregational Church, to repeat one of these Bible readings in his church, "i rubbed my eyes," he said, "to see who I was !" He had never anticipated that he would get that far in public ministry. The Bible reading he gave at Dr. Goodwin's church was on the Holy Spirit — a neglected subject, which, largely owing to Mr. Moody's efforts, now occupies perhaps first place in the study and thought of Bible students throughout the world. Mr. Moody next received an invitation to give a Bible reading in the Third Presbyterian Church, and by degrees his reputation spread throughout the city and beyond. He never really changed his method of making sermons, which was as follows : Having decided to prepare an address on any topic or text (he pre- ferred to use subjects mostly), tlie first thing he did was to take a large 1 08 How Ml'. Moody Prepared His Sermons em elope and on the outside write the title or reference — "Heaven," "Psalm xxiii," "Backsliders," "Let the Wicked Forsake," "How to Deal with Inquirers." Into this envelope he crowded extracts copied from sermons and commentaries, cuttings from newspapers, anecdotes, and illustrations from his own experience — scraps of all kinds that had any tearing on the subject under consideration. Hundreds of these envelopes are in his study, many of them fat and showing the signs of frequent use, but many representing sermons in the embryo. Whenever Mr. Moody wished to preach on a certain subject he ran through the envelope of clippings, and selected such points and anec- dotes as he wished to use on that occasion. Weaving these into an out- line, and taking sheets of note paper, he wrote out catchwords, and fastened the sheets into his Bible by means of elastic bands. The sheet reproduced on another page is the first of a sermon on "Repentance." Mr. Moody here began by considering objections. First, "I do not feel sorr)' for my sins." This objection he proposed to meet by quoting Ezek. xxxiii, 1 1 ; so he cut that verse out of a large-print Bible and pasted it onto this sheet, in order to avoid the necessity of turning up the references. At some later period he added, "Had not struck me," to remind him of another frequent excuse that he met with in dealing with the unsaved. The word "obey," also added later in pencil, re- minded him that obedience, not feeling, is what the Bible calls for. Second objection : "How much and how long should I feel sorry for my sins?" This he met with 2 Cor. vii, 9, 10. Also with the command of Isa. Iv, 7, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord." "I have repented far more since I came to Christ than before," Mr. Moody next Avrote down, reminding himself of a line of thought that he was fond of pressing home, namely, that repentance and the new birth are only the beginnings of an experience during which the Christian constantly needs to repent of sin and rely on the Saviour's help. This method of making sermons has many advantages. It gives full opportunity for impromptu inspiration, as the preacher is not bound hard and fast to a written manuscript. Many of Mr. Aloody's best and most often quoted sayings were spontaneous. He 109 How Mr. Moody Prepared His Sermons alwaj's insisted that what the Church needs is "men who can think on their heels." It avoids monotony in the frequent repetition of a sermon. "People say I repeat my sermons," said Mr. Moody. "Of course I do; I am glad to do so. Some ministers are afraid if they repeat their sermons they will lose their reputation. Give up your reputation, and you will get along all right! If you have a sermon that has been blessed of God, don't be afraid to use it again and again." Mr. Moody must have repeated some of his sermons hundreds, if not thousands, of times; but they always sounded fresh to the hearer. The secret un- doubtedly lay in part in the nature of his subject, as no one could listen to an actor or lecturer repeatedly delivering the same selection without losing interest — the same being the reason why the Bible remains a fountain of perennial interest. Part was due to Mr. Moody's freshness of delivery; but credit must also be given to his method of sermon- making, which permitted a mobility of outline that meant continual freshness in the substance of his address and in the order in which his points and anecdotes were marshaled. There are three books which Mr. Moody advised every Christian to procure : ( i ) a good substantial copy of the Bible, with large clear print; (2) a Cruden's Concordance; and (3) a Topical Text-hook. We have already seen how he turned to the last named when prepar- ing for Bible readings. He always kept one at hand in his study, and also a concordance. He was a Christian five years before he heard of the latter. A skeptic in Boston got hold of him shortly after his con- version, and young Moody tried to defend the Bible and Christianity. The skeptic made a misquotation. Moody said it wasn't in the Bible, and hunted for days and days to prove the skeptic wrong. He came to realize that if he had had a concordance, he could have found the pas- sage in question in a few moments. Mr. Moody's Bibles are among the most precious treasures that he left behind. He had a large number — upward of a score — in constant use. In his study are to be seen several that have been almost worn out; leaves loose and ragged-edged, but invaluable because of the notes and suggestions written on the margins and blank spaces. He had a dozen "interleaved" Bibles — that is. Bibles in which every other page was left blank for inscribing notes and comments upon the no How Mr. Moody Prepared His Sermons Scriptures facing tlie pages. Mr. Moody found that notebooks and clippings accumulated quickly, and were likely to be laid aside and never referred to again. He therefore adopted these interleaved Bibles, where notes were always at hand. From these he used to give out "nuggets" at his meetings, and when friends borrowed a Bible, in order to copy off the notes, they were expected to write in some nugget before returning. "Don't be afraid to borrow and lend Bibles," he used to say. "Some time ago a man wanted to take my Bible home to get a few things out of it, and when it came back I found this note in it : "Justification, a change of state, a new standing before God. "Repentance, a change of mind, a new mind about God. " Regeneration, a change of nature, a new heart from God. " Conversion, a change of life, a new Hfe for God. "Adoption, a change of family, a new relationship toward God. " Sanctification, a change of service, separation unto God. "Glorification, a change of condition, at home with God. "In the same handwriting I found these lines : "Jesus only. The light of heaven is the face of Jesus. " The joy of heaven is the presence of Jesus. " The melody of heaven is the name of Jesus. " The harmony of heaven is the praise of Jesus. "The theme of heaven is the work of Jesus. "The employment of heaven is the service of Jesus. " The fulness of heaven is Jesus himself. " The duration of heaven is the eternity of Jesus." Of all the volumes he possessed he prized most a large pulpit Bible that contains the following inscription : "Mr. D. L. RfoODY from Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon. "In tender memory of the beloved one gone home to God. This Bible has been used by my precious husband, and is now given with unfeigned pleasure to one in whose hands its blessed service will be continued and extended. " S. Spurgeon, Westwood, London, Nov. 20, 1S92." This is the original Bible in which C. H. Spurgeon kept track of his sermons as they were printed. By means of red-ink entries in the mar- gin he knew at once in what volume or magazine any sermon might be III The Genesis of the Inquiry Room CHAPTER X The Genesis of the Inquiry Room Mr. Moody's own idea of the inquiry room and its uses are best given in his own words as follows : "Personal dealing is of the most vital importance. No one can tell how many souls have been lost through lack of following up the preach- ing of the Gospel by personal work. It is deplorable how few church members are Cjualined to deal with inquirers. And yet that is the very work in which they ought most efficiently to aid the pastor. People are not usually con\"erted under the preaching of the minister. It is in the inquiry meeting that they are n;ost likely to be brought to Christ. Some people can't see the use of inquiry meetings, and think they are something new, and that we haven't any authority for them. But they are no innovation. We read about them all through the Bible. When John the Baptist was preaching he was interrupted. It would be a good thing if people would interrupt the minister now and then in the middle of some metaphysical sermon and ask what he means. The only way to make sure that people understand what he is talking about is to let them ask questions. I don't know what some men who have got the whole thing written out would do if some one should get up and ask, 'What must I do to be saved?' Yet such questions would do more good than anything else you could have. They would wake up a spirit of inquiry. Some people say, 'AH you want to do is to make the preaching so plain that plain people will understand it.' Well, Christ was a plain preacher, and yet he asked, 'Plave you under.stood these things?' (IMatt. xiii, 51.) He encouraged them to inquire. I think people sometimes would be greatly relieved, when the minister is preaching way above their heads, if he would stop and ask whether they understood it. His very object is to make the word of God clear. Christ was a plain preacher; but when He preached to Saul the man was only awakened. Christ could have convicted and converted him; 120 The Genesis of the Inquiry Room but He honored a human agency, and sent Ananias forth to tell the word whereby he was to be saved. Philip was sent away into the desert to talk to one man in the chariot. We must have personal work — hand-to-hand work — if we are s'oino- to have results. NO UNIFORM RULE FOR ALL "I admit you can't lay down rules in dealing with inquirers. There are no two persons exactly alike. Matthew and Paul were a good ways apart. The people we deal with may he widely different. \Miat would be medicine for one might be rank poison for another. In the fifteenth of Luke the elder son and the younger son were exactly oppo- site. What would have been good counsel for one might have been ruin to the other. God never made two persons to look alike. If we had made men, probably we would have made them all alike, even if we had to crush some bones to get them into the mold. But that is not God's way. In the universe there is infinite variety. The Philippian jailer required peculiar treatment. Christ dealt with Nicodemus one way and the woman at the well another way. It is difficult to say just how people are to be saved, yet there are certain portions of Scripture that can be brought to bear on certain classes of inquirers. "I want to say I think it is a great mistake, in dealing with in- quirers, to tell your own experience. Experience may have its place; but I don't think it has its place when you are dealing with inquirers. For the first thing the man you are talking to will do will be to look for your experience. He doesn't want your experience. He \\-ants one of his own. No two persons are converted alike. Sujjpose Bar- timasus had gone to Jerusalem to the man that was born blind and said, 'Xow, just tell us how the Lord cured you.' The Jerusalem man might have said, 'He just spat on the ground and anointed my eyes with the clay.' 'PIo !' says Bartimjeus, T don't believe you ever got your sight at all. Who ever heard of such a way as that ? Why, to fill a man's eyes with clay is enough to put them out !' Both men were blind, but they were not cured alike. A great many men are kept out of the kingdom of God because they are looking for somebody else's experience — the experience their grandmother had, or their aunt, or some one in the family. I knew an old man who used to tell people to 121 Mr. Moody's "Question Drawers CHAPTER XI Mr. Moody's "Question Drawers" So anxious was Mr. Moody that he should be of real help to those whom he reached that he would frequently set apart special services when questions troubling anyone might be sent in for reply. This he called his question drawer. The following is a sample of one sent : O. "What is the best way to conduct the weekly prayer meeting?" A. "There is no trouble about getting the people to attend the weekly prayer meeting if it is made interesting. It should be the best meeting of all, and you can make it so. First, you want plenty of fresh air. You can't do anything in a close, stuffy room. If a farmer comes in after a hard day's work and the room is close, he fall asleep. The people say he wants spirituality; what he wants is fresh air. Let the room be clean, neat, cheerful, and well lighted. Make the place at- tractive. Don't have a cold minister behind a box to lead. Some- times a minister reads a long Scripture lesson and delivers a lecture. He takes pains to say he is imprepared, and you find that out for your- self before he has gone very far. Break up this coldness and lifeless- ness. Let the leader get out of the ruts and be free and sociable in his manners with the people. If the minister is determined to keep in a rut, invite him to tea with you some evening and have a serious talk on the subject, so as to break up the monotony. Above all, don't have any long prayers. All the prayers should be brief. We don't hear of long prayers in the Bible, except 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. A man used to take ten foolscap pages to send an order for goods to New York; to-day he sends it by telegraph, and puts it into ten words. See how short are the prayers recorded in the Bible. 132 Mr. Moody's "Question Drawers" 'Lord, help me!' is one. 'Lord, save, or I perish!' is another. Why, a man said that if Peter had had as long a preamble as men put into prayers nowadays, lie would have been forty feet under water before he would ha\-e got as far as the petition for rescue. Prayer isn't praise; it is asking for something. You can ask God for something in a few words. If a man will pray fifteen minutes in a prayer meeting, he will pray all the spirituality out of it. Pd rather have a man pray three times, and only five minutes at a time, than to have him take fifteen minutes at once. When I was in charge of a work in Chi- cago I used to say, 'I am going to take up the Good Shepherd to- night,' and then get the people to quote texts or make remarks on that subject. If the minister leads, he shouldn't exhaust the subject in his opening address and leave the people nothing to say. He had much better try to draw them out. Then, again, it is a good thing for him to bring in fresh voices, even if he has to go and hunt them up. That is the way Dr. Kittredge has done in Chicago, and he has an average at- tendance of eight hundred at his prayer meetings. I think I never met Dr. Kittredge but he would say, 'Where are you going to be Wednesday night? Will you be here ? ''Yes.' 'Well, I just wish you would come into our prayer meeting.' He is always looking out for help that Avay. He has kept it up for fifteen years, and I wish you could see his prayer meeting. When you have men ready to speak there needn't be any long pauses. These awful pauses will kill any meeting. The min- ister should put in a word here and there to keep the interest going. But he shouldn't take up much time. Any minister that preaches twice on Sunday, and then gives a long lecture in the prayer meeting, will kill any church in this countiy. Put that down for a fact. It isn't the man that does everything himself that accomplishes the most work, but it is the man that gets others to work." Q. "How can you get those men from outside?" A. "Have the meeting in your mind so much that when you meet any one of the kind you want you will invite him. Get one on Monday, another on Tues- day, and so on. I wish we had greater variety in our prayer meetings. Make a plan, and have it all thought out before Wednesday comes. It means work. You can't get anything in this world without working for it. There can be life in our churches if we aim for it." O. "Wouldn't a man feel a little restraint if he was called upon pub- 133 The Chicago Fire CHAPTER XII The Chicago Fire The story of Mr. Moody's flight from his home the night of the terrible Chicago fire is one of thrilling interest, but having a humorous quality as well. Mr. Moody had been preaching in Farwell Hall on Sunday evening. On the way home after service the red glow of fire illumined the entire sky to the south and west, but it was thought to be no worse than the extensive fire of the preceding night, wdiich had yielded supposedly to the heroic efforts of the fire department. A little before midnight, convinced that the fierceness of the destroying element was waning, the family retired, but within an hour a loud call was made to all the residents of the street to hasten their escape. The fire had crossed the river and was rapidly advancing. It was too late to think of saving much more than could be carried in the hands. A neighbor took the two children in his already crowded carriage and made his escape to the north. A few articles of silver and valued tokens of friendship were hastily placed in a baby cart. But there was one article Mrs. Moody's heart was set upon saving. This was a por- trait in oil of Mr. Moody, by the artist Healey, that hung on the wall. It was a gift from the artist, presented to Mrs. Moody after the return from the first trip to Europe in 1868, when a free lease of this home, together with the gift of most complete furnishings, was presented to Mr. Moody by his Chicago friends. This portrait Mrs. Moody prized above anything the home contained. A stranger who had entered the house assisted in taking it from the wall. Calling Mr. Moody, his wife urged his saving for her this picture. The ludicrous side of the posi- tion at once appealed to him notwithstanding the terror of that awful night. "Take my own picture !" he said. "Well, that would be amus- ing. Supposing I am met on the street by friends in the same plight with ourselves, and they say, 'Hello, Moody, glad you have escaped; what's that you have saved and cling to so affectionately?' Wouldn't it sound fine to reply, 'O, I've got my own picture?' " No entreaty 144 A Time of Testing CHAPTER XIII A Time of Testing When our Lord would send forth His messenger to special service, or before He trusts large kingdom interests in the hands of a servant, He frecjuently places such a one in a position where his loyalty, his faith, and his courage are put to the sh.arpest test. Few of us are in- trusted with large and important service for the King, because we liave failed in the day of testing, although we wist not at the time that it was an hour of weighing and of measuring our spiritual caliber. As a vineyard laborer, Mr. Moody had been intrusted with work of mod- erate dimensions in his earlier davs, but after the great Chicago fire a large and open door was to confront the servant who had "been faith- ful in a few things." Ere he could enter, however, a final trial of faith was called for. It was in connection \\'ith Mr. Moody's visit to Great Britain in 1S72. ITis first trip abroad was in 1S68. Another very short trip was made in the fall of 1871. No large work opened up in these two brief visits. A few were impressed with Mr. Moody's ear- nestness and directness of appeal ; among them a Mr. Bainbridge, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and the Re\'. Mr. Pennyfather, of London. These two especially urged his return to Britain. The invitation was accepted, and funds were expected, as promised, for the expense of the ocean voyage. IMr. ?doody had at the time about $450. This he gave to a friend, saying he did not anticipate needing it, as his ex- penses would undoubtedljr be met during his absence. Shortly before sailing Mr. Moody arranged with Mr. Sankey, who was at that time the chorister of Mr. Moody's mission church and •Sunday school in Chicago, to accompany him. Steamship passage was en?-a£red for the families, but the promised funds to pay iov these did not arrive. Within a day or two of the time for departure ]\Ir. Moody was obliged to go to bis friend and ask for the return oi the money loaned. A Chicago friend, unconscious of his need, handed him a check for $500 the day before he left. The greater portion was required for the passage tickets. The journey was begun with some questioning. Reaching Liverpool, the cause for the nonreceipt of the 156 The Birth of the "Moody and Sankey Hymn Book" CHAPTER XIV The Birth of the "Moody and Sankey Hymn Book" An episode no less interesting and illustrating Mr. Moody's per- sistence and faith is the story of the birth and growth of the Moody and Sankey Hymn Book, and the great mission these books have had not alone in singing their way with Gospel gladness into the heart of the people, but in singing up great institutions of education and biblical training. Reaching England, a different class of hymns and music from that the evangelists were accustomed to use at home was found in the churches. A book of American hymns was imperative, but no pub- lisher would undertake the risk of publication. Mr. Moody therefore invested all the money he had left, about $ioo, in printing a small word edition of hymns. These were sold in the meetings at a penny a copy. The quantity was cjuickly exhausted. A publisher was now quite ready to assume the risk of a new edition, and agreed to pay a liberal royalty. This arrangement was accepted by Mr. Moody, with the thought that it might ill part pay expenses for which Mr. Moody had obligated him- self personally. So great was the growing interest that little atten- tion was paid to the matter of royalties, and they were left to accumu- late. In fact, it soon became a problem what should be done with the sum due. At the close of the London campaign, and shortly before Messrs. Moody and Sankey were to return home, the publisher's statement showed that the sum to the credit of Mr. Moody on this account was no less than £7.000 (about $35,000). Mr. Moody sent word to his London committee that this amount was at their disposal, to be used for Christian work as they should direct, stating he would not take a penny of the money for himself. The committee refused to accept the fund, asserting that it belonged to Mr. Moody personally, and they did not propose to have him pay this large sum for the privilege of preaching to them. Here was a peculiar case — money going begging for want of a receiver, 168 Beautiful Northfield CHAPTER XVIII Beautiful Northfield John Wesley used to sa}^ "The world is my parish." If any man of recent times was entitled to utter the same words in their most literal sense, that man was Dwight L. Moody. When, in 1872, Mr. Moody, accompanied by Mr. Sankey, crossed the Atlantic to begin that wonder- ful campaign in Great Britain and Ireland which was to render their names famous throughout the civilized globe and mark an epoch in modern evangelism, it was with the expectation that they would return to Chicago and resume their customary work. But the moment they returned to America it became evident that henceforth they could have no abiding city on earth, and that the life before them must be the itinerant activity of evangelists at large. In these circumstances it was natural that Mr. Moody's thoughts should turn to the place of his birth and the home of his youth. Somewhere he must retire now and again for a brief respite from his all but incessant labors. Somewhere he must provide a shelter for his family and fulfill as best he could the duties of a husband and father. And it is a coincidence which has been deemed remarkable by not a few that if he had searched the whole continent for a locality perfectly adapted to these purposes and to the many others which have since arisen, he could not possibly have found a place combining so many advantages as the spot which it pleased God should afford his first environment. Northfield is a typical New England village at the point of junction of three States — Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. A glance at the map will show that at this point the Connecticut River bisects a portion of Massachusetts and separates Vermont from New Hampshire. Along the east bank of the river and south of the State line lies the ancient settlement of Northfield, bordering the stream tor more than a mile and half hid among giant elms. The region has been under cultivation not far from two hundred years. The first settlers 216 Northfield Seminary for Young Ladies CHAPTER XX . Northfield Seminary for Young Ladies Like Topsy, in Uncle Tom's Cabin, it would be difficult to say- exactly when and where the Northfield Seminary was born. It just grew. When the idea began to take form in Mr. Moody's mind he constructed a small addition to his own house, with rooms for eight girls; and when twenty girls had been admitted into these cramped quarters, with others besieging the house for accommodation, he built a small brick dormitory and class room on the other side of the street. This, too, soon became overcrowded; and it was evident that what had been done was but an index to what ought to be done. While Mr. Moody was feeling his way toward "room and verge enough" it was so ordered in the good providence of God that a large hillside farm adjoining his own and his mother's holdings to the north could be pur- chased for a reasonable amount. The land was bought, and plans were outlined looking to the erection of a building of considerable size. In 1879 the handsome brick building now known as East Hall was erected. Its situation is more commanding than that of any of the subsecjuent structures. From the eminence on which it stands the view to the west and north is superb. The foreground is the eastern slope of the Connecticut Valley. The river itself gleams at intervals through- out many miles of its winding course. The western slope of the valley, partly wooded, rises gently, and culminates in a range of verdure- crowned hills. In the direction of Vermont the range of vision is almost unlimited. The color of the landscape changes gradually from bright green to pale and still paler blue, till at last the actual horizon becomes indistinguishable as mountain peaks melt into hazy sky. East Hall cost about $30,000, and was designed as a dormitory. It is capable of accommodating sixty students. The smaller brick building near Mr. Moody's house was for some time used in connection with it as a recitation hall. A large dwelling house on the roadside farther north was remodeled and turned into an additional dormitory, and 240 Birthplace of D. L. Moody. — Occupied by his Mother until Her Death in her Ninety-second Year (1896). 1 1 PI ^^^^H ^ H^'^^B^W ^MIBi^MB ^^^^1 wr ^ ^Sv- P^ w^Km^^^^^BSBi ^^^HHp ■It ^ml^ fcr WSmfiX-'i '^^^H ^^^^^^^^^^BkJ ^^^^^ms 1 ^F ^^' ^^^^KB^^^--,^^ -" i^t ^B^^HJI^^^^i ^^^^^^^^^^^BV 'V ' ''^^1^ ^^H ^^■p" . .. . ■■• J mm^ 1 ^^^^^^^^^Hi^: ^-(j i 1 1 1 m ■ ■ ^^BBMi^.^ ^ ■ With Daughter and Granddaughter. Mount Hermon School for Young Men CHAPTER XXI Mount Hermon School for Young Men While the Northfield Seminary was still in its infancy Mr. Moody decided to commence also a school for boys. With characteristic promptitude and large faith he hesitated not to assume the double bur- den. No land suitable for the purpose could be had in the immediate vicinity of Northfield; and it was desirable that the school should be located at some distance from any town to secure the greatest possible immunity from evil influences. What was wanted, therefore, was a tract of land not many miles away, within easy distance of some rail- road station, and yet in a measure isolated. "God moves in a mysteri- ous way His wonders to perform." Through a train of circumstances which it is needless here to recount, but in which the hand of Provi- dence was most clearly apparent, at this juncture of affairs a certain parcel of property which exactly met the requirements of the proposed establishment came into the market. It was a splendid farm of four hundred acres in the town of Gill, about four miles from XTorth- field in a southwesterly direction, across the Connecticut. This land had been held by one family for several generations, and was sup- posed to be unpurchasable at any terms. In the whole region no domain could have been found more eminently desirable for the pur- poses in view, and it was a coincidence little less than miraculous that just when Mr. Moody was in search of a site for his intended boys' school this fine place was on the point of falling under the hammer. At first two hundred acres were sold. These he bought for $7,000, The timber standing thereon was alone worth that amount. A little later he bought the other two hundred acres for $5,500. Thus the whole tract cost him $12,500 — a mere fraction of its estimated value — while at no time within the preceding fifty years could it have been bought for love or money. The soil had been under systematic tillage by intelligent farmers, and was thus in excellent condition for the industrial depart- 253 Mount Hermon School for Young Men ment which was to form so prominent a feature of the projected insti- tution. The situation of the place was such that the boys could be effectually secluded from the contaminating influences of towns, and guarded from injurious companionships. At the same time railway communication was within easy reach. The Connecticut River Rail- road traverses the neighborhood, and a station, chiefly for the accom- modation of the school, has been provided. The elevated and undu- lating plateau affords numerous admirable building sites. The height upon which this property is situated is now called Mount Hermon. From it the view is far-reaching and variegated. If com- pared with the view from the seminary buildings, it might be said that while that is peaceful and beautiful, this is wild ^nd sublime. Nature is gentle or rugged, placid or energetic, as befits the sex at either place. The drive from Northfield to Mount Hermon is picturesque at every turn. Until quite recently the river was crossed by a wire-rope ferry. Now a fairylike bridge spans the river at this point. Communication between the several buildings of both institutions is maintained by telephone. The money with which the farm was purchased and the school com- menced was the gift of Mr. Hiram Camp, then President of the New Haven Clock Company. He wrote a check for $25,000, and often de- clared that no act of his long life has yielded him greater happiness. "If I could have that money back again and see the school reduced to nothing, would I take it? A thousand times no ! There's no joy like the joy of giving." He contributed liberally toward the development of the school, and from year to year watched its progress with ever- increasing delight until his death. At first the old farmhouses which were found upon the place were used as dormitories. In connection with them a small wooden build- ing was put up to serve as a recitation hall. When it became necessary to exxlarge the dormitory accommodations it was deemed best to pre- serve the family svstem. Instead of congregating a large number of boys in one large building, the plan was preferred of dividing them into groups of not more than twenty and housing them in small cottages, each under the charge of two matrons. In 1885 four brick cottages had been erected, with a dining hall of suitable proportions. In that year, also, the fine large building called Recitation Hall was dedi- 253 The Northfield Summer Gatherings CHAPTER XXII The Northfield Summer Gatherings Mr. Moody's conception of the meaning of the word "vacation" must have been pecuHar to himself. With most men the word signifies a period of absolute repose, or at least of separation from serious work. With him it rather imphed a much-coveted opportunity for the fuhill- ment of some of the schemes witli which his fertile brain was always teeming. It was in his vacation intervals that the educational work, already vast, with which he was identified was projected and j^ear by year pushed to its present proportions. Institutions in which nearly half a million of dollars have been invested, and which are, perhaps, only the earnest of what shall be, will perpetuate one phase of his in- fluence and remain as a monument to his memory during generations 3'et unborn. Had he accomplished nothing else, it would have seemed wonderful that so many buildings could have been reared and so many forces set in motion within these short years. Yet all these mighty and multifarious occupations have been, so to speak, but the pastimes of the play hours of a giant. During nine months of the year Mr. Moody was engrossed in the arduous evangelistic labor which he ever considered the principal mission of his life. His latest campaigns were of such a nature as to recjuire almost constant traveling, in addition to preaching and toiling for souls. In former years it was his cus- tom to preach in some immense tabernacle in the heart of some great city. If he had cared for personal distinction, it would plainly have been good policy for him to have continued that practice. But with increasing experience he realized more and more the desirability of closer contact with the people than was possible in the mammoth con- venticles that had resounded with his voice. Baltimore was the scene of a complete change of plan. The city was divided into districts. In each district the Gospel was preached for a stated period, a large force of trained workers was kept busy among the inquirers, and arrange- 264 The Chicago Bible Institute CHAPTER XXIII The Chicago Bible Institute This institution possibly represents Mr. Moody's plans for evangeli- zation better than any other portion of the great work he had upon his heart. The institute was evidently born and ripened in the thought of Mr. Moody during his experience and observations in the fields of evangelism, as year by year he came in contact with the crying needs of the working classes, the poor, and the outcast, and the spiritual dearth in the great cities. He saw that a most blessed work could be done by men and women with knowledge and love of the Bible and trained ability to use it in bringing others to Christ. The schools were not preparing such workers to meet the need. There was a call for an institution to offer the help which many consecrated but untrained young Christians desired. The first step was to hold an institute in the Chicago Avenue Church, as an experiment and a test. Another and another followed, lasting from a few weeks up to three months, with surprisingly large attend- ance and encouraging results. The next step was an arrangement for organization of the work on a permanent basis. Land adjoining the Chicago Avenue Church was purchased, with buildings, which were fitted up for a ladies' department, and a building for the men's depart- ment was erected. At present there are accommodations in the build- ings for over three hundred students. The institute began its regular work in October, 1889. The men's building was opened nearly four months later. From that time the work of the school has gone on with- out ceasing, with ever-increasing success and blessing. The object which the institute has set before it is concisely stated in the following terms : "There is a great and increasing demand for men and women skilled in the knowledge and use of the word of God and familiar with aggressive methods of work, to act as pastors' assistants, city 276 The Chicago Bible Institute missionaries, general missionaries, Sunday school missionaries, evan- gelists, Bible readers, superintendents of institutions, and in various other fields of Christian labor at home and abroad. All over the land are those who would, with a little well-directed study, become efficient workers in these fields. There are also many men called of God into Christian work at too late a period of life to take a regular college and seminary course, but who would, with such an opportunity of study as the institute affords, be c|ualified for great usefulness. There is a third class — persons who do not intend to devote their entire time to Gospel work, but who desire a larger acc^uaintance with the Bible and methods of Christian effort, that while pursuing their secular callings they may also work, intelligently and successfully, in winning men to Christ. The object of the institute is to meet the needs of these several classes. Besides these, many ministers and theological stu- dents, who have enjoyed the advantages of the regular training, have spent their vacations with us, getting a better knowledge of the Eng- lish Bible, and how to use it in personal work, and a larger experience in aggressive methods of Christian service. "The Bible Institute aims to send out men and women having six characteristics: thorough consecration; intense love of souls; a good knowledge of God's word, and especially how to use it in leading men to Christ; willingness to 'endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ;' untiring energy; the baptism of the Holy Spirit." "One great purpose we have in view in the Bible Institute," said Mr. Moody, "is to raise up men and women who will be willing to lay their lives alongside of the laboring classes and the poor, and bring the Gospel to bear upon their lives." The method of training is such as to realize most assuredly the ob- ject of the institute. Study and work are happily combined. Theory and practice go together. A portion of several days each week is devoted to actual work in homes, cottage meetings, missions, tent meetings, and inquiry meetings, children's meetings, and industrial schools, the object being to teach students not only the theory of work, but also the work itself. The course of study includes a comprehen- sive, systematic study of Bible doctrine; a general survey of all the books of the Bible; a close, analytical study of many books of the Bible; a thorough study of methods of winning men to Christ and building 277 The Great Cities and Their Need CHAPTER XXVI The Great Cities and Their Need Ftfty years ago an English writer characterized the nineteenth cen- tury as "the age of great cities." It was true then; it is most starthngly true now. Since that writer's day the comparative growth of city population has been rapid beyond all precedent in the history of the world. Year by year the tributary streams of life pouring into the great city centers have been growing deeper, fuller, stronger, draining away the rural population in larger proportion than ever before. It is one of the striking and significant phenomena of our time. It has always been true that the controlling agencies and influences of civilization have been centered and massed in the cities. It is more tremendously true to-day than ever before. The city, in the language of Dr. Josiah Strong, is "the Gibraltar of civilization." It is "the strategic point" for all movements upon society, for weal or for woe. "It is the mighty heart of the body politic, which sends its streams of life pulsating to the very finger tips of the whole land; and when the blood becomes poisoned it poisons every fiber of the whole body." In the cities are massed and intrenched in greatest strength the giant enemies that threaten our civilization. These enemies more than keep pace with the growth of the cities, and the peril and the menace increase year by 3i'ear. Among the great perils confronting us everywhere, but concentrated in the cities, and therefore greatly enhanced there. Dr. Strong specifies especially "wealth, its worship and its congestion, anarchism and lawlessness, intemperance and the liquor power, im- migration and a superstitious Christianity." In face of these facts, conditions, and perils, the special need and supreme importance of city evangelization need no argument. The present is not only the age of great cities; it is also the age of Christian evangelism. Never has the open field of the world been so extensivel)' and systematically invaded by evangelistic agencies as now. 312 The Great Cities and Their Need Evangelistic leaders, lay and clerical, have become a vast army. There is hardly a city or large town in our land, or in Christendom, that has not experienced the sensation of concentrated and continuous evan- gelistic effort, and hardly a church or other Christian agency that has not felt the stimulus and reaped more or less beneficial results there- from. The ways and means of evangelistic effort have been as various as the evangelists and the conditions under which they have prosecuted their labors. But as the result of years of such labors by hundreds of evangelists, especially in the cities, they have come to an almost tmiform general course of procedure wherever an extensive work has been un- dertaken. The aim has been, first of all, to secure the cooperation of the churches, to revive their own piety and zeal, and, if practicable, unite and prepare their forces for an organized movement upon the unsaved masses. After every such campaign the evangelistic leader would depart to other fields, leaving to the revived churches the care of the converts, and any further prosecution of the work, according to their own pleasure. In the city of Chicago, under the peculiar and ex- traordinary conditions of the World's Fair season, the usual means and methods would not apph'. A new line of action had to be taken, for which the history of evangelism furnished no precedent, unless it was in the pentecostal meeting in Jerusalem. The first evangelistic movement of the present dispensation, under immediate divine direction, was started in a great cosmopolitan cit}' center, the capital of the Jewish nation. It was an occasion when vast multitudes of visitors, from all parts of the earth, had overflowed the city and doubled its population. It was a time of special interest and excitement and of unu.sual activit)^, when the people had eyes and ears for anything that was to be seen and heard. The time, the place, the conditions, all were favorable to the inauguration of the new movement. After the first blow had been struck in that city center, and the saving impression had been made upon the great multitude, the visiting- thousands from other lands and cities returned with the new stor)^ and the new sensation to their own homes. Then followed an outward movement, directed by the enthroned Christ himself, for the evangel- ization of the world. In widening circles, rolling out from the city center, the new force invaded the expectant nations. Beginning in one 313 Mr. Moody's Anxiety for the City CHAPTER XXVII Mr. Moody's Anxiety for the City All men everywhere need salvation, and salvation in the Gospel is offered to all. The city needs it; the country needs it. There is no difference. That there are more people in the city than in the country makes no difference as to the need of the individual. But the aggre- gation of individuals in the cities creates perils on the one hand, and oft'ers opportunities on the other, which call for evangelistic efforts on a larger scale, of a more comprehensive character, not alone for the sal- vation of the individual sinner and the edification of the individual be- liever, but also for the salvation of society itself. An invasion of a wicked city by bold, aggressive, evangelistic forces, flashing the uncom- promising truth of God into the faces of the selfish, preoccupied multi- tudes, piercing the darkness with its startling light of eternity, may save it from corruption and destruction by the very shock of the new sensation. This awakening, alarming invasion is the crying need of the cities in these fearfully intense days, when selfishness, greed, ava- rice, oppression, lust, vice, and crime are driving on with electric power and speed, regardless and almost oblivious of the ordinary, accustomed Sabbath day religious services of the churches. The heedless city must be compelled to listen, by assailing its ears from unaccustomed quarters and with new voices. It is a great thing just to secure such an arrest of thought: to create a diversion in the direction of spiritual and eternal things; to break the lines and confuse the marching step of the great multitudes of the cities in the awful unanimity of their mad rush for self-gratification, whose issue is self-destruction. This can be accom- plished only by extraordinary efforts, in extraordinary ways, with ex- traordinary power. Now, if this be true of cities under ordinary, everyday conditions, when the currents of life and activity are flowing on in their accus- tomed channels, much more is the need of extraordinary religious effort emphasized when those currents are swelled by the inflow of hundreds 324 Mr. Moody's Anxiety tor the City of thousands of souls, till they rush on with a tumultuous violence threatening an overflow, and drowning the accustomed voices of ser- mon and song in their constant roar, as was the case with Chicago during the time of the World's Fair. It is well known that even under ordinary circumstances this greatest, richest, strongest, most enter- prising city of the AVest constitutes one of the most extensive, peculiar, and difficult fields for evangelistic work. Its population of more than 1,400,000 souls embraces almost all nationalities of the earth, and in many cases the worst types of humanity out of those nationalities. A strong irreligious and antireligious foreign and native element is al- ways present and potent. Multitudes there are "who never had any religion, and who don't want any," and who will not suffer anybody else to have any if they can help it. An observing writer, considering Chicago as a field for evangelistic work, says : "The city is full of people who once had church relations, but since coming here have neglected to join a local society; and among the masses there are thousands who have broken their connections with religious organizations on leaving Europe and never renewed them. Then, too, the location of the city and its character as a commercial cen- ter bring in an innumerable host of homeless men who are under little or no moral restraint, and give pecuniary support to the most degraded and degrading elements of the community, as well as themselves, con- stituting a powerful factor toward evil. That infidelity is widespread and ignorance dominant are well known. Prejudice on the part of the masses against the Church is a natural outcome of the industrial dis- turbances of the day and the attendant oppression of the poor. The vast population of the city and the barriers of class and race and tongue en- hance the difficulty of evangelistic work, while the need of such effort is nowhere more urgent." During the time of the World's Fair, as a matter of course, the need and the difficulty of evangelistic effort were still further increased, not only by the constant ebb and flow of the great tides of respectable humanity, but especialy by the influx of the worst elements, reinfor- cing the idle, the vicious, and the criminal classes of the population. Add to this the intensified activities in every sphere of life and labor, and the overwhelming, bewildering attractions, distractions, and ex- 3^5 The World's Fair Campaign CHAPTER XXVIII The World's Fair Campaign Mr. Moody arrived in Chicago in the month of May, 1893, with his mind fully made up to inaugurate a series of meetings for the preaching of the Gospel which were to run parallel with the proposed six months' term of the World's Fair. He had but lately returned from one of the most extensive evangelistic campaigns of his life, of fourteen months' duration, in England, Scotland, Ireland, and the Orient. So far as there was any plan of the proposed movement in Chicago, it was laid up in the secret of his own mind. He was not committed to any pub- lished program. As always in his work, he placed himself in line with the will of God, ready to do the next thing, whatever that might be. The thought and purpose of attempting such an unheard-of enter- prise had been formed in Mr. Moody's mind long before the World's Fair itself had become a materialized fact. He carried the matter on his heart during his long evangelistic tours in Europe and his trip to the Holy Land. It was then that he enlisted the help of representative men of Christian Europe for the prosecution of the prospective work. I'he only thing concerning the proposed Gospel campaign which was positively settled in his mind was the conviction that it was the will of God that it should be inaugurated. He could well foresee that the material glory of the fair would attract millions of people "out of every nation under heaven," and his heart yearned and burned with desire to make it an opportunity for the kingdom of God by having the Gospel preached with a world-wide reach of influence and effect. It vras enough for him to see the finger of God, "in the signs of the times," pointing that way, and he hesitated not a moment to confer with flesh and blood. In its conception, beginning, and progress it was therefore purely a work of faith and a labor of love. When the time for the actual work had come Mr. Moody entered upon it not only with con- viction of the divine call and desire and zeal for the salvation of men, 336 The World's Fair Campaign but also as a man under seal of the most solemn vow, as we learn from the following reference to his memorable experience on his homeward voyage from Europe, given in a public address : "Just as I was preparing to leave London the last time I was there, I called upon a celebrated physician, who told me that my heart was weakening, and that I had to let up on my work, that I had to be more careful of myself; and I was going home with the thought that I would not work quite so hard. I was on the steamer Spree, and when the announcement came that the vessel was sinking, and we were there forty-eight hours in a helpless condition, no one on earth knows what I passed through during those hours as I thought that my work was finished, and that I would never again have the privilege of preaching the Gospel of the Son of God. And on that dark night, the first night of the accident, I made a vow that if God would spare my life and bring me back to America, I would come back to Chicago and at this World's Fair preach the Gospel with all the power that He would give me; and God has enabled me to keep tliat vow during the past five months. It seems as if I went to the very gates of heaven during those forty-eight hours on the sinking ship, and God permitted me to come back and preach Christ a little longer." It is to be noted also that in England, Scotland, and Ireland, the year before, Mr. Moody made public reference to the work he proposed to carry on in Chicago, and asked that God's children should remember the undertaking in prayer. Indeed, he seemed more concerned that it should have the assurance and support of united prayer than anything else. After his return to America he laid the matter entreatingly and earnestly on the hearts of Christian people, seeking a union of fervent prayer in behalf of the work. At Northfield and Mount Hermon he gathered the students and teachers of his schools about him, at six o'clock in the morning, to seek the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and to pray for the work to come. "If you think anything of me," said he, with choking voice and tear-filled eyes, "if you have any regard for me, if you love me, pray for me that God may anoint me for the work in Chicago. I want to be filled with the Spirit, that I may preach the Gospel as I never preached it before. We want to see the salvation of God as we have never seen it before." During the entire campaign there was imusual stress laid on prayer as the indispensable condition 337 Mr, Moody's Anniversary "Fire Sermon" CHAPTER XXIX Mr. Moody's Anniversary "Fire Sermon" During the World's Fair at Chicago Mr. Moody gave a most inter- esting address on the anniversary of the great Cliicago fire. He said : "In the spring of '71, along Avith Philip Phillips and Rev. (now Bishop) J. PI. Vincent, I went to California, and when I came back here hot weather had come, our audience had become scattered, and I came to Farwell Hall, wanting to get back the audience, but nearly all had gone, and it seemed almost impossible to get them together again. I remember that for a number of weeks I was turning over in my mind what to do to accomplish that. I thought I would get up some kind of sacred concerts, or get some one to lecture on historical events, for I thought that the Gospel would not draw. But I remember that after I'lraying over it and getting up from my knees the thought came to me, Preach to them upon Bible characters. Well, I had some six or eight Bible characters in my mind, and I thought I would try Adam first. So I took Adam and looked him over, but I thought I could never talk about him for thirty minutes. Then I thought I would try Enoch. I think I took up Noah next, and I came down to Abraham and had him as one of the characters. I advertised that I would speak so many nights on the Bible characters. It was not long before Farwell Hall began to fill up, and inside of five weeks I had the largest congregations I had ever spoken to in Chicago. AVhen I came to Christ I intended to devote six nights to his life. I had been spending four Sabbath nights on the subject, and had followed him from the manger along through his life, to his arrest and trial, and on the fifth Sabbath night, October 8, I was preaching to the largest congregation I had ever had in Chicago, quite elated with my success, having for my text the words, 'What shall I do then with Jesus which is called the Christ?' That night I made one of the greatest mistakes of my life. After preaching — or talking, as I did not call it preaching then — with all the power that God 348 Mr. Moody's Anniversary "Fire Sermon" had given me, urging Clirist upon the people, I closed up the sermon and said, 'I wisli you would take this text home with you and turn it over in your minds during the week, and next Sabbath we will come to Calvary and the cross, and we will decide what we will do with Jesus of Nazareth.' "1 have never seen that congregation since. I have hard work to keep back the tears here to-day. I have looked over this audience, and not a single one is here that I preached to that night. I have a great many old friends and am pretty well acquainted in Chicago, but twenty- two years have passed away, and I have not seen that congregation since, and I never will meet those people again until I meet them in another world. But I want to tell you of one lesson I learned that night, which I have never forgotten, and that is, when I preach, to press Christ upon the people then and there, and try to bring them to a decision on the spot. I would rather have that right hand cut off than give an audience a week to decide what to do with Jesus. I have often been criticised, and people have said, 'Moody, you seem to try to get people to decide all at once; why do you not give them time to consider?' I have asked God many times to forgive me for telling people that night to take a week to think it over, and if He spares my life, I will never do it again. This audience will break up in a few moments, and we will never meet again. There is something awfully solemn about a congregation like this! "You will notice that Pilate was just in the condition that my audience was that night, just the condition that you are in here to-day — he had to decide then and there what to do with Jesus. The thing was sprung upon him suddenly, although I do not think that Jesus Christ could have been a stranger to Pilate. I do not believe that He had preached in Judea for months, and also in Jerusalem, without Pilate hearing of His teachings. He must have heard of the sermons He had preached; he must have heard of the doctrine He taught; he must have heard of the wonderful parables that He uttered; he must have heard about the wonderful miracles that He had performed; he must have heard how Herod had taken the life of His forerunner by having him beheaded, and of the cruel way Herod had treated Him ; so that Pilate was no stranger to Jesus of Nazareth. "But I do not believe that there is a child here to-day that has not a 349 With the Gospel Wagon CHAPTER XXX With the Gospel Wagon Various methods were adopted by the evangelistic forces to bring the word of God to the drifting crowds on the streets of the city and to the men, women, and children who lingered about stores, saloons, and doorsteps in the evenings. One of the most effectual of these was the Gospel wagon, which is really a small house and chapel on wheels, drawn by two horses, and admirably adapted for its purpose. The mission of the Gospel wagon was twofold — to bring the Gospel in short addresses and stirring songs to the ears of the people, and to advertise the various meetings in the theaters, halls, churches, and tents, to draw the crowds from the streets thither. A visitor thus describes one of the services in which he participated : "A new and striking feature has beeii the Gospel carriage. The strange vehicle has attracted considerable attention all over the city. One evening's work may serve as a sample. The carriage left the institute about a quarter to eight o'clock and made for Townsend Street. When the destination was reached the carriage stopped close to the curb, a platform was hung out from the rear, a baby organ weighing only sev- enteen pounds set upon it, and a lantern hung out. The service was conducted by Mr. D and his singer. Several others assisted in the speaking and singing. There was a great throng around the carriage. The handsome appearance of the carriage and the comely dress of the speakers commanded respect, but what did more to hold attention was the vigorous, practical talking. No one spoke very long, and there was plenty of good singing." The late Dr. A. J. Gordon, in an address, thus referred to this agency : "There have been two Gospel wagons going about in different parts of the city dispensing the word of life to such as may be induced to stop and listen, and the workers estimate that one thousand or more are thus reached daily of those who would not enter a church or 360 With the Gospel Wagon mission hall. As I saw them one morning, they came up with a large furniture wagon, on which was a great placard bearing the words, 'Can the drunkard be saved?' Thus taking the most radical methods, the evangelists went about through the street attracting the gaze of the people. One of the workers took his stand in the midst of a great com- pany of roughs and drunkards, and as they looked, they said, 'What next ?' Well, a great many of them came that night to find out if they could be saved." The Gospel wagon proved a good testing place for speakers. If they could succeed there, the}^ could probably get along in other serv- ices. An eminent preacher from a Southern State, whose ministry had been confined to a large and fashionable congregation, one day ran the gauntlet of the street crowds on the Gospel wagon, preaching four ser- mons from that wheeled pulpit. Speaking of that trip afterward, he said: "I have had a new experience to-day, in preaching to crowds of rough, dissolute, hardened men on the streets — I, who had been accus- tomed to a daintily carved pulpit, where the light came through stained- glass windows, and where everything pleased the senses. I realized to-day, as never before, how Jesus must have felt as he preached to just such crowds of lost, wretched souls." Another visitor who accompanied the Gospel wagon one evening to a section of the city known as "Little Hell," on account of the fearful A'ileness, wickedness, and crime abounding there, says he was delighted to see even there "hundreds of orderly men and women with a host of little children gathered as close as they could crowd around the rear of the wagon, from which the platform is extended for the organ and speakers and leader of the singing, who only had to start some familiar Gospel hymn to be followed by a full chorus of hundreds of voices, most of them among the children, evidently with Sunday school training. So well did the little ones sing that when they came to the chorus the leader requested all the older ones to be silent and let the children sing the sweet words over and over again. As they did so, at the top of their childish voices, the well-known gong of the police patrol wagon was heard ringing for its approach as the horses came at full speed, as the fire engines go rushing along to a fire, but the crowd left room on the opposite side of the street, and the officers only checked their speed, without pausing, and passed by without molesting 361 Visit to the Holy Land CHAPTER XXXII Visit to the Holy Land A MAN of such energetic spirit as Mr. Moody found very little time for holidays. He sacredly tried to observe one day in the seven as a Sabbath; but otherwise he was almost constantly occupied except when journeying, and even then people recognized him and sought his spiritual advice, and were not denied. Of late years, with the multi- plication of his schools, conferences, and other organizations for pro- moting the cause of Christ, there was less and less opportunity for with- drawing for any length of time from active participation in their control. In the spring of 1S92 Mr. Moody was able to take a well-deserved holiday and at the same time gratify an old longing to visit the Holy Land. The summer preceding Dr. John Smith, of Glasgow, had come to America with a huge roll of invitations from ministers of Scotland, asking Mr. Moody to visit that country again. He left America in October, 1891, and, with Mr. Sankey, held short meetings in ninety- nine towns in Scotland during the winter. This was Mr. Moody's last visit to Scotland. In April, 1892, he was invited by Mr. and Mrs. Peter McKinnon, of Scotland, to go to Palestine. Accompanied by his wife and his younger son, Paul, he joined the McKinnons in Rome. "•—Mr. Moody's enjoyment of Rome was intense. Every place which could be verified as being in anyway connected with the apostle Paul (Mr. Moody's great Bible hero next to our Lord) was carefully sought out. The Appian Way was visited, and when the original pavement was reached Mr. Moody insisted on alighting from the car- riage and going on foot over the stones which St. Paul had trodden. The ruins of Nero's palace on the Palatine Hill had far more attrac- tion for him than St. Peter's or any of the spectacles of modern Rome. The party arrived at Toppa on April 15, and reached Jerusalem by 384 ^1 "^?- -- ^iit^S-r ■as?.;* -■';. ^7:.y ffl:-:^v ^' ; A. , »■ .■»■ iiS ■ ■■' r -I-'.- v.f The Old Mount Hermon Ferry Across the Connecticut. A Corner in the College Camp. ■The Northfield " Hotel. Property of the Seminary. A Quiet Spot — Gordon Lake— Seminary Grounds. 9lA^%'^KH IKZ'"''"'^^ , , , , . J / ^.^yjBwB ^^■•' 1 ?mv;^^ l||||r It ■ A B ^^ZI^^ MM H 2 IL' ■ " 9 The "Revell": First Permanent Building Erected for Seminary Purposes. College Students' Conference. >>Mlk. ■ - ^^S^^^'' - "■■■ ** "^ 4f^ ifk ifll ,^i^T^'>i^^t---t'v.*,^/-¥:f^,'^?iiiB^:.Tfe ijjjr^.^ jJiMinuj 'pl s^'^'^^.^^L iSS ^ ^ '^^"il ^'T.^Bir W^^RTIB^M '^ ' V->i h^t ■ --mi. - ■ ^\.' "^^pwiij!/ 'V-^*^ jg^'^>:4|p« 'V.."jA/-/Pop--. « ^v^^,^^'^^^.^' ^^s^^;^lj ^'^:. M Interior Northfirld Auditorium During Conference. Members of New York Presbytery in Attendance at Northfield Conference, 1899. < oi O UJ — 3 O U n >C o o < u r- I U h >! I X> <_i n< D I -T^; u 1J ■u DJ C^ J P i= o lil u > < o a < u X u > <■ rt G- o o 0) -. — ^ o "2 >? o O C/5 O < J. -« us >■< hb< <> o3 §o o > > en < S c o u •a a O 1 CO 5 a be a B o U s s ^ o Q ■* cs i a OS .-a S e o I" O S a Bi ^ -^ -^ CO e O O o a S 0. 1 a S Q 3 u I— I "^ c ^ a O l-H a "> o d a O O o o ^ s=" -J e u S h 3 k fig 0) BO •r iu "^ 5 aS o« OS h» °l h DO u in ■as 3 . O CO' in « a>. ,21 BI s u Bl 0^ O < V¥.i-